My Girlfriend is From Another Planet

The stars had never looked this close.

Liora Vey had spent most of her life beneath artificial skies. On Nythera II, the cities were built beneath enormous transparent domes that filtered radiation, controlled temperature, and softened the darkness of space into something almost familiar. At night, the domes reflected the lights of the cities below, so the stars always seemed distant, orderly, almost decorative.

She had grown up believing that the universe was something beautiful that existed far beyond reach.

Now, sitting alone inside a small spacecraft thousands of kilometers above Earth, Liora could no longer pretend that distance made the universe feel safe.

There were no city lights reflected against the glass here. No familiar silver towers rising toward the sky. No voices from the communications network filling the silence.

Only darkness.

Endless, silent darkness.

And beneath it, a planet.

Earth.

Liora leaned slightly toward the forward viewing panel.

The planet occupied almost the entire horizon.

Blue oceans curved beneath white clouds, while vast stretches of darkness marked the continents below. From this distance, there were no borders, no governments, no cities, no wars. Earth looked peaceful.

That illusion lasted only a few seconds.

A soft chime sounded inside the cockpit.

Liora turned her attention toward the navigation console.

A holographic display appeared above it, projecting a rotating map of the planet. A small golden point pulsed over the northern hemisphere.

Her destination.

The Aether Core.

Liora stared at the coordinates for several seconds before allowing herself to breathe.

She had spent months preparing for this mission.

Months studying Earth.

Its languages.

Its transportation systems.

Its governments.

Its technology.

Its social customs.

Its history.

Humans were remarkably complicated for a species that had only recently begun reaching beyond its own planet.

Liora had read thousands of reports about them, yet none of those reports had prepared her for seeing Earth with her own eyes.

Her fingers moved across the console, enlarging the coordinates.

The signal was weak, but unmistakable.

The Aether Core had been found.

Or, more accurately, its energy signature had been found.

The artifact itself had been lost for centuries.

Some records claimed it had disappeared during an early interstellar expedition. Others suggested it had been deliberately hidden. There were even old Felimari legends claiming the Core had been buried on a distant world because its power was too dangerous to remain in the hands of any civilization.

Most scholars dismissed those stories.

Liora didn't.

She had seen enough classified records to know that legends often began as truths that someone had tried very hard to erase.

The Core was not merely valuable.

It was important.

And someone had finally detected it.

Her mission had been simple when she left Nythera II.

Locate the Aether Core.

Retrieve it.

Return home.

She repeated those three instructions in her mind.

Locate.

Retrieve.

Return.

Nothing more.

Liora lowered her gaze to the small pendant resting against her chest.

It was the only personal possession she had brought with her.

The pendant was made from a dark metal that looked almost black unless it caught the light. A thin silver line curved through its center, forming an incomplete circle. It had belonged to her mother, and before that, to her grandmother.

It was old enough that no one in Liora's family remembered where it had originally come from.

She had been told only one thing about it.

Never lose it.

Liora curled her fingers around it for a moment before releasing it.

The cockpit lights dimmed.

A calm artificial voice filled the cabin.

"Atmospheric entry in thirty seconds."

Liora straightened in her seat.

Her expression became focused.

Whatever uncertainty she had felt disappeared beneath years of training.

She checked the navigation system one final time.

Trajectory stable.

Shielding active.

Landing coordinates locked.

Everything was exactly where it should be.

For the first time since leaving home, Liora allowed herself a small breath of relief.

Then the ship shook.

Not violently.

Not yet.

Just enough to make the instruments flicker.

Liora frowned.

Her eyes moved to the navigation display.

The trajectory line had shifted.

Only slightly.

She touched the controls.

"Correct trajectory."

The system didn't respond.

Liora tried again.

"Correct trajectory."

A warning appeared across the screen.

EXTERNAL ENERGY INTERFERENCE DETECTED.

Her brow furrowed.

"Identify source."

Nothing.

The ship shuddered again.

This time the vibration was stronger.

Liora's hand immediately moved to the emergency controls.

"Manual navigation."

The display flashed.

MANUAL NAVIGATION UNAVAILABLE.

