"Ok everyone, we got permission to stay for 5 days so let's get started immediately. You know what to do." Minho said as he locked up the ship.

"Yes captain." The others replied in unison.

"We'll stay in contact over radio so report your status every 3 hours. Iris, Sara, Kenta, come with me." Minho walked towards the border control center behind the ship. "We'll gather some more information." He said to the other 3 who nodded and followed him.

"Well then, Taemin, Star, Miyoung, we should go into town and see if we can get what we need." Jonghyun opened up a hologram and found their checklist.

"Okay" Taemin sighed, he stood up and brushed off his pants before following the others towards town.

Onew, Key, Jihoon, Haru and Tatsuya said good bye to Dan who stayed behind to guard the ship. Then they took off to the opposite side of town. Taemin gave them one last look before he sighed again and averted his eyes on to the path ahead of him. Jonghyun, the 2nd pilot and Taemin's closest friend was leading the way. Star, 2nd doctor and Miyoung 1st scientist were talking about some plant they were hoping to find. Taemin thought they were way too excited over some little plant, what he wanted was som decent food. He had already had enough of the food they had picked up on their last stop 2 weeks ago. It's not that he was picky but even Haru had admitted that it was gross and that guy ate everything. Taemin kicked an old can off the road and sighed for about the hundreth time. He would've much rather gone with Haru, the weapons expert, Onew, 1st engineer, Key, 2nd engineer, Jihoon 2nd scientist and Tatsuya, crew assistant to buy new weapons and whatever else they were getting. Surely that was more interesting than gathering plants and looking around the planet. Although anything was better than going with Minho, the captain, Iris, the navigator, Sara 1st doctor and Kenta, vice captain. They were too strict and boring, and what woud they be doing for 5 days ? Gathering information, boring !

"Taemin pick up the pace, you're slower than a snail." Jonghyun abrupted Taemin's thoughts.

"Yeah I think you're leaving a trail, eww !" Star pointed behind him and laughed.

"Shut up." Taemin sighed but picked up the pace.

"Is something bothering you ?" Jonghyun asked and looked at Taemin over his shoulder.

"Nah, I'm bored. That's it." Taemin wiped a drop of sweat of his chin, it was too damn hot here.

Jonghyun didn't say anything else and just kept walking, Taemin struggling to keep the pace behind him. 

"Oh there is a herb store over there and it's right next to a pharmacy !" Star exclaimed and ran off in that direction.

"I need to ask someone what's powering the street lights... They're completely different from anything I've seen." Miyoung muttered.

"We can ask the locals over there while we wait for Star." Jonghyun suggested.

"I'd prefer to ask someone qualified..." Miyoung sighed.

"Well where are we supposed to find scientists or something like that ? We don't even know if-"

"Fine, whatever." Miyoung cut Jonghyun off, clearly annoyed.

"Do you want to look for a room somewhere, Taemin. I don't know how long it will take before Star is done." Jonghyun turned to Taemin as Miyoung approached some people on the street.

"Okay, my tracker is activated so you can follow me whenever." Taemin left before Jonghyun could change his mind.

He didn't want to be around a moody Miyoung or an excited Star, they were equally annoying. It had gotten dark by now but the street lights lit up the street ahead. Taemin noticed that he was all alone on this street and there seemed to be only civilian houses on it. Come to think of it he hadn't seen any vehicles or even police robots drive by either. They had been escorted by police ships as soon as they came close to planet and the border control center had been crammed with police robots. Now it had been a while since he had seen any. Maybe he was being over cautious. He shrugged to himself and continued in on another street. In the distance he spotted a sign exclaiming that there were rooms for rent. Taemin made his way over there. He entered the rather big house and the room lit up as he walked in. There were a counter with some kind of old computer screen on it. Taemin looked at it in confusion, it was so old fashioned that he had no idea how to use it. He was just about to give up and radio Miyoung when an old lady came over to the counter.

"I see you're having trouble young man, I own this place, how can I help you ?" The old lady smiled, her eyes dissapearing in wrinkles.

"I would like to rent a room please, for 4." Taemin smiled awkwardly.

"Okay, I have one free, if you would fill in your information on here please." The old lady turned the screen towards him.

"Uhm, eh, haha, I don't know- I mean that was the problem, uh, how do I do this ?" Taemin stared at the screen and still had no clue what to do.

"Oh, well I can do it for you. What's your name ?" The old lady put her glasses on and tapped at the screen with her index finger.

