“Are you ready,” The assistant questioned.

“Yeah. Go ahead.”

I lied. I wasn’t ready. I was never ready. My fingers grasped the metal bars of the pod and I squeezed my eyes in nervousness. The pod was loading. It seemed as if it was taking hours.

“Why am I doing this,” I questioned myself.

I wasn’t ready for this trip but insisted going anyway to show my strength. I was supposed to be trained for this mission, but they only offered it because I was ahead of the other kids. I always wondered why I couldn’t see the other kids. They always said,

“For educational purposes.”

I was neither ready or excited for this mission. It was going to be tough.

The ship bursted out of the mothership and my head flew back. My hair was all in my mouth and in my eyes. I spit it out, reaching for my seat belt and tightening it even more than it already was. The mystical skies of space rushed past the windshield, but it seemed like it never ended.

“3...2...1…”

The pod slowed down and started gently gliding through the vast openness of wonder we call space. Blues, greens, purples, and all sorts of varieties of color popped through the glass.

Something I could never get tired of was the colors. They make your jaw drop and left a stain in your eyelids. When you close your eyes, you can still see the colors in their exact shape even though it’s pitch black. They leave an imprint in your brain. Something you can never scratch out.

I pulled out a snack from the glove box. Peanut butter protein bar. I stared at the sky, protein bar in hand, absolutely sucked into the universes beauty.

“How are you doing number five? I am Sophia, your exploration assistant.

“Great. I have reached the coordinates.”

“Excellent, I’ll leave you alone for now.”

Sophia left the communicator and I instantly felt loneliness. One thing that overtakes you most is boredom. I sat for hours, nothing happening. You could barely hear the tiny flow of air through my nose. Silence. It was so silent, I felt deaf for a minute but realized it was only the sound of nothing. The communicator turned on,

“Going well I assume number five?”

“Yes. I’m doing just fine.”

“Ok, just checking. Goodbye number five.”

The communicator turned off. I was alone again. Sometimes I wish she would just stay with me. I could talk to her for hours and never get bored. She was that kind of person. Bright, cheery, funny, you know, all of that stuff. I suddenly remembered one friend I met. Before I was exploring, I had met this wonderful girl. She was named number 4. She had short blonde hair and pretty blue eyes. I never liked my eyes. They were brown. I always envied her blue eyes. Even though she didn’t do it on purpose, it reminded you of a pure child. Kind, innocent, cute. When she looked at me, I could always stare into her light blue pools. That was strange. Normally I don’t like to lock eye contact, but her eyes would snag you into her gaze. She always said,

“You have pretty eyes too. They’re brown, but something makes me look at them. That’s it! They aren’t brown, they’re hazel.”

“What’s hazel?”

“It’s a pretty color. Better than blue eyes. They are actually the second rarest eye color second from green eyes. You have a special gift. They are light brown and actually blend with other colors outward such as blue and green. Sometimes, they look like gold.”

“Oh. I guess that is cool. I didn’t know light brown was hazel.”

“No problem! Say, do you hate our names? I hate being called number 4… blah blah blah. I want a real name.”

I didn’t know what a name was. I was completely lost. She continued this conversation in my space room.

“A real name?”

“Yes, a real name.”

“Like, another number?”

“No silly, a name. Normal people have names that sound meaningful like Jude, or Alexander, or Molly. Ya know?”

“No.”

“Ok then. We’ll just come up with our own secret names, ok? Don’t tell the assistants or they will be mad. You name me and I name you, ok?”

“Ok.”

“Hmm. I think you look like a… Sadie, no. J. J is a good letter because not many people except for Jacks and Johns have a J. Especially girls. Hmm. I know! This fits you perfectly. Jadah. You look like a Jadah. Do you like it?”

“Yeah. Actually it’s really cool. I like it. Better than number 5.”

“See! I knew it! I knew you would like names. I wish we were like the Earth children.”

“Earth children?”

“The Earth children? Hello?”

“Who are the Earth children?”

“They live on Earth. They have houses and parents and phones and stuff. I want to be one someday. I want to have real parents.”

“Parents?”

“Yeah, parents.”

“What are parents?”

“I’ll tell you another time. It will take a while to explain. By the way, did you ever name me?”

“No.”

“Ooh! Name me next! I’m excited. Give me a pretty name.”

“Well, I didn’t know what names were before you told me. In my books, I always wondered what they were talking about when they said ‘Jade’ or ‘Steven’. Now I know! Let’s see… I really like this one book. It was about two best friends like me and you.”

“Cool! What was it?”

“I don’t know. A book about an adventure.”

“Ok, name?”

“Oh yeah sorry. Her name was Eliza.”

“Eliza. That’s perfect. Thank you.”

Her eyes started to glimmer and soon, a lucid drop of saltwater began to come out of her eyes. The bubbled up and started floating in my room. I remember standing there, hurt that she had started crying. I thought It was my fault. That she didn’t like her name. She smiled and tears just kept running down her face as we floated in the middle of my room. She swam my direction and gave me a giant hug.

