“Okay, I got to touch real Earthen soil and drink Earthen water. Now this crash landing was worth it.” Kepler sealed the airlock and prepared the ship for takeoff in the bridge.
“I don’t think any of this will be worth it until we’re back in space in one piece.” Jet let out a deep breath and buckled herself into her seat. She once again gripped the armrests and tried to mentally prepare herself for the journey back.
Kepler noticed Jet stiffen and they nodded to her reassuringly. “Hey, we’re gonna make it.”
Jet looked back at them expressionlessly for a moment before she turned her face away. Kepler shrugged and continued preparing for takeoff.
The spaceship’s exterior lights glowed green as the engine mechanically roared. The rocket charged into the night sky, high above the dark mountains and distant clutters of manmade lights. Jet only glanced at these views for a moment before turning her attention to space, where they were headed. Kepler did their best to keep steady hands on the controls to get them safely home.
---
The ship sped through Earth’s atmosphere and into space. Kepler continued to have the ship set at a high speed until they crossed back over the Earth border. Finally, the warning lights ceased as they were no longer in Earth territory.
Kepler immediately cheered with celebration and Jet grinned in relief. “We did it!” Kepler offered a high-five to Jet.
Jet stared at their hand blankly for a moment before returning the high-five.
Kepler then brought up a screen to view the ship’s projection routes. “I gotta head to Q-23 to get my ship repaired. Does that sound like a good place to drop you off?”
She gazed downwards, sort of realizing in that moment all that Kepler had done for her. “Yeah.” Jet looked back at Kepler and tried to smile sincerely. “Thanks.”
"Hey, maybe you can return the favor and help me scavenge a junkyard sometime.” Kepler turned down the ship’s acceleration and set its projection before putting it into autopilot.
The two of them suddenly heard a thump come from above. They both looked to the closed hatch door in the bridge’s ceiling. “Is there something in the airlock?” Kepler wondered aloud. They used the control panel to open the door that led to the upper airlock.
Jet stood directly beneath the opening door, trying to see what was inside. She had her fists clenched at the ready.
Before either of them could react, a human fell from the airlock and yelled as they landed on top of Jet. They both crashed to the floor and the human instantly scurried back before scrambling to their feet. The human pointed a bottle of pepper spray at Kepler and Jet, who got to her feet a second later.
Kepler immediately raised the hands of their spacesuit in surrender and Jet decided to follow along a bit hesitantly. The human kept pointing the bottle at them with shaking hands and they demanded in a trembling voice, “Where is he!?”
Kepler hesitated. “Where’s who?”
Jet narrowed her eyes. “We don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play dumb with me.” The human was obviously terrified, but they were doing their best to hide it with an aggressive tone. “I saw you get him in here with your mind control technology, or whatever it is that you use to control people.”
The two aliens paused before Jet said, “Yeah, there’s no such thing as mind control technology. At least not yet. Who knows what the future brings.”
Another human suddenly stepped into the bridge from the common area. “Wait! I came here on my own.”
Evie turned around to sure enough see Phoenix, who seemed apprehensive as he reached out in an effort to calm her down.
Kepler grabbed at their helmet at the sight of the second human. “How many of you snuck in here!?” they exclaimed frantically.
Evie briskly walked up to Phoenix and roughly shook him by the collar of his sweatshirt while yelling, “What’s my name!?”
“It’s Evie!” Phoenix grimaced while grabbing at his own collar to stop the shaking.
She studied his reaction before stepping back and saying, “I thought you still might’ve been mind controlled.”
Phoenix stared back at her with a concerned expression. “I’m not.”
“Okay, then why did you abandon me in the middle of nowhere to sneak onto a spaceship with your own free will!?” She gestured at him wildly as she felt shock and frustration rush through again.
He sighed before saying, “I’m not a human.” Phoenix glanced towards the aliens. “I’m one of them.”
Before Evie could respond, he added, “As soon as I saw this spaceship, I knew I had to take advantage of the opportunity. This was most likely my only chance to get to space, where I belong.”
