Entering Earth's atmosphere was a shock to the system. Ship shaking, systems on the brink of overheating, population density map and trajectory overlay across the windshield was an overload to Skylar. Landing was difficult because there was so much to pay attention to, and so many things could go wrong.
Speed was an obvious one, yet Skylar couldn't cut the engines as early as they would have liked, since they still had steering to do. The pockets of density were huge, and they punched the engines in order to change their path away from human lives.
When they finally cut the engines they could see the greenery their ship was heading towards. Traditional landing gear would be no help, coming to an immediate halt was a complex series of buttons and levers, a maneuver Skylar had never mastered.
Instead, Skylar was thankful they had a small ship, and activated the anti-bounce safety features before preparing themselves.
Eye and tentacles in, seat belt gone lest it rip them apart. They became spherical in shape, made their inner fluid more dense and grew a rubber exterior. One plus of a nearly empty stomach: Skylar wasn't worried about becoming nauseous during this emergency landing protocol.
Ripping past the first few tree branches was already enough to shake Skylar from their chair. Bouncing off the locked controls, Skylar closed their eyes and let momentum do its thing as the ship crashed through the trees and slid across the ground.
The ship came to a stop first, and then eventually Skylar stopped bouncing and rolled to a stop near the back of their ship. Skylar pushed their beak out while softening their exterior. "Computer," they chirped, "status report."
"All necessary mechanical components functioning normally. Minimal damage to the lower hull, and landing gear."
"Computer, is the invisibility module functioning?"
"Yes."
Skylar popped their eye out and looked around. "Computer medical scan." A panel in the wall near them opened up and a green laser moved across Skylar's body multiple times.
"Vital signs have not deteriorated since your last scan."
Skylar pushed out two tentacles and dragged themselves back to the control panel. With what little research Skylar had access too, they had devised the pungent smell defense to match the molecular composition of human flatulence. While they were setting up the automatic defense system the alarm went off.
"Native life form approaching."
Skylar looked at the camera feed and decided to risk coming into direct contact with the young looking human.
Word count: 416
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