The silver ship sped through space. It was a UFO, an unidentified flying object. Not, of course, that the creatures inside didn't know what it was. "UFO" was what the funny creatures that inhabited their destination planet called such ships, because the funny creatures liked to have words to apply to things they didn't understand.
This was fine with the creatures inside the ship, because they liked to do things to the funny creatures that the funny creatures didn't understand. Not all of the ship-creatures did, of course. Mostly it was the juveniles, who, as they neared maturity, would find themselves given a respite period from their time at the giant Education Complex and nothing to occupy that time. With nothing to do and too many credits at their disposal, they would obtain a small ship capable of mere interstellar travel and run off to some backwater system with insufficient law enforcement and cause inexplicable events to happen to the natives.
The adults would look down on such behavior, rattling their thoraxes in dismay at the decline of the juveniles. Such things never happened in their day, they maintained. Certain of the adults would occasionally suggest that the juveniles be restrained to the home system during the respite period or, better yet, be given no respite period (which would, they insisted, have the beneficial side effect of increasing the efficiency of the Education Complex.) However, most of the adults liked the idea of the juveniles causing trouble in the home system even less than they liked the idea of the juveniles bothering funny creatures in backwater systems. At least the juveniles weren't getting mixed up in the Pleiades conflicts or causing trouble with the Antares Star Empire, the adults would reason. And so the Education Complex respite period tradition continued on.
This particular ship was heading towards a small blue-green planet in an otherwise unremarkable system. It had been a target of the juveniles a few times before, but was generally unpopular for being even more out-of-the-way than most target systems. However, the juveniles piloting the ship were also planning on engaging in unsanctioned reproductive activity, so a remote location was a must. They had pooled their credits and obtained equipment for bodily alteration, planning to use it on the natives. The funny creatures that inhabited their target, they had found out from others who had visited it before, were particularily attached to their bodies, and altering them promised to be great fun.
After a long trip, the ship made an easy atmospheric entry. The single sun was on the other side of the planet, and would remain so for quite enough time to alter a victim or two. The juveniles piloted the ship down to one of the strips of black, hard surface that made up the natives' transportation network. With the sun on the other side of the planet, activity on the network was minimal, and the ship was able to stealthily swoop down over a lone primitive vehicle and snatch the occupant inside. Their victim was...