It's Christmas day up in the Guiana Highlands, there is a small wooden house, home to a family of three: A man, woman, and a teenager.

The teen snuck out after his parents got into another fight. Looks like christmas is canceled again this year. He then headed to an open

field, and in the middle of it sits a small, hand made observatory that he built. He always comes here when he wants to get away from

his parents constant fighting or wants to think. He sat in an old lawn chair and looked at the stars. "Please, if anyone can hear me up

there, i want to leave this place and see the stars. I want to find happiness, but most of all I want a better life." Then he saw a streak

of light moving across the sky. He though it was just an ordinary meteor when it suddenly changed direction and was heading his way. Closer

and closer it came, it was now close enough to be able to tell what it is, it's a ship. It then started to land, he ran inside of his home

made observatory and closed the door. The alien craft had touched down twenty feet away, the boy opened the door slightly to see if it was

safe. After seeing it was ok, he got out and slowly towards it. When he got within ten feet it opened some kind of hatch, causing him to back

up and wait to see what would happen. He stood there waiting to see if something would step out. After 5 minutes, he came to the conclusion

this was an invitation to enter the ship. After some thought he decided to accept the invitation and board the ship. Timidly, he climbed the

boarding ramp and stepped into the what looks like some kind of airlock and the door behind him slowly closed. There was a small metal *Thunk*

from the inner door, then it opened, and he was greeted by a blue skinned humanoid creature startling him at first. It then extended a hand out

in an inviting way, he takes the alien's hand as it led him to what appeared to be the crafts control room. The alien then gestured towards one

of the seats."You want me to sit?" He asked the alien, the alien nodded in response. With some caution he takes a seat in the left chair while

the alien sat in the one on the right. It took the controls and pressed a sequence of buttons and the engines started to power up, then it started

to shake slightly, and then they were off. He couldn't help being excited about what was happening, they had just gotten through the atmosphere

and were now in space. After about five minutes he asked, "Where are we going?" The alien then pointed to a large space ship, it looks like a

giant tadpole but with three tails. They were coming up behind the ship, the craft shook for a second, then the pod landed in some kind of cargo

bay and landed. The alien then gestured him to follow. When they both exited the pod the alien said something to what looked like a yellow bike

helmet with eyes. It then put out a needle and injected something into him. Alex cringed in pain, then started to feel a tingling sensation in his

head. He started to panic, the alien then started to talk again but this time he could understand what it was saying. "Do not be afraid. My name is

Tallep Nobler, i'm called a delvian." He heard English but his lip movements didn't mach the words. "You've been injected with what are called

translator microbes. Which colonize at the base of the brain and processes languages to something the host can understand." Said Tallep.

"My name is Alex Soul." He said, "We know. We've had our eyes on you for some time now." Said Tallep. "You have?" Asked Alex in surprise.

"Yes, we've been waiting for the right moment to make contact with you."

A look of confusion crossed Alex's face. "Why me?" Tallep smiled and answered. "We've been studying your people for 21 of your years. We wanted to

contact your kind but we learned that most your kind fear the unknown so we chose a small group of humans who accepts and embraces the unknown to

join our crew. Plus one of our medical officer insisted we chose you." He then taped the badge on his shirt. "Zerona, we have a visitor." Then a

female voice came over the com. "Is it him?" She asked. "Yes it's him, the one you've suggested." Said Tallep. "Great. Bring him to sick bay for

a checkup." She said, her voice sounded young. "Very well then." Said Tallep. taping the badge again. "Follow me please." Alex then followed Tallep.

Through a series of corridors, Alex saw several different types of alien lifeforms, some human looking, and more of those yellow robots.

"What kind of ship is this?" Alex asked tallep. "Her name is Lyra, she's called a Leviathan. A species of living ships." Said tallep, "A living ship?"

Said Alex in disbelief. "Yes, they were created by a race called "the builders", she's what you might call a gentile giant." Said Tallep. "Fascinating."

Said Alex. "Yes quite." Said Tallep. "How many other humans are onboard?" Asked Alex. "Around 20 including you, here we are then." He said swiping his

hand over a nob on the wall that opened the door to the sick bay alex presumes, "If you need any thing use this." He said handing Alex a similar badge he

was wearing and placed it on his shirt. "I'll leave you two in each-others care." He said with a slight grin and left, Alex raises an eyebrow in suspicion.

