The Stars Are Bright Tonight

Stella lay flat on her back on the backyard lawn at her home. Dew on the grass dampened her back. She gazed up at the moonless, cloudless sky filled with luminous, scintillating stars on the cool, crisp early spring night. A yearning she never understood filled her mind as she watched the canvas of stars display their miraculous existence.

Stella was ten years old and dreamed of adventure. Her interest in space formed the perfect combination of mischief and space, if only she could get there.

Wouldn’t be wonderful to fly to those stars one day and discover the secrets they keep, she thought. But that’s impossible. Even if I hopped on the fastest spaceship, it’d take much longer than my life to even leave the sun’s heliosphere. I think.

Stella considered her hypothesis. Maybe I’d last a bit longer, but I’d never reach Proxima Centauri alive. She sighed in disappointment.

And as for seeing an alien, she blew a raspberry. That’ll never happen, no matter what the conspiracists say.

Just then, Stella spotted three stars in the southeast at a thirty-degree altitude angle brightening. She frowned. That’s unusual. They can’t all be going supernova simultaneously, can they? She continued watching the phenomenon with increased interest, wondering what it meant.

The three stars continued to increase in brightness. They seemed to grow as she watched. Fascinated, Stella continued lying on the ground, intrigued by what she saw.

Without warning, the stars moved. Her eyes bulged in disbelief. Her brain couldn’t decipher what her eyes saw, but she continued watching, determined to witness whatever outcome the event delivered. She wished she had her telescope set up so she could better view the objects.

They can’t be stars. Stars don’t move. And the planets don’t behave that way. Are they meteors?

The objects continued to increase in size — Stellar called them objects now. They certainly weren’t stars — until form and shape became clear. Unsure of which face the objects presented to her, she squinted for better clarity. From where she lay, they looked chevron in form. She smacked her forehead. They’re bombers. They must be doing maneuvers.

But as she continued watching, doubt penetrated her thoughts. Bombers don’t move like that, and Stella had seen no new model from the nearby airforce base where they often tested new aircraft developments.

The shapes continued moving closer, and the shapes became more defined. They definitely were chevron-shaped, but she had no reference to determine their size. No means of propulsion were obvious; no telltale glow of combustion or other clue. Yet they had radiated a luminous light only moments ago.

With increasing interest, Stella lay transfixed by the sight. After an unfathomable time, the objects slowed and descended to the ground fifty meters away in the field behind her house.

She rose and straightened her posture. They looked minuscule compared to the brilliance they illuminated during their movement towards her. From where she now stood, they looked ten meters high and thirty wide. She couldn’t tell how long they were from her position. They had a shiny metallic appearance with no discernible windows. The bodies of the ships were supported on three stubby struts with wide bases to prevent their weight causing them to sink into the soil.

Without warning, a ramp hinged open on the closest ship.

Stella’s heart raced as a mixture of excitement and fear battled to take prominence inside her. Will anyone descend the ramp?

A few moments later, Stella saw humanoid legs appear on the ramp, becoming more prevalent with each step of whatever being was exiting the ship. The torso appeared next, then the head. Stella’s eyes boggled at the sight. It definitely wasn’t human. After the initial shock, her brain re-engaged. The chances of an alien being humanoid are minuscule? Someone’s playing a joke. But what about the ship? She stood in indecision, afraid to move, hoping whatever it was didn’t see her with those huge black eyes where they were on any human.

Unfortunately for Stella, the creature had no problem locating her. It — was it male or female, both or neither? — directed its gaze toward her at once and headed her way. She gulped, unable to move as she wondered if it projected some force to glue her to the spot. When five meters away from her, it stopped and stood with a constant, unblinking gaze.

“Greetings, Earthling,” the creature said in perfect English, Stella’s native language.

Taken aback by its sudden speech, Stella said the first thought that flashed into her head. “How do you know this planet’s Earth? Only we call it that.”

“We have been here before and asked.”

“Oh.” Stella still suspected a prank. “How come you speak English?”

“We study all languages and assimilate them into our memory storage bank.”

“Must be a big storage bank.”

“Sixteen billion terabytes.”

Stella didn’t know how much that was, but it must be a huge number. She was lost for words for a few seconds.

“The stars are bright tonight,” the alien said.

“What?” Stella asked, emerging from her contemplation.

“The star—”

“Oh. Sorry. I was daydreaming. Yes, they are.”

“Night dreaming.”

“What?”

“Night dreaming. An entity daydreams during the day.”

Stella frowned with a puzzled expression, not understanding what the alien was talking about. Something bothered her. “What are you doing here? You come to abduct me? Do experiments on me, or something?”

The alien laughed. “You have been watching too many moving pictures.”

“Well?”

“We had to stop to fill up with fuel.”

“There’s no gas station around here.” Stella stopped to think. “But you wouldn’t use gas. Nuclear fuel. We don’t have any.”

“We do not use any of that. It is too primitive.”

“Primitive?”

“Yes.” The alien gave her a condescending smile. “We use silicon dioxide. I believe you call it sand.”

“Oh. Well, we don’t have that either. Go to the beach for that. It’s nearby, I suppose.”

“Which direction?”

“Over there.” Stellar pointed to the southwest. “About three miles.”

“Thank you so much,” the alien said, bowing.

“Stellar!” a female voice shouted from her home’s back door. “It’s time for bed.”

Stella sighed and turned to her mother. “Okay. Coming.”

She returned to the alien and blinked. Where did it go? It had vanished. And the spaceships had gone with it.

The End