"Tell me, how do you feel about venturing into outer space," the reporters voice lowered for dramatic effect, as she spoke of the dark unknown, and then returned back to the every day perkiness of all news women. "And getting to meet aliens face to face."

Game looked at her with a stupefied stare. The way she talked down to him made him feel like an eight year old, and not the twelve- and a half -year old that he was. "Well... It's uh..." he tried to remember all of the things his mother and father had told him to say if asked any questions while on the trip. "That it's an honor and a privilege to be picked for this wonderful experience." he recited, having memorized the phrase a hundred times.

Content with his answer, the blond woman dressed in a powder blue suit- bold by news crew standards -moved onto hassle some of the other winners.

Game continued his wide Cheshire Cat smile. His nervous eyes were homed onto a little droid hovering in the air, it was shaped similar to that of a rectangle, but a knob on the top of it held twin rotors that caused it to float. The bot had tiny spindly arms that held its cartridge shaped body. A video camera. As soon as it turned away from him and began to follow the woman, Game dropped his charade.

The smile collapsed as he fell back onto the leather bench. He felt drained from this strenuous task of making his parents proud of him. But at the same time, a tickle deep in his belly was excited about this new adventure. In fact, he could barely believe it was happening to him of all people.

The letter had came in the mail almost two weeks ago, about the chance to win a free ride on a spaceship to Paona. An alien galaxy, far, far away. The invitation was sent out too a lucky one hundred children around the world. Space tourism wasn't exactly cheap, in fact, very few and mostly rich people got to cross the galaxy in one of the new space crafts.

This was a miracle for someone like Game. He had lived in a small town, the population was barely in the hundreds, and he only wished to grow up just so he could move out. And it was doubly incredible by the person who was sponsoring it.

"Look lady. I didn't sign any contract saying that you could put my image on TV, or ask me any questions about what I think of these alien dudes. I was only supposed to get on the spaceship, not listen to a washed up weather woman talk to me like I'm some kind of kid!" the sudden outburst drew Game and all of the other kids in the cabin to a boy who was poking a finger at the woman with a dark scowl on his face.

He was taller than Game, though he wasn't necessarily a tall boy, he was slight of figure with deep black circles around his eyes that made him look like a raccoon. Though, his powder white hair that was spiked into a multi-layered mohawk did help discourage the image. Game could tell more or less from looking at him that he was Native American, his deep red skin. The boy had a round and baby-ish face, and just like the rest of the children, he was wearing a dark blue jumpsuit with the IRECO logo on it.

IRECO standing for Interplanetary Relations Experts and Communication Operations -the logo being a picture of a silver globe on it, with a dark gray crescent ring going halfway across it.

IRECO was the organization that was providing the spaceship for this event.

Game smiled despite himself, amused by the boys actions but half of him thought it was a little harsh to be humiliate the woman on worldwide television. Though this empathy faded almost instantly as it had appeared.

Raccoon Boy turned away from the woman, stomping off in a huff. Game half expected him to seclude himself in his room like all those bratty teenagers on TV. But on the shuttle pod headed to the IRECO spacecraft, there were no doors or rooms, just a small carrier full of people, with only two adults.

The news lady was one, and the other was a security guard.

The security guard looked rather young, with a mostly bald chin that held only a few scraggly hairs on it. His matted hair was squashed under a cap on his head that said "IRECO Security Guard" on it. The visor on the cap covered his eyes in shadows, but the way his face was contorted you knew they burning with anger.

"Sit down! You're rocking the carrier." he shouted, a tinge of worry in his voice. Maybe heights weren't his forte...

The carrier itself was a rectangular room with padded, leather benches surrounding its perimeter,overhead luggage compartments hung down, all locked securely for the short flight. The place was a mad house, children walking around everywhere, peeking out of port side windows and hooting about how everyone looked like ants from up here, from these port holes hung dark blue curtains rolled up so as to give the children a clear view of the outside world. The carpet was of a royal blue color with golden images embroidered on it.

"Now you look here, you little brat. Miss Sweeney has given you all the best comfort avaliable, and this is the thank she gets? Now, sit down and shut up!" said the security guard, nodding at the news caster, who Game realized was Miss Sweeney

The woman was of a triangular shape, with broad shoulders but a narrow waist. Her hair was blond, cut short- as was the characteristic style of most women, if you had long hair they considered you old fashioned -Her hair curled over huge ears. She wasn't exactly fat, or skinny for that matter, and lacking of much muscle, which also was fairly common for anyone. Miss Sweeney's make up seemed to have been applied with a frying pan the way it was caked on and made her face look so squashed up, doing nothing to diminish the wrinkles that would never go away.

"And what are you going to do if we don't? Send us back home?" questioned Raccoon Boy, a cocky grin on his face that said, 'Come on, do it, I dare you.'

For a moment the man looked confused, as if he were wondering if there were anything he could really do. Then, helped by the boys suggestion, nodded. "Yes, I'll personally take you back home, and there'll be no space travel for you."

