Leland hid behind Staress as a group of alien life forms swarmed them, some humanoid in shape, others with tentacles or wings or too many limbs.

“She came!” one alien shrieked, its square head rotating a full 360 degrees. “She really came! We can’t wait for your performance!”

“You’re my inspiration!”

“Take a picture with me!”

Staress smiled. “Thank you, thank you. Unfortunately, we’re in a rush. See ya soon, guys.” She grabbed Leland’s hand and they broke into a sprint. “Come on, Lee!”

The alien city was a sprawling metropolis, unlike anything Leland had ever seen. Its towering skyscrapers were constructed of a strange, iridescent material that shimmered in the light of the planet's twin suns. A strong sweet scent wafted in the air and Leland’s body felt much lighter than on earth.

“Jump on one!” Staress yelled. “Three, two, one!”

They leaped. Before they could touch the ground, a hovering vehicle collected them and soared towards the sky. The wind whipped against Leland’s face as a seat belt automatically secured him tight.

“What’s up Zel!” Staress said.

As the car veered around a sharp corner, the driver turned around and grinned, exposing a mouthful of golden pointed teeth. The alien wore sunglasses and had four purple tentacles which gripped the steering wheel.

“Now that I’m seeing you again, I’ve never felt so blissful. You're a star in the face of the sky.”

“Oh please,” Staress said, giggling. “Always with the exaggerations.”

“I never lie. Who’s the human?”

Leland flinched, smiling nervously.

“This is Lee. The boy’s a one-of-a-kind gem. You won’t find an organism like him. Could you take him to Garvo? He needs some upgrades.”

“Sure thing.”

“Take me to the studio first.”

“Roger.”

Leland failed to suppress a grin, delighted to hear Staress’ rather unusual compliment. Yes, it was strange that she used the word organism, but a compliment was a compliment.

“W-w-ait a minute. You’re not coming with me?”

“Nope. I’ve got a concert to prepare for.”

“B-b-but….” Leland gave up on the sentence, simply staring at Staress. He hoped she could detect the fear in his eyes.

Staress squeezed Leland’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. He knows you’re coming. This is a good opportunity to tackle your fears.”

Leland agreed with the idea, yet felt a strong desire to run away from the potential social interaction. As the self-loathing thoughts began to flood into his mind, Staress flicked him on the forehead with a surprising amount of force.

“Ow!”

“You think too much,” Staress snapped. “Here, take this.” She handed him a small, dull, transparent orb.

“W-w-what is it?”

“It tracks and detects Cadell’s portals. Our return portal is scheduled to pop up in two hours on the main stage at the Galpropenzo.”

“The G-g-galpro what now?”

“It’s where I’m performing, silly goose. Head over there once you’ve got the super suit by squeezing the orb. It will tell you where to go. If you’re quick enough, you might catch my last song!”

“But I’ve n-never seen you live. I have to see everything. Please! Y-you c-can’t do this to me.”

“I’m afraid I can, Lee. My destination is here. Peace!” Staress unbuckled her seatbelt and threw herself out of the flying vehicle.

“No!” Leland yelled. He lunged over her seat, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“Not to worry,” Zel said. “She does that a lot.”

“How? W-why?”

The alien scratched his slimy head with two free tentacles. “I don’t know, human. I don’t know.”

----------------------------------------

With trembling legs, Leland stood in the middle of a derelict street, whistling a made-up tune while throwing the orb that Staress had given him from hand to hand. Dim purple street lights allowed him to see just enough. Just enough to know he wasn’t on Earth. Just enough to know that he was the foreign alien and not the other way around.

Nothing was the way it was supposed to be. The street surface below him was soft and spongy, squeaking with every footstep. The two long rows of houses boxing him in floated inches above the ground and flickered a random variety of colours, reminding Leland of certain streets during Christmas where the neighbours felt the need to blind any passerby with overkill decorations. Only these houses weren’t pretty.

24 Nebula Way, 24 Nebula Way, Leland repeated in his mind. He trudged down the street, trying his best to avoid glancing at the freakshow houses while simultaneously checking their numbers. At some point, he accidentally squeezed the orb. It glowed purple, the same colour as Cadell’s portals, and a trail of purple circles hovered behind him, creating an arc-like path. Leland stuck his bottom lip out, nodding. So that’s how it works…

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

He quickened his pace, but found himself trapped in overthinking, unable to halt the spiral. It felt akin to tumbling down a steep hill. How exactly should he converse with the suit maker? He needed to master his superpowers in order to speak fluently 100% of the time, but he was only able to speak to Maggie flawlessly for less than thirty seconds before passing out. Clearly, he wasn’t ready for perfect conversations.

Which is why you need to practice. This is a good opportunity!

Opportunity for what? Fainting?

When Leland finally found the right house number, he hadn't formulated any plan and concluded that relying on a strategy to interact with people was quite pitiful. Perhaps not having one was a good thing.

Twenty-four Nebula Way stood out from the surrounding houses which was already a challenge to pull off. It shimmered gold and hummed loudly, reminding Leland of a washing machine. Muffled shouts of frustration could be heard from the sidewalk.

Before he could press the glowing orange doorbell, a chubby, blue, bald-headed alien burst out of the front door, clapping twice loudly. “Come in, come in, stop wasting time, human. Yes, it’s the suit maker, Garvo. Hurry up, come in. Why aren’t you moving? Come in. Don’t just stand there! Come in. Enter, human.”

Leland frowned. The alien’s insanely fast yet clearly spoken words almost felt like an assault on his mind.

