“Did you grab your jacket?” Mary asked concerned.

“Yes mom, and the scarf, and the first aid kit. Seriously, you’re worrying too much about this.” Samantha told her mother as she finished her breakfast.

“Well I'm sorry that I'm not comfortable with my baby going off to another planet to fight monsters!” she said. “Do you really have to do this?”

“Vork said that the sooner I start going to other worlds, the sooner I can get an exploration class. Besides, it’s just an afternoon trip through a portal to a place that’s already been explored. Since we’re all at least ten levels above the things were likely to find there, It’s basically a school picnic.”

“Speaking of which,” Thomas said as he came out of the kitchen holding a paper bag. “Here’s your lunch, toasted ham and cheese, and some carrot and celery sticks.”

“You know dad, the System actually takes care of vitamins and stuff based on your constitution score, so technically we can eat whatever we want.”

Her dad nodded in deep thought. “Really? That’s amazing, truly a game changer for chefs everywhere. Eat your vegetables.”

“Fiiine. Thanks dad.” She whined before taking the bag and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Thomas, can you please tell your daughter to take this more seriously?” Mary asked.

“Yes dear.” He said with a sigh before turning to his daughter. “Did you remember to bring a jacket? Your teacher said it’ll be colder there.”

She lifted her jacket from her bag and displayed it. “Mom already asked, and I've got the rest as well.”

“Well have fun then.” He said before heading back to the kitchen.

“Is that seriously all you’re going to say before she goes off risking her life?” Mary asked in disbelief, standing up, tears in her eyes.

Thomas paused, then went and hugged his wife tightly. “I know, and part of me doesn’t want her to go either. But this is how life is now, and we’ve always said we would support our kids no matter what. We chose to stay back and build up New Earth as production classes, because we knew who we were. I was a cook before, and I’ll be a cook until I can’t lift a saucepan, and I've never known you as anything other than an engineer. Though the way you argue sometimes makes me think I married a lawyer.”

“Hush you.” She said sniffling.

“Yes dear. But my point is our daughter hasn’t chosen that path. She’s decided she wants to boldly go where no one’s gone before, starting with places her parents haven’t checked out first. But that’s her choice to make. We don't have to like it, just be here when she gets back safely, after obeying all of her teachers instructions. Got that Samantha?”

She nodded. “Got it. I’ll be back by dinner, and try to grab you a souvenir.”

Wiping her tears away, Mary smiled. “Okay, I... I can do that. I just don't understand why you need to go to dangerous places at all.”

Samantha pulled out her notebook, checking her notes. “According to Vork, ‘collecting resources from uninhabited planets is the main income of most societies in the System. It lets people find rare things, and gather the basics like wood and ore without affecting our home planets’.”

“But it’s still dangerous! I don't want to lose you like-”

“Marcus isn’t gone! He’s just... off exploring on his own at the moment.” She interrupted, unwilling to hear different.

That got her Dad to her frown at her for a moment. “Don't snap at your mother like that, but you’re right. He’s just out checking the frontier before we get there. But here’s a question for you, little miss explorer: what do we do when the other planet has been mined as best we can?”

Samantha shrugged. “The System is big. There’s always another planet.”

~

“So, you’re a planet then. How’s that working out for you?” Marcus said as he walked, not really sure of where to go anymore.

“Working?” Datov asked eagerly.

This was one thing Marcus had found while communicating with the apparently sapient planet. It wasn’t dumb exactly, though hardly a genius either, but it struggled with communication. He’d tried asking it where it had learned the few words it knew, but all he’d gotten back was ‘learned’. How a planet learned a language at all was a mystery in and of itself, let alone one that he understood as well. Maybe telepathy is just weird like that, he wondered.

“Weird? Working?” Datov prompted again.

“Try to only listen to the stuff I say out loud, Datov, otherwise talking will get confusing. Now working means, well, doing work, but what I meant was how are you? Do you enjoy being a planet I suppose?”

“Happy! Talking! Weird?” It answered, jumping from one thought to another.

“Weird is something strange, or not normal.”

“Datov not normal? Good?” It asked, in wonder.

He chuckled. “Weird isn’t good or bad, it’s just not the same as everyone else. And I have no idea what’s normal anymore, maybe talking planets are common, maybe talking trees are weirder. Everything’s been pretty weird ever since I came here. To you, I suppose.”

“Not normal. Good. Datov best!” The planet asserted.

“I have to say, you’ve got some lovely views.” He admitted as he reached a small hillock and looked out over the sea of green. In the distance he could see enormous mountain ranges, even higher than the ones he’d fallen from. To one side he could see an ocean, its shimmering blue waters hinting at mysteries beneath.

“Don't know if you’re the best though. Some bad things have happened to me after I've arrived.” Marcus continued.

“Not Datov fault!” they said, sounding offended.

“Didn’t say it was. But one of the deer that lives on you, god that’s odd to say, took a bite out of me.” He said apologetically.

“Saw, stopped.” Datov agreed.

“Yes it stopped... or are you saying you stopped it?” he asked in surprise.

“Yes! Saved!” they answered with pride.

“You control the animals that live on you? All the Datovian ones?”

“Yes, no, little. Can push. Saved!”

Marcus processed this. “You can control them a little? Nudge them in the direction you want?”

“Nudge! Yes, Datov nudge, saved!”

“Well thanks for that I suppose, but I'm sure I would’ve been fine. I’ve managed to pull through other times on my own.”

“No, you bad. Datov save. Nudge wolf. Nudge bird. Nudge fish.”

“Bad? No I've managed just fine, a few scrapes but I kept getting... by...”

