CHAPTER ONE
A LATE NIGHT ENCOUNTER

It was a crisp, winter night on Meadowburry Farm with no snow on the ground, only frost. Amongst the darkness and trees, lit by two street lights on intersecting roads, was a two story farmhouse. Resting her elbows on the windowsill, Serena Langford peered out through the trees at hundreds of twinkling stars, far too many for her to count. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for her to be a late owl, for she loved stargazing. The cosmic wonderland known as space always caught her imagination on clear nights. The cold wind gently rustled her blonde hair and chilled her soft skin, reminding her that it was getting late. Looking out into the cold night, cloaked with flowing mist, the teenage girl was glad to be in her cozy bedroom.
Smiling gladly to herself, she looked out the window once more. For the better part of seventeen years, as long as she could remember, the trees at the edge of the pasture looked the same as they always did, cloaked in thick darkness, with specks of light coming from the neighbors’ houses over a great expanse. Tonight, it was no different than it was five, ten or even fifteen years ago. But as soon as she turned her back, something unexpected and extraordinary happened, the timeless stillness was disrupted. A brilliant orange glow lit up her bedroom walls, accompanied by a hissy burning sound off in the distance. Turning back, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
What looked like a great fireball from the mouth of a dragon or flaming meteor whooshed by her window, from left to right, at great speeds before disappearing behind the shadows of trees. For a brief moment, everything from her windowsill to the trees at the edge of the farm lit up like it was on fire, only to be succeeded by an eerie silence. The once serene night air was now disturbed by a disquiet, a mystery, a feeling that there were forces unknown to her at work, beckoning to be discovered.
Thinking about it further, she knew would would not sleep tonight without going out to investigate. She had to know what it was that fell from the heavens, infinitely vast as it was, into her meager little life. Thus, Serena resolved to find out.
She put on a pink, wool sweater and snuck out of her room, closing the sliding glass door behind her. The small amount of light bleeding from under the curtains was just enough for her to see. Her house was always a spooky place at night. But tonight of all nights, she couldn't help being that much more afraid of the dark. Only the quiet ticking of the clock and the gassy hiss of the furnace now could be heard above the unsettling silence. Creeping down the steep staircase, she took care not to step on any creaky floorboards, for fear of waking her parents, that was if the fireball didn't do a good enough job of doing just that. The pitch black darkness in the narrow hallway, forced her to use the wooden railing to guide her way.
Downstairs, the faint street light came through the window. Shadows of leaves and branches danced softly all around while she pussyfooted her way through the dormant kitchen. Somehow, the night seemed a little more menacing now that she was further away from the light and safety of her bedroom. Reaching the front entrance room sticking out from the side of the house, she closed the door behind her and flicked on the light. Looking around the drably painted room, with old boots and coats on one side, a rack of tools on another, she searched for a flashlight. After finding one sitting on top the deep freeze, she grabbed it and put on her boots, knowing she would have to trudge through tall grass. Turning out the light, she swiftly and quietly left the house, being careful not to shake the ordinarily welcoming chimes hanging on the front door.
Outside, one of the nearby street lamps bathed the grass and the large willow tree in a yellow blanket of light. The plants and leaves stuck out of the dark foliage like hands and fingers, illuminated starkly all around her before tapering into the shade. But she was to head in the opposite direction, away from the sanctity of the street light and into the dark. The soft howling of the wind was normally soothing to her, but now seemed harsh and bitter as it rustled the tired leaves, scattering wicked looking shadows. On top of that, the thick chilled dampness was frigid enough to form clouds of mist with each exhale. The very thought of going into the dark field alone now seemed frightening to her, so she went to the toolshed.
The rundown shack was covered in ivy, growing down the plywood exterior, layered with white, cracked paint. Opening the rickety door, she shone her flashlight into the mess of cobwebs long since abandoned by the spiders that made them, and reached in to grab an axe. Serena did not like spiders or their webs, but at that moment she liked not having something to protect herself with even less. Then after carefully closing up the toolshed, she prepared to journey into the dark.
