Specks of light infinitely decorated the visible universe. At a glance, what produced each shimmer was a total mystery. Everything orbited from impossible distances, veiled behind light that proved their existence. One of the lights grew brighter until it was revealed to be a spaceship.
The ship traveled by a giant spacecraft, which a figure was seen running through. Jet panted into the helmet of her spacesuit as she sprinted on the exterior bridges and platforms of the vault complex. She was holding onto a metal suitcase with a rigid grip.
The glass portion of Jet’s helmet was purposefully darkened, so that no one could spot her face. Her helmet was also uniquely designed to fit around the two horns on her head. She ran swiftly as alarms within the vault complex flashed with warning.
She rounded a corner to find a guard with a helmet that masked their appearance running towards her. Jet instantly picked up momentum and adjusted her gravity-regulator to leap over the oncoming guard and land behind them. She then kept sprinting as the guard turned around to chase her.
Another guard appeared from the other end of the walkway, who carried a weapon and soon started firing lasers in her direction. Jet dove into the nearest alley to avoid the lasers, running between narrow walls that towered above and below her.
She turned down her gravity-regulator again to weightlessly climb up the irregular walls, leaping off the narrow ledges that were provided by the structure. Bright lasers soon flashed by as the guards reached the alley and Jet shoved herself behind a part of the wall that stuck out. She held onto a bar attatched to the wall to remain in her position instead of continuing to float around in low-gravity. Jet gazed upwards to see how far the next platform was.
She knew her time was running out and she soon kicked away from her hiding spot to continue her climb, being sure to frequently duck behind the irregular walls to avoid the lasers. On her final jump towards the next platform, she laughed victoriously into her helmet as she was about to make it. “Haha! Catch you later, suckers-”
A laser hit her suit and Jet flailed as she was propelled higher by the force. Now hovering over the higher platform, her gravity-regulator reactivated and she collapsed onto the new bridge roughly.
Jet landed on her stomach, remaining still for only a moment before she heard a hissing noise. She realized that her suit was damaged by the laser and was now losing oxygen. She glanced at her hand to make sure that she was still holding onto the suitcase and then quickly rose to her feet, her eyes darting around rapidly in search of a refuge.
The bridge appeared to be a docking area for visiting spaceships, which were meant for travel and so were miniscule compared to the vast vault complex. As her eyes darted around, she noticed that the ramp to one of the visiting ships was still extended.
She pushed herself to race towards the ship with the open ramp. The ship’s green exterior lights reflected off of her dark helmet. She glanced back to ensure that she wasn’t spotted before cautiously treading up the ramp and entering the ship’s airlock.
---
Inside the vault complex’s trade-in floor, Kepler stood before a booth where an employee was inspecting a crate full of salvaged parts of machines.
Kepler silently rocked back and forth in their boots as they waited. The front part of their helmet was open, revealing that they were an alien made out of green vines and leaves. While the rest of their humanoid body was covered by their spacesuit, inside their helmet resembled a pothos plant.
The employee, who was an alien that resembled a pink squid with several eyes, brought up a hologram over the counter between herself and Kepler. The hologram depicted each item in the crate and what the vault complex would take for what price. The employee took an electronic pen to highlight the prices displayed within the hologram. “This is the best that we can do for you,” she stated dryly.
Kepler’s leaves rustled a bit. They took an electronic pen from the jar on their side of the counter and used it to highlight an engine part. “This piece should be able to sell. I repaired it myself, and now it works good as new.”
“It’s not good as new; it’s nearly a decade old.” The employee rubbed some of her eyes tiredly. “Modern engines aren’t looking for parts like this anymore.”
“But there’s plenty of engines that would need this!” Kepler protested. “Since when have you been so discriminatory to older models?”
“Since we’ve been working under Satellite. Now we have a mandate that all technology that is traded in here must be no older than five years.”
Kepler paused for a moment as their hands fidgeted with the electronic pen. They then asked in a small voice, “You were bought out by Satellite?”
The employee ignored the question and continued. “We also have a service for taking your older devices to the nearest junkyard, if you’re interested in that.”
They grumbled irritably as they glared at the ceiling. “These are all salvaged from a junkyard.”
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The employee narrowed her eyes. “You really shouldn’t be doing that.”
“Just give me back my stuff,” Kepler said with a sigh. “I’m done here.”
She shrugged and pushed the full crate back over the counter. The employee looked at Kepler sternly and said, “Make sure you return the pen. We’re not handing those out for free.” Then she got up and left the booth.
Kepler scoffed as they looked down at the pen in their hand. They glanced back up to make sure that the employee was gone before throwing it into their crate. They closed the top of the crate to keep everything contained before walking back through the lobby full of aliens waiting to trade at one of the booths.
As Kepler carried their crate out past the lines of aliens, they called out, “If you have any tech make sure it’s younger than five years!” They closed the glass front of their helmet to go through the airlock and out to the exterior of the vault complex.
