Chapter Text
It was a cloudless and crisp November night in Propwash Junction and the whole town was preparing for the peak of the Leonid meteor shower. Dusty swiftly taxied out of his hangar carrying a basket full of fruit cubes Dottie had made as snacks to eat during the celestial show, while Chug followed behind with a trailer of blankets to lay out on the asphalt and grass. Dottie was already spreading out some sheets and blankets with the help of Sparky, trying her best to make the area as cozy as possible since they would be spending the duration of the night outside.
“The fruit cubes! Thank you for getting them Dusty.” The mechanic stated, she motioned to a patch of grass beside the sheets with a fork. “You can place them here.”
“Where do you want me to set the sheets Dottie?” Chug asked, motioning to the trailer.
“You can put them right next to Sparky.” She pointed to the pittie across from her and Chug followed the order.
Dusty gazed back and forth at all the other cars, forklifts, and aircraft that were all lined up along the ends of the runway in preparation for the meteor shower.
“Where’s Skipper?” He asked his mechanic.
“He went back to his hanger to get his binoculars, Echo and Bravo accompanied him.” She answered.
“Ah alright.” Dusty responded. “It’s great that Bravo and Echo got some leave so they could come out here. Especially, since they got here in time for the meteor shower.”
“Yes, it is nice that they can come out here and destress. It has to be maddening to stay out in the middle of the ocean on a boat for so long.” Dottie replied, straightening out yet another sheet.
“They say it’s not all that bad. They have prank wars to let off steam, so it isn’t like it’s 24-hour stress.” The cropduster replied.
Dottie replied with an “I guess so” and grabbed another blanket to straighten out while Dusty went on to help Chug take some of the blankets from the trailer.
Skipper joined them, with the two Jolly Wrenches in tow, and spread out a couple pairs of binoculars for the others to use for stargazing. Within an hour the sun had set and the Neowise comet was up in the night sky, looking brighter and hazier than it did the night before. The blazing ball of cosmic ice sat there seemingly frozen in place as it ever so slowly continued its celestial voyage around the sun.
“Neowise is looking bright tonight.” Skipper commented, nodding up at the heavens. “Why don’t you guys use these binoculars to take a better look.”
“Sure thing, thanks Skipper!” Bravo grinned, taking a pair for himself and Echo.
Dusty grabbed a set and Sparky helped hold them up so he could see through them. Upon closer inspection the celestial object now shone with a dazzling bluish green tail that stretched out far behind it, while the nucleus appeared as a brilliant white sphere which contrasted with the black of the night. All around the comet were speckles of bright white lights that seemed to shimmer and blink out of existence only to reappear shortly after. Dusty at first found it odd for a comet to be surrounded by small flecks of light but he rationalized it to be the meteorites floating beyond the atmosphere that were overlaying with the ice ball.
“That’s amazing.” He chirped.
“If you think that’s amazing Dusty look up.” Skipper stated.
As the cropduster looked up from the binoculars he caught sight of a dozen or so white streaks peppering the darkness above.
“Woah!”
The meteor shower had started in a dazzling display of trailing lights and blazing lines across the night sky. The group sat in wonder, watching the shower and chatting about how amazing the spectacle was while snacking on fruit cubes. As the celestial event reached its peak Dusty sat in admiration of it all, the vastness of space, and the potential secrets it could hold; how truly amazing it all was!
“Wow incredible! I’ve never seen a meteor shower quite like this.” Echo gasped in awe, as cheers from the other citizens sounded out.
“Thank you for inviting us out here Dusty.” Bravo said, looking down from the heavenly light show to address the cropduster.
“No problem guys, we are happy to have-”Dusty started.
A sudden bright flash from above and the sound of the sky cracking apart caught their attention, as one of the meteorites burst through the atmosphere in a burning trail of brilliant light. It angled downwards from the heavens on the right-hand side of the sky and vanished behind the peaks of the hills surrounding Propwash. A second bright flash flared outwards, completely enveloping the hilltops in the blazing shine of white, as a violent explosion erupted that shook the air.
“WHAT THE HECK?” Dusty shouted, jumping nearly out of his frame. “Did that just happen? Did one of those meteorites really just crash into the hills?”
“Sure seemed like it!” Sparky answered, holding a fork to his side to steady his engine from the shock.
“That was quite unusual for a meteorite strike though.” Skipper added. “That was quite a large explosion.”
