Chapter XLI: Gas Planet

Chapter XLI: Gas Planet 

“Ok, let’s check out this gas giant, here.” Ballester says. Serge appears on screen. 

“Ballester, you’re going in alone.” 

“Why?” 
“Because if that gravity kills you, you’re the only one who can come back.” 

“So can Oigres.” 

“Then take him with you.” 

“Da-ad!” Oigres whines. 

“Come on, mister scientist, you can study this thing while I talk to it.” Ballester says. 

“Fine.” 

“Alright, good. I’ll be expecting your report.” Serge says. The screen shuts off. 

“Let’s suit up, son.” Ballester and Oigres suit up, and leave the ship. The second they enter the atmosphere, they’re squashed like bugs. A few minutes later, they show up on the bridge again. “Contact the planet, Arizona.” 

“Attempting to make contact.” Arizona says. “Patched through, go ahead.” 

“Can you adjust your gravity, please? You just killed us.” 

“Are you talking to me?” Gas Planet says in a deep, booming voice.” 

“Yes, I’m talking to you.” 

“How? How did you know I’m alive?” 

“My wife had a nice long chat with your sister.” 

“Oh, great, are you going to attempt to build a colony inside me too?” 

“Nah, we’re just explorers, and if you don’t mind, my son would like to collect some samples.” 

“Fine, just answer me how you’re alive again.” 

“Mutation.” 

“Nice. Alright, when you approach me, I’ll feel your biosigns and adjust my gravity, but there’s nowhere to stand, you know that, right?” 

“Yeah, we just plan on floating around.” 

“Alright, whenever you’re ready.” Ballester and Oigres suit up again and head to the planet. This time, they’re able to go in without getting squashed. 

“I can’t see a goddamn thing.” 

“Me neither.” Oigres says. They turn on their headlamps and are able to see each other, and black wind, but nothing outside of their particular area. 

“So, I hear you and your sister were created at the same time.” Ballester says. 

“That’s right, we were part of the Void Planet before it became a void.” 

“What happened?” 

“Oh, they blew themselves up, I’m the result of their carbon emissions, methane, what have you, and she was the ozone, atmosphere, clouds, I was smog. When the planet imploded, we were blown off and separated.” 

“So wait, this solar system didn’t always have eight planets?” 

“Seven. I have yet to see evidence of this ‘Mirror Planet’ everyone talks about.” 

“Didn’t the implosion from the Void Planet affect any other planets?” 

“It breathed life into Fantasix, and created the apparent ‘Mirror Planet’ which me or my sister have yet to see in rotation.” 

“It’s theorized only organics can see it.” Oigres says. 

“That would make sense why we can’t see it.”  

“Can you tell us about the other planets past Void?” 

“Well, not counting the planet that apparently only you can see, there’s the planet of magic, where whatever you think of or say comes true. Be careful on that planet, there’s currently a war going on between the positives and negatives, it’s been going on for a few thousand years.” 

“Stalemate?” 

“Yup, and neither side will concede to the other.” 

“Is there a way maybe we could stop it?” 

“Many other worlders have tried, so you might as well give it a shot.” 

“What do you think, dad?” 

“I guess, what could go wrong?” Ballester says. 

“You could end up trapped there.” Gas Planet says. 

“How?” 

“Stuck in a war that never ends.” 

“I see, maybe we’ll just visit and observe.” Oigres says. 

“You could try.” 

“Tell us about the last planet.” 

“Ah yes, Robot Planet.” 

“Robot Planet?” 

“Thousands of years ago, robots from another galaxy built their own planet from scratch. It has no atmosphere, since there’s nothing organic on it, but it has its own gravity, rotation cycle, it acts exactly like any other planet, except it’s one hundred percent artificial.” 

“Intriguing.” 

“I should warn you, they don’t like organics.” 

“So, should we disguise ourselves?” 

“They’re too smart for that, I suggest you contact the planet before landing there.” 

“Thanks for the tip.” 

“Yeah, well, you’re friends with my sister, and that’s good enough for me.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, she usually turns into an ice sphere if she doesn’t trust someone, she can sense intentions of the people on board ships as they’re passing by. Another leftover from the Void Planet.” 

