John tried to look around him, but his head refused to move. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was that he’d walked down the street to work. And then what? Images flashed through his mind. He’d slipped on a banana peel and fallen down an open manhole. Had he died? Was this heaven or hell? What would they say at his funeral service? That he'd died like in some old slapstick comedy sketch? Oh, how they would laugh. Thoughts darted through his mind like an unending deluge.

John’s numbness finally began to dissipate. He moved his head and found himself staring at a shiny metal knob. He gazed at his reflection and started crying. A baby’s face stared back at him from the reflection. It didn’t look to be more than two months old. Was he a baby? He didn’t want to be a helpless baby. Where was he anyway? There were all sorts of gadgets and gizmos around him. A screen kept flashing with alien words that reminded John of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Above him was an oval window through which he could see the night sky and the stars. Hold on! That wasn’t the night sky. There was a planet heading towards him. Was he on a space ship? Just as he felt he was going to crash on the planet he felt a sudden deceleration and breathed a sigh in relief. The planet looked a lot like Earth. No, it was Earth. John had always been good at geography. He could make out the coastline of Asia, with Australia and New Zealand beneath. He was going to go back home. That was a relief. He was going back to Earth as an alien baby. Things might not be so good after all. Would the government experiment on him? Would he be locked away in a laboratory somewhere? John’s thoughts were frantic and all over the place.

John decided to go over the important discoveries he’d made so far. Perhaps it would calm him down.

1. He’d died in a very embarrassing manner

2. He was now in the body of a baby with all the memories of his past life intact

3. He was in a spaceship heading to earth which likely meant he was an alien

Hold on, an alien baby crash landing on Earth. Wasn’t this the plot of Superman? Had he been reborn as Superman? John laughed, which came out as little gurgles. As he saw Earth draw closer and closer he grew more and more excited. It didn’t matter if they tried to experiment on him. He’d just knock them out with his super strength.

More likely, he’d be adopted by kind parents who’d take care of him. He’d grow in secret, hiding his real identity and then one day become Earth’s mightiest super hero. That was how the plot of his life was supposed to go.

Just then a gigantic jellyfish appeared in the window. The spaceship shuddered as the jellyfish ingested it. John began to cry again, though in his mind he was screaming at the unfairness of life. Looking through the translucence of the space jellyfish he saw Earth grow further and further away. Then, with a jolt, the space jellyfish began to rapidly accelerate. The stars disappeared and a rainbow light shimmered through the window. What was going on? Was this hyper space? Where was the jellyfish going? John decided not to think anymore. There was nothing he could do about it anyway. He was too tired. He needed to sleep.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

When John woke up he saw through the window that the space jellyfish had disappeared. How long had he been asleep? It felt like a long time. His hands were bigger. The space jellyfish must have left his spaceship in some remote region of the universe. In any case, he was far away from Earth with no way of going back. He saw an Earth like planet come into view. It had only one continent, so it definitely wasn’t Earth, or maybe he’d traveled back in time and this was Pangaea. It didn’t matter anyway. Whether it was Pangaea or some planet thousands of parsecs away he was still in heaps of trouble. Maybe he’d be super man on this planet. It wasn’t the same as being a super hero on Earth but he didn’t mind.

The spaceship entered into the planet’s gravity well, flames forming around the heat shields as it entered the atmosphere. The spaceship jolted a lot but John was safe and secure in his cradle. The temperature and pressure remained the same inside the cabin, not fluctuating in the slightest. John saw the spaceship tear through some trees. The spaceship hit the forest floor, fire blazing on all sides as it toppled trees and tore the ground. Finally, the spaceship came to a standstill.

John’s space ship was so well constructed that he didn’t feel a thing. This was some really hi-tech stuff. John wondered what material it was made out of. It must have been worth a lot. He gazed out the window, and saw an old man gazing back at him. John shrieked in surprise. Damn this baby body. He couldn’t even scream properly. The old man outside grinned and waved his hand slowly.

The old man had long gray hair, a beard that fell to the ground, wrinkled on his cheeks, and glassy eyes. He may have been old, but he looked strong. His body was a mass of muscle. There was a blue glow surrounding his body. This man was human looking but there was something about him that screamed otherness. It felt like he was one of those aliens who wore human skin in ‘Men in Black.’

The old man tapped the window and it vanished as though the glass was some trapped gas escaping into the air. John could now feel the heat of the forest, and hear the roaring wind. The old man didn’t seem to care that everything around him was going to hell. He just made a few funny faces at John and then detached him from the cradle. He said something in an alien language and then flew through the sky with John safely tucked in his arms.

The old man flew for what John estimated to be two hours before landing into a cave. The cave was decorated with holographic paintings, spheres of white light on the ceiling, a jumble of vines bearing red and purple flowers growing on the walls, a mattress covered by a blue sheet at the back. At the center of the cave was a metallic cube levitating in the air, its polished surfaces radiating light all around it. This was definitely some form of advanced technology. Would the old man bring him to civilization? Would John’s super powers from Krypton work on this planet?

The old man breathed on John’s face. Colored lights came from his mouth, red, blue, green, purple, twisting around each other as they got absorbed by John.

“You should be able to understand me now,” the old man said. “Interesting! Very interesting! A young man’s soul transmigrated into the body of an infant. Since we’re meeting like this I suppose there’s fate between us.”

“Who are you? What do you want to do with me?” John wanted to say, but all that came out were gurgles.

“I’m… my name is not important. I was an Astari, a Bright One, as most races choose to call my people, but now I’m a mere exile on this planet at the edge of the First Fold. I do not have long to live, a few hours at most. Soon you’ll be the only sentient being left on this planet.”