BEYOND THE EXOSPHERE

As Sallie and her mother, Sandra, hugged each other tightly, tears of joy streaming down their faces, Jexter watched with a warm smile. She was happy to see her friend reunited with her mother. Afterwards, Sandra felt greatly confused. 

"Sallie, where are we? Am I still dreaming? Last thing I remembered I was in the hospital about to fall asleep then suddenly, I woke up in this place. Strangely, I feel whole again. The leukemia…it's gone. Is this real?" Sandra kept on with her questions.

Sallie replies with a smile on her face. "Mother, if I begin to tell you the truth about this whole crazy story, I would sound really insane to you. How..Where do I start?" Sallie took a deep breath as she began to narrate. "Mom, we aren't actually on earth. We are on an alien planet called Floria. It turns out aliens have always existed and some have been living secretly with humans all this while. We came here by traveling through a spaceship." 

Sandra chuckles in disbelief. She opposes, "Sallie, I was with sick with cancer not dementia. Where on earth are we? Is this the Amazon rainforest?"

Jexter who has been watching their conversation from a distance decides to come closer to them. As Sandra gazes at Jexter in great awe, she whispers to her daughter. "Do you know this girl?"

Sallie replies with great boldness, "Mom, this is Jexter. She's...well, she's an alien, and she's been helping me on this crazy journey."

Sandra's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Jexter. "An alien?" she repeated, her voice trembling.

Jexter chuckled and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Sandra. I'm Jexter, from the planet Xilor."

Sandra shook Jexter's hand and noticed it was abnormally cold. She quickly jerks back her own hand as a response to the coldness, still looking stunned. "I...I don't know what to say. Aliens? Space travel? This is all so...surreal."

Sallie laughed. "I know, Mom. It's a lot to take in. But Jexter's been a great friend to me. She's helped me through so much." 

Sandra was lost in thoughts and short of words. Her brain still needed time to process the fact that there was a literal alien standing in front of her. Finally, she broke her silence by addressing Jexter's appearance.

"Well, your skin does look abnormally white and your blue eyes are quite charming. But there are regular humans with those characteristics naturally." 

Zarrk, the guardian of the Tree of Life approaches them. It was at this moment Sandra believed that aliens were real. Zarrk, being a Florian, possessed less humanoid features than Jexter, who is a Xilorian. His face and body were wrapped in green vines. Sandra rubbed her eyeballs with her hands to ensure they weren't deceiving her.

Zarrk, and the rest of the guardians of the Tree of Life, escort them back to the spaceship. 

As they were walking, Sallie began to narrate her adventures to her mother. She told her about meeting Jexter, about their journey through space, and about the Tree of Life on Floria.

Sandra listened, her eyes wide with wonder and shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Aliens, space travel, magical trees...it was all so fantastical.

As they reached the spaceship, Sallie turned to Jexter. "Thank you, Jexter. Thank you for everything. I don't know what I would have done without you."

Jexter smiled, her eyes shining with warmth. "You're welcome, Sallie. I'm just glad I could help."

As they prepared to leave Floria and head back to Earth, Sandra turned to Sallie. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this, Sallie. Aliens, space travel...it's all so...wow."

Sallie chuckled. "I know, Mom. It was a lot for me to take in too initially. But I'm just glad we're together again."

As they entered the spaceship, Sandra looked around in awe. "This is...incredible. I've never seen anything like it."

Sallie smiled. "I know, right? It's still weird for me to get used to, but Jexter's been teaching me how to navigate it."

As they took off into space, Sallie suddenly remembered what she had lost. Her ability to have children, gone in an instant. But as she looked at her mother, alive and well, she felt a surge of joy. It was worth it, she thought. Every moment of it.

As they journeyed through space, Sallie couldn't help but wonder how she was going to hide the truth from her mother. She didn't want Sandra to know about the great sacrifice she made, not yet. Maybe not ever.

Despite traveling at hyper speed, the trio spend 2 weeks on their journey from Floria to earth. They survived since Sallie packed enough food to sustain them for a month. Sandra was convinced more and more of the reality of extraterrestrial life as they travelled past other unique and beautiful alien planets on their way home. 

Following their successfully journey back to earth, Jexter's ship lands at Sallie's apartment. Her ship is locked in "TRANSPARENT MODE", so as not to raise any alarms by nearby neighbors. 

Sallie expresses her gladness to see earth again as she kisses the solid ground. This time around, she had gotten her mum back and a new friend also. Just as everything seems so perfect, Jexter's communication device beeped. She answered it, and her expression turned serious.

"What is it, Jexter?" Sallie asked, concern etched on her face.

"It's Jixon," Jexter replied, her voice tight. "Jixon's holographic image pops up. He yells, "Big sis, big sis, we are in trouble. The planet's core is becoming unstable. It's causing catastrophic earthquakes."

Loud rumbling noises are heard from his holographic background. Jexter's eyes widened in horror. "Oh no, what do you mean??"

Jixon emphasizes, "I'm saying we are all going to die here. Xilor is about to be destroyed. This will cause our people's extinction. The Zhilak's absence is causing the planet to overheat, thereby creating an earthquake. To make matters worse, it is happening everywhere. Mum and dad, mum and dad are…."

Before Jixon could finish his sentence, a pile of rocks from the earthquake falls on him. Hence, this causes a loss of signal as his holographic image fades immediately. 

Jexter's heart begins to pound. Could her brother have died? Sallie and Sandra who also watched Jixon's holographic message from behind felt sympathetic. 

Jexter turns to Sallie sorrowfully. "I have to go. My people need me. It's has been real spending time with you and your mom."

She enters her spaceship. 

Sallies asks her, "Let me come with you, I could help. Besides, I owe you a lot."

For the first time, Jexter replies her rudely. "What could you possibly do? My people, my family are in danger. I have failed my mission here on earth to retrieve the Oncolyte, just because I wanted to help you save your mother. Just stay here on earth. Besides, Xilor's atmosphere is too cold for humans. I have to go right now." 

Jexter shows annoyance towards Sallie not because she was mad at her, but because her brother and family could have been dead as they were speaking. 

She hurriedly boards her spaceship in determination to save her people. In a flash, her ship lifts off into space. 

Sallie feels bad that she could not help Jexter. She always thought that a possible limitation to their friendship was the fact that she had no superpowers. Eventually, Jexter would have looked down on her. 

Sallie turns to her mother. "I feel so useless. Jexter helped me get you back, but now I can't help her. "

Being her mother, Sandra consoles her. "It's not your fault dearie. You are Sallie Storms, my own flesh and blood daughter and I am very proud of you. I know you have a good heart, which makes you ready to always help those in need. I know you would have helped your new alien friend if there was anyway you could. Besides, no one on this earth is born without powers."