"Lee Taemin, uh, so Taemin Lee, I mean Taemin is my first name, if that's how it's-"

"Hahaha, you're not from around here, are you ?" The old lady laughed and tapped in his name on the screen.

"No, sorry, I'm from Vexan, I just came here today." Taemin scratched the back of his head and looked around awkwardly.

"Ah Vexan ! My grandson went there to become a doctor, 3 years ago that was, then this must feel like an ancient place to you huh ?" The old lady laughed.

"Oh no ! It's just this- I'm not very interested in technology and stuff." Taemin said, trying not offend the old lady.

"Haha. Is that so. Your ID code please ?" The old lady smiled again.

"Eh ? You don't scan that ? Uh, wait a minute, I have it somewhere..." Taemin started pulling out papers from his back pack, when was the last time he had needed his ID code ?! It had probably never even happened now that he thought about it.

"Oh ! Here it is, uh...ehe is this it ?" Taemin stared at the little plastic card with several numbers written on it, he hadn't looked at this properly since the time he got it several years ago.

"Oh yes, and this, this is your tracking number, you recognize it ?" The old lady pointed to one of the other numbers on the card as she tapped in his ID code on the screen with her other hand.

"Oh, it is." Taemin felt a little embarrased for not noticing.

"Sign here then, Mr Lee." The old lady handed him something that locked similiar to a pen but bigger.

"Eh what. Eh let's see, ok." Taemin clumsily wrote his name, he had never believed his teacher when he had said he needed a signature so he had never bothered coming up with one. And Mr Lee ?! He tried to hold back laughter, that's something people called each other in old movies, Mr, the situation felt so surreal now.

"Okay, now you just follow the green blinking lights." The old lady laughed. "You're a strange one."

"Eh right." Taemin stuffed the papers down his bag and grabbed it to follow the lights upstairs.

Taemin said good night to the old lady, who said one of her employees would let his friends in when they arrived, in case they too had problems with the screen. He reached the room and it opened when he pushed a button next to the green lights who stopped blinking when he opened the door. He throwed himself on one of the three beds, yes there were only three beds, and let out a sigh of relief. Taemin cursed himself for not paying more attention in technology class, if Jonghyun, Miyoung or Star had come here they most likely would've figured out how to register themselves in a minute. Taemin had never been a good student though, he only cared for being a pilot and even in that class he hadn't payed much attention since his neighbour Marco had been teaching him to fly space ships and air planes since he was 10 years old. He smiled when he remembered those days. When Marco had died, about a year ago, Taemin had dropped out of school. He had forced Jonghyun to take him to Minho, to join his crew. Because when Marco was gone and Jonghyun was leaving to explore the the world, Taemin would be left all alone. Jonghyun had given in when Taemin threathend to join a crew of pirates if he didn't take him to Minho. Minho on the other hand was convinced almost immediately and even made him 1st pilot, which had previously been Jonghyun's position. Taemin had been surprised to see two more of his seniors from school, Key and Iris also joining Minho. Although when he thought about it they weren't really the type to be satisfied with an ordinary life either. Taemin didn't regret coming with Jonghyun and the others to leave Vexan, even though he had struggled to adapt to living in such a small space with so many people. He had nothing left on Vexan. His parents and brother had died in the latest terrorist attack on Vexan when Taemin was 5, he didn't even remember them. He could stare at their pictures or videos sometimes but he felt nothing but rage, they had died in vain. All because of some idiots who believed the Vexan government needed to do something to help the smaller planets. 300.000 civillians died in that week known as the Green Thunder's Holiday. The sky had flashed green over and over again with toxic bombs. Taemin didn't remember though, he had learned about it in school.

"Ey, Taemin ?"

Taemin jumped when someone touched his shoulder. He looked around confused for a second, the light seemed too bright so he blinked furiously to adapt to the light. He realized he must've fallen asleep. Jonghyun stood beside his bed.

"What time is it ?" Taemin yawned.

"It's 5 am, sorry, things took longer than expected." Jonghyun sighed.

"Why would you wake me up at 5 am, no way I'm getting up yet." Taemin pulled the covers over his head.

"Well make room, I'm not sleeping on the floor." Jonghyun pushed Taemin over to the side of the bed and sat down on it.

"What ?! Can't you sleep with Star, I came here first ! I get to pick." Taemin tried pushing the older male off the bed but it was useless, Jonghyun was much stronger than him.

"Oh Taemin come on, don't force me to sleep next to- that- that thing !" Jonghyun pleaded and pointed at Star who was already fast asleep, squirming around in the bed, reminding Taemin more of an octopus than a human.

