Faster Than Thought

© Christopher Scott Silva

The communicator grew cold in my grip. My ship was lost. The escape
pod had been my last resort. The only way to destroy the alien was to
deploy the ship's self-destruct mechanism.

No easy decision. Piloting the good ship Tesca had been my honour.
Losing her was more than I could bear. But it had to be done.

I record the circumstances for posterity.

The alien was a monster: we had emerged near a pale blue dot of a
planet with a bright yellow sun. I'd beamed to the surface to take
some core samples. At first, it was a pleasant experience: cool, alien
atmosphere, blue skies and strange mountain ranges white-tipped with
di-hydrogen oxide. Beautiful and frightening.

I finished sampling and sent them via halo back to Tesca. I was next.

When the particle shift came — dizzying and numbing as usual — a dark
figure, low and fast, skidded into the field with me.

The shift continued and I landed in dock with a slap. Beaming is
always a tad painful.

I almost lost balance as I reformed. The alien scurried between my
legs — a graceful blur of speed and agility — and disappeared, moving
freely into my ship.

I raised a communicator alarm and ran as fast as I could to quarantine
the area.

But I was too late. Sensor readings in the dock indicated no life
forms. It had escaped.

My communicator shrilled. Eaan screamed about a monster. There. So
fast. It was on the move. I headed for the globe, knowing Eaan would
be switching the autosync. She must have sighted the beast there.

The globe was its usual blue and soft hue and, sadly, empty. Eaan was
gone.

The beast let out a high-pitched sound behind me. That's when I dove
into the escape pod and hit the charger. My existence flashed before
my eyes, and I prayed to Those Who Know that the beast had not
followed me into the pod.

Safe. I scanned the immediate area. The nearest planet had a reddish,
dusty surface. Within moments, the pod settled itself on the planet,
and began beaming a distress signal. I'd be rescued soon enough.

I retrieved the communicator, and Eaan came to screen, mumbling about
the self destruct. Not long to go.

When it happened, I would lose my beloved, but the alien would never
invade our world.

I watched the screen, waiting for it. Eann looked ready to fight the
alien. It stood nearby, small and multi-coloured, with oval eyes, two
pointy ears, and four legs. Behind it trailed a fifth appendage that
swayed back and fourth.

Eaan moved to strike it down with one of her danglers, but I feared
she was too slow. The alien roared a, "Meoww", but Eaan's dangler
began stroking the alien's fur, and the beast released a sound like
none I have ever heard before: "Puurrrrrr — "

— A single flash. The communicator went dead.

I sat a moment, small and alone in the pod. I climbed into the Cryo-
bin and hit the button — delivering darkness and dreams.