Suspicious Object (Patreon)

“Dammit”, Mallorei cursed under her breath as she ducked behind the unconvincing cover of the translucent curved wall. A beam of light swept over the area she was in just as she got out of the open, but this was a poor hiding spot. Maybe she shouldn’t have left the apparent safety of her ship, but in many ways she was glad she was no longer inside it as it lay lit up but powerless at the feet of the behemoth. When the engines died the scanners also went offline, and she’d had no idea what was around. Now she was isolated but still undiscovered. If she was still in her craft she would almost certainly be taken captive. What what would she do without her ship and all her supplies. She cursed again, watching as the titan remained, crouched over her ship, peering with her light into the darkness, toward the spot where Mallorei hid. The titan was so big it took her breath away. The ship that had brought her so far looked like a toy at its feet.

***

Well this was a strange thing indeed. Bri had noticed the flashing and twinkling down the alley and  gone in to investigate. Never in her twelve years in the force had she ever seen anything like this.

“What is it?” called her partner, Geraldine from the patrol car.

“I’m not sure…” Bri said slowly, “It could be a toy but it’s very intricate and detailed. Kind of looks like a space ship.” She scanned her flashlight around the end of the alley. She couldn’t see anything but she felt like she was being watched. For a second pass she scanned more slowly. There was something here she was missing. There was a smell of burning in the air, but metallic, like burned wire wool mixed with ozone. She wrinkled her nose. Something wasn’t right. She reached down and touched the object. It was shaped like a stubby plane, no, a space ship. It was warm. Cooling fast but it must have been very hot recently. It twinkled and bright lights lit it up all over. She paused, and took one more look around. “I’m bringing it in.” She grasped the ship and lifted it from the ground.