Ripley and Meri

Ripley leaned back in his chair to take a break from staring at the glare of the computer screen. He had been watching video footage from a trail cam for hours and his back was getting sore.

“Anything new to report?” asked Meri, his research partner.

“Nothing at first. And then more deer and rabbits,” responded Ripley. “Not even a measly coyote.”

“I’m sure your wolves will show up,” Meri encouraged him.

Ripley sighed.

“Whatever. It’s getting late. I’m going to grab a cup of coffee,” he told her before standing up and taking the passageway to the hall where the vending machine was located.

He still had a lot of video footage to go through before the end of the night. But that was the life he had chosen as an environmental scientist.

Later that evening he was fast forwarding through a slow scene in the trail camera footage when he noticed something unusual. It looked like a bright flash of light, or perhaps an interference in the camera signal.

“That’s odd,” said Ripley speaking to himself.

Pausing the video he pressed rewind and back tracked to the moments leading up to the flash of light.

He watched as the section of trail lit up with a bright flash of light, temporarily blinding the receivers in the trail camera. Then everything returned to normal.

“I wonder what could have caused that?” said Ripley.

“Caused what?” said Meri who was returning from a trip to the restroom down the hallway.

“Oh, it’s probably nothing,” said Ripley. “Most likely just some campers driving around.”

He reached for his notebook to record the unusual incident. He was writing out his observations when something passed by in the corner of his eye.

He realized that he had left the video playing while making his notes.

“Shit,” he muttered rewinding the video once again.

He arrived at the key moment, then pressed play.

Someone walked by the trail camera. They crossed the segment of trail being recorded. Then for a brief moment they turned to face the camera.

Ripley’s heart rate increased and his breathing quickened.

It was not a person. It was alien and unlike any animal he had ever observed in nature.

Then it was gone moving further down the trail.

“What the fuck?” he asked out loud.

“What is it?” asked Meri.

“Are you seeing this?” he asked her.

“Show me,” said Meri.

Hands shaking Ripley rewound the video and then clicked play.

They waited a few seconds that seemed to take a lifetime.

Then out of nowhere an alien humanoid creature walked past the trail camera.

Meri gasped.

“I see it,” she confirmed.

“What the fuck was that?” yelled Ripley jumping up from his seat.

“What the fuck was that?” he yelled again.

“I don’t know,” said Meri.

“Are you fucking with me right now?” he yelled at her.

“Are you fucking with me?” he yelled again.

“No! I’m not fucking with you!” said an exasperated Meri.

“You aren’t fucking with me?” asked Ripley. “You didn’t pay a guy to wear a costume or something?”

“How would I even do that?” asked Meri. “That camera is hundreds of miles out in the middle of nowhere on private land. You need a four wheel drive just to get out there!”

She was right.

“Fuck!” he said.

“Rewind it and pause,” said Meri leaning in to get a closer look.

Seating himself at the desk once more, Ripley rewound the video footage and paused it at the frame with the alien in it.

It was bipedal like a person. But its skin was reptilian and strange. And the eyes were larger and black. It was wearing a garment consisting of a one-piece pantsuit.

“If that is a costume it is really good,” said Ripley.

“Is it possible we’ve been hacked?” Meri asked him.

“What do we do? What do we do now?” he asked her.

“I don’t know. Maybe we should tell someone?” suggested Meri.

“Who?” asked Ripley.

She just looked at him.

“I could send it to the head of the agency,” Ripley said.

“What is he going to do? He directs… the forest,” said Meri.

“You’re right,” Ripley agreed.

“What about the media?” he thought out loud.

“How do you know where to send it?” she responded.

He thought for a few minutes.

“This could be the first evidence that alien life exists,” said Ripley.

“On the other hand it is more likely to be a prank,” he continued.

“Everyone in the world needs to see this,” said Ripley. “I’m going to upload it to YouTube,” he decided.

“Are you serious?” Meri asked him. “Are you even allowed to do that? Isn’t that a violation of confidentiality?”

“We’re going to find out,” said Ripley.

He took a moment to edit the clip in the production software. Then he saved the file.

Navigating to YouTube he uploaded the video onto his account.

“How should I describe it?” he asked Meri.

“Alien caught on trail camera?” she suggested.

“What hashtags?” he asked her.

“Hashtag alien, hashtag first contact, hashtag UFO, hashtag trail cam. Then all the hunters and conspiracy theorists will see it,” she said.

“Great,” said Ripley.

“Finished. Upload complete. Now I just need to publish,” Ripley told her.

He clicked the button uploading the video to the World Wide Web.