A way to the stars

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic 

Part 1 of ??

Edward Gonzales never had any kind of knack or desire to get into one of the expensive addictions that marked people of his age for a really long time, and he took a lot of pride in this fact- Although it came with the obvious withdrawal of having to find something to do once one of his downer streaks  common to him, and most of times he would choose to take a nightly walk through the city and towards the nearby park, which was barely indistinguishable from a wild forest.

He listened to the crunch of the twigs and dry leaves underneath his boots with a slight amount of  joy, always felt good to hear and feel such nostalgic sound that brought him back to better times, times that weren't even that long ago when taking on account that he wasn't even that goddamn old to be thinking of the 'old times', he'd never share those thoughts with everyone after failing to send the message every single time he tried however.

With a bit of a misty sight, the dude would raise his gaze and look through his various locks of long hair to stare at the clear, starry, beautiful sky before him, completely adorned with a full moon that had helped him walk through the unsafe night… so many stars, universes, lights… opportunities, to be seen from such an insignificant place such as his, chances that he wouldn't be able to take any more at this point in his life.

He saw something just at the corner of his field of sight, something bright and fast- like a moving airplane, wait, no you stupid piece of shit that was a shooting star, shooting stars aren't airplanes they're meteorites or space trash moving at ludicrous speeds… right? Yeah they were. As his mind spaced through thoughts he twisted his mouth a little and let his eyes squint at the beautiful sight before him; he'd wish for something if he believed in such things in the first place.

But as moments passed, he noticed the bright light… got stronger, and slower, and every moment that passed just made this little but terribly important detail more visible and hard to watch.

His eyes widened in response and his hands fell out of the pockets of his heavy jacket, staring dumbfounded at the strength and speed of the light going… maybe way TOO close towards his general vicinity, and once he took note of this he took a sharp turn away from the falling meteor and began his panic-fueled sprint away from the damn thing, beginning to both feel and hear the huge spatial object going at hundreds of kilometers towards the land close by to him.

He'd, obviously, not manage to get to a safer place before the full strength of the falling object hit the ground, making a ridiculously high sound alongside a bright light that he would not manage to directly see besides watching his own shadow get distinctly stronger. The tremor that came down onto him -and the entire city nearby- would hit him like a literal truck, and in turn he'd lose his entire balance the middle of his fearful sprint, tripping on a rock, landing on something sharp that struck his knee and finally smashing his entire upper body against a tree, striking his head hard enough to stun his brain into a sleeping state

The entire city would be shaken by this event, the strength of it managing to break the windows of several buildings that weren't even around the park at the moment of the crash, and with it, the sleep of everyone would be ruined… and for some, this was going to be a god send.

He'd manage to look around his dark surroundings for a moment, cursing the fact that he might as well die alone in the middle of nowhere before sinking into a deep darkness, the ringing in his ears never fully going away.

--

Once he woke up he would have no actual sense or hint of what happened at all, his brown eyes groggily fluttering until he could see before him… somewhat, everything looked blurry as fucking hell, and he could barely see from one of his eyes for some reason- quickly and in a panic he'd raise two fingers to softly feel his eye socket… and no, that didn't hurt at all, yet, his slight relief would be ruined by the fresh blood he'd see on those same two fingers and at cue he felt a obfuscating pain on his scalp that made his head throb following the beat of his own heart.

With two wobbly legs, he'd stand up with a groan, feeling a sharp pain on his leg… and dropping his gaze he'd notice how goddamn bloodied were his blue jeans now, looking like he pissed blood for the entire time he was unconscious, at least he could still walk amidst all of this mad event, and sighed contently when he took some steps and noticed he could still walk around with a obvious limp.

He took a few more steps forwards, his head whipping to the left and the right as he took note of how disturbed the tree tops looked- and eventually how green was the ground underneath him, filled with leaves that fell from the sheer strength of what fell nearby… Oh right, the meteorite, where the fuck did it land?, His gaze slowly raised up to the starry sky and he could see… a trail of smoke, smoke? That wasn't normal, or supposedly possible if it was a meteorite- they didn't leave any kind of trail behind asides fire and the dust they raised when landing.

He sniffed, cleaning his nose with his sleeve as his curiosity took the best of him, walking towards the source of the smoke with painful slogginess… if it was a meteorite at least, he could take a pretty picture with his phone, he could get a lot of attention with one.

