Eckwicklick, Kickwilkickbick, and Pilgiksinick

Kathryn and Juliet came running from the animal pens. Ofelia had never seen her mother run before, but it was obvious that she meant business. They joined the four picnickers just as the ship landed with a roar.
The ship was a lopsided pyramid shape about twenty yards long and fifteen yards wide. As it came down, little feet projected out from the bottom and gently met the field. The roar of the engines stopped, thought they still echoed through Ofelia’s ears.
“It’s pink,” Rex said from behind her. One of his arms was locked around Ofelia. The other held the laser rigle down to his side. “You didn’t tell me the alien’s ship was pink.”
“Just because they’re pink doesn’t mean they’re not here to kill us.”
The ship beeped loudly and the front nose of the ship lowered to form a ramp. Rex let Ofelia loose and pushed her behind him. Ofelia tried to move around him, but he pushed her back again.
“Hey, I can’t see!”
“Just calm down. I’ll tell you if there’s anything to see.”
Ofelia realzied why her mom hadn’t given Tyler a laser rifle. He would have been shooting like a crazy man by now. Juliet, Kathryn, and Rex all had their weapons down by their sides, ready but not threatening.
Ofelia heard the metallic thunk thunk thunk of footsteps coming down the ramp.
“What is it?”
“It’s Fred!” Jack shouted.
“Hello Jack. How are you? I am fine. Would you like a cold refreshing beverage? Can I have a bunny?”
“You want a bunny?”
“Yes, please. We want a bunny.”
“We? Who is we, Fred?”
“Live long and prosper. We come in peace. Make love not war. Would you like to buy a monkey? Take me to your leader.”
“I think they’ve been messing with you brain, Fred,” Jack replied. Kathryn handed Ofelia her laser rifle.
“Here. Hold this.”
“I don’t know how you use it.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary.”
Kathryn walked out towards Fred, her hands out and open.
“I’m Captain Kathryn Clovelly. I am the leader. We do not want war. We want peace.”
“Coolio, MacDaddy.”
Fred walked closer to Kathryn and held out his hand. She grasped it and shook it cautiously. A sudden squeal from the spaceship caused her to take a step back, but she held her ground.
Three creatures descended from the ramp. They were about five feet tall, perhaps a little shorter. They had recognizable arms and legs attached to a stout body, but instead of a head, it looked like an octopus sitting on their neck. Two of the feelers seemed to have eyeball attached, and they swiveled around independent of each other monitoring their surroundings. Ofelia couldn’t see any hair on them at all, and their skin seemed to be an almost translucent mint green.
They wore clothes, or perhaps they were coats. They were raggedy piecemeal affairs that looked like the biggest piece of fabric in them was three inches square.
“For such a pretty spaceship, they don’t seem to dress well,” Rex commented. Only he could be cracking jokes at a time like this. It was the first documentable evidence that humans were not the lone space traveling species in the universe.
One of the aliens carried a tray of small shot glass sized glasses filled with a shocking blue liquid. He held it towards Kathryn.
“Would you like a cold refreshing beverage?” Fred repeated again. One alien took a glass and stuck a tentacle in the liquid and sucked it up like through a straw. Then the alien made a noise.
“Did he just giggle?” Larissa asked.
Kathryn took a deep breath and took a shot glass. She sniffed it carefully and chugged it all in one go. She let out a cough and her eyes began to water. All three of the aliens giggle and took another glass.
Kathryn reported back to the group. “My guess is that it’s some form of alien whisky.” When offered the last glass, Kathryn took it and chugged it as well.
“It really packs a punch.”
The tray wielding alien began squeaking. Fred squeaked back at them, then they all giggled.
“They took Fred to be a translator,” Jack said.
“Might I suggest that we adjourn to somewhere more comfortable, like the bar where we can return the hospitality?”
“That sounds like a good idea. Fred, will you extend the offer to our new friends?”
Fred turned and squeaked. The aliens squeaked back and bounced up and down three times.
“We love you. Show me the money.”
“Right. This way please.”

After several shots of good Scotch whisky, the Earthlings and Eckwicklick, Kickwilkickbick, Pilgiksinick became good friends. Of course, the Earthlings decided that Larry, Moe and Curly were much more pronounceable names.