“Then what do you sense? 

“That everyone wants to destroy me.” 

“Why?” 

“I don’t know, but the robots of Robot Planet wanted to build inside me first, and I just crushed them like I did to you guys.” 

“It’s almost as if you guys got leftover emotional energy from the planet.” 

“Yeah, that makes sense.” 

“Again, intriguing.” 

“If you say so.” 

“So, what species are you two?” 

“Well, I’m human, from the planet Earth.” Ballester says. 

“Earth? Never heard of it.” 

“It’s in the Milky Way Galaxy.” 

“Yeah, still don’t know.” 

“It’s about a few million light years from here.” 

“Wow, so you’re a long way from home.” 

“Yeah, we’re out here exploring.” 

“And what species are you?” Gas Planet asks Oigres. 

“I’m a human/Galaxian hybrid.” Oigres says. 

“Galaxians are still around? I thought they went extinct!” 

“Yeah, everyone seems to think that, but they actually decided to establish a trade route after their planet was destroyed.” 

“I didn’t know Galaxians could breed with other species.” 

“Neither did they, but I was willing to take one for the species.” Ballester says, proudly. 

“Calm down, dad.” Oigres says. 

“Oh, that’s nice, a father and a son working together, I’m glad to have let you in, I’m glad not all alien species are hostile.” 

“Likewise.” 

“So, this is your first time in this system then?” 

“For both of us.” 

“So, after seeing your ancestral home, what do you think?” 

“Oh, I don’t know what it actually looks like, just what it looks like now, a ball of s**t.” 

“Oh, that’s unfortunate.” 

“Yeah, and the pictures of the planet on file were from when they were already contaminated.” 

“So you’ve never seen the true beauty of what it once was?” 

“Nope.”  

“The residents of Void Planet used to observe your people in their primitive days. They were working on a way to keep your waters clean so they wouldn’t get polluted, but they imploded themselves before they came up with a solution. Remember, Void Planet was where my sister is now.” 

“Interesting. I wonder if there’s anyone on Void Planet we could talk to.” 

“Well, normally I’d tell you no, but I’ve seen shadows moving across the barren wasteland of a planet, so maybe there is something there.” 

“I’ll see what I can find, and if you want, I’ll let you know if I do.” 

“Oh, would you? I like knowing I’m not crazy.” 

“What if it turns out you are?” 

“Then I’ll know for sure.” 

“Whatever you want, dude.” 

“Thanks, is there anything else you’d like to know?” 

“Nope, we’ll be heading back home now.” 

“It was nice meeting you, you organics are all right.” 

“Some of us are, ever hear of the Zorkons?” 

“Unfortunately.” 

“Did you ever have to deal with them?” 

“Luckily, this solar system is dead to them. Galaxia was already dead, Fantasix was just plant life, me and sis are gas giants, Void was empty, they didn’t wanna get involved in the Magic War, and the Robot Planet was still under construction last time they were through.” 

“Wow, that IS lucky.” 

“Yeah, what a wild coincidence.” 

“What about the Mirror Planet?” 

“They claimed it was a big ball of ice, and you know them, they like it hot.” 

“That’s odd, almost like the planet knew what their intentions were.” 

“Well yeah, all planets are living things.” 

“Yeah, your sister said the same thing.” 

“If we’re not proof enough, I don’t know what else can convince you.” 

“No, it seems like planets really are alive, it’s just that my- our planet doesn’t speak to us like you do.” 

“I’m sure there’s other ways it speaks to you.” 

“If it does, we haven’t figured it out yet.” 

“Well, Void Planet is pretty nonverbal too, but when it was taken for all its resources and being abused, it imploded itself.” 

“Come to think of it, whenever humans have stopped inhabiting a certain area, that area goes back to its natural state.” 

“See? There you go, the planet DOES communicate with you.” 

“Interesting. Well, thank you for your time, Gas Planet, we’ll be heading back to our ship then.” 

“Goodbye, organics, good luck!”