They walked on the connecting bridge back towards their ship before they noticed surrounding lights flash with warning. An intercom spoke into the headset of their helmet, saying, “There has been a robbery. Please move to the nearest lobby as we search for the culprit.”
Kepler felt their vines freeze up for a moment. “Seriously, for a pen?” Adrenaline then started kicking in and they ran with their crate to their spaceship.
They hurried around a few more turns before they finally made it to the bridge where their ship was docked. Their leaves rustled as they realized that they left the ramp open again before hurrying in and entering the airlock, where they could close off the ramp and have it close back into the bottom of the ship.
Kepler then opened up the hatch door that led to the common area inside their ship, which was cramped and full of various crates and parts of machines. They added their crate to the room and then headed into the bridge, where they piloted their ship to speed away from the docking area.
Kepler’s leaves sighed as they sunk back into their seat and traveled through the void of space, with the vault complex shrinking on a rearview screen until it was no longer visible. They opened the front of their helmet to listen to the humming of the engine and the running machinery that beeped at different high-pitched tones occasionally. It all turned into white noise. They glanced at the other seats in the bridge, which were as always completely empty.
“Welp!” Kepler threw the ship into autopilot and quickly got out of their seat to avoid just sitting alone with nothing but their own thoughts. “Time for music.”
They went back into the common area, to the only part of the space that wasn’t being used for temporary storage. A walled-off nook with purple UV lights illuminating the small corner, which Kepler’s potted plant basked in. A keyboard sat within this nook in front of a starlit window. Kepler jammed out on their keyboard, playing an upbeat synth number.
A loud crash sounded from the engine room below and Kepler instantly froze, cutting their song abruptly short. They cautiously rose from their seat and considered trying to find a spot to hide. They shook their leaves and instead stepped towards the stairs that led to the dim engine room, and turned the headlamp on their helmet on to see if they could spot anything down there.
Suddenly, a figure with a darkened helmet ran up the stairs and tackled Kepler over. Kepler grunted as their back hit the floor and a second later, the stranger was gone.
Kepler stared at the ceiling in a dazed state as the pain in their back started to settle in. A part of them was desperately urging them to hurry, while another part of them was still trying to comprehend what was happening. Their vines rustled in an effort to take control of themself before they rolled onto their side. Now they could see the stranger in the bridge messing with the ship’s controls.
“Hey!” Panic surged through Kepler as they scrambled to their feet. They rushed into the bridge and grabbed the stranger by the arm to tug them away from the control panel. “What do you think you’re doing-”
They were interrupted as the stranger forcefully hit Kepler with their elbow. Kepler recoiled from the hit, and watched as the stranger threw the ship into top speed. Gravity shifted and tugged at everything in the ship, including Kepler who once again fell to the floor. The stranger adjusted their footing and gripped onto the panel to keep their position. Kepler was pulled across the floor by the acceleration until they were stopped by the nearest chair.
The feelings of panic were now swelling as Kepler watched some of their stuff fall off the control panel and clank noisily to the floor. “You- you can’t have the ship traveling at this speed!” Kepler warned. “It’s not safe!” They raised their arm defensively as their metal water bottle fell from the panel and almost hit them.
The stranger ignored them, refusing to turn away from the controls. Kepler picked up the bottle and steadily stretched out their vines, causing the arms of their suit to grow in length. Once their hands reached the stranger’s boots, they tugged hard and caused the stranger to fall backwards, joining Kepler on the floor.
Kepler’s vines writhed as they fought the pull of gravity to climb on top of the stranger. They raised the bottle above their head as they let out a battle cry, ready to break the stranger’s helmet.
The figure instantly raised their arms to shield the blow and the metal bottle hit their hand instead. Horror suddenly pooled within Kepler as they saw what they did to the stranger’s hand, which was now bent unnaturally at the wrist. Kepler held their helmet apprehensively, feeling like they were about to be sick.
The stranger opened the front of their helmet, revealing that they were a goat alien with skin covered in blue fish scales. Their face did not match an expression of terror or agony that Kepler would expect after one just broke their wrist. Instead they inspected their unnaturally bent hand with narrowed eyes and they muttered under their breath, “Dammit.”
They used their free hand to move it back into place. They grunted as they forced their hand upright, which did so with a loud snap. This did not make Kepler feel any less repulsed.
The stranger’s eyes moved from their hand to Kepler and they said, “You wouldn’t mind dropping me off at the nearest space station and pretending like you never saw me, would you?”
Kepler’s vines shook as they instantly sparked with rage. “Are you kidding me!? After attacking me in my own ship, now you want me to just drop you off and forget about all of this!?” They gestured around dramatically.
“I had to ensure that we got far away from the vault complex in case you wanted to go back and turn me in to the authorities,” they explained defensively. The stranger smirked a bit as they added, “And honestly, I’m not too shabby at piloting a ship. Even at top speed.”
The lighting in the ship switched to red and started flashing as warning sirens blared. They both flinched at the sudden deafening sound. The two of them scurried from the floor to look out the windshield, and they both immediately screamed. Planet Earth was rapidly approaching.