Walking across the lawn, the curious girl headed around to the backside of the house. The dimness of the streetlight slowly faded away, forcing her to rely on her flashlight as she went. She stumbled over the slick grass in her boots, hoping her parents would not see her from their bedroom window. Thankfully, their light was off and was as dark as the rest of the house, save for her own bedroom window. Reaching the wire mesh fence at the edge of the yard, she passed through a metal gate that creaked when she opened it. With axe in hand, Serena reluctantly stepped into the pasture.
Even armed with an axe and guided by a flashlight, she didn’t fancy the idea of trudging through the overgrown grassy meadow. If her fear wasn't greatly eclipsed by her curiosity she would have surely turned back at that very moment and went straight to bed. She would have forgot about the meteor and dismissed it as nothing more than a surreal dream tomorrow morning. But she couldn't turn back even if she wanted to, for she feared what her parents would say to being woken in the middle of the night, so she ventured forth. Shining her light on the blades of dead grass, some reeds reaching unto her face, she navigated through a mess of frostbitten thistles and horribly large spider webs dripping with dew. She nearly went face first into a web a few times, and nearly cursed in fright every time it happened. Luckily, it was winter and there were no spiders, but she hated their silky stringy webs just as much.
Rolling mist choked the field in a ghostly veil, making it hard for her to see very far. Fog swirled and eddied through her cone of light as she begrudgingly bushwhacked through the tall grass. Then just when she almost forgot why she was out here, she spotted flames flickering in the distance. Serena wondered if it really was a meteor that impacted somewhere near the far end of the field. She began to think of what it could be, something mysterious, something terrifying, something deadly or something wonderful, all sorts of possibilities ran through her mind, igniting her imagination. Part of her wanted to rush over and see just what it was that fell from the heavens, but it was the fear of the unknown that kept her from approaching too hastily. It pushed her pack, as well as pulled her forward.
Approaching ever closer to the impact, the small grass fires she saw further back died down and smoldered about. Serena surveyed the frozen ground with her light where it looked like it had been plowed and torn in places. Upheaved chunks of dirt scattered about as if something massive ripped a trench right through the soil. It certainly didn't like the work of a farmer or any piece of machinery, it was too indeliberate. But what she saw at the end of the trench sent chills down her spine.
Her light made out an object laying amongst the dirt, large, cylindrical and what appeared to be metal, though she couldn't be sure. Smoke rose from the surface as she could hear a sort of tingly cooking noise, like burning metal when you could get a fire hot enough. Whatever this was, it was no meteorite.
Carefully approaching the unusual looking capsule, there appeared to be reddish block letters on the side, written in what she realized might be some kind of strange language, certainly not any she understood. Foolishly, she reached out to give it a touch; but quickly withdrew her hand in pain after feeling the sheer heat radiating from the surface. Shaking her hand in pain, her flashlight fell to the ground and the light with it. She went to reach down and pick it up; but before she could, something even stranger happened.
A intense, red light suddenly blared in her eyes and blinded her. Flinching, she turned away and instinctively covered her face with her hands. But even though she had her eyes closed, the harshness of the light seemed to pass effortlessly through her eyelids. She could not look away and nothing seemed to block it out. It seemed to be everywhere. Low humming noises, the likes of which she's never heard in her life, resonated through her ears, ravaging her brain, impregnating her mind, sapping her strength. Feeling light headed, she dropped to her knees. The powerful beam of light sedated her like a drug.
After a minute or so, though it seemed much longer, the red light relinquished its hold. The young girl collapsed, feeling mentally drained as if she awoke from some sort of trance. Some moments later, Serena recovered from being dazed and remembered where she was and what brought her here. Now she was even more intrigued as to where the mysterious capsule came from, but she would not have to wonder for long.
