Visit To Jukmarkh

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'Sup! Polly here.

As Skye mentioned last week me and Rufus on a trip with our friend Mandy to the planet Jukmarkh. Rufus thought it'd make a good blog post but didn't have the time to make it. You know who does? Me! Plenty of time.

It all started with a message from Mandy asking if she could get some help from us in collecting some special parts for her space canon. For those who don't know, Mandy is a super tough polar bear who lives above the skies of Tropoi and keeps watch over it with her space station. I wasn't too interested and Rufus was too busy but he soon changed his tune after hearing about the warehouse of techy doodahs that Mandy needed to get to. Cindy asked me to go to protect him as Jukmarkh is not a planet for the feint heart. It's literally impossible to visit there unless you're a local because it's full of heaping pools of lava and is hot enough to burn you to a crisp before you've even touched the surface. How were we gonna get there? Why would we risk such a stupid mission? Well... Technology has advanced quite a bit. 

Enter the Flamesuit, an incredibly thin covering that has the ability to absorb and withstand temperatures to an extreme degree. Sounds great right? Well it has a big catch. It's incredibly expensive. Thanks to their creator Lord Farkletwarp only the richie rich snobs can access them. This isn't by choice; the locals would love to have more tourists but the technology is just too expensive right now. To be fair it does change your hue and gives you a sick palette to match the flaming hot atmosphere which is handy for identifying if you've even put it on or not. Thankfully service workers such as ourselves are able to loan Flamesuits in advance so that we can help out on the planet and such. We ordered them to the ship and headed out when Mandy was free over the weekend.

Just look at this place! Despite our Flamesuits it was still so boiling. Mandy made a mistake wearing that space suit. We couldn't believe how huge the plant life was here, you could use them as blankets! Not that you'd need blankets here. It felt super organic and peaceful, kind of reminded me of home... There was structure there. You could tell that people were at work to keep the wildlife nice and clean. My first instinct was to take a peek in one of the many lava springs dotted around, we couldn't believe that we could get that close to them... Rufus and I were hesitant to dip our toes into one but Mandy just leaped in face first. She got stuck in the crater and after some frantic pulling with the expectation of Mandy's face being skeletal remains we were surprised to see that she was just fine! The suits are the real deal. Rufus was oh so jealous of the people who work on the suits. He's gonna try get in with their team. 

I started splashing around in the lava river whilst Mandy dealt with her demanding husband Randy on her communicator. He was very angry with her for the crime of leaving him alone to 'babysit' their son Andy. Rufus awkwardly tiptoed next to the boiling lava so I came back to check in on them both and Mandy was super embarassed after cutting the communication. Rufus told her not to worry but I struggled to keep my anger in and asked why someone as headstrong as her would tolerate such a deadbeat man. This sounds assumptive on my side but we've dealt with Randy before and he is NOT a nice guy. When we went to destroy the Red Light he refused to believe that I was a Protector and deemed my entire species useless. Mandy didn't defend him to my surprise... She said that she was looking out for her son and trying to give him a stable childhood. I questioned if having that man in his life was truly stable or not to which she seemed to ponder over... Rufus couldn't stand the tension and got us moving along to the warehouse. I apologised for my stubbornness on the way and ensured her that no matter what choice she makes in life she'll have us behind her. 

(If you're worried, don't be. Mandy and Rufus gave me blessing to tell our full story, warts and all. I guess she wants opinions on what she should do. Would the kid be better off with a single mom or both parents with a douchebag father who sees his son as a chore? Hmmm.... Randy won't be reading this by the way, he thinks we're a propaganda site fueled by the mafia.)

We got to the warehouse and it was just as boring as you'd expect. After around twenty minutes or so I headed out the back and waited at the parking lot. Every single nut and bolt must be inspected by these two! Sadly our time there was yet to be over... Apparently the parts ordered needed to be verified so we were told to come back in thirty minutes. They were about to go back in to wait when I pointed out a smoothie shack nearby called Screechy Smoothies. Rufus left their heavy shopping bag full of bolts with the cashier and we took a nice stroll on over to the shack. This planet was soooo dry. Really worked up our thirst.

It was a great place! The bartender Kechrimpári was such a cool dude. Real relaxed and friendly. He said that he doesn't get customers all too often. He had such a great variety of smoothies available. Mandy and Rufus had an icy blueberry smoothie to cool down but I went for the big one, the grand smoothie, the bartender's choice... The MMMMolten Marvel, a dragon fruit smoothie covered in actual lava and paprika. Kech promised us that the Flamesuits covered our insides as well as our outsides. I was NOT turning down the chance to drink molten lava!!! 

It did NOT agree with me. 

Kech told us that the customer's first visit came with smoothies on the house but we insisted that we paid. He said that this was the first time a newbie ever paid for their smoothies... Apparently the non dinosaurs who live here act like tourists and demand everything on a silver platter. Seeing us was a refreshing sight, apparently. He hopes for that elite bubble to burst especially since they're so rude towards him just trying to get an income to afford a house so that he can live with his boyfriend. Accessible Flamesuits couldn't come quickly enough. We asked why he didn't try taking his shack around the galaxy since travel is so cheap and accessible these days but he said he can't stand being cold! Jukmarkh is his home and despite the elites he's incredibly grateful to be here. The environment is so relaxing for his species whilst also being incredibly hostile to outsiders that Velocity doesn't dare attempt to invade. Hopefully they never figure out the Flamesuit technology.

We collected the parts and were ready to head out so Mandy checked her communicator to let Randy know only for a barrage of irate voice messages and calls to come hurling their way. She firmly put the blasted thing down and asked us if we wanted to go for a dip in the lava springs to cool off- wait no, heat up? Either way we wanted to relax and relax we did!

This is the life... It was like having a hot bath and being in a sauna all at once! We were going to have another drink but they evaporated. We uhhhh didn't think that one through too much. Here Rufus gently reminded Mandy of the help and support that the Planet Protectors can give. She appreciated it but ensured us that she and her kid are tough cookies who can handle themselves. Being a tough cookie also means not being afraid to reach out if needs be, something we all know all too well.

 

Well, that was our trip. We all really enjoyed it! It's not often that you get to go to Jukmarkh. This was our first time! Scott and Cindy have been a few times though. I don't think Jack nor Melissa would even be capable of getting anywhere near it... The Flamesuit can only protect you so much, they struggle not to melt on hot planets let alone scatching. Ol' Lord Farkletwarp made this great invention for accessibility but I still don't trust him, he probably has some money making scheme up in his hands. Either way if you get the chance to visit the planet you should definitely take it. The environment is awesome and organic and the locals are super chill and friendly. Hope we get to meet again if you're reading this Kech!

Oh, I got you guys a souvenir too. Go ahead and enter the code JUKMARKH on the redeem page. It's on me. If all this info isn't enough for you too go check out the Planets page as we've added Jukmarkh to it.

Peace!

Pinned

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