Alien Gardening

I wrote this little piece of flash fiction from a prompt my friend gave me. It’s an exercise that I cleaned up a bit with a pulp-y quality to it that I find entertaining, a sort of amuse-bouche for the reader. John Campbell would be proud.

We should always be wary of the familiar in an unfamiliar setting.

The Lawn

"That sure is some green grass," said Bosley.

The big bright orange sun glinted off his companion’s environmental suit visor. Unseen winds rippled the verdant blades. Selena looked at her scanner briefly. "That's not grass."

Bosely studied it from the edge of the jungle. He had spent the whole day clearing a path for her through the purple, violet and blue underbrush with a fancy, high-tech machete. The unfamiliar colors gave the planet a tiring strangeness that overwhelmed his senses, like staring at a psychedelic picture too long. The open green space was familiar and inviting.

"It sure looks like grass to me." He took a tentative step toward it. What a welcomed relief to be able to move freely instead of all that vegetation pressing in on him.

"Are you stupid?" Selena grabbed at him, pulling him back, away from the swath.

Longingly looking at it, he spoke over the radio, "If it's not grass what is it?"

He didn't get an answer to his question. A high-pitched screech that made his teeth vibrate and his blood freeze penetrated his suit helmet.

"Oh, I know what that is!" Selena brought the scanner up. Her finger flew across the surface as she paged through images.

Across the way, two massive claws flattened the brush. Parting leaves revealed a powerful four-legged black creature. A large triangular head with three equally spaced, forward looking eyes scanned the forest line where Bosely stood out like a sore thumb in his silver environmental suit. It looked like a cat from hell.

"Oh crap, oh crap." He couldn't help himself. He started shaking.

"Hold still or it will spot you," hissed Selena. Bosely thought that was easy for her to say. She was behind him.

The animal's head stopped moving. Bosely was acutely aware that it was looking right at him. An impossibly large mouth split the head. Backward curved teeth filled it. A long, tubular tongue stabbed out. Digestive juices overflowed the bottom jaw, splattering on the vegetation, causing it to wither.

Bosely's knees felt weak.

A vicious scream came from the salivating predator. Muscles bunched in its shoulders and hindquarters. It crouched.

Bosely trembled. He wondered if it counted as holding still. His breath came quicker and quicker. Fear overcame reason and he took a step backward. His heel caught on a root of the local flora. Dropping his machete, he went straight down on his ass.

In one bound, the creature landed in the middle of the clearing. It focused its three eyes on him and readied the next leap.

Following time honored tradition, Bosely flung his arm up across his visor, closed his eyes, and started screaming.

He screamed for a long time. Too long in fact. A hand on the shoulder startled him into quiet. He turned around, wide-eyed.

"Dammit, why do you have to be so loud?" Selena looked pissed behind her faceplate.

Bosely couldn't believe he was alive. "What happened?"

Selena pointed at the field. "Look for yourself."

The creature struggled to escape. Thin, green blades stretched from the ground to the body of the alien, blanketing it. As he watched, more blades shot up, piercing the helpless creature. Soon, a mound of green that grew still was all that could be seen.

He watched in horror as the mound started to dissipate. Selena stood by him and recorded the spectacle. In a matter of minutes, the bulge disappeared, leaving only a manicured lawn with grass waving in an imagined wind.

Bosely stared at it, open mouthed.

"Does, does the grass look greener?"