As the group looked up at the night sky above, they could just make out the burning trail of smoke which the falling “star” had seared into the air. Upon following it down to the hilltops they noticed the presence of a billowing stack of smoke that was starting to crest the peaks.
“Is a bunch of smoke normal with meteorite impacts?” Sparky questioned, pointing at the hills.
“No. No it usually isn’t.” Bravo answered, narrowing his eyes at the dark cloud.
“True, if anything the meteorites can steam from the heat of entering the atmosphere but they can’t burn. The time from entry till impact is so short that the core of the rock remains cold and so meteorites are incapable of starting fires.” Dottie lectured, motioning with her forks.
Dusty, Sparky, and Chug glanced at her after the explanation, perplexed at her knowledgeable outburst.
“What?” The mechanic folded her forks. “I didn’t only focus on mechanics in college, I took astronomy as an elective.”
Echo taxied forward till he was lined up with Bravo, he held a similar concerning grimace as his wingman.
“This isn’t normal, I don’t think that was a meteorite. Nothing about that crash was normal, the explosion and flashes, the smoke. That is not some space rock.” The red helmeted jet stated, staring at the hills.
“Should we call someone?” Skipper asked. “It’s possible that could have been a satellite.”
“Yea.” Bravo replied. “Skipper you stay back here, work on keeping everyone calm, and make the call. Echo and I will scope things out.” He added, starting to taxi past all the concerned and shocked townsfolk to the runway as Echo followed behind him.
“Wait!” Chug shouted, driving after the jets. “I wanna see it. I wanna see it!”
“Chug!” Dottie called to the fuel truck. “The crash site is behind the hills, and those are at least a few miles away. Echo and Bravo can fly out there and back far faster.”
“Yea, but since when do these things happen out here. I wanna be part of the action.”
“Well, you can be part of the action back here.” She added, pulling up beside the truck. “Skipper is going to call someone from the government to come out and take a look as well.”
“Oh? So they can take the aliens away to Area 51 before we get to realize they actually exist? No thank you!” He protested.
“Ugh, Chug. There are no aliens, it was just a satellite!” Dottie sighed in exasperation.
“You don’t know that.” The truck retorted.
“If it makes you feel better Chug, I'll go with Echo and Bravo and report what I see back to you.” Dusty chimed in, attempting to end the argument before it started.
“Dusty, I don’t think that’s a good…” Echo tried to get out.
“AWESOME! Thank you Duster!”
Echo and Bravo exchanged looks, which Echo sighing in defeat.
“You can come too Dusty, but stay behind us in case of any danger.” Echo added.
“Sure thing!” Dusty nodded, following behind the jets.
“Boys!” Skipper called after them. “Be careful.”
The jets and cropduster nodded before taxiing to the runway, where they got their clearance to leave and shortly after took off.
The night air was cold and oddly foreign to Dusty as he followed the navy jets to the crash site, the scent of smoke and burning fuel becoming more potent the closer they got. The sky was still filled with the bright white streaks of descending meteorites and Dusty couldn’t help but feel nervous that the next one could come down on top of them. An eerie feeling had settled over the hills and Dusty could feel an overwhelming anxiety creeping up his frame as they approached the crest of the hill. As soon as they passed over the peak Dusty angled his body so he could look down on the hillside and there, crumbled in a clearing, was a massive, burning, metallic structure that looked all too much like an aircraft.
Dusty gasped over the radio. “Oh Chrysler!! It’s not a satellite. It’s a fricken SPACESHIP!”
“That’s…it just doesn’t make sense.” Bravo called back, astonished by what he saw.
“What do we do??” Dusty questioned, panic starting to creep into his voice as he gazed down at the crash site.
As the cropduster scanned the area he noticed movement at the edge of the clearing. It could have been a trick of the light from the flames consuming the ship but Dusty swore he saw a dark shape slip into the trees directed up the side of the mountain. Upon completing a second turn around the crash site, this time scanning the forest’s edge and finding nothing, Dusty had talked himself into believing it was merely a shifting shadow due to the flames.
“We need to get back now and let the others know. This needs to be reported.” Echo’s voice suddenly called over the radio, his tone grave.
“Al..alright.” Dusty stuttered, unnerved by Echo’s rapid shift in tone but all too happy to get out of there.
