Aurora turned the last screw in the silvery engine casing. If someone had looked into their garage on a Wednesday afternoon, they would have seen there not only tools and paint, but also something unusual: a ready-to-fly spaceship! The round fuselage shone with a thousand lights and the sides bore the colourful inscription: "Galactic Explorers Club". - Done! - she said proudly. - Supplies checked! - added her brother Leo, holding up two sealed boxes of drinks and energy bars. The oldest of the group, Nadia, sat in the pilot's seat and put on her headphones. She affectionately stroked the dashboard full of flashing buttons. - Everything looks good! In ten seconds we're taking off! - she announced. Aurora, Leo, Nadia and the youngest member of the club, Titus, high-fived each other and threw themselves into their seats. When the electronic voice calculated the seconds: "Five... four... three... two... one!", the engines whined and their ship lifted off the garage floor. Moments later, they broke through the roof (which they had specially replaced with a movable plexiglass dome) and jumped above the houses, gliding towards the starry sky. - This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! - sighed Titus, looking up at the receding Earth. - Direction: the planet Thaloria! - Nadia pulled a lever and the navigation screen flashed up with a map of the nearest galaxy. Through the window they admired swirling nebulae, passed asteroid fields and entered tunnels of light that stretched like colourful serpentines. After a few hours of flight, the on-board computer beeped in a worried tone: - You are approaching an unknown area. Objects detected. Caution advised. Suddenly, a pulsating light appeared on the radar. The ship trembled slightly, as if something invisible was holding it in place. Strange shapes began to appear in front of their windows - they resembled shiny crystals floating in the void. - Are we... are we just landing? - asked Leo with his eyes wide open, as the gravity gauges started spinning like crazy. With no input from the pilots' hands, the ship slowly descended towards the purple-blue planet. As they touched the surface, light flashed outside and shadows began to appear around the landing site in strange, quite otherworldly shapes....