azure
adjective
1. of or having a light, purplish shade of blue, like that of a clear and unclouded sky.
2. Heraldry. of the tincture or color blue.
noun
3. he blue of a clear or unclouded sky.
4. a light, purplish blue.
5. Heraldry. the tincture or color blue.
6. the clear, cloudless sky.
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The sky was
a clear, cloudless blue. Birds sang in the trees, and flowers were in full
bloom. It was a perfect day. Chris did not care about any of it. He was only
there because his family had made him leave the house. It was not that he
minded the outside, really. It was just that there were so many other things to
hold his interest.
He could
be reading, or playing a game. Or, well, anything else. But no, he had to be
out here, in the woods, with no WiFi. It was akin to torture. Well, he would
finish him family mandated hike and then head home, where there were more
interesting things to be done.
As he walked,
something caught his attention. It was the distinct sound of air rushing passed
something falling. Something big. But there were no buildings in the area, so
what could be causing the sound. He looked up and saw a bright, burning object
fall with alarming speed. Had he been anyone else, Chris would have run away
from the falling object. But to Chris, this was a once in a lifetime
opportunity. The chance to see a real meteor impact!
He
pulled out his phone and turned on the video recording, making sure to get the space
rock in view. He rushed, ran between trees and other objects as fast as he
could. Fortunately, the object was still quite distant, and was likely going to
hit someplace very close to him. Indeed, it looked like it was going to hit a
nearby field.
Chris
arrived just before it hit. He cheered as he caught the whole thing on video.
The dust and debris kicked up by the hit were minor inconveniences as far as he
was concerned. Sure, they stung his eyes and made him nearly cough up his
lungs, but what a shot! He would get so many views with this. He might even go
viral!
When the
dust began to settle enough for him to approach, he held his phone out and made
his way to the stone. Only to find that it was not a stone. It was clearly
metallic, perfectly smooth, and shaped like a bullet. His eyes widened and his
heart soared. This wasn’t a meteor. This was a spaceship! He was about to make
first contact!
He
rushed into the impact crater and examined the alien vessel. It was completely
smooth, with no visible openings, lights, or even markings. For all he knew, it
might have been completely solid. Or even filled with advanced technology.
Maybe it had some kind of super suit in it that would make him a superhero.
That would be awesome.
His
phone beeped, and he instinctively checked it. Something was trying to connect
with it. Something was trying to get online through his phone. He was amazed to
discover he now had an internet connection. How had that happened? He did not
have a signal before. He leaned against the surprisingly cool metal to try and
figure out where the connection was coming from. Something pricked him, like a
needle. He yelped in surprise and backed away.
There
was no evidence of a needle anywhere on the vessel. No signs of anything,
really. That is, until it started making a sound. A high-pitched electric
whirring came from deep inside of it. Chris made sure to record ever moment of
what was happening. The whirring lasted for several minutes before anything
else of interest happened.
The top
of the pod separated from the bottom. There were no visible supports, or any
form of mechanism that would cause this to happen. It simply rose into the air.
Then a figure emerged. It looked like a human woman straight out of a comic
book. Like an idealized version of all the best-looking people in the world,
rolled into one. With one exception. She had bright blue skin and dark blue
hair.
She sat
up and looked around. Then she looked at her hand and wiggled her fingers. She patted
herself down, feeling her body like it was new to her. Maybe it was. He had no idea
how aliens worked. She rose out of the pod in a way similar to the top of the
device. But that had risen straight up. She moved up and out of it, hovering
over the ground under her own power. Whatever that was.
She saw
him and smiled. Or at least, she tried to. She tried several different types of
smiles, like she had only seen the expression performed and not actually done
it herself.
“Much
very strangeness.” She said in almost perfect English. “How does…smiling this
work?”
“Uh…you
mean how do you smile?”
“Yes.”
Chris
thought about it for a moment, then tried his best to show her a happy smile. It
was not all that hard, because he was probably seeing the origin of Earth’s
first real superhero. How could he not be happy?
“You I
thank.” She said with a slightly more natural smile. He hoped she would get
better at that. And talking.
“Uh,
sure. Hey, I’m Chris.”
“I name
is—” The next sound out of her mouth was clearly alien. Lots of S and Sh
sounds.
“Okay,
we’re going to need to work on that. Later though. How are you speaking
English?”
She
thought about it for a moment, then pointed at his phone. “Computer connects. Learns.
Reads. Teaches. Form also gives. Better shape planet for.”
So that
was it. The pod had given his phone an internet connection and used that to learn
the language, then used the pictures there combined with what he could only
assume was a DNA collection to make her look so human. The wonders of alien
technology.
“Okay,
so what are you here for?”
“Purpose?
Here to help, am I.”
“Help?”
“Danger
much coming is. You ready not for it. So, I come, I help fight!”
His eyes
went wide and he broke out in a massive grin. He really was seeing the birth of
a superhero! A real one! It was a dream come true.
“Okay, I
can help you with that. We humans have some, uh, ideas about aliens. Some are
good, some are bad. You’re going to need some help with an image for a superhero.”
“Image?”
“Yeah.
How you look, how you act. That sort of thing. First of all, the outfit. It
needs to change.”
She was
wearing a full body suit that looked like a combination of a gymnastics uniform
and body armor. He could not tell if it was form fitting or bulky. And it was definitely
not a superhero outfit. He was already thinking of ways to improve it.
“Outfit
change I?”
“Yeah,
but for that, we need to brainstorm some ideas. Second, you’ll need a secret
identity. Can you change your skin color?”
“Yes. If
need I.”
“You
will, but not now. The last thing we need is a name.”
“I name
have.”
“Right,
well, you’ll need a human name for your secret identity. But you’ll also need a
superhero name. One that fits you. One that tells people that a hero is here to
help them. Let’s see…”
He
looked at her. At her blue skin and hair. The color of the sky. It was a good
color, a beautiful color. He could work with that.
“Got it.”
He said. “Your name is Azure.”
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A gotta love a superhero origin story, right? Okay, maybe space alien sent to protect us isn't super original, but what is these days?
