Not Like the Rest

Chapter Eleven

Mark was strolling through town, Chica padding in front of him. He looked around at the sights, when he heard a voice behind him. 

"Mark!"

Mark turned around to see Ethan Nestor, an eighth grader he was friends with racing up to him, holding a binder filled with paper. "Mark! You won't believe what I've found!!!!!"

Mark blinked, keeping hold of Chica. "Oh! Hey, Ethan!"

Ethan panted from running, waving. "Hi. Mark, I need to show you something."

Mark rolled his eyes and nodded. "Alright. What do you want to show me?"

~~~

Ethan led Mark into the nearby forest. Mark looked around, wondering what Ethan could've found out here. He knew Ethan was a bit of a nerd/conspiracy theorist, so having Ethan claim to find something wasn't new for anyone. Ethan then disappeared into a small clearing. Mark followed him, keeping Chica close. Mark then found Ethan standing next to a large metal object. Mark's eyes widened. "Whoa..." he said. "What is that?"

Ethan looked at Mark, excitement flashing in his eyes. "I don't know, but I did a test on the material, and it's like nothing I've ever seen! I took a sample 5 months ago, and dipped it into water, then let it oxidize. Similar to the metals made for spacecraft launched by us on Earth, it's metal does not rust for a while, but after seeing the normal spacecraft materials rust, the new metal stayed unoxidized."

Mark blinked, kneeling down to Ethan's level.

The younger boy swept his hair out of his face. "And look through the window, if you can."

Mark did so, looking at the object's hollow inside. A chair sat in front of a possible control panel, with a heavily locked door at the back. Mark blinked, looking at Ethan. Ethan flipped through his binder. "Through visual analysis, I've come to believe that this was a transportation vessel at some point, and judging by the size of the hull, it was meant for a small group."

Ethan finally found the page he was looking for. "And through analysis and testing of the material, I have reason to believe that this was once a flying ship."

Mark blinked. "But don't they already have those?"

Ethan looked at Mark, no trace of humor in his eyes. "Not like this, Mark. Haven't you noticed? The strong material of the outer hull? The specially crafted windows? The thrusters on the sides?"

Mark thought to himself about Ethan's find. He knew that Ethan was notorious for having lied about his research, and Mark badly wanted to shun the boy's ideas, but something inside him clicked.

He knew ever since that night on the roof, something was up, and Mark couldn't shake the feeling that maybe this strange vessel Ethan happened to stumble upon could be a large piece in his suspicions. He stood and looked along the side of the ship, tracing his fingers along it. He then found a cluster of strange symbols. He looked closer at them, then looked at Ethan. The boy looked where Mark was looking, scribbling down the looks of the symbols. Once he was done, Ethan looked at Mark, closing his binder. Mark locked eyes with him. "Did we just-?"

Ethan nodded. "Yes..."

The two males looked at the markings. Ethan's voice was the first to return to the deafening silence, but no louder than a whisper.

"This ship came from outer space..."

A/N: OMG SHE FINALLY UPDATES RELATIVELY SOON AFTER THE LAST UPDATE!!!!!!! Anyway, I finally have something big happening, that will work into what's coming up in the future, but as mentioned, it's coming along pretty slowly. This idea was something I thought of on the fly, since I've been contemplating adding Ethan as a character in another of my stories. But anyway, I won't keep you longer. Thank you so much for reading, feel free to let me know what you think or what improvements I can make (like if a plot point like this came too early or not) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and I will see you soon!

~JACL