It took him about five minutes to get to the place of the landing as he followed a dirt path, and in his way he couldn't help but feel a bit unsettled by the sheer lack of sound around him asides the occasional wind brushing past his hair and making him shiver, the feeling of the air against the wound on his head feeling like absolute shit on a stick… but as he stared down into the large crater he noticed that was worth every painful step, because what he saw before him was not a fucking meteorite

It was almost egg-shaped what he saw before him, every inch of its surface was absolutely carbonized by entering the Earth's atmosphere at such high speeds… but it was too sleek to be something naturally formed, and Edward's eyebrows raised at the realization with both fear and intrigue- what the fuck was this thing? and why was it here out of all places? 

He turned around, trying to find someone else to share this exciting fear of the unknown with… yet, there was no one around, only him at the moment, even the grasshoppers had stopped their songs to signify how alone he truly was… so he breathed in and out, bouncing a little on place and feeling his slightly healed leg shoot horrible pain up his spine… he could get down there, but whatever was on or in there would catch him defenseless and weak… oh well he was still not dead at this point, might as well make death a little bit angrier.

He sat down on the border of the crater, slowly nudging and edging forwards to carefully… VERY carefully go downwards… really caref- AH MIERDA.

the dirt edge he was sitting on breaks into a million little pieces at the weight on top and forces him to slide down the goddamn crater, panicking for an entire two seconds before the angle allowed him to clumsily stand up and stumble right on front of the fallen object

it really was his lucky day, right…

he dusted off his pants as he walked a bit closer to the dark thing, squinting his eyes as he circled the egg-shaped enigma and rubbed underneath his chin at the wonderful sight… Well he couldn't see shit, everything was dark as the very night he was underneath, but he couldn't help but marvel at the realization that this was handmade and in no way natural.

He scooted a little bit closer, clenching his teeth as he poked the thing with the tip of his boot, the surface of the object was probably still quadrillions of times hotter than the norm… it didn't move or do anything at all, so he poked it again, and again… and finally tapped the thing with his sole.

And then steam escaped the god-forsaken thing

he'd shriek like a surprised girl and fall back on his ass, watching how the thing he thought to be completely immobile move when the hot air escaped it…and eventually, his eyes almost fell out of his eye sockets as he watched how a oval-like thing opened in its side: that was a door, yeah, oh fuck.

He'd sit there, his fists gripped by his sides as he furrowed his brow and expected attentively for something or someone to come out of the god damned thing.

As moments passed by however, he'd notice that there was no sound asides the occasional steam escaping from the spatial enigma, and he'd stand up once again to carefully make his way towards the 'entrance' of this ship/pod/whatever, and while he was at it, he grabbed a large stick from the ground and held it by his side.

It was a slow approach, fearing that whatever was inside could just jump out and rip him to shreds- but they would have to first meet the might of this pale stick he found on the ground.

Once he'd reach the thing he would take a sharp spin to bash whatever came out of there… he wouldn't find monsters, creatures or a throbbing sac of eggs… but a really messy room, that of a escape pod, like one he would find in one of those science fiction movies he enjoyed to watch.

His eyes were absolutely delighted by the extraordinary sight, none of this was human-made, definitely, the blaring red light made it hard to see everything but he could still make out some kind of chair and… lots of scrap just thrown around indiscriminately.

There was also a figure, a figure? Definitely human-like, or so he thought, as he gazed upon the dark form he was about to get into another one of his internal monologues… but instead opted to get whoever that was the hell out of the extremely hot cabin of the pod.

It takes him some pulls and eventually a loud groan, but he managed to roll them out from the damn thing… and now, before the light of the moon and the red light of the cabin, he noticed that this was definitely not human, and the realization makes him breathe in sharply and step backwards.

It's neck wasn't of a human, neither it's chest or it's hands or it's legs- they were all almost bestial, covered with white red-tipped fur, matted with dirt and grime from the crash and probably one or two weeks without taking a good shower… and it's head didn't even had a face, but a void black almost spherical screen made of a really weird looking glass… Its 'thighs' were a pair of black things that looked like armor, and from that point downward the technology devolved into furred Z shaped legs with claws and all on its feet.

It didn't look like it wore any clothing but the metallic plating seemed to pass as that- but a closer look would reveal to him that this was actually part of its body, and connected to the smooth, white and red stomach underneath.