As the three headed back to Propwash and over the hills, Dusty gave one last look to the clearing and the smoldering craft, just where was this thing from and what was it actually doing out there in space? The cropduster was ripped from his thoughts by yet another violent explosion, this time bigger than the last, and the sudden sensation of heat against his fuselage. For a split second Dusty found himself back in that mineshaft with Blade, trying to hide from the flames of the wildfire, and he had to take a moment to breathe and remind himself that he was still in Propwash. Though that moment was short lived as the shockwave from the blast shock the air surrounding him, causing him to lose control and jitter about. As Dusty panickily looked around he saw that Echo and Bravo had also been hit with the shockwave and were trying to stabilize themselves.
Thankfully, the three aircraft were able to right themselves just as they hit final approach to the runway and landed without a problem minus the anxiety and high oil pressure Dusty had from the whole ordeal. As the two jets and cropduster left the runway members of the town came driving up to them, bombarding them with questions about how they survived, what they saw, and if they were okay. However, a quick order from Skipper made the crowd disperse, retreating to their respective areas on the grass.
“Are you alright!? That explosion was right behind you guys!” Dottie demanded, her tone was serious and laced with worry.
“Yea…we’re..we’re fine.” Dusty breathed, steadying his nerves.
“Shaken, but we’ll be okay.” Bravo added, Echo nodded to show he felt the same.
“Oh, thank Chevy!” Dottie sighed, relieved.
After a moment or two Sparky drove up beside Skipper, facing Dusty and asked. “What did you all see out there?”
“I bet it was aliens! No satellite could ever explode like that!” Chug cut in, excitedly.
“Well, there wasn’t anything living down there. But there was a ship.” Dusty explained, pausing briefly to gather more of his thoughts. “It was huge, whatever it was.”
“A spaceship! A real spaceship! OHH YEAH!” Chug cheered upon hearing the news.
“That doesn’t mean it’s a spaceship, could have been an experimental drone.” Skipper offered, trying desperately to do away with any alien ideas.
“Or an experimental aircraft.” Dottie said quietly, listing a possibility that she knew they were all thinking about but didn’t want to say out loud.
Dusty, not wanting to think about those implications, decided to change the subject. “That thing looked way too big to be an aircraft, it took down whole trees and the size of that fire was huge.”
“Dusty is right, that ship was far too big to be an aircraft and was too weird a shape to be a passenger plane.” Bravo added.
“So that means it is aliens then?” Chug asked, somewhat hopeful for a confirmatory answer.
“If it is aliens please let it be nice ones.” Sparky added, shivering at the thought of them being the opposite of friendly.
“For the last time Chug, it’s not aliens.” Dottie sighed, folding her forks over each other.
“Oh yea? Well, there is a really big ship out there that came from space and is unlike anything here so it’s got to be aliens.” The truck argued, pointing in the direction of the hills, whose peaks were now covered in smoke.
“Chug please, it’s not extraterrestrials. It’s something for sure, but it’s not that.”
“Then what do you think it is?”
“I..I don’t really know.”
“Well good thing I put that call in then.” Skipper cut in. “The individual they send us can figure the thing out, or what remains of it that is. Let’s just leave it be, and it will leave us be. No one else is going near that wreckage, got it?”
The group agreed, all nodding and deciding to turn in for the night and let the whole situation, spaceship included, go. Well, all except Chug who was thoroughly convinced it was aliens and was hard pressed to convince the others of that fact. Though, despite his enthusiasm, he promised he would leave the thing alone; only to avoid getting on Skipper’s bad side.
As Dusty taxied back to his hangar he stopped for a second, the back window was open, and he didn’t recall leaving it open since that would let all the cool air in. Already on edge from finding an entire spaceship crashed in the hills behind his hometown, this was enough to start ringing alarm bells in the cropduster’s head. He cautiously approached the door to his hangar and clicked it open, finding nothing inside amiss. Relaxing, Dusty shook off his anxiety and convinced himself that he had indeed left the back window open. Approaching his resting area Dusty gave another cautionary look around in case anything was hiding in the shadows and, satisfied that it was just him there, went to sleep.
When Dusty awoke the next morning, he found his hangar to still be just as it was before, untouched from any possible "alien" intruder. He sighed and stretched, taxiing over to a storage cabinet in order to get some food from it for an early morning snack. Yet when he opened the door to the cabinet, he stopped dead in his tracks and he felt his oil run cold. Sitting there, partially nestled in an empty corn sack, was a very large, pristine, blue and white egg.