Looking around, Nori spotted two doorways on opposite sides of the entrance they had come from. “I think this is the ship’s bridge. Let’s check out the rest of it.”

“Uhm, aren’t we worried the ship’s owner might find us here?” Lana asked nervously.

Nori shrugged. “They probably didn’t survive the crash. Even if they did, that alien pirate probably made sure they wouldn’t interfere.”

They moved to the door on their right. There was a small light console hovering on the side of the open door, revealing a room with many small doors outlining the walls.

“Looks like a walk-in closet,” Nori said. Every door had a single green light on it, but when she touched it, the light turned red. “Nathan, I think this is your department.”

The young man pressed his hand against one of the doors, but this time the door failed to open.

There was another man-sized door opposite the one they used to enter, but no matter what they tried, they couldn’t pry it open.

“Seems like your special touch extends only to closing doors and turning on the lights.” Nori smiled at Nathan and winked.

The young man smiled back at her shyly.

“So now what?” Lana asked.

“Let’s go check the other side.”

They went back to the bridge and stepped through the left door, which was also opened.

“Well, this looks comfortable,” Lana said brightly.

Three rows of surprisingly ordinary-looking beds lined the sides of the long room, six in total. More closed doors lined the spaces between them.

“Where are all the space gadgets,” Nori huffed. “You’d expect a crashed alien ship to have all sorts of futuristic equipment lying around.”

“Maybe they’re just a race of really organized people?” Lana suggested brightly. “Besides, it didn’t really crash, it was more of a bumpy landing.” She pointed ahead at the far side of the room. “But this sort of looks like what you’re looking for.”

On the far side of the room was another door. It appeared to be closed, but the light above it flashed from green to red.

Nori approached and found a crushed metallic item holding the door open.

She put her fingers through the open crack and pulled. The door didn’t budge. “Give me a hand here, will you?”

Lana and Nathan approached and with their combined strength the three managed to pry the door open.

“Aaaahhh!” Lana screamed and fell back on her elbows.

The door opened to reveal an alien creature lying on the floor behind it. It was humanoid, with human proportions, but its skin was blue and the head was covered with short fleshy bristles.