Sydney Sears comes from the planet of Thion X48. Thionites are jelly-like orbs that undulate to the pulsating beats raining down from the sky at all times.

They absorb the sound through their skin, drinking and eating it. Kaleidoscopic light patterns dance through their veins, warm like burnt sugar.

One day, the sky explodes with static. This is followed by silence, pushing down on them like a boulder. They begin writhing in shock as what feels like thousands of tiny needles penetrate their skin.

Orbs shrivel up left and right, their bony corpses congealing into a brittle crust.

Those still alive begin beaming light back and forth, the once-vibrant pinks and purples subdued. Slowly, a consensus is formed.

One of them will leave Thion in search of new sound food, taking on the avatar of Sydney Sears.

Sydney catches a ride on a comet, landing on a sidewalk in downtown Los Angeles in the middle of the afternoon. The sun bakes down on her, and she isn't used to her new body, which feels so heavy.

She spreads out on the sidewalk, imagining that the sun is baking her deeper and deeper into the concrete. A group approaches her.

One of them pokes her with his foot. Is she even alive? He balances his half-empty cup of Coke on her back. Another places a carton of French Fries on her neck.

Over the course of the day, she becomes a living statue, stacked with beer cans, containers of fast food, and ice cream cones all precariously balanced on one another.

Darkness sounds in. A throbbing bassline rises from the building beside her, velvety synths stroking the air.

Electricity pulses through her veins. She rises, cans and ketchup-smeared buns and globs of ice cream splattering to the ground.

She floats in through the door, letting the music carry her. Hands outstretched, she soaks in the sound through her skin, trapping it in her veins and tissue.

When she returns to Thion X98, she will be disassembled, every ounce of sound squeezed out of her tissues. Then she leaves the next night to do it all over again.

Night after night, she enters the building. One night, she moves behind the decks, and the DJ steps aside, no questions asked.

But right now, she drinks in the music.