8

Oct 30, Monday, 12:30 P.M.

    Ian had felt nauseous for the first few days of the trip to D13.  Anytime he would look out a window and take in the vast expanse of space his head would throb and he had to lay in bed the rest of the day.

    Tullie, on the other hand, seemed to be right in her comfort zone and was constantly staring out the windows and mewing to herself.  She had also grown quite fond of Simone Ala and when she wasn't staring aimlessly into the stars, she was with him.

    Ian didn't care what she did, all he knew was that his head hurt, and he needed rest.  

    Finally, the time came for their space leap that would bring them directly to the coordinates for D13.  Ian had been feeling better and sat in his chair while Olivie Comeaux prepared the ship for the jump.

    Tullie sat by his chair and Ian hoped that she wouldn't go flying as soon as they jumped.  He reached out his arms, but she hissed and remained resolutely on the floor.

    Ian shrugged and strapped himself in.  If she wanted to go for a flying lesson, who was he to tell her she couldn't?

    "Preparing to launch hyper-boosters," Olivie said into her mic that was connected to the command center back on earth.

    Earth, what a wonderful sound, Ian thought as he closed his eyes and wished he had never gone to space at all. 

    "Ten seconds!" she called back to them. "Strap yourselves in!"

    Ian gripped his seat and prepared his body for the jump.

    Beside him, Sasha Porte looked as calm as the ocean and even had a smile on her face.

    Of course, she had had years of training, and Ian had barely gotten two days.  But he was here nonetheless and about to zoom into the farthest reaches of man's knowledge of space.  

    He felt his brain might explode.

    "3 . . . 2 . . .1 and here we go," Olivie said as she pushed a small button and Ian felt power surge through the ship.  He heard a boom and the rocket shot forward, gaining speed with each second.

    He was pushed into his seat and couldn't open his eyes due to the pressure on them.  He wondered what had happened to Tullie, but he couldn't look anyway.  

    The experience was over almost as soon as it had begun.  They

stopped so abruptly that if Ian hadn't been strapped in, he would have gone flying through the window and into space.

    There was a moment of silence as if everyone was wondering what had just happened.

    Ian's mind felt numb, and he opened his eyes to see only blurry objects.  But as soon as his vision refocused, he saw a huge mass coming up before them.

    It was an enormous sphere that was deep blue and bright orange all over.  It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, but Ian knew that it was Destination 13.

    They had made it.

    He took in a deep breath and looked around the cockpit.  Everyone seemed as overwhelmed as him with the sight of a new planet.  It was so beautiful and yet mysterious.

    Ian couldn't wait to land so he could see all the new types of plants and possibly animals that the planet held.

    "Well," said Olivie, "There she is.  Now we just need to plug in Miss Adams's crash coordinates and go meet some aliens."

    "How exciting," said Sasha, leaning forward in her chair. "Look at those lovely colors."

    Tullie bounded back to my chair with a sour expression on her face, telling Ian that she had fallen into something during the jump.

    But her face changed as soon as she caught sight of D13.  She let out the loudest purr Ian had ever heard from her, and Ian also noticed Simone's contented face.

    The planet was slowly growing bigger, and the details became more defined.  

    "Are those clouds?" Adam asked as he rose from his seat and

came to stand by Olivie.

    "Actually," interjected Simone as he pushed his glasses farther up his nose, "those are gaseous formations that protect the planet from intense solar rays that fire from the sun every so often."

    Ian looked out the side window and saw a bright orange sun shining miles away.  It was almost identical to their sun except for the large flashes of light and flame that shot out from it every so often.

    Adam turned to Simone and gave him a funny look, "How did you know those weren't clouds?'

    "Um . . ." Simone's bald head immediately began perspiring and he cast a worried look at Tullie.

    "I have studied cloud formations for years and those do not look like any ones on earth.  Also, they're yellow," Simone said quickly.

    Adam turned and looked back at the clouds. "Yes, I suppose so."

    "I have injected the coordinates of Miss Adam's crash and re-directing course," Olivie said as she grabbed ahold of the controls and began steering the ship where she was directed. "I hope you are all aware that we have lost communications with Earth by now.  It's just us and the aliens now."

    Ian's head had started to hurt again so he stood and walked back to his room where he shared a bunk with Simone and Adam.  he had taken the top bunk, preferring to have more privacy, especially with Adam in the room. 

    He climbed up and covered himself with a blanket.  He was glad for the gravity sensors aboard the ship that stabilized their gravity, so nothing went flying.

    It almost felt like home except for the starry view outside the

small, circular window by his head.

    Just then, the door of the room opened again, and he heard the weighty footsteps of Simone trudge in followed by the soft, uneven paw steps of Tullie.

    Ian guessed they didn't see him because they didn't make any comment about a figure under a blanket.

    "I'm sorry Haven," said Simone and Ian wondered if he was making a recording to send to someone on Earth. "But the important point is they haven't figured us out."

