"I can't believe it," Dirk said for the eighth time that day. "A real live spaceship and real live aliens!"
Tina Blondel, the Secret World Security Organization's top agent, glanced up from monitoring the extraterrestrials and shot her partner a brief smile. He was still in the early stages of his secret agent training and today was his introduction to the SWSO's Interplanetary Visitors Program. The sparkle of wonder in his eyes sparkle stirred a memory of her brief time as an agent-in-training.
It was years ago, but Tina still remembered seeing her first alien species. The majestic Sturthvongles with their many limbs and telekinetic powers had left her feeling a mixture of wonder, fear and excitement. From that moment on, she knew the universe was a scary place, but the possibilities for adventure were endless.
Dirk didn't seem to have any fear, only excitement and a little giddiness. That may have been because his first alien species was the objectively adorable Doopherilians. Barely one meter tall, the purple creatures waddled around on nubs instead of legs. Their arms weren't much more than bumps wiggling at their sides and ending in a hand made up of only two thumbs. One eye protruded from the lump that was their head, with a wide toothless mouth just below it.
Tina had to admit they were comical by human standards, but she wished Dirk put a little more effort into not giggling. And the way his index finger twitched whenever one of of the aliens was near made her nervous.
"Don't poke them," she quietly said. The aliens' rubbery skin and pudgy torsos made them so very poke-able. She didn't know much about Doopherilian culture, but it was always safe to assume poking was prohibited.
"They've been visiting Earth this whole time?" Dirk whispered back to her. "And we never knew?"
Tina nodded. "As long as they follow the rules, all interplanetary visitors are allowed to land at dedicated sites and restock their supplies." That was the reason she and Dirk were there, to make sure the Doopherilians followed the rules. "Pop quiz, Agent Allen," Tina continued, "what are the regulations all interplanetary visitors must abide by?"
"I know this. I know this." Dirk looked up at the ceiling. "We went over this like ten minutes ago. Abide means accept or follow. What are the rules they have to follow?" He clenched his fists and ground his teeth before slowly reciting, "All visitors must keep their existence a secret from the general Earth population, so no flashing lights in the night sky. They must stay within designated visitor sites. They aren't allowed to interfere with or try to influence human governments."
"And..." she prompted. "This is the most important one."
"And..." He tapped his foot as if he was trying to jostle the last rule free from where it was stuck inside his brain. "No conquering, murdering, eating or kidnapping humans for any reason."
"Very good." She patted him on the arm, purposefully touching the sleeve of his T-shirt and avoiding the temptation to caress his biceps. "You're making progress."
Dirk may have been raised by a wizard and a mad scientist, but he wasn't the most intellectual agent in the SWSO. Of course, Tina hadn't recruited him for his intellect. She hadn't recruited him for his looks either (although as a former male model, he was exceptionally attractive). Dirk's assets were his mysterious and inhuman strength, speed and stamina. There probably wouldn't be a need for it today, but sometimes being able to run faster than the speed of sound while carrying a truck over one's head for an hour or longer came in handy.
"So the little guys are here to stock up for their next space journey?" Dirk asked.
"Doopherilians," a mechanical voice snapped in Tina's ear. By the way Dirk tugged at the communicator tucked behind his ear, it was obvious he'd heard it too.
"Fac-Tel, please adjust your volume," she said in a low and authoritative voice.
Fac-Tel, the artificial intelligence that ran support on all of Tina and Dirk's missions, huffed with frustration, but when it spoke again its volume was significantly lower. "Doopherilians are one of the most annoying species in the galaxy," it said, "second only to humans. Calling them 'little guys' undermines our perception of their threat."
"How threatening can they be?" Dirk asked. "They're basically purple Pillsbury Doughboys."
"All alien visitors have the chance of disrupting human society," Tina explained. "That's why they're only allowed to stop at Earth for supplies and must be monitored at all times."
Dirk was quiet for a moment as he watched the diminutive creatures carry boxes and plastic bags to the vaguely cylindrical structure that was their spacecraft. "So for supplies they picked up orange pop and corn chips?"
"Earth has some of the best snack foods in the galaxy," Fac-Tel said. "It's why most aliens choose to visit us. I pray that's the only reason the Doopherilians are here."
"They didn't just pick up snack foods." Tina eyed one of the aliens as it waddled past. "They also got the new Avengers film and some Portishead CDs."
"Oh." There was a note of wonder in Dirk's voice. "That's who still buys CDs."
When the last of the supplies was loaded onto the ship, the little aliens gathered at the bottom of the boarding ramp and waddle their way toward Tina and Dirk. It was unusual for off planet visitors to formally thank the humans who monitored them, but perhaps the Doopherilians had a well defined concept of etiquette. It made sense that they'd be appreciative, after all, they were getting quality snack foods at wholesale prices.
"Let me do all the talking," Tina said. "When you have two vastly different cultures it's so easy for an innocent word or gesture to turn into a giant misunderstanding. It wouldn't look good on your training file if you started an interstellar incident."
"Sure thing." He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "I won't say or do anything that might get us into trouble."
"Fac-Tel," she said, "engage universal translator."
"Translator engaged," Fac-Tel responded.
Tina cleared her throat and spoke in a loud, clear voice, "On behalf of the people of Earth, it was an honor to host you today."
"You are a human female?" one of the Doopherilians asked. Its voice was high and oddly pitched in tone. Tina didn't miss Dirk's snort as he tried and failed to suppress a laugh.
After that, four things happened almost simultaneously.
Tina responded, "Yes."
Fac-Tel shouted, "Get out of there! You've been compromised. GET OUT OF THERE."
One of the aliens held up a small orb and shot a beam of light at them.
Then the world went black. Tina didn't even have time to register what was going on before she lost consciousness.
* * * * *
"WAKE UP, YOU PIECE OF BIOLOGICAL WASTE."
Dirk forced his eyelids open and found himself sprawled out on the hangar bay floor. His head pounded and his limbs ached.
"WAKE UP," Fac-Tel was yelling. "YOU HAVE TO SAVE HER."
It was coming back to him, the aliens, his unfortunate laugh and the round ray gun.
"Tina?" he moaned.
"They took her," the AI hissed, "and they're going to keep her forever unless you DO SOMETHING."
Dirk rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself onto his hands and knees. He looked up to see the Doopherilians huddled together, waddling off the boarding ramp and into their spaceship. Tina's unconscious body lay balanced across their heads.