"You will arrive at your destination in ten minutes. Please take a seat in the cockpit or in one of the seats that will be coming up shortly, and turn on your safety bubble. Welcome to Zhera, the home of the Ex-Pian subspecies."

Hazel's heart raced once more. She slammed her fist on the button that brought up her safety bubble and put on her seatbelt, watching galaxies pass by.

Nine minutes until landing. Nredoza was, of course, still eating something that looked kind of like bright blue nachos. Hazel tried to tell her that she probably should stop so she wouldn't choke upon landing, but Oza was not one to listen when she was around food.

Eight minutes. Hazel was nearly jumping up and down with excitement. Nredoza still hadn't finished her nachos.

Seven. Was it just Hazel, or did the minutes seem to get longer?

Six. The ship had slowed down to one Axelisto and was steadily decreasing speed. They were in the galaxy cluster Yamarin was located in.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

They were finally traveling at just under the speed of light, and the planet was in sight.

Thirty seconds. Only one thousand kilometers per second, nine hundred, eight hundred...

Ten seconds. They entered the planet's atmosphere, the outside of the ship heating up until the cabin and cockpit felt like a living hell. The ship began pulling itself into a level position, now at a comfortable cruising speed of eight hundred kilometers per hour. The ground was covered in black plant life, and cities and towns produced some glowing light. In the area they flew over, night shrouded the planet in darkness. Societies on that planet were few and far between. It was obvious that Ex-Pians were not exactly common, even in the Sixth Universe. Flowing reddish rivers that matched the soil and contrasted with the blue sky twisted and turned across the land, the larger civilizations concentrated around them.

"In my dream and your vision, we were around a small village in a desert, right?" Hazel asked, staring out of the window.

"I don't know about your dream, but that vision I had when we first met? Yes, we were."

"Then we are in the wrong place. This looks almost like a rainforest to me."

Nredoza and Hazel exchanged glances that clearly said something along the lines of oh shit.

"Uh, Pleiadesian? Can you find us a desert?" Oza said, not knowing at all what to do.

"Sure thing. The Tizanium Desert, home to the village of Timánov,

has been entered into the navigation system."

Hazel took on a facial expression of concern. Based on the name of the village, it didn't seem like they spoke English there, it would be more likely for them to speak a slavic language like Russian or Czech or Ukrainian. However, it was too late to reroute. The computer was really meant to only be used on occasion for longer journeys.

The ship took a sharp right turn, travelling south for a couple minutes before lowering itself like a helicopter into the center of a tiny village. The ship seemed to register that there was in fact an atmosphere, and so it opened the side door without the airlock, a ramp slowly and gracefully falling to the dusty ground. Hazel stepped out and ran to the nearest house, knocking on the door desperately. The sun began to rise in the town, and a couple people left their homes and hopped in some small personal ships. They stared in awe at the DeLux, seeming to recognize it.

"Aj! Kto je tam?" an elderly voice called, agitated, from the door. The woman threw open the door, a taser in her hand.

"Um, hello?" Hazel said quietly, waving. For some reason, her "Infinite" Understanding didn't seem to work for languages based in the First Universe or her own planet, and possibly was only programmed for a select amount of languages, and whatever this woman spoke was not one of those languages.

"Ste Ex-Pian?"

"I am Ex-Pian, I guess."

"Aaa, hovoríte anglicky. Come, lady," she said in a thick accent, putting her taser away.

Hazel followed the old woman into her home. She looked human, except for a third eye right below her collarbone that her floral blouse left uncovered. She wore huge cat eye glasses that magnified her eyes to look much larger than they actually were.

"Where you from?" the woman asked, trying to find the right words in English.

"From the First Universe, but also from this planet, apparently."

"Aaa, I know about you, I believe."

"Huh?"

"You are Double Origin, I know. No Double Origin for Exan. Is dangerous. You father is known here, he is against rule saying 'no go to First.'"

"So, do you know where he is?"

"No, no. He here, on Zhera. Is all I know."

"Well, thank you for letting me come in."

The woman hobbled off into another room, coming back with a large plate of something that looked like ravioli or dumplings.

"Take. Is piroški. Am lonely here. Husband die since two years."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Hazel said sadly, picking up one of the piroški.

"This is husband," the woman said, taking a photo out of her back pocket.

On the photo was a younger couple, presumably the woman and her late husband. The woman wore a huge dress fit for a princess, and her husband a well-tailored suit. It was one of their wedding photos.

"You look beautiful in this."

The woman beamed. She probably hadn't heard someone say that since the passing of her husband.

