Submission (#6738) Approved

Word Count: 406

A week after the first incident involving the strange weeds and fallen satellite, things had quieted down at Romulus’s abode. The weeds had gradually gone away, although he had kept a small few to cultivate and study. However, as he went to plant a new row of tomatoes, he noticed that his trowel was not in its usual place. That was odd, but perhaps he had left in the shed by accident — or maybe out in the field. As he checked the shed, he noticed that several other items in his possession had seemingly vanished from thin air. His shovel, his scythe, even the saw that he had used to cut wood for his fire were amongst a few of the items taken. Puzzled, he worried that a bandit had come in the night — but why steal such objects? The wooden lockbox that kept his precious, but few, Pupa Seeds was untouched.

After counting up each item that was missing, he noticed a pattern amongst them. That being, each tool had some sort of metal part, whether it was a handle, or the primary component (such as the blade of the shovel or the saw). It was at that moment that he remembered the satellite- could the owner have finally found it, and decided to steal potential parts to try and repair it in its damaged state? Who would do such a thing— none of his neighbors or anyone within miles of his farm had any interest in technical things, or and even less so in stealing. Standing, he hurried out of the shed and made his way for the forest, hoping to catch the culprit in the place where the satellite had crashed. Pushing through the brush and avoiding getting scratched or caught by the rough foliage, Romulus finally came upon the spot— feeling a sense of defeat as he noticed the object missing from the scorched ground where it once lay. But, as he looked around to see if perhaps he had missed something, a mechanical wintering from the sky caught his attention. Peering up at the clouds through the hole in the treetop left by the satellite’s crash, Romulus caught sight of a strange flying object hovering not too far away. With nothing to do but watch, he stared at the UFO as it hovered for a second longer before hurriedly flying away— almost as if the driver had noticed his observing. Strange…