"So, you must be alex." Said Zerona, "Uh yes, thats me" Said Alex, then he turned to face her, "Oh wow!" His eyes went wide at the sight of her, she's a

large snake like naga creature with a humanoid torso covered with royal blue scales with a sky blue under belly, her head is that of a boa, somewhere around

a foot long give or take a few inches, with beautiful emerald green eyes and a warm smile, she also seems to have a bust somewhere in the D cup range he

guesses, she's a beautiful creature, "You know, your a lot cuter in person." She said with a smile, causing Alex to blush, he then notices that her lips

and words match, suggesting one of two things, she's studied his native language, or her kind share a similar language structure to his. "And you must be

the one who suggested they recruit me." said alex, "Indeed I am, I'm Zerona Omicron, but you can call me Zero, I'm a marulian medical scientist, I'm the

ships doctor, when new crew menbers come onboard they must come see me for a mandatory check up, which is why your hear, so pleas climb on to the table."

She motioned to the table to her right. "Uh, do I need to undress?" Alex said nervously, Zero giggled. "No that's not required." She said with a smille,

"Oh, ok." He said with relief, he then climbed on to the table and lied down. "Just relax, you wont feel anything." She said calmly, then she turned on some

kind of scanning device in the table, starting at the front of the table, working its way over his body till it passed his head and went back to where it

started. "Ok we're done, you can get up." Said Zero, she was over by a holographic version of his scanned form. "I,ll use this to learn about your anatomy

and body structure, and when I'm done I'll teach you about the others on board including Lyra and Pilot, until then why don't you go have a look around,

I'll have pilot send deka to be your guide." she then turned to a clame like thing on the wall, "Pilot?" she said, then a holographic image of the 'pilot',

it looks kind of like a cobra with the large hood. "Yes Zerona." said the pilot which appears to have a female voice.

"Can you send drd Deka to be Alex's guide?" Then pilot said. "Certainly, it's already near by your location." Alex was about to ask what a drd was when

he felt something bump into his foot. "Huh?" He said looking down to see one of the small robots by his foot looking up at him, but this one was different

to the others in the fact it had a blue 'shell' instead of yellow, the same blue as zero's belly scales, he kneeled down to look at it.

"You must be Deka then." He said to it, and it seemed to bob its 'eyes' and squeak in conformation. Zero then said "Ah, I see you've found deka then, he'll

help you around till you get use-to where things are, hay Deka." Deka turning its eye stalks to face Zero, "Why don't you show Alex to the mess-hall, you

must be hungry, and maybe show him to the observation deck, he'll love to see that, I'll meet you there when I'm done." drd Deka then squeaked in compliance

and headed to the door, looking back at Alex, hinting that he should follow. Alex followed drd Deka through the ship, getting to see the other life onboard

along the way, some even looked human, then they got to the mess-hall, there where several people sitting around talking to each other and eating, they seem

to be having a good time and getting along rather well. Then he bumped into someone causing their trey of food to be smashed into their chest, when be backed

up to see who he bumped into he saw a large buff figure, his head was almost draconic in a way and he has an aggravated look on his face.

"I'm sorry about that I...." He started to say when the large figure started to try and land a punch but Alex ducked out of the way in time.

"You'll pay for that human." The large figure said with a growl. "Hey I said I was sorry." Alex said, then the creature started to chase Alex, he started to

run towards the door when he tripped and fell to the floor. He thought he was going to kill him but at the last moment a voice rang out,

"Back off Itrell or I'll call Grexnall in here and he'll put a boot up your ass for starting another fight, and we both know what happened the last time."

Itrell snorted and said, "You got lucky this time human, but watch your back." He then stormed off. a small frog like life form in some kind of power chair

was floating next to Alex, "Sorry about that, Itrell tends to get angry very easily, you ok?" He said. alex then introduced himself. "Yeah, thanks for the

assist, my names Alex." He then shook his hand. "I'm Rigel the 25th, former dominar of the highnearien empire." He said proudly. "What's a dominar?" Asked Alex.

"It's kind of like a king in your terms." Said Rigel. "So your royalty then, what are you doing here?" Asked Alex. "Well I got board with my role as dominar,

it's always praise, worship, grovel, day in day out, I wanted to see the stars so I passed the throne down to my second in command, luckily this ship and crew

were passing through at the time and I asked to join." Explained Rigel, the two sat down and got to know each other, swapping life stories and jokes and having

a good time. an hour has passed, Alex was following Deka to his next recommended stop the observation deck then deka got to a large door and was looking at a

nob on the wall, it then bumped into Alex's foot and looked back at the nob. 'I think it's trying to tell me to open the door.' Alex thought to himself, he then

walked over to the nob and swiped his hand over it, the door opened to a large dome like room, then Deka scuttled into the room and Alex followed. "Wow." He was

lost for words, he turned to his left to see the earth, "Oh, my, god!" His jaw dropped, walking to the edge of the dome and placing a hand on the wall, he just

stood there for ten minutes admiring the breath taking view of his home. not knowing Zero had just entered the room then she said. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Then

slowly moved to stand next to him. "Beautiful doesn't cover it, only a privileged few get the chance to experience this, I've dreamed of this moment my hole life,

