barna's travels

[WP] In a Galaxy where Humans are seen as small, cute and infantile, a hardened Terran criminal goes into hiding on an alien world. He is soon found by a six year old girl who, not knowing who or what he is, decides to keep him as a pet.

*****

“Huma?” she asked, trying to pronounce the word he had told her.

“Close enough.” Barna Bam Barna stared at the alien girl, giving her a glare. Usually, a glare from him was enough to scare any wandering alien, and yet she refused to leave his side. She kept peeking at his stomach, her three eyes checking out the thick piece of tungsten embedded in it.

“Why is Huma here? Shouldn’t Huma be out there?” She pointed up to the stars, extending a hand, wiggling her three fingers towards the clouds.

“Yeah, no shit. I should be out there, but.” He placed a hand on his face, taking a long-pained breath. She was just a child. There wasn’t a need for him to be this rude. “Look, sweetie, I’m in a lot of pain, so if you could kindly wander off somewhere else, I would appreciate it.”

God, he was thankful for translators. Without them, these conversations would be like pulling teeth. Even if the translators sometimes weren’t entirely accurate, they still got the point across. It looked like she was about to leave, only for her to point at the red stains spreading throughout the fabric of Barna’s shirt.

“That should be inside your body. Put it back.” She said, her triangle shaped mouth rotating downwards in what Barna had to imagine was a pout.

“Gee, I would love to, but I’m kinda not able to do that. Idiot.” He whispered that last word under his breath, throwing his head back against the rock he was leaning against. Hoping a concussion might ease the pain in his stomach. “If you haven’t noticed, I have a piece of my ship lodged in my stomach.”

“Oh, that isn’t meant to be there? Ara fix.” The alien crept closer, causing Barna to panic.

“Keep away from me. If you use any weird powers on me, I’ll shoot.” He threatened, even tapping his blaster. Though he knew he wouldn’t be able to take that shot. He was a drug dealer, thief and sometimes a mercenary, but he didn’t go that low. He still had some humanity left.

“Settle, Ara, fix.” She stopped n front of him, holding her hand forward. Her three fingers closed and suddenly Barna would feel a massive pressure in his stomach before they ripped the metal from it, causing the human to drop onto the rocky ground below, bleeding out.

“T-the great Barna, killed by a child.” He coughed out a clump of blood, hoping that if he was lucky, people wouldn’t know who killed him. Maybe they would only find his body. He blinked, trying to keep himself awake, only for his sight to fail him.

“Ara, what did I say about pets? Look how dirty he is. He’s even injured. Why would you take in a hurt animal?” A more mature voice spoke, ringing in Barna’s ear as he felt a soft fabric hanging over his body. Wait, he felt something? His fingers silently rubbed against the fabric, confirming that indeed, he could feel something.

“But he is cute. I want to keep him, look Ara fixed.”

“You closed the wound, but he lost a lot of blood. I don’t know if he will make it.” The older voice sighed. “Marta, will you take him outside? I think we should release him into the wild.”

“Release him. Uh, sure, Sansa, I’ll release him.” The other voice sounded male. At least it did to Barna. It could be hard to tell. He didn’t like the sound of that release, though. Release sounded like what human parents did when a child’s goldfish died. He would be dumped down whatever toilet they had and given a fake story about how he was returning to the wild.

“Barna. Name’s Barna.” He had to say something, reaching out from the fabric, grabbing the closest hand to him. “Not dead.”

A loud scream left Marta’s lips as he tried to shake Barna off him. The human refused to release him, holding on like a python wrapping around its prey. Eventually, his body exhausted itself and his grip failed, releasing the hand.

“It’s alive? Well, we can’t just release it now, can we? Ava, you can keep him until he is better. Once he is better, you need to return him to his home. Ok?” Sansa said.

“Ok, mommy.” Silence filled the room, only for Barna to be stirred by a set of fingers poking his cheek. “Want to play, Huma? Come on, I’ll show you a trick.”

“I think Huma needs some rest first. He went through a lot. Why don’t you have some dinner first sweetie, give him some time to wake up?”

“Aww, but I want to talk to him.” Barna would feel his eyelids get forced open, staring up at the green skinned alien hovering above him. Her long aqua hair hanging over her face. “See, he’s awake.”

Barna groaned, slowly pulling himself into a seated position, only to howl as his stomach burned with a fierce pain, causing him to throw himself onto his back. Once he had settled onto his back, the pain subsided, giving him a chance to speak. “I’m Barna. That’s my name. Not, Huma. Where am I?” “You are in our home. Our daughter considers you a pet and we are happy to accommodate you until you recover. As long as you don’t cause us any problems.” Sansa warned, seated on a couch in the room's corner. Her eyes were not leaving the strange human.

Barna looked around the room, checking out the interior of this strange little cottage. The walls were more metallic than the old human homes on Earth. Oddly enough, the metal walls weren’t even matching, each having different metals plastered over them to create the home. Even that piece of tungsten that had been stuck in him now found a spot on the ceiling.

Even among aliens, a home was a standard thing, having the usual necessities needed. Barna tilted his head to the side, seeing Marta preparing a meal in the kitchen. Whatever it was, it smelled decent. Better than the expired rations he lived off.

From what he could gather from their characteristics, they must have been Jalopians. He knew little about them, only that they were a kind of lanky looking creature whose average height was around five foot four. He certainly didn’t know about their ability to move things with their minds. Maybe he should have read up more on aliens during his travels.

“OK. Barn, Huma. This is great. Oh, want me to show you how to move things like I did?” Ava offered, excited to have a pet to spend time with.

“Barna.” He corrected, wondering why he was even bothering at this point. “I don’t think humans can do that. At least not without the help of technology. Just let me get some rest, ok? I’ll play when I wake up.”

“Aww, but I want to play now.” She let out a sigh before tugging the blanket higher over Barna, making sure he was warm. “Ok, get some rest then.” She patted Barna’s greasy black hair before heading over to her parents, allowing the human a chance to rest up from his injuries.

*****

THE END.