Stranded on a Tiny Planet
Chapter 32: Pictures of Earth

Pixie found Merco’s hill of clothes and had dried herself using his shirt. She sat in it for a time to warm up again too. Once dry she went out and found her uniform and put it back on. What Merco had taught her was useful and she felt like she’d learned something...but it didn’t make her want to start jumping in Anashee Lake. It baffled her that such a gigantic being could swim. Something that big, by all rights, should sink like a rock. But then again, Gold Scaled Leviathans were the biggest creatures on their planet and they lived in the water.

At that moment she could feel Merco’s return and when she looked toward the lake she saw a flash of gold scales pass by near the treetops. Merco had caught himself another Gold Scaled Leviathan. Even after seeing it a time before it never ceased to amaze her that he could catch and eat those monsters. Knowing he’d probably be embarrassed if she saw him without clothes she waited for him to return on his own. The trees creaked and snapped signaling it as he strode toward her, dressed and carrying the fish.

“Look what I caught Pixie.” He announced, dropping the huge fish on the ground.

Pixie noted he didn’t have his pole, “But...you don’t have your fishing pole...how did you catch it?”

He gestured out to the lake, “Oh, some Ansheetans in a boat had it snagged on their net and it was going to pull them under. So, I helped them out.” He smiled and retrieved his knife, “Got a meal out of it.”

“You’re saving all kinds of Ansheetans!” Pixie seemed excited by that.

He dipped his head, “Well, I’ve got to quell this notion that I’m some kind of giant alien monster out to destroy everything.” he set the fish down, “Well Pixie, hope you’re hungry.”

Pixie nodded, “I’ll go replace some plants to season it with.”

Merco nodded and set to work prepping his fish.

...

Later...

It had gotten dark by the time Merco and Pixie sat down to the meal of fish. He hadn’t eaten much of anything all day so the meal was very welcome. Pixie sat with her own tiny portion enjoying it.

“Is it good?” Merco asked her.

She bobbed her head, chewing.

He grinned at her, “Good. Hopefully, I’m getting better at this.”

After finishing the fish Merco buried the remains and put another piece of wood on his fire.

“You mind if we stay here tonight?” he asked.

Pixie glanced around a moment at the dark woods, but then looked up at him, “As long as I can sleep in your pocket.”

Merco nodded with a grin, “You’ve got it.”

The little lavender alien smiled at him, raising her small plumage. She floated straight upward until she was right in front of his face. He watched her and very slowly she floated in close and touched her tiny forehead to his.

When she pulled away he smiled but cocked his head curiously, “What was that?”

“That’s how Ansheetans show affection.” She explained.

Merco gave a smile that was almost sad looking to her or perhaps it was a humbled smile?

Pixie wasn’t sure she read his expression correctly as she asked, “What’s wrong?”

He merely looked down, “Thank you, Pixie.”

“How-how do humans like you show affection?”

Merco glanced at her, “Oh, a number of ways I suppose...here.”

Pixie watched his huge hand come up and circle behind her. With great gentility he began herding her toward his chest. Pixie wasn’t sure what to do or how to react as Merco’s hand softly pressed her into his chest. His shoulders seemed to pull forward and his chin dipped toward his chest as he held her in place. He was very warm and all Pixie could hear was the loud pulse of his heart just in front of her and the deep rush of his exhale. After a moment his hand released her and she floated back a bit.

“Humans call that a ‘hug’. It’s how we show affection or greet someone we like.” He explained and chuckled, “It heh... looks a bit different with someone your size though.”

“Hug...” she tried the alien word.

Abruptly she floated back to his chest and laid against him to which he laughed gently and placed his hand over her again.

“It’s nice...the hug.” She remarked.

When he released her, Pixie looked down and lowered herself into his shirt pocket. She poked her head out and looked up at him.

“Are you the biggest thing on your planet too?” she asked randomly.

“Ha!” Merco laughed, “Hardly. Humans are somewhere in the middle in size when it comes to Earth creatures.”

Pixie had an amazed expression on her face, “Really? There are things bigger than you?”

“Oh yeah. And there are creatures that are even smaller than you on my planet.” He explained touching the top of her head for emphasis.

Pixie tapped him, “Can you show me those images you were looking at of your family?”

“Oh. Sure.” Merco reached into his jacket which he had tied around his waist and pulled out his Holo-Pic card.

The thin device was still charged so he touched the activation circle on it and rows of his pictures fluttered up into the air in a cascading fashion. Pixie stared up at the small images with wonder.

“We don’t have anything like that.” She commented, reaching up to touch the holograms.

“It’s kind of a new thing for me.” He admitted, flicking his finger over the images to roll through them.

He settled on a picture of Tony and Martin, the one where they were boys and had French fry fangs. A fond smile crossed his face upon seeing the picture again, as well as a sadness. Now that he and Pixie could understand one another, he could explain the pictures to her.

“That’s Martin and that’s Tony when they were younger.” he explained, pointing to each of his sons.

“Who’s that human?” Pixie asked, pointing to his now ex-wife.

“That was my...my former mate, Hailey.”

Pixie quirked her head a bit, “She looks different than you...because she’s a female like me?”

Merco nodded.

“Why did you ‘grow apart’ like you said? Don’t humans mate for life like Ansheetans?” Pixie inquired.

