Terotha

Terotha was the equivalent of finding a diamond in the middle of the woods...random,unexpected and makes you wonder how the hell it got there in the first place. The intergalatic planet was hardly bigger than most moons yet the docks were always jam packed with ships of various conditions and origins. 

Colloquiely known as the 'Hoarder's Heaven' across the 7 galaxies the tiny planet fell under intergalaxy law, meaning that the most bizzare and dangerous items across the realm...even those normally banned on most planets could most probably be sourced on Terotha.

It just so happened thst Dawn's birthday was rapidly approaching, meaning that it was time to source presents for her brother and sister once again. It wasn't too bad being a triplet...at least for her and Nick it wasn't. The two were basically twins and even looked similar despite their opposite genders. For Savannah their sister though, it wasn't quite the same experience.

" Oi sis, I'm stopping us here as I want to get some Maker's gin for our 25th!"

Her brother in question hollered from the cockpit of their rusty yet trusty sky fleet ship, a restored relic from the early 22nd century. 

" Alright, good!"

She shouted back, a wide grin stretching across her face as she looked out of the vessel's large windows and down at the approaching 'Hoarder's Heaven'. The moon's chalky white surface so crowded with markets and ships it looked like it had fleas. Silently cheering in anticipation the Mauve haired young woman called up the list she had started writing earlier on her smart watch and began to tap on the screen's contents projected into the space before her.

Getting a gift for her brother was easy, he was basically the female version of her. As they were both engineering majors specialising in aerospace Dawn knew she could get her brother anything mechanic based, specifically something to help his refurb of the ship she was currently sitting in. She was fondly known as ' Trixie', mainly for her tendancy to do whatever the hell she wanted or to play ' tricks' as Nick often described them. In fact, them stumbling upon Terotha had probably been one of these ' tricks'. The planet had an uncanny ability to seemingly hide itself for those who sought it, yet sprung up randomly for unsuspecting travellers...sounded like the perfect opportunity for an independent minded spaceship.

Looking at the list she had scribbled up hours before, Dawn's face fell as she realised that she still had no idea what to get her sister. Her sister who was currently studying a double degree in law and business...she would probably have a panic attack if she realised where her siblings were docking into at that very moment. A perfect law abiding and logical minded citizen in every aspect, knowing that her siblings were about to disembark on a 'grey' planet, an area only goverened by the very vague intergalatic laws would probably send her into a frenzy.

A few minutes later, Dawn was standing next to Nick as they hugged their jackets tighter around them, surveying the scene before them. They had both never visisted the planet before, it wasn't a visiting place...it was a ' look what I have stumbled upon' kind of region. Thanks to their moonbeamer heritage, they could both breathe quite easily in the atmosphereless site, a fact evidenced by the intense cold that surrounded the large marketplace like a thick fog.

Grabbing her hand, Nick silently signed ' Stay by me' in the hand language they had made up years beforehand to silently communicate. It proved useful in most situations, especially when they were on the border of getting into trouble with was frequent. Reluctantly refraining from telling her overly protective brother to shutup, she instead simply squeezed his hand in return as they walked into the circus that was the intergalactic market.

A cacophony of noise and light overloaded her senses, the sounds and sights intensying the further they headed into the fair. The various sellers shouted their wares to the hundreds of different races who mingled amongst the wide array of stalls and outlets as the loud explosive noises of several ships exhausts sounded from behind them. The intoxicating scents of both fresh and frying food blended with the less appealing odours emitting from places with an unknown origin creating an environment where breathing was a struggle, even if you could normally breathe easily in a null atmosphere.

As she stared around at her surroundings with equal parts amazement and wonder, Dawn was dragged to a brightly coloured store where thousands of bottles of various shapes and sizes lined the shelves. The shop attendent looking like he had tried most of them as he dozed behind the counter, leaving Nick to enthustiastically pull her around the outlet and point out various liquors.

As Nick started rambling on about the effects of various liquors that were prohibited on their home planet, Dawn found her curiosity peaking as she headed towards a section advertised as ' for the 'Uptight/Stresshead ones'.

If her sister Savannah could be described in a couple of words, these were definetly it. Running her eyes along the various shelves her interest piqued as her eyes focused on a tiny table setup in the corner with various bottles resting on it's surface next to a stack of shot glasses.

' Testing Table' was boldy proclaimed in at least 50 languages on a large piece of paper stuck to the wall behind the bottles.

Feeling brave for some reason, Dawn inhaled deeply as she poured herself a glass from the first bottle...the rose coloured liquid as syrupy as Earth's finest honey. Struggling to keep the surprisngly bitter concoction down she turned to read the label only to find her vision blackening for several moments. When her eyesight returned she found it wasn't the same as it had been before, it was...enhanced, improved upon.

It was like...it was like she was one with the universe,with the cosmos. All the new age books her brother had been obsessed with for years made sense now. All the talk about auras and chakras. The years of him discussing universal energy laws like they were law. For an engineer, most of whom were purely logic minded and needed hard evidence to believe in anything...he was surprisingly liberal in this regard. While she hadn't dismissed his beliefs in energy fields and auras...about the connectedness of everything, she certainly hadn't been able to accept these statements as the only truth as she hadn't been able to see them like her brother claimed to.

It all made sense now, his ramblings on spirituality and chakras over the last few years. She could see it, she could feel it...and it was beautiful. The neon ties of rainbow energy that connected everything, the multi-coloured bubble surround the sleeping shop clerk. There was this whole world that had been hiding from her for years, a world she finally had access to. As she looked around at the newly discovered world around her, her attention turned towards her brother who was currently staring at her and the bottle in her hand with a mega watt grin on his face.

" I found Savannah's present." 

She stated, holding the bottle up like a trophy as Nick snorted in laughter and high fived her. Mission Accomplished.