Elaina. In search of a planet.

Somewhere on the edge of the universe, part 38

Amano scratched his stubble and looked into the bottomless ocean of stars and continued his story:
"Further on, the speed of my body increased rapidly, but at the same time I did not feel acceleration," everyone began to listen to the earthling more seriously. "The flight path passed as if in a spiral. While I was looking around, I did not notice how a globular star cluster appeared in front of me. It quickly increased in size and became transparent. In an instant, I was already inside. Here, the space between the stars was filled with gas and dust matter. These clots were mixed around in misty spots and clouds of various shapes. This entire mega-world was unevenly assembled into one bizarre garland, which glittered iridescently with grains of graphite and ice crystals. I will never forget that unusually beautiful landscape, where everything was noticeably mixed in space from the explosive processes taking place inside. New stars were born there, while releasing colossal energy during their formation. But no bright flashes, neither cosmic rays nor force fields reached me. the awe changed to delight. I felt myself a particle of the Universe, as if too, playing my part in this cosmic fireworks. Then an unusual luminous dot of blue color appeared in my eyes. Approaching it, I realized that it was a star, in the system of which there was a belt shimmering in different colors. Then my speed began to decrease, some planet passed by without an atmosphere. And at that moment, violet rays blinded my eyes, I felt the power of flight. Having lowered the visor on the helmet, my body began to be torn apart by inertia, dodging the colored asteroids that crossed my path. After passing through the belt of precious stones, I only realized that I was already in the planetary system of this star. Then another planet with some kind of stormy atmosphere passed by. Through the tinted glass on the star, its seething purple surface was visible, through which bright blue prominences made their way. Plasma tongues reached the size of half the diameter of a star and threw out visible streams of particles that were carried around by the stellar wind in the form of blue radiant charged masses. The flashes slowly drew back into the boiling surface before the next eruption. This star created a neon glow around, so the planets reflected brightly poisonous colors compared to our solar system. At some point, my body began to smoothly slow down in front of the planet, on which starry reflections of the ocean's water surface made their way through its white clouds. Also, faceted satellites shimmered in neon to the side. Without having time to really examine them, I was carried straight to the planet. It scared me — the spacesuit would burn up in the layers of the atmosphere, and if not, then I would crash on the water. The suit, of course, did not burn down, but he got it well. The burnt edges are still visible here.
Having flown the last cloud, I saw an endless ocean on which, like stumps, small islands of different colors stuck out. They looked like asymmetrical rock faces. Then, finally, I fully felt the environment. I have never felt such pain from hitting the water. After that, it is not known how long, in a semi-conscious state, I swam like a dead fish, belly up.
I woke up from the fact that the waves nailed me to the cliff of some red and smooth rock. Rectangular posts of various sizes stuck up on the slope. They rose straight from the water, randomly spreading in height. In them, I saw a reflection of my spacesuit, they were so smooth. Then I began to get out of the water. Standing on the stump steps, I looked back and saw a calm and boundless ocean. Everything around looked dim, as if looking through blue glass. He opened his helmet and tried to breathe. I don't know why, but I wanted to do it after such a collision with the planet.
Suddenly, a child's cry was heard coming from somewhere above. The cry was alarming and I hurried, climbing a steep mountain of octagonal pillars-steps. The height of the ascent was ten meters and all the time there were cries for help. In a short time I was already at the top, if you can call it that. It was a flat platform, slightly narrower at the top than at the bottom. Not far from the edge of the cliff stood a small spaceship, beneath it was a shiny trail left by its exhaust on the dusty surface. The trail reflected the bottom of the ship, from the trap of which some traces of one person left. They were traced to the other edge of the cliff, where someone in a black robe was standing. It was fifty meters before him and it was clear that he was holding a child by the hand, who wanted to escape, crying for help. Not knowing what was happening here, I ran to them. Approaching, he began to shout for him to stop. But the stranger in black paid no attention to my call, he just dragged the child to the edge of the cliff. The wind began to intensify.
I stopped not far and managed to make out a naked boy about seven years old. He had tattooed red skin with wet overflow on his body. On the shoulder was a metal band with a yellow stone. And from under the cloak, the stranger had visible tendon feet without skin. At the same time, neither the child nor the creature in the cloak noticed my presence. At that moment, a strong wind rose, exposing the alien's ugly legs from under the hoodie. They had no skin, and the muscles were intertwined with wires and elements of shiny iron. Then I saw how the same ugly hand took the child by the leg and lifted him over the abyss. The boy began to scream even more, and this freak with bare muscles chuckled evilly. I tried to stop him, but I couldn't grab onto him. My hands went past the creature's body. At that moment, he let go of the child's leg and I instantly rushed forward, seeing at the same time the evil muzzle of this creature turning.
Having flown through the body of the creature, I fell down after the baby. With a child, I fell into the whirlpool formed by the hurricane. At some point, I stumbled upon his hand, pulled it towards me. It happened so real that you can't confuse it with a dream. The whirlpool pulled us under the water and the child dissolved in my arms or ... I don't know where he went. There was no breath in the cycle, I could not escape from the water bog. I was getting lower and lower. Water seeped into the spacesuit. Increasing pain in ears from depth. In a panic, I tried to close the helmet. The lack of oxygen did not give rest. I remember the last thing — I reached for the oxygen hose, I wanted to pull it out of the cylinder, but it did not give in ...
I woke up on the surface of the desert on the outskirts of the universe, a few kilometers from the broken all-terrain vehicle. Rising up, I found in my hand the bracelet of that red-skinned child from the ocean planet. The Spider robot did not respond to the radio signal, so I had to drag myself in a spacesuit filled with water to the all-terrain vehicle. Along the way, there were remnants of flying creatures and some dead alien. Then came the Spider. The robot was caught on something and could not get out of the broken SUV. Limping, he finally crawled out of the cab to meet me.
On the robot, I circled near the cliff, but no one responded to my voice. Then we set out across the desert to Helion. On the way, I could not get rid of the water that had flowed under the suit. I had a hard time thinking about what happened to me. I looked at the bracelet, felt chills from the fact that I was wet and realized that this journey really happened to me. Who or what carried me through the interstellar medium at the speed of thought? Why did I collide with a water planet? And most importantly, is ...?" Max Amano held the bracelet so that everyone could see.