The Heavens - for @StuffLikeJuda

Clouds of multicoloured gas or dust (or a combination of both) passed by the ship's window as they descended into the new atmosphere - bright blues intertwined with darker ribbons, all twisting around sea-green patches, and dotted with whisps of lilac and indigo. The air outside of the round window looked like a combination of cotton candy and spilt paint, all glittering under the light of a bright white dwarf star.

Phil could almost imagine climbing out of the window and bouncing along the larger puffy clouds, scooping up handfuls of the thinner ones as they flowed by like rivers, and letting the wind whisk away what (he imagined) would be a pile of shiny sand, to add back to its crazy painting. Of course that would be ridiculous, given that the high pressure and lack of oxygen in the top layer of air in this world would kill him in seconds (and an ill timed creak from the very window he was sat by made him jump, as that thought entered his brain and stuck there - there was literally just a few inches of rocket between him and certain death).

"I miss the days when 'charity' mean some pushy clown with a clipboard." Dan dropped heavily into the seat next to him, still rubbing his damp hands on his jeans. "You'd think they'd put at least some of their eight billion pound ship budget towards better handryers."

The seats shook as they broke free of the clouds and into a huge expanse of completely clear air - it wasn't even tinted blue, and the pure white light (plus the fact this planet was substantially larger, and therefore its surface was less curved, even if it did weigh less) allowed them to see for miles further than on Earth. There wasn't a cloud in sight anywhere but above them, not a plane or a hover-car or a bird or anything - much to Phil's dismay, as this solar system was famed for its flying insect and sea-creature-like animals. Even with such perfect conditions they couldn't yet make out the settlement on the surface.

"Earthlings and otherwise." A robotic but somewhat croaky voice seemed to explode from the front of their cabin.

"Oh, here we go..." Dan groaned and slumped back in his seat.

"I welcome you to Beta Nine." The owner of the voice (some kind of large amphibian, with slimy grey skin and large yellow eyes, who had robotic legs and four arms - each arm ended in a hand with five long fingers and two thumbs - but otherwise seemed rather human) took a few steps forward, straightening his jacket as he did, and accidentally knocking the mechanical voicebox making it squeal lightly for a second.

"What is he?" Phil whispered to Dan, as the alien began explaining the chemical composition of the atmosphere and history of the planet.

"Seventy-two A." Dan answered quietly (there weren't enough combinations of letters unused to name every species, and a long time ago the council decided to number them).

"But don't they have- ?"

"Fish tails?" The alien interrupted him loudly, and every one of the people in their cabin turned to glare at him (including a lady from Omega Twelve, whose pale skin gained flamingo-pink patterns to show empathy with someone else's mistake; apparently most races from that quarter communicated in colour rather than words and only ate fluids, hence the lack of complicated mouth parts and - according to Dan, after visiting a new club last year - lack of kissing skill). There were about sixty people in each of the twenty-eight carriages, most of which were work experience or gap year students from wealthier planets.

Phil nodded.

"That's what you get when you mess with Thirteen C." He moved over to them relatively quickly on the robotic legs, placing one hand on the seat ahead and gazing down curiously. Thirteen C was a type of giant shark, hunted to extinction centuries ago, but Phil didn't question the alien who towered over them. "What's your name?"

"Phil."

"So I guess that makes you two the camera crew?"

Phil nodded again, this time a little more enthusiastically.

"Make sure you get my good side." He gestured to everything above his stomach, smiled (he had rows of toothpick-like yellow teeth), and then turned back to the rest of the passengers - a little too fast so that the legs made a slight whirring noise. "Remember that the air is going to feel hot, but it's not - do not remove your thermal layers under any circumstances. We're here to make this planet safe again; we don't need to add any more to the death toll."

While their guide went over safety precautions that Phil had heard a million times, he turned his gaze back to the alien world outside of the window, just as the large white domes of the settlement came into view.