On the first day of summer, Leon and Maja launch into space and land on a fiery planet where a strange flag, odd footprints, and a warning in the dark change everything.
Leon and Maja had spent years drawing rockets in the margins of their schoolbooks and arguing over what an alien planet might smell like. They never expected their holiday to begin with a real one.
Their grandfather, an inventor with ink on his sleeves and sparks always somewhere nearby, waved them into his workshop on the first morning. In the garden, where roses usually climbed the fence, stood a silver rocket taller than the house. Grandpa grinned as if he knew a secret.
"I built it for you," he said. "Inside is a research ship ready for launch. If you go, keep your eyes open. Space likes surprises."
By afternoon, Leon and Maja were strapped into the control capsule, trying very hard not to look nervous. The engines shook the floor. The garden vanished. Then the house, the trees, and finally even their world were swallowed by darkness and stars.
The flight went on until the computer chimed through the cabin. "Unidentified planet ahead. Landing conditions acceptable."
Leon and Maja exchanged a quick look. Neither of them spoke, because they were both thinking the same thing.
A few minutes later, the ship settled onto red, cracked ground. Outside the porthole, the planet glowed with heat. Jets of steam burst from the rock. Tiny lights flickered in the air like sparks trapped in glass. And at the edge of the biggest crater, just where the slope began to drop away into shadow, someone had planted a stick with a flag on it.
On the flag was a painted potato.
Maja blinked. Leon leaned closer to the glass. They grabbed their backpacks and stepped out. The ground shivered under their boots. A low rumble rolled up from the crater, deep enough to rattle Leon's teeth. Then they saw the footprints. Huge. Three-toed. Fresh.
"That is not a good sign," Maja whispered.
Before Leon could answer, a voice rose out of the crater. It was quiet, strange, and nothing like human speech. Not quite machine, either. The hairs on Leon's arms stood up.
Then the signal board on their ship flashed red.
"Warning," the computer said. "Unknown object approaching fast."
Leon and Maja turned toward the black opening in the rock just as something moved in the darkness below.