The Transients and the Tomes

When you think of other worlds, what generally comes to mind are images of huge mushroom forests growing out of purple soil set below a red sky, or sandy red deserts with little martian men waving little laser guns around and screaming in gibberish, or maybe you watch a lot of Doctor Who, and a man spinning around space in a little blue box pops into your head. Let me be the first to tell you this very important fact: The most common misconception we humans make isn't the fact there are aliens, or that other worlds do exist, it's the fact that other worlds have to look different. "Oh, Omega Prime, you can't be an alien world if you don't have giant mushroom forests and a man in a blue box." No. A world has no guidelines, no rulebook, no set parameters. Alien worlds can look just like the Earth, or radically different. Now, some might think this conversation silly. But really it's rather scary. You could go to sleep on earth one night, and wake up the next morning somewhere completely different, only able to tell the difference by the fact that you aren't snuggled in your bed anymore. I would know. Except, I wasn't asleep, safe in my bed. All I did was touch a book. How's that for a cliff-hanger?