The Toumline system is a special place. It sports five gas giant planets – one hot, one cold, a pair of twin zebra-striped planets orbiting each other closely, and “the peppermint planet,” a Jupiter-sized ball of red and white stripes. Circling the peppermint planet is the moon Toumline, the only world in the system with life. It also has a Nino colony. Nathaniel, Haticat, Fred, and Doctor Bill step out of their new ship and explore the blurry jungle. The trees are chaotically-shaped and transparent. Everywhere are soft patches of blue, brown, green, and white. “Look,” says Haticat. A bird jumps from one tree to another.

They all walk around for a few hours until stopped by wildlife management. “What are you doing out here?”

“Exploring,” Nathaniel says.

“Why?” the adult Nino officer asks.

“We’re studying the wildlife,” Haticat answers.

“That’s suspicious,” the officer states.

“How?” Nathaniel asks.

The explorers are escorted out of the jungle and into town to take part in more socially-accepted activities, such as attending the carnival. They watch the shows and play the games. Nathaniel eats rattlesnake stew and drinks jalapeno-pumpkin kefir. Then he sees what looks like an oak tree bobbing and swaying above the crowd. It is imbedded in the neck of a Tyrannosaur. He runs toward it. “Mister Dinosaur!” Nathaniel yells.

Nathaniel, Haticat, Fred, and Doctor Bill explore an airless, cave-riddled planet. Pockets of oxygen and magnesium gas sometimes combine underground, causing large explosions. “Why did you pick such a dangerous planet to park on while we repair the ship?” Haticat asks.

“So I know we won’t be disturbed. No one else would be stupid enough to come here,” Nathaniel answers.

“I don’t know about that. There are lots of stupid people in the galaxy,” Haticat comments.

“Oh, right, but those people are too stupid to be a threat. They won’t have Doctor Bill scanning the ground for brewing explosions,” Nathaniel counters.

Fred throws down a wrench. He has been working on the engines. “These bolts are driving me mad!”

“Take a break. I want to explore a bit anyways,” Nathaniel says.

The four explorers walk up and down over the cracked boulders for over a kilometer. There isn’t much to see. The hot, yellow dwarf star beats down on them, taxing their suits’ cooling capabilities. Suddenly, four other suited figures leap out from behind porous boulders, surrounding them. They carry heavy guns with quadruple barrels. One touches a button on his helmet to switch frequencies. “Come with us.”

Pop! Nathaniel’s bed-ship materializes several hundred years in the future. It is a time of decay and societal collapse. New societies based on scavenging arise and compete with each other. This is the era in which the Marthon first appear, though they are far from dominant yet.

The ship lands on a space station with a gaping hole in the side. “It still has air in the reserve tanks; we can restore the environment by plugging the hole with our force field,” Nathaniel says.

“Sure,” Haticat replies.

Nathaniel, Haticat, Fred, and Doctor Bill climb out from under their comfy covers and walk around the futuristic space station. There are many kinds of equipment they have never seen before. They are playing around with the central computer when a tall, horse-headed alien appears. It seems to be a patchwork of parts from different species with different colors of skin and fur. It wears a gold vest that it reaches into with one hand and retrieves an ultrathin tablet. “One liver and one thyroid: two things I can cross off my scavenger hunt list,” it says in a squeaky voice.

“How did you get in here?” Nathaniel asks.

“Teleportation.” The alien puts away its list and pulls out a knife from a different vest pocket. It steps closer.

“I hope you weren’t thinking of taking my organs. I need those,” Nathaniel says, stepping backwards.

“It’s cold,” Haticat says.

“Yes, it is,” Nathaniel responds, scanning the dumpsite. “Still no gasket normalizers.”

“I found a tri-electric girdle, but we need to modify it to fit our ship,” Doctor Bill says.

“Why do people dump their trash here in the woods?” Fred asks.

“I think they’re just too lazy to drive all the way to the dump,” Nathaniel says. The explorers were on planet Gamma-G5, just outside the human colony of Knottingville. It was early spring, but not all the snow had melted yet. A car drives by, bouncing over the frost heaves.

“This junk is mostly furniture, not ship parts. Why don’t we just make our own gasket normalizer?” Haticat asks.

“We are also exploring. You can learn a lot about people by the stuff they throw away,” Nathaniel says.

Another car drives by but then stops. “Is this more trash?” Fred asks.

It is a police car driven by an adult. “Hey, you four! Stop right there!”

Trying to remember how manners work, Nathaniel finally says, “Hello, how are you this morning?”

“Are you dumping trash?” the cop asks.

“Oh no, we’re picking it up,” Nathaniel answers.

“Trashpicking is illegal,” the cop says.

“But we’re cleaning up litter,” Nathaniel objects.

“That’s stealing,” the cop says.

“But they gave it away. How can it be stealing?” Nathaniel asks.

“In this society we leave things where people wanted them put,” the cop elaborates.

“Really?” Nathaniel comments. “We’re not part of your society.”

“You’re on our planet,” the cop says.

“But we’re in the woods. We are wild animals,” Nathaniel explains.

“All life on Gamma-G5 has been fully domesticated,” the cop says.

“Wow, that’s harder than terraforming! How long did that take?” Doctor Bill asks.

“About two hundred years,” the cop answers. “I need to take all of you in.”

“But…But…” Nathaniel protests.