10

Oct 30, Monday, 12:45 P.M.

    Adam sat still, staring with wonder at the brilliance of D13's sun.  His hands tapped melodically on the arms of his chair as he studied the bursts of light that shot from the star's surface.

    Everyone had left the cockpit to prepare themselves for landing, so Adam was all alone.  He heard a commotion from Olivie and Sasha's room and guessed it was them fighting about their 'space' again.

    His mind wandered to what Simone had said a few minutes earlier.  He had corrected them about D13 as if he already knew everything about it.  Then once they questioned him he became 

nervous and even sweat a little.

    More was going on than Adam knew, and he was going to get to the bottom of it, even if it meant delaying their landing so he could talk to Simone alone.

    He rose from his chair and suddenly heard a loud thump echo from his room.  His steps quickened and he threw open the door to a small room with two bunks in it.

    Simone sat on the bottom bunk with Ian's wretched cat on his lap.  He looked as innocent as a lamb.

    "What was that noise?" Adam asked.

    "I slipped while trying to get my suit on," said Simone, showing off his navy blue jumper which Adam could tell was too long for his short stature by the way his pants were cuffed. "These floors are very smooth." Simone gave a nervous chuckle and Adam looked 

down at Ian's cat.  Her mismatched eyes stared up at him and she let out a small hiss.

    "Ian, take your cat out of here, I need to get dressed," Adam said to the still figure of Ian that lay on the bottom bunk opposite Simone.

    When Ian didn't stir Adam walked over to him and shook him.  "Mr. Stickle!"

    Ian just snored.

    Adam turned on Simone, "Ok, you take the cat out."

    Simone stared blankly at him, then something in his brain clicked and he grabbed the white cat and left.

    "For a scientist, he's not that smart," Adam said to himself as he pulled open his trunk and grabbed out another navy blue suit.  He looked at its size and groaned.  The legs were too short.  

    "Professor Simone!" Adam yelled. 

    The professor came in quickly and Adam held up the suit.

    "This one has your name on it.  The one you have on is mine."

    "Oh, so sorry Mr. Stephanie," Simone said. "I was so rushed I didn't even check for names."

    "Or sizes apparently," Adam mumbled.

_________________________________________________________

    After both men had dressed in their respective suits they returned to the cockpit where Olivie was sitting in her seat with a computer on her lap.

    "And remember," she was saying into the camera. "Mommy loves you and will be back soon.  Be blessed children and save my Christmas presents for me when I get back."

    She ended her video and sighed.

    "Is that for your family?" Adam asked as he also took a seat.

    "Yeah," Olivie said softly. "My husband and sister are taking turns watching the kids until I get back."

    "How many?"

    "Four.  They wanted me to be there for Christmas and were excited once Chelsea decided to fly alone.  But I was called back in when she disappeared.  I don't know when I'll get back, but they told me to be back before Christmas."

    "It must be hard," Adam observed. "Being away from your family, somewhere in the depths of space.  At least we're not lost."

    "Yeah, but what do you think it will be like once we finally return?  Do you think society will change at all while we're up here?

    "Possibly."

    "I'm just scared that I might change while I'm here and my kids

will see the difference.  What if I'm not the same Mother after this?  I pray to God that won't happen."

    "I know what it's like leaving your home and culture," Simone said. "You've gotta get used to a lot of new things and sometimes you do change.  But hopefully this will change us all for the better.  And I'll tell you that there's nothing quite like going home."

    Olivie smiled and Sasha strode into the room with something yellow smudged on her face.

    "What is that?" Adam asked as she gave him a miserable look.

    "I have no idea!" Sasha said with a cry of dismay. "It was stuck to the outside of our heater.  And now it's stuck to my face."

    Simone stood immediately. "Miss Porte, do not touch that thing."

    "What is it?" Sasha looked worried now. "Ah! I knew I would be the first crewmember to go!"

    "No, it won't hurt you unless you poke it somewhere special.  But it won't move until you poke it in that same place."

    "So my choices are poke it and get attacked, or don't poke it and live with this yellow blob on my face for the rest of my life?"

    "Wait, that thing is a living organism?" Olivie asked. "Oh mon dieu!"

    "Where is Haven when I need her?" Simone said under his breath and Adam cast him a confused glance.

    Suddenly, Ian's cat came bounding up to them and mewed so loudly it sounded like a scream.  Adam looked behind her and saw more yellow blobs that were moving towards them.

    Olivie began screaming in French and Simone looked pale.

    The cat jumped onto the control board and clicked a button.

    "Ah!  The cat is starting the landing sequence!" Olivie erupted.

    She grabbed the cat and threw her to the floor.

    "We need to land!" Simone yelled before Olivie ended the sequence. "The Glorbs can't survive in Vallor's atmosph-!"

    "Vallor?  Glorbs?" Adam interjected. "Professor I think it's time you told us everything you know."

    "No time," said a voice that echoed in the cockpit.  "Land now or you will all die."

    Olivie jumped again, "Le chat vient de parler!"

    "What?" asked Sasha. "English please!"

    "THAT CAT JUST SPOKE!"

    Adam looked down to where Ian's cat had been.  But instead of a three-legged cat, there was a pair of silver boots.

    Adam looked up to see a blue woman standing in front of him and holding out a gun.

    "Welly, just forget it," she growled.

    Simone shrugged and popped something off his body.

    He also transformed into a blue alien and the three humans there just stared in blank silence.

    "Ahhh!" Sasha yelled, breaking the silence. "One's on my boot!"

    The yellow blobs had gotten closer and one had attached itself to the sole of Sasha's boot.

    "Haven, get us down there," Welly said and the woman pushed Olivie, whose mouth was still open, aside and grabbed the controls.

    "Wait!  We need Ian!" Welly yelled and he looked at Adam. "Get him out of the room.  The Glorbs can kill me with their venom, but Earthlings are immune to it.  Just don't let them get your feet."

    Adam nodded, still amazed at all that was happening.  he ran past the Glorbs and into the room.  Ian lay as still as a statue on the

bunk and Adam realized he would have to either wake him up or carry him.

    "Ian, come on man.  Wake up!  WAKE UP!"

    It was no use, so Adam painstakingly lifted Ian onto his shoulders.  He slowly made his way back to the cockpit with the Glorb's bubbling after him, trying to grab onto his shoes.

    "Here," he said as he flopped Ian into a chair.

    "Everyone sit down!" Haven yelled.

    Suddenly, the rocket lurched forward and fell into a nose-dive.

11

Oct 30, Monday, 1:30 P.M.

    The moment he hit the floor Ian's eyes popped open and he took several deep breaths.  He was lying face down on a surprisingly warm floor.

    The room he was in was about as big as his apartment back on Earth and colored bright yellow.  The color was so bright that he closed his eyes again.

    The room was empty and the only other thing he noticed as strange was the smell of pizza.

    He tried moving his arms but found he couldn't.  How had he gotten here?  Where was the ship?

    Suddenly, it all came back to him.  Tullie and Simone turning into weird blue people, their talk, and then Tullie, or Haven, shooting him with something.

    "It must have been a drug," he thought aloud. "Or a paralyzing serum."

    Just then, Ian heard the sound of a door opening and lay still. 

    "He's still out," said a familiar voice. "Sasha, do you have anything I can hit him with?"

    "No, those aliens took all our stuff.  I'm surprised they didn't take our space suits as well," said the voice of Sasha.

    "I can do it," Ian heard Olivie interject. "If anyone kicks a sleeping person in a specific place in the ribs then they will wake up."

    Ian immediately became worried, but before he could show he