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It's been three days since you arrived at the cabin, completely free from any kind of work, communication, and social interactions.  You and your significant other decided to take a much-needed vacation, and they had suggested a retreat to a cabin in a forest.  You both felt overworked, and you were tired of your desk job at a giant technology company; it felt a lot like you were just pushing paper.  Your spouse suggested that for this vacation you spend some quality time together, away from everyone and everything else, so you can relax and take some days off.

Before you arrived at the cabin a couple days ago, the majority of the expenses came from stockpiling anything you might need for the next week.  Lots of food and water, some smaller forms of entertainment like books and magazines, a first-aid kit, and some camping items like flashlights, sleeping bags, and a tent.  You wanted to make sure you had everything, because the closest place with another human was 20 miles out.

The first three days you've been at the cabin have been extremely pleasant.  You've been able to spend some time reading the book you've been wanting to finish, went hiking and exploring with your spouse, and made lots of delicious home-made meals.  Since you didn't have to worry about going to work or anywhere else during the day, it left you lots of time to prepare and enjoy your meals together.

One thing you hadn't anticipated before embarking on this trip was how stressful relationships could be without any breaks.  It wasn't anything too bad, but this is the first time in a couple years you've spent so much time alone with your spouse with no interruptions, and it felt sort of odd.  Part of you wondered if you started nitpicking each other out of boredom, not necesarrily because either of you actually had something to complain about.

Either way, on the evening of the third day, you decided to take a walk alone, and give each other a break.  You had been arguing over what to have for dinner tonight, and after a few minutes alone you decided when you got back you'd just make what your spouse wanted.  It's just food, no sense arguing over such a menial thing.  You don't even know how the argument got started in the first place.  At this point you just don't want to bicker anymore, in fear of ruining the vacation.

One of the things you both loved about this vacation was the surrounding forest.  It was absolutely impressive and beatiful; you'd never seen anything like it.  It was all one giant forest, but there were so many different areas.  Some sections had incredibly tall trees that swayed in the wind, some had more medium-sized trees with thick, overgrown canopies stretching between them, and other parts had smaller trees, surrounded by a plethora of bushes filled with all kinds of little berries.

You were walking through a section of the forest with the mid-sized trees and the canopy above you that concealed a considerable amount of the night sky.  The evening air was cool and fresh, the smell of the damp forest ground and surrounding plants permeating your nostrils.  You were about 10 minutes away from the cabin, and paused your brisk walk to relax for a moment.  You closed your eyes, and inhaled deeply.  The smells of the surrounding foliage seemed even more intense, and the noises too.  Crickets chirped in the distance, small forest animals scurried away at the sight of you, and birds contentedly settled down for the night in the canopy above you.

Daylight was already fading fast, and when you finally opened your eyes it was noticeably darker than when you began your walk.  However the increasing darkness helped you notice something you hadn't seen before; many of the trees around you had a barely visible blue hue to them.  Something in the forest was giving off an eerie blue light, not too far from you.

You determined that you were already headed towards the source of the light, which is probably why you hadn't noticed it earlier, you simply weren't close enough and it wasn't sufficiently dark yet.  You start off again, the blue light getting thicker and more noticeable as you continue your trek.

Just when you think the light couldn't get any stronger, you see something sort of silver-ish behind the trees ahead.  You slow your pace and moved forward, staying behind trees to conceal yourself.

You've got to be kidding me.  Is this for real?  Is someone playing a prank on me?

You think to yourself as you finally get close enough to reveal the source; an alien spaceship, or at least it looks like one.  It looks like your typical alien movie-type UFO, sort of a silver dinner platter covered in blue lights from top to bottom.  Using the light from the ship, you see that behind the ship the trees have been crushed and mangled, and there's a bit of smoke rising from the ship.  It had definitely crashed.

You realize this is incredibly cliche, and again wonder if someone is playing a joke on you.  However, it also occurs to you that you're more than 20 miles from civilization in a deep forest.  You pause, wondering what to do.  If this was not a real alien, and actually some kind of highly detailed prank, you wondered how far the prank would go; did they create a little fake alien too?  Or will someone jump out and poke fun at you while recording your reaction and making a fool out of you?

If it was a real alien, there would be a hell of a lot more implications than just being made fun of.  Option 1, you approach the spaceship, an alien comes out, it attacks, you die.  Option 2, you approach the alien spaceship, it fires a weapon at you from inside its ship, you still die.  Option 3, you approach the alien spaceship, the alien comes out injured, you try your best to help it but it dies of its wounds because you're not an alien doctor.  Countless scenarios run through your head, and you just decide to approach the ship and see what happens.

You get about as close to the ship as you think is safe, and awkwardly wait.  A moment later, a hatch opens on the ship, complete with more cliche steam hissing sounds and some fog rising out of the UFO.  You nearly facepalm at how horribly cringey this situation is.

An alien emerges from the fog, and stands on the bridge formed by the hatch.  It's probably just under three feet tall, and covered in a purple-ish pink skin that looks considerably moist compared to human skin.  It's not wearing any clothes.  It has two arms and two legs just like humans do, but they're incredibly long and spindly-looking.  The torso is small compared to its limbs, and the head looks like the shape of a light bulb, sort of small in the front on its face and larger in the back.

The urge to facepalm strikes you again, but you decide to not make the first move.  The alien spots you, three beady black eyes staring you down.  It makes no movement, but produces a serious of clicks with its mouth.  You don't know how to respond so you stay silent.  A moment later it pulls out a small button-like object it was holding in its hand, and clicks it, holding it out.

It produces more clicks with its mouth again, only this time an artificial feminine-sounding voice comes from the button device.  In that moment you realize this isn't a prank.  It's a real alien.  The button seems to be some kind of translator its species has developed in the event it ever needed to communicate with humans.  You sense no obvious malice coming from the small alien, and it seems to be the only one.  The artificial female voice rings out loudly in the forest, breaking the awkward silence between you.

"Greetings, human."

What Would You Do?

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