It flashed through the night sky, falling to the earth at lightning speed. It awoke as it fell, or as close as its species could come to awakening. Its dormant cycle fell away, it knew it would need sustenance to survive on yet another planet. 

A being of pure energy, it was unlike any of the lifeforms it detected below it. It knew and understood the corporeal world, but hadn’t bothered with such a form in millennia. Thousands of years roaming the universe taught it such an existence was ever fleeting.

The entity felt this new world grow closer, the rich mix of nitrogen and oxygen, but it could not recall how it came to be here. It could only fall towards a grove of trees, tall pines removed from any occupied habitation. It detected no sentient life here, but it could strike the ground without fear of detection. 

If it was to exist here, it would need to find form. It would need to find purpose. It would need to find life. Its light emanated across the growing darkness, a beacon as it started to pull and tug at the life it detected around it. Grass and bush. Insects both atop and embedded beneath the rich ground. Microbials that floated through the air. 

It must have form, it knew. It only needed a sample of the primary species from which to pull the final details. It waited, its energy twinkling like a star upon the surface of this strange unknown planet.

***

The hayloft sat as empty as it always did. Natalie Conrad first climbed up into the rickety upper chamber of the old barn years ago, when boys and girls and romance were all just ideas from silly stories and movies about princesses and fairy tales. She sat on the edge of it, her feet dangling off the side over the patches of grass that now grew below. 

No one had plowed these fields in decades, nor tried to raise any animals on the land. The nearby woods grew towards it. Nature encroached on it now. Another decade and even this barn might disappear into the wild. 

Nat didn’t expect to ever find out. She was seventeen now. She couldn’t imagine twenty-seven. Her birthday was tomorrow and she wasn’t sure she even wanted to step past that mythical threshold that would take her from child to adult. Not now.

Life as a teenager was stupid and awful enough. Life as an adult was meaningless. Not like before.

She looked back over the open hayloft, with only the cool light of the lantern flickering across it. They came here together. Once in a while, they might drag another friend or two, but Nat always knew it was their special place. She and Jen found this place. They could use it as a safe haven, from Nat’s overbearing mother or Jen’s drunken dad. Sometimes it felt like every good memory she had was from between these four walls. 

And one truly awful one. 

Sometimes it felt like she could smell the hint of vanilla that always wafted off of Jen. She pushed herself upright and walked back across the creaky floorboards, a single layer of wood between her and the broken-down old cattle area below. 

She stopped at one board she knew had been loose. She remembered a time, not long after her fourteenth birthday, when the board slipped and her foot went through. Jen reached out and pulled her in. She pulled Nat in close, her pale blonde hair as wild and free as ever. Their eyes met at that moment as Jen held her. It was that moment Nat knew. She didn’t understand what it meant quite yet, but she knew. 

She took a deep breath and hardened her face. She wouldn’t cry. Not again. 

“I miss you so much,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry, Jen.”

Nat turned back towards the open end of the hayloft. She saw a glow in the distance, far brighter than the kerosene burning in the lantern. She walked to the end of the loft and peered out towards the trees. It wasn’t coming from the sky at all, but from within the grove. No roads lead out there. Her grandpa technically still owned this land, but it was supposed to be set aside as a preserve. No one should be back there touching anything. She couldn’t imagine what kind of lighting system they must have out there to make things that bright. 

She picked up the lantern in her left hand. With her right, she grabbed onto the line of rope that hung down from the edge of the hayloft. She held it tight as she jumped off. It kept her from falling straight down. The burn against her skin as slid down the rough twines at least felt like something. It seemed so hard to feel anything but sadness and regret these days. Even pain felt welcome. 

She touched down on the ground outside and immediately ran towards the opening in the broken fence. It was nearly a half-mile run from her family’s house to this barn and she was fit enough from making that trip a half dozen times a week. She covered the ground quickly, only the awkward jangling of the lantern slowing her pace. 

As she reached the treeline, she realized she didn’t really need the lantern. The strange light was nearly as bright as day. If they weren’t a good mile from any road, she figured someone other than her could see it. As it was, it was just her.

She pushed through the low pines and towards the light in their midst. “Hello? Is anyone there? No one is supposed to be out here.”

No one responded. She only heard a low hum. It reminded her of the buzz of the power station when Jen and her used to run by it when they decided to take the three-mile trek home instead of riding the bus. Maybe a generator of some kind.

“Hello? If you can hear me, answer me.”

It was so bright, almost like someone set a floodlight up. But it seemed too close to the ground. She pushed through the pines and towards it. They scratched and pulled at the oversized flannel shirt she wore over her blouse, but better it than her skin. 

“Come on! You can’t be here. You have to—”

She pushed through another closely set pair of pines to see her. It wasn’t a floodlight or a generator. She looked at another young woman, her naked flesh radiant with blazing light. 

The brilliance dimmed as the woman before her opened her eyes.

***

CONTACT. 

This lifeform was of the primary species of this world. Sentient and bipedal, not unlike many of the forms encountered in this corner of the galaxy. The creature was dimorphous in nature, if not in mind. It gleaned information as it felt the mind of the being. It took on a shape not unlike the creature, pulling images from the creature — this human’s — mind. 

By the time the entity opened its optical receptors, it had already taken on the shape of a young female of the species. It wasn’t an it anymore, but a her. Such a strangely basic sexual function, yet she could already glean the relationships of this species was something far more complex. 