“Are you deaf?”

“N-n-no.”

“Then get in! We’ve got work to do! Ah, why are humans so slow? They’re in my top five least favourite slug species.”

Leland gave a puzzled look, any traces of nervousness vanishing. “Y-you didn’t need to… s-say that out loud—ah!”

The alien pulled him forward with one large, meaty hand, and he staggered into a narrow hallway leading into a room filled with strange floating unnameable devices. There was no recognisable object or furniture. Leland had never felt so out of place before. He didn’t even know where to sit.

“Custom or recommended?” Garvo mumbled.

“C-c-c…”

“Hurry up, human! We haven’t got all day!”

Leland’s face heated. Most people were understanding about his stutter and waited but, clearly, the alien wasn’t one of those people. He took a deep breath.

“C-c-c…”

“I knew humans were slow, but this is ridiculous. Staress, I don’t deserve this, my queen. Why would you do this to me?”

“I don’t care about custom or recommended. Just make me a damn super suit so I can be on my way. Thank you.”

Leland sat on the floor and hugged his knees, sweat dripping down his forehead. Every second using the ability was a second holding open the heavy mental door in his mind.

“Incredible… Do that again, human,” Garvo said.

Leland shook his head. He was done talking.

“Come on, slug— I mean human. Could I hear that voice one more time?”

Leland shook his head again, realising how difficult it would be to achieve fluent speech using his superpowers. They were incredibly draining to maintain for short periods of time, and the flying escapade was still taking a toll on him.

Garvo rolled his eyes, reaching for a floating, transparent cuboid shaped item in the air. “Fine. If you wanna be a big baby, go ahead and cry and sulk. Now I’m going to assume you want a custom suit since I’m pretty sure that’s what you were trying to say before.”

“I-I’m not s-sulking. I’m just tired.”

“Of course you are! You used an omni ability to have a normal conversation. That’s like trying to cut vegetables with a laser beam.”

“O…o-omni ability?”

"Yes," Garvo said, eyes squinted. “You don’t know what that is?”

“N-n-no. W-w…what is it?”

The alien tapped the cuboid device repeatedly with a long finger. “It’s an extremely strong ability linked to the star of the user's solar system.”

“O-origins?”

“The mutation is impossible to genetically engineer. You have a better chance of winning the lottery every day for a decade than of getting an omni ability.”

Leland’s eyes widened as a thought dawned upon him, a spark of hope. “How do I speak fluently using this ability?”

“What do you mean?”

Leland’s eyes narrowed, sceptical. “I h-have a… s-stutter! Surely I can use my powers to get rid of it.”

“Yeah, you should be able to,” Garvo said. There was a brief silence as Leland waited for more words. “Wait, you’re asking me?”

“Y-yes!”

“I don’t know. Don’t move.” The cuboid device glowed purple, made a high-pitched beeping sound, and hundreds of red lasers shot out of it, scanning Leland from head to toe.

“W-what’s happening?”

“I said don’t talk. I’m scanning your thoughts and memories. They will be used to create custom super suits. I’ll produce a dozen and you can pick the one you like. The suit will adapt to your omni abilities, which I’m sure you’ll find useful.”

Moments later, the cuboid stopped glowing, and the alien caught it before it could fall to the floor. “We’re done. While I’m making the suit, I need you to do something for me.”

“W-what kind of thing?” Leland asked.

“A client forgot their bracelet. Her name’s Astridra. I need you to hand it to them.”

“W-what?”

“They’re hanging out in the Ribgar Inn.”

“B-b-but…” Leland froze, thinking back to his conversation with Staress in the floating space truck. She had convinced him to comply, telling him that they would spend time together, but in reality he was doing errands for some alien dude like a side quest in a video game? Where was the main storyline? Where was the Staress concert?

“Teleport here, human.” Garvo shoved a picture of a small inn illuminated in sickly green in Leland’s face. “She looks like this.” He showed a second picture of a voluptuous blue-haired alien with golden eyes.

“W-wait. I can’t do this. I can’t just walk over there and…I-I can’t even talk to strangers on my own planet. I-it’s not possible. W-w-why can’t you do it yourself?”

“I’m lazy, and translators exist. They will understand you,” the alien said bluntly. “Staress said you were the perfect man for the job.”

“She k-knew about this?” Leland asked. “She didn’t tell me anything!”

The alien shrugged. “If you don’t want the suit that’s fine with me, but if I remember correctly she said something about it being a good opportunity to test your social skills.”

Leland clenched his fists and stared at the floor with a cold stone face. “F-fine! I-I-I’ll do it. But not for that w-woman or the super suit.”

“You said those words pretty confidently if you ask me, but whatever you say, human.”

“This is d-different,” Leland said. “I’m angry. Staress didn’t tell me b-beforehand. She always throws me in the deep end.”

“Yes, she tends to do that,” Garvo said in a soft, somewhat sympathetic tone. “But I can assure you she has you in her best interest, regardless of how it may seem. Everything she does, big or small, is done for a specific reason.”

“W-what else do you k-know about her?” Leland asked. “How can she see into the future? H-h-how did you become friends with her? Does she travel to other planets often?”

Garvo simply chuckled and shook his head.

“What?”

“She said you would vomit questions like this.”

Leland’s face flushed slightly as he imagined Staress in the strange room with them, laughing and teasing. “O-of course I would! I need a-answers!”

“She said you would say that as well,” Garvo said with a smirk. “Let me relay her exact response to you: The answer is to mind your business.”