This was not Earth.

This was the ruins of an empire. These were the strewn, nearly fossilized bodies of millions of terrestrial creatures, mangled into alien skeletons. This was an atmosphere hardly breathable to those who had not acclimated to it over a poisoned decade, eerie red smog drowsily weaving its way through ammonium clouds.

This was not the home he had left.

Harlan had nowhere to go, and even if he did, he had no way to get there. Just hours before the Christa had dropped him off at the Moon Colony port, where he was to catch a commercial shuttle back to his native Terra. But as he slid his passport chip, embedded with picture of a face seven years younger than his own, past the customs officer, as the computer bleeped the statistic that he had not set foot on Earth since...too long ago, the man gave him at once a stern and sympathetic look and uttered, "Destination Earth? You don't want to go back there."

Weary from having been only one of two Earthers among a Mercurian, Saturnian, Uranian, Martian, Andromedan, and Yensidian crew for so long, Harlan snatched back his passport chip angrily and sighed, "Oh, I want to go back. It's my home."

"You'd be wise to find a new home," the customs officer snarled. "You are aware we only shuttle to Earth on rescue or reunion missions?"

"This is a reunion," Harlan insisted. "And why does the Moon suddenly have something against transporting people to Earth? The last I knew they were close allies. Did some other planet try to take over our satellite again?"

"Have you entirely missed out on the last several years of Sol System history?" The customs officer raised one eyebrow. "Or are you just blissfully ignorant?"

"Hey, that's no way to talk to someone who's been stranded in space for seven years," Harlan retorted. "And actually, yes, I have missed out on a lot. Our vessel has been slowly degrading over the last seven years, ever since we went through a white circle and ended up halfway across the universe. But I need to get back to Earth so I can find my family and they can watch me get my honorary degree at the Starcademy."

"The Starcademy?" the officer repeated. "Is your family associated with the Starcademy?"

"My father was a Stardog," said Harlan, "but he's been dead since before I left."

"I don't know if you'll have any luck finding any survivors of Starcademy family members." The customs officer's voice softened. "I hate to break it to you, but Earth has undergone quite a few wars since you left it, and you won't find it to be a home. The far reaches of space would feel much more secure a shelter to me at a time like this."

"What do you mean?" Harlan asked. His heart suddenly began racing, and his forehead became hot and broke out into a sweat. He felt as if he suddenly had to swallow a horror darker than than any he had ever dreamed. All these years he had imagined what it would be like to step back on Earth for the first time, to inhale the familiar air and take in the sights. And now he had to face the consequences of a war, again? "A war with who?" he asked.

The customs officer sighed. "A war between the two hemispheres. Earth is divided between East Terra and West Terra. East Terra tried to declare independence from West Terra nearly five years ago, and their rebellion failed miserably. But they managed to kill a lot of people. The war only ended eight months ago, and that was only because both sides ran out of resources completely. Now everyone's just doing the best they can to survive. Most of West Terra fled here, to the Moon, or to the Mars Colony. East Terra went after the most prominent scientists and explorers first. They were convinced everything they said was wrong. They didn't want to form alliances with new planets because they felt the culture of the Sol System, and the culture of Earth, would be in danger. Our greatest minds perished long ago. If you go back there, I don't know if you stand a chance."

Harlan felt something blocking his throat, and he was afraid to blink for the hot liquid filming his eyes. "I don't understand," he said.

"It's difficult to understand." The customs officer lowered his gaze to the ground. "I don't know how they intend to fix it. I truly don't."

Harlan let out a ragged breath and gritted his teeth. "I want to see it anyway," he said. "It's my home."

"Listen," said the customs officer, "I'll have to let you go if you insist, and I'll even arrange for you to come back. We have an air drop scheduled to take place in three days, and sometimes they land to collect survivors and bring them back here. But I can't promise you that you'll find what you're looking for."

"I understand," said Harlan.

