Junkyard

After a truly unpleasant space journey, Jay and Kara both landed in what seemed like a junkyard. They looked around, surrounded on all sides by seemingly endless mountains of trash. Jay wondered if they were still on Earth. Everything beneath his feet and in his sight was scrap, and the air itself was thick with the stench of garbage. Perhaps they had arrived on a planet called "Trash Planet" in the universe, if such a planet even existed.

"This feels awful," Kara said, disgusted as she flicked a glob of slime off her blonde hair. "I feel like I'm turning into trash myself."

"It's not too late to go back," Jay said, pointing upwards at the purple vortex floating about eight or nine meters above them. "If we go in there, we should be able to return the way we came."

Kara stubbornly shook her head. "I said I was coming with you, and I'm not changing my mind. Besides, I'm the senior, I need to look after you."

"Then I'll be counting on you, senior," Jay replied.

Though he felt a bit selfish thinking it, if Kara had just said "Fine, be careful yourself," and flown back with a dramatic flourish of her cape, he wouldn't have been happy about it.

Jay adjusted his super-vision to a microscopic level, scanning the air around them. "We can pretty much confirm we're not on Earth anymore. The atmospheric composition here is very different from Earth's, and there are some elements I've never seen before. Short-term breathing should be fine for a normal human, but I can't say for sure what the long-term effects would be."

Suddenly, blue laser beams shot from behind them. By the time they turned around, two laser nets had exploded in mid-air, enveloping them each. They fell to their knees and looked back to see a group of bizarrely shaped creatures, holding rifle-like objects, slowly advancing towards them. They had humanoid limbs, pale bodies with blue stripes, and two unsightly tentacles on their heads. Jay couldn't claim to know every animal species on Earth, but he was absolutely certain these strange creatures weren't from there.

The unidentified aliens, guns in hand, surrounded the two trapped prey. They seemed to have let their guard down – generally, prey caught in a laser net was no longer a threat.

But to their misfortune, today's prey was precisely outside the scope of normal circumstances.

Kara exchanged a look with Jay. "I think they've mistaken us for landed fish," she said.

"So, it looks like we need to reintroduce ourselves?" Jay asked.

"Seems so," Kara replied.

The arguing aliens never imagined that these two Earthlings they had caught – or so they thought – would suddenly erupt simultaneously, tearing the indestructible light net in two with their bare hands. Before the two aliens at the front could react, Jay and Kara punched them, sending them flying far away.

The remaining alien creatures were stunned for a moment, trying to process the unbelievable turn of events. Then, they let out loud screams and hastily raised their guns to fire. Pale blue alien laser beams crisscrossed the air, leaving deep blue imprints on their retinas. Both Jay and Kara dodged, and the missed beams struck the trash piles, scattering all sorts of unidentifiable debris.

Jay snatched a gun from an alien, crushed the barrel, and used the stock to sweep the stunned alien far into a nearby trash hill. At the same time, another laser beam hit him squarely in the back, making his spine feel hot and his chest tight. He stumbled forward involuntarily.

Before the alien who ambushed him could fire again, Jay flashed in front of him, pinning him to the ground. He also warned Kara, "Be careful, their weapons seem quite powerful. I felt pain."

Jay simply ripped off his damaged outer clothing. Beneath it, the "S" emblem he always wore on his chest activated, and his deep blue Superman suit instantly covered his entire body. In a flash, they took down the aliens, breaking the last alien laser rifle. Jay shook his hands. "What kind of aliens are these? They're pretty tough. My fists are a little numb."

Kara scanned their surroundings, frowning. "My super-vision feels like it's being blocked by the air here. I can't see through anything, and my vision range is very limited."

Jay tried it as well, and indeed, it was just as she said. Not only that, but the auditory information reaching his ears was becoming increasingly muddled. He could normally hear the sound of air currents miles away, but now, sounds from a slight distance were gradually blurring into inaudibility.

"Something's wrong," he said gravely. "It's not something blocking our vision, it's this planet... I think we're on a planet illuminated by a red star. The radiation is weakening our abilities."

"That's terrible," Kara said. "It means once the solar energy stored in our cells runs out, we'll become ordinary humans."

"Now might be a good time for you to reconsider my proposal to fly back from here," Jay said, pointing to the vortex above them again. "While you can still fly."

"So, you're going back?"

"Of course not, I have to find my dad," Jay shook his head. "But you don't have to stay here. You can take this information back and tell everyone that Kairi Technology Creative Company is kidnapping people and selling them to unknown planets..."

"Don't even think about it. If you're not going back, I'm not going back either," Kara said firmly. "We'll rescue the captured people together, and then we'll leave together."

After a pause, she asked somewhat awkwardly, "But... which way should we go?"

This was indeed a new problem. With their super-senses weakened, they were now effectively without radar, making their movements much more difficult.

Jay walked back in the direction the aliens had come from. Pushing aside a pile of miscellaneous items, he found a circular pipe entrance, about two meters high, hidden behind the clutter.

Kara raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about this path?"

"Not sure," Jay said as he bent down and crawled into the passage. "But do you have any other way to leave this stinky place?"

Kara didn't comment but followed him, bending down and crawling in. At the same time, she reminded him, "Remember the way back. We might need to go through that hole above to get home later."