"Mom, dad, you can't just let an alien live in our house." I complained. "What if he tries to eat us?"

"We don't need to be afraid of the aliens. They are quite friendly. I've met many of them myself. Sometimes they need help adjusting to a new culture, but once you get to know them you'll enjoy it" dad said.

"We'll see about that" I replied.

Out new alien walked into the house with my older brother.

"Everyone welcome our new alien friend." He said.

Mom and dad tried talking to him, but the alien didn't answer. I figured he hadn't learned English yet. The alien went straight for the pencils and started snacking on them. "Those aren't edible!" I yelled while grabbing the pencils. "I thought aliens were smart, but this one thinks pencils are food!"

Over the next few days the alien would occasionally learn new words. Sometimes he made sense and sometimes he didn't. He would often get into trouble. It was like having a toddler around.

After a few weeks he was speaking English with perfect grammar. I often found my homework completed with everything correct. We also talked about our favorite shows and movies. We talked about sports and video games.

Mom and Dad were right. Aliens are wonderful creatures once you get to know them.

“Do I have to, Mother?” I did not wish to share my room with an alien – it was hard enough keeping my siblings out of my room. Now I’d have to keep an alien from pawing through my stuff too. And the breathing chamber took up a lot of space. They couldn’t even match me with someone who breathed our air!

“Yes. You are the only one who isn’t sharing a room. And this is an opportunity – First Contact is a big deal. You will be one of the first to show them our culture. Plus, her language skills aren’t bad – they did a good job preparing her.”

“Her?” I perked up a little. I didn’t know the alien we were hosting were gonochoric – the galaxy was filled with so many genders. It would be easier to relate to her, since I was a girl too.

“Why don’t you come meet her? She is waiting for you. Just remember, you are as strange to her as she is to you, and she is the one who is very far from home.”

I followed Mother out to find a bizarre creature sitting on the couch. A strange uniform skin covered her odd form – only four limbs, and a round helmet encased her head. The plate in front of her face was clear, and the weirdest eyes were staring at me. An almost perfect circle with a single pupil in the center ringed in blue and again in white. The only fur she had was sprouting from her head, in a stripe above her eyes, and short ones on her eyelids. The skin over her mandibles pulled back, revealing a top and bottom row of short, flat teeth. A smile, if I remembered the quick lessons they gave me when my mom signed me up for the exchange program. She did a formal - if awkward - dance of greeting. She missed a few steps, but it did require six limbs to perform correctly.

I remembered what I had been taught of human introductions and offered my right forelimb to her. Her smile grew wider – ew – and she grabbed my forelimb in her five-digit hand. “My name is Erica,” she buzzed with a strange accent from a speaker attached to her suit. My wings fluttered in excitement. “And I am Xllyzx! Come, I will show you my room.”

“I really like your stripes. Is it OK to touch? My gloves let me have tactile sensation.”

My mandibles clicked in consent as I pulled her to my room, and she ran her hand briefly over my yellow-and-black furred thorax. “Very nice!” she danced.

Mother’s compound eyes watched us disappear into my room, antennae sagging with relief.

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