Only hours ago he had been on Saturn's moon Titan, his first visit to an outer planet. It was stunning. The sun refracted warm rainbow rays off of the planet's icy rings, and when the sun set, the horizon glowed colors Harlan had never seen before. He had insisted on accompanying Catalina back to her home, and they had spent two wonderful Saturnian hours wandering her childhood streets and eating local delicacies. A friendliness Harlan had never experienced on Earth encompassed everything.

It had been a magical two hours.

The Christa had finally made its way back to the Sol System after a journey through the unpredictable void of space. Its engines made a grunting sound as they churned slowly, indicating that the ship would soon be out of commission. It had slowed down significantly in the past several months, especially in the last year, after Suzee performed a complicated feat harnessing all the power in the hyper-drive to pull Catalina back from her dimension and onto the Christa. It was a risky maneuver, but Catalina had begun to succumb to illness after the atmosphere on Yensid dramatically changed, as it did every few rotations. The native Yensidians had no problems with this atmospheric change, but Catalina, lacking gills, fell ill with symptoms the Yensidians, having never encountered this problem themselves, had no idea how to treat.

Catalina had been the Christa crew's only portal back to somewhere like home, and even her connection with them was faulty. She could only communicate with Suzee on rare occasions, especially when she was in distress. She had evened out the male to female ratio on the Christa and brought a refreshed perspective to the crew, having been in an unfamiliar dimension for five years and now ready to be back in space for awhile. Catalina had also enrolled in Suzee's former school on Yensid and educated herself about useful things that the rest of the crew found invaluable. Harlan didn't know how he would have survived the antsy waiting period of that last year without her.

Commander Goddard suggested the Christa drop Bova, Catalina, Harlan and Rosie off on their home planets before returning to the Starcademy. The entire student crew, as well as Suzee, would be granted honorary degrees from the Starcademy for their extended "field study", demonstrating mastery of the perils of space travel. Commander Goddard, in his last successful communication with the Starcademy nearly five years before, had arranged this, and he knew the Starcademy would keep their word. The students would spend a week on their home planets before bringing their families back to the Starcademy for their private graduation ceremony. Radu, Suzee, Miss Davenport and Commander Goddard would go straight back to the Starcademy to announce the return of the Christa and arrange for the ceremony.

A few hours after dropping Bova off on Umbriel, the remaining crew watched the rings of Saturn come into view, and Catalina beamed with excitement. "It's prettier than I remembered it," she squealed.

"Hey, Cat," said Harlan, "what if I come with you? I'd really like to escort you back to Titan."

Catalina looked at Commander Goddard and Miss Davenport. "Would you let him do that?"

Commander Goddard shrugged. "I don't see why not. We could dock on Titan and let the engines rest for a bit. It might be good for the ship. Wouldn't it, Suzee?"

Suzee's eyes flitted to Harlan. "Yeah," she said. "I think it would be." She turned back to her Compupad.

The Christa eased its way onto Titan's docking bay and Harlan and Catalina climbed through the air bridge and into Titan's space port. Harlan looked around at the unfamiliar, yet charming, metallic magenta walls and teal spirals that hung like mobiles from the ceiling. A sign proclaimed "Saturn Welcomes You - Za Ba Ga Be!" in a flourish of fancy script. The floor was made up of tiles that shifted from red, to orange, to yellow, to the rest of the colors of the rainbow every few seconds. Everything was streamlined, but somehow felt comforting, as well. Catalina and Harlan slid their passport chips through the slits in the "stomachs" of the customs androids, who asked them if they had anything to declare. "Just that I'm home!" declared Catalina. Harlan smiled at her.

The two got into an air rail ship and Harlan watched the rocky landscape whiz by, the multicolored rays of the sunshine turning the mountains into shining monuments. "We get off here," Catalina whispered to him a few minutes later, and they quickly climbed out of the ship just before it zoomed off. They took an elevator down to the exit, and Harlan was greeted by a sweet scent he'd never smelled before. It reminded him of when his mother used to scrub him in the bath as a little kid, for some reason, light and clean, and he breathed it in nostalgically.