Taemin sighed, it would be cruel to ask anyone to share a bed with that guy. He looked over at Miyoung and before he even caught sight of her he was met with a boot, hitting his face dangerously hard.

"Don't look at a woman when she is sleeping !" Miyoung said sternly, voice full of warnings.

"Damn crazy people, why am I stuck with these pests." Taemin muttered, quietly enough for no one to hear. Taemin kicked the boot of the bed and stared at the wall instead.

"One day I'll get my own space ship and I'll hire normal people..." He continued.

"Hah, yeah one day." Jonghyun laughed quietly.

Miyoung started snoring soon enough and Taemin felt himself drift in to sleep again to the familiar sound. When he woke up the next day it was already noon. Miyoung had already left and Taemin guessed Jonghyun was in the shower since there were noise coming from the bathroom and Star was still sleeping. He stretched out this legs and yawned. His stomach rumbled loudly, he was starving. He went over to Star and kicked the guy.

"Ey, Star, get up." Taemin kept kicking the sleeping guy.

"Whaaaat. Wha, I'm tired." Star rolled around.

"Did you get any food yesterday ? Star ? Star wake up damn it !" Taemin grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

"Oh food." Star finally opened his eyes and sat up, he looked around seemingly confused by the unfamiliar surroundings.

"For real, did you buy any food or not ?" Taemin asked.

"Oh no it was kind of late and we didn't pass by a super market or anything. This city is kind of dead." Star started collecting his clothes and stuff that were scattered all over the room.

Taemin put his boots on and stuffed his jacket in his back pack. No food. He would have to go get some by himself. He pulled back the curtains and was met with bright white sunlight. 

"Damn how hot does it get in this place ?!" He pulled the curtains closed again and rubbed his eyes.

"Pretty damn hot I'd say, the sun is closer here than on Vexan and Lectana." Star answered.

"Oh great." Taemin muttered. "This "

"I did pick up some sunscreen and sun glasses for us at the pharmacy." Star said and threw a bottle and a pair of sunglasses at Taemin.

Taemin only groaned in response and took of his t-shirt to properly apply the sunscreen. He tried the sunglasses on, he actually looked decent in them. He could only imagine what Key would've got them. Something flashy, blingy and over the top. He laughed to himself. Jonghyun came out of the bathroom just as Star left the room.

"You're going to the mountain ?" Jonghyun asked.

"Yeah, apparently many plants grow there, maybe some we could use, I'd like to see for myself." Star answered and pulled a denmin sun hat down on his forehead to cover his pale skin.

"Want me to come with you ? Is it dangerous ? To go up that mountain I mean." Jonghyun had gotten dressed in just a few minutes and was ready to go as well.

"No, they built stairs up the most part of it, it's one hell of a walk though, the pharmacist's daughter is showing me the way. It might take all night though" Star giggled and winked.

Jonghyun just sighed and waved at him to leave.

"I'll meet up with Miyoung at the research hospital tomorrow, I'll let you know when I get there." And then Star left.

"Well then, you and I should get some food and bring it back to the ship, Dan said he is going to starve to death." Jonghyun said and turned to smile at Taemin.

"Yeah me too, let's go." Taemin said and took a last look in the mirror, trying to fix his hair, one unruly string of white hair poking him in the eye underneath the sunglasses.

"You put on sunscreen right ? You'll turn in to a lobster if you don't." Jonghyun laughed, imaging a lobster Taemin.

"Oh shut up, everyone can't be tan like you naturally." Taemin answered.

"Ok ok" Jonghyun held his hands up to state he wasn't looking for a fight.

Taemin and Jonghyun went out and managed to catch a bus to get to the nearest grocery store. Taemin had never seen a bus with wheels. He wasn't sure he had ever seen a vehicle that didn't fly before. Jonghyun listened to him ranting about how amzing it was with an amused look on his face until the younger exclaimed he was carsick and they had to get off.

"This is why I hate 21century vehicles, I've never been carsick before !" Taemin crouched and tried to hold back the urge to puke.

"Have you ever been in a car before ?" Jonghyun laughed and patted his back.

"No...but now I know why." Taemin tried to breathe slowly.