For the first time, genuine alarm crossed her face.

That was impossible.

She had entered Earth's atmosphere dozens of kilometers from the target coordinates, but there should have been no interference strong enough to disrupt the ship.

She looked at the Aether Core's location.

The golden point was no longer steady.

It was pulsing.

Once.

Twice.

Then again.

Faster.

Liora stared at it.

"No..."

A strange light appeared beneath the ship.

Not on the surface of Earth.

Not in the atmosphere.

Somewhere far below.

A faint emerald glow spread outward from the coordinates of the Core.

Liora's breath caught.

The Aether Core was responding.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

The artifact was believed to have been dormant for centuries.

She pushed herself toward the controls.

"Override navigation."

The ship gave no response.

The green light beneath them intensified.

Suddenly, every instrument in the cockpit flashed simultaneously.

Then the ship dropped.

Liora was thrown forward against her restraints.

The world outside the windshield became a blur of blue and white as the spacecraft began to descend far too quickly.

"Stabilize!"

Nothing.

"Stabilize!"

The warning alarms screamed.

The ship tilted violently.

Liora grabbed the edge of the console as the floor seemed to disappear beneath her.

Her heart hammered against her ribs.

She had trained for atmospheric emergencies.

She had trained for engine failure.

She had trained for hostile environments.

She had never trained for something that could simply reach through her navigation system and take control of the ship.

The planet rushed toward her.

Clouds swallowed the spacecraft.

The hull began to vibrate violently as it struck the upper atmosphere.

Heat spread across the windshield.

Warning symbols appeared one after another.

NAVIGATION FAILURE.

STRUCTURAL DAMAGE.

PRIMARY ENGINE UNSTABLE.

IMPACT TRAJECTORY CONFIRMED.

Liora stared at the final message.

Impact trajectory.

Confirmed.

"No."

Her voice was barely audible.

She wasn't ready to die.

Not here.

Not after coming this far.

She forced her shaking hands across the controls and activated the emergency escape protocol.

The system hesitated.

For one terrible second, nothing happened.

Then a mechanical voice responded.

"Escape module available."

Liora released the restraint.

The entire spacecraft lurched sideways.

She barely had time to brace herself before the emergency module separated from the main vessel.

The force of the separation slammed her against the interior wall.

Pain exploded through her shoulder.

Then everything went black.

The first thing Liora felt was cold.

The second was pain.

She opened her eyes slowly.

For several seconds, she couldn't remember where she was.

Smoke filled the cabin.

Sparks fell from the damaged ceiling.

A warning alarm repeated somewhere in the darkness, weak and irregular, like a dying heartbeat.

Liora tried to move.

Pain shot through her ribs.

She clenched her jaw and pushed herself upright.

Her head throbbed.

There was blood at her temple.

She wiped it away and looked at her fingers.

Red.

Human-looking.

Good.

Her breathing steadied.

She forced herself out of the damaged escape module.

The moment she stepped outside, cold air struck her face.

Liora stopped.

Earth.

She stood among trees.

Rain fell softly through the branches, catching the faint light from the wreckage behind her. The air smelled of wet soil and vegetation. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear the low hum of an engine moving along a road.

For a moment, she simply stood there.

She had imagined this planet countless times.

She had studied photographs.

Satellite images.

Videos.

Maps.

But none of them had captured the feeling of standing beneath an alien sky and realizing there was no one coming to help you.

Liora turned toward the wreckage.

The main spacecraft had crashed deeper into the forest. Smoke curled upward through the trees.

She checked the communicator.

Dead.

The emergency beacon.

Dead.

Navigation unit.

Destroyed.

She swallowed.

Then she reached for the pendant.

Her fingers touched nothing.

Liora froze.

Slowly, she looked down.

The pendant was gone.

"No."

She crouched immediately and began searching the ground.

Leaves.

Mud.

Broken metal.

Fragments of the ship.

Nothing.

She moved farther from the wreckage, pushing wet branches aside.

Still nothing.

The pendant wasn't merely sentimental.

It was the one thing she had promised herself she would never lose.

She searched until the rain soaked through her clothing.

