Actually, I have no idea if what I'm looking at is a man or not. It's alien. More humanoid than those gray things, but still not human. It does look a sort of...stocky, masculine kind of way that makes me think that he's male, though.

Not that I have much time to think about it. The man barely spares time to make sure I'm not about to collapse before he begins marching somewhere, dragging me along with him, hand still gripping my collar. I stumble but struggle to walk fast enough to keep pace with him just so I won't be choked by my own shirt.

The planet around me...I don't have much ability to gawk and look around at it, but it's about as desolate and unwelcoming as I imagined it might look from space. There's a sickly yellow hue infecting the blue of the sky, and the ground is as barren and inhospitable looking as some kind of post-apocalyptic raider movie set.

The one manhandling me drags me toward a large wall that looks to be made of some sort of clay brick. An archway towers overhead, and large wooden doors are propped open, which we pass through. It's hard to measure distance when I'm being dragged like a disobedient child across some kind of packed sand, but it doesn't feel like a long walk from where I must have landed.

Others like him stand both outside and inside the doors, some as guards and others milling about doing...I don't know what.

He neither stops nor speaks to them, and continues dragging me straight toward some large building that reminds me of an adobe hut.

He shoves me into a line of frightened looking people - some of whom I recognize from that first room, but none who appear to be Mia or that other guy.

I suppose I belong in this line, because I'm sure that if I could look at myself, I'd fit right in with 'a group of frightened looking people'.

That yellow-orange man shouts something I can't even begin to understand, and stretches a rope out behind me, as if determining the line ends with me. A similar sounding voice crackles over a loud-speaker somewhere, and it's just as incomprehensible.

The speaking I can't understand from the loud-speaker and from the passing figures of these aliens create such a din that I can't make out any of the frightened murmurs of the people ahead of me.

I lose track of time.

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Any time someone ahead of me moves I either step forward myself or one of the passing figures - who appear to be armed with some kind of firearm - smacks me hard in the back and shoves me forward.

It's easier to just walk when everyone else does than endure a bruised up back for nothing.

Eventually, the person ahead of me moves out of the way of my vision.

Ahead of me stands a pink-orange man who looks taller and slightly more slender than the other one. His eyes remind me of a fish, not in position but in shape.

He circles me slowly, as if inspecting me.

If he's looking for anything interesting or spectacular, he'll be disappointed. The fact is, I'm plain by any standard. I've got a sweater and loose jeans on because I'm not the type to dress up for school, and it's not exactly the most flattering ensemble. Especially when the collar's been ripped.

I risk turning my head to watch him, but if he makes any expression I can't recognize it.

Whatever he decides he does or doesn't see, eventually he waves me onward to another yellow-orange man.

A different one from the first.

I can tell from the clothes. They all wear some kind of rugged leathery-brown wilderness wear but this one is wearing a vest that's more studded.

The man grabs me and shoves his too-large hand in my pockets, straining the fabric. With a tug, the pocket is turned inside out and my wallet and loose change goes flying through the air.

My other pocket does the same, and off goes my post-it note pack and a candy I don't even remember putting in there.

He shoves me up against a stick in the ground and taps something on a bulky wrist watch he wears.

After that, yet another one of them grabs my arms and shoves me into my third - fourth - no, fifth room of the day.

The first thing I spot is Mia. She has cherry-red hair and looks about as worse for wear as I probably do. Still, she smiles the moment she catches my eye and she pushes her way through the milling crowd of people in the room toward me.

I can't actually make out many details about this room because of the crowd. It's plenty bright, unlike that ship, but it smells like a stable and must be at least twice as hot as the air outside this room.

I'm actually surprised I don't feel faint.

"This is different, huh?" She smiles kindly at me once she's in range. "But hey, we're still together. So we're gonna get out of this."

Mia's hair is tied up in a knot. I don't remember noticing that in the previous room, so she must have done that since getting here. I can't blame her. Mine is short, but with as hot as it is here it's already beginning to feel stringy and is sticking to my skin.

"Getting out of here..." I murmur. "But we're on another planet..."

"But we're still in one piece." Her smile doesn't move from her face at all. "And it's not like we just appeared here. If we got here by ship we can still get back."

I...

Suppose that's right.

"Come on. I found us somewhere to sit." She takes my arm and leads me through the crowd to an enclave in the clay stuff that makes up the walls of this room.

It's...odd.

As soon as I sit down, I just can't keep my eyes open.

Before I hear anything Mia says, I'm already asleep.