Stuffing the valuable key in the fabric crevasse between her boobs—because for some reason, female space suits didn't come with pockets—Vyrsa upped her speed. She jumped between floating rocks, stopping to estimate the distance before each jump. If she slipped now, it would all be over. The enemy would vanquish her father's kingdom and she, the youngest and wildest princess, would be lost forever, falling through endless vast space.

At least her trajectory between floating asteroids and shattering stars would be beautiful. Before she passed out, she would see sights no one else had ever seen, but she would never be able to tell anyone of their allure.

But no, that would not be her fate.

Raising her gaze, she could make out the portal now. It glittered like the thousand stars that were told had gone into its making. No one knew the portal's true origin. It had always just been there, taking whoever walked through it wherever they needed to be, as it seemed to know the innermost wishes of whoever walked up to it.

Vyrsa wanted to go home. It was so long since she saw her home planet of Isola. She longed for the warm embrace of the blue sun and the soothing lizard song in the mornings.

She hadn't even said goodbye to her parents or sisters before she left, determined to hitchhike on a freighter ship to the planet of Coi. Because she knew they wouldn't agree with her plan. They would have told her it was too dangerous. But Vyrsa considered the danger worth it if she could claim the key, finally putting an end to the conflict between their planets.

If only her family could see her now, running triumphantly away from enemy territory without having been spotted once. Once the queen even realized their precious key was gone, Vyrsa would be long gone.

ZAP!

A green laser beam almost struck her left shoulder. Agile as the graceful tigers who danced on the edge of her planet's atmosphere, Vyrsa avoided the threat, changing her trajectory mid-step. Firmly with her feet on floating rocks, she looked down to see a flurry of guards entering the wish chamber.

Perhaps she'd been spotted a little bit. Still, she would be long gone shortly. Their wish wasn't hers and they wouldn't be able to follow. And without the key, their forces should be too weak to make a campaign toward Isola, as the journey took several weeks at lightspeed.

ZAP! ZAAAP!

Vyrsa ducked, both her feet planted beside each other on a narrow rock. Maybe she shouldn't plan for her victory before her escape was a guarantee. First, action, then, celebration.

ZAP! ZAP!

How many guards were down there, firing at her? Luckily, their aim was about what you could expect from Coians: incapable of even hitting the side of a parked spaceship. Still, even asteroids, aimless and without a plan, managed to hit moving planets at times, so she couldn't rule out that one of these idiots would get a lucky shot in.

Spotting a rock that moved rapidly upward, toward the glowing portal that was her goal, Vyrsa wasted no time. Even though she knew that failure would be her doom—as the black space around her would swallow her if she had nothing to hold on to—she threw herself toward it without hesitation.

The slippery texture of the volcanic rock, shaped over millions of years into a smooth surface, almost slid between her fingers. Almost. But not quite. Forming her hands into a nest, she cradled the moving rock in her grip, refusing to let go as it took her on a journey through space. Her feet fluttered free in the air. Luckily, there was no wind in space, so her cape hung snugly around her shoulders.

All around her, there was silence. No zaps. Nothing. Only her wildly pulsing heart. The excitement made her fingernails glow bright green, guiding her journey through darkness.

Then, from nothing, there was everything. The portal appeared before her like a blinding beacon of light, putting everything else to shame with its glow. Whoever said it shone like a thousand stars was wrong because this blindingly beautiful enigma shone like it was lit by at least a million. Vyrsa closed her eyes to protect her sight from the impact.

Trusting the portal to take care of her, she let go of the rock that was her lifeline and fell through the air.

CLONK!

Relief flooded her as she landed right in front of the portal. Her glowing nails revealed a floor as dark and smooth as the floating rocks, impossible to detect until your feet were planted on it.

She rose, her eyes shielded from the sheen of the portal, and walked toward her destination with one arm reached out before her.

Vyrsa trusted the portal. She trusted it to take her wherever she needed to go. She trusted it to take her home.

Her fingertips tickled as they melted into the glowing pool. With one last thought of the blue sun of her home planet, she let the portal swallow her whole and take her away.

SCHMORP!

Everything. Something. Nothing.

Every thought ever thought. Every word ever spoken. Every dream ever dreamt.

Nothing. Something. Everything.

SCHMURP!

Feeling utterly discombobulated, Vyrsa was spat out by the portal a few seconds later. Or was it a million years later? Perhaps it was the same anyway. Perhaps it didn't matter.

She took a moment to make sure all of her had arrived. Feet. Hands. Head. The key nestled between her bosom.

Once her intactness had been confirmed, Vyrsa looked around. She wrinkled her nose in confusion. She couldn't feel the glow of her sun and she couldn't hear the lizards sing.

This wasn't Isola.

But where was she?

Books with strange writing were strewn everywhere. A strange odor permeated the whole chamber. Weird triangular food scraps were scattered on circular discs.

And in front of her, something was moving beneath piles of cloudlike sheets. She reached her glowing nails in front of her to make out the shape. It appeared to be a lifeform with feet, hands, and a head, just like herself. Although this being was obviously in a more primitive state than her own people, who had long since foregone sleeping in such a manner in favor of flowing free in gravity chambers while they drifted into dreams.

"Where am I?" she tried, hoping the translation device built into her suit still worked wherever she was.

"You're in my dorm room," a voice grunted from beneath the pile. The tone bore no hostility, although there was a hint of annoyance. "You must have walked into the wrong room. Can you please just show yourself out? I have a big Astronomy test tomorrow and I can't lose sleep showing drunk chicks the way to their room. I'm sure Tommy across the hall can help you if need be."

The translation device appeared to work fine, yet none of the words made sense.

"But where am I?" She tried again.

"Residence Building A. Vale Tech. Port Vale. New Brunswick. Canada. Earth. Milky Way. How far do you want me to go?" There was definite annoyance in the voice now, nothing veiled about it.

At least Vyrsa had her answer now. Earth was a planet in the uncharted zone, the parts of space declared off-limits for exploration on account of cultural protection. During a conference several thousand years ago, the Union of Intelligent Life established that the life forms on these planets had the right to develop at their own speed. They would find them when they were ready to discover the universe.

Shuffling came from the bed. A face appeared from under the layers of fabric. Despite the lack of glowing brows or hanging earlobes, the features bore a certain handsomeness in their brute simplicity, tinted bronze like the mountains in the morning instead of purple like the ocean at night like her own. Dark spirals hung over the eyes. A hand reached up to whisk them away. It appeared this species had yet to master the art of hair-shaping.

"Wow!" The life-form exclaimed, who from the fuzzy scruff on his chin appeared to be male—although maybe females of this species sported beards as well?—looking at her with round eyes. All traces of annoyance were now gone, replaced by amazement. "Who... what are you?" He moved a bit closer, seemingly mesmerized by Vyrsa's appearance. "Are you an... alien?"

Well, it seemed Vyrsa had perhaps sped up the schedule on the earthlings finding intelligent life in space just a tiny bit. At least for this particular handsome earthling.

Author's Note: Here we go! Let's get this party started! (next chapter will be from this poor earthling's POV as I'm planning to alternate chapters between the two leads)