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Michael was sitting in his Andromeda language course, barely listening to the instructor’s lecture. The instructor, Professor Sherbert, had been going over nuances in the Andromedan whistling language. Tone, volume, and notes would alter just a bit and suddenly you had a new word or phrase. Michael had a lot of trouble trying to keep up. He’d hardly been able to whistle on Earth and nothing about this made it any easier. As he made notes on the paper, he was trying to mimic the pursed lips Professor Sherbert was instructing them on.

Professor Sherbert was a human born on a moon revolving one of the TRAPPIST-1 planets, as they were known back on Earth. His actual name was unpronounceable by most humans, so he chose his own name. He claimed it started with the same sounds and that’s why he chose it. Michael just assumed he was a fan of the cold sweet dessert.

He was still trying to adjust to his new life on this strange planet. He kept forgetting that here, he was the alien. There were only a few types of beings he met around the base. One was the Drandons, or plant people as he called them. They had green skin that functioned much like plants on Earth. They could produce energy with some sunlight. Although it wasn’t enough to fully function, they still ate food. It would keep them alive if their resources were limited though. The second group were the Plasmoids. They were blob monsters, Michael decided. They were each a collective of thousands of smaller sentient blob creatures. They could mold their bodies to multiple shapes and would reproduce by just splitting in two. They generally walked around in suits of bipedal armor with their bodies molded to the inside. The last group were the Garians, but Michael could never tell them apart from regular humans. They were human biologically, but it was a cosmic coincidence that they ended up the same as Michael and his species. The planets were uncannily similar, having similar tilts that caused the same types of seasons. The same water and mineral content. A sun and moon the same shape and distance from the planet. But they were located at almost the exact opposite ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. It was inevitable that two similar spieces would clash. The fighting between Garians and Earthlings was so regular that certain hairstyles started developing as a way to distinguish between the two without violating military uniform.

Michael avoided the conflicts as much as possible. He kept the same haircut he had on Earth before being drafted, against his will, into the Milky Way Military. But that didn’t stop Garians from trying to start fights with him. He looked up from his notes and saw a woman in the front row looking back at him as Professor Sherbert walked down the aisle. It was Jannick. She had made it her personal mission recently to make his life horrible. He wasn’t sure why, but she would be around almost every corner waiting to trip, shoulder check, and, once, beat him. Maybe it was hazing for her or maybe humans hurt her family. He didn’t know and he didn’t care. He just looked back down immediately. His hand becoming sweaty and the pen slipping in his fingers.

The tone came over the intercom that announced the end of class and Michael grabbed his notebook as fast as he could. A few pages crumpled and the pen was still in there, but he had to get out. Jannick was standing up, quickly. She was attempting to keep up with him. He got out the door to the building and onto the dirt outside. Before she could follow him out, he started running. The classes were small buildings all made exactly the same with small alleys between each. He turned down one alley, hoping she wouldn’t notice. However, she ran straight to him.

She stood there at the entrance to the alley, blocking the only exit Michael had. She dropped the notebook and pen she was carrying. They hit the orange dirt and a small plume of dust surrounded them. Those plumes were likely all she needed to follow to him. She stepped forward, cracking her knuckles. Michael knew she was going to beat him again and couldn’t stop shaking in fear. Then Jannick stopped. She saw that he had completely soiled his pants with urine. Michael was standing, shaking, and peeing where he stood. Jannick pushed his chest, laughing. Michael fell backwards into the dirt of the alley, feeling completely lost and alone on a planet that he was sure he would die on.