“Why are you crying Eliza?”

“It sounds even more beautiful when someone says it. Thank you. I love my name so much.”

She gave me an even tighter squeeze. I hugged her back and realized how much it meant to her, but I never knew why.

She gave me a smile and floated out my door and closed it without saying a word.

Lashed back into reality, I grabbed the metal bars of my pod. Something wasn’t right. The system was beeping and I didn’t even notice Sophia talking on the communicator.

“Number five! Number five!”

“Yes, what is going on!”

“You are about to go into a meteorite storm!”

I looked into the vastness and to my dismay, a giant group of meteorites started flying at the windshield. The pod spun in all directions and my helmet banged against the wall. My seat belt locked into place and everything was beeping into my ears. My ears were ringing from hitting the pod. I tried listening to the communicator, but everything was spinning and I was getting dizzy. I was hearing voices in my head,

“Number five! Respond!”

I couldn’t respond, for there was blood running down my ears and the radio was glitching. The spinning gradually became worse and soon, I was so dizzy, passed out.

I slowly opened my blood encrusted eyes and squinted at the light shining through the broken glass. Plants had grown around my pod and seeped through the window. I had an oxygen mask on my face and an IV in my arms. My pod had an emergency system that protected the person in it for emergencies.

“What? Where am I…”

I got up and instantly flopped back down. A sharp pain was in my abdomen. I had bloody bandages wrapped all around my torso.

“Sophia….....Sophia?”

Nothing. I looked at a blinking screen on my broken pod that read,

“DATE: May 6, 3020

CRASH DATE: January 3, 3019.

CRASH DAYS: 1 year and 4 ½ months.”

I couldn’t believe it. I crashed more than a year ago. It was so much shock, I was starting to doubt my existence and thought about how many things I could of learned. My space suit was all ripped up and my legs were busting out of the seams. I still had the year old bood sundried to my face and clothes. I wondered what could of possibly happened to me. I read the rest of the screen that said,

“INJURY: COMA, ABDOMEN WOUND, CONCUSSION, EARDRUM DAMAGE

HEALTH STATUS: SLOW WALKING CONDITION

PAIN: SEVERE

H2O LEVELS: LOW

HUNGER: STARVING

MEMBERS: 2”

When I glanced at the emergency system, It only had a little tiny amount of supplies left to keep me living, which is why I was so hungry and thirsty. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and I had a burning feeling in my stomach along with the pain from my wound. Everything was hurting. My ears, stomach, head, neck, abdomen, and the rest of my body. One thing confused me though, why did it say there were two passengers? I looked around and saw no human body. Only the pod in ruins. I sat there and pondered the reason only to remember Twitch. My robot friend. Other than Eliza, Twitch was my best friend.

I pulled him out of my pocket and typed in the passcode. The tiny ball opened up like a rolly polly and Twitch came to life before my eyes. He was happy to see me and his little light bulb lit up. He couldn’t say much but make a few cute sounds. I unstrapped my seatbelt, packed a bunch of emergency supplies in a backpack, and used Twitch as my guide. When I limped out of the pod, I froze and lit up on the inside. This world wasn’t actually. Z-210, it was different.

Soft yellow sand swayed in the sunlight. The coral colored skies lit up a magnificent color on the yellow dunes, making it appear a soft, pastel orange. There were two moons rising as the sun was getting ready to set. Open desert as far as you could see filled my mind and nothing else. Behind the ship was a forest. The trees had beautiful blue leaves and the rocks were purple. The grass around the trees was a vibrant yellow color. The grass wasn’t dead, it was healthy. So many similarities to Earth this planet had, but yet it was so different. I don’t remember much about my field trip to Earth, but I remember liking it more than the space station. I wished I could live on Earth with the Earth children. The soft wind blew my hair and I felt magical; like something had just granted me with powers. I just crash landed on a planet all by myself and now I have to find a way out. When I come back, I will be a legend. A true legend. The fifteen year old that crashed on an unknown planet and came back without any supplies. That really got my juice going and I stared into the sunset, wind against my eyes, waiting for my adventure to begin.

I started hiking towards the middle of the two landscapes.

“Which way?”

“Breww!”

Twitch squealed and nodded towards the forest. I looked at him and smiled at his cute robot face.

“Twitch, I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s almost dark and the forest might have animals we don’t know about.”

“Beee! Bo bo bee!”

“Twitch, I think we should go this way towards the dunes. Is there any building nearby?”

His little belly screen said that there was a building a mile from here. The only thing was, I didn’t see anything that far. The forest couldn’t have where we’re going. I kept telling Twitch to move forward and he finally gave up and followed me. We kept strolling through the sand dunes. The sand was starting to seep into my shoes. The grainy sand would rub against my feet and create scratches. By the time we were only half way through the desert, I took my shoes off to relieve the pain. Sore, hot, and tired I layed down on the cool sand. The moon laid above me, sand rolled into my locks of hair, and I slowly closed my eyes.