Valtor

It was a warm day on Valtor, a subtropical planet five light years from Earth. Zak Mebow, a kind-hearted teenage Valtorian, yawned and slouched as he sat on a bench in the city center looking at his phone. The savory aroma of fried aglar wings from a street vendor was making his stomach growl, yet his crypto-wallet was empty, just like his stomach. He sighed, combed back his antennae and looked up with his one central eye as the digital billboards all switched to display NEWS ALERT on giant color screens. ‘Giant’ is a relative term here since Valtorians are precisely 1/32nd the size of Earthlings.

As the theme music began, a female Valtorian with crisp hair and blue-green skin appeared on screen. Her central eye was blue, the same as Zak. The chyron scrolled the words Breaking News, in Valtorian across the screen.

"I’m Meko Nabote with our top story here on the Global News Network. The Earth mission was a success, so today we bring you a GNN exclusive: the first ever photo of an Earthling. In a related story, this Earthling saved the lives of our astronauts.

So here it is, the FIRST ever image of an Earthling…"

“Eeeee!” Zak exclaimed, in Valtorian, overwhelmed by the cuteness. Everyone knew that Earthlings were an ugly warlike tribe, but nobody had seen one, until now. Zak was surprised to learn that they were, in fact, a furry creature with expressive brown eyes and a prominent snout. To Zak they looked harmless, even playful.