Tikah and Tokah

     Amazingly made of freakish metals and materials not found on Earth, the small, tubular spacecraft shot down vertically through all five layers of atmosphere at nearly the speed of light. Then, with only three seconds to go before critically colliding with the ground, the ship instantly slowed and gently touched down in an unpopulated, wooded area of northeastern Oregon. The UFO and two sentient beings inside had reached the planet's surface undetected due to advanced cloaking technologies rendering human airspace tracking devices practically obsolete.

     NCO David McKnight, manning his satellite and radar post at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, WA, saw the entry as only a shimmer on the screen, like the momentary flash of a distant heat mirage as witnessed on a blacktop road while driving at high speed in the desert.

     "Anomaly," David mindlessly slurred.   

     The strange sighting jarred him from half-consciousness, and snapping to, he vigorously repeated his duty-bound detection protocols.

     "Anomaly." He coldly stated.

     "What...where?" Airman Willie Blankenship replied, as if distracted. Willie had an NBA video clip playing on his phone and had to pause it before looking up.

     "Right here, dude!" David yelled, pointing to the Eagle Cap wilderness area. "Right here. Yeah, right...no, wait a second, it just disappeared."

     Willie stared hard at the imaging picture and saw nothing. 

     "I don't see it man. Are you sure? Where was it? I don't see it."

     "It was right there man," David said, confused. "I know I saw it."

     "Yeah, well it ain't here now, bro. It's gone."

     "Yeah," David muttered.

      After a short pause, Willie asked, "Are we going to report the incident, sir?"

     "No, man," David mused, getting up to use the latrine. "Too much fucking paperwork."

     The aliens had names, which when translated from their native language to the Latin alphabet, sounded out as Tikah and Tokah. The half robotic, half carbon-based life forms, who'd traveled through space from their home hundreds of light years away, communicated via a series of automated clangs, bangs, clanks, clinks, murmurs, and chatters similar to the motorized and mechanical sounds of a busy bowling alley.

     "Well, that's it Tokah, we made it here but we're as good as finished." Tikah said. "The Kind Heart won't be able take off again unless we can repair the damaged fuel chamber. Based on the last KORG readout of the natural resources of this planet it looks like we may be grounded for good."

     "I know, we lost the primary fuel chip. I knew it the moment it happened. But how and why did it fail? You know the odds of that happening are four-hundred trillion to one."

     "I know," Tikah agreed.

     "Goodness me!" Tokah lamented. "This is quite sad. We may never see Nosecount or Akenhead or Trunci ever again."

     "No, probably not." Tikah replied. "And we won't last long without Green Fodder. I'd say we have about twelve months before we run out. At this point the probability of us disintegrating here are quite high, my brother. And there's very little we can do about it."

     "Well, we'd better make the best of it then, yes?" Formulated Tokah. "We can use the Transformer Chip to transform our atoms into the anatomies and physiologies of the dominant lifeform here and enjoy our last 360 days like true blazing stars."

     "My thoughts exactly. But doing what you're suggesting will also use up half our Green, leaving us with only about 6 months to live." Tikah said.

     "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." Tokah replied. "Well, we have a big decision to make then, don't we."

     "Yes, we do." Answered Tikah. "And remember, once we make the switch to humanlike form we won't be able to go back to being our normal physical selves."

     "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that too." Tokah admitted.

     "Of course, our minds will remain the same either way," Tikah reassured him. "We'll always be us in thought. So, we can stay with the pod to die alone as we are, or make the biologic leap to create new, albeit shorter destinies for ourselves. What do you think?"

     "Fear is for the weak," Tokah boldly stated, "let's go for it!"

     "Okay, I'll do the stellar celestial body scan. Let's just see what's best out there for us to become on this rock."

     Tikah pushed a greenish, silvery sliver with one of his seven metallic appendages and waited a few seconds for the computer to create a diagnosis.

     "Homo-sapiens." Tikah announced. "We need to become Homo-sapiens. Here's the readout of their cellular composition and a rough view."

     "Oh, ew, wow," Tokah oozed. "That's a strange looking creature."

     "Yes, and quite primitive." Tikah assessed. "Simian in nature, animalistic and not far removed from the savagery of crocodilians which ruled here not long ago. However, they do show some marked improvements in their intellectual rankings over the last one-thousand years or so. Seems they discovered some rudimentary sciences. Interesting."

     "A thousand years? That's not very promising." Tokah groaned. "Sounds violent and tedious." 

     "It is, but it's all we've got," Tikah said. "Now. they come in different sizes, shapes, and shadings, and oh, look at this, they're bi-sexed, male and female."

     "Oh, so they're sort of like transformers, say, that is interesting." Tokah deadpanned.

     The pair laughed uproariously, exploding as the sound of one-hundred raucous children at a Dave & Busters birthday party.