this has been every child's dream, to be able to go into space and see the stars, to find and meet new and strange forms of life, every one on this rock has always

looked to the stars and dreamed of standing on a new world and looking bond it to the next, I'm glad I'm finally getting off this god forsaken rock." Then tears

slowly ran down his cheeks with a smile on his face. "what about your parents, wont they miss you?" she asked, "they probably don't even know I'm gone, they never

had the time for me, they were too busy with work or were fighting over something stupid to show any serious feelings to me, i have no friends, no love life, they

never even told me how important i was to them, I was forced to learn things the hard way, my life with them was miserable and lonely." zero then leaned in and

rapped her arms around him in a hug and resting her head on his shoulder, he then returned the hug, he hugged her tighter and cried, "i'm so lonely, i want to feel

loved by someone!" she placed her hand on the back of his head, "shhh, it's ok, I feel your pain, i know what it's like to be lonely, to be ignored by ones parents,

to be forgoten and abandoned." she looks ad him and he looks back, holding her close. "Finally, some one that understands my pain." He says with tears in his eyes,

calming down slowly in her warm hug. "humans have some fascinating and exotic traditions and rituals, from what I've learned about christmas, it's a time of love,

peace, joy and happiness, and that no one should be alone on the holidays." She says, Alex nodding and smiling a little. "I'm never going to leave you, when I look

into your eyes, I feel.... Happy." He said with a smile, zero was so happy, and for the first time, so was Alex. "Well said human." They turned to see one of the

other aliens alex saw on his way hear. "who are you?" Asked Alex, "This is Grexnall Zen, he's called a luxan, a race of mighty warriors, he's kind of my adopted

father." Said Zero, "R-really?!" said alex in a worried tone, Zen giggled and said. "Don't worry, I'm just hear to see how well you where getting along, Zero may I

have a word with him?" Zero giggles and nods."Sure, just don't beat him up too much." Said Zero playfully, then Alex went over to Zen, "I just wanted to give you something."

Zen then reached into his pocket and pilled out a small box, he handed it to alex, he then opened it to see what was inside, it looked like a gold bracelet.

"what is it?" Asked Alex. "It's a marulian mashoken, an equivalent to a human wedding ring, I've been holding on to this for several cycles, now I pass it on to you,

use it when the time is right, and promise me you'll keep her happy." Said Zen. Alex nodded and said. "I promise, I'll never leave her." Zen smiles and pats Alexs shoulder.

"that's what i wanted to hear." Zen said, Alex put the box in his pocket, and went back to Zero. "So what were you two talking about?" Asked Zero. "oh, he keep saying he'd

kill me if I don't keep you happy." He said with a grin, "Let me show you around, then I'll teach you about the others onboard." Said Zero, but then Alex's cell phone

started to ring, he answered. "Hello?" It was his mom. "Alex, where are you?" She asked. "Oh so you finally found out I was gone, well to answer your question I'm with

sone new friends, what do you want?" Alex asked. "Me and your father where talking and..." but Alex cut her off. "Where you now, well I don't want to hear it." Alex said

harshly, "You two have been fighting for longer than I can remember, and I'm fed up with it." He was about to hang up. "Alex pleas wait." His mom begged. "No it's too

late to ask for forgiveness." he said angrily. "We're sorry, we realize we've been fighting a lot, and haven't been paying much attention to you, but we want to make

things right, what do you say, will you come home?" Alex thought for a moment, then he came up with an answer. "No, I'm not coming home, but I will tell you where I'm

going, meet me out front in 20 minutes, and tell dad not to bring the shot gun." He hung up, he then taped the badge on his shirt, "Tallep?" He said, "Yes Alex?"

Answered Tallep. "I need you to take me and zero down near the same place you picked me up, there'll a small house near there, is that ok?" Asked Alex, "Of corse, it's

no problem." Said talep. Back on earth alex's parents where standing out in front of their house, waiting for their son, "Oh where is he." His mom said worried, then

they herd a loud boom and looked up to see something flying towards them, "WHAT THE HELL!" Shouted his dad, then the ship came to a stop ten feet above the ground, they

backed up when a door opened on the side of it, then alex stepped in to the doorway. "ALEX, WHATS GOING ON?" Shouted his parents. "As you can see, my new friends aren't

from around hear, they offered me a new life, a way to be happy, a chance to see the stars, and I've even found a girlfriend." Thats when Zero slid into the doorway with

him, he looked to her and took her prosthetic hand, then looked back to them, his parents where in shock. "You had your chance and you've blown it, but don't worry I'll

stay in touch." he then threw down one of the badges to his folks. "Well, got to go, the stars are calling my name, if you want to talk to me, tap the communication badge

and say my name, tallep take us up pleas." He then taped on the doors control panel and the door slowly closed, they where off, good by earth, hello everything.