As he hesitantly leaned forwards to examine the unholy creature a little bit longer he'd notice that this dark screen that supposedly worked as a head was crossed through with cracks that centered on the left side of their 'head'- he'd realize right at this moment… that this was a crash landing, or an emergency landing, or a awful combination of the two.

He'd bite his lip as he leaned backwards once again, his gaze traveling all around the three meter crater as he tried to find excuses- so what could he do?: In the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere forest with a busted leg and hurt head… Could he… could he help this being even? He didn't even know what the hell it was at all, all of his previously seen stories and movies about aliens would have never prepared him for an actual encounter with something totally different than him.

But still, he could try, right?

doing such a bold move would end up biting him in the ass in the future though.

Wasn't there anyone else available?...there probably wasn't.

And even then, would there be anyone better for the job?

He sighed, placing his hands on the back of his own head as he closed his eyes and tried his best to give himself some damn courage… his hyperactive mind stopped him from having many positive thoughts about the outcomes of this, but he had to be content with the fact that he at least had those, so with some huffs and a silent prayer to la Santa Teresita, he knelt down on his good knee and placed his arms underneath the other's 'knees' and arms, slowly lifting up the creature up to his chest.

And oh fuck was it heavy, he didn't consider himself a strong or an healthy man at all but god, ignoring the fact that this creature still had a hot bodily temperature over being in the cabin for so long, all he could feel was the sheer weight of the being on his arms.

he groaned and shook his head as he turned around, alien still in his hands as he began to slowly make his way out of the crater- he was carrying an ALIEN!, A fucking alien! Dios! No one would believe him unless someone saw this shit happening… god, wouldn't he become a hit if he recorded himself doing this.

The angle of the crater didn't let him walk upwards properly, tilting here and there he tried to make his way up but… the animal-cyborg thing was too heavy to properly maneuver with, so with a huff and a huge groan of pain that resounded through the forest, he'd roll the alien into soft grass before he made his way up himself with some pain on his knee.

…nah, he wouldn't be able to carry this thing all the way to his car, he needed to get his car all the way here to get them in.

he scratched his bloodied cheek at the realization, humming a little as he looked around in a bit of paranoia and breathed in a calming lungful of oxygen… it would be only ten minutes if he did it quickly, yes yes, he could do this, come on come on, you can do this Edward.

He'd turn around, smoothly making his way back towards the path that he strayed a bit far from, but could still see, as he made his best effort to get back to his car with his hurt leg.

Ten minutes later, his paranoia would get the best of him and the dude would almost crash his old Volkswagen golf MkII into a goddamn tree in the sudden stop he managed to do to park himself just at the side of the crater, luckily he didn't… and didn't roll over the body of the alien either, avoided two absolute fuck ups in that one. 

As he walked towards the alien he'd notice something he didn't before… a red textile bag right on their back, probably filled with lots of alien stuff, and why were they now laying belly-down when they rolled them with their 'head' pointing to the sky?... He grew fearful, but he had to get out of there with haste.

With a huff and a push, he would be able to lay the cybernetic body right on the backseat, placing all of the proper seat belts just in case he let his nervousness get the best of him- as he was opening the pilot's door he noticed however… various lights pointing to the sky and the trees just at the other whole side of the crater, moving around and spinning trying to find something.

He lost too much time, probably half the town was in their way here.

Fuck!

with the utmost shock he'd jump into the driver's seat and kick the car into life with a spin of his key, slamming into first and pressing the accelerator as much as he could, just as he felt the lights behind him strike against his body and make his shadow before the wheel look more visible than before. He controlled his own breath as he eventually turned the wheel into the streets, finding the lonely long driveways more than comforting for his anxious heart; god, he just could hope everything would be alright, this night at least… even with the unplanned passenger behind him.

---

With a flicker of electric life, her entire body started to kickstart into working conditions once again and a vast numbers and status rushed through her head, every single one of those digits and words informed her how were her internals faring after being forced into a shutdown, most of it looked in decent conditions… except for her energy and fuel reserves, both of them running rather low after so much time without having a source where to refill herself with.

and so, her startup was slow and groggy, the visor on her face lightening up her digital red face as she blinked twice.

The first thing she'd notice is that she was no longer on the grass ground she tried to turn on before, but on a soft long seat with a blue color and a soft- a couch, she remembered… squinting her eyes a little she'd look around the room she was in and she would recognize some of the things in the place- that was a TV, more modern than the last one she'd seen but probably not even with three-dimensional shapes projecting out of it… then there was a long wooden stick with strings on it, alongside with a black, star-shaped part on the bottom half hung just above her, that must be a modern fighting weapon of course.

