This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/finnegar on 2024-09-06 22:23:54+00:00.

Everything started when we couldn't find Jon Jr. for dinner. This wasn't itself an emergency, the farm's AI would have immediately alerted us if he wandered too far from home. There were only so many places a five year old could go on the only human settlement within 100 miles, after all.

But, when we still couldn't find him after searching the house, barn and maintainance bay, we began to worry. My wife started programing the drones into a search pattern over the fields and ran a diagnostic on the AI. I went to check the only other place I could think of, our tire swing near the creek.

As I turned the corner, I felt immediate relief to see my son in the swing. But, I was confused about what other child was pushing him. We three were the only ones on our farm and we weren't expecting a visit until after the--

I froze.

The other child--for whatever reason my mind knew it was a child--was much taller and more slender than my son, unnaturally so. The extremities didn't have enough fingers. Their hair looked 'wrong', somehow. And, most of all, their skin was unlike any shade seen on Earth.

There had been rumors about a possible indigenous species on Eden Prime, but only rumors. No biosigns or other evidence were found on the survey scans, so the first wave of colonization had started a year ago. Soon after, stories started spreading amoung the farming families: small items going missing, sensor ghosts in the forest, movement seen out of the corner of your eye, a drone found cracked open.

Before me was all the evidence anyone needed. An alien child, dressed in items from the forest, was pushing my son on the tire swing.

Instinctively, I started reaching for a weapon.

"Daddy, look how high I'm going!" cried my son. "Wheeeeeeeee!"

I moved my hand away from the weapon. I could see no threat here. Instead, I slowly pulled out my binoculars, set them to thermal and started scanning the forest a few hundred meters away.

There, on the edge of the forest, stood a much larger version of the alien with my son. I saw their own tension ease as I stoped moving towards their child.

I slowly raised my hand above my head in a wave. After a beat, the alien mimicked the gesture.

I sat and watched the children play for another few minutes. On some unheard cue, the other kid stopped pushing the swing and ran into the forest. By the time I got my binoculars out again to scan, there was nothing to see where the larger alien had been moments before.

I picked up my son and started walking back to the house for dinner.

"Daddy, can I play with my new friend again tomorrow?"