“Welcome to planet Earth. We hope you enjoy your stay. Follow the guided pathway to your portal. Remember to blend in when you enter your time and place. You are a normal human, just like everyone else. And no matter what happens, follow your mission orders.”
Carter heard the same speech repeat over and over in a monotone robotic voice. It echoed through her capsule ever since she woke up about ten minutes ago. She was trapped inside the metal capsule, waiting for the only opening to unlock. She was beginning to worry that it never would. Carter crouched into a ball and did her best to tune out the voice. “And no matter what happens. follow your mission orders…”
Carter closed her eyes and tried to remember any memories prior to receiving her most recent mission and waking up in the capsule. All she remembered was darkness. The only thing etched into her mind was her mission.
Suddenly there was a sound. Carter grew fearful. Steam blew out from the bottom of the capsule and the metal door unlatched revealing a long gray pathway, white lights aligned the bottom of the metal walls to reveal the way to go.
Carter took a deep breath before standing. She had a white t-shirt, blue pants, and black shoes tied with white strings. Because this was the outfit she was provided, she wondered what sort of time period she was being sent into. The last time she visited Earth she had a long blue dress and corset. Carter was only allowed one personal item so that she could be identified on any planet by her assigners. She wore a single silver ring on her right hand. Etched on it, were the outlines of little stars, suns and moons. She twisted it warily as she looked out of the portal, wishing she could go back to space.
Human bodies had always been one of her personal favorites. She stretched her slim legs and ran her fingers through her brown hair that cut off below her strong shoulders. She could faintly see her reflection in the capsule. She had green eyes. She smiled and played with the skin on her new face. She had missed this body. She hadn’t been inside of it for hundreds of human years. She knew it was what many on Earth would consider beautiful. She felt comfortable in this body, more so than any other creature she had ever been.
Suddenly a red light began blinking from the top of her capsule
Following the long hallway, it began to hit Carter that she was about to start another mission. Typically, the assigners only let one enter a planet as offspring about to be born. Lucky for Carter, she trained for 170 years to be able to work as one of the few star seeds to enter different missions at any age that was required for the plan. The plan was always decided prior to existence, and they are only clear to the individual once they live out their mission.  But since Carter was entering planet Earth as an 18 year old and not a human embryo, she had to be careful. It was a dangerous balancing act, to enter a world and complete her mission, without altering anything serious in the course of time. Why was that especially difficult? Well, Carter didn’t know exactly what her mission was. She only knew the single sentence that all star seeds took an oath for; “I exist as a New Star Seed, here to help and serve the creatures I coexist with in some way, that is my Life Mission.”
Carter shuddered as she approached the blinding white light at the end of the hallway. She stopped walking. Looking over her shoulder, she could no longer see her capsule. It was too late to turn back. She was about to be thrown into a strange time, in a place she new very little about, and she had to act like she had lived there her whole life and it was only planet Earth that existed.
With another deep breath, Carter walked into the white light that hurt her human eyes. She was completely immersed in the light when she felt the sensation of falling.
Carter dreamed of space. She was in her human Earth body, but she was in the middle of her favorite galaxy, Arimidawn. It was strange, because she was swimming through the colorful Aurora and stars without any sort of equipment for her human body, and she could breathe. She was swimming, alone in the endless but beautiful universe. There was no place she’d rather be.
“Oh, excuse me!”
Carter was standing on a bustling street of what she suddenly learned was New York City. She gained knowledge of some things faster than others as she came across anything on a new planet. A young man her age had just bumped into her. Or rather, she had just appeared right in front of where he was walking, but he wouldn’t know that.
“Um it’s okay. You’re nicer than most people here to even say excuse me.” The words came out of her mouth effortlessly. How she knew that New York City was a place full of rude and brisk people, was unclear to her until she spoke. She gave her most convincing smile to the boy, hoping she was right. He laughed dryly.
“Ha! Yeah, NYC isn’t the most humble of all places. But look what a mess i’ve made, there is coffee all over your white shirt!”
Carter looked down and saw all of the brown liquid she instantly understood as coffee on her clothes. She registered the heat of it against her skin.
“Um it’s okay I was just heading home anyway. Sorry that your caffeine is all over me, you probably needed that.” Carter was impressed with herself. It was easier than she remembered to recall information of the way life worked on this planet.
“I spilled coffee on you and you’re apologizing to me?”
“Well, um. Yeah. Sorry.” Okay, maybe she was a little rusty at trying to have conversations. The boy just laughed.
“What’s your name?”
“Carter.” It was the name her assigners gave her for this planet. She couldn’t dare express her real name to him. It was in a dialect that only certain creatures not even in this galaxy could understand.
“I’m Miles. Do you go to school here too? I’ve never seen you around before..”
Carter looked up to her right and saw a learning center named Juilliard.
“Um yeah. I just transferred actually. I was about to head to my dorm.” Carter suddenly knew that her dorm key was in her left front pocket, and in her head she could trace the map to her room.
“Oh cool! Well um, can I show you around sometime?”
“Yeah I’d like that. I don’t really know anyone here yet.” Carter had learned to say yes to any situation she could potentially be thrown into. Going with the flow was the only way she could help someones life in any way. She needed to trust that the assigners made her run into Miles for a reason she did not understand, but soon would.
“Great! Maybe we could, like now?”