It intrigued her as she found the most common images in the young woman’s head. It was another woman, thin and waifish. It would work as well as any form, though she knew she would need to differentiate it somehow. It seemed this species was quick to denote individuality in appearance.

She would do her best to make it work.

***

Hair lengthened and grew even as the light faded. A chestnut brown in color, it tumbled down her back and around her face in generous waves. She was thin — almost too thin — and it made Nat’s heartache. 

She couldn’t remember how many times Jen had passed her a half of a sandwich or the end of a soda. This woman was built just like her. 

The brilliance around the strange woman faded and the grove was suddenly lit only by the lantern in Nat’s hand. She held it up between them. She wanted to blush — or at least look away. But she could not help but take in the woman’s beauty. Nat couldn’t pull her eyes away from the thin hips, the small swell of the stranger’s breasts, or the thin patch of hair just between her legs. 

“I am naked,” the stranger said. “I believe this would be considered inappropriate, yet you do not look away. I do not quite understand.”

“I—” Nat pulled her head to the side. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect to see a naked glowing girl with Barbie magic hair when I came out here. Pretty sure I expected literally anything at all but that.”

The stranger took a step forward. “I am sorry. I do not mean to scare. I am new to your world and to this form.” 

“Wait, what do you mean by that? Are you saying you’re from outer space?”

She ticked her head to the side. “I glean that this world has not experienced extraterrestrial life. Intriguing. I have never encountered a human world not connected to the wider collective.”

“Wider what now?” Nat waved the lamp around the grove. “I don’t see a spaceship or anything. So is this kind of weird game you play when you’re driving through small towns?”

The girl pointed up into the night sky. “I come from there, though from a far greater distance than anything you see from this planet. My species is one of pure energy, without the normal restraints of flesh until we arrive at a new destination. Yet even I am a bit perplexed. I cannot remember leaving the last world, nor why I made my destination this one. It is a mystery, but one I must solve before I leave this planet. Earth, you call it?”

“Yeah, we call it that.” Nat couldn’t quite believe she was even saying these words. Or talking to this stranger from way farther away than the next town. It didn’t make sense. The only reason she could imagine any alien landing somewhere like her backyard was to kidnap and probe her.

“You’re not here to — like — kidnap me or experiment on me or something, are you?”  

“I am not sure. I am still processing your language, but I do not believe these are positive things you wish to experience. Why would you expect me to hurt or damage you in any way?”

“Because if humans are good at anything, it’s hurting and damaging one another.”

“Interesting. I am sorry for my sudden appearance. It seems the nature of my attire is not appropriate and that is why you have stopped yourself from making eye contact with me. I can easily remedy this situation.”

The stranger glowed for another moment and Nat caught sight of the movement from the corner of her eye. As Nat turned towards the woman, she could see the boots and jean shorts forming on her leg, even as a plain black t-shirt covered her torso.

“This is some crazy shit,” Nat said. “I can’t deal with this right now. I’ve gotta be going out of my mind.”

“I promise your consciousness has not left your body. I would have felt it.”

“Wait, are you saying you can read my mind?”

“Of course.” The stranger ticked her head to the side. “I see that such a feat isn’t known here on Earth. I promise I do not seek to probe deep into your thoughts. But I cannot stop my ability to glean thoughts from those around me.”

“Your body. That outfit. Why did you have to pick them? Why did you have to pick Jen?”

“I sought out the images of human life most prevalent in your mind and used them to craft this body based on those features. I detected a great deal of interest by you in much of the skeletal and facial structure I chose for this form.”

Nat forced back her tears. They wouldn’t help now.

“It’s because outside your hair, you stole the appearance of my best friend in the world. A young woman named Jen. A woman that died two months ago today.”

***

The phone at the bedside table rang. Silas Astor immediately stopped what he was doing. He shoved the woman down to the bed and off of him. Perfectly manicured fingers lifted the receiver and put it to his ear. 

“What is it?”

“Uh, sir. We found it. We found the anomaly you asked us to monitor.”

“In Greenview?”

“Just outside it, sir. About a mile to the north well away from any serviced roads.”

“Prep a team. I’ll leave immediately.”

“The team is already on their way, sir. They scrambled as soon as I got a hit on the satellite.”

“Too soon. They will not survive an encounter with the entity alone. Only we have a chance.”

Silas grimaced. He hadn’t heard the voice in days. His life had almost been normal. He waited and he worked and didn’t have to deal with this insanity. He knew what this meant for his empire. He would listen to every word the voice gave him if it brought him the success he craved all these years. If it could bring him to the pinnacle he so greatly desired. 

“I told you I didn’t want any action taken without me on the scene, damn it! You need to get on the horn with the squad commander right now. I will be en route immediately.”

“Do you need the coordinates, sir?”

“We will pinpoint our prey. They will be ours.”

“Later. Just get the team on hold. Have you ordered my chopper prepped? I want wheels up in five.”

“Already on it, sir.”

He hung up the phone. He turned to the blonde woman on the bed. 

“It’s a shame you had to hear all of that. You were actually far better than the last few women I have allowed into my bedroom. If I was a better man, I might even miss you.”

The blonde looked confused. 

Silas slid open the drawer just beneath the phone. He reached in and picked up the Sig Sauer inside. He turned and promptly put two bullets into the woman’s head. He knew his security team would hear the bark of the gun. They knew well enough how to clean up a mess in his bedroom. It wasn’t the first time after all.

He climbed out of his bed and walked across the room to his armoire. He calmly opened the drawer and started to dress.