She couldn’t see any stars. Evie sighed and looked away from the pitch-black sky that hung over the city lights.

Cars rushed by as she stood in front of the apartment building that she was moving out of, with a few pieces of luggage at her side. She stiffened as the traffic grew noisier until it was too overwhelming and she put on her headphones to drown it all away.

Evie pulled at her bomber jacket impatiently. Her stomach churned and she suddenly found it a bit more difficult to breathe. She was waiting for her rideshare, and it felt like ages were going by as she stood alone on the city block. Her eyes kept darting up and down the busy street, desperately trying to spot the car that was supposed to pick her up.

Finally, the car she had been waiting for appeared, and a rideshare driver named Phoenix pulled up to the curb. She wiped her sweaty palms on her jacket as Phoenix rolled down the window and called out, “Evie?”

She nodded, and he parked the car beneath the streetlight that Evie was standing next to. The harsh yellow light from above illuminated Phoenix as he got out of the car. He had short tousled brown hair and light skin, and he wore a plain hoodie. He looked to be the same age as Evie, a young adult trying to survive in the city with little money, which was also shown through the visibly worn vehicle he drove. He walked around the hood of his car to meet Evie on the sidewalk and asked, “Are you sure you don’t have a friend or family member that can give you a ride? A trip this far won’t be cheap.”

Evie glanced downwards as she took off her headphones. “I’m aware of the price, thanks.”

“Alright.” Phoenix opened the car’s trunk and helped Evie load her luggage. “It’s been a while since I’ve been this far from the city.”

Once they were ready to go, Evie got into the back of the car and Phoenix sat in the driver’s seat. Evie leaned her head back and let out a deep breath as relief washed over her. She continued to pull at her jacket, enjoying the comforting feeling of her hands messing with the fabric.

Phoenix’s car left the curb to join the surrounding traffic. Evie stared out the window to watch bright lights and towering buildings pass by. In the window’s reflection she could see her own dark skin and short coiled hair.

“So,” Phoenix said as the car stopped at a red light, “what are you traveling all this way for?”

Evie kept her eyes to the window. “I’m going home,” she replied shortly.

“Cool, cool.” A pause hung in the air before Phoenix decided to start playing music. The playlist took over the silence and time went by a lot quicker. The car soon entered the highway, where the glistening city skyline could now only be seen in a rearview mirror.

---

“AHHHH!”

Kepler instantly turned down the ship’s acceleration to slow the spaceship from traveling at top speed. They brought up some screens that displayed data on the ship’s projection and their vines stiffened.

Jet gritted her teeth apprehensively as she watched this stranger look at some screens while their ship was still headed straight towards Earth, which was now filling a lot of the windshield. She reached for the ship’s controls to steer them away from the planet.

Kepler immediately noticed and slapped her hands away from the control panel. “No touch!” they shouted.

She gestured to the windshield wildly. “We can’t just keep heading towards Earth!” Jet argued. “They’re going to kill us!”

"You think I don’t know that?” Kepler pointed upward towards the source of the flashing red lights. “That alarm means that we’ve already crossed the Earth border. Now the ship’s acceleration combined with the gravitational pull of the planet has locked us into a projection with Earth. If I tried to turn this ship around and throw us back into top speed, it could kill the engine. Now I could try to pilot the ship to orbit Earth and change our projection, but that has the highest risk of a border station finding us and shooting us down.”

“What, are you saying that we should land?”

“I think landing and then leaving in the same projection that we entered strangely gives us the best chance of not being spotted, which then gives us the best chance of survival.”

Jet put her hands up to her head. “You’re aware that no alien has ever successfully done this.”

They turned towards the windshield, with the enormous partially-lit planet looming straight ahead. “It would be neat to be the first.” Jet just glared at them and they quickly added, “I’m trying to find any shred of light in this disaster!”

“Alright, fine.” Jet cracked her knuckles as she stepped towards the controls. “Let’s land this thing.”

“Absolutely not!” Kepler pulled her away from the panel and forced her into the nearest seat. “You don’t touch anything, and afterwards you can thank me for saving your life.”

Jet narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t try to object. “If you pass out, I’m taking over,” she stated shortly.

Kepler’s leaves sighed as they took the other seat closest to the control panel. As they both buckled themselves in, Kepler kept glancing over to double check that Jet wasn’t reaching for any controls.

The spaceship started to shake a bit more as Earth continued to take up their view. Kepler took hold of the controls and piloted the ship in a projection straight towards the planet.