Only after scanning the remarkably small room she was in she would turn on her place to sit down, her armored feet almost hanging by the size of the seat she was in… what she found the most interesting was how flawed her sight was, one half of her vision was almost completely blurry and the other half was just somewhat okay- so she'd reach up and feel around her visor with a careful paw, trying to find what was wrong as she ran diagnostics.

She could feel the issue instantly, her visor was remarkably cracked to absolute hell: and in situations like these, she'd fix herself good with the repairing room she was so familiar with- but she saw no hints of something like that in this odd place… but she could see one of two doors that called her attention.

She shouldn't be this curious on a planet she had not been in decades, even less when she knew nothing of it, but how could such a slow race be of any danger to her?... Yes, she was partially blinded but she was still logically and technically better than any of the monkeys residing in this rock with her metallic upgrades around her body… haha…

With a hop and a careful turn of her head around the room, she'd make her way towards the left-foremost door, the claws of her feet making a unceremonious amount of sound when meeting with the tile ground as her ears twitched once and opened the door with a soft push and walked inside.

The room was… obviously not a repair room, but was somewhat close with the presence of a large mirror in here, there was a tall porcelain thing and a seat too… There was a part covered by a hanging sheet that she could describe as 'plastic-like' as she dragged it to the side and saw the ovalled tub on it… out of everything here, she could only recognize the damn mirror, yeah she was doing some really good advancements here.

She'd get close to the mirror and look at herself with a bit more of detail- the left side of her visor was almost broken completely, all of the cracks reuniting on a single point which she softly touched… and instantly drew her hand back after feeling an awfully dazing shock coming out of it.

Despite the tools available to her in her hands, arms and head she could only fix this with something specific… something special and for emergencies, a sealing cream made specifically to close those grievous blinding cracks, she had one of them in her kit- OH RIGHT HER EMERGENCY KIT! Where the hell is it? Was it on her seat? Did she miss it? oh for the one above she hoped she did and didn't leave it behind in her pod.

With a fearful twist of her body she was about to move towards the last room she was in- and just as she turned towards the door she caught a glimpse of a unkempt shaggy head peeking by the door frame before it scurried away and she heard the loud sound of a door shutting close.

The mere sight of it made her flinch, But fear was not what lingered in her mind right now but rather intrigue and curiosity… Why would she fear the one running away from her?

She stepped away from the clean room and turned towards the shut door by her left, raising her digital eyebrows before she tried to open it… but it didn't and her eyes squinted in suspicion. she pushed once again, this time with both of her arms as she grunted and did her best to put her whole strength and weight against the door and- while she'd manage to open it halfway she would hear very obvious sounds of panic… This made her realize something crucial, but the door would quickly shut on her face once she faltered a little, making her step back in shock and rubbing her snout that had just been poked by the door.

Well that was alright too, not like she was here for them- but rather, they brought her here, so she'd step towards the couch and check around it leaning by the corner.

The textile red bag rested right there before her… good good. She'd quickly swipe it and take a rest on the blue seat as she dug inside the bag and checked everything inside: A wrapped rectangular flat bar of pure organic fuel, necessary for those long times without energy sources. A short-cannon blaster with two extra batteries, in case she finds out this place is a bit too hostile. A visor-repairing pistol and a single can with the cream required to repair it and a heavy sealed bag with the parts required to create her really needed massive SOS wave.

A wave of relief traveled through her once she saw that everything was untouched and undamaged despite her unfortunate situation, it would've been even better if she had one of those translating collars she could use so much right now… but it seemed like she'd have to go with the old ways for this.

She'd take the bar of fuel and shred the wrapping as she let the bag sit there for now, closing it with a quick knot as she stood up, it was heavy enough that it wouldn't be comfortable to be with on her shoulders. Taking a bite of the dull flavorless bar was easy, but the taste buds in her detested this fact and she'd shudder in response to the solid energy and calories going down the pipe. She turned around as she chewed with effort through the useful meal, about to take a seat in the same piece of furniture she woke up on- and then she saw that shaggy head again.

