Alpha Centauri

Thirteen - Nathan

 After everything I've been through in the last several hours, Jaden Everett is still the scariest thing to me.

But I'm kind of used to scary things by now. I've spent all of his life jumping from one foster family to the next. I couldn't even get comfortable before one family had enough of me, and they shipped me off to the next.

My parents died when I was almost too young to remember. It still remains a mystery what happened to them.

And that's why I decided to join Julian, Jaden, and Nizami are their epic quest to make it back to Crenala. I proved to be just an inconvenience on Earth, and I'm hoping to make something of myself elsewhere.

The morning after the wreck, after my life changed forever, I wake up, remembering everything that happened the night before. And then I come to a ground-breaking realization: I really need a bathroom.

I sit up, taking in the world around me. It's a bright, clear morning, sunlight trickling through the trees. I look around and sees Julian sitting by his backpack in the makeshift campsite they've thrown together, absently drumming his fingers on his knee, making leaves swirl around on the ground. His eyes are glued, almost unblinking, to the unconscious Nizami. It doesn't take Einstein or even me to tell something's going on between the two of them.

I decide to get up and find a nice spot to pee, and I'll be gone for a while, because I have a hunch they'll want to be alone when Nizami wakes up. I quietly stand, and I creep into the trees.

I think to the rhythm of my feet crunching through the leaves. I wonder what a new planet is going to be like, and I wonder if I'll get killed before I actually make it there.

I stop at a spot far away enough from camp so it'll take me a while to return. I release my bowels with a satisfied sigh. When I'm finished, I fasten his jeans and turn around to leisurely start back the way I came. I expect to see yards and yards of trees before me, but instead, I see myself.

I and jump back, his fists flailing around as if I actually know karate, or some other Asian word. I stop and calm myself when I realize nothing's happening.

What I actually saw was an almost-perfect reflection of myself on a smooth metal surface. I look up and down and back away for a better view. I'm not sure what I'm looking at. It has huge metal wings stretching across the clearing. It has giant exhaust jets that look like they could burst with flame and smoke at any minute.

I can't possibly take it all in. I whirl around to dash back to the camp, but instead I come face to face with a petite, intense-eyed monster.

Better known as Jaden Everett.

"Jesus Christ! How long have you been there?" I gasp.

Jaden laughs maniacally. "Dude, I could have sworn I heard a little girl screaming when I was walking up here. And ohmigod, your face!" Jaden laughs for a moment but contains herself.

"Did you notice the giant spaceship here, or were you too busy laughing like a retarded donkey?"

"No, I just came up here to watch you piss." She punches me in the arm with quite a force for such a small girl. "Come on, we can't have Julian and Nizami hooking up while we're gone."

In a few short moments, the alien, the two half-humans, and I are running through the woods. I bring the quartet to a stop in front of the almighty spacecraft. Julian stares at the ship in awe. But Nizami is another story.

"Something is wrong," she announces, starting around the perimeter of the space pod. I can tell she's still probably in lot of pain from her wound, but she's still up and on her feet. I usually had to miss a whole day of school because of a head cold. Yet another reason not to get on her bad side.