Submission (#6563) Approved

[496 words]
Birling would be a lot more enthusiastic about this whole 'spaceship flying over Terra' thing if it hadn't stolen some of his damn tools!

He'd left some of his things outside in his back garden, thinking nothing of it, yet awoke to seeing them being stolen by it. What the hell could aliens even want with his things anyway? Were they such cheapskates that they could afford a whole ass spaceship but not a couple basic pieces of digging equipment? Well, maybe he was being a bit stingy by deciding that he'd rather chase after this mysterious tool-stealer instead of buying new ones, but here he was. And he was in too deep to go back now, anyway.

It's not like he was alone. It seemed this weird spaceship stole other people's junk as well, with no apparent links between each theft. Some were simple toys, others were expensive valuables. Maybe they just felt like stealing whatever was on their flight path, or maybe there was some oddly specific reason for this all. He wasn't certain. All this meant for him is that now he was trying to chase after the thing like a fool, with some others for company. Some were interested just in the phenomenon, while others were unfortunate victims just like himself.

It's not like he was certain what he'd do if they did catch up with the ship... he'd saw a couple folks with weapons, so he assumed people would try to break it and retrieve all the possessions and figure out what aliens had even arrived on their planet. He just kind of followed because of the principal of the matter and hoped that somehow he'd get his things back. He really didn't want to have to spend some unnecessary money on replacements. Maybe it was stupid compared to some people who lost more precious possessions, but here he was.

However, he'd not expected to have to go for so long. Probably the heat of the moment deluding him into expecting that somehow he'd manage to catch up easily, when he knew he was nowhere near ready enough. He begun to trail behind the rest of the group, and eventually miserably stopped. His tail hung low as it dawned on him that it was truly a lost cause. He just deemed himself lucky for not having lost anything greater.

When he went to retreat, he kicked something on the ground. An odd, star-shaped jar. Curiously, he picked it up, the odd liquid within it glinting within the light. He briefly considered running to check on the rest of the group who'd been searching for items to see if this was one of theirs, but... He didn't really have the energy, and he was feeling a bit selfish. So a new addition to his collection of odds and ends at home it was! Perhaps he could keep it near that strange debris. His mind did insist that they seemed connected, after all.