HUDSON

The club was desolate. The bartenders were stiff and paused, afraid to move. The owner of the club paced to and fro. Andrew just sat there, unable to understand the magnitude of the situation. I sat beside him because I didn’t know how to deal with it.

“Ok, ok. Listen, Hudson. You will find it and bring it back,” the owner said with a hesitating voice.

“I understand, but it will take time,” I said.

“I know it will,” he then stopped and turned, “How did this even happen?”

“It may have escaped when I accidentally dropped the box after landing here,” I told him.

“What? But I drop—” Andrew tried to speak before I nudged him.

“Sorry?” The owner said.

“Uh, I was saying, what was in the box? I was just hitching a ride, y’know,” Andrew excused.

“You Earthians can not pronounce its name, but that monster has killed life from two planets,” he glanced at me, “It is a monster, right? Am I using the right noun?”

“Yes, but for the planet part, it would be better to say ‘That monster has wiped out life from two planets thus far’,” I corrected him.

Then the owner looked at Andrew, “Excuse my accent, English is not my first language.”

“Your English is impeccable, sir,” Andrew complimented him.

The owner turned to me with confusion. “He means your English is very well,” I told the owner.

“Oh, thank you. I’m Huakian, a Jargian,” the owner told Andrew.

Andrew turned to me with confusion. “Jargia is a planet ten light years away, and his first name is Huakian,” I told Andrew.

“Anyway, we shall leave and swiftly catch the organism,” I said and stood up.

“Cya,” Andrew said as he stood up too.

The owner stared at me in confusion, but I knew that he knew what ‘catch’ meant.

☆✷☆

“Why is he learning English?” Andrew asked as his face was once again glued to the mesmerizing space.

“I can only read and write the universal language but am unable to speak and listen because it’s impossible with a human’s vocal and hearing range.”

“But you spoke with the bartenders?” he asked.

“That was a Moonian language, it’s slightly similar to Portuguese.”

“How many languages do you know?”

“Please, can we focus on the task at hand?”

“Sorry,” Andrew sat quietly and fiddled with his fingers. I sighed.

“Could you tell me the first location of the six?” I requested from Andrew.

“It says Paris, wait, what are all these for?”

I switch on the autopilot to Paris, because unlike teleporting in and out of my room, I can’t teleport in and out of Paris, so it’ll be a while.

“According to my calculations, those are the six most possible places it would go.”

ANDREW

I’d never been to Paris before. It was far. It was expensive. And the only French words I knew were “Bonjour,” “Baguette,” and “Croissant.” Hudson on the other hand was speaking to the locals like he was born here.

“Excusez-moi, madame. Avez-vous vu un animal noir? C’est petit et rapide. Non, ce n’est pas un chien ou un chat,” Hudson spoke to a passer-by. Then the lady walked off.

“Any luck?” I asked him

“No, I guess it’s hiding,” Hudson rummaged through his pockets and brought out a smartphone-like device. When it lit up, it showed the map. He crossed some locations out.

“Paris is unnecessarily big, what a pain... Andrew,” he called out to me.

“Yes?” I perked up.

“Go back to the Forêt Domaniale de Sénart please and watch over the ship, I’ll keep searching,” Hudson handed me a device with a button, “Stay inside the ship unless you see a small fast black thing that doesn’t look like either a dog, cat, rabbit or any existing animal, then you’ll press this button, also press the button if a person starts to come near the ship.”

“Ok,” I nodded. His demanding voice is so cute. The way he’s so serious just makes me want to pinch him. Or better yet, kiss him.

“Stop staring and go,” he whined.

It hadn’t taken me that long to reach the Fohe doma—whatever it was called. I sat firmly in the car and… thought about Andrea. It’d been almost two hours since I decided to skip. I wonder if she felt disappointed in me. I never liked disappointing anyone. I loved it when people would praise me or would want to hang out with me. I didn’t… I didn’t like it when… Suddenly I remembered a scene, a distant scene from when I was only six. My father was there, buying me cotton candy that I practically begged him for. I was holding a teddy bear he won at one of the games. Yes, him. I loved it when he would praise me, and I’d cry when he’d say he expected more.

*THUD THUD*

A loud thudding noise abruptly ended my thoughts. In front of me, on the windshield, was a small black thing, which screeched like an animal I’d never heard. A small thing that looks nothing like I’ve seen before? Exactly what Hudson must’ve been looking for. I immediately pressed the button he had asked me to. I found myself more cheerful that I’d be seeing him again than be scared about…well, that. I patiently stayed in the—I must say—very powerful and protective car. With how much that thing had been banging, I couldn’t even see a single dent! From where did Hudson even find something like this?

About two minutes later, he came. And thirty seconds later, both of us were outside the space car. His arms were folded, not with anger but with disappointment. And I was there listening to his words.

“You have never seen that before?” He asked me.

I quietly nodded.

“It was a baby boar! And here I was thinking that you touched more grass than me—”

Yet, as soon as he said that, the car flew away. No, not fly as we did in space, but fly as if something pushed it greatly from underneath. What was it? Another strange thing I’ve also never seen before, but it was not a baby boar, it was slightly larger and had one eye. It was staring at Hudson with a great mean expression.