I pace across the tall grass. I skip stones across the water of the lake. I start counting all the different flowers that grow by the waterside. I draw figures in the dirt with a stick.

I can’t take this anymore.

It’s been, what, an hour? If not more? Turnon said he’d be right back, but I haven’t seen any sign of him since he disappeared up that hill, and the twin suns are starting their descent. I am cold and hungry, and the post-sex glow has completely faded away.

Now, I’m just becoming increasingly worried. I should never have let him leave my side.

A bird cries out close by, and I nearly jump out of my skin. Fuck this. I’m finding Turnon, whether he likes it or not!

Full of vigor, I start my climb up the hillside, following the track my alien mate traveled. It’s overgrown, but underneath the plants I can see the signs of a path. The suns are shining on my back as I travel up, the sky slowly turning pink.

I hear Turnon’s low voice before I see him.

“Please, tell me, Maker. Where do I really come from? I thought the world you showed me was no more, yet Ava, my human mate, has arrived in a giant box with other sleeping humans, and she didn’t seem surprised to see me… am I not the last of my kind?”

I feel two things at once. Happy that he calls me ‘his human mate’, and guilty for listening in on him like this. My arrival has sent the silent warrior into an existential crisis, and now I’m listening in on him praying to his gods for guidance.

The guilt feels like a heavy brick in the pit of my stomach. I contemplate heading back down, but my curiosity gets the best of me. I’ve already broken his trust, so I might as well take a peek, right?

To my surprise, there is a giant crater on top of this hill, like an asteroid hit it. The ground is covered with grass and flowers, like a pocket version of paradise. Turnon’s voice is rising up from the depth. I kneel down and take a peek.

What I see makes my breath falter.

Turnon is kneeling in front what is unmistakably a Zoran cruiser, a spaceship. The colors, the aerodynamic design, the symbol on its side — there is no mistaking it.

That is a freaking spaceship!

I feel relieved and angry at the same time. Why didn’t he tell me?! Or did he not know? If it’s still functional, we could get off this rock! Or at the very least, send out a distress call!

I’m no historian, but judging by the ship’s design it has to be a pre-war model — before the Tyk’ix War left the Zoran homeworld of Exon Prime frozen and barren. However, that was decades ago…

The ship seems to talk to Turnon, but I can’t hear whatever it is saying. Its voice isn’t as low as the Zoran’s, so it doesn’t carry as far.

“I see,” he growls.

I can hear the anger and resentment in his voice. Whatever the ship has told him, he doesn’t seem happy with it. He stands up resolutely and strides off, each step taken with purpose.

He’s heading back down the hill. I have to make a split-second decision, and I go with my gut. I hide in the grass and wait for Turnon to walk on by before climbing my way down the crater.

I simply can’t pass up this opportunity. I understand that the ship is holy to Turnon, but I can’t let that stop me. This might be my only shot of reaching out to the Federation. To my parents. To Sarah.

My alien mate might not understand — it’s a gamble I have to take.

From up close I can see that the ship is in worse condition than I thought. There’s no way she’ll be able to fly. However, her lights are still flashing and her engine is humming, so that’s good news.

When I approach, the ship whirs to life and points its two oversized cannons directly at me.

“Intruder detected,” a mechanical voice says. “Commencing destruction in 5…4…”

“Whoa, no commencing! No destruction! Wait!” I stammer. “I am Ava! Ava Payne! Human survivor! Friend of Turnon! Stop!”

The ship seems to hesitate.

“Voice analysis complete. Humanoid identified. Ally of Zoran Empire. Powering down weapons.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. Damn thing nearly turned me to dust! I feel the side of the ship for a button to open it up. Vines are growing up the side of the vessel, covering most of the ship in leaves, but after a few minutes I find a button. A metal door slowly rises open.

Inside it’s like a time capsule. It’s filled with Zoran artifacts and items, all decades old. A small crib stands in the corner, a mobile of brightly-colored planets hanging right above it.

Time to get to the bottom of this.

I plop myself down in the pilot’s chair and access the ship’s internal database. Unfortunately, the information is all scrambled. After some quick sleuthing, I realize that the ship has been infected with a Tyk’ix virus — the same one that caused havoc on Earth and set us back decades technology wise. Luckily, we have since then cracked the virus’s code, and it only takes me a few minutes to remove the illegitimate software from the ship’s database.

With the virus gone, I can see that the hard drive is stuffed full with video-logs, dating right back to the Tyk’ix War itself.

It dawns on me that Turnon may have never even seen these before…

“Ship, play first log,” I say with my voice shaking.

The ship’s engine whirs to life, and moments later the holographic image of a Zoran male and human female fills the entire room.

The male is as purple as Turnon is. He’s the spitting image of him: same height, same bulging muscles, same honey-colored eyes. The only difference is that this man has a giant scar running down the side of his face, and he’s slightly older than Turnon, in a distinguished way.

The Zoran is wearing a colorful robe, bearing the symbols of the Zoran Empire. The human woman is a brunette, dressed in a slim-fitting dress that makes her look regal and beautiful.

My heart skips a beat when I realize I’m looking at Turnon’s parents. I recognize them from my history classes. The man is Koryn, High Vizier and confident of King Vinz, and the woman, his wife, is no one other than Kelly Graham. She was among the first humans to meet the Zorans, before the exodus, the war, before it all started.

They’re alien royalty.

“Karri,” Koryn says, frowning into the camera. His voice is just like Turnon’s. Commanding, authoritative, but also smooth and pleasant. “I am your father, Koryn. This is your mother, Kelly. By the time you see this, you will be on the other side of the galaxy. We have sent you to Earth, where we hope you will be safe. The Tyk’ix are advancing towards Exon as we speak. We’d like to travel with you, trust me, your mother and I would like nothing more, but our duty is here. We have to defend our homeworld to the last man and woman.”

Kelly bursts into tears and Koryn wraps one arm around her.

“Be strong,” he says, “for our baby boy.”

“I can’t,” she sobs through tears. “I don’t want to send him away.”

“He’s safer this way,” Koryn insists. “Trust me.”

She nods, but I can see in her eyes that this is the most difficult decision of her life.

Tears are streaming down my face as I watch Turnon’s parents — or Karri, as they have named him — say goodbye to their son. They lift him from his crib and give him one final kiss. He’s the cutest baby I’ve ever seen, and my heart just falls apart as the image fades into nothingness.

I’m left all alone in this ancient, silent shuttle as I cry for Turnon, and his parents. It’s not fair. They had a perfect family, and somehow Turnon ended up here, growing up all alone, never knowing where he came from.

He has to know.

I scroll through the rest of the database, piecing the information together. It seems that not long after lift-off, the shuttle was hit by a Tyk’ix bug — a small metal fragment the size of a pebble, but containing an extremely dangerous computer virus. It corrupted the ship’s internal system and sent it off-course. It completely missed Earth, and crash-landed right here.

I discover the ship has video-logged everything, but I can’t bear to watch any of the footage. I already feel I’ve violated Turnon’s privacy more than enough.

I nearly storm out of the ship to call my alien mate when I realize why I came here in the first place — to call for help. I’m glad to find the ship’s com system is still working. The signal is very weak, but it’s there.

With a few button presses I send out a distress call.

Now, to find Turnon and turn his world upside down…