Jet, who continued to stand still at the other side of the bridge with Kepler, said, “No offense, but you look a lot like a human for somebody who’s not.”
“I’m a shapeshifter,” he explained. “I’ve been masking as a human for most of my life, for my own safety. But now that I’m finally in space, I can be my true alien form.”
“Let’s see it, then.” Evie took another step back so that everyone in the bridge could see this supposed transformation. Phoenix hesitated before he sighed and closed his eyes to concentrate. For a few seconds, everyone just waited.
After a while, Phoenix opened his eyes and gazed down at himself. Nothing had changed. He frowned then said, “I actually don’t remember how to shapeshift anymore.”
Evie glanced back towards the two aliens. Jet looked incredibly skeptical.
Phoenix noticed this as well and he raised his hands defensively. “Wait, I swear this is real! I’ve been stuck on Earth my entire life. It’s been years since I last changed my appearance! It’s always been kind of an intuitive thing, which is very hard to control!”
"You never shapeshifted in private, just for fun?” Evie asked.
“No, not really.” He anxiously ran a hand through his brown hair as he continued to gaze downward in thought.
“Hm.” Jet still looked just as skeptical.
“Alright!” Kepler clasped their hands together. “If you don’t mind, I need to chime in for a moment.” They decided to take a step forward, seeing that Evie had calmed down some and the pepper spray was lowered. They tried to keep their tone positive as they said, “We’ve got a bit of a problem here. Humans aren’t allowed this far in space, or even know that aliens exist, for that matter.”
“I’m not a human,” Phoenix pointed out.
Kepler’s leaves sighed. “Okay, but unless you can prove that, you’re gonna have a hard time up here.”
Evie crossed her arms. “Well, I’m definitely a human, so if you could just drop me off back at Earth, that’d be great.”
Jet scoffed. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
She couldn’t help but shoot Jet a glare as Kepler fidgeted with their hands and said, “Um, so about that, you’re kind of stuck here. At least for now.”
Evie felt herself grow cold. “Wait, what?”
Kepler’s vines stiffened. “Listen, it’s a miracle that we even landed on Earth in the first place.”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Guess what, you’re about to perform another miracle.” She pulled at her jacket apprehensively. “I can’t be up here. Space terrifies me, and I have a fear of heights.” Evie felt her hands start to go numb. Her eyes glanced towards the windshield and she saw nothing but the void and some stars. That familiar sight was suddenly very haunting. She was going to pass out.
She looked back towards Kepler, and felt like she was now seeing this alien for the first time. “You’re a bunch of vines in a spacesuit,” she gasped.
Kepler tried to laugh, but they only sounded worried as they noticed that this human was on the verge of a meltdown. “Yeah, I’m a pothos alien.”
Evie felt her knees buckle and the next second she was sitting on the floor, trembling and not being able to breathe.
“Hey, it’s not that crazy, if you really think about it,” Phoenix offered.
“You’re not helping!” Evie felt herself shout, her voice full of panic.
“Good to know.” He pointed at her in affirmation and then silently stepped back.
Kepler glanced around anxiously, seeing this human stranger going into a panic attack while the other stranger stood by helplessly. Jet grimaced and remained still, seeming to be frozen in place by her inability to act.
After shifting around in distress, Kepler rushed to get their water bottle and handed it towards Evie. “You want some water?”
Evie glanced at the bottle with dilated eyes before taking it. She gripped the bottle tightly in an attempt to squeeze the numbness from her hands. She managed to take a sip and then just focused on her breathing, trying to make her shallow irregular breaths something she could control.
Kepler looked around again before rushing into the common area and quickly returning with their succulent potted plant. “This is my crewmate, Major Minor. Do you want to hold onto him? He helps me calm down sometimes.”
She exhaled shakily and nodded, taking the potted plant and holding it close to her chest. Evie felt comforted by the gesture and hugged the houseplant closely. Kepler stepped back hesitantly, not sure what else to do.