"What's that scent from?" Harlan asked Catalina.

"What?" she asked. "That's just how the air smells."

"But it's not like Earth's smell," said Harlan. She shrugged. "I mean, it doesn't smell like that on the Christa, either."

"It could be from the blossomer," said Catalina, pointing to a nearby tree, which had a bright red bark and was hung by a fluffy web of blue pom-poms, which almost looked like an ancient Earth food Harlan had once seen in an educational film, called cotton candy. "Those trees oxygenate Titan. We don't think they smell like anything. But I guess they do to you."

"Interesting," said Harlan.

Catalina led him down the street, past a myriad of houses, all of different colors, that were made of the same metal as the space port walls. They came to Catalina's house, which was orange, and had an orange blossomer tree with a navy bark in the front yard. Catalina looked at her Compupad before opening the door. "My guardians are probably at work right now," she told Harlan.

She led him inside her house and up to her room. Her walls were painted in rainbow stripes and her bed had a reversible orange and yellow metallic comforter with red sheets and blue and purple pillows. "Does everyone on Titan decorate their houses like this?" Harlan asked.

Catalina groaned in a friendly manner. "We Saturnians see color differently than you do, Harlan. To us monochrome is boring. It almost hurt my vision to look at the grey walls of the Starcademy every day. That's probably why I almost failed out. This is just normal to us."

"Well, it's pretty," said Harlan.

"Do you want to see one of my favorite places?" Catalina asked. "It's just down the street. It's a park. It should be gorgeous this time of year."

She led him outside, where he had to blink several times to stop his eyes from unfocusing. He had to wonder if it would be possible for him to get used to all these colors like Catalina had to get used to the lack of color at the Starcademy. A few blocks away Harlan saw an enormous triangular prism rising into the sky, and surrounding it was a pond reflecting the sun's rainbow colors. Animals the likes of which Harlan had never seen before grazed around the pond. "Wow," he breathed. "I've never seen anything like it before."

"I always used to come here when I needed cheering up," said Catalina. "It always worked."

They sat in the park, talking and laughing, until that glorious sunset that Harlan would always keep in his memory. Then they walked, slowly, back to Catalina's house. Her guardians weren't home yet, but they would be soon.

"It was an amazing afternoon," Harlan told Catalina as they arrived at her doorstep. "Thanks for letting me come with you."

"It was no problem." Catalina smiled.

"Hey, have you ever been to Earth?" Harlan asked her. "Weren't your parents diplomats?"

"Yeah, we went to Earth, a couple of times," said Catalina, "but I was much younger."

"Where'd you go?" he asked.

"We went to Catalina," she laughed. "Off of California. It was beautiful."

"Yeah? Maybe you'd like to visit me there sometime."

"Yeah. Yeah, maybe," said Catalina.

"Well," said Harlan, and took a deep breath. A giddy sensation bubbled up inside him, spreading from his stomach to his throat, and all the way down to his toes. Catalina was smiling at him, and she looked so pretty in the light of the sunset, and the scent of blossomer filled the air. He slowly leaned forward and drew his face toward hers.

"Harlan," said Catalina sternly, backing away, "no."

Harlan withdrew and looked her in the eyes. "Why not?" he asked softly.

"We can't do this," she said, and her voice sounded far away, wobbly and hollow. "Harlan, I'm sorry, we can't."

"I just thought..." Harlan's voice trailed off. He didn't know what he thought. He shook his head. "Cat, if it's about the distance, if it's because you think there's some external factor-"

"It isn't," said Catalina.

"Oh." Harlan tentatively reached out his hand and lightly touched her shoulder. "I'll see you at the Starcademy."

Catalina stepped forward and drew Harlan into a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder. "Let's keep in touch," she murmured.

It felt like hours before Catalina released her grip on Harlan. He hadn't hugged her back. He couldn't make himself put his arms around her. They felt stiff and heavy, and his heart was empty. "Goodbye, Cat."

"See you," she said, stepping back into her house and closing the door behind her.