Accidental Fire

The forest was silent. Birds flitted. Squirrels foraged. Occasionally a deer stalked on stealthy hooves, ghost-like as it traversed the ancient trails of a woodland that had its roots in prehistory.

Shannon stared at the autumn-hued canopy, frowning at the lack of noise. This wasn't her first trek through the wilderness. She was only twenty minutes from home, after all. She knew the drill. Birdsong should be competing with the woodpeckers' monotonous knocking. It was rutting season, the chilly air inviting stags from all around to brawl for the right to mate. Yet their guttural braying was noticeably absent.

She smelled smoke. There'd been no lightning recently. Which meant that the fire was probably manmade. College student, most probably, high on alcohol. Or a posse of teenagers on a wild weekend away from the stresses of mom and dad. Anyone with knowledge of this area knew to bring a gas canister not try to build a fire with all the pine needles around. She'd give them a piece of her mind.

Following her nose, Shannon cautiously followed the cloying odor, her eyes watering at its toxicity. No ordinary bonfire. Woodsmoke had a pleasant aroma. This was acrid. Throat-burning. Poisonous. She choked, tugging her emerald scarf around her mouth and nose.

She recalled a newspaper article that she'd read recently. Illegal dumping of waste that was then set alight. Was that it?

A strange green light illuminated a small clearing ahead. It flickered sluggishly, forming an eerily rippling carpet over the the fallen leaves, the smoke thick and black as small flames licked their way toward her. What the heck was causing it? Despite the smoke the underlying debris wasn't smoldering. It was a little like an oil spill at sea. Or a chemical spill. Yet that should ignite the leaf litter.

"Ma'am. Step aside, please."

Shannon blinked as three men appeared through the smoke, clad in firefighter garb, oxygen masks, and hoisting oxygen cylinders on their backs. One held a large hose. A second dragged a wheelbarrow filled with a tank of clear liquid. Fire retardent?

She backed away as Hoseman began spraying, Wheelbarrow Wielder keeping pace.

Instead of dousing the fire, the liquid set off an incendiary reaction of epic proportions. A deafening bang. A burst of percussive power that knocked her sideways. Then a flash of brilliant emerald fire that took away her sight for several seconds.

Blinking and rubbing her eyes she coughed, struggling to breathe. Her vision cleared. Her eyes widened. What the...!

The trio of firefighters were boarding a sleek black aircraft that bristled with weaponry and was unlike any craft she'd seen before. It sat like an exotic bug resting on four slender legs.

Belatedly she noticed that the fire was out. No hint of flames or smoke existed, the forest pristine as ever.

Shannon rushed forward. "What happened? What's going on?"

The firefighter who'd spoken paused before entering the craft, then backtracked to the bottom of the ramp and beckoned.

She hesitated for a split second, then ran toward him.

"This is awesome," she said, jerking a thumb at the ship. "Where did it come from? It looks like a spaceship. That's weird, right? Are you an alien? You sound weird. You have an accent."

She thought she heard him chuckle.

"Fancy a ride? We might not be back for a while. We only stopped for a snack. The fungi down here are amazing," he said. "Then we had an accident. The fire was our doing. Sorry."

"A ride? In this?"

"Sure. We're traveling through the Milky Way." He shrugged. "On a mission to clean up old space junk and pollution. The flames were from a chemical left behind years ago. We set it alight when we landed. Been a bitch of a job trying to put it out."

She giggled. "I'm twelve. I don't think my parents would like me disappearing forever. Besides, I have homework. I'm flunking science and math. I nipped out for the afternoon to clear my head. I promised I'd be back by teatime."

He held out his hand. "Next time, perhaps. We've been watching you. You care for this forest the way it should be cared for. You're valuable to our cause."

She nodded. "Okay. When will you be back?"

His chuckle was louder. "Not for a while. NASA decided to send probes into deep space. We have to divert them before they discover that humans aren't the only intelligent lifeforms in the universe. Earth isn't ready for that."

She heard shouts behind her and sighed heavily. "That's my dad. He's pissed that I snuck out again." She grinned. "I'll see you when you get back. Don't forget me, eh?"

He shook her hand. "Take care of the forest. We'll see you as soon as we can."

He trotted up the ramp, waved, then disappeared through the hatch, the door sliding shut behind him.

She waved and ran back to the treeline as the craft gave a slight shudder and erupted into the sky as though spring-loaded. A second later it whooshed high above the canopy, then disappeared in a flash of emerald luminescence.

"Shannon! What on earth is going on?"

She turned slowly, shoulders drooping, and eyed her angry father warily.

"I needed a break."

He stalked closer, then stopped a couple of feet away, hands on hips, his blue eyes narrowed, his thinning gingery hair forming a wispy cloud.

"A break, is it? I thought something had happened to you. Didn't you smell smoke?"

"I did. But the fire's out now. An accident with a bbq," she lied without flinching.

He stared skyward, lips pursed, then back at her.

"They're the reason these trees exist at all," he murmured, almost to himself. "I didn't think they'd return."

Shannon tilted her head. "You know them?"

"The spacecraft that just left has been here many times. I kept it a secret. Too many people would try to hurt them," he said. He hooked his arm through hers and guided her back through the forest. "I suppose you're old enough to know."

"They invited me to go with them."

He grunted. "Yeah. Fun while it lasts, but then you miss this beautiful planet after months in deep space." He met Shannon's incredulity with calm amusement. "I used to have a life before you came along. Now I spend most waking hours trying to keep up with you. Especially since you hate homework and dodge it every chance you get."

She giggled, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"Does mum know?"

He rolled his eyes. "No. And we aren't to tell her."

Shannon laughed again. "Yeah. She'd freak out."

He laughed, too. "No, love. She'd want to go with them. We made the decision to come back home when she was pregnant with you. But she's been pining to travel again."

Shannon stopped dead. "She went too?"

Her dad hugged her, tugging her into motion again. "When you're old enough we'll go together."

Shannon's excitement clawed at her insides, fizzing through her brain like a giant sparkler. She smiled at the sky. When she'd seen the flames, green and toxic, she'd thought that green spelled danger. Now she knew it spelled opportunity. And new experiences.

An alien had just invited her to go traveling. And he was coming back for her. Sometime. Who knew?