Cosmic Chicken

A blue arm twirled with gravitational vortex power, repulsing polystyrene beads into a whirlwind. The resulting punch struck a hacking cough. The outer layer of the arm, resembling cloth and blue skin, ripped apart from the back of the hand, past the wrist, and to the elbow. Skeletal framework of chromium with multiple components sparked inside. Tiny beings in space suits fled compromised structures while others sealed gaps. Little bodies froze in the cold oxygen-rich environment before getting caught in the gravitational vortex.

The wounded arm of Zarp’s vessel went limp from the elbow down. A sword materialized from the palm of his left arm. He swung against the force of another cough, dispersing it. Eyebrows raised, “You’re not in possession of a known human ability. Have you been cooperating with the Flavions per chance?”

The old man put his arms down, leaned back, and opened his mouth wide. Lungs prepared as if to fly out his throat.

Zarp raised his sword diagonally. The cough barreled out like a runaway freight train on broken rails. Their sword cut the energy while they struggled to stand. Blasts blew out the walls to the back of the apartment.

Stone crumbled over their heads. Yuki and Asami covered their ears.

Zaap concentrated with both hands clasped together like prayer. A spherical energy separated their palms. The electrical current flowing between them deposited a silver shell. Palms separated to allow the sphere to float in rotation. It circled ever faster with a wobbly spin.

Strands of energy twitched across the room in ragged lines. A sound like forks striking tin cans rang from the orb. Reality pulsed with vertigo inducing vibrations.

A gaping hole split from the lower neck of Zarp’s vessel down to the lower abdomen. Sparks of wires accompanied leaking acids sizzling from tiny pipes. Alarms blared inside their body. Sections of Zarp sealed themselves from the atmosphere. Tiny beings, barely more than a few centimeters tall, clung to superstructure of the vessel with tiny tools in their limbs.

The sword formed from his palm broke. Zarp smirked as he collapsed to one knee, “Self-repair automation systems compromised,” they coughed a spurt of acidic purple fluid down their chin.

As they finished speaking, a bright flaring light consumed the room like someone putting raw magnesium into a flame.

Asami, Yuki, and Zaap vanished into the ether.

Zarp stood up on rigid legs. Their vessel remained deformed by a splitting hole down the center of their torso. The left eye moved erratically while the right remained focused on the coughing man. A giant rubber chicken rested on his shoulder, stiff like a sword while he held it by the legs.

The coughing man took a deep breath. He dusted off his coat with a gentle cough, “Do you really think this move will buy you time to escape our planet?”

“Zeep Zerp!” Zarp folded his legs to float while raising the giant rubber chicken above his head, “I’m sorry human, you’ve activated our trap card! This isn’t even our final form!”

-----

Electrical discharge opened a portal in the ceiling of the level 400 literature classroom. A desk shattered under Zaap’s boot’s crashing through the wood.

Yuki landed sitting atop a girl’s head. At just over half a meter tall, the blue alien girl looked like a carnival prize hat. She put her hands on the girl’s forehead and leaned down to look her in the eyes, “Umm, we’re sorry for interrupting the discussion?”

The girl screamed at the top of her lungs, which didn’t help the general ambiance. A book struck Zaap across the back of the head. The professor’s face reddened, “Get this clown show out of my literature class before I call the police!”

Asami fidgeted with her helmet until the visor opened. Saikeirei meant bowing at almost a ninety-degree angle, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. We have the wrong room. Sorry for barging in.”

Asami grabbed Yuki off a classmate’s head and sat her on her shoulders, behind her head like one might do with a toddler. She was essentially doll sized at this point. Yuki blushed, then waved.

A chorus of aws erupted from the class.

“How did you get that doll to move like that?”

“It’s so lifelike!”

“Are you with the drama club?”

“How’d you manage to get inside the classroom without opening the door?”

“Hey, you smashed my table! I was sitting here!”

Asami bowed as she pulled a disorientated Zaap who hadn’t transitioned to his human disguise, “Sorry about the table. Our promotional trick for the magic show went terribly wrong. We forgot the fliers. We’ll hand them out later, very sorry.”

“I’m calling security! Out!” the professor shouted.

Asami pulled Zaap out and closed the door. They still looked stunned, distressed even. She bopped them on the head between the horns, “Get in your human disguise. And can you do something about my appearance as well, not to mention Yuki? Security is being called and there’s going to be problems!”

“Yes, yes I can,” the alien focused for a mere a moment. He appeared as the acne faced young man with long black hair in a pony-tail. The one she’d bumped into earlier when Yuki started changing, “Zarp has suffered irreversible losses. We doubt they will ever be the same. Forgive us for being worried. They wouldn’t want their sacrifice to be in vain.”

“What to do we do now? Is there a way to get safely back to your mothership?”

Zarp shrugged dejectedly as they entered an empty classroom down the hall. Once inside, he raised a light refraction shield that would render them invisible, though they couldn’t see outside it.

“Doesn’t your entire race depend on you?” Asami whispered, “Show some backbone!”

“We need the teleportation sphere to get back the expeditionary vessel at the warp space anomaly. I used it prematurely. Given the situation, we couldn’t risk a return to our vessels. You would have, most likely, not survived, not to mention the risk of being tracked and terminated by the Flavions.”

Yuki pushed warm blue palms against Asami’s forehead and kicked her legs out, “Giddyup horsie! Wanna carrot?”

Asami put a hand on her hip and pointed at mini alien Yuki with the other, “You realize this your queen now? This is who your friend just sacrificed himself for.”

“Captain Zarp is going to be okay. I can feel it. They’re super strong,” Yuki blushed. “Zeep Zerp Zorp!”

Zaap mad a fist and gave a little pump in front of his chest, almost crying, “You’ll be an amazing queen Yuki-sama! Zeep Zerp Zorp!”