Playback - A short story

"My territory! My turf! My home!" 

I was minding my business, looking for something to eat, when I heard him. Who was he? I could've sworn he sounded familiar. But what was HE doing in MY territory? I approached him cautiously. He repeated the same words. 

"My territory! My turf! My home!" 

I hopped slightly closer. Wait, what were these giant creatures? 

Oh no, it's the aliens. Gigantic, with two legs like ours, their skin in varying shades of brown speckled with urple - or so I hear. Never got close enough to find out. 

Pretty much everyone knows what the aliens are and that they are meant to be feared. They gnaw away at forests, filling what's left of them with these mysterious stones and force fields I might lose my life to one day if I go there. They used to hunt species until they nearly disappeared, and some did, but some of the disappeared returned, evading their deaths by a rictal bristle. 

But my species, reduced by the aliens until I was certain my partner and our children for that season were the last, returned in droves that I don't recall hiding. And they seem... changed. There are always a few, at least a hollow's worth, who extol the aliens and preach their kindness, as if they had forgotten. 

As if they too were aliens in a familiar skin. 

"Okay, nobody's here," I say, heading away from the clearing. Couldn't even see this mysterious dude with a voice so loud you could- 

"My territory!" 

I jolted back. It was...strangely alluring. His voice was coming from the aliens' direction. First time in years I've heard anyone challenging me for territory. There aren't a lot of us; I assumed the newcomers spread out since they came. 

"My turf!" 

Wait: how long has it been? I recall the flowers that were blooming. I recall that it was the dry-ish season and that it started raining as the newcomers spread out. My partner and I were glad to have others to talk to, but they weren't as alone as we were and rapidly lost amity and started squabbling with me for territory. The chicks weren't downy yet, and my partner didn't want any funny business. 

The chicks took flight a day ago. 

Oh no! This male might be one of the alien-friendly ones who got caught! He was in their grasp! It was time to be like a corvid and divebomb them so they let him go. But I couldn't risk a head-on approach; they'd catch me too. I decided to swoop a wide arc around them. 

"My home!" 

 I flapped in a beeline. At least the aliens couldn't get me- 

I was stuck. 

 "No, it's MY home!" I retaliated. But my feet were lodged in something. I tried to flap, but remained obstinately tangled. What was this spider web - alien web - I was in? This invisible field they trapped me in? 

 "My terr-" the rival was cut off without so much as a choking gasp. So did half the forest's ambient sounds. I began to see I wasn't alone in the net. Birds of many species, save for the larger flesh-eaters, were trapped with me. Even others of my species, their cries of alarm audible, were here! Oh, what a fool I'd been. I was distracted by the trapped rival, who I'm now wondering even existed at all. At least I'm not the only one. I searched for anyone I knew; my children this season, my partner for the season... 

 An alien approached me. They grasped me by my feet. I flapped and pecked, but they didn't let go. These aliens killed my rival in half a second. I was certain I was next. 

 They pushed me headfirst into something dark. They drew my blood and a feather from my chest. They gripped my leg in a strange device. How did they make it? I admired their ingenuity. I was a dead bird flapping, so it made sense to concern myself with something other than survival. 

 And then they let me go. They had taken me across the clearing, but I was free. Huh. They could've killed me with two of their soft talons, but they didn't. Don't take this to mean I'm now one of the fanatics; I still despise practically everything else they're doing, and the device on my leg was used to give me a colourful ring that may alert the flesh-eaters. 

 But maybe these aliens aren't wholly destructive. 

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(Hello, readers! This story is about a rainforest bird who gets caught in a mistnet and examined by ornithologists trying to learn more about his species, which was considered extinct-in-the-wild for a while until they found an untagged one. I hope you liked it! 

-Pied)