Jonghyun just laughed. After a while, Taemin got it together and they could keep walking. They reached the grocery store after what felt like forever. Jonghyun started collecting what they needed while Taemin bought something strange blue that were apparently edible because a man sat on the bench next to him eating the same thing. It tasted kind of like the seaweed fudge his grandmother had made him when she was still able to cook. He was pleasently surprised and asked Jonghyun to get loads of that. He bought some rose tea as well that tasted better than anything they had picked up on their last stop. Taemin was relieved, he would have decent food to eat for a while now. Even though Tatsuya had rented a car and came to help them it still took all night to get as much as they needed. The ship was 2 hours away and they had to drive back and forth several times to get as much as they would need until they would be able to make their next stop. There weren't that many habited planets in M33 after all and it would take a while before they could go to M31.

"Oh thank god" Taemin dropped down on the bed in their rented room.

Due to the fact that he kept getting carsick Jonghyun and Tatsuya had decided it would go faster without him so they had dropped him off close to the big house with the little room they lived in at the moment. Taemin hadn't protested, it was 3 am and he was sweaty and tired. He dragged himself in to the shower where he stayed for a good hour, too tired to drag himself out again. When he finally did get out, he dropped on to the bed again and fell asleep within a minute. The next day he woke up to voices talking in the hallway. Probably new customers renting the room next to theirs or something. It was already 3 pm, he better get going or he would get scolded for sure. As he got out of bed and started getting ready he noticed that neither Jonghyun nor Star had come back since yesterday. He looked over to Miyoung's bed just as she woke up and their eyes met for a second before Taemin looked away and ducked. Just as expected a lamp came flying his way, Taemin only being able duck out of harms way because he had a deja vu.

"Are you seriously watching me sleep, punk ?!" Miyoung had gotten up in second and started roaming around the room.

"I swear it's not like it seems, it's just bad timing, I would never-." Taemin stopped mid sentence and stared at the wall, what was actually so unholy about watching someone sleep he wondered.

"You better not become a ert, little Taemin, you shouldn't take note from Star or Dan." Miyoung warned him.

"A ert ?! Wait, wait you've got the situation all wrong ! That's not-"

"It better not be, okay ?" Miyoung's voice was dark.

"I swear on my life !" Taemin squealed and felt the hair on his neck rise.

"Good... Want some tea ?" Miyoung's voice toned back to normal and she almost sounded friendly.

"Sure, sure, please !" Taemin didn't dare to say no.

"I'll be going back to the hospital, they're researching some diseases I've never even heard of before, it's all very interesting." Miyoung said and handed Taemin a cup of tea and a sandwich.

"Great" Taemin didn't know how to reply, it certanily didn't sound interesting to him.

Miyoung contacted Jonghyun and Taemin took the opportunity to ask him what he was supposed to do today. Jonghyun said Kenta had come to help them get materials to make some repairs on Viper so Taemin could do whatever he wanted to. So that's how he came to end up on someone's lawn, going through stuff the owner was selling off in a yard sale. Taemin curiously looked through all the stuff, asking the people around him what they were. He had no idea what half of this was, most of it looked like it could be 100 years old or so. The other people going looking through the stuff looked at him a bit cautiously, he probably looked a bit suspicious, marveling at old pots. He took of the sunglasses, hoping he would look less suspicious that way.

"Found anything you-" A woman began but she swallowed the rest of her words and covered with her hands.

"Come again ?" Taemin asked her when she didn't continue.

"I'm sorry, I just-" The woman took a step back and just stared at him.

"Uh, are you okay ?" Taemin looked around awkwardly as people had started looking at them oddly.

"Oh yes, oh god, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare." The woman seemed to get herself together and took a step forward again.

"Ehehe, it's ok...really." Taemin felt bypassers stare at the weird scene, what the hell was this woman's problem anyway he wondered.

"For a moment I thought you were my son you see, you look so much alike." She said with a sad smile on her face.

"Oh...haha." Taemin didn't know what to do, the woman looked like she was about to start crying.

"Oh he would've been about your age now, if he was alive." She said the last part slower and spaced off for a while, still staring directly at Taemin.

"I'm very sorry for your loss." Taemin almost wanted to hug her, she looked so sad.

"It was a long time ago, I just suddenly got reminded, seeing your face." She quickly wiped off a single tear and took a deep breath.

"Yes, I get it. Sometimes I suddenly think of my parents." Taemin lied, it felt like the right thing to say but the truth was he never thought about his parents anymore.

"Oh dear child, it seems we have something in common then, I hope I didn't upset you." The woman said with a worried tone.

"Oh not at all !" Taemin faked a smile, all he wanted was to run away from there now.

"Well now I must treat you to some lemonade, can't just go around scaring away potential customers like this." She gestured towards the house.