    "Yet," hissed a voice, and Ian almost fell out of his bunk. The only other living thing in the room besides him and Simone was Tullie.  Honestly to hear her speak didn't surprise him after her recent behavior, but it still shook Ian up quite a bit. The possibly-Tullie voice went on, "If you make one more factual bumble about our

planet then you will ruin our whole mission.  This thing took years to plan and years of hard work.  I have had enough of this stupid form and all this fur and claws.  We have gotten this far, and we cannot mess it up now while we are so close to home and our final goal."

    Ian slowly repositioned himself so he could peek out of his blanket and down at the figures sitting on the bunk opposite him.  His eyes widened as he saw his pet's mouth moving and her words matching.  

    Ian couldn't take it anymore, he sat up straight and yelled, "I knew you were hiding something from me Tullie, or whatever your real name is!  You and Simone have been planning something this whole time!" Ian became unbalanced and fell off the bunk landing with a thud on the ground in front of Tullie.

    His cat just stared up at him as Simone began sweating again.

    "Calm down," Tullie shot at Simone as she stared cooly into Ian's eyes. "Listen, earthling, we didn't know you were listening."

    "That's obvious." Ian scowled at her.

    "Allow me to explain something to you before you go and tell the other earthlings about us."

    "Stop saying that."

    "What?"

    "Stop saying 'earthlings'. What are you some sort of alien?"

    Tullie and Simone exchanged glances and then both simultaneously reached for their left wrists.  They pulled off a device that was small and triangle-shaped.  Immediately their forms disappeared and in their places were two beings that Ian could only describe as "alien".

    Their skin was slick and blue, and their ears ended in points.  The lady in Tullie's place was wearing a cropped black shirt encrusted with silver swirls, and baggy silver pants that matched her silver combat boots.  A black spiked headband that held her long dark-blue hair out of her face.  Her eyes, instead of mismatched, were both bright yellow and shone like lightning.

    The alien in Simone's place looked similar but was dressed in the same clothes Professor Ala had been wearing.  His thin hair was short and colored grayish blue, and he was still the same size and height as the old professor had been.

    Ian was taken aback by the sudden transformation, and he scooted back toward the bunks.

    "My name is Haven Ora," said the girl. "And this is Welly Trift."

    "Ian Stickle," Ian said. "Though you already know that." 

    "I wish we could say we were allowed to answer questions," Haven started, "but we have orders not to reveal ourselves to the crew until we land on the planet.  And we can't have you giving us away so you will need to be detained."

    "Excuse me?" Ian stood quickly but Haven was too fast.  Welly uncovered a gun and Haven grabbed it and shot Ian.  At first, Ian thought he would die, but then his eyes closed, and sleep overtook him.

9

Oct 20, Friday, Time Unknown

    Another painful sting shocked Chelsea's body and she cried out.  The voices around her got louder and sounded worried.  Chelsea couldn't understand what they were saying.  Either they spoke a whole new language, or her pain was clouding everything.

    Tears sprung into her eyes as another needle was jabbed into her neck.  Suddenly her whole body went limp and all she could move was her face.

    She felt the bed underneath her move and then she was lifted off and placed on a comfy cushion.  Chelsea couldn't see anything that was happening because the aliens had put a mask over her eyes, blocking all vision.

    There were more words exchanged, all in rapid gibberish.  But Chelsea could tell by the tone that the aliens watching over her were arguing.  

    A door opened and then slammed shut as the first alien left.  The second followed quietly and then Chelsea was left to herself.

    She breathed deeply, trying to still her thoughts.  

    Where am I?

    What happened to my recordings?

    Does PEP know where I am?

    Are these aliens planning to hurt me, or worse?

    Why does it smell like pizza in here?

    The room did smell like pizza and that question boggled Chelsea's mind until the door opened again and quiet footsteps came toward her.

    A hand tapped her nose and Chelsea tried to move away but couldn't.  "Who are you?" Chelsea asked.  Her voice was now hoarse from all her screams, so she wondered if the alien had even heard her.

    The hand tapped her nose again and a rush of alien words met Chelsea's ears.

    "I'm sorry, I can't understand you," Chelsea said.

    "Ok," said the voice. "I speak Earthling, but not too well."

    Chelsea was taken aback by the feminine voice.  It was the first time in forever she had heard another person speak English.

    "What name," asked the girl.

    "Chelsea," replied Chelsea. "And you?"

    There was silence. 

    "I get bad things if I tell my name."

    "I will just call you 'voice' then," Chelsea said.

    "Voice?  Is common Earthling name?"

    "Uhh, not really, it's what we call a sound that comes from a living organism's mouth."

    "Ok," said Voice, but Chelsea was sure she didn't understand what she just said.

    "Can you understand English?" Chelsea asked.

    "What English?"

    "Oh, sorry, I meant 'Earthling'."

    "Yes, I train in all Earthling sounds.  You have many languages for small planet, over seven with three zeros."

    "You mean seven thousand?"

    "Yes."

    "Voice, maybe you can teach me some of your language so I can