The ship soon was plummeting towards Earth, groaning terribly under the force of gravity. Kepler was gripping onto the controls for their life as they began to see fire in the windshield. The giant dark side of the planet filled up their vision behind the flames.

Jet had her hands pressed against the panel to keep herself upright under the pressure of the falling rocket. She glanced towards Kepler and yelled over the sounds of blaring alarms and creaking walls of the ship, asking, “Are you sure you don’t need me to do anything!?”

Kepler’s arms were shaking with the rocket as they continued their hold on the controls. They looked over at a switch on the panel that was closer to Jet and shouted, “You see that blue switch!?”

“Yeah!”

Kepler nodded. “Pull it!”

Jet grunted as she fought gravity to yank down the switch, which turned on a resistance booster that pulled at the ship in the opposite direction it was falling, causing the ship to slow down but also tremble more with the opposing forces.

Jet gripped the armrests of her seat as the shaking became too much for her to withstand. Gravity forced her to lean all the way back in her seat, and she once again gritted her teeth as she fully expected death to come next.

Kepler piloted the ship to the best of their ability, their vines stiffening to combat the forces pulling at them. They could tell that they were entering the Earth’s atmosphere as the ship trembled with more resistance and the flames grew more intense. They let out a shout that was a mix somewhere between a fearful wail and a battle cry as their plummeting ship came in for landing.

---

A starlit meadow remained quiet and unmoving. That was until a spaceship fell out of the night sky, crashing through the tops of trees in the nearby forest before carving straight through the meadow and coming to a rough halt.

The spaceship went entirely dark and the interior was now unimaginably silent. Jet panted heavily while still gripping her armrests and Kepler continued to tremble, even though the ship was done shaking.

They remained like this for a while until Kepler felt like they were able to move again. They pulled up an emergency powered screen to check the status of their ship. “Yeah, the main engine’s broken,” they informed in a hoarse voice that was worn from screaming.

Jet’s eyes darted towards Kepler. “Are you saying that we’re stuck here?” she seethed.

“I should be able to fix it,” they replied, ignoring how agitated Jet sounded. “But we’ll be stuck here for a bit.”

“You do realize that if anyone finds us, we’re as good as dead,” Jet practically whispered, as if someone outside might be able to hear her.

“Then I guess we better start repairing this engine,” Kepler said as they got out of their seat.

Her eyes widened. “We?”

“Yes, you did such a good job pulling that one lever, so now you get to help me repair my ship. It’s the least you could do after forcing me to crash here.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Jet hesitated. “I don’t know anything about fixing an engine.”

“Oh, guess what?” Kepler mimicked an excited dance before exclaiming sort of aggressively, “You’re gonna learn!”

She flinched and didn’t say anything else as she followed Kepler down into the engine room.

They both turned the headlamps on their helmets on as now only a few dim emergency lights within the ship were illuminated, which did not provide much light at all. Kepler had their tools and equipment for repairing stored close to the engine, which made it easy to begin working.

In the engine room, Jet took back her metal suitcase that she had left down there. Kepler glanced at it but decided not to bring it up.

Kepler was aware that they weren’t going to be able to fully repair the everything, but they were hoping to repair enough of the main engine to get them back into space. They would have to go to a repair shop to get everything else restored later, assuming that they got to leave Earth.

Kepler’s vines allowed them to work around the engine with flexibility, crawling into tight spaces to repair certain sections. Jet’s main job was to sit nearby and hand Kepler the right tools when they needed them.

Eventually, Kepler came to a task that they could have Jet work on. They handed a laser tool to her and asked, “Do you know what this is?”

Jet gazed at the tool. “Actually, yes. You can slice metal with this thing.”

A few of Kepler’s leaves shook. “If you put it on the highest setting, sure. But we’re using this for welding.”

They both reattached the glass front of their helmets to protect themselves from the sparks that flew off as Kepler taught Jet how to weld a part of the engine. They were able to hear each other’s voices by connecting their suits’ headsets.

As Kepler watched Jet carefully press the burning laser where instructed, they glanced again at the suitcase by her side. They gestured to it and said, “I’m assuming you stole that from the vault complex, and that’s why you were in such a hurry to escape.”

Jet continued welding and didn’t say anything in return.

Kepler sighed. “Look, I don’t mind if robbing places is what you do for a living.”

She scoffed. “That’s not what I do for a living.” She then glanced towards Kepler and added, “Your ship is filled with random junk. Is that all stolen?”