Nothing.

Eventually, Liora stood.

Her chest rose and fell slowly.

She wanted to panic.

She didn't.

Panic was useless.

She had a mission.

The Aether Core was somewhere on Earth.

Her ship was destroyed.

Her communication systems were gone.

Her pendant was missing.

But she was alive.

That was enough.

For now.

Liora looked once more at the wreckage before turning away.

She walked toward the distant lights.

She had no idea that someone else was already walking toward her past.

Several kilometers away, Kael Rowan watched rain slide down the window of his car.

He had spent the entire evening in meetings.

Three hours discussing an acquisition.

Another hour dealing with a board member who had apparently discovered a new definition of the word "urgent."

It was nearly midnight.

Normally, Kael would have been answering emails in the back seat.

Tonight, he wasn't.

He sat quietly, one hand resting against the armrest, his attention fixed on the darkness outside.

Across from him, Theo Bennert glanced at the time on his phone.

"We're still expecting the revised contract tonight," he said.

Kael didn't look away from the window.

"Send them an extension."

Theo raised an eyebrow.

"You're willing to give them an extension?"

"Until morning."

"That may be the first time you've ever forgiven someone for missing a deadline."

Kael finally looked at him.

"Don't make it sentimental."

A faint smile appeared on Theo's face.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

The conversation ended there.

Theo returned to his phone.

Kael looked outside again.

Rain had begun falling harder.

For reasons he couldn't explain, he felt restless.

Not anxious.

Not afraid.

Just... unsettled.

His eyes drifted toward the forest beyond the road.

Something flashed between the trees.

Kael sat forward.

"Stop the car."

Theo looked up.

"Here?"

"Stop."

The driver pulled over.

Kael opened the door before Theo could ask another question.

"Sir?"

"I'll be back."

He stepped into the rain.

Cold water immediately soaked the shoulders of his coat.

Kael walked toward the forest, following the faint light he thought he had seen.

He wasn't sure why.

Perhaps it had been nothing.

A reflection.

A passing vehicle.

Lightning.

But the closer he got, the stranger the feeling became.

Then he saw it.

A massive piece of dark metal lying broken among the trees.

Kael stopped.

His eyes narrowed.

It wasn't an aircraft he recognized.

It wasn't anything he had ever seen.

The surface of the vessel was almost perfectly smooth, without visible seams or markings. Several sections had been torn apart by the impact, exposing unfamiliar machinery beneath.

Kael reached into his pocket for his phone.

Then something caught the light near his shoe.

He looked down.

A pendant lay half-buried in the mud.

Kael crouched and picked it up.

The metal was unexpectedly warm.

He turned it between his fingers.

There was something unusual about it.

He couldn't explain what.

The pendant looked old, yet there were no scratches on its surface. No corrosion. No visible mechanism.

Just a strange silver line running through the center.

Kael's fingers tightened around it.

For the briefest moment, he felt a vibration.

He looked at the pendant.

Nothing.

The sensation disappeared.

"Sir?"

Theo's voice came from behind him.

Kael slipped the pendant into his coat pocket.

"Come here."

Theo approached cautiously.

"What is that?"

"I don't know."

Theo looked at the wreckage.

"Should we call the police?"

Kael stared into the darkness beyond the trees.

That was the obvious thing to do.

He knew it.

Yet something stopped him.

Not logic.

Not reason.

Something quieter.

A feeling he couldn't name.

"No," he said.

Theo frowned.

"No?"

"Not yet."

Before Theo could respond, Kael turned toward the wreckage again.

There was no sign of whoever had been inside.

No body.

No footprints.

Nothing.

Only the rain.

And that strange feeling that whatever had crashed here had not arrived by accident.

Kael touched the pocket where the pendant rested.

It was warm again.

His expression hardened.

"Let's go."

Neither man noticed the faint emerald light beneath the forest floor.

Deep underground, hidden beneath layers of stone, something ancient had awakened.

The Aether Core pulsed once.

Then went still.

And somewhere beyond the trees, a young woman from another world walked alone into the rain, unaware that the first human to touch her pendant had just begun to change the course of her life.