Evie managed to get a control of her breathing, preventing a full-on panic attack. She let out a sigh of relief as she felt some life return to her hands. She gazed down at the potted plant, which in that moment was a reassuring reminder of home that stood out in the alien spaceship. Evie then flinched a bit as a thought came to her. She looked to Kepler and pointed at the succulent. Her words were still shaky and she couldn’t help but sound uncertain. “Is he… like you?”
Kepler’s vines tilted in confusion before they chuckled and said, “Oh, no. He’s not an alien like me. Major Minor’s just a regular plant, like any other succulent you’d find on Earth. But I do sometimes talk to him like he can hear me. I’ve been alone on this spaceship for a long time.” They chuckled again, sort of uneasily. They shook their vines in an effort to shake off their nerves before one of their leaves fell off and drifted downwards.
Kepler stared at their fallen leaf for a moment. “That’s not good.” Then they suddenly fainted and face-planted on the floor.
Everyone in the bridge rushed to crowd around Kepler, who remained motionless. Evie set aside Major Minor so she could roll Kepler onto their back and tried to check for breathing, not even knowing if Kepler breathed like she did.
She noticed that Kepler’s leaves were now a lot more yellow in color. A realization came to her and she looked to Jet, who was staring down at their form in panic. “What did you guys do on Earth?”
Jet blinked and thought for a moment, trying to push down her overwhelming feelings to think straight. “Kepler did try the soil and water.”
“Did that water come from a creek?” Jet nodded in response. “Was there a gas station near that creek?”
Jet glanced away as she hesitated. “We did see some manmade lights in the distance.”
Evie sighed as she stared upwards, already knowing the answer. “You can’t just drink from a random stream. You gotta test the water quality.”
“We’re not real experts of Earth, if you haven’t noticed,” Jet said coldly.
Evie stared back at the anthropomorphic goat with skin covered in blue scales before she shook her head and focused back on how to help Kepler. “We can try to give them some fresh water to wash away the chemicals,” she said.
Phoenix, realizing that he had a chance to help, grabbed Kepler’s water bottle and handed it to Evie. “Here.”
Jet propped Kepler’s unconscious body into a seated position so that Evie could pour some water through their open helmet. A few of their leaves were hosed down in the processes.
A moment after all the water was down Kepler suddenly shook awake and croaked, “What happened?”
"You drank toxic water,” Evie informed as she faced the plant alien directly. “Is there anything we can do to help you get better?”
Kepler weakly pointed back to the common area. “Hydroponics,” is all they managed to say.
It was enough for Jet to understand. She picked up Kepler’s limp body and then carried them out of the bridge towards the mess of crates and junk that filled the common area. After the crash landing on Earth, everything in the common area was a wreck. Jet had to kick aside and step over crates to get to the nook with purple UV lights. Within the nook, there was a decently sized tank full of a nutrient-based solution with a gridded tray on top of it.
Jet set down Kepler, who slid out of their spacesuit to filter their roots through the grid and into the container. Their suit and clothes were pushed away as their vines sprawled around the top of the tank, making them now appear as a large potted plant.
They made sure that Kepler was getting enough light and Evie returned Major Minor to rest on top of a crate under a UV lamp near Kepler.
The three of them then left Kepler to rest in their nook and returned to the bridge. They rotated the bridge’s main seats so they could all face each other. Evie kept fidgeting and she couldn’t make eye contact with anyone. She was uncomfortable with the fact that these strangers just witnessed her have a near panic attack.
Jet glanced back and forth between the two strangers before she said, “Kepler and I only met a few hours ago, so I’m not sure what they’re going to do with you guys. All I know is that once we get to Q-23, I’m getting dropped off.”
Phoenix gasped and leaned in excitedly. “We’re going to Q-23?”
Evie stiffened, having no reference for what that meant.
Jet noticed her unease and explained, “Q-23’s the capital of the System.”
Evie stared back at Jet, not knowing what that meant either.
Jet sighed and brought a hand up to her forehead. “Right, you don’t even know what the System is. I guess I can do Kepler a favor and explain this to you.”
