The Homecoming

Chapter 1

Planet Hiatune, 2000 light years from Earth. Enigma Space Station. July 16th, 2022, in the Gregorian years.

After dialing a four-digit room code into the small PIN machine on the wall, a girl with chestnut-colored hair tied into a ponytail waited for the door to slide and open by itself. Everything here worked that way. Enter the code and the door will open. Press the button and your food is ready in a matter of seconds. The technology here was faster and far more advanced than it had been back home, as she remembered. Still, it didn't mean anything to her. Not even the slightest bit. Her brain may have been used to the mechanical movements she made daily here, for already 5 Earth years, but her heart was somewhere else. Her heart belonged to the Earth.

She entered the room and the white door closed behind her automatically, obligating the next person wanting to enter the room to dial the same room code as her. She walked off to her closet and took off the white synthetic uniform with thin black stripes curving on both sides of her slim waist, and that she usually wore, alongside the protective space helmet, when she was outside of the space station, in the wilderness of the planet yet undiscovered by humans.

Planet Hiatune, the emerald giant resembling the Earth's moon if it were observed through a telescope, floated in the darkness of the deep, deep space, 2000 light years from planet Earth, the planet that Leah Stefandottir called her home. As far as she was concerned, humans haven't yet acknowledged the existence of Hiatune, nor were they aware that it wasn't the only planet they'll soon discover to be full of life. There were more, and their inhabitants weren't as friendly as Hiatune's.

The inhabitants of Hiatune, or as humans popularly call them "aliens", are the most benevolent species in space. At least, that's what they think of themselves as, but Leah and her companions from Earth who were lucky to meet them knew that it was completely and utterly true. They are beings of high intelligence and a great number of them can speak the most commonly used human languages. But, it was their kindness and benevolence that lit the spark of their friendship with humans.

The day that Leah Stefandottir was abducted by aliens had been the day that she replayed in her mind for 5 years that she's spent on Hiatune. Even though she didn't like to call it an abduction, because she believed it would be rude and unwise to think of these creatures as threatening after they represented their true intentions to her, she was still struck by pain of being separated from her beloved father and grandmother. She would never forget the sunset of that day, nor the field full of dandelions, nor the smell of hot steaks with garlic that her father had prepared for dinner. But she had already forgotten the way the spaceship full of remarkable creatures took her in a blink and set her on a trip that would last for almost a year. But, due to the more advanced technology the aliens had been using, it was a surprisingly short journey, considering the distance between Earth and Hiatune. Leah was so confused and frightened that her young mind decided to bury the moment of her taking with the memories she'll never be able to recall by herself, just like people don't remember being born. When they had reached their destination, she was taken good care of, pacified and was explained the roots of her "abduction".

She was sitting on a blue plastic chair that looked as if it were made for a person (or a creature) four times her size, dressed in a white top and tight white pants that she had been given on the day of her arrival, just like everyone else "abducted" at the same time as her. Alongside the thousands of human children, obviously ranging from ages 9 to 16, Leah focused her attention on the big screen on the wall of the space station's cafeteria that could fit up to two thousands of people, where she'll eat her meals for the upcoming 5 years. She was still afraid, even after being pacified by some strange blue liquor. She wanted to go home. She wanted to sleep until everything was back to being okay. But, when the big screen lit up and the soothing voice started speaking, the voice of a man with blue skin, short beard that reminded Leah's childish mind of hundred little white hedgehogs hiding inside of his face and two long growths that seemed to be tentacles coming out of the nape of his wide neck, Leah knew that some great destiny awaits her. She knew she was one of the chosen ones. From that day and onwards, she would learn to love the feeling of being different.