Merco smiled wistfully, “Well...it’s supposed to be that way. We raised our sons until they were grown and that kept us together. But...my job took me far away from Earth and her job kept long hours so we didn’t see each other much. And the love...it just faded.” he sighed, “I’m probably most to blame.”

Pixie leaned in his shirt pocket as she looked up at him listening.

“But...that’s, as we humans say, ‘water under the bridge’.”

He swiped over and showed the more current picture of Tony and Martin standing together at Martin’s induction ceremony into the military. Martin was in his military pilot uniform and Tony was dressed in casuals.

He pointed to each of his sons, “There’s Martin and Tony like they are now. They’re as big as me.”

Pixie’s eyes seemed to hold puzzlement, “They...don’t look the same as the other image. Why?”

“They grew up. Remember how I said my species starts out small?”

He flipped through some more pictures and found the pictures of Tony and Martin when they were just born. Pixie’s eyes really got big as he flipped between the baby and current pictures.

“They...they don’t even look the same!” she stated with shock.

“We change a lot growing up. We don’t come out fully formed like you Ansheetans seem to.” he flipped to a video of the elder brother Tony taking some of his first steps, “We have to learn to balance and walk. We have to learn to talk by listening to our parents. We are educated together with other humans our own age. And everything in between we are either taught or learn on our own through experiences.”

Pixie turned her head, “That seems...so strange.”

Merco shrugged, “I admire you Ansheetans. You hatch from your chrysalis ready to face the world. It does seem less messy and tedious than how we humans do it. But, it has worked for us for as long as the species has existed.”

Pixie saw another picture that showed the blue sky and grass and trees in the background, “Is that Earth’s sky?”

“Yep. That’s it.”

“It’s just like you said, blue like my eyes. And everything is so green!” she exclaimed pointing to the grass and trees.

Merco glanced around, “It is different than your planet.”

Then an older picture came up of the family dog, a boxer named Dutch. The brown and white colored dog had a colorful rope toy filling his toothy mouth.

Pixie pointed, her tone almost sounding scared, “What’s that?”

“That’s Dutch. He was the boys’ dog.”

“Dog?”

“Um...a pet...a creature humans keep for companionship.” Merco explained.

Pixie seemed to duck in his pocket, “It looks...scary.”

“Dutch? Naw. He was friendly to everyone.” Merco assured her fondly, “He was a good dog.”

“Was?”

Merco sighed, “Yeah. Unfortunately, our pets don’t live as long as we do. Miss that dog.” He glanced down at Pixie with curiosity, “I never asked...how long to you Ansheetans live?”

He was still confused by Ansheetan time as their suns behaved differently than Earth’s. From what he could tell about Ansheetan timetables a sun cycle was what they considered a day. One hundred fifty-two sun cycles was a rotation. How that pertained in Earth years he wasn’t sure...but he just assumed a rotation was an Ansheetan year.

“Once Emerged most Ansheetans can live for one hundred rotations. A few can live a bit longer than that. The Elder, I’ve heard, is one hundred thirty-three rotations.” Pixie stated.

Merco did a bit of math in the sand in front of him with Pixie watching. He was trying to come up with a comparison and to his surprise the Elder was almost the same age as he was.

“Elder Felreh is...my age...maybe a year or two older.” He did another division problem in the sand, “That would mean if I’m fifty-four in Earth years I’d be...one hundred twenty-nine and a bit more in Ansheetan rotations.”

Pixie seemed impressed, “You’re as old as Elder Felreh?”

“If my math is right...” Merco admitted.

“But...you’ll live much longer?” she guessed.

“If I live to be seventy-five Earth years that would make me one hundred eighty Ansheetan rotations.” He concluded.

Pixie seemed floored, “That’s old!”

He chuckled, “I might even live longer...depending...” he frowned, “That means...you Ansheetans only live about forty Earth years. That’s...not very old.”

The fire crackled in front of them

Merco was seriously wondering if he’d live as long as he was guessing. And if he did, would it all be here on the Ansheetan home world or would he be rescued by then?

His thoughtful look made Pixie tap him, “You miss your home huh?”

Merco nodded with a longing sigh, “Very much Pixie. I hope to get back to Earth one day...but...I don’t know if that will happen.”

She snuggled into his shirt, “I don’t want you to go.”

“Oh, I know Pixie. But you should know I don’t belong here.”

Her small plumage lifted a bit like she wanted to protest but let it fall against her head. Merco’s wall of a chest swelled outward with a deep yawn.

“Well I think I’m going to get to sleep.” he stated, balling up his jacket for a pillow before laying back on the sandy shore of the lake. He rested his hand on the outside of his pocket, patting it gently, “Sleep well Pixie.”

“You too, Merco.”

Pixie laid her head against Merco’s chest, the familiar lullaby of his immense heartbeat relaxing her immediately. Her mind was troubled by the idea of Merco leaving. Truly she felt bad for him that he missed his family and his home world, but she selfishly wished he’d stay for always. Merco was the first person she’d ever seen when she Emerged. He was the first to take care of her; the first to show her gentle kindness. Perhaps it was some long-lost instinct of her species to imprint on the first being they saw after Emerging. Granted it was all accidental but Pixie still felt a connection with him. He was her friend and the thought of him leaving forever was not something she wanted to face.