A loud hiss, like that of pressure being released from a tank, made her jump in fright. Next thing she knew, a thick nebulous substance that looked like heavy dry ice ejected from the pod, shrouding the area in a carpet of foaming mist. The strange fog choked the air and flowed past her, obscuring the ground beneath her feet. Utterly terrified and oddly fascinated, she was frozen on the spot, fixated at the capsule as it appeared to depressurize right before her. The strange happenings made her deathly afraid and very curious at what might be inside, if anything at all. Suddenly, a hatch popped up and slid open with another gassy hiss that pierced her ears.
More dry ice spewed out from the interior as she carefully came close, desperate to see what was inside, even if it meant being killed in some gruesome way. Shining her flashlight into the opening, she patiently waited for the thick dirty mist to clear. The suspense was killing her. But then, her heart skipped a beat at what she saw.
A creature. In some sort of deep sleep.
At once, it looked reptilian, with scaly skin and a long, blunt snout. But it certainly wasn’t anything like the reptiles she knew real or fictional. The creature was quite big, with two stubby horns protruding from its cranium, lending to it an almost dragon-like appearance. She couldn't see very clearly through the still clearing mist and fog. But she could tell the upper half of its body was remarkably human in form. Clouds of moist breath expelled from its gaping nostrils and dissipated in the cold. The creature was still alive.
Serena stood in sheer amazement, goosebumps crawling over her body at what she was seeing. It was almost certainly an alien, an alien who had come to her planet in a deep sleep capsule. Even in sleep, it looked pretty big and powerful, taller and wider than a man. She then got the fright of her life when suddenly, it opened its eyes.
Slowly, she backed away from the pod in fear. She jumped and jerked her flashlight when a hand with sharp claws on each finger clutched the side of the capsule, inciting her to reach down and pick up her axe. Then, a monstrous arm came from the capsule and propped up the creature's heavy body. She watched as the creature sat up and turned its reptilian head toward her with lifelike movement.
Her first instinct was to run. But she could not bring herself to turn away at the wonder she was witnessing. And so she watched on with a mix of fascination and terror as the creature eyed her and climbed its way out with the last of the mist floating softy around its scaled body.
It stood upright with two strong monstrous legs. Stepping out of the pod, the creature stumbled forward onto the grassy earth, down to all fours. There it remained for a time, seemingly dazed and too weak to stand upright. It the light of her flashlight, she got a better look at the alien creature. A row of protruding spines ran from the back of its neck, all the way down to the very tip of its lizard-like tail. A forked tongue flicked from its mouth a few times, like it was tasting the air. From where she stood, it looked like an overgrown iguana.
Seeming to notice her even in its moment of weakness, the alien slowly rose to its clawed feet. The teenage girl was surprised to see what could only be a leathery thong around a sizable bulge on its groin, it was definitely a male. Standing a clear foot taller than her, the creature snorted a cloud of moist air out its wide nose, sitting on the front of its snout. It twitched its nostrils, appearing to sniff her scent as it drew close.
A large neck frill, suddenly flared out like fans on either side of its head, which abruptly filled her with even more terror. Serena was so entranced and terrified of the creature, she felt herself losing her senses. The girl could focus on nothing else. Then she made eye contact with it. Its sickly, yellow eyes focused on her with a surprisingly intelligent gaze as it came a few steps closer. Its greenish irises grew thick with animalistic interest as they seemed to size her up. Her own heart pounding intensely, she backed away and dropped her flashlight, placing both her hands on the handle of her axe.
"Don't hurt me!" she screamed, holding the axe out in front of her. Facing the exotic-looking reptile, she quivered in fright. The creature then opened its maw, bearing many sharp teeth that looked like they could tear her to shreds with ease. But it did not open its mouth to attack.
"You're the one threatening me with a weapon." it moved its mouth, forming the words.
Her terror turned to utter disbelief. Serena wondered if she was hallucinating or having a bad dream and was so shocked she dropped her axe.
