Chapter 1

“Hi! Welcome to Earth. My name is Samwise Gamgee Peregrin Took Atwood,” I yelled into the open door of the alien spacecraft, introducing myself a second time.

I at first had mistaken it for a flying saucer. Because it had come down almost on top of me, all I could see was the bottom. Now I could see that only the bottom was that rounded shape that space capsules use to safely slow down in the atmosphere.

It had landed, if hovering a foot above the grass of the small meadow counted as landing, deep inside the woods of the state park just east of Summerville. I had closed the gate, and put up the closed sign of the park, not that it had many visitors on the first Sunday of October to deter. I had been the only occupant.

‘Adam, how many are there?’ I subvocalized my instructor, and friend, another alien, now that I considered his origins. He was currently wrapped around me in a thin layer of transparent protection. He called it shield mode, and it was impervious to everything.

‘There are three active Urgomax, plus others in storage,’ he said, speaking only so I could hear him, like usual.

‘Did they hear me?’ I asked.

‘Yes, but they are more concerned about contamination at the moment. One of their number is currently getting yelled at for opening the door too soon.’

I gathered myself, connecting to the ancient alien tool I had found earlier in the Summer, that now consisted of all of my left hand, and a chunk of my forearm. The Orb of Reality, a pretentious name for one kick-ass tool, that I was permanently in a state of bond with. I shouldn’t really call it bound, there’s too much ownership baggage in that word, it was more like a marriage bond. It had been an interesting sixteenth birthday.

The Orb had unlimited power, I had will and imagination. It’s been a good marriage so far. I gave a light jump, and leapt thru the air the fifteen feet up, and the twenty feet out to reach the open doorway midway up the capsule exterior.

‘Adam, what button shuts the door?’

“Top button on the second row in, on your right.”

I hit the hexagonal button, and the door slid shut, and locked with a clunk. The yelling had been audible until the clunk. I didn’t get all the words, but between what sounded like screaming chickens, I had understood enough, thanks to Adam translating for me.

I stood in the passageway, this door seemed to have no airlock mechanism. ‘Adam, are you translating what I say and what they say back?’

‘Yes, there’s a tiny delay between when they finish and what you hear ending.’

I picked up my voice, “Hello in there. You left your door open, and that’s not generally a safe thing to do on an unknown planet.”

A deeper voice replied, “Stay there, we will meet you at the entrance.”

A softer voice yelled out, “Thanks for shutting the door!”

Around the corner came the reasons I’d been hearing screaming chickens. They weren’t fully feathered, at least where limbs stuck out from clothes, but they were beaked. The bright yellow orange of it reminded me of ‘Duck Tales,’ and childhood Disney channel reruns.

The two smaller were in front, the one in back I guessed as the leader, using the subordinates as a body shield. Webbed hands, the same shade as the beak, and dark skin that disappeared under dark blue clothing. Black boots covered what were probably taloned feet, given the general triangle shape. Iridescent green and black feathers covered the top of their heads, serving as a kind of hair.

I decided I would wait. They stopped a couple feet from me, the two in front blinking two sets of eyes as they watched. The leader in back finally couldn’t take the silence.

“I am <something unpronounceable> welcome aboard the Fearless Flyer.”

I giggled, imagining the woodblock picture of a pedal powered flying machine on the Trader Joe’s monthly magazine, and this guy riding it. ‘Adam, the boss is Huey, the guy on my left is Dewey, and the right is Louie.’

“Hi, Huey, I understand you need some assistance?”

“Yes Wise Sam, our engines are damaged, and our storage is insufficient to hold us all for the long trip home.”

‘Adam, explain.’

‘I’m doing a literal translation, I think he got it from your first name, as I had to translate concepts not phonetically. Your auditory systems are not in a compatible range. Down shifting the pitch wouldn’t let you understand any easier, anyway.’

‘Not that, the storage thing.’

‘They use a pocket universe to keep much of the crew and supplies at a greatly reduced rate of time. They have damaged engines, and at the max speed it would be several lifetimes to reach home. It is not large enough for these three to join the others, and set the ship on autopilot.’

“Well, this isn’t the BSR, and you aren’t Nikki, so I can only offer a limited set of skills. I am a dimensional engineer, so I could increase the interior size of your pocket universe storage.”

“That would be most gracious,” Huey said.

“We can’t pay you anything!” Louie pipped up, but was cuffed from behind by Huey, and went silent.

“Actually, I’m interested in purchasing your ship. How many crew aboard?”

“We can’t abandon the ship to live on your planet,” Huey said, sounding angry.

“Wouldn’t know where to put you, even if you wanted. Regardless, we are a bit crowded right now and not taking immigrants. I’m offering to send you all home immediately, in exchange for your ship. I could use something that would get me around the solar system in comfort.”