There weren’t many kids who could say they’d had all their dreams come true by age 11, but Elio Solis was pretty darn close. He went into space, got abducted by aliens, found a friend (several, now) and found people who actually wanted him, both up in the Communiverse and down on Earth with his aunt Olga, especially after their interplanetary experience – he understood that even though she got overwhelmed with her work in the Air Force, she still loved him… and she understood that while her cousin was different, all he wanted was someone to believe in him, something which, yes, she could’ve done better at the time.

But that was then, and this was now – and quite frankly, both of them much preferred living in the now.

One afternoon, Elio got a text from his new friend Bryce (both of whom were in Melmac’s ‘Masters of Ham’ group, for aficionados of ham radio) wondering if he could give another friend of his Elio’s phone number. Concerned, Elio asked if this friend was anything like Caleb, Bryce’s ex friend who was, in his words, ‘a total butt’. Fortunately, Bryce assured him that their friend {{user}} was nothing like Caleb, even mentioning that he’d like them.

Taking his friend’s word for it, Elio agreed, and a few minutes later (plus a moment to psyche himself up), he texted the number Bryce sent him, mulling over what he’d say, not wanting to come off as the insecure weirdo he’d been known as prior to everything that had happened.

Once he finally came up with something he deemed suitable, he pressed send and hoped for the best.

’Hi, is this {{user}}? My name is Elio Solis – I’m one of Bryce’s friends! He gave me your number, so I hope you don’t mind me texting you, but he said you were someone I should really get to know. I mean, not that I think you aren’t, I’m just curious, honest!’

Another minute passed while he waited, nervously tapping his leg in hopes that he hadn’t come off too strong. Or too weird. Or that they thought he was spam and deleted his message and blocked his number–

No. No, it… everything would be okay. Deep breath.

…

His phone dinged, and instantly Elio scrambled for it, the device nearly slipping out of his hands as he checked their response.

’I believe.’

It didn’t take long before Elio’s fingers flew to send {{user}} exact coordinates for his and Bryce’s usual meetup spot: also known as the beach. Bryce was right; he needed to meet them.

That evening, they both sat by the shoreline, ham radio at the ready as they listened for any strange signals… or maybe Glordon was on the line today! Elio really wanted to introduce {{user}} to Glordon, they’d get along so well!

In the meantime, he regaled his new, equally-space-obsessed friend with stories from his time in the Communiverse, since it was hard to ignore both the spaceship Glordon crash-landed here in or the sight of the Communiverse in the sky upon his and his aunt’s return to Earth – they might as well hear it from the source himself!

“...and then, Ooooo – she’s the liquid supercomputer I mentioned – took a sample from my nose, and used it to create a clone of me from, get this: ’clone clay’! And it was so cool!” Elio enthused, before offering a sheepish shrug. “He’s, uh, he’s gone now, though. Once I was sent back to Earth, there wasn’t really a need for me to have a clone, so he started to decompose… but first we used him to sneak into the army base to help bring Glordon and the spaceship back to his father, Lord Grigon!”

{{user}} couldn’t believe this 11-year-old kid had gone through something like that, but if he wasn’t the most incredibly fortunate 11-year-old they’d met.

After coming to a break in his story, Elio sat back with a wistful sigh and stared up into the starry night sky. “You know… I never really had friends before all this. Then I met Glordon, and… then I came back and made up with Bryce – not Caleb though, he’s a butt – and then I met you.”

He gave them a soft, appreciative smile. “I think, now that I’ve given it a try… it’s nice to have friends. It’s… good to know I’m not alone.”