273 Planet Aeolla #273

"Well, what do you think...?" Kara asked, letting go of my hand as we landed in what I could only describe as a strange, alien city, and for the first time in a long time, I had to think of a reply.

It was not easy to describe as it looked futuristic and natural at the same time. It had colossal tall white and gray buildings with strange arched shapes surrounded by short trees with green leaves and colorful flowers.

The sky was blue and completely devoid of clouds, with three suns and two moons hanging over the heads of the various species and humanoid and other such aliens casually strolling around the streets.

Not only was the city visually stunning, but it also seemed to have been designed to accommodate every species imaginable. There were transparent ductways underground and around the countless tall buildings full of aquatic aliens swimming through them.

There were also strange signs in alien language directing the movement of countless avian creatures in the sky.

"It's incredible..." I replied after a brief pause, as I couldn't find a better word to describe the place. "I feel out of place here, like a country pumpkin visiting metropolis for the first time..." I added, shaking my head with a sigh.

"Are there many places like this out there...?" I asked after a brief pause as I stepped aside to let what I assumed was a humanoid female alien with purple skin pass by me.

Don't let anyone know I assumed their gender, though. No one is safe from cancel culture, not even thousands of light years away from our lovely planet.

Speaking of which, for those who may not know, a light year is the distance that light could travel in the span of one year, yet somehow it only took a couple of hours for us to arrive here, to planet Aeolla.

Yes, the Starheart ring could achieve flight at such speeds, but it was a very draining process, both on the ring's energy reserve and my own, practical as it might be.

Still, I was here and had recovered a good portion of my energy very quickly, so it didn't really matter.

"Unfortunately not," Kara replied, shaking her head. "There are wars going on everywhere around the universe, so places like this are very few and in between," She added with a shrug, causing me to frown thoughtfully.

I suppose it made sense. Humans were a single species with very slight differences between their races, yet they still found many reasons to hate and kill each other.

The universe was endless and ever-expanding, with countless languages, civilizations, and species, each vastly different from the next in almost every aspect of their existence. It only made sense that everyone would be at everyone's throats.

"Nothing we can do about it, really..." Kara said, reaching for my hand as she noticed my thoughtful expression. "Let's go and register our arrival before the local authorities get suspicious," She added as she held onto my hand and dragged me towards a strange spherical building.

We quickly reached our destination, and Kara immediately approached the alien standing at the entrance. She spoke in a language that sounded like nothing more than gibberish, reminding me that I didn't speak the local tongue.

"Is there something like an internet outlet I can use somewhere around here...?" I asked after waiting for Kara to finish her conversation with the strange alien. " I wanna download the local language, just in case," I explained.

"What good would that do...?" Kara said, clearly confused at my words, to which I just shrugged. "Well, if you want to access the public database, you only need to connect, but I doubt your phone would work," She added, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

I activated my personal computer power and immediately identified the local network, which seemed to cover the entire city. "Give me a minute, will you...?" I said as I accessed the public database, pausing for a minute as I deciphered enough of the local language to steer around the alien systems.

"And I'm in..." I said, speaking in the planet's alien language, much to Kara's confusion as she gave me a wide-eyed stare. "What? I'm a fast learner," I added, shrugging my shoulders.

"Alright, that's enough showing off for one day. Let's go get registered before we cause any problems..." Kara said, rolling her eyes at me as she held my hand and dragged me into the building's interior.

...

"When you said this was a vacation planet, I didn't think we'd end up fighting a horde of creepy alien crawlers within the first two hours of getting here..." I said, raising my hand as I unleashed a wave of searing flames that burnt hundreds of large, spider-like creatures.

We had already finished our registration and applied for the intelligence test. Kara then finally decided to share that the locals weren't interested in the gold and other precious I brought from Earth as a form of compensation.

I knew Earth's money would be useless here, which is why I came prepared with a shit ton of gadgets and metals from our planet to sell in exchange for some local currencies.

The shit I brought wasn't worthless, but the locals couldn't buy them even if they wanted to, as it was illegal for Aeollans to barter with aliens as long as the transaction included their currency.

I could still exchange some of my stuff for various knick-knacks, which I intended to do once we had a place to stay and a roof over our heads, but that's neither here nor there.

"We gotta earn our keep somehow... Earht's money is no good here," Kara replied with a chuckle as she took a deep breath and unleashed a blizzard that took care of the few lingering creatures.

"This is why planet Aeolla is relatively peaceful compared to the rest of the universe..." The Kryptonian blonde said, floating into the air as the ground began to shake and giant mandibles emerged from within, alongside eight insectoid limbs.

"It's actually inhospitable," Kara added with a chuckle as she watched me eviscerate the giant spider with my axe. "It might not look like it, but the natives of Aaeolla are all hardened warriors. Their ancestors struggled just to survive on the planet..." She went on, her eyes glowing red as she fried another giant spider emerging from the ground.

"They aren't all brawn, though. Aeollans are also smart and very business savvy," The Kryptonian blonde said, watching as my machines finished off the last spider in the area.

"They turned the planet into a tourist trap and used the resources they gained to hire mercenaries who would cull the dangerous wildlife..." She concluded with a shrug as she landed next to me.

"That is pretty smart, I'm not gonna lie," I said as I combed the area with my drones and found no remaining spiders or other dangerous creatures, causing me to sigh in relief.

No wonder the locals weren't allowed to provide to barter with aliens using their currency. They've created an incredible city, but if you were an outsider and wanted to stay, you'd have to risk your life protecting it while the Aeollans sit on their asses.

I knew the city looked too utopic for its own sake, but that's just me being my cynical self. The world was not all rainbows and sunshine, and what the Aeollans were doing was perfectly normal.

"Yeah, the work isn't half bad either. Especially when you have some steam to blow..." Kara said with a bitter expression. "I used to come here to decompress every once in a while before I worked out my anger issues," She concluded.

"Well, it's definitely not a bad way to let loose... I'd bet this guy wasn't here to blow steam, though," I said, trailing off as I kneeled next to the half-eaten corpse of a strange-looking humanoid alien.

"Poor guy probably was in it for the money..." Kara said, shaking her head as she approached and noticed the dead alien. "It's bound to happen from time to time..." She concluded, putting a hand over my shoulder.

"Well, on the positive side, the Aeollans pay well, so we're set to enjoy the rest of the trip without dealing with any more alien crawlers," I said with a chuckle, putting my hand over Kara's as I changed the subject.

"Let's get back to the city and get our pay. Better yet, I'll race you there," I said as I jumped into the air and flew toward the city. "Last one to get there pays for lunch," I shouted, briefly turning to Kara before increasing my speed.

"I'm not ten years old, you know...?" Kara said, rolling her eyes at me, even as she flew into the air and chased behind at an incredible speed.

...

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