"You don't have to do that, really, I'm fine." Taemin said, now he was screaming on the inside, how could his luck be this bad ?!

"I want to, I want to, come along child." She walked off before he had another chance to say anything.

So Taemin simply followed her in to her house where she gestured for him to sit down by the kitchen table. Taemin pulled out the old wooden chair closest to him. The house had looked old on the outside but the inside seemed even older and more worn out. The table cloth was discolored and the table felt like it would fall apart if he leaned on it. The woman started humming happily while squeezing lemons with her bare hands and Taemin was certain that wasn't sanitary. He sighed quietly, it was getting dark soon and if he wished to find his way back to the room they were staying he would have to leave soon because he was in a remote part of town. The road wasn't even made of asphalt and there weren't any street lights, well there weren't even really street, just a muddy road so that wasn't very strange actually. He realized this must be what they call country side.

"Here you go. You look like you're in deep thoughts" The woman smiled and handed him a glass of lemonade.

"Ah thank you. I was just thinking this place is pretty remote." Taemin took a sip of the lemonade.

"I suppose it is now, when my grandfather grew up here it was a very lively place. Well I guess that changed over time, it's over 100 years ago." She poured a glass for herself too.

"Oh." Was all Taemin could say, he had just realized how badly he must've misjudged her age.

"I'm 57, my name is Kim Iseul." She said as if she could read his mind.

"Lee Taemin, I'm 19." Taemin responded, a little bit spooked by the woman's intuition.

"Ah, to be young and beautiful." Iseul laughed.

"Hah, I don't know what's so good about that." Taemin smiled.

"My son, Kai, would've been 15 this year but he passed away when he was 9, he was sickly since birth." Iseul reminisced as she poured them both some more lemonade.

"This is really good." Taemin gestured towards the lemonade and took another sip of his now full again glass, hoping to change the subject to something less heavy than the dead.

"Thank you, my son and my daughter as well loved drinking my lemonade on hot afternoons. My daughter moved to Lectana 2 years ago, she is so bright ah so clever, she is studying hard and working at a research center. But she hasn't come home even once..." Iseul sighed sadly.

"Well Lectana has excellent academies and their medical research is on top. I have a friend from there and he is a great doctor." Taemin tried to reassure her.

"Oh, really ? That's wonderful. She has such strong resolve, especially after her little brother passed away." Iseul's eyes sparkled when she spoke of her daughter.

"I'm sure she is in good hands." Taemin said even though he couldn't really know for sure, he did know much of Lectana though.

"You're such a kind boy." Iseul smiled.

"Ah thank you, it's nothing though." Taemin looked away awkwardly.

"But it looks like I've kept you too long, it would be difficult to get back in to town now, if that's where you're going ?" Iseul asked.

"Yeah..." Taemin looked out the window, it was completely dark outside now.

"Why don't you stay over night, get going in the morning, it'll be easier." Iseul smiled apologetically.

"If it's not too much trouble..." Taemin didn't want to stay but he wasn't even sure he could find his way back now.

"No not at all, I have many empty beds now." Iseul got up to show him the way.

"Thank you then." Taemin said and followed Iseul upstairs.

The stair case creaked as if it was going to break any second and Taemin found himself holding on to the walls just in case. Iseul the lights in the hallway and pointed out the bathroom and her daughters room where he could sleep. There was another door and Taemin assumed it must've been her son's room. He felt kind of bad for intruding on her home like this and on her grief. Since it was obvious that she was still grieving. Iseul, however, just smiled and brought him some clean sheets and helped him make the bed. She promised she would make him breakfast before he left. Taemin wanted to tell her that it really wasn't necessary but he didn't want to hurt her feelings so he said he would look forward to it. They said good night and Iseul went down stair again where her own bedroom apparently was located. Taemin quietly cursed himself for getting in to these kinds of situations. He contacted Jonghyun and informed him on the situation, he left out the creepier parts though since Jonghyun would likely worry about him otherwise. Jonghyun sounded exhausted, Taemin promised to get back as soon as possible. He put the radio on the night stand and took off his boots and worker pants. He brushed his teeth as well as he could with his fingers and washed his face with the lavender soap. Then he went to bed even though he wasn't really tired, he layed there on his back for a while staring at the ceiling. To think there were people living like this, all alone with not much at all. It actually made his chest tighten a bit, he was pretty lucky after all. He had Jonghyun, Star, Miyoung, hell he could even be grateful for Minho right now, and everyone else on Viper. When he finally turned around to sleep, he had a warm feeling in his chest and a smile on his lips.