Redemption

Chapter 1

Dib sat quietly on his roof with his satellite and headphones flipping through radio waves trying to find an alien transmission. For an hour now all he could find was static. Dib sighed and took off his headphones to look at the stars.

"Look at it, Gaz. We've only seen what's come to us from up there. Don't you wanna just fly up there and see it all?" Dib asked looking down at his scary sister sitting on the patio with a half eaten hot dog, quietly playing her GameSlave. Gaz looks up from her game and shrugs her shoulders before going back into the house with her hot dog.

Some people can be so closed minded. Dib thought. His life on Earth was depressing. Everyone at skool thought he was crazy for exploring his fascination with the paranormal. His father, world renowned scientist Professor Membrane, was always working and rarely had time for him and his sister; and his mother died a long time ago. Dib was alone, and would give anything to see what laid beyond the stars. He sighed and looked back into the night. Dib felt most at peace when he looked into space. He felt like he could see forever and just get lost in his thoughts. Then he thought he saw a flash of blue for a fleeting moment, like a shooting star. Dib squinted to see it again and stood up on the roof. It flashed again.

There it is! But it seemed, closer.

The flash of blue became a dot that got bigger and bigger. Dib's eyes got wide when he realized it was coming right for him. He dove to the far side of the roof and covered his abnormally large head. He heard a loud rumble and a booming crash that shook the house as the foreign object crashed down into his back yard. Dib opened his eyes and turned around, seeing flames climbing from the yard into the air. Cautiously he walked to the edge of the roof to see the wreckage.

Was it a meteor? A satellite? Dib thought as he leaned over the side to get a better view. The flames started dying and the wreckage became clear. It was a ship! A space ship! A huge grin flew across Dib's face before he dove off the roof and slid down the drain pipe on the side of the house. He hit the ground with a light thud before cautiously walking over to the remains of the space ship. The flames finally died down all the way and sent wisps of smoke around the broken ship which made a deep crater in the yard. Dib got a stick from the ground before poking at it, jumping back in case a certain poke made the whole thing explode. When nothing happened, he threw his stick to the side before climbing up on the ship to look inside the windshield. It was too dark to see anything other than wires and a broken control panel. Dib jumped off the ship and circled it, studying it. It was a dark magenta color with a round bubble-like exterior and a black marking on the side that looked like a triangle with a circle in the middle and two other little triangles on the top, making it look like some kind of bug face.

Nothing like I've ever seen before. Dib thought, studying the mark. Then he stopped, his eyes growing to the size of saucers. Nothing like…

"AN ALIEN SPACE SHIP!" Dib shouted at the top of his lungs, holding his head in disbelief and stepping back.

"Be quiet!" Gaz shouted from inside. Dib whipped around.

Gaz!

"GAZ! COME SEE THIS!" He yelled into the house and turned back to look at the ship, making sure it was still there. He couldn't believe it. For years he told everyone about aliens and how they had to exist but nobody believed him!

And now here it is! Actual proof that all the things I've been saying are actually right! Finally, a way to prove that I'm, that I…

"I HAVE TO GET A CAMERA!" He shouted, mid-thought. He ran inside and scrambled through the door. Only stopping when he saw his sister on the couch playing her GameSlave.

"Gaz! Get outside! There's- and… and…" He couldn't form words and could only point sporadically at the backdoor.

"You're voice is making me sick." Gaz interrupted, not even looking up to glare at her brother.

"GAH!" Dib threw his arms up and ran for the stairs, crawling up them as fast as he possibly could before crashing through the door to his room.

"Camera! Where is it?" He stammered, looking around his room wildly. Then, he saw it, on his desk with all his other tech stuff. He dove for it, only succeeding to push it off the desk and send it falling to the floor. Dib crouched under his desk to grab it and shot back up to knock his head against it. He rubbed his head for a second before flying out the door and tumbling down the stairs. The sound of Dib grunting in pain as he smacked his head on the steps made Gaz chuckle and look up at her crazed brother for half a second before he zipped out the back door.

Dib was looking down at his camera, careful to prep every little detail before taking a single picture, even remembering to take off the lense cap. He looked up through the camera, ready to take a picture. He froze, his heart stopped and his breathing quickened. Slowly, he took the camera away from his face, horrified at what he saw. The ship, the debris, the embers, even the massive crater.

Gone.

The camera dropped from Dib's hand as he stared at the exact spot where the ship was. Everything was as if nothing even happened. Even a squirrel bounced over into the yard, as peaceful as ever, and stopped to stare at him. Dib's eye twitched.

"Okay, Dib. Fine. What do I have to see?" Gaz asked from behind him, walking over to his side, only to find her brother having a staring contest with a squirrel. Gaz looked at the squirrel for a second before turning to go back into the house. She sighed before closing the door behind her.