My Friend is an Alien, стр. 34

Quick farewells were said, and Niklas and the others headed on their way. Niklas turned back to see the tent-flap close. Only Morik remained outside, diving into the lake to wash off the mud he had smeared on himself.

What an incredible adventure, thought Niklas, smiling. And what an incredible secret. But at the same time, he considered the friends he was now walking with. Davy, Martin, Keith, and Jason. Space was an adventure, the aliens were incredible, but this was home, and these were the people he truly knew the best of all.

Part 8

The remainder of the summer had gone quickly for Niklas and his friends, including their alien friends hiding out in the woods near Davy's.

Of all four of them including the brothers Jahv and Keyro, Prince Arion of the planet Korras, and the camouflage-skinned Morik, it was Morik who had spent the most time with Niklas, Davy, and the others. Once he started associating with people again, he had turned out to be the friendliest. Jahv and Keyro tended to be content using their assorted equipment to scan the stars. Actually Keyro did most of this, whereas Jahv spent a lot of time building new contraptions, most of which — perhaps thankfully — didn't work very well, although he did build a small transmat unit that could «beam», much like Star Trek transporter systems, up to four people anywhere within a fifty-mile radius. Unfortunately, the device was a little pointless, since the foursome didn't dare show themselves in public, and they didn't know the terrain well enough to pick out hiding spots.

Prince Arion was regretably just too pompous for the others at times. He never really meant to be rude, but growing up in a royal family of apparently considerable opulence had engendered in him certain mannerisms of superiority that the others found difficult to put up with. Arion himself didn't seem to object all that much to being left on his own, and reportedly spent a lot of time flying, as he was able to do, always shooting out of the hidden dome-tent so fast that no one could have possibly seen him, and then flying either so high or so erratically that no ground-based radar system was likely to pick up on him. It was also hoped that he was too small to be easily detected.

Morik, meanwhile, alternated his activities between exploring the woods around the hidden home of the aliens, which given his camouflage skin was absurdly easy for him to do, or spending time with the others. This required a bit of effort, obviously. Although all four of the aliens were reasonably humanoid, there were aspects that prevented Jahv, Keyro, or Arion from readily being passed off in public. Even setting their unusual skin colors aside, Jahv and Keyro had antennae on their heads, and Arion had feathers.

Morik's face, however, was much more human than the others. And he had neither antennae nor feathers. Davy had managed to use some leftover face paint that he had stashed in his treehouse on Morik, and was able to get a much more realistic coloration than he had on Jahv's one and only journey to the outside world. Practice made perfect, apparently. There wasn't much to be done for Morik's long, dark green hair, but any parents who saw the boy just assumed he'd colored it that way for some weird reason. This caused some slight suspicion, but Morik was sufficiently polite and friendly that their worries were soon enough quelled. It wasn't as though Morik could really cut and color his hair, either. That would've given away his one unusual feature. Rather large pointed ears. He'd also accepted the name «Morris» for when he was hanging around with the others, at least when someone who didn't know who and what he was was around.

Morik had shown himself to be a good friend to anyone he visited. He'd also proven to be a good artist. He loved to draw, even if sometimes what he drew was a little unintelligible by Earth standards. Morik called it "recapturing memories of home". Apparently many of the sketches were drawings of his homeworld as he remembered it. Morik was also merciless with board games, although surprisingly he was completely inept when it came to video games. Perhaps it wasn't that surprising. He'd never been around working machines all that much. Just the crashed shuttle on the planet he'd been stranded on. Picking up on the rules of a board game was apparently a lot easier for him.

He was also no great fan of music. Apparently most forms of modern music hurt his very delicate ears. He couldn't stand heavy metal or rap, thought country sounded like some of the animals he'd heard on the jungle planet, and disco just plain nauseated him (although a lot of the other boys were in agreement with that particular judgment).

Despite all of this, Morik was still welcome in any group where Niklas or one of the others who knew about him were hanging around. It had been rather devastating for Morik when school had started. Morik, obviously, had never attended school, and it was generally agreed that attempting to hack into the school system's computer, an idea proposed by Jahv, and enrolling any of these kids would be pushing their luck a little too far.

Jahv, Keyro, and Arion didn't really understand the principle of school, either. Children on Jahv's and Keyro's world were educated by their parents. Arion, being royalty on his world, had had private tutors. He had no idea how other children on his planet were educated.

Which basically left weekends and the occasional holiday to get together. It was October, but it felt like July. Summer had decided to deliver one last blast of heat and humidity through the area. Davy and Niklas, who had gotten together with Morik, were extremely thankful that the day it happened was a Saturday. No school, no church — no responsibilities.

Davy and Niklas had been spending quite a bit of time together, especially on weekends. Davy didn't attend the same school as most of the other kids Niklas knew, being just outside the school district. Niklas knew that Davy tended to be lonely. There weren't a lot of other kids in his neighborhood. When Keith and Martin had first dropped in on Davy, during their «runaway» adventure, the poor kid had acted desperate for friends. Fortunately, through Keith and Martin, Davy had gotten to know a lot of the other kids in Niklas' neighborhood, and they managed to keep in touch despite the distance.

Today, Morik had conceived of a game for all three of them to play. It was a variation on hide-and-seek. Davy and Niklas would try to find Morik somewhere in the woods. If he found them first, he won the game.

They'd already been at it for nearly half an hour. Niklas and Davy were hot, tired, rather dirty, and a little scratched up. "I don't believe this," said Niklas. "These woods aren't THAT big."

Davy retained a certain determination. "Maybe we shouldn't be surprised. He has spent most of his years on a planet a lot wilder than this forest, dodging things a lot nastier than us."

"Yeah, but how far could he get?" asked Niklas. "I know he's got skin that blends in with the background, but he was wearing a bright yellow shirt and red shorts! We should've spotted him by now."

Then Davy's foot caught on something. He looked down. "Uh, Niklas…" Niklas looked down. It was a bright yellow shirt and red shorts.

"That dirty little camo-skinned cheater." muttered Niklas. "We'll never find him now."

Suddenly a cry that sounded something like a strangled eagle shot through the air, and Niklas and Davy barely had time to look up and see a stark naked Morik plummed down on top of them from a tree branch. Fortunately there were enough fallen leaves on the ground to cushion the tackle. "I think the word is — TAG!" proclaimed Morik, sitting atop the prone forms of Niklas and Davy.