“What? No! I scavenge junkyards.”

Jet turned her attention back to where she was welding. “That’s basically the lame version of stealing for a living.”

Kepler gasped. “No, it’s not!”

She chuckled a bit then asked, “You know that vault complex is owned by Satellite, right?”

“I’m aware of it now.”

“Good. Because I don’t think you have anything that Satellite would want. And they’d rip you off anyway.” Suddenly, the laser tool caused a lot more flaming sparks to harmlessly hit Jet’s helmet, and she jumped back from the shock of it. “Shit!”

Kepler was startled by how easily that panicked Jet. She was now breathing shallowly and her eyes were wide in terror. “Hey, it’s okay,” they tried to say as calmly as possible. “I’ll take over from here.”

Jet covered up her fearful expression by clenching her jaw and narrowing her eyes. She wordlessly handed the laser tool to Kepler and sat a bit farther away, far enough from the sparks.

---

Evie soon was completely zoned out while Phoenix hummed along quietly to the playlist. They stayed like this for a while as they drove down the interstate, away from civilization and towards the vast darkness that stretched ahead.

Eventually Phoenix turned on his signal to take the next exit. “I need to get gas,” he explained.

The exit took them down a desolate rural road, passing by stretches of forest and open meadow. Phoenix suddenly gasped, causing Evie to flinch, and leaned forward in his seat. “Woah, look at the stars!”

Now that they had driven far from the city, the stars in the sky were bright and numerous. “I haven’t seen that many stars in a long time,” he said. “You know, I’ve seen all the photos taken by telescopes, but that’s awesome to just see them outside like that.”

“Yeah,” is all Evie could say in response. She was comforted by the sight, but that feeling immediately left her when she saw that Phoenix was still staring upwards through the windshield. She anxiously grabbed the seat in front of her and exclaimed, “Eyes on the road, please!”

“Oh, right.” Phoenix turned his attention back towards the road and then immediately gasped and slammed on the brakes.

She instinctively held the side of the car as she was jerked around in her seat. She swore her heart was now caught in her throat.

Phoenix’s hands were tightly gripped on the steering wheel while the car remained unmoving. Finally, he managed to gasp, “Sorry.”

Evie followed his gaze through the windshield to see a turtle basked in the car’s headlights. She sighed as realization washed over. Evie wordlessly got out of the car to feel the crisp night air. The familiar sounds of crickets filled her eardrums as she walked over to meet the turtle in front of the bright headlights.

She crouched next to the turtle, who protectively had its head tucked into its shell. She heard Phoenix get out of the car and she called back to him, “It’s an eastern box turtle.” Through the chirping crickets, she could hear the faint sound of trickling water coming from the other side of the road. “It’s headed towards a stream,” she realized aloud.

Evie gently picked up the turtle and carried it to the other side of the road, in the direction it had been headed in. “There you go, buddy.”

Phoenix continued to stand outside his car, still looking a little shaken, and said, “Thanks for doing that.” He glanced down the road and laughed a bit. “Oh, there’s our gas station!”

The gas station appeared in the distance as a brightly lit beacon on the desolate dark street. It seemed to be the only manmade structure in this area.

She only looked that way for a moment before something else caught her attention. Evie swore she saw a flash of light come from the nearby meadow.

---

Kepler hummed a tune as they climbed out of the engine room to enter the bridge and tried to turn on the ship again. They cheered with victory as the main engine mechanically hummed in return. The neon lights were back on and all of the screens and holograms in the bridge were illuminated.

“The engine’s repaired!” Kepler called to Jet using their headset. “We’re headed for space!”

Jet met Kepler in the bridge and gazed out the windshield at the dark strange planet they had landed on. “It’s absurd that we’re the first aliens to actually land on Earth,” she said.

Kepler paused as they joined in at looking out the windshield. “We could also be the first ones to enjoy Earth."

Jet’s ear twitched. “What?”

Kepler pressed a button on the control panel that allowed a ladder to drop from the upper airlock that was built into the bridge’s ceiling. They began to climb the ladder and exclaimed, “Come on! We already almost died; we should get to experience a real moment on Earth.”

She followed Kepler worriedly. “But if we’re spotted-”

“I just want to touch soil real quick, and then we’ll leave.” Kepler opened the hatch door on top of their spaceship and climbed down the side ladder to land with their boots in the grass. They detached the front of their helmet to feel their leaves sway with an Earthen breeze for the first time. They gasped from the feeling. “You gotta feel this air!”

