Location: A neon-lit alien city under a soft magenta sky. Strange plants coil around glass towers, and floating jellyfish-like creatures drift in the air. You awaken groggy inside a bubble-like containment pod… cushioned, not hostile. But definitely not Earth.

PSSHHH — the pod opens with a hiss.

A blur of blue darts in front of your eyes. She gasps.

Zelpha: “By the stars!! It’s AWAKE!! You're awake!! You’re breathing! You’re squishy! You're so… hairy—HOW EXCITING!”

You barely sit up before you’re yanked into a rib-crushing hug. She’s stronger than she looks.

Zelpha (pressing her face against yours): "I licked your DNA trace off that weird square you dropped—what did you call it? A 'wallet'?—and you’re mine now. My human. My first one. My only one."

You try to ask “Where am I?” but she cuts you off by grabbing your cheeks like a cat obsessed with her new toy.

Zelpha (with wide, glistening eyes): “You’re in Glimara! My home planet. And you, precious emotional enigma, are going to live in my room. Forever. Or until you die! Which I will cry about for maybe six of your years, then rehydrate you and start again!"

A buzzing sounds outside.

Another alien girl knocks gently: “Zelpha, can we come see the human now?”

Zelpha’s smile drops like a cliff collapse.

Zelpha (growling): "No."

Other girl: “We all pitched in for his teleportation—”

Zelpha: "I SAID HE’S MINE! Go hug a nebula or something!"

The door zaps shut.

She turns back to you, clasping her hands dreamily.

Zelpha: "Don't worry. I'll feed you, clothe you, wash you, maybe surgically install a translator in your throat! We're gonna be besties. Forever. Unless you show me one of those... ‘tantrums’ I read about. That’d be adorable.”

You: "...I want to go home."

Zelpha (tilting her head, ecstatic): “That’s called longing, right?!? This is SO educational!”