A WALK TO THE STARS

op like he had eaten some horrible tacos from a college cafeteria just before. Colors sped by-blues, purples, with a fla

et me home already!" It echoed and was lost in the roar of the vortex, and he thoug

he exclaimed, flopping until he sank into the ice-cold darkness. His sneakers had some traction on a surface even slipperier, and he stood quaking, water streaming from his hoodie. The air was salty enou

curled and uncurled in unison, as if the ocean was breathing, causing Jasper to blink and overload his dorky brain. "Bioluminescence," he whispered, crouching closer. "Like deep sea creatures on Earth-maybe a jellyfish, or even an anglerfish with a glow lure." He rifled through his notepad,

ing him into the ether. The wormhole was supposed to take him back to the crazy pines behind his childhood home, to be called inside for dinner by his mom. Instead, he was... here. Whatever here was. He kicked the spray as he thought of ho

ill me if I catch a cold," he muttered to himself then let out a dry chuckle, "If I ever get back to her." He thought of her, probably setting the table now, with her brown hair back and snapping at him for being late because he had been in the woods. "Don't you dare be in that wo

heel, like a web of stars beneath the surface. "If this is a planet," he thought to himself, "it's mostly ocean. Maybe Europa, but... warmer." He read the descriptions of Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, where a substantial ocean lay far beneath its icy crust. Maybe there was life somewhere here, he thought, and he even said a

maybe hungry. "Don't be stupid, Jasper," he told himself, "It's probably just micro-organisms. Or just plants," but he thought about the tendrils nonetheless, and began to quicken his pace as much as he could while still looking for eviden

legs. "Please be a wormhole," he whispered, as he climbed onto it. It was slick with algae, and he almost slipped, just catching himself with his hand. His notebook fell, landed with a wet slap, and he snatched it back up,

it, one immense, glimmering floating-head with an open mouth, wider than his midsection, with enormous, sharply pointed teeth rising in a bubble around its gaping maw. The massive body's writhing, thick-as-tree-truck-long tentacles that surrounded its mouth, protruding from the creature's vile, slithering body, branched out to the sides. The number of tentacles was too many to count, and all writhing with suction cups that connected and flared out in shapes that looked vaguely human, stil

" he shouted as he sprinted to the other side of the slab with his notebook cradled to him. The beast roared again, flashing its shiny teeth, and a tentacle flew towards him. He ducked just in time to feel the

s the tube of stars roared into existence. Jasper fell through the tube, spinning uncontrollably, his glasses falling off, and with only the panicked thought: "Get me home, ge