Submission (#6550) Approved

Telepath fiddled with the strange black box. It wasn’t like anything they’d seen in a long time. They felt around until— a click. The screen of the box turned on, green letters filling in. A terminal. Maybe it was connected to the recent events and UFO they’d seen last night.
“Hello? Is this message being received?” The terminal made a new line and an underscore on the screen blinked.
Surprised, Telepath typed back, “Yes! Who are you?”
“… Lydia. Good to finally make contact. My satellite was… damaged. And I need help,” a new line was made and the text filled in again.
Excited, Telepath asked how they could help. Maybe this was their chance to do something cool relating to space! Their critter was a ringed planet, after all.
“I need you to babysit my little brother, Junior, for me,” she sighed, “I heard there’s a playfair near you. He could use a bit of fun while I make an astrohedron and fix up my satellite. The astrohedron is a core that can allow the creation of planetary terraliens, like myself.”
Telepath sat there for a second. Planetary? That’s epic. Babysitting. That wasn’t… exactly the epic experience of a lifetime. They typed back, a bit disappointed, “Seriously? I thought it might be y'know… a bit more… of an exciting request.”
“I can always ask another Terra and give them an astrohedron instead of you.”
“Wait wait! I can help. I’m… good with kids,” that wasn’t exactly the truth but a reward was a reward. Especially one with the prospect of creating something new and… planetary. Telepath tilted their head and typed, “What defines planetary?”
The screen filled with new text, “You’ll see. Head a bit north. That’s where Junior and I are.”
After a short trek north, Telepath came upon a massive terralien, towering above them. 10 feet tall. Planetary.
“That’s my little brother,” another towering terralien rose up. Lydia.
“Your little brother is 10 feet tall?”
“… just take him to the play fair”
And so they went. Other terraliens were surprised to see such a large member of their kind but were respectful. Babysitting wasn’t so bad. The fair had good games. Telepath used their skill with aim at the bottle booth, knocking over all the bottles with one ball and winning a hare. And due to Junior being 10 feet tall, they could both go on most rides. Telepath was good with kids.
After winning more prizes and going on more rides, a message came through the black box, “Alright you can come back, I’ve finished an astrohedron and made good progress on fixing my craft.”
Another trek back to the grounded satellite, but perhaps this time with newfound appreciation for the mundane. Maybe— scratch that. They were thinking about the real reward, which was a lot cooler than learning how to appreciate the normal parts of life. Babysitting wasn’t awful, but babysitting with the promise of a new subspecies and talking to a space traveler? You don’t need to appreciate the mundane in order to know that it’s worth it. Telepath gave Junior back to Lydia. Lydia gave Telepath the astrohedron , “There’s your reward. I’m gonna need some help with the satellite, though. Come back tomorrow,” she handed Telepath a screwdriver, “There’s your reminder.”