"You can talk?" she uttered in fright, at the verge of fainting.
"Yes." said the reptile, looking down at the palms of his hands like an aware creature, "But never in this dreadful language, not until now at least."
Serena was baffled at how this creature could speak English every bit as well as she could, perhaps too well for her own liking. She kept expecting it to lunge forward and sink it’s teeth into her; but it remained at a safe distance just the same as if she were speaking to a human being.
"But you're… you're a monster." whimpered Serena, still very much in fear. "I didn't think you could talk."
The reptile seemed to be stalled in confusion as it titled his head.
"I'm Serena." she introduced herself awkwardly.
The reptile ignored her and seemed to soak in its surroundings, displaying an intelligence that was the same, if not greater, than her own.
"Do you have a name?" she asked the reptile, not forgetting in the back of her mind that she was conversing with an alien, one that could easily kill her if it wanted to.
"Keela." he said plainly.
She sensed the creature wasn’t hostile, at least not for the time being. Looking around, Serena almost forgot she was still out in the pasture in the middle of the night. Turning back towards the reptile, she was in disbelief at what she discovered.
"Are you… from another planet?" asked Serena curiously.
"I must be." answered Keela in a serious tone, eyes looking up at a row of trees with barren branches. "This sure isn't Exodia."
"Exodia." she echoed with an intriguing smile in her voice. "So there is life on other planets."
After a few seconds of awkward silence, the lizard then turned toward her.
"You've never been outside your own solar system, have you?"
"Of course not." said Serena, rather bemused by his question. "I've never even been off this planet."
"You have electric lighting," remarked the reptile, pointing at her flashlight, "But no space travel."
"We've gone to the moon. That's about it." she replied, pointing up at the nearly full moon hiding behind a layer of clouds.
"Only one moon." said the reptile, turning his head to look up at the celestial body. "What do you call this lonely planet?"
"Welcome to Earth." answered the girl, smiling a little.
"It's far too cold here." The lizard alien folded his scaly arms and clammed up, shivering.
"We could go somewhere a bit warmer." she suggested, remembering reptiles were cold blooded.
"You have shelter?" asked the reptile.
"Well in a manner of speaking." she giggled. "Come on, it's right this way."
Serena led the seemingly friendly-but-aloof reptile back through the field. She wanted to offer him a place to stay, but she would have a hard time sneaking him back into her house. She didn’t even want to think of how her family would react at the sight of this scaly creature, much less the world.
After walking through the long grass for some time, she stopped and turned to face Keela.
"Before we go any further, I've got to tell you something." said the girl, "I can't let my family or anybody else see you."
The reptile said nothing, but rather looked confused. The girl then continued.
"As far as I know, you're the first extraterrestrial life form to ever visit our planet. If anybody saw you… well let's just say it would be bad news."
"Your species, are they xenophobic?" asked the reptile, sounding rather worried.
"Yeah, you could say that." the girl thought off the cuff, "But who we really have to worry about is the government and the military."
"You have armed forces on this planet?" spoke the reptile with sudden fervor in his voice.
"Yeah, I guess we pretty much do." she responded, not quite sure how to accurately answer his question.
Her discovery was going to be very difficult to keep secret. But all the same, Serena led the reptilian visitor through the misty field, shining the flashlight in front of her to light the way forth. She had many adventures in that field as a young girl, but none quite like this. Despite the reptile's scary looks, she somehow felt safe around him. The fear of the unknown was gone, replaced by a sense of wonder. This was something truly extraordinary and a deadly secret she would have to keep safe at all costs.

She led him to a metal farm gate that swung open and led to the barn. They were now close to the road and nearing the warmth of the streetlight. She hoped nobody would drive by, but it was usually pretty dead this time of night. Nonetheless, she walked with haste down the driveway worn in the grass to the large red barn, surrounded by a mess of dead blackberry bushes. Wasting no time, she opened the door and led her reptilian friend inside, out of the exposing light of the streetlamp.
