You Have To Be Cool

“Hey, man, nice to meet you. Are you cool?”

“Uh, yeah, absolutely. I'm cool.”

“Cool. Do you mind if I just sit here on the steps? I shouldn't really leave the ship but, holy crap, I've been in there too long.”

“Sure.”

“Sit down, keep me company. Oh wow, it's so quiet here. This is really nice.”

“Yeah, it's usually pretty quiet. Why did y...”

“So nice. I could settle down in a place like this, you know? Is anybody selling their farm? Just kidding. I don't know anything about farming. I suppose it's a lot more complicated than it looks, right?”

“Yeah, it can be. So... is everything okay?”

“Oh, man, you have no idea. It's getting weird out there. Like, really weird. Some crazy shit is happening. Manifestations, recursive harbingers, fractal entanglement... well, I can't get into the details, but believe me, you should be glad you're down here and not up there.”

“If you say so. Are y...”

“What was that?”

“What w...”

“Shhh... Okay, it was nothing. Look at me, jumping at every sound. I'm losing it, man.”

“It's going to be okay. Nothing ever happens around here. Well, up until now.”

“I guess I just needed someone to talk to. This mission has messed me up. It's good to get a little perspective before I head out.”

“Cool. Are you going back to your home planet?”

“What do you mean? This is my planet.”

“What?”

“Sorry, PSYOP training kicking in. Forget I said that. Well, I should be going. Nice meeting you. I have to, uh, retract the stairs now. So I can take off. There you go. You might want to step back a little further. That's it. Have a good night! Thanks for being cool! Don't believe anything you hear!”