Activity

Leif stood up while the ship slowly lowered to the ground. He brushed his dark hair back and murmured quietly to himself—trying to ease his nerves. He undressed quickly, exchanging his informal clothes for the black catsuit he wore under his main uniform. He placed a flexible metal headband on his head, and—directed by just a mere thought—a strong metal exo-suit covered his body. He slid his loose secondary uniform over the metal and a helmet over his head, and then left the room—joining up with his teammates.
Men, women, scientists and pilots—Leif watched thousands of people hurried about make absolute final preparations before exiting the ship and taking their first steps onto Neo Serrelius. Kit’s voice rang loud and clear through a speaker, “Doors open in ten minutes. Please come to Deck 82047 in ten minutes.”
Leif could feel sweat running down the sides of his stocky rectangular body and arms as the time ticked closer and closer. At last the doors opened and dust settled around.
When the dust settled fully, Leif could see a large group of creatures surrounding the ship. They were strange aliens—each a different shade of light purple-ish gray. Bug-like antenna extended from the back of their squarish heads, and only a small portion of skin divided their large, low set eyes from their mouths. Two sharp teeth extended from their upper mouth, but there were no more besides those. Two dark slits in their faces were their noses, and their eyes sat just a little to the sides of their noses.
What frightened Leif most was their bodies. They were not anthropomorphic creatures, like he had expected. Instead, they had beanbag-like bodies with six octopus-like legs below and two long arms on the sides. Their skin appeared very slick and rubbery, with only the lower parts of their legs and arms being rough enough to grip things. A mint colored oval marking ran vertically across their bellies, and two spots of the same minty color sat above their eyes.