In France, as well as most French-speaking countries, we call PE (physical exercise) 'Gym'. Once you're in college, it changes to 'Sports', but everyone still says gym. That's why this character mentions gym at some point. She does not take artistic gymnastic classes. She's talking about the sport at school.

Thanks to shadowoftheblackdeat, Alyce DreamEater, and an unnamed guest for their wonderful reviews.

My first review was from shadowoftheblackdeat, my bestie! Hugs to you, friend!

As you can see, the main character comes across as a snobby girl who loves to use big words to make herself feel superior. She does have more depth than that, but for now she'll mostly come across as a girl convinced the world revolves around her. Of course, she'll see that's not the case soon enough, especially when she meets Riddick. ;)

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It turns out the name of the man I saved is Ulf Thorsten, captain of the... I think the name of the ship is something along the lines of 'Huntah Gratuh'.

Don't mock my accent. It's not my fault I don't understand a word of English.

After we land, Ulf has us all go outside. Some people, who have just come out of their plastic coffins, still seem half-asleep. The fact that we are outside makes it easier for me to finally see where we are.

I look around and the first thing I notice is that I'm in some sort of desert.

Not Sahara-type desert with lots of sand, but a desert in which the ground is just so dry that nothing grows there. That type of desert. And it doesn't even look nice. The place is ugly.

Forgot to mention, but there are… two suns.

...

...

Yeah.

Two suns, which the planet I'm on is orbiting around.

It is veeeeery... shocking, to say the least.

So anyway, this really drives home the fact that nothing I have lived (with the whole spaceship thing) is a joke. I'm not on Earth anymore.

I will attempt to stay calm about this whole situation.

We are being organized into groups right now. The captain is putting us all together and counting us, I think. He's probably counting us to see if anyone is missing or dead.

I'm standing between that Japanese guy that I saw earlier, inside the spaceship, and some kid wearing a turban. I think he's picking his nose.

I try to subtly lean away from the disgusting kid, but I think he noticed. He glares at me, as if I was the one indulging in repulsive habits.

Ugh, children these days.

I'm really, really hot, and I'm just happy that I'm not wearing long sleeves. Back home, it's summer. Despite that, I tend to wear many layers during that season, as I do during the whole year, generally. Not for any reason… I just like feeling covered. It's comforting to me.

So I'm lucky I'm wearing shorts, leggings and a tee-shirt. As well as a very thin jacket.

My clothes are all in light colours and I'm not sure that's a good thing, because I know that people who live in deserts tend to dress in very dark colours. I don't know why but I think, considering they'd know more about how to live in the desert than me, that it means my lightly coloured clothes put me at a disadvantage.

Luckily, I have some water in my bag (at least I won't die of thirst anytime soon), as well as other things… like my school stuff. Heh. Bit useless right now.

I have some water, but I'm not taking it out right now. I'm in an unfamiliar environment and frankly, imagine if this is some sort of world where there's very little water, and constant wars between various groups/countries/planets for some of it. I might be mobbed if these people see me with some. I've done school projects on the status of water in the future for my geography class, and I know that wars over water are entirely possible and will happen in the future, on Earth, as our population increases and pollution continues.

This desertic planet doesn't seem to have any source of water, so it is entirely possible I am correct with the 'wars over water' theory.

I'll drink some of my water later on, when I'm alone.

Oh. I notice now that the captain is coming out with some bottles of water. Huh. That means that I can probably take out mine without encountering any trouble.

Ulf knows that I cannot speak English (well, it is pretty apparent), so he just shoves a water bottle in my hands.

"Thank you," I say, knowing how to say that much.

I can't exactly inform him of the fact that I already have some, and I feel too tired to open my bag and look through tons of things just to fish out my bottle and show it to him.

So… I'll just pretend I have no water. More for me, right?

He also gives us some food, to me and the other survivors of the crash, but it's really, really, really icky stuff, like what astronauts eat. No taste and it's… just so bland that it turns out to be disgusting and impossible to stomach. I don't eat much of it.

The people next to me, though, seem to have no problem consuming it.

Everybody's pretty much talking, some are looking around, and I think that blonde woman, who helped the captain land the ship… I think she's announcing something to us all. I don't really know what she is saying, but I nod in a sufficiently convincing 'knowing' manner, as if I understand her words.

The ones around me seem to understand, and, I mean, I'm just one girl in the middle of a crowd of, what, thirty? … forty? …fifty? Anyway, I'm in a large crowd of people, and she won't notice that I am not listening.

After that speech she makes, there's nothing to say, really.

People scatter. Some go back inside the ship, others sit on the ground… There's a group that sits down in a circle, with a packet of cards. The cards are a bit strange, translucent, and different pictures are on display. I don't think it's a game in which the opponent mustn't know what cards you have. These are see-through, and such a game would be impossible. How do they play stuff like poker with those? The opponent would easily be able to see what cards you have!

I'd be very interested in trying to learn this game despite the language barrier, but right now I'm having an internal panic attack due to having landed in a very distant future, so it will have to be postponed until further changes.

Time travel. Seriously, I never believed it to be possible. The concept is fascinating, yes, but physically I know it is impossible. Perhaps one day we will find a way to make the impossible possible, but I know that such an idea, that time travel, exists only in fiction. Though, considering the fact that I am in the future, it is possible that in this time, time-travel is possible, and they brought someone to the future as a test? That someone would be me, of course. And maybe they had somehow brought me to this ship? But my theory has holes in it, like the fact that if it were true, I'd have appeared in a laboratory with time-travel devices, not in the middle of a spaceship. It seems a bit too bizarre to me.