"Yes, I think. Am Mariá."

"It's nice to meet you, Mariá," Hazel said kindly. Mariá's grin did not leave her face.

"I know, you leave soon. You want to meet you father. Understand. You can come any time, any time. Always welcome."

Hazel smiled and thanked the elderly woman. She gave her a hug before leaving the cottage.

Nredoza was sitting on the ramp of the ship, fiddling with Hazel's hologram. She looked very depressed.

"I can't understand what they're saying, but I think they understand me!" she said, unhappy.

"I don't think Extended Understanding includes languages from the First Universe as a deterrent for Exans to visit Earth, I guess."

After saying that, it made more sense to Hazel. Only Vasion would have true Infinite Understanding, to prevent people from being able to go where they're not supposed to and to retain a tight control over the multiverse's inhabitants.

Hazel boarded the ship once more, dragging Nredoza along with her. She told her about the nice woman she met who knew English and could speak to her in that. Nredoza couldn't speak English, so that made her life very difficult.

"I can teach you, if you need. I think you may have scared them, since they should have been able to speak your language," Hazel said with a laugh. Nredoza grimaced.

"I'll be fine. Just translate everything for me, please."

"Will do."

Hazel sat in the pilot's seat of the cockpit and scrolled around the map on the "GPS" to look for other deserts and their names. There were desert cities and villages with names from all different languages. Most came from French, Spanish, or German, but some were from less common languages or English. She took notes of all of the English named villages, which added up to only about five or six that were located in deserts, since most of the planet was covered in lush rainforests and dark meadows. After ordering them based on which would be faster to get to from where she was, Hazel put them into the navigation system and leaned back to test different tricks or skills to use her Halo for.

As the DeLux accelerated to its planetary cruising speed, about half the speed of sound, Hazel flew her Halo around the perimeter of the ship, focusing on removing the sphere from the Halo to push some nachos onto the main disc. A few failed attempts that ended in the disc dropping to the floor the minute the glowing sphere left the mechanism had Hazel conclude that the sphere must power the Halo. She made a mental note to have two power sources, perhaps one around the outside of the Halo so she could use both parts of it to her full advantage.

"Oza, I have to ask you something," Hazel said monotonously, running her fingers along the rim of the Halo.

"Yeah, go ahead."

"What is your problem with these space nachos? I swear, we have an infinite supply!"

Nredoza sat up, leaning forward and making eye contact with Hazel.

"I have been asking myself that question since we left that damn planet. If you think they're not that good, then you need to try these."

She offered Hazel one of the chips, waving it in her face. Hazel grudgingly took it and tasted it. Her eyes widened in shock.

"I think this is what happiness tastes like," she said, leaning back in her chair.

"Really?"

"No. These are complete and total crap. Why on earth do you like them?"

Nredoza stared out the windshield, now questioning herself.

"I guess they remind me of my mother's cooking. She never was very good. I haven't seen her in years since I had to work for Dymo," Oza said reflectively.

"Okay, that's depressing."

"Uh, no shit!"

There was a loud whirring sound as the computer turned on. It took a lot more fuel to remain at a slow pace since there was no fuel saving on such a low speed.

"You will arrive at your destination in five minutes. Please buckle your seatbelts and prepare for landing."

Another awkward silence ensued the weird conversation that happened. Hazel didn't want to look at Nredoza in case she got emotional. Two eyes crying was one thing, but four Hazel didn't want to see for a very long time.

The nose of the SuperNova angled downwards, bringing them to a steep decline. Hazel gripped the arms of her seat. A slower stop was almost harder and more panic-inducing than the high-speed stops the Valoria and DeLux did. Perhaps it was the fact that more time elapsed in the travel at high speeds, or that at slower speeds one can see the ground come closer for longer. Whatever it was caused Hazel to hyperventilate, curl up in her chair, and fiddle with her thumbs for the remaining time.

The landing in the new desert was different from the last, like an airplane on Earth instead of a helicopter, likely due to the solid stone the ship was aimed towards. It felt much less controlled, more like they were about to ram into the ground and crash.

"You will be arriving in New Manchester Village in the Desert of Young Dust in thirty seconds. We hope you have enjoyed your travel on the Pleiadesian DeLux 14."

Hazel was not as excited as she had been the previous time they landed. She didn't want to get her hopes up too much in case they were to be dropped again. It was unlikely that she would find her father there, and chances were that he may have died in some freak accident, which would have triggered Nredoza's vision earlier. Now that she thought about it, that would make the most sense, unless something else had happened, but what could that "other thing" be?