Inside, it was almost completely dark, save for a small amount of light coming through the windows. Closing the door behind them, she used her flashlight to find her way amongst the damp musty darkness.
"What is this place?" asked the reptile, sniffing around.
"This is where we keep our livestock." answered the girl.
"Livestock?" he replied, likely not understanding the meaning of the word.
"You know, like cows and stuff." she replied, not knowing if the reptile knew what cows were and what they were used for. "We'll have to sleep here tonight."
The robust and familiar scent of cows and horses lingered in the air as sounds of mooing and neighing came from the worn wooden stalls. Leading him down the aisle, littered with hay and sawdust, they walked past many stalls with wooden beams reaching up to the metal rafters high above. Between each of the beams, horses and cows peered their heads out from their stalls, disturbed from their sleep. The friendly animals she's known for years turned cranky and stared suspiciously at Keela, not knowing what to make of him. Likewise, Keela seemed to keep his head on the straight and narrow, and seemed rather uneasy around such massive beast. There was Bernice the Holstein, the family favorite, giving them the watchful eye. The animals seemed to be in a clamor as heavy dust particles, thick and dirty, floated through wherever she would shine her light. They made their way swift past the animals, after receiving an unfriendly welcome, to the tack room at the back of the barn.
Once inside, Serena put down her axe and flashlight and flicked on an antique floor-lamp. The dusty dark-orange lampshade filtered out most of the heavy ochre light. Leather saddles, muzzles, whips and horseshoes cluttered the room and spread large shapely shadows on the wood-paneled walls. Serena sat down on an old olive-green couch while Keela sat cross legged on an oval shaped floor mat over the cold, painted-concrete floor.
With the improved lighting, she was able to see the reptile a little better, though his face was still half cloaked in shadow. His entire body, from head to toe, was covered in a nice shade of green scales, all the way down to the tip of his tail resting on the floor. He was unlike anything she ever seen in her life, fictional or otherwise. It was truly like he was from another world.
"So what made you want to come here?" she asked the alien, feeling like it was her turn to ask questions.
The reptile hung his head low.
"The choice wasn’t mine." answered the reptile with a hit of reservation in his voice.
"Oh." replied the girl. "Well how did you end up traveling through space inside that capsule?"
Keela took a deep breath. His fingers fidgeted nervously in apprehension before speaking.
"It was punishment." began the reptile. He paused for a second or two, almost as if the words were too painful for him to say. "I refused to have a hand in the murder of innocent sapiosaurs." said the reptile slowly, with a far away look in his eyes.
"Sapiosaurs? What are those?" asked Serena, captivated by the lizard alien's story.
"That's what I am. I'm a sapiosaur." answered the reptile, almost as if he was ashamed of the fact. "I tried to escape, but it was no good. They captured me, stripped me of my clothing, forced me into that capsule and launched me into space."
The reptile turned his head away and looked off into the distance, seemingly overcome by what a human would call despair and sadness. Serena felt a strong sense of regret coming from the reptile as he sat there with his hands on his bulky knees. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him, despite what little she actually knew, or what part of his tale of woe she could comprehend.
"Shit, that's horrible." said the girl.
The reptile turned to face her. "So here I am, branded a traitor and exiled from my home planet." he said, rather morosely. "I'm stuck here on this isolated rock with no means of getting home, not that I'm welcome there anymore."
Serena thought to herself. Despite the sad reptile's seemingly dark past, she felt a certain attachment toward him and was happy he had fallen into her life.
"You can stay here with me, Keela." said Serena, sitting down beside him and putting her hand on his big green scaly back, muscles hard as stone. "Forget the past, you'll start your new life here with me."
In turn, he placed his arm around her back, catching onto what she considered to be an Earth custom. She could feel his gentle grasp as he titled his face towards her, large snout with big nostrils, teeth, massive frills and all.
"I think I would like that." he said, contently. "I can only hope this world treats me better."