Friends Over Lightyears

Tessa loved to look at the stars. Ever since she was a small child, she had viewed them with awe. Tonight was no exception as she cast her eyes up towards astronomical wonders.

She had grown up watching Dr. Who, Star Trek and many other cinimatic sci-fi productions. Durring her family's frequent trips to the library, Tessa managed to get ahold of various astronomy books. It was in these books she learned about stars, black holes, galaxies and so much more. Tessa began to wonder if there was life out there in the great big universe she had read so much about.

Tonight, her family was on their annual camping trip in Water Canyon, New Mexico. It was miles away from the nearest city. Tessa loved it, the smell of ponderosa, the dark night sky afforded great opportunities to observe many phenomena. "Hey dork," her younger brother, Ian called. "The fire went out half an hour ago; you coming in the tent?" Ian can be such a pain! Tessa thought; bitting back on her response. "Nope;" she said. "Tonight's the best time to observe the Leonid meteor shower! No way I'm missing out." Ian rolled his eyes. "Whatever;" he said. "I'm going to sleep." He retracted his head inside and zipped up the flap.

Their parents had given Tessa permission to stay up as long as she stayed in the camp. She checked her watch using the red filtered light she had brought with her, 12:58am, almost time. She returned her gaze to the sky.

Light began to streak across velvet darkness in short bursts. It was dazzling, then a particularly large meteor blazed across Tessa's view. It was well over ten times the size of it's cohorts and did not extinguish. Most unusually, this meteor changed direction as it got lower, seeming to glide down into the trees. There was a giant roar almost like a jet following the object's descent. Just as she had lost sight of this anomaly, a black plume errupted from the nearby forest.

Tessa knew she had promised her parrents she'd stay close, but this was too weird not to go investigate. She knew by the broken branches and acrid smoke the object had to be close. Then, its true nature became apparent.

It wasn't a meteor, it was a craft of some sort. Not a flying saucer exactly, it looked somewhat like an egg but more sleek and with wings. There was some sort of support like landing struts that were badly dammaged. Flames came from the rear of the craft. While they had not spread to the rest of the body, they still looked dangerous. A hatch on the top of the vehichle opened.

Out of the opening, a humanoid figure clad in what looked like some sort of space suit climbed out, jumped to the ground looked around. It looked back at the damaged ship then around the woods. It spotted Tessa standing close by and jumped slightly as if startled. Cautiously, it approached her.

A loud hissing noise started coming from the ruined ship. The figure grasped Tessa in strong arms, threw her over its shoulders and ran suprisingly fast for something clad in a bulky suit. They travelled for a few hundred yards before the creature brought Tessa to the ground and covered her protectively.

The ship exploded violently not long after this. Debris flew past the pair. Once the heat, pressure and shrapnel had ceased to fill the air, the strange entity pulled itself off Tessa and helped her into a sitting position. It pulled a strange device, that looked like a small radio, from a pouch and scanned Tessa and then the atmosphere. Having done this, the humanoid put the device away and got out another gadget, which it handed to Tessa. The creature gestured to a button on the side of the device in her hand.

"I'm sorry;" Tessa said. "I don't know what you mean." The being held up a hand to signal it needed a moment. It pulled off its helmet revealing a somewhat strange face. The eyes were large and almond shaped with amber colored irises. The ears, which were longer than most people's, sat on the side of its head and supported some sort of headphones with a piece that came in front of the creature's mouth. This being's face was framed by a cowl made of a thin, stretchy cloth, from which a tuft of reddish, wirery hair peeked .

It pressed a button hidden beneath the fabric on its cheek. "If you press the side of the relator;" it said. "You can talk to me." Finally understanding, Tessa eagerly complied. "Wow so cool!" She said. "How come you speak English? Are you an Alien? What's your name?" A sound escaped the being that sounded like laughter. "Young ones are always so curious;" it said. "I am a researcher from a planet orbiting a star 4.25 light years from here. We do not speak any of the languages on your planet; that is why we have to use the relator to talk." This was awesome! Tessa finally knew someone from another part of the galaxy! "So you're from Proxima Centauri's planetary system?" She asked. "Wow! I read about that star in my book! So...can you tell me your name and why you came to Earth?"

The alien tried the word tenantively. "Earth;" it said. "That is what you call this planet. In our space atlas, it is indexed as 2737-C. My species came here to search for intelligent life about 96 of your orbital cycles ago, after detecting what appeared to be radio signals emanating from 2737-C. We have been studying the development of your species' civilization from our orbiting observation station for aproximately 92 orbital cycles."

Tessa was suprised she hadn't expected anyone to be as interested in studying things as she was. "Neat;" Tessa said. " So how come nobody's seen you guys?" There was more laughter from her companion. "I was aware your species had two genders;" it said. "And I assume you think all our researchers are male. I assure you though, I come from a species where males do not exist. My name is Acehb, it means 'she who brightens'. We have not been spotted because until your species started launching artificial satelites, we did not come down to the planet. Our protocol dictated that we not mount any expiditions to the surface until evidence suggested your species had developed space travel. Once that had occurred, we sent small craft, like mine, to study your kind more closely."

That seemed like a really long time. Sputnik, mankind's first satelite, had been sent into orbit back when Tessa's grandparents had been babies. "Okay;" Tessa said. "So does that mean you're really old? You don't look like you're any older than my mom. Sorry, was that rude? My name's Tessa by the way." Acehb smiled a little. "No to both questions, Tessa;" she said. "I am a member of the third generation to study your planet. In my planet's obrital peroid, I was born 1,120 cycles ago, that would be aproximately 35 Earth cycles. On average, our kind lives for 3,809 orbits around our star. So I've got a while before I pass into the afterlife. Tessa, can I ask you a favor?"

Tessa felt slightly embearassed, she had sat here asking all these questions not even thinking that Acehb might need help. "Sure;" Tessa said. "What do you need?" Tessa's new aquaintance tapped a device on the wrist of her suit. "I need to conact my people;" Acehb said. "It seems like here, towards the bottom of this canyon, my comunication nexus is not able to get a signal out. My suit's telemetry tells me there is a higher point of elevation not too far away. Can you help me find a way up there?" Tessa had been camping and hiking in Water Canyon since she was old enough to walk. "I think I know a trail;" she said. "It goes up to the highest point in this area."

It was a little harder to go up the path at night, Tessa had to go slower than she would've liked. They still reached the peak in under an hour. Acehb examined her communication nexus for a moment satisfied, she began talking into the device. Tessa couldn't understand any of what Acehb was saying but the alien seemed happy when a voice answered back. After a brief interaction, Aceb adressed Tessa.

"Thank you, Tessa;" she said. "My people will be here in ten minutes. They will take me back to the observation station where I will await debriefing and then decide my next course of action." Tessa was a little dissapointed. "Will you come back to visit?" She asked. Acehb looked kind of sad. "I am sorry;" she said. "But we are not allowed to interfere with your species' cultural, or scientific development. If I came back, then that would violate our laws...but I can let you keep the relator, with it, you can speak with me any time you like." That wasn't the answer Tessa had hoped for, but it was better than nothing. "I promise;" Tessa said. "'Live long and prosper.'...oh wait Star Trek reference! Don't know if you get our TV programs." Acehb let out a chuckle. "'Live long and prosper', little one;" she replied. A ship, similar to the damaged one Acehb had arrived in, decended slowly coming to a gentle landing twenty feet away. The new friends said their goodbyes and Acehb entered the recue craft. When the craft had gained more altitude, Tessa looked up at the stars, greatfull for her experience.