The quiet pair

1.2

/Nole/

The concept of death is a scary thing for everyone... If anything, our kind have it the easiest.

I couldn't help but freeze as I saw it. There were two ships that crashed. I could feel my head begin to fill with nerves as I wondered what had happened. There were two figures that seemed to have survived, one from each ship. One had a tail, and the other didn't speak. It didn't look like either were from here.

As much as I wished that they were travelling alone, I knew inside that there were more of them inside that didn't make it.

To die on a faraway planet...

It was a scary thought. We don't have much of a choice when it comes to death, but we at least hope to be somewhere at home and safe. These people died very far away from home, somewhere they hadn't even set foot before. Their bodies might end up staying here forever, their souls cursed to wander the barren lands of our planet.

This wasn't a place for others. I hear that the rest of the universe is more interactive and connected to one another, but this place is completely different. It's best that we just be left alone out here...

I wonder what happens to them after they die. Our kind seem to be one of the few species that has an answer...

The taller one noticed me. I was still frozen. My body was still processing other thoughts so it took me a few seconds to react to their approach. By the time I turned around and was on the move, I felt a strange piercing in my left arm. I turned around to see a strange kind of needle or dart that was connected to the taller one's wrist. It didn't hurt or seem to have damaged me, but it gave me a weird feeling.

They were too close so I didn't know what to do. I just stood there and stared at them. The smaller one seemed frightened and nervous, but since he was the one that could speak, he had to try.

"Hi, um..." he began, flustered. I noticed the taller one hold their hand. He did it so casually that I don't think the smaller one even noticed. "Sorry to bother you. We crashed here, so, uh... Would you be able to help us, please!"

I just stared at them for a few seconds, before realising that they were waiting for me to speak. "Oh, right. Unfortunately, I don't think I can be of much help."

The two of them were looking at me very intensely and I didn't really know how to explain it. With my foot I began drawing a circle in the dirt.

"I guess, you could say that those of us out here aren't entirely sure where we are. We are somewhere in this large section of our planet's surface. It's only in this smaller area here that we have outer contact and means of travel away from here."

I took a second to regain my breath. "Sorry, this is my first time speaking. It feels a little strange still."

"Your first time?" The small one asked, but then quickly covered his mouth shyly. I ignored it and just continued.

"Yeah, uh, things might be a bit different to what you're used to, here. Those of us that you'll find out here are just humble wanderers, travelling from one pod to another in this wide-open land you see. I can take you to one of them but I don't think any of us here will have the kind of help that you seem to be needing..."

"Thank you so much for taking us somewhere to stay for the time being." he replied.

"Stay..." I quietly mumbled to myself, confused. Now that I thought about it, I guess those in the capital likely had rooted homes that they lived in. It was a strange concept to me, the idea of staying somewhere, to have a place to return to.

I turned my back to them, walking away. I would look back occasionally to check if they were following me, but I tried to stay as distant as I could. I wasn't sure what to do. Our kind never had to worry about interacting with anyone, let alone outsiders, so I had no knowledge or understanding as to what the correct approach was. On the one hand, I couldn't stay with them, but on the other, I couldn't leave them alone either.

A few hours later we found one of the pods and we went inside. They could hold four people, so the three of us each had a place to sleep. The two of them seemed to understand how it functioned and where to get food from, so there didn't seem to be any issues there.

When the next day began, I woke up to find the two of them still here. It's a thought that was obvious but still evades us sometimes. People don't just stop existing. We may not see them, but everyone out there is existing all the hours of the day, all the days of the week, all the weeks of a year. For the first time I might have to see others existing besides me, as the time passed on...