//------------------------------//
// First steps 
// Story: Iridescence 
// by Serpent_Underscore 
//------------------------------//

It was a few hours later, at a hotel in a town called Bishop. I’d snuck the creature inside by hiding it in my backpack, still wrapped in my wet jacket. It didn’t like the unexpected darkness and squeaked plaintively at me until I undid the zipper an inch or two. Not enough for it to get out or be seen easily, but enough to still let some light in and allow it to peek outside.

It quieted down and I was able to check in at the front desk without raising any suspicions. I was able to explain my hurry by saying that I got caught out in the rain and needed to change into something dry, which wasn’t exactly untrue. I had some spare clothes in my duffel bag, along with my wedding attire.

Once I had gotten inside my room and locked the door, I changed quickly and returned to unzip my backpack and let the creature out. I set it carefully on the bedside table and unwrapped it from the wet jacket. It sneezed once and looked up at me curiously. Half its shell was still sticking to its hindquarters and I laughed as it flopped on one side and began furiously kicking against it. I ended up having to help remove the offending membrane. It was plastered against its carapace and I had to carefully peel it away, steadying the creature with one hand to keep it still.

The internal light I had noticed earlier was gone, which I counted as a good thing. Back when I had first grabbed it with my jacket I had half-expected the weakly glowing amniotic fluids to start sizzling and eating away at the fibers like acid. Nothing untoward had happened when I had unconsciously started to pet it during the car ride, so the thin green stuff probably wasn’t harmful to the touch. Probably. I intended to thoroughly wash my hands after this, and to give the little creature a bath to clean off the residue sticking to it. No point in taking chances.

Once the shell was fully removed, the creature unsteadily tried getting to its feet, but flopped onto its belly instead. Now that the shell was gone I could see the iridescent blue segments on its back, like a vibrantly colored beetle’s wing case. Speaking of wings, there were two small nubs on its back that looked suspiciously like they might develop into something more with time. The tail was a bit of a surprise. I had been expecting something like a lizard’s tail or a scorpion stinger, but the only thing there was a short ragged plume of grey hair sticking together damply.

The creature tried standing on all fours again, only to collapse once more with an undignified squeak of frustration. Not to be deterred, it carefully placed both forelegs on the tabletop and levered itself into an upright sitting position. With a determined look down at its misbehaving limbs, it tried straightening its hindquarters awkwardly. This time it managed to stay on its feet for an entire six seconds before losing its balance and almost collapsing again. Its shaky legs caught it just in time though and it looked up at me with unmistakable excitement sparkling in its milky blue eyes.

Of course, the act of turning its oversized head set it off-balance again and it toppled over once more. “I don’t know if you’re supposed to be on your feet just yet.” I said with a laugh. The creature shot me a dirty look and squeaked fiercely. “Just give it some time, I’m sure you’ll be able to do it when you’re a little older.”

The creature pointedly ignored me and went right back to trying to stand. "Or you could just keep on practicing, that's good too." A tiny snort was my only reply. For a hatchling only a few hours old, I was honestly impressed by its responsiveness and seeming awareness of what I was saying, or at least what the tone meant. I was definitely leaning toward the idea it was an intelligent alien rather than just a dumb animal that happened to be from another planet. I could always be wrong, but I thought it best to treat it as if it were intelligent until I knew for certain.

There was no foreseeable harm in doing so even if I turned out to be wrong, and plenty of reasons to start out by treating it like a person rather than a pet. I smiled as the creature managed to get to its feet again and spoke encouragingly to it. This time it kept its head very still as it tried taking its first wobbly steps. All four legs were splayed out trying to stay balanced, and it swayed to the side unsteadily. I had to reach out and steady it before it strayed to the edge of the table.

The creature looked up at me gratefully and gave a spirited chirp before nestling against my hand. As a result, I was given an object reminder of the fact it was still wet and covered in alien amniotic fluid.

“You’re doing great, but I think that’s enough for now.” I said warmly. “Let’s get you washed up before this gunk dries off.” The creature protested slightly as I scooped it up, but didn’t struggle as I carried it to the bathtub. It proved to be fascinated by warm water, but was much less enthusiastic about the concept of soap. After the obligatory hissing fit at the unfamiliar scent, it warily allowed me to start scrubbing away at its carapace with a damp cloth. I gently removed the sticky residue as best I could, trying to cover all major areas. In the end, I had to sacrifice my toothbrush in order to clean out the holes in its legs.

In the process of getting it cleaned off, I discovered that it was female. Or at least, that's what I assumed it was if its anatomy was anything like that of most earth creatures. Of course, it might be like birds or reptiles and nearly impossible to determine its sex unless you knew just what you were looking for, or it might even be aesexual. Who knew when it came to aliens. Lacking anything more definitive, I decided to just refer to it as female and hoped I was right in my guess.

Now that bath time was over, the creature was enthusiastically splashing around in the shallow water. She seemed to love making bubbles by churning her hole-filled legs through the soapy water, gasping and chirping with delight at the novel experience. Soon, she discovered the joys of biting bubbles as well as making them and began stalking the rainbow orbs around the tub. She was still quite unsteady on her feet and fell down frequently, but seemed to be having the time of her life anyways. I supervised her for maybe ten to twelve minutes before she finally started getting tired, then took her out of the tub and dried her off with a towel.

As the tiny black thing slumbered on the bed, I considered what I’d do about feeding her. I had a fair guess she was at least partially carnivorous- the sharp teeth and the way she hunted bubbles seemed like a dead giveaway- but were there other dietary considerations as well? Was it like a dog that could live on both meat and vegetarian diets, or a cat that could only subsist on meat? Was it an insectivore or fish-eater, did the young of the species drink milk or partially pre-digested meat given by a parent? With a sigh, I rummaged through my backpack for my laptop, a Powerbook 150 I’d gotten last year to help with my studies.

Threading the phone cord to the jack in the wall and updating the settings for the connection, I winced as the characteristic digital screeching of a modem connecting to the internet threatened to wake up the young alien. It merely shifted position and yawned though.

The next hour or so was filled with AOL searches for how to care for orphaned baby animals. I took notes on everything from lizards to canaries, puppies to raccoons, big cats to baby horses. I found a few good emergency milk formulas for orphaned animals, as well as a wealth of advice.

I’d have to make a trip to the store for ingredients and a baby bottle, but I couldn’t leave the alien alone in the hotel where it might wake up and cause a racket, only to be discovered by room service. I carefully picked up the sleeping creature and tucked it into my backpack again, trying to disturb it as little as possible.

There was a K-mart not too far away that probably had everything I needed. The rain had mostly died down and I caught a glimpse of the moon behind the cloud cover. Destination in mind, I drove off into the night.