A little sci-fi story about Christmas
The Calculations
Balzat positioned the scope until the lenses lined up with a bright beacon in the night sky. He pressed the control screen and watched as multicolored spots of light danced across it.
“You finish the calculations?” said Melkar without urgency. His large eyes were taking in the view: a wide landscape of scrub and desert, a night sky dotted with stars nearly bright as the beacon itself, a quiet place far from the humans and their lighted cities.
“Almost. Yeah, done.” Balzat folded the equipment and returned it to a silvery case. “Let’s get out of here.”
“No rush, Balzat. No one’s gonna see us. The humans go strange on this long night. They worry their sun won’t return and light lamps to ritually defeat the darkness. Mostly, they huddle in their homes for feasting and intoxicants. That’s why we do the calculations now.”
“What about over there?” Balzat pointed to a small, lighted structure near a stand of gnarly pines. “I hear something.”
Melkar pulled the tip of his ear and stretched it. “Yeah, I can just make it out. It’s humans, they're crying.”
“Let me look.” Balzat’s younger eyes grew wide and the second lids lifted. “It’s two humans. A male and a female. There’s a tiny one, too. It’s lying in some straw. There’s blood. What could’ve happened?”
“Give me a sec. I’m trying to listen… The small one. It’s dead.” Melkar’s voice broke a little. “It’s a small, dead, male. The other two, well that’s the worst of it—they’re grieving. Worst human grieving I ever heard. I bet that small one is newly born. I bet that’s why he’s dead. The humans have a rough time with birthing.”
“Please don’t get any ideas, sir,” Balzat pleaded. “You know that’s why we’re stuck on this duty—on this trivial planet. You know we’re not supposed to interact with sentients.”
“Yeah, well, if we cover our heads…”
Balzat sighed. It was going to be like the dolphins.
“Humans ain’t smart.” Melkar stared in the direction of the crying. “The small one probably ain’t even dead yet. He’s past the point of no return for them. Not for us, though, but soon enough.”
“Alright.” Balzat resigned himself. “What’s our plan?”
“We cover our heads real good, see, and we give that young’un the three treatments from the first-aid kit. We tell them the device… it’s just a precious metal or something. “
“And when he starts glowing?”
“We say we don’t see it. We say tears distort things, puts halos around them. The glowing will stop when he’s okay.”
“I still think it’s a bad idea,” Balzat said weakly.
“Maybe it is. But I ain’t living with this on what HQ pays. There’s nothing gets to me more than a vertebrate grieving a young’un, not when I can do something. We have a long stasis ahead with the trip back to HQ and I won’t be able to stasis right with that memory. It’s all about ‘the big picture,’ my young friend. Like with that sick dolphin. If you can relieve another's big suffering by taking on a little bit of suffering of your own, you gotta do it."
“But humans are different. They have writing. The story will spread.”
“Look, we tell that mating pair it’s gotta be a secret. We tell them we’re watching them, which ain’t no lie. We tell them if this gets out, we’re coming back to kill them all. They respond to fear pretty easy. Some of it will get out, I guess, but humans always get the details wrong anyway.”
“We have to report it, sir, like the dolphin. You know what HQ will do.” Balzat was thinking “official reprimand” but he need not tell Melkar that. “When the subject eventually dies, HQ will take the body for analysis, you know, to close the report.”
“Yeah. That’s another day. Let’s get to that young’un now. He ain’t got much time.”
As he packed the equipment, Balzat calculated a peaceful stasis might just be worth all the trouble at HQ. He thought about the small human, and “the big picture,” and he hurried to catch up with old Melkar.
The End
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I know this is sci fi fiction, but it's well written, paints quite a picture and the characters are believable. Thanks so much for sharing this with us, I liked it a lot! 
And this post is in The Lounge. The point is that it's original and an interesting take, told evocatively enough to stick with you. Merry Christmas! 
...seek out the movie The Man from Earth: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756683/?ref_=nv_sr_8
...and The Man from Earth: Holocene: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5770864/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_1
Jerome Bixby is one of my favorite writers. He had a hand in a number of movies. He wrote in the original Twilight Zone series, the reboot and the movie. He wrote some or all of 4 of the original Star Trek series episodes.
And I'll often tune in when they have marathons of the old Twilight Zone. I actually went to summer camp with Rod Serling's daughter. I remember when he came to visit because it was a big deal - he was a small very tanned man in a bright yellow sweater. She wasn't my best friend, LOL, she was older than me, but she was in my riding class. 
I always looked for Twilight Zone and Outer Limits when I was a kid. Later it was Night Gallery.
Serling's daughter was a friend huh? You're practically a celebrity. 
The only one I remember was one on Custer's Last Stand - and was disturbed by it. I can appreciate these shows much more now, they really aren't for impressionable kids. 
And Rod Serling's daughter wasn't my friend - she was older, but I knew who she was because there was such a big fuss made when her parents came to visit at camp. My closest friend was a friend of hers, though. My friend thought it was cool because Jodi was totally into horses, not boys, even though she was a teenager. And I've mentioned that friend before - she grew up to be a liberal lawyer, and a serious advocate for gay rights and fought for numerous public health causes, particularly for treatment for those with AIDS. 
I think I saw The Blob when I was about 4. Nightmares for a WEEK!
Two episodes of the Outer Limits stick in my mind.
Season 1, Episode 1 - The Galaxy Being: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667834/?ref_=ttep_ep1
Season 1, Episode 7 - O.B.I.T.: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667821/?ref_=ttep_ep7
Let's see did I ever meet anyone famous? I said hi once to Richard Simmons at the airport. I was introduced to Gordon England at work. During a flight home I met a football player who had played for the Lions and then had an office job with the team. My wife went to nursery school with Kevin Bacon so we've got that 6 degrees thing working.
Since you brought up the Twilight Zone, I thought it was relevant to mention that I remember seeing Rod Serling in person. I don't remember having a conversation with his daughter.
And I had those traumas, as well, when I was a kid. I was just thinking about that last night since TCM had an Alfred Hitchcock marathon and because I'm home sick with the flu, I tuned in between naps and nose blowing. I watched Rear Window and Dial M for Murder, though I've seen them before, but I avoided Vertigo - which I remember seeing on TV with my Dad when I was a kid. That movie traumatized me, I wasn't right for a week, and even now I didn't need the reminder. 
I'll have you know, one my cousins, who I never speak to, has an in-law who probably knows someone who works in trump tower and was insulted by the now pres. Now who's famouser? 
You have a great evening chasing them back under the bridge. Ii's time for me to chill for the evening but I still like Rockwell...
When I'm in the shower
I'm afraid to wash my hair
'Cause I might open my eyes
And find someone standing there
People say I'm crazy
Just a little touched
But maybe showers remind me of
"Psycho" too much
Have a video:
Don't get me started on Psycho! We had a film society in college and I saw a lot of classics there. I remember that one in particular - during the shower scene one girl (who I knew) let out a bloodcurdling scream. After that experience, I was terrified to take a shower for years! 