“I know almost everything about the System,” Phoenix eagerly stated. “I got my computer connected to System-wide internet without being intercepted by signals bordering Earth. Getting that window into your guys’ world has been everything to me. Holy shit, I still can’t believe I’m actually up here!”
Jet took a moment to stare at Phoenix after his excited outburst. “Right.” She then looked back towards Evie and said, “There’s an organization on Earth that made all of these creatures in labs, with DNA from humans mixed with other species and substances. We are now known as aliens, who are all part human, which is why we have human-like resemblance and intelligence. After years of being used as experiments in labs, we were brought into space to act as labor. They made us develop technology for them as quickly as possible, free from Earthen regulations. From there, we built our own civilization within the Solar System, which we now call the System.”
“Technically, all aliens in the System do not count as extra-terrestrials, since they are all made of species that come from Earth,” Phoenix pointed out. He was on the edge of his seat, unable to remain completely silent during Jet’s explanation. Jet’s ear twitched as she grew annoyed from the interruption.
Evie blinked as she processed this. “How long has this been going on?”
“Our space civilization has existed for about a century,” Jet replied.
Her heart stopped for a moment. “How is that even possible?”
“Oh, yeah, the Creators are hiding a lot from the public,” Phoenix said. “No one really knows how they did this.”
“We call the secret organization of humans that made us the Creators,” Jet explained. “They now act like a trading partner for us, trading their Earthen resources for our technology. They also have control over the public knowledge of aliens, and so the only human-alien communications and trade that can happen are between the System government and the Creators. The Creators also won’t let any of us return to Earth. Space is oftentimes difficult to sustain life in, which is why some aliens have tried to flee back to Earth. Those ships were all destroyed at the border.”
Jet glanced towards Phoenix and added, “It’s incredible that you were able to learn about us without being found by the Creators.”
Phoenix shrugged and glanced away.
Jet narrowed her eyes in contemplation before continuing. “If you want any chance of returning to Earth safely,” she said to Evie, “you do not want the Creators to know that you’ve visited the System and came into contact with aliens. They don’t want common people like you knowing that we exist.”
Evie stared at the surrounding space within the windshield, unable to fully comprehend any of this madness. “So, what are the actual chances that I’ll get to go home?”
“Honestly, I have no idea,” Jet replied. “This has never happened before. But the chances are slim. No one else can know that you’re up here. Having humans in the System is one of the biggest felonies there is. Both the Creators and the System government won’t be happy with this. I won’t turn you in to the officials, but I can’t say the same for other aliens.”
Evie kept fidgeting with her own hands, feeling like she was going to be sick.
Jet glanced at a screen displaying the ship’s projection. “It’s going to be a while before we reach Q-23. Make yourselves at home, I guess.” Jet then left the bridge to go change out of her spacesuit. It was still damaged from when she got hit by the laser, and she worked on repairing the damage herself.
Beneath her spacesuit, she wore a simple short-sleeved shirt and cargo pants. Jet also kept on the same boots that connected to her spacesuit.
After repairing her spacesuit, she got a cup of coffee from the ship’s cramped kitchen and drank it at the round table in the common area. She occasionally glanced over her shoulder to see Kepler still recovering in their hydroponics tank.
When Evie stepped into the common area, she noticed that Jet’s horns were made out of a grey metal. Her arms were covered in the same blue scales, until it got to her wrists and hands, which were completely robotic, resembling the hands of a metal skeleton.
Evie’s eyes lingered on her robotic hands a little too long and Jet gritted her teeth before she said coldly, “What? Do they not have amputees on Earth?”
Evie darted her eyes away and muttered, “Sorry.” She awkwardly turned around and hurried back into the bridge to avoid any more conflict.
Phoenix was busy having his eyes glued to a hand-held screen, exploring the System’s online world from an alien-made device. Evie sat as far away from him as possible to have some time to herself. She put on her headphones to listen to a saved playlist, trying to find some comfort as anxiety and dread pooled inside her stomach.
The ship continued its journey through space, headed towards the System’s capital city.