     When they'd settled, Tikah asked, "So, what'll it be Tokah?"

     "Female, dark skin." Tokah answered.

     "Okay, I'll go as a light skinned male." Tikah decided. "I'll make us aged 35, that's about the height of a human's lifecycle. Well, time to gather what we need and get out there, Tokah."

     "Okay, let's start living then." Offered Tokah.

     "To life!" Sang Tikah, as he hit an oblong, purplish button.

     "How do I look?" Tokah asked, glancing sideways at Tikah.

     "Strangely alluring through these human eyes." Tikah responded dryly. "I'm cloaking the ship now. We won't be able to un-cloak her Tokah, this is it."

     'I know. But maybe we can come back near the end and use her as our tomb." Expressed Tokah. "That might turn out to be a  good option for us."

     "Perhaps, we'll see." Added Tikah. "Alright, let's go outside. 

     "Okay, let's take a look." 

     "Oh my gosh! I'm cold!" Tokah hollered. "I think we've made our first miscalculation."

     "Yes, we'd better run to increase our temperatures."

     "Okay, which way?"

     "Down. We need to go down."

     The pair began trotting downhill, and soon came upon a small clearing with a little log cabin built under a short cliff. 

     "We need to go in there." Tikah said. "That's shelter, and maybe we can find some things we need."

     'Okay," Tokay agreed. 

     Walking up to the door, they both leaned against it and began fumbling with the handle.  When they at last managed to open it, they fell forward one on top of the other.

     "Ahh!" screamed Mrs. Martinsburg. "Oh my God, oh my God, what in the...Harold! Harold! Harold!"

     She stood frozen, hands clapped together tightly at her throat, praying for her husband. Mr. Martinsburg shot through the bedroom door like a cougar's final pounce upon a deer, and froze beside his wife.

     "What in the..." he muttered. Then anger drove him from his shock, and he yelled, "what the hell are you two doing in my house? Huh? Are you crazy? What do you want? And you're naked! Oh my God you've got no clothes on. Now, tell me what the hell you're doing here naked in my house goddamn it!"

     "We're lost!" Tikah lied, instinctively playing the pity card. "We're lost and we don't know what happened!"

     "You're lost?" Harold queried incredulously. "What the hell, have you been doing drugs? How the heck did you end up out here without any clothes on?"

     "We don't know, we can't remember!" Tokah offered. "We're very forgetful!"

     "Yes, and we're sorry to," Tikah shot in, sensing a de-escalation. "Yes, we're very sorry to have disturbed you. We'll go immediately, please, right now, we'll leave and not bother you any more."

     Mr. and Mrs. Martinsburg stalled, and glanced at one another. Her look showed fear but also pity, and his the light of understanding and acceptance for her kindhearted empathies.

     "Well, we can get you some clothes at least, before you go." Harold insisted.

     "And a hot cup of tea might be nice," Betty added. "Would like like a hot cup of tea? Perhaps sit by the fire a bit and warm yourselves?"

     "Yes, sit right here," Harold advised them, pointing to a wolf-skin couch against the wall. "And put these over you for now."

     He handed them two throw blanket, which Tikah and Tokah used to cover themselves. "

     "Betty, get the clothes, I'll stoke the fire."

     "Yes my love," Betty droned, as she went into the bedroom.

     The three sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds those of Harold managing the fireplace, until Betty returned with a pile of clothing in her arms. She plopped them down onto a maple wood coffee table and began doling them out.

     "I think these'll fit you," she said. "They're just some of Harold's old overalls, tee shirts and turtleneck sweaters. A pair of old work boots and some house shoes, two pairs of socks. I'm sorry, that's all we have, but it should work for now.

     Tikah and Tokah took the garments and looked at one another, their faces revealing severe puzzlement.

     "I'm sorry, we're not sure what to do with these," Tikah pleasantly stated.

     "Oh my God, what the hell kind of drugs have you two been doing?" Harold exclaimed. "You can't remember how to put clothes on? Betty, take them in the bedroom and get them dressed. This is crazy. Where the hell are you people from?"

     Harold's handsome, old face showed the beginnings of tired resentment, but Betty knew what to do.

     "Oh don't mind him, he's just old and ornery. Come on now, come with me. Come on, I'll get you fixed up in here."

     Tikah and Tokah followed her into the bedroom, and Betty shut the door. After a time, the door reopened, and the three popped back out. 

     "Well, there you go, that isn't so bad." Betty remarked, gesturing towards the aliens. "That should work just fine for now. The footwear's a little loose, but it'll have to do. What do you think Harold, not bad, huh?"

     "Not bad at all," Harold agreed, feeling more relaxed. "Now, sit right back down here on the sofa tell me what the heck's going on with you two."

     "I'll get the tea started," Betty chimed in.