Seeking An S.O.S.: Behind The Scenes

2. Dwarf planet

"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."

~ Arthur C. Clark

After he closed the spacecraft's door, the extraterrestrial ran towards the Helion entrance of Pluto, to deliver the alarming news to their Pluto's honorable leader,.

Xabiere had an important message to report to Fritz, their almighty ruler, and was determined to do just that even though he was awkwardly shy.  He was told to face his fears, no matter how bad the outcome may be.  And in his own way, Xabiere took those words to heart and strove to act upon that goal.

Despite Xabiere's height, he was the wisest among his species, and was the only one who attempted to venture out into the unknown where none of his fellow Plutonians have gone before. He believed in himself when no one except for his late Amma would.

Many who were taller than him would tease the oddball, but Xabiere learned to hide that pain inside, as he knew that those bullies had nothing better to do, but waste his precious time.

Although he was a bit nervous to go inside where he might not be wanted, Xabiere managed to pull himself together as he tapped on the wheel of his probe. He believed his late parents' spirits guided him daily and that was what kept him going.

As Xabiere passed the bystanders lurking by the side of the passageway, they laughed at his scrawny purplish body that bounced up and down. Xabiere couldn't help it if his torso moved that way when excited. And since he disliked being teased, Xabiere folded up his antennae by clicking them together as a rabbit would do with its long ears, and continued to run toward his desired destination.

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Before he left his spaceship, Xabiere panicked as he eavesdropped on what the Earthlings discussed.

Humans were no longer going to consider his home a planet!

Some scientists were going to cut out the celestial body known as Pluto from the universe.

Of course, that's not exactly what was going to happen, but to his interpretation, Xabiere feared his planet would soon be blown to pieces as one known as Krypton did.

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During his earlier visits on Earth, the brave alien learned about that event where a young boy named Super was shipped to the new planet in a rocket. As that news drew his interest, Xabiere picked up the comic book that was thrown like a piece of garbage; misunderstanding that the comic strip was a piece of fiction.

The planet Krypton was destroyed by a red circular object, which he believed was a meteor and soon, the orb began to collapse. The pictures then depicted that the planet was pulled into the sun and was steadily crushed. That caused his emotions to flare him up.

Who would do such a thing to those poor aliens? As if the universe was in total chaos.

And that was why he aimed to put a stop to this evil plot. 

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Xabiere felt a strong presence nearby, which caused him to flare up.

He tried to outwit this fellow Plutonian, but failed in doing so. Xabiere had a feeling it was Murdock; someone who constantly followed him like an attracted force a magnet would have. What his former friend didn't understand was that he did not know when he was not wanted.

Their latest squabble went too far, where Xabiere became the laughing stock of all of Pluto; thus, he felt like an outcast. Xabiere learned to make it on his own, no matter if he had to make it without Murdock. Therefore, as Xabiere was concerned, they were two acquaintances that repelled each other after that fiasco.

But now wasn't the time to run and hide, as a duty was to be done causing Xabiere to sigh.

Out of breath, the poor lad ran up to Xabiere, and signaled him to stop in the nick of time, by placing a hand on his shoulder.

But it was too late as they both hit the entrance wall.

Bump!

Both felt aches as their bodies fell to the ground. And as they got up, both dusted themselves after recovering from the brief shock.

Dazed and confused, Xabiere got up to defend himself.

"Geez, look where you're going!" he shouted. After his mind fully recovered, Xabiere realized the foolish Plutonian was indeed the one he predicted it to be. He was afraid this day would come, but he couldn't ignore Murdock's presence anymore. In fact, he missed his fellow companion, despite how annoying he became.

"Murdock, it's nice to see you again," Xabiere mumbled.

His friend rubbed his forehead, and nodded.

"And I'm glad you are speaking to me. I missed you."

Murdock wanted to do the Plutonion handshake where two friends would wiggle their antennas together and place their hands in the air while jumping up and down to show their excitement. It was their friendship pact when they were small Plutons, but Murdock decided against his wishes, since he felt that Xabiere might not be comfortable in remembering the past.

Thus, Murdock changed the subject and asked his friend what the commotion was all about.

"Xabiere, what in tarnation are you doing? I was looking for you all day. Have you been on your "exploring expeditions" without me again?" Murdock put his tiny hands up in the air as he quoted "exploring expeditions".

Xabiere's face-palmed himself. It was the truth, for he didn't want his nosy friend to know his secrets. 

A few eons ago, Murdock exposed to their friends a simple mishap they had as they went food shopping with their late Ammas. When they were young, the four of them drove in their flying saucer. Apparently, Xabiere grew impatient as his amma went to the loo. He went inside, hoping no one would notice.  

Once Xabiere thought he saw his amma's legs in a stall, he reached under and grabbed the leg and yelled 'what's taking you so long?' to scare her. However, another female's voice was heard. "Get your hands off me!" It frightened Xabiere and he ran out of the loo fast enough, which left a giggling Murdock jumping up and down.

That simple incident embarrassed the young Plutonian till he matured that when he learned that Murdock mentioned it to their friends, his tantrum flared up. To make things worse, word got around and it became the talk of the town. Thus, Xabiere earned the nickname "Shorty's an Amma's boy" causing Xabiere to pout every day. 

And despite the numerous apologies Murdock gave, Xabiere refused to forget what happened.

But he had to forget about that episode because Xabiere believed time was running out for the residents of his planet. Before his latest encounter on Earth, he accidentally landed near a cave where Xabiere found ancient drawings and carvings of long ago. Not knowing what they were, Xabiere stood in front of them for hours, as he was trying to figure out what each meant. Even though the Earthling's language was quite foreign to him, Xabiere could translate some of the words to Plutonian. And as he traced the figures with his hands, he landed on one that was shaped like fire. At that moment, his body trembled as he put two and two together, if
humans were no longer going to consider Pluto a planet and he just felt the shape of a fire molecule; that spelled out that disaster would come!

As he entered the gates of the Helion entrance, two muscular guards, Blitz and Saber, stood on each side of the doorway. Even though he was determined to announce the news to their leader, Xabiere knew  these fellow Plutonian men would be quite a hassle to deal with for they looked quite fierce in their dark uniforms.