He thought back to some of the close calls he’d had. Getting away from curious wolves, having nothing else attack him out of instinct, even a fish grabbing him as he went over a waterfall and shielding him from impact. What were the actual odds of him managing all that on his own?

“Sounds like I owe you my life a few times over, though I think that’s balanced out now. But just how much have you been watching over me? And why?”

There was silence. Marcus kept on walking, deciding to head for the beach, knowing that Datov would speak to him when it was ready. It was almost an hour before the planet responded.

“...New. Felt arrive. Seen before. Never stay. Hope learn.” Datov said quietly.

Stopping dead, Marcus’s mind raced. “’Seen before’? There are other people living here?”

“Some come. All leave.” It replied sadly.

“How did they leave? Are there ship’s somewhere on you, which I could get on?”

“NO LEAVE!”

Again the ground beneath Marcus began shaking, but this time he held his ground, knowing the cause.

“I need to get back to my family Datov, I’m not going to leave them alone!” He told them firmly, refusing to sway.

“NOT ALONE!”

“They might be with each other, but not with me! I need to get back to them!”

“NOT THEM!” It cried desperately.

Oh, he realised. The planet didn’t want to be alone.

“What about the others who come? Can’t you talk to them instead?” he asked, trying to reason with it.

“Try! No hear, no live!”

That made sense, Marcus guessed. He’d managed to get by with some fairly extravagant luck and fate. Even the system had considered the planet’s touch extreme, so he had no idea how a person was supposed to survive it. He was also a bit upset that Datov was aware it would probably kill him, but filed that away for later.

“I get that, kind of. But I promised to get back to them. I don't want to just abandon you, but I can’t abandon them either. So what do we do?”

The earthquake rumbled to a halt, but overhead the sky began to darken as rain began falling.

“Don't want alone.” Datov cried.

“It’s ok, I'm still here for now.” Marcus said, awkwardly trying to pat the ground in an effort to console the world. “Maybe we can think of a way for others to talk to you. They could stay and talk like this, with no mana involved. But I need to find my family.”

“How?” they said, sadness still in their voice.

“I don't know.” Marcus said honestly, ignoring the twinge of pain in his heart the words caused. “But they aren’t here, so I’ll need to go to other places to find them. Do you understand?”

“Stay until?” Datov asked hopefully.

“I... can’t promise that. I don’t know what I’ll need to do to find them. But I suppose I can promise to stay here with you until I need to leave. Maybe by then we can find you some more friends.”

“Promise?”

“Yes I promise.”

As a feeling of acceptance and happiness came through the mental connection, the rain lessened clearing up as the clouds rolled away. As Marcus watched the weather shift, he wondered just how long Datov had been isolated like this. It’d been over a month now since he’d seen another person, and it was definitely wearing away at him. How much worse would it get in a year? Two? How long did a planet live for?

“Datov? How long have you been alone here? Can any of the other planets talk?”

“Planets? Nothing. Only Datov.” They answered sorrowfully.

“For how long? How many years?” He pressed.

“Year?”

“A year is... well it varies I guess but I guess it’s something. How many times have you gone around the star while you’ve been alone?”

Datov laughed at him. “Wrong. Datov centre. Datov best!”

“That’s where you’re wrong I'm afraid, though humans thought that too for a long time. You see the star is actually the centre of what’s called the solar system, and then planets-”

Suddenly, it was night. Not dark caused by a passing object, not super dense storm clouds, but it was the night sky. Then as he watched, the sun reappeared from below the horizon and raced across the sky before night fell again in seconds. This happened once, twice, three times before it suddenly stopped before, against everything Marcus understood about space, it started going the other way. It raced around one way then the other, turning 90 degrees and spinning on a whole different axis. Eventually it just started circling above, making the shadows around him dance all while Datov laughed.

“Star is Datov’s! Datov is best!”

“ ...I see. That’s... I don't have words for that, I take it you control your moon as well?” He asked weakly.

“All Moon is Datov’s! See!” they declared, apparently wanting to show off. Sure enough not one but three moons span over the sky, spinning around with the sun in ways that would’ve made a physicist weep.

“Yes, that’s very impressive. Tell me if I'm wrong but... are those moons the same size as your star?”

“No.”

Marcus sighed in relief “Right, good, that makes sense. Because that would’ve been-”

“Bigger. Star more hot bright!” Datov explained, making the wooden figure put their face in their hands.

“One day, probably far off in the future, I'm going to get a grip on this universe, then squeeze and demand to know why.” He muttered with a groan. Pulling himself together he considered everything he’d learned.

“If you’re not stuck orbiting a star, can you go somewhere else? Go find more people?” he asked hopefully.

“How?” the planet asked eagerly.

“How? Well you survive space. Obviously. So can’t you just go somewhere else? It’d probably take a while but it’d work right?”

“Right! How go?” they agreed excitedly.

“How... Do you move? Can you move?” Marcus asked, now seeing the gaping chasm in his plan.

“Not know. How know if move?”

He thought about it for a moment, trying to dial all his thoughts back to their most basic.

“If you’ve moved,” he began slowly. “Then everything else around you would look like it was in a different spot. But if there’s nothing around you that you aren’t moving, then we’d have no way of telling if you’re moving at all. Damn!”

“Damn!” Datov repeated with enthusiasm.

“And we have Samantha all over again. You share her gift of picking up the worst words the fastest.”

“Samantha?” they asked with interest.

Marcus smiled as he resumed walking. “Since it looks like we’ll be spending quite a bit of time together, let me tell you a bit about my family...”