Out of This World

My brothers and I were rudely awoken by a shrill shriek. My head snapped towards the girl we had found late last night. She sat upright; the grey and black sleeping bag was wadded around her waist. My simple brown eyes were mesmerised in hers. They were the softest shade of blue, like a clear summer sky in the morning.

“Where am I and who are you three?” The girl asked.

“We should be asking you the same thing,” Joe sat up, cracking his neck.

“You’re in Wycoff New Jersey,” Kevin interrupted, “I’m Kevin, and this ‘pretty boy’s Joe, Nick’s the one closet to you.”

“So this is Earth. It seems just as lacklustre as how Tiandra depicted it,” She said, resting her chin on the palm of her hand, “So this is where you three reside. Do you track on behalf of your individual provisions?” Either this mystery girl was a extremely intelligent orif that space rock had hit her hard that she had actually gained I.Q. points – unlikely.

“What are you talking about?” Joe asked annoyed.

“What’s your name,” I asked as I sat up as well. Her eyes locked with my own again.

“Aria,” She stated sharply, “Where is your leader?”

“You mean George Bush?” Joe blurted out, rummaging through the cooler.

“Your leader is a plant?” Aria asked her face dropping to disbelief.

“Are you sure you’re OK,” Kevin asked, leaning over the fire pit, “That star must have hit you pretty hard for you to have such memory lose.”

“Correction,” She started instantaneously, “I ran into a star en route for Mars.” Our heads snapped towards Aria. Did she just say that she ran into a star on her way to Mars?

“That space rock must have hit you a bit hard,” I said softly.

“Prove it,” Joe said, raising his eyebrows.

“As you wish,” She replied simply, lifting her left wrist which was clad in a silver cuff. Aria exhaled on the plating, which froze to the cuff for a moment before evaporating. My brothers and I gasped when a holographic screen sprang up from the center. The screen looked like a menu for different commands; unfortunately it was in another language so neither of us could read it, “Do you three believe me now?”

“That is awesome,” Joe yelled, leaning in closer, “What does it say?”

“They are simple commands which a traveler from my own planet would be in need of,” Aria explained, touching the third option in the top bar and scrolling through the options before she decided on an option with only one symbol, “There are also games since space travel is intolerably dull.”

“Why are you on Earth?” I asked after she exited the game which resembled Pac-Man.

“I will start at the beginning,” She said, sliding out of the sleeping bag so she sat cross legged at the opening. Her fingers tapped feverously at the screen until a rotating 3D image of a foreign planet appeared. Smaller photos of buildings sprouted from around the sphere. “This is my home, Aultiria in what Earthlings call the Cartwheel Galaxy. Aultiria is approximately five hundred million light-years from Earth. My people are ‘shape shifters’.”

“Cool,” Joe interrupted, “So you can turn into a gerbil, like, right now?”

“Joe, let Aria finish before we start asking questions,” Kevin lectured, “Go on Aria.”

“To carry on,” Aria said, moving her hand over what seemed to be a keyboard. Photos of what resembled see through stick-men, except they were more rounded and beautiful – it’s hard to describe how, advanced they were compared to us. “When we come of age on Aultiria, which would be fourteen in Earth years, we leave home to spend a single day on a different planet everyday for five years. The entire goal of the journey is to find our one true love. After our journey is complete we stand before the council and present our decision to them. If we pass we are allowed to return to the planet we chose. If we are unsuccessful, well, no one knows what happens to those who fail.”

“So you’re here until tonight,” I sighed, trying to take it all in.

“Not exactly,” She said, switching the screen to what looked like a calculator that had far too many buttons, “I will be here for seven days.”

“Wow,” was the only thing Joe could muster.

“So what do you do know?” Kevin asked, deeply in thought.

“I have to find my one true love by the end of this week before I advance to the next planet,” Aria explained.

“Which would be?” Joe asked, finally speaking up.

“Mars,” She said, a small smile spreading on her face, “I essentially wanted to skip over Earth, unfortunately I ran into a star and landed on this desolate wasteland.”

“So basically, if you find your one true love on Earth, you’ll come back when you’re nineteen if you pass,” Joe said quickly.

“Certainly,” Aria said, throwing her head back, “Although I doubt that I’ll be returning to Earth.”

“What if we prove to you that Earth isn’t as boring as what you think,” I suggested.

She shot me a surprised look before she recomposed herself, “You can attempt to change my mind. Although I doubt that you three could succeed.”

“How about we pact up the site, stop off for breakfast then convince our parents to let Aria stay at our place until she has to leave,” Kevin suggested.

“That is absolutely evil,” Joe smirked, “I like it!”