An Unexpected Visit

Zug, Tarv, and Eki sat around the fire. Eki was tending the flames, giving the meat an occasional poke with her stick. Zug and Tarv, as usual, were describing the hunt to her, their claims more and more outrageous as they went on. She ignored them as she usually did once they got too crazy. She looked at the back of the cave, to where she stored the berries. They weren’t fermented yet, so she knew that they weren’t drunk. They were just trying to impress her.

Eki looked up sharply as she heard a noise by the cave entrance. It was a high-pitched humming, something she had never heard before. A moment later, the other two looked up too. They always were a little slow at picking up the small clues. Yet, there was no missing the bright light that soon shone in from above.

Zug grabbed his spear and jumped in front of the fire. It was too late to hide the flickering light from outside, so Zug moved to block whatever invader was coming to take their food and shelter. At almost the same time, Tarv pushed Eki towards the back of the cave, taking up his spear to defend her.

Two shadows in the bright light grew closer until they could be recognized as tall, thin creatures. They stood on two feet, unlike the animals that Zug and Tarv hunted, but they were not the same as the cave-dwellers. Their clothing was strange and didn’t look like the hide of any animal the dwellers had ever seen. Something clear and round covered their entire heads.

Zug pointed his spear at them. “You are in our home, strangers. Leave in peace.”

The creatures looked Zug, making strange noises. Then one raised his hands, palm forward, in front of itself. It was obviously trying to speak to Zug, but the sounds made no sense.

Zug, seeing that the creatures were ignoring him, advanced with his spear forward. Then, he shouted a challenge and threw the spear.

There was a bright green flash. The second being, the one that had not been talking to Zug, had pointed a strange object at the spear. The flash had been the spear disappearing as if it had never been. Zug held up his hands, signaling for another weapon. Tarv came forward with two spears, giving one to Zug. They each pointed a spear at one of the invaders.

The invaders spoke again in their strange voices, then slowly backed out towards the light. Soon, their shadows had disappeared into the bright light. The light dimmed and focused until Zug and Tarv could see several lights on a large disc on the ground. They watched as it rose into the sky, then flew off towards the direction of sunrise.