This story is about two siblings, Alia and Zak, who discover a crashed pod in the desert. Alia wants to investigate but Zak is wary. They find two pods, one cracked open containing packages. A page with images of grotesque creatures is also found. Then a thumping sound comes from the larger pod, indicating something alive inside is in distress. Zak wants to leave but Alia wants to help. They hear researchers approaching and know the creatures will soon be dealt with, leaving Alia wondering about where they came from.

1. Storyworks Original Fiction
They
Might Be
Dang
Who are the mysterious
creatures that crashed down
from outer space?
BY KATE MESSNER
Illustrations By GARY HANNA
12 s t o r y w o r k s

2. erous
UP
CLOSE Fiction and Nonfiction Read this story after you’ve read
the nonfiction article “The Planet Hunters,” on page 10. As Look for Word Nerd’s
you read this story, think about what facts you learned in the 7 words IN BOLD
nonfiction that help you understand this work of fiction.
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3. W
hether or not there was intelligent life out there had
never been a question to Alia. With half a trillion
planets in the galaxy, millions of others must have the
right conditions for life. It was only a matter of time
before there was contact.
Alia had read all about this. She and Zak were always listening and
watching for signs—screaming engine roars, bright flashes of light, or
fireballs in the sky. But that morning, all they heard was a muffled whump.
It sounded as if it had come from the far It was wreckage. But of what, Alia
side of the park. All they saw was a hint of couldn’t say.
silver, the way you might see an insect fly past A craft of some kind, battered from
out of the corner of your eye, but by the time its landing.
you turn to look, it’s flown off somewhere else. Its wings were all broken up.
Alia veered from their well-traveled path But two gleaming, dark, metallic pods
and took off, knowing her older brother would seemed to have weathered the landing. They
follow. were long and sleek but bulged
“Let’s find out what it was!” in the center to make room,
She struggled to be still and attentive for Alia presumed, for whatever
lessons each day but loved racing through they carried inside. The
the desert on the way home, kicking up sand, smaller one was cracked open
skittering over rugged rocks on the far side of along a seam. She approached
the park. She always wanted to push farther it slowly.
into the desert, beyond where her parents
allowed them to explore.
Zak scuttled along the rocks with Mip
panting at his side. Then he stopped.
Z ak reached down
to hold Mip, but she
broke loose and rushed up to
He reached down to scratch Mip’s furry sniff at the pod’s contents.
head and frowned. “I don’t see anything. We Shiny, flimsy packages
should go back.” spilled from the crack. Alia
Zak never liked to wander far. picked one up. Was this their
Alia kept going. food?
“Let’s keep looking.” Zak was nervous.
Alia hoped the whump sound was an “Put that down! We have
asteroid fragment. She’d always wanted to hold to go. Someone must have
one of those space scraps and feel the heat of seen this. We’ll get in trouble!”
its journey, the weight of secrets from places Alia knew he was right.
she’d never see. The researchers were
Zak followed her over the uneven rocks always watching the sky. Soon
toward a shadowy something, steaming beyond they’d be here.
the outcrop. But she wasn’t ready to go.
It was not an asteroid. Zak backed away as if stray
14 s t o r y w o r k s

4. molecules of the alien world might swirl him Zak heard it too.
up in a magical cloud and spirit him away from The researchers.
everything he’d ever known.
Somehow, that didn’t seem so scary to Alia.
She was about to reach into the pod when
she felt Mip’s damp nose nudging her.
Zak started to panic.
to go!”
“We need
But Alia wasn’t ready. She crouched low,
Alia turned—and she heard it. A scrape, reaching into the pod.
and then a creak, coming from the other pod. She felt something . . . hard and cold.
The larger one. It was a long tube with some kind of trigger.
“Watch out!” Zak warned. “A weapon.” She held it up. “It’s not too
But Alia froze, staring. The pod grew quiet, big. That’s good, right?”
then it let out a low hissing sound, probably Zak’s fear filled the air like fog.
gases escaping, Alia guessed. “That could mean they’re more advanced.
Alia waited, but there were no more creaks That thing you’re grabbing could annihilate all
or scrapes, only the steady, quiet hiss of breath of us.”
from another world. Zak reached out to pull her away.
In the distance, another sound rose over Alia pulled back.
the rocks. “Maybe they don’t want to annihilate all
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5. of us.” “So you want to leave them to die?”
Zak shook his head. She tugged away from him again and
“You’re being reckless. We need to get out scrambled toward the pod.
of here!” Zak trembled. “They’re dangerous!”
Alia turned toward the second pod, but Zak “How do you know?” Alia paused. “They
rushed forward to stand between her and the look different. But what if they’re just like us?”
capsule. Zak gave her a dark look. “It won’t matter.”
“They could carry diseases. We have no And Alia knew he was right.
idea who they are!” The pod thumped again, louder, over and
Alia cast her eyes down. over. Desperate and powerful. Whatever was in
“I want to know.” there was strong.
Zak and Alia heard a buzzing sound in the
S he turned back to the first
pod. Something glossy was snagged on
a sharp edge of metal. Alia tugged it from the
distance. Soon the researchers would be here.
They’d have the equipment—the weapons,
tools, and research supplies—to deal with this.
capsule and stared. The thumping from the pod faded and
It was a page of images. finally stopped, and the hissing slowed to a
Alia’s limbs stiffened. shhhhhhh.
Zak rushed to her side. She could sense his Quieter.
terror, his revulsion. Quieter. Until silence filled the dry
She felt it too. landscape with heaviness.
The creatures in the images were grotesque. Alia looked at Zak.
Their faces were raw and pink, their bodies “Maybe that hissing was their air supply.”
soft, mushy-looking, and pale as the moons. Zak nodded.
Zak made the clicking sound he made when
he was most afraid. He turned to leave.
“Now let’s go.”
But before Alia could follow, the larger
T he researchers were now
visible in the distance, flying
in from three directions. If we leave now, they
pod creaked again. Then it thumped. A quiet won’t know we were here, Alia thought.
keening came from inside. OK. Even Mip seemed to be waiting for
“Alia, come on!” Zak was already climbing her, tipping her antennas toward home, but
away over the rocks. Alia scratched her behind her crown-horn and
But she couldn’t leave. Something was in turned back to the pod.
there. Alive. Even with the horrible images The pods were totally quiet. The crying had
fresh in her brain, she couldn’t turn away from stopped, and whatever sustaining gases they’d
that wailing. So she took a step forward. What brought with them had long leaked away.
if . . . Whatever had been inside was dead or dying. It
“Are you crazy?” had to be this way, Alia knew, even though it
Zak rushed at her and knocked her to the made her heart ache. She and Zak couldn’t risk
ground. everything to help strangers from some far-off
“They need help, Zak!” world.
She started to get up, but Zak clutched her She folded her wings tight at her sides,
leg. bent low, and ran one antenna over the strange
“It’s not safe!” symbols scratched in the pod’s dark surface.
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6. She traced the straight lines and curves. dreamed of meeting her?
E...A…R…T…H. Maybe they would come again, Alia thought,
Was it the name of a faraway planet? as she and Zak scuttled back toward the
Had the creatures inside the pod dreamed of settlement with Mip trotting beside them.
holding star-scraps in their hands? Had they Maybe next time, things could be different.
WRITE TO WIN!
Do you believe creatures like Zak and Alia could exist on other planets?
Why or why not? Write a paragraph explaining your answers, including
at least three details from the article “The Planet Hunters” to
support your answer. Send it to “Aliens Contest” by March
Find an
15, 2013. Ten winners will each receive a copy of Eye of the activity
Storm by Kate Messner. See page 2 for details. sheet
online!
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