Planet hopping, with Lilly Emerald

The collision

Explosions sounded as the ship collided with the planet, and alarms sounding so loud she thought her eardrums might burst. As she suited up, the ground control of her home planet called in over the radio.

“Hello, hello... this is officer radar calling in. officer radar calling in for ship #C933. Do you copy?”

“officer Emerald reading. I thought we were out of range.”

“Of course, you"d think that. We"ve actually extended our range with new satellites. Send coordinates of your location, we need visuals.”

“will do officer Radar, sending coordinates now. Ships on fire, crews most likely dead, and only one suit remaining. I"ll be on the planet"s surface in a few minutes.”

“Copy that, we"ve secured your location. This... looks super bad, salvage what you can then let it burn out for parts.”

“Rodger that, officer Emerald out.”

With that, she started to salvage what she could.

The in-suit camera turned on with a light "ping" and she walked onto the smooth metallic looking surface of the planet. At first, she thought it would be a metal surface, but as she stepped onto it, she realized it was bouncy and once she put her full weight onto it, she sunk through it like a stone through almost set jelly. She was so scared at first but then she realized that all the residents were under the surface, in the core.

She hit the floor with a springy thud. When she opened her eyes, there were two human looking people looking over her, talking to her.

“hey...hey, who are you... a god?”

but their skin was the same metal looking material.

“no no... I"m human from earth.”

“humans... we"ve heard of you, strange creatures you are.”

“I know, I know. But I’m here to talk to your leader or whatever. It"s important.”

They were much calmer and friendlier than humans, probably had a better society too.

“yes. Indeed, I am Mollie Struzyhsie, the town head medic.”

“Right and I’m uh... Isobaella Nayter, her assistant. You can call me Izzy.”

“OK, um... I"m Lilly Emerald, a famous astronaut and astronomer of earth. It"s great to meet you, but it"s deathly important that I speak to your leader. As your our closest neighbors.”

“Yes. OK we"ll take you to her, but first let us fix you up. You"re not in good shape, quite a fall you took, and that space suit is not necessary.”

“Alright, Alright, let"s just be quick.”

“We can do that, let"s just go.”

They set off through the metallic and pastel town, toward the silver and gold hospital building.

As she changed from her pajamas and space suit into a strange white, strapless, high-low cut dress with gold weaved edges. Her suit and PJ"s were cleaned and fixed up, then stored safely in her temporary room. She didn"t like wearing the dress, but the matters on earth were more important. Her long, black, silky hair was deemed too long so they braided it and she wrapped the braid into a bun. She was only given knee high boots, she would"ve preferred cargo boots.

“Lilly, are you about done?” Mollie"s sweet, maternal voice came through the door.

“Just about!” she replied, buckling her boots.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she remembered about her birth mark, a swirly pattern above her shoulder blades. The strapless dress showed it off well and she hated it. She quickly covered it with some powder from the dresser.

“Alright Mollie, I"m done!” she said, walking out of the room into a main hallway.

“OK, let"s get going. I"ll give you a briefing on our etiquette here.”

As she went out and onto the road she noticed that the sky was a golden yellow and the horizon faded to blood red, but it was midday according to the clock tower. The paved foot paths made it almost comfortable to walk in these wretched heels. For the first time she realized, the air was kinda spicy here. Cool.

“so. I left Izzy in charge so I could stay with you, I assume you"ll need some guidance.”

“Believe, I don’t need any guidance Mollie.”

“Do you know how to courtesy?”

“No, why?”

“This is why. I"ll teach you how we do formal introductions here on Eyrus. First of all, to courtesy you need to cross one leg over the other, bend your knees, pull out your skirt and bend forward.”

“Yeah, yeah, I can do that, I have manners. It"s just if I do something wrong, then step in.”

“Alrighty, I"m trusting you.”

As they arrived at the castle, Lilly was getting nervous and started really hated wearing a dress. The castle walls were a faint yellow with a metallic purple trim, the big oak doors were intimidating.

“Just remember, her name is Queen Breesn.”

“Right, Breesn, got it.”

The inside of the castle was an array of blues and greens. It was beautiful, but not as beautiful as the queen.

“Queen Breesn, I am Lilly Emerald, a representative of planet earth. I need to speak to you about an alliance agreement. It"s a matter of utmost urgency.” She said with a courtesy.

“Yes, yes. I am very aware of who you are, but please, call me Layla. Now, we need to discuss this in my room. Mollie, I can handle this, go back to the infirmary, I feel that Isobelle needs your help.”

With that she was gone. Layla stood, showing off her dress of a similar design to Lilly"s, a high-low cut dress that was a very pale blue and it faded into light pink. The main difference was that it was much longer, going right near the floor, whereas Lilly"s barely went to her knees.

As they entered Layla"s bedroom, she got some electronic cubes and handed one to Lilly.

“Um... What’s this?” Lilly questioned.

“It"s a note writer, just put your left thumb in the divet and it"ll scan your brain so while you"re holding it whatever you say will be written on the little screen that appears when you press the button. We"ll just use these to write down our ideas, then come to an agreement.”

“I can do that.” Lilly said, looking quizzically at the hologram screen as it typed what she spoke.

After many hours of discussion and countless cups of caramel tea, the agreement of alliance was complete:

For Eyrus to align with earth, humans must;

Invest in Eyrini technology,

Help the Eyrini make resources,

Maintain a general peace treaty on earth,

Take real care of their planet,

learn about and respect the culture of the Eyrini,

And most of all,

maintain peace with the Eyrini people and any other species

associated with the agreement.

Violating any of these rules is punishable by jail.

The rules for the Eyrini in the earth agreement are:

Give and make help resources with humans,

Learn about and respect the many cultures of humans,

Help humans with any technology problems they may have,

And make sure to keep peace with humans and any other species in the agreement.

Violating any of these rules is punishable by cell time.

This was one of the most important steps in beating the doom that is soon to destroy earth.

Because she had succeeded in her current mission, Lilly excused herself and went to her suit to contact officer Radar. Layla let her keep the note writer while as she would surely need it again.

After talking to Radar, Lilly goes into town with the donated funds from Layla for her short stay. As she wandered through the market place she picks up a light weight, heavy duty backpack and a different outfit that she can wear within her space suit, making sure that if she wasn"t wearing her suit, her birth mark would still be covered. As well as some extra air tanks and Mollie"s groceries. Her trip into the market left her super hungry, it hit her that she hadn"t eaten in like, 24 hours. So, she set out for Mollies house behind the hospital, where she was staying. She helped Mollie cook dinner and clean up. The food tasted super alien, but it was amazing, like something from a foreign rural country.

The next day, Lilly had to go back to queen Layla for a new ship, Isobaella joined her as she knew a lot about technology. Layla happily agreed to give Lilly the things she needed and it was better than she could"ve imagined. Her old ship was crummy human technology, this ship had all the best tech from Eyrus and the most fuel-efficient systems that would last 10 trips back to earth at light speed. Calling it an upgrade from her old ship would be an understatement.