After a few shots of vodka, no one seemed to notice the odd manner of Fred’s translation. They all seemed to be speaking the same language. Larissa asked them about their coats.
“These are our traveling coats. Everywhere we go, we add new material. We have been many places,” Moe said through Fred.
“All that fabric had to be made by many people.”
“Yes, many. But not many out here. We’re on the fringes of the universe here. It’s the farthest this way we’ve traveled,” Larry said.
“Our home planet is far away. We thought we were the only ones,” Juliet said. The aliens giggled.
“I have two thousand, twenty five patches on my coat,” Curly said.
“Ha. I have two thousand forty seven on mine,” Moe bragged.
“I have two thousand nine hundred and twenty three on mine,” Larry said bouncing up and down.
“He is an old fart,” Fred said for Curly.
Kathryn tried to suppress a grin.
“We buy, sell, trade. Make money for to retire. Show me the money,” Fred said for the three.
“See,” Rex said, prodding Ofelia with his elbow. “Capitalism works even in the far off unknown region of the universe.”
“Apparently we are the far off unknown region of the universe. What do you think people back home will think of this?”
“Well, without a communicator, it’ll take ten years for The Crosby to get here, and twenty years for the message to get back home.”
“A need. A need. A need,” Larry and Moe started bouncing up and down and squeaking in unison.
Curly squeaked back at them, harshly.
“Forgive them. Bad manners. Thank the host, retire for the evening, do business tomorrow.”
Larry and Moe stopped bouncing and their tentacles hung limp in shame.
“Tomorrow and tomorrow and Tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day. The sun will come out tomorrow.”
“Goodnight then,” Kathryn said standing.
“So long, fairwell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu,” Fred said and waved. The aliens waved their tentacles and then went back to their ship.
“I think that went well,” Kathryn said and letting out a huge sigh. “That blue stuff was a little strong.”
“It could have killed you,” Juliet responded.
“Yeah, but you would have mowed them down with the laser rifles, and then we would have been even.”
“You’d still be dead.”
“You can’t expect a war hero such as myself to die old and retired. There’s no glory in that.”
“That’s the blue stuff talking.”
“That’s right. I took a risk and look where it got us. From the sound of it, they might have what we need to fix the communications array,” Kathryn said.
“What do we do about the rest of the colony? Do we tell them to come back,” Larissa asked.
“I think we’ll put a hold on that. Everyone here can keep a clear head, but I’m old enough to remember the Gorm Scare and what mass panic can do to people. Keep them in the dark until the last possible moment. And it’s not just the colonists I’m worried about,” Kathryn said.
“You don’t trust them?” Ofelia asked.
“In a business deal with people you don’t know, keep one eye on them and the other on the door. That’s what I plan to do. Now, let’s all get some sleep.”
Jack, Larissa and Juliet immediately headed towards the door. Kathryn followed after giving her daughter a nod.
Ofelia stayed and watched Rex cleaning up the used glasses. He didn’t seem to notice she was still there. Finally, without looking up, he said, “Your mom told you to go to bed, sweetheart.”
“What about you?” The question had a lot more depth to it than that, and both of them knew it.
“I’ll catch some z’s in the back room.”
“But what about…” Ofelia couldn’t say anything further than that. Finally Rex turned around and looked at her, while polishing a glass. He was even scruffier looking than he had been last night, and just as appealing.
“Sweetheart, you know if we go back to my place, we won’t get much sleeping done.” Ofelia’s cheeks reddened. Did he have a problem with this? “You need the sleep. You’re starting to droop a bit. Though I must say, you do look fetching in my coat.”
Ofelia suddenly realized she hadn’t had a shower since before Larissa locked her out of the house. She was coated in dust, wearing sandals and an outfit that barely covered her decently, and her hair hadn’t been combed in nearly twenty four hours. If she were Rex, she wouldn’t want to sleep with her either.
“Maybe I’ll go back and take a shower and get some sleep.”
“Good idea.”
She nodded and turned. She was nearly out of The Bar when something grabbed her elbow and twisted her around. Rex pulled her close to him and applied another toe curling kiss.
“I forgot that I didn’t get a goodnight kiss.”
The way he was staring down at her, made Ofelia think she might get some tonight after all, but instead, he gave her another little kiss on the nose and sent her on her way.