The rainbow flame in the sky shone brightly just west of the star. He wondered what phenomenon this was as the light moved with the star, and it did no dancing nor flickering. This strange light seemed stationary in the sky—as still as the bright disk illuminating the planet’s surface where he stood—and it did ...

Esk woke with a start as he realized that he had slipped into stasis in front of a human. The daylight filtered in through the cabin curtains. Sam was still fast asleep in his recliner. Esk had not wavered in form while in temporary stasis. He was grateful for this. If Sam found out what ...

Sam awoke with sunlight streaming through the cabin window. He had left the window open but did not remember doing so. Edging himself up onto one elbow in his bed, he realized that he had a splitting headache and the pit of his stomach ached for food. Empty beer bottles surrounded his feet when he ...

Esk did not return to Sam’s cabin until the wee hours of the morning and headed straight for his recliner. Sam pretended to be asleep and peeked every now and then to see what Esk was doing. Esk was wearing a white scrub suit, and it had orange stains on it. Sam did not want ...

Esk stood before the Council and gave his report. He told them of Jean Bandersnatch’s examination and reprogramming, along with the same for Deacon Pritchard. He attempted to continue his report, but the Council interrupted. “Why did they need examination and reprogramming?” they asked in their collective essence. Esk was hesitant to tell them the ...

Esk parted ways with Sam when they were approximately halfway back to Sam’s cabin.  “There are things I must do, Sam, but I will be back this evening,” Esk said. “Yer okay, ain’t cha’, Esk? I mean, that church service was the most horrible, rotten thing I ever seen done to a person visitin’ an’ ...

Esk met Sam at the local diner around the corner from the church early in the afternoon. He needed to figure out how to ask Sam to teach him about communing with the dead without raising suspicion. Prayer, it was called, Esk thought as he shook his head. Is this “prayer” something that I should ...

“They assimilate the flesh and DNA of other creatures as sustenance!” Esk told the Council, still panicked from his emergency translation to the interior of the moon. “They even pray over it to commune with their dead before eating it!” Esk was vibrating like an electron around a molecular nucleus in his native form before ...

Sam led the way down to the state prison office, which Esk marveled at. They house behaviorally inept humans in cages here? Amongst the psychopaths? What is this species thinking? Esk almost tripped over himself to keep up with the warden’s pace past the jeering locked-up humans in orange jumpsuits. They looked much like the ...

“Reverend, I would be glad to speak with you outside the diner where we have more privacy,” Esk grunted as the preacher squished him against the wall. “Oh, outside, huh? Ya’ wanna’ take this outside? Sure, ya’ little maggot!” replied Bandersnatch. The Reverend forced Esk’s wrist into an uncomfortable angle, crushing his arm between their ...