The man was pleasantly surprised for this annoucement to receive a silence reception. "Now sit down all of you." Leisurely, the children gravitated towards their seats, most mumbling their outrage about having to be quiet while all of these amazing things were happening around them.

"What a blowhard..." said the Raccoon Boy. Game jumped, looking to his side to see the odd boy right next to him.

Nervously, Game nodded, though didn't say a word. He didn't know what about him made him scared, but the Raccoon Boy frightened him, maybe it was the fact that he was a ticking time bomb of anger, whatever the reason, this was going to be a long, flight.

"And that woman... She has the brains of a defective NannyBot." he continued, "Wider than a-. Hey, kid? Are you even listening?"

"Huh? Oh... Er, yes." sputtered Game, he had only been half-listening to the boy, sure that he was speaking to another kid besides him.

"What's your name, anyway?"

"Game."

Just the reaction Game was expecting, the white haired boy laughed. "You can't be serious." Game frowned, sure his name was outlandish but it wasn't absolutely bizarre.

Tossing a sideways glance, he murmured, "It's short for Agamemnon."

The uproar that followed, shocked both Game and most of the most of the other passengers in the carriage. The boy had a loud voice, and his laugh was even louder. All eyes almost immediately turned to him, and the security guard ordered silence, though he continued speaking as if he had not heard him. "How do you even spell that?"

Game crossed his arms across his chest, "Well, what's your name?"

"Rocco "Babyface" Kane." he replied, looking down at Game with a smirk, pleased with himself.

Game arched an eyebrow, he spoke between chuckles, "Babyface?"

"Like the outlaw. One of the best bank robbers in the wild old west." He continued, not in the least deterred by Game's obvious unimpressed look. "And I plan to be just like him... 'Cept the whole getting shot in the head thing. Otherwise, he's my role model."

"I don't know how good of a role model a criminal could be..." said Game, staring at the boy with a plain expression, not sure if he should be laughing or very scared. He didn't need to choose as a wave of turbulence rocked the small craft, shaking it like a salsa dancer would a maraca.

Almost as soon as the shaking had begun it stopped, leaving the children stunned. "Don't worry children!" screeched the panicked reporter. "Just some turbulence."

"Some turbulence..." Game rolled his eyes and continued cynically, "The downdraft from the ships air vents nearly blew us into the water." He's voice died away into a murmur, as he tossed his head back towards the windows.

"What? Air vents, don't ships just use anti-gravity beams or whatever?" asked Rocco.

Game looked at Rocco with disbelieving stare. "No..." he said slowly, "When hovering in open air like this, they use recycled air and rotor blades to keep the ship aloft. The rotors are on all sides of the ship, and keep it suspended for a short amount of time, usually for loading and unloading things. Gravity does not work in the way of beams."

Rocco froze for a moment. "So... It's like a helicopter? You sure do know a lot about this kind of stuff."

"Helicopter? I guess you could say that..." Game shrugged self-consciously. "It's just a hobby of mine."

What followed was an awkward silence, mingling with the flirtatious giggles of the reporter and security guard, the pulsing hum of the thrusters, and the cacophony of laughter from various sects of children.

"So, you're some tech genius?"

"No, far from it." He said, regretting it almost instantly. With a shiver of nervousness, he sputtered on, trying to think on his feet. "Don't spaceships and the chance to see real live aliens excite every kids imagination?"

Rocco's eyes twitched for a second, and he frowned. "You're weird."

Game smiled awkwardly. Was that supposed to be a joke? Game frowned, his thoughts muddling over a reply. He was never really good with talking to strangers, it was something that was outright forbidden by his parents. He had few friends back home, though not for lack of trying. It just seemed like he was destined to join the few, the proud and the brave clan of geeks, nerds, and weirdos.

"You should hang out with me and my friend when we get on the ship." Rocco interjected, disturbing Game's thoughts.

"Uh... We'll see what happens, you know?" he whimpered, attempting to stockpile his scattered courage.

"Cool." Rocco replied with an unshakable smile.

The cliche doorbell jingle played throughout the carrier, and its occupants froze automatically. The disturbing squeal stopped as suddenly. "What was that?" squeaked a kid just as a thick glob of darkness spread across the windows, crawling throughout the cabin and covering it in inky shadows. A sinister chill swam through the gloom, before it was vanquished by a burning red light.

"We're here..." muttered Game, staring out of his window at the outside world that was tinted black as the carrier cruised into the empty docking bay.

While it might be cliche, Game's breath was literally taken away by the sight. It was a insane zeppelin, shaped like a cigar that spat hypnotic blue flames from its thrusters rather than a rank smoke. Just as Game had prophesied, enormous turbines spun wildly beneath the corners of the craft keeping it in awesome suspension above the rippling sea below. Coral stripes of striking design criss-crossed along its gargantuan flanks, its white plates shivered as it was stroked by sun. Curved fins like frozen waves stood at the head of unimaginable space craft.

In the short glimpse that he had before he was torn from the viewing screen by the paws of his travelling companions, he was filled with a bountious amount of astonishment, inspiration, and disbelief, it was indeed alien.