Ugh. I have no way of explaining what has happened to me. Obviously it is not some joke - everything is too real for that, and even with all the money in the world, I don't think it's possible to come up with such a convincing decor.

Two suns, for Pete's sake!

With nothing left to do, I decide to return inside the ship. I'm feeling a bit bored now that all the excitement is gone. To be frank, I've always belonged to the group of girls who hope that one day some adventure will occur, with them as the main character. I've often written short stories in which some character or another ends up in a completely unfamiliar world and is set on a quest of some sort that only he or she can complete. Whenever I think of adventure, I think of that.

This is quite the disappointment. This situation, I mean. The crash was the most interesting thing to happen, and despite the fact that there are varied people here (some are dressed in very Lady Gaga-ish ways that I am not surprised to find in a futuristic world)...

Well, despite it all, I am still disappointed. I am waiting for some sort of obstacle or opponent, or the person who shot at the ship to appear. Anything to spice things up.

If I am living my own adventure, surely the gods could have the kindness to make this slightly more intellectually stimulating.

So, right now I am inside the ship. I walk along the rooms in which those boxes (coffins) are, and I go to that main room, the navigation room, where the captain and his blonde assistant were an hour or two earlier, landing this ship.

The captain is there. He must have returned here while I wasn't looking at him.

He is using a small device and talking to it. I believe it is either a phone or a radio. He is probably calling for help, though I cannot be sure.

He stops talking as soon as he notices I am there. He says a final word to the radio. I believe it is the English word 'over'? And then he turns to me.

He looks very happy. Disturbingly so. It does not suit his face. His face is the kind that is supposed to look serious all the time. It's not made for smiles. He bends down to retrieve something on the floor. I can't quite make out what it all is.

It's a pile of tubes of some sort. Really thick, about as thick as a broom handle, and made out of several metal parts, so that it can be bendable. Though, judging by how easy it is for the captain to carry them, I believe they probably aren't metal. They must have been painted silver.

I mean, metal is supposed to be a bit heavier than that. Or, considering that this is (from what I've seen) a futuristic world, it is possible that people here are genetically modified to be stronger, which would explain how the captain can carry all those tubes, if they are made of metal.

He hands them to me, and I open my arms, feeling a bit against the idea of carrying these heavy things. But when I finally get a hold of them, I realize that there is no genetic modification at work. These tubes are simply light.

He says something, and I realize I can actually understand a word in it:

Oxygen.

I have noticed that on this planet there seems to be less air. I had difficulties breathing outside, and just before, while listening to the blonde woman, I felt as if I had just run, or been in gymnastics class.

I nod as I did with the blonde woman, earlier. He probably won't notice the fact that I haven't understood a word he said. It is strange, considering he realized while in the ship, half an hour earlier, that I am unable to speak English. (How I regret never applying myself to school. It could have come in handy right now.)

Maybe, considering how many people there are here, he forgot about me, and my poor language skills?

No. I do not believe so. After all, I am the one who saved him. Had it not been for me, he would surely be dead.

Captain Ulf points towards the doors of the room, and I think that either he wants me to head to one of those rooms filled with coffins, or he wishes me to exit the ship, and... maybe give these tubes to somebody? Since I do not know what he wants, I decide to just start walking, and hopefully I'll know when the time is right to stop... and do something with the tubes.

I leave the navigation room and enter one of the coffin-rooms. There are two people in the room. One is a man, really tall, and his skin is quite strange. It has a purple tint. And his hair... it's not hair at all. It seems to be some sort of thick... well, the only thing I can think of is saying that his hair resembles thick dreadlocks, but they don't seem to be made out of hair. I don't quite know how to describe it. Also, he is wearing very little clothing.

I turn away, trying to ignore how indecent he is. Judging by how comfortable he looks, it is probably normal fashion for him, or for the era.

A bit further away is a woman. She is dressed with more articles of clothing, and in a way that I can recognize, a fashion from back home. There is a black blouse, and trousers. It is strange to think that blouses are still popular, considering I am most likely in a future several centuries away from my time.

I look around the room, wondering if I am supposed to do something with the metal tubes here, but nothing stands out, so I continue walking.

I leave the spaceship, instantly blinded by the light of the two suns. I am hot again, and I really wish all these people will find a way for us to leave this planet soon.

The metal things are handed over to the blonde woman. She seems to know what is happening, and will probably be of more use than myself and my cluelessness.

She offers them to people, one set per person, and I see them put the tubes around themselves, attaching them to their bodies. They hold on to the end of their metal tubes/cords. It is slightly thicker, shaped like a container. They put it in their mouths, and judging by the sound I hear, these containers are indeed filled with oxygen. Though I wonder how these tubes, with their flimsy containers, can hold enough oxygen to be remotely useful. Must be futuristic stuff that makes it possible.

The blonde woman gives me one, and I try to attach it like I see the others do. Unfortunately, I am not successful. The blonde woman helps me. I do not feel very comfortable. I don't overly like being treated like a child when it comes to such simplistic things.

She says something to me in English.

I see the realization appear on her face, the moment of 'oh yes, doesn't speak English'. She has remembered.

She points at herself and says: "Carolyn."

That is comprehensible. It is undoubtedly her name.

The woman then adds: "Fry."

Her name is Carolyn Fry.