Corn Patch Ch. 02

"Hea." She said. It almost sounded like "Yuh" but Harlen was beginning to understand them.

"And our child?"

"Hari."

Harlen knew right then that they had known his name all along, in fact, these people knew a lot. What they were doing here, in the deep woods in whatever this building was, he didn't know.

"Who are you people?" Harlen asked. She reached out her paw and took the child's hand, that was when Harlen noticed that the child had all five fingers. They left, saying nothing.

Harlen could hear them talking, the sounds like some kind of high speed chatter. Then the door slid aside, Jaha walked in. He had something that looked like a screen in his hand. He held it up to Harlen, brushed one paw across the top.

The screen instantly lit up. There was a city, what looked like small ships flitting around crazily.

"Hooome." Jaha said.

Then the screen changed, to a scene of inside. It looked just like the room Harlen was in.

It hit him. My God, he was in a spaceship of some kind, that was nothing that was on Earth, he knew.

"Riiip. Looong riiip, usss alll. Yaraka suuun Soppp, nooo hommme nowww."

Harlen got part of that. A long trip, family, something about a Sun dying, no home left?

"Family?"

Jaha nodded.

"Why save me?" Harlen asked.

"Neeed orrr diiie."

"Jusss usss nowww, nooo morrre."

Harlen nodded, they were stuck here and knew that no one was coming for them. A family, on what? A vacation, perhaps?

They had needed food and found it. They needed to stay out of sight, because it was dangerous. Hell, Harlen knew that, he had been out there after them..with a...shotgun?

Jaha looked at him, if it was possible for a creature to look sad, he did.

"Thank you for helping me."

"Youuu helllp usss." Then Jaha turned and left the room.

Harlen was up and around now, he removed the bandages, looked at his neck in what was just a shiny piece of metal. It served as a mirror. The incision was almost invisible, it came from just under his ear all the way to his throat.

Jaha had operated, with his...hands? Harlen had come to think of them as just hands now. In fact, the more he looked at them, the more they were just...people.

One day they came in and led him outside, he looked at the building he had been in. It was easily two hundred feet in diameter. It looked exactly like a spaceship he might see in a comic book. One side of it was damaged, glancing around he could see where some trees had been sheared off, it had come to rest against some large boulders. They had covered most of it with brush.

Rather obviously, it wasn't going anywhere.

"Cooome. Hooome." Jaha told him.

Harlen knew it was time. Jaha led him down the trail, stopping every 50 feet or so to let him catch up. It was rough going. Finally after several hours, Harlen stepped out of the forest. He looked back to say thanks but Jaha was gone.

He checked his crops as he made his way to his house. Some of it was a bit over ripe, but if he hurried it would be all right. He went inside, everything looked normal. He checked the clock on his mantle. He had been gone nearly three weeks.

Harlen reached up and touched his neck, his jaw felt numb. That was from the incision, he knew. He rubbed his left ear, it was numb, too. He shrugged and went to bed.

The next day he started putting out the bins, once again they were all full the next morning. Another harvest, all normal.

"Where ya been Harlen?" The shopkeeper asked when he stopped later to get some provisions.

"Out hunting." Harlen answered.

"Do any good?"

"Naw, no luck."

"What happened to your neck?" The shopkeeper asked.

"Scratched it on a limb." He loaded up and went home.

Harlen spent the next couple of months just going through his normal late Fall and Winter rituals. He got up when he wanted, ate when he wanted. It rained and he found a small leak in one of his barns, he climbed up there and fixed that. Harlen's life was a typical Farmer's, complete mayhem in the Spring and Summer, then into the harvest. Then just keep everything up for the next season.

Normally he flew down to Reno, spent a week and then came home. But for some reason just like the last year, he felt no need, no desire to go at all. He spent much of his time looking out at his fields, searching for a motion, a sign.

There was nothing. He even thought of going out there for a visit but it was a very long ways and he wasn't sure he could even find their ship.

He was pretty sure they could find him, though.

Harlen spent Christmas alone, New Year's too. Since he had no family, he never really noticed holidays much. February was very cold, when the weather warmed the first week of March he was almost grateful. Even though it was still in the low 40's, he went out and sat on his porch enjoying the sunset.

Then he saw a motion over by his barn. He looked closely and made out a shape. It stood up, then moved his way.

It was Hea. She came to the bottom step of his porch, looked up at him.

"Hello." Harlen said.

She nodded, a smile crossed her face. He noticed her body had resumed it's earlier shape, her hairy breasts had lost the swollen look.

"Where is Hari?" He asked.

"Yaraka."

Harlen didn't understand that.

"Hooome shiiip." She tilted her head back. Harlen nodded, he knew they had a struggle with english words. He stood up, she didn't dart away. He had half expected her to.

"Come in where it is warm?" He asked.

She nodded.

He led the way, she squatted down at the end of his couch as he sat in it. This was the first time he had gotten a clear look at her in normal light, he noticed her eyes had narrowed to slits.

He reached over and turned the lamp to the low setting, her eyes opened halfway.

"Why are you here?" He asked, he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Neeed."

"Need what?"

She just looked at him expectantly.

"Oh!..I don't....." Was all he managed. She stood up on her hind legs, walked over to beside him, squatted back down. She reached out and touched his face with her paw.

Harlen didn't know what to think, had she come to him for....sex? That became obvious as she leaned down and nuzzled at his groin.

"This isn't right, you aren't..we aren't the same."

Hea looked up at him, smiled. She tipped her head back.

"Yeees. Youuu usss. Lonnng Yiiime."

"Did she mean...?" Harlen thought.

Hea understood.

"Youuu usss. Losss heeere. Yiiime chaange youuu nooo usss."

Harlen finally understood. No wonder they could breed, Hea was human too. The people, all of them, human too. Just different. Something had happened, a long time ago. Humans like them had come here, stayed or became trapped, who would ever know.

Man had stepped down from the trees, some said. No, it seemed that man had came down from...the stars, somewhere out there.

"I understand." Harlen told her. Hea smiled, nuzzled his chest. He put his arm around her, held her. He looked down at her face, tilted up to look into his eyes. It was a human face.

The mother of his child. Harlen stood up. He had come to accept, the bloodline had to go on and they were all family. The need had been for him, his seed. Otherwise, trapped here amongst their own descendents, their family would die out.

He knew the need was there again.

He held out his hand, her soft paw slid into it, somehow it seemed to fit.

They climbed the stairs together. No one would believe. No one would ever understand.

It didn't matter.