Misadventures in Space:New Friends/World

Misadventures in Space: New friends, New worlds

Caroline Scott

         It was a normal night for me. I was sitting in my kitchen on my laptop, eating Veggie straws, when I saw it outside the window.  Three consecutive lights flashing red, blue, and yellow. Curious, I leave the laptop on the table and hurry outside. Just as I thought, the flashing lights belonged to a UFO. So I do the clichstanding in the middle of the yard and the UFO did the clichthing of sucking me up by my chest, which hurt.

         Next thing, I know I'm looking at silver walls. I don't get to look at the walls very long, because the next thing that happens is that a flying silver thing that looks something like a video camera. It lets out a couple of beeps and bwops before a disc flies out from under me and a glass dome goes over me (so clich am I right?). The video-camera robot thing flies a couple inches ahead of me as it leads me to what appears to be a meeting room filled with all kinds of aliens. I can't pronounce half of the species of them but there are blue aliens, purple aliens, magenta aliens, you name the color it's probably an alien's skin tone. 

         The aliens around me murmur in curiosity. I can make out some of the things.

"Look at what he's wearing."

"His hair is so dirty"

"Look at his eyes. Can you imagine going around our home planet with eyes that color?"

         Ok, now a dozen questions are going around my head. What made them think I was a boy? Can I please get out of this dome-thingie? And how the HECK did these aliens know English?

I don't have time to ponder these thoughts long when an alien in a long robe steps out and the murmuring stops. Upon studying the alien, I notice it appears to be a woman-at least I hope it's a woman. The aliens do, after all, think I'm a boy.

         The female alien walks to the end of a terrace like structure to a podium.

"Hello earthling." She says, though it comes out muffled.

I tap the glass dome, indicating I can't hear. It takes a few taps before she gets the idea. She claps her hands and the dome is lifted and the disk is lowered to the floor. To my surprise, I can breathe.

"Thank you" I say, and a collective gasp goes through the room.  Thinking it's something I did, I quickly say "I mean, thank you, your majesty?"

It comes more like a stammered question. The head alien smiles (I think she has dimples). By her smile, I can tell she isn't insulted in the least.

"It's quite all right young sir?" she questions

"Ma'am actually"

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm not a sir. I'm a ma'am"

"But your hair's so short." She says surprised

"Not any shorter than most women down on Earth" I mumble

The female alien ignores that and continues on. "You've been chosen for a very special role in the Galactic Chosen Elite for Young Species"

I mouth that to myself and ask "Do you have a shortened version of that? Because that might be hard for me to remember"

         A little while later, I'm walking beside what I learned was Captain Cuisa. I was changed out of my Earth clothes into a white and blue shiny space cadets uniform.

"So young cadet Cook, your train will be difficult." My captain says

"I expected as much ma'am"

She nods and leads me to a room with a panel where she slides a card through it. The door slides open to reveal a small magenta alien with two pink pigtails sitting on a bed. She's dressed in a uniform similar to mine.

"Hi, I'm Blushe."

I notice she has a British accent, and my mind swirls with what other accents I might hear: Norwegian, African, or even Scottish.

"I'm Claudia" I say, entering the room to find the available bed has already been made up and it has a sliver shiny backpack on it. I look up just as the door closes. I wish Cuisa had stayed. I'm shy around new people-or aliens in this case.

"What planet are you from?"



"Earth." I say, managing to find my voice.

"Cool! I'm from Vitellius."

"Oh I've...never heard of that planet." I admit sheepishly

"You should visit it with me sometime. It's really neat."

"So...do all the people on Vitellius look like you?" I ask, pointing my finger and moving it up and down, as if studying her with it.

"No, not all Vitelli look like me. We have all colors"

"Oh..." I say, feeling embarrassed.

         A few months later, Thanksgiving comes. I'm not at the top of all my training classes, but pretty darn close. Blushe has become my best friend pretty quickly. We eat lunch together (I have learned that alien food isn't that different from Earth's). The only thing I have to scold her for is when she slips into her native tongue. That I'm still learning the alien language.

         I do feel a tad bit sad that I can't return home for Thanksgiving to Christmas. Not that I can't call my family, I can. It's just that our ship is so far away from Earth, they can't send out a pod, or else it would be destroyed with me in it.

"Hey Claudia! You okay? You zoned out for like a full minute there."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking. What were you saying?" I ask Blushe, looking at her from my spot on the bed.

"I was asking if you'd like to come to Vallius with me during the break, since you, you know, can't return to Earth."

I pause to think. I had often thought of what Blushe's home planet was like and here was the opportunity to see it before my very eyes.

"Sure," I say "I'll go."

Blushe squeals and hugs me, her pink hair tickling my face.

"Thanks Claudia. Oh I just know you'll love Vallius! Just you wait!"

         Its a few weeks later that we arrive, and I gaze in awe at the planet feeling like I had just stepped into a sci-fi novel. The streets and buildings are made completely of silver and they're so clean. Aliens of every color are walking below our pod or flying around on hover boards.

"My home is coming up." Blushe said, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Um- Blushe. Will I be able to breathe on your planet?" I ask, nervously.

Blushe laughs. "Of course you will. Vallius has the same air quality as Earth."

"Good" I say, relived

         Our pod lands, and we gather our things as the pod doors slide open to reveal a Vallinan couple. The woman is dressed in a long, dark purple dress with matching flats and she looks like an older Blushe. At least I don't have to wonder who Blushe got her looks from. The male alien beside the female is the deepest shade of red I have ever seen. Deeper then blood red. He looks at me with a glare that almost makes me cringe. Almost

         The female walks over to Blushe with a big, toothy smile and her dress dances around her ankle when she walks.

"Blushe, darling!" she calls and envelopes Blushe in a hug. Blushe smiles even brighter.

"Hi, Mum." She said, hugging her back.

Blushe's mother's eyes gazes over to me and she keeps the smile.

"And this must be the Earth girl you've told your father and me so much about! How are you dear?"

"Hello" I manage to choke out. Why am I so nervous? This is Blushe's family. They aren't going to hurt me. "I'm Claudia, miss."

"Nice to meet you and please call me Illucid" she says and indicates her husband. "And this is..."

"...Cliontag" her husband's voice is gruff, like I thought it would be. I shiver, now a little more frightened of Blushe's father. Is it too late to spend the break on the ship?

         Blushe's parents lead us inside and I almost pop my mouth open. It's so beautiful. Fancy furniture, fancy decorations, fancy chandelier.

"You live here?" I ask, almost breathlessly.

"Yes. Cliontag is one of the heads of the Vallius council." Illucid says proudly.

I lay my stuff down next to Blushe's and go over to the couch. I press my hand into it and then sit. It was softer than most couches we had on Earth.

"So Claudia, is the uniform all you brought to change into?"

"Well, yeah. I didn't have time to grab a change of clothes before I started at the Elite." I tell her.

         A couple of hours later, Illucid, Blushe, and I are out shopping Illucid has bought me dresses in every shade of blue imaginable. ("It brings out the blue in your eyes" she had said) Now we are in the mall food court and I'm carefully sipping my smoothie through a straw, careful not to smudge my dark blue lipstick.

"So, tell me Claudia, what's Earth like?" Illucid asks

"Well, it's full of vegetation, people, and animals." I tell her.

"Fascinating." She breathes out.

         Just then, a laser shot appears out of nowhere and hits a passerby. Screams and shouts go all around us and Illucid orders her daughter and me to duck under the table.

         As I duck under the table, I pray that I'm not blamed for this

To be continued....