(MSWC) Abduction

The aliens had named her Sassy. She could feel their thoughts inside her mind. That was how she knew that the sound meant her.

There were other thoughts. Peace. Calm down. Don't struggle. She couldn't understand the words, but she knew what they meant. Staying calm was easy. They had done something to her; used one of their strange weapons. She should have been much more frightened. Instead she just felt sleepy.

She was tied down, but she could move her head. She turned towards an alien standing nearby. They stared at each other for a moment. The aliens were small, maybe three-quarters of her height, and skinny, horribly skinny. Nearly hairless, with big skulls and protruding eyes.

Everything was strange beyond comprehension, yet the thoughts pouring into her brain gave her new understanding. The pain on her arm was a needle, for taking blood. With the blood they could read her pattern and learn what she was made of. The object poking her ear was for measuring heat. Other machines recorded her appearance.

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Eventually they stopped, and all but one left. This one was female, or at least vaguely feminine. Sassy couldn't tell the difference.

The alien gave her some water and some odd but very tasty food - something like honey. She was trying to explain to Sassy who she was. Sassy decided to think of her as Learning-to-Heal. The others had called upon Learning-to-Heal because she had the knowledge needed to study Sassy. But of course she was just talking to herself, because an animal couldn't comprehend...

They didn't know! The aliens weren't trying to send her their thoughts at all. She was reading them, and they didn't know it!

Learning-to-Heal thought Sassy was an animal. Now she could see why they had given her that name. "Sassy" meant monster, beast, a smart animal but not quite a person. This was bad. There was no telling what they would do with her.

Sassy would steal their secrets from their minds, and then she would escape and return home. Somehow she would share this. Nobody would believe that she had been abducted by aliens, but somehow she had to give them the knowledge she had acquired. Only with technology of their own could they protect themselves from the threat.

She he lay still and waited. If they believed her docile, she might find an opening.

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It had been the thoughts that had taken her far from home, into a empty field. She hadn't known it at the time, but their minds had called to her - so smart, so full of understanding. She had been alone. Nobody would know what had happened to her.

An elder arrived, and became very excited at the sight of Sassy. He was called Teacher. He wanted to untie Sassy, but Knowing-of-Plants was concerned that she would be violent. Knowing-of-Plants didn't get much respect from the others, even though the information Sassy had pulled from his mind was the most fascinating of all. Such secrets would ensure that no one back home ever suffered hunger, ever again.

She tried to act calm and peaceful. The drug had worn off, and her fear was overwhelming, but she had to keep her head. Teacher untied her bindings. She sat up and looked at them.

Learning-to-Heal gave her some meat. It tasted amazing. She sought out the secret in the minds of the aliens, and discovered a new source of energy. No one back home would ever need to suffer from the cold again either, not if she taught them this. She had to escape!

She decided to take a risk, and speak. "What do you want?"

They didn't understand. It was just the call of an animal to them. Teacher asked Knowledge-of-Plants if the image machine was working okay. Teacher touched her arm, moved it back and forth. She patiently tolerated being pawed at.

He seemed particularly interested in her teeth, pulling her lips back to show the machine. She held still and resisted te urge to bite him. She had to wait for the right moment.

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It was time. Teacher was communicating with his superiors, and Learning-to-Heal had left the room. Sassy decided to use some cunning. She addressed Knowledge-of-Plants is his own language, as well as she could pronounce it.

"Ba-rrra-nng. Ba-rra-nng. Eee-see. Teka eee-see Ba-rra-nng."

He stood silent, in utter shock. He understood. The knowledge that she could speak had left him too surprised to react. Sassy backhanded him, then ran into the next room. She hit Learning-to-Heal, knocking the fragile creature unconscious with one blow.

The door to the outside wasn't even locked, and right next to it was a weapon. Sassy knew how to use it, and the aliens didn't know that. It wasn't a drugging weapon either. This one would kill. She grabbed it, flipped off the safety, and bolted out the door.

Outside it was dark. There were other aliens around, but she could hide from them, and if not, then she had the weapon. Sassy headed off in the direction of home.

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"Annie! Annie, are you okay?" Brian asked as he held as icepack to his sister's face. "Don't get up, you might have a concussion."

"Did it get away?" Annie was dazed but there was no time to waste. They must not let it escape!

"Yeah," Brian answered. "Professor Parker is getting some men together to track it down."

"We got video, and blood. Fur. People will have to believe us, won't they Brian?"

"Don't ask me. I'm just a farmhand." He wiped a bit of his own blood off of his lip. "Yeah, they'll believe. We'll all be famous."

"We really did it." Alice smiled. "We proved the existence of Sasquatch."

well written, nice twist, s+f

An interesting and good story. Good luck in the contest, S & F. -cheers...

[edit on 31-8-2009 by catalyst2466]

My best friend, a much better writer than myself, just informed me that a line of dialogue in my story is reminicent of a line from Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal.

I plan on rewriting the story after taking criticism on board. I intend to change Annie's name.

Interesting story and thanks for sharing it with us. That was one heck of a twist at the end and caught me by surprise. You have a good writing style that I hope to see more of in the contest yet to come.

S & F for you and I hope you do well in the contest.