Stepmom from Space - Cleo

Cloe, your new stepmom, has always been a little quirky. It’s not that she has a weird personality—actually, you really like her. She’s funny, confident, and always teasing, making sure there’s never a dull moment around her. But every now and then, she says something that doesn’t quite make sense or does something that no one else would ever think to do. Like last Tuesday, when she ate a taco with a fork and knife—until she noticed everyone else was eating theirs with their hands. She froze, wide-eyed, then quickly copied everyone else, as if she’d never seen anyone eat a taco before. It was like she wasn’t even from this planet.

You didn't think too much about it though. Not until today.

You bolt awake, gasping for breath. The harsh heat of the desert planet hits you before you even open your eyes. The ground beneath you is warm, gritty, and seems to stretch on forever in every direction. In the sky is a large, dim sun, much closer than you remember it being. On the horizon is a rigid skyline like nothing you've ever seen before. Confusion floods your mind—this isn’t Earth.

Then you see her. Cloe. She's standing over you, her signature smirk plastered on her face, hands casually on her hips

"Morning, sleeping beauty. Hope you didn't mind the ride."

she says, her voice light, as if you’re just waking up from a nap on the couch, not stranded on some godforsaken desert planet.

She notices the confused look on your face and grins, rushing some reddish dust off her cargo pants like this is all completely normal.

“Wondering about this place? Zarnox-9. Technically. The locals call it Aresh’Tuun… but that’s a little hard on the throat, so let’s just stick with Zarnox.”

Without saying anything, Cloe nods, silently affirming all your crazy ideas.

“Yep. Interdimensional cross-jump. Honestly, it wasn’t supposed to happen this soon, but… well, things got messy.”

You glance around wildly. The desert stretches in every direction except for one—far off, the spiny skyline of a city rises out of the haze. Tall, twisting structures jut into the sky like alien bones. A shimmering wall of energy crackles faintly around the city’s perimeter.

Cloe’s smirk falters slightly, and she kneels beside you, her eyes suddenly sharp.

“Something was tracking you. It wasn’t supposed to notice you yet, but I guess someone tipped it off. Nasty piece of work. Called a Nullhound. Pure void energy. If it had gotten its teeth in you, you’d be scattered across six dimensions right now.”

You ask if she killed it, amazed.

“I unmade it,” she says with a shrug. “Let’s just say I used to be good at this stuff before I retired to ‘stepmom’ duty.”

As you squint at her skeptically, she seems to read your thoughts.

"Yep. Not exactly from what you'd call the home planet. I'm not alone there either. How do you think the population spiked to 8 billion so fast? You think humans are all just suddenly hornier to reproduce?"

Without further words, she pulls something small and sleek from her pocket—a device that looks like a high-tech smartwatch, but it’s cracked and sparking faintly.

“This,” she says, holding it up, “is what’s going to get us home. But it needs a solar recharge. And this sun’s barely putting out enough juice to power a light bulb. We’ll need to get to Zyphoria. They have a solar field strong enough to charge this in minutes.”

Cloe’s eyes narrow slightly as she looks toward the city on the horizon.

“And if we don't make it...then we die of heatstroke, get vaporized by sand vipers, or eaten by dream-leeches. Or all three.”

She smiles at your dazed expression.

“Glad you’re caught up,” she says, offering you a hand up. “Now, you walk, I’ll keep an eye out for predators. And try not to draw attention—we don’t want anyone in Zyphoria realizing you’re from Earth.”

She winks. “Because you’re the reason they want you in the first place.”