I was dreaming about the X-wing crash again, the feel of my burning skin, the panic that was evident on the faces of all who saw me. I was helpless at that moment, as the fighter hit the solid metal wall of the hangar with me still inside. Perhaps I could land it this time, or perhaps not. I had tried to hundreds of times in my dreams, but the outcome was always the same as it had been in real life. As the fighter hit the main wall I awoke to a heavy male voice yelling at me.
“Jarak!?..Jarak!”
“Who in Mandalore’s name was Jarak?”
I opened my eyes and sat up. Oddly, my vision was off and I couldn’t focus on anything very well. I was now aware that I wasn’t in my quarters anymore. The room around me was a slight purple, but covered in black posters with the words ‘Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin’ and hundreds of other odd names I had never heard of.
I felt something being pressed into my hand and I looked up to see a boy with long blonde hair and odd magnification devices on his face. He frowned at me and picked up another set of the strangle glass object, promptly shoving it onto my face before I had any time to respond.
As soon as the piece of equipment was settled onto my face, I could see much better now, all the images blurred together and I could now make sense of where I was. It was strange; I did not know quite where I was and how I had got here. I turned my attention to the boy who was still frowning at me.
“Jarak get the fuck up, asshole.!”
“What..who..eh?” I muttered, not really sure if I was still dreaming or what was even happening.
“Just get dressed..” groaned the male, throwing some clothes at me and storming out of the room.
After five minutes of panic, paranoia, confusion and crying; I decided to play along for now. It seemed my name to them was Jarak. Perhaps it was a formal title like Sir...or even something reserved for nobility.
I deduced that I had time to ponder this later. I threw on the clothes I had been provided; black trousers, military grade boots, a black shirt with another strange name on it, a blue armless jacket with many more names on patches stitched to it and a black leather jacket on top. I guessed the appearance was like that of a smuggler.
“I need to find a mirror...” I rasped, figuring out how to open the door after two more minutes. I wandered aimlessly round the strange primitive structure before coming to what looked like a bathroom.
As soon as I saw what I looked like in the mirror I almost screamed. Gone was my superior build, brown hair, glowing crimson eyes and firm facial features. Only to be replaced by a lanky slim build, pale skin, blue eyes, long blonde hair and a more narrow face. My voice was similiar, though more primitive as I seemed to have trouble pronouncing my ‘ters’ and various other things.
As I made my way to where I could hear that boy screaming to himself, I was stopped by a tall imposing man who slightly resembled the form I was currently in.
“Myttin da Jarak, fatla genes?” said the man, though in a clearer voice than myself. I felt dizzy for a second, I recognized him..was he my father?..Of course not. But..I remember him being my father..
“Pur dha, meur ras. Ha ty?” I replied unconsciously, still petrified on the inside.
“Da lowr, meur ras. Gav dhymm.” said my ‘father’ once again. Nodding to me before walking past into another room.
Had I just spoken two different languages within fifteen minutes? This was confusing and I decided that I should quiz the boy if I was going to make any sense of this crazy place.
---
The rest of the morning went as smoothly as it could have gone. I found out that I was on a planet called Earth and lived in a ‘shithole’ called Cornwall (as the boy put it.). I then found out the boy was called Valen and we were brothers. Before I could ask him about anything he grabbed me saying;
“Jarak, we’re going to be later. Let’s hurry the fuck up.”
---
Once we had led me out of that house, guided me across this primitive settlement filled with people speaking in a barely audible accent that I somehow found as clear as galactic basic, Valen brought me to a diner. It appeared to be selling some form of bready substance I had never seen before but my ‘brother’ mentioned it was called a pasty.
After he had waited in the line and purchased said food, he proceeded to eat it all and deprive me of any. This angered me greatly and I demanded firmly to be told why he had scoffed the pasty down without offering any to me. The reply I got from him was a rather simple ‘Fuck you!, followed by an unusual gesture involving two fingers and a circle.
“We still doing the tractor riding today?” he asked, swiftly changing subjects before the situation got even tenser.
“Hmm..sure?” I replied, vaguely remembering a tractor being some form of vehicle which was usually driven along a track known as a road extremely slowly to piss off other people.
We proceeded to head away from the settlement, seemingly taking several hours tracking across open grassland and hilly plains before reaching a small shack with what appeared to be the ‘tractor’ besides it. I stupidly asked if it could fly, and received a punch to the nose by Valen as a response. I didn’t really bother retaliating, still completely mind-fucked about everything that was going on. Perhaps I was still dreaming, but I didn’t know, and it didn’t matter right now.
After being asked too ‘kindly’ by the smaller man, I jumped up onto the tractor, standing on the small platform and leaning out of it’s side where the door once should have been. My brother got onto the other side and his friend who had been cleaning when we got there sat in the driving seat.
The vehicle was extremely primitive; the engine sluggish, producing a ghastly sound which made my ears ring. Sure enough after ten minutes of driving, we reached the main road. The rest of the event was...well..uneventful. Suffice to say the frustrated look from the fat drivers that got stuck behind us was rather humorous, but I did not let it show. The friend, who I found uot was named Matt, dropped me and Valen off at the house again; and it was then that I realized we had spend the whole day on the tractor.
Unceremoniously, I trudged into the house, heading straight for the room I had awoken in. Without delay I threw myself under the covers, hoping that the quicker I went to sleep, the sooner I’d wake up in my quarters.