Peeking from the once closed room, the creature with the tired eyes looked at her with an expression she easily could describe as 'fearful curiosity', his slender fingers gripping the door tightly as she could see him tense up at the sight of her… In an attempt to disarm the other, she raised her hands slowly, opening them up in front of her as she showed her lack of weapons and hostility.

The hairy being squinted his eyes at her, still rightfully untrusting of her- something itches in her memory which makes her widen her bright eyes in realization, she knew a bit of the human lingo, right! 

"[Nie martw si?! Nie jestem tutaj, aby ci? skrzywdzi?!]"

 Her voice comes out synthetic and soft despite the wounds on her visor and she's hopeful that her words go through smoothly … But he looks even worse now, his eyes widened in shock at her voice and her words as his brow furrowed in confusion, She closes her own eyes as she ponders: what could she do to make herself clear?

Before getting too much into it, her ears twitched at the sound of the door opening slightly, watching the man before her take a step forwards in her direction- he looked at her with the same confusion of before, but slowly yet steadily she could see his fear ebb away, she in her part maintained her unarmed pose, slowly letting her hands go down to her hips as she watched him just close the distance a little… and only now would she notice his peculiar appearance.

He was a large but thin creature (at least two heads bigger than her), characterized by the black messy hair that covered part of his eyes and went down to his shoulders, he was thin and clearly without much muscle despite the leathery black jacket and loose green pants he wore, probably to make of this fact somewhat less visible.

Her ears twitched when seeing him take another step forwards, she could see him maintain that fear of before, but he was also willing, That was more important than anything else here, as long as there were actual tries there would be progress being made, but now she needed to think on how to-

“Was… was that human? you talk human?"

An answer! And a lot of words too, she lights up, her digital face offering a delightful smile to the man even though she didn't understand a syllable of what he said, she could be sure now that there was a chance for proper communication. she clasps her hands together and looks down at them, meeting the tip of her claws against each other as she tries to think of something… anything that could help them even more in this situation.

“hold on, que mierda hermano…"

Her eyes raise to see something rectangular, black and lit up with a light on the man's hands, taken out from a pocket on his pants as he begins to tap at it and slide it with various fingers-

A DATAPAD

HOLY ONE ABOVE!

She doesn't even notice herself almost lunging forwards to swipe it out of the human's hands, but the minuscule moment he notices her reaching for him he takes various steps back- his back slamming against the door as his silent horror as he yelps in pain, his hands almost going down to his leg before he prefers to make them stay on front of him defensively.

She acted too fast, too fast for him too, She quickly scrambles with raised hands and leans her back against the blue seat behind her as she curses her desperation, She probably looked horrifying with her broken visor too. She had to remember those lectures about first contacts and new species, especially the former- scratch that, she had to remember all of it right now.

With her sights still on the spooked lanky individual, she clasps her hands together underneath her visor with a grimace on her digital features, doing the best apologetic look she could make as she furrows her brow… Then, extending her hand forwards she would gesture towards the datapad with her other hand by her chest, slowly opening her palm in front of him and hopefully showing that she really meant no harm and the importance of having such technology on her hands, even for some moments.

She could feel his silent watch on her, he didn't say anything, but his heavy breathing was also a heavy reminder that she was the alien here and he could have confused her need with hostility. in those tense moments her ears fold back and her gaze drops- Did she ruin this already?.

Brushing that worry away from her, the feeling of something on the tips of her claws makes her sights snap into his face, He's gotten way closer of her now and the size difference is almost comical, there's still fear on his face and she could feel the shivers transmitting from the datapad down to her smaller hand… but that grimace of his was gone and his eyes were cautiously laid on top of hers, and thanks to that, he would be able to see how the face of the red lights formed a delightful, wide grin that extended from corner to corner, it would be even better looking if it wasn't fractured into ten parts over the cracks on her visor.

A moment later, she takes the datapad from his hands but seeing a alert on her camp of vision stops her, and seeing that it comes from the human on front of her makes her tap the side of her visor, changing her viewing type into scanning mode as she focused her broken view into the Human, which looked more anxious than ever with how he put his arms on front of him in a shabby shrunk pose.

The results came in and they weren't good, this man was standing like nothing with a wound on his head, an open wound on his leg and several scratches all around his body! The sight of the specific warnings all around his body made her bring up a hand in front of her visor in silent shock- she wished she could do something, but she couldn't while she was half blind, so first of all, she needed to understand how this datapad worked, and after that, try to have an actual conversation with the human who saved her from who knows what.