Another short story project. This will be a submission for an anthology likely due out in the spring of next year. It is fairly contemporanious with my last short; both of these are, of course, a part of my future history, and, more specifically, the coming of the Civil Wars.

In the story, there is a reference to the goings-on on Mars. Also, later, we meet a minor character first introduced in my most recent novel.

Alejandra slowed, then stopped her small four-wheeler along the dirt road that skirted the northern edge of the Nazca Reserve.  Motor off to save gas, she left her goggles on but pulled the kerchief down from her nose and mouth.  She first took a little water from her canteen, hearing the bleat of indignation just over her shoulder, before turning about and pouring more in a tin dish for her pet llama, tethered to two sides of her vehicle’s little flatbed.

“I’m sorry, Salvy,” she apologized.  “But these scouting drives are boring alone, and I’m afraid my uncle will sell you if I leave you alone too long.”

The barely weaned animal finished his water and looked up.  A languid blink of his eyes before he purred at her just a little.  Born just before I arrived here, back in May, I fell in love with him almost immediately.  I know my uncle and aunt wanted to sell him, so I kept little Salvador close.  Aleja restarted the engine and moved them out.

“My father, knowing at seventeen I would be starting college in Lima in the fall, pretty much insisted I take this summer job,” she said aloud.  Or maybe to Salvy.  “Mother, a biologist, was somewhere in the forests of the northeast; with big brother in the army, I was the only one not working.  Him being Deputy Minister for Culture, it was ease itself to get an appointment down here.  I thought I could find a cheap flat in the town of Nazca, but to save money, was fostered onto my relatives in Estudiantes, to the north.  Who were not exactly thrilled to see me.”

There was a smaller path that left the road to the south, down into the valley itself.  She had pored over maps to make sure she would not disturb any of the mysterious lines, left long ago by a mysterious culture.  After all, that’s my so-called job:  an in-person patrol of the area to make sure there isn’t any more damage to the lines.  Boring, but as the only family member without a job, Father had insisted.

“What in the world….?”

Maybe a kilometer past a building which had once been a tiny museum but was now closed, she was slowing and stopping again, but with the motor running.  Aleja pulled her binoculars from a pouch on her left hip while pushing her goggles up into her short, black hair with her right.  A quick focus… an irregular billowing of something too dark to be dust.  “Something burning?”  About another five or six kilometers to the southwest, there were no facilities in that direction, just the parched hills that formed the western side of the valley.

“Wildcat miners, maybe?” It had happened before.  “If so, some of them will have guns, and I certainly do not.  Still, this is what my father and the government pay me for, so I can at least get a little closer.”  Salvador made a grumble of concern.

Now off the dirt track, she could not go very fast on the uneven ground.  After another two kilometers, she halted again and made sure the engine was in park and the brake engaged before standing up on the driver’s seat and taking another look.  And did not understand what she was looking at.

“Some kind of tube…black metal, I guess.” She strained to see.  “And it’s broken in half; that’s where the smoke is coming from.  Maybe a tanker truck at an illegal well?  I don’t see anyone, so I guess I can get a little closer.”

Another kilometer and another stop to look.  No one she could see.  “If they wrecked, I supposed they drove off in the truck’s cab.  Let’s head on in, Salvy.”  A small growl.  He did not seem happy with any of this.

Finally stopping a hundred meters away, Aleja realized her mistake:  this was not some kind of oil tanker truck.  Maybe five meters in diameter and forty long, of that black metal she’d noted, the smoke from the rear of the two broken sections seemed to have lessened just a little.  I don’t hear anything like a fire, though.  Head on a swivel, she very carefully covered the last fifty, sitting still for a minute before turning the motor off and climbing off her seat.

“No, Salvy, I’m not untying you, sorry,” she apologized, handing him a handful of clover in atonement.  “Back in just a little bit.”

Walking very slowly, she pulled the kerchief down; her goggles were still up from all of her stops.  No hatch or anything resembling access to the interior.  What is this thing?  Where did it come fr – “Yikes!” she cried as there was a sound from the front part.  A sound like when she would drop several pots and pans in her kitchen at home.

An animal sound.  Gurgling?  Clicking?  It was nothing she’d even heard on TV or in a movie.  It was getting a little louder and she was getting a lot more scared.  One step back…

Out onto the desert ground it came.  That’s a hekkin’ big lizard.  Is this some sort of poaching container from the jungle?  Did it fall off the back of a plane?

Barely over a meter long, its body was close to the ground, but, now that it saw her, lifted its head on a long neck to about her waist level.  It’s very pretty, bright blue mixed with black; perfect to hide just under the water.  I bet mom could tell me what…this…is…

Four legs.  And forward of those, two arms with delicate pincers.  What is this thing?  Just behind its arms was some kind of black belt with many pouches and a few devices she did not recognize.

“Holy Mary,” she whispered.  It tilted its head when she did.  “This is an alien.  Crashed on Earth.  In Nazca, of all places.  Jesus, help me.”

She slowly raised her right hand to her shoulder.  “Welcome to Earth.  My name is Alejandra.  Looks like you crashed.  Are you hurt?  Can I help?”