I yelped when I suddenly felt a hand on my shin.  I lifted my head, breathing rapidly.  There was a girl about my age standing there.  She had brown hair up in a bun with her red and blonde bangs hanging free, brown eyes, tan skin, lightly muscled arms, full B or C sized breasts, well toned stomach with a hint of defined abs, and the sexiest black glasses I’d ever seen perched atop her nose.  I knew all this because she was only wearing a black lace bra and boy shorts beneath her white lab coat.  She had a clipboard in her hand and a pencil behind her ear.  I didn’t know what to say or what to do.  I was starting to think that I was delusional.

”You are not delusional,” she lifted her gaze from my shin to meet my gaze before she averted her eyes back to my shin.  She took the pencil from behind her ear and began to write on something on her clipboard.

I swallowed visibly, “Where am I?”

She didn’t look at me this time, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

”Try me… please?”

”You are aboard the Shooting Star.”

”I’m on a… shooting star?”

”Silly human child, your concept of shooting stars does not exist.  This craft is named after your false beliefs since your kind has falsely called our passing ships that for so long.”

”Huh?”

She sighed and turned towards me, looking me dead in the eye, “Due to the location of your planet, our ships pass by your planet regularly.  The human race has mistakenly assumed that since our ships look like stars while their passing that they must be stars that are shooting by.  We use this large error on your parts to our advantage, using it as a cover for our ships.  Now, you may be wondering how those shooting stars that are actually your astronauts waste shooting through space came to look like that if I am telling the truth.  The answer is quite simple; we are always watching and waiting, ready to deal with your species’ need to liter space.”

”Um… sorry?”

She showed me a soft smile, “If I am not mistaken, you are not an astronaut.  Thus, it is not something you need to be sorry for.”