Requiem for the Stars

This week, aliens arrive in Andrea Phillips’ new story … or do they? ~ Julian and Fran, March 26, 2023

---

Requiem for the Stars

by Andrea Phillips

The aliens arrived in Times Square first. The shining saucer-shaped craft hovered silently just over the TKTS booth for almost twenty minutes, lights chasing around its edge blue-red-green. The sun flared off the finish like it was ripped straight from a Michael Bay film.

A throng of tourists stopped and gawked at it, snapping photos and recording video. There was a palpable sense of anticipation.

Even a few locals paused for the spectacle. “This is really well done,” one remarked to another. “Do you know what it’s for?” His companion only shrugged. Most, though, spared a glance or two at the outmost and went about their very important business.

Times Square wasn’t alone. Another flying saucer appeared at about the same time at Shibuya Crossing, one at Tiananmen Square, one at Moscow’s Red Square. There was another over Piccadilly Circus, and yet another above the Narendra Modi Stadium in Gujarat. One craft floated down in front of São Paulo’s Christ the Redeemer as if being called into his upraised arms.

Eventually, each craft extended a trio of spiky legs and settled silently onto the earth. Even in jaded Times Square, a robust crowd had assembled to watch. It held its breath as the lights brightened, then dimmed, and a ramp unfolded like a single flower petal.

Bright mist seeped from the opening and pooled along the ground. And then the occupants emerged.

The aliens were spindly and small, perhaps four feet in height, with enormous black eyes and smooth heads. Their skin was untextured, shiny, the same grayish taupe as a dolphin’s.

It was not an unfamiliar appearance to the onlookers; all of them had seen these aliens before, or something very like them, in a movie or a TV show.

One alien, the tallest among them, raised a hand high in salute.