Chapter Text
Some days are like every other day and for Eldon (an unfortunate name for a teenage girl of the 21st century really) everyday was like that. In fact, though she was under the impression that teenagers were supposed to lead interesting lives, all of her days had begun to blur together a long time ago.
Yes, she was 17, but she didn’t feel any different than 12. All that seemed to have changed were the expectations set for her. They were boring expectations, easily met, mundane, and seemingly arbitrary. Everyday passed in the same way, it was like looking at the world from the inside of a fish tank. Everything interesting passed by outside and she had never interacted with any of it.
Today had been like every other day before, so Eldon pulled covers back on her bed and slid in. She turned on her back, only to turn onto her side. She went on like this for some minutes until she stopped for a moment to assess the atmosphere of the room. Funny how being in your head too much could keep you from noticing the most basic things.
As Eldon stopped, she realised the room was too warm for her liking. She slid out of her tangle of bedding and slunk over to the window, pulling it open.
Sure leaving the window open while she slept would typically be considered a safety risk, but there wasn’t a lot to worry about in her neighbourhood. The most dangerous thing around was probably the possibility of getting caught in the neighbour’s automatic sprinkler system, and even that was unlikely if you stayed away between 6:00 and 6:30 in the morning.
Eldon waddled back into bed and curled up under her blanket again, looking at the glow stars on her ceiling. Counting them all, as if she hadn’t done it a million times before, and didn’t already know that there were 263 of them. There used to be 400, but they had been up since she was six years old and had slowly been falling off ever since.
As she lay there, counting the stars, 43, 44, 45… Her eyes began to grow heavy and she could feel the sleep settle into her bones as time seemed to slow around her. And just like that, in the minutes that had passed as hours, she was sleeping in time that felt to do just the opposite.
Some hours went by in silence, that tended to happen in this little nowhere town. Eldon had never even heard a starter pistol go off. Funny how living in a town of mostly senior citizens meant that nothing ever happened after Eldon’s 9PM bedtime.
Much higher above, out in the stratosphere something quite odd was happening. An odd little blur of lights was flicking through the night.
“Damn it Lingo!!” A voice shouted from the pilot’s seat “This job was so much easier before you started storing cigarettes in my circuit breaker!!!” The voice kept angrily muttering to itself after its initial yelling.
The lights grew much nearer, but unlike every sci-fi movie Eldon had seen, the world didn’t shake and no one woke up in shock of the crash landing. No, Lingo’s mechanic was much more brilliant than any of those morons.
Certainly it was considered a crash landing, but it didn’t look like one. No, in fact, the Vireth floated down gracefully after a point. A parachute had deployed, and the only sound to be heard was a dull thud in the front yard, near Eldon’s window.
It was only a dull thud, but that thud was enough as Eldon began to stir under her covers. It was only a bit at first, but then an oddly bright, green light seeped in through her eyelids and she couldn’t help but open them to look.
To say Eldon couldn’t believe what she saw would be completely inaccurate. Not only did she believe it, she felt as though she had been waiting for it as she fell out of her bed, still caught between the sheets and trying to see everything happening.
Whatever had happened she needed to know before it disappeared again, and if she was lucky, maybe disappear with it.
“For the love of Jupiter’s Rings!! Lingo, why can’t you listen to me?!?!” The voice rang out again, echoing in the tinny interior of the Vireth, as other sounds of metal scraping together whispered into the air.
“Because it doesn’t take us nearly as many interesting places, Vyrk” Lingo drawled lowly as a cigarette hung loosely from his lips.
“Maybe not, but it gets us to the regular places on time!” Vyrk screeched as he looked up and Lingo leaning casually against the console.
Vyrk stood sharply and stole the cigarette from Lingo’s lips. “And for the last time” Vyrk started in a dangerous growl as he stomped the cigarette into the floor, “No. Smoking. In. My. CONSOLE ROOM!!!” Vyrk screamed in a way that Lingo could only imagine was shredding his throat to do.
Eldon couldn’t quite make out the words as she fought with her bedding to stand, but she could hear the voices coming from the light source. She slipped out of her bedding and to the window. With her hands on the window sill, she looked back into her room before hopping out onto the grass.
“Fine,” Lingo conceded, his hands coming up in a gesture of surrender as his right hand slid into the circuit box to retrieve the offending cigarettes. “I’ll just smoke outside then” He finished with a sly grin. Vyrk glared daggers into the curve of Lingo’s smirk.
“I swear to Mars and back, if you aren’t back in here when I’m done fixing your mess. I will leave without you. Gig or not,” Vyrk hissed at Lingo, pointing an index finger into his chest.
“Alright I’ll be back in a bit, don’t miss me too terribly much,” Lingo trailed off as he strolled away.
Just as Eldon came closer to inspect the thing, a door slid open, and a man walked out. “So is lung cancer a problem on your planet too?” She asked before she could help herself.
Lingo looked up at the voice as he once more assumed a leaning position with his cigarettes in hand. “Not particularly, but I aim to be a trendsetter in those areas,” He muttered as he slipped a cigarette between his lips and lit it.
Eldon found her eyes following his hands in the process. Lingo’s eye’s followed her’s, he smirked, “You want some, star doll?” He asked with a raised eyebrow, cigarette dangling dangerously from his half parted lips.
Eldon’s eyes widened at the offer. “I meant the cigarette, but I like the way you think, star doll,” Lingo commented, straightening out and coming closer to inspect Eldon.
“So, star doll,” Lingo started as he walked circles around Eldon, “What brings a pretty thing like you around here?” he asked, tapping ashes off the end of his cigarette.
“I live here,” Eldon answered plainly, as she followed the circles he made around her.
“Oh right here, do you?” Lingo asked in mock incredulity as he looked to the ground at his feet.
“Well,” Eldon paused to look at her feet for a moment, “No, I live in there,” She said and waved her back at her window.
“Ah, I see,” Lingo said in a far off tone, taking a deep drag off his cigarette, “Well then,” He meditatively, “Why don’t you be a good lamb and tot back off to bed,” He nodded and briefly gestured his cigarette toward the window.
Eldon stood taller at his condescending tone of voice, “Because I don’t want to,” She stated simply, crossing her arms.
“Really?” Lingo puffed in some cheap variety of delight. “And what would you rather do then?” He asked with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes as he looked at her half clad figure.
“Well,” Eldon rocked back on her heels, thinking for a moment, “What are you going to do?” She inquired, shifting her balance back to normal.
“Play rock, dance, drink, smoke, wake up in a place I don’t remember and do it all over again, nothing a nice girl like you would have interest in,” Lingo finished his sentence with another puff and left room for the girl to respond.
“How do you know?” Eldon demanded of the space man as she dared to take a step closer to him.
“How do I know what?” Lingo questioned in return, leaning down and blowing a cloud of smoke around her.
“That I’m a nice girl,” Eldon stated as she puffed up a little in an attempt not to cough, “Or that I wouldn’t be interested in those things,” She added defiantly.
“Well would you be interested?” Lingo countered, looking the girl in the eyes, letting his cigarette fall to his side for a moment as he waited for her words to follow.
“In fact,” Eldon began, her air of defiance beginning to slip into one of desperation, “I am”
“Perfect,” Lingo said, returning his cigarette to his lips and turning back on his heels to the Vireth, “Follow along, star doll,”