The pod sat on the grassy field for the rest of the night, cool and moist with dew when the morning sun came. Nature seemed to accept the outsider in thier midst, the darkly green oval, covered with bright red capillaries pulsed slightly as the day grew on.

The night wasn’t unseasonably warm or cold… it was like any other of the last dozen evenings lately. It was clear outside, with a soft spread of cloud cover high in the sky. The observant might note the lack of insect noises against a backdrop of a suburban skyline. A distant thunder and flicker of light in the clouds seemed to hint at a coming rain, but the scent of ozone was lacking… making the coming damp off in a further future. Out of nowhere, a cracking report like a gunshot, or a car backfiring rang out, so loud that the windows rattled… All the neighborhood dogs began barking, and with a sizzling hiss a bright organic oval, glowing cherry red fell to earth, streaking trail of light and smoke behind it before it landed in a field of tall, wet grass. There it sat, slowly cooling, steaming the surrounding ground and plants… the pod’s coloring fading to an orange, then yellow, and slowly stopping at a deep forest green, to blend with the surrounding flora. All was quiet as the night drew on… a soft rain fell, bringing with it a peace and comfort, allowing things to return to a semblance of normalcy.