Free Out of This World by Douglas E. Richards Page B

hanging straight down from the break point, still partially attached to the rest of the branch, and the alien was hugging it and hanging on for dear life. And he was slipping down, ever so slowly. Another five feet and he would slip off for good.
    “ Hang on ,” shouted Zachary at the top of his lungs. “ We're coming to help you .”
    They began climbing as quickly as they could, but it still took them several minutes to reach the boy’s level in the tree. As they climbed the poor alien slipped several more feet and was grunting from the immense physical exertion.
    “Hang on,” said Zachary again as he reached the boy’s level and took a quick survey. There were no branches that came closer to the struggling alien than fifteen yards, but he saw that he could swing from a vine, Tarzan-like, and reach him. Zachary grabbed a vine he thought would do the trick and yelled out, “I'm gonna swing over and try to land above you on the broken branch. Grab the vine and we can swing back together.”
    Jenna shook her head. “It’s better if I go, Zack. I’m lighter.”
    “It's way too dangerous. There's no way I'm going to let you— ”
    “You know I'm right,” she interrupted. “Besides, I'm not strong enough to push you out far enough to reach him. But you could push me there.” She gripped the vine tightly. “We don't have time to argue about it.”
    Zachary frowned. She was right. The armored native had less than a minute before he would plummet to the ground. They had to act now.
    “Hold on tight,” said Zachary, shoving his sister toward the broken limb as hard as he could.
    Jenna exploded outward in a long arc. When she neared the branch she reached out and hooked one arm around it while keeping her grip on the vine. “Hurry!” she grunted at the alien. “Grab the vine. I can’t hold on much longer!”
    The boy reached out and seized the vine just as Jenna lost her grip on the broken branch. They both swung wildly back, overshooting Jenna's starting point by a wide margin. Zachary caught the vine and slowed its wild swinging. Once it was stabilized over his sister’s original perch, Jenna and the native lowered themselves to safety.
    The alien rubbed his overworked arms, wincing. He turned to the humans in dismay. “Why did you do that?”
    They looked at each other, puzzled.
    “Why?” repeated Jenna in confusion. “Because it looked like you were in big trouble. We were trying to save your life.”
    “I was in big trouble,” he replied. “And you did save my life. But I still don't understand. I'm not one of your people. You didn't know me. Why would you put yourself at risk to help me?”
    “Because you needed help,” was all that Jenna could think of to say.
    “Very, very strange,” said the boy, shaking his armored head.
    He reached out and pressed gently on Zachary's stomach. “You're softbodied people . I didn't know there was such a thing.”
    “We're not from here,” offered Zachary, continuing to be amazed by the incredible performance of the language transformer crystal they had been given. As much as he still resisted the idea, maybe it was magical.
    The armored native nodded. “That's obvious. I've never seen any creature here who would help a creature of another kind. You are very strange. But . . .” he paused as if at a loss for the right word. “Thanks. Thanks for saving my life.”
    “We're glad we could help,” said Jenna.
    “My name is Zachary, by the way,” said Zachary, trying to be friendly. “And my sister here is named Jenna.”
    “I’m Tular,” said the alien boy.
    “Nice to meet you, Tular,” said Jenna. She paused and then scratched her head. “Just out of curiosity, what were you doing up here anyway?”
    The alien considered Jenna for several long seconds. “Well, to be honest,” he said at last, lowering his head guiltily. “I was, um . . . spying on you.”
    “Spying?”
     “Yeah. I had never seen anything like you before and I needed to