Jet joined them in the meadow to see a few of their vines stretch out of their helmet to experience a life-sustaining atmosphere. She sighed and the glass front of her helmet detached as well. She flinched when a gust of wind hit her face, not being used to that feeling at all.

She could now easily pick up the scents of fresh grass and soil, and a diversity of plant life coming from the nearby forest that was carried by the breeze. The rolling mountains were much darker than the starlit night sky. They loomed nearby like giant beasts shrouded in darkness.

Little lights floated around Jet and Kepler, softly glowing like drones did in space. When one of the lights floated right by Jet’s face, she noticed that they were actually tiny bugs.

Her pointed ears flickered to catch every sound of rustling leaves and scurrying through the long grass. Strange creatures that she couldn’t see made different chirps and buzzes. The calming sound of trickling water came from somewhere nearby. She felt the corners of her eyes tear up as she took another breath of fresh air.

“Oh!” Kepler cried out in bliss as they lied in the grass and got some of their roots in the soil. “This stuff’s incredible!”

Jet chuckled at how much Kepler was enjoying this before a thought came to her. Her hands balled up into fists as she felt frustration start to prick. Some things were not fair.

Kepler interrupted that thought by getting up and running through the open meadow towards where the trickling water sound was coming from. “I need to try some Earth water and then we’ll get out of here!” they called out.

Jet’s eyes darted around apprehensively. She couldn’t see anything in the meadow but grass and wildflowers. Even though the area was illuminated by moonlight, it was still too dark for her to ensure that they were alone, especially with the shadowy nearby forest. She ran after Kepler, and she couldn’t help but notice that her fists were clenching more tightly.

---

Once the car had pulled up to the gas station, Evie remained in the back seat while Phoenix got out to fill up the tank. Evie closed her eyes and enjoyed the silence for a while.

She opened her eyes to see that Phoenix was gone. He must had gone inside to buy something. Evie looked through the windows of the gas station’s convenience store to spot the colorful slushy machines and the empty aisles that displayed junk food. A single employee sat behind the cash register while reading a magazine. She didn’t see her driver in there.

Evie checked her phone and saw that she had no service. She grimaced as she looked out the window again, not sure what to do.

She checked her pocket to make sure she had her pepper spray before finally deciding to get out of the car and look around. Beyond the empty parking lot, she couldn’t see much else. Evie could still hear trickling water and she noticed the creek running right by the parking lot. She frowned. A stream shouldn’t be that close to a gas station.

She shook her head, telling herself to focus on finding her rideshare driver.

The doors to the gas station chimed as Evie walked in. All that could be heard were buzzing lights and a quiet radio. She walked up to the employee at the register and asked, “Did you see someone come in here?”

The employee looked up from his magazine. “You mean your driver?” He shook his head. “That guy ran around the side of the building and now he’s headed that way.” He pointed towards the window that looked out on the meadow behind the gas station. Evie could barely see a figure running through the darkness.

Shock and dread jolted through her. “What the hell is he doing!?” she exclaimed.

As she ran for the exit, the employee shouted, “Don’t go after him! That’s a crazy person!” The door chimed a second later and Evie was sprinting around the gas station towards the meadow. She grimaced as she felt her shoes get wet from running through the creek.

Evie ran through the long grass for a while before she was out of breath, feeling fatigued. She took a moment to fill her burning lungs with oxygen as she gazed straight ahead. Maybe she was about to pass out, because now she could see a spaceship in the meadow.

The spaceship looked similar to regular jets, just much more futuristic looking. The interior of the ship was illuminated, and she saw Phoenix in the windshield for a second before he moved farther back into the ship. Soon after that, Evie noticed two figures in sleek spacesuits climb the side of the ship to enter a hatch door on top. Then the meadow was basked in a green glow as lights on the exterior of the spaceship blinked on and the humming of an engine grew louder.

In that moment, she had to decide whether or not to save someone from getting abducted by aliens. “Yeah, this is insane,” she commented.

Evie sprinted towards the spaceship, which was now humming at an impossibly loud tone. She could physically feel the vibrations coming from the engine. The hatch door on top of the ship was still open, and she climbed up the side ladder to get through the opening just as the door started to mechanically close behind her. Now she was stuck in a tiny white room that seemed to be an airlock. She pulled at the door below her, which didn’t budge. Then Evie was thrown back as everything started accelerating.