“Well, I think I should go home and change out of this shirt, and collect myself. Can you come find me in like an hour? I’m in room 17 building C.”
“Okay, cool!”
“Cool! See ya.”
Carter walked to her room. When she opened it she found a small place for sleeping, a table with books, and some clothes in a closet. She saw technology laid out on the bed that she instantly knew was a cell phone and a laptop. On the walls were two posters of bands she suddenly heard the songs from in her head. On the table, were photos with herself and other people that she recognized to be her friends and family. On the ceiling, were glow in the dark stars. Carter didn’t go with Miles right away because she knew that this dorm was her sanctuary from the assigners. Now that she was here, memories of a lifetime she did not live whirled in her brain. She suddenly grew the knowledge necessary of a complete society here on Earth. She learned of pop culture references and proper etiquette. It overwhelmed her, as she knew it would. She unlocked her iPhone and set an alarm for an hour from now. She blacked out with a headache from all the brain generating.
Carter did not dream of space. Carter went back to memories of her life that was not really hers. She was a teenager who suffered a lifelong battle with depression. She had deep thoughts and she loved to dance. She was smart and had a few close friends and a supporting family. She really loved to dance. She danced to cope with her thoughts. She often went to concerts, and she was here at Juilliard to dance. She wanted to teach it and choreograph. She had a boyfriend for a while in high school, but not anymore. She had never been outside of New York.
Carter woke up to a knock on the door. She woke up and noticed she had pressed the snooze on her iPhone alarm. She quickly sprang from bed and changed into a new shirt and jeans that were in her closet. She opened the door and was surprised to see not Miles, but her roommate Alicia.
“Geesh what took you so long to open the door?” She bustled past Carter with arms full of books and scripts. School started three weeks ago and she was already nose deep in the study of theatre.
“Sorry I uh took a nap and you woke me up.”
“Oh. Sorry. Well I’m just gonna be studying in here so I won’t bother you.”
“Thats alright, I’m about to go out.” Carter heard Alicia mumble some sort of reply through the highlighter stuck between her teeth. Carter went to her desk, opened a drawer, and found her makeup. She put on just a little and brushed her hair before slipping on a hoodie. She stepped outside into the hall of her dorm.
After a few minutes, Miles rounded the corner. Carter really got a chance to look at him now. He was broad-shouldered and muscular. He had a deep-cut jawline and dimples when he smiled. His brown eyes glimmered in the light from the windows of the dorm.
“Hey” Miles said.
“Whats up?”
“Ready to see the school?”
Carter followed her gut instinct. “Actually, I’d really like to go on a walk in the city, if you’re up for it.”
“That sounds great!”
Carter sensed that Miles was a lot like her. A deep mind individual, wiser than most. It was usually the people like that on Earth that you wanted to keep. It was also people like that, who were daring enough to connect with a stranger.
Together they walked the streets. The sun was to set soon. And they learned that they were each very comfortable in silence. There was no awkward conversation, nothing was forced. It was easy. Carter appreciated that. It gave her time to study the life in NYC. Her head still ached, but it was beginning to dull.
“Are you hungry?”
“Starved.” Carter replied.
“Let’s eat here!” Miles led her into a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant. They sat down at a table. Carter noticed a glimmer of silver on his hand. She recognized that ring…
“Hey Miles… um I really like your ring!”
“Oh, thanks! I like it too I guess, I always wear it. I don’t really know why-Hey!! We have the same ring!!!”
“Miles…” Carter couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She grabbed his hand and held the ring up close to her face. Indeed, it matched hers identically.
“Carter what are you doing?”
“MIlES! Miles we have to go right now!” Carter was confused, The assigners had never let anything like this happen before. She pulled Miles out of the restaurant before he could protest. They ended up in a lonely ally.
“Miles, this is insanity can you believe it?!”
“I’m lost what are you even talking about?”
“Star Seeds! Miles you don’t have to hide it, we are both Star Seeds!”
“Um. What?”
Miles looked so genuinely confused, Carter wondered if she had just made the biggest mistake that any New Star Seed could make. Carter resorted to the only thing she could use to explain. She began reciting the Star Seed characteristics from her years of lessons.
“Star Seeds feel drawn to outer space and science. They yield personal characteristics of being artistic and spiritual. They can have difficult and challenging lives. They have dreams and memories of places not on Earth…” Carter watched as Miles slowly registered something.
“Carter where have I heard that before?”
“Miles, you really don’t have any exact memories of it?”
“None at all, but I know it somewhere. Did I write a paper on it in High School or something?”
Carter once heard a legend that some Star Seeds were able to choose to stay on any one planet, if they completed many Missions from their assigners. The only catch was they would not remember that they are a Star Seed, and they wouldn’t remember again until they died. She did not know they could be real!
“Where did you get that ring Miles?”
“Someone sent it to me anonymously in the mail, I think I won a contest or something. Lot’s of people have them.”
“Lots of people?”
“Yeah. I don’t know its just a ring with stars what’s the big deal?”
Carter suddenly had a vision. Oh god. There was more than one. There were Old Star Seeds all over planet Earth. There were hundreds of them existing all over this planet, and they had no idea what they were. Why did the assigners do this? Why this planet? She couldn’t even begin to think of all the questions she had now. She turned to face Miles. Carter had a lot of explaining to do.