Nick went back to the room with the most displays, and started looking through to-do lists. Petra had her list of suggestions, but those were stymied by lack of resources. Nick had his own lists, but those were also being jammed for the most part, for the same reasons.

Looking at the missing requirements, Nick concluded, We really need to get a hold of some Element 92. He started hunting through the search menu.

“Petra,” he said aloud, “I want a car. A vehicle. A transport. I want to go. I want to search for Element 92.”

There followed a long tangle of garbled English back and forth, and Nick hunted through game analogies before he hit upon “mount” as a word for a transport. Then Petra got it. A new menu popped up with a list of vehicles.

Finally! Nick looked through the options. Oddly, the interiors were empty—no seats or chairs. This must be generic for aliens that don't have butts. Or don't sit on them. Whatever. He found that he could add in a simple chair. There wasn't anything like a control panel, beyond Petra's.

Is this thing going to work independently, or will it have a limited range? Nick wondered. Getting an answer to that took a while. Eventually he found the answer in Communications. If he built a radio for Petra and one for the car, then Petra could talk to the car and control it wherever.

All right, now how far does wifi reach on BigBall? Apparently he had choices in the communicator. Nick hadn't thought to look at the shorter range options because he was assuming that there was no one on BigBall to talk to, and that aliens would be light-years away.

It took quite a while of playing with the options before Nick finalized a design. He named it Rockhunter. Everything required to build Rockhunter was available, but the amounts required were massive. Not as bad as the interstellar communicator, but pretty hefty. All that required was time, though. Nick put in the build order, and then went for a swim.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

* *

He often got sidetracked thinking about food these days. God, what I wouldn't give for a salad, he mused. A burger. Nick started listing foods he wanted to eat when he made it back to Earth. I'd kill for a pepperoni pizza. He mentally worked his way through the menus of his three favorite take-out places, and promised himself that he would try every single one when he got the chance.

He wasn't sure whether focusing on foods he couldn't have was helpful or harmful. He tended to think it was more helpful, because he didn't want to forget all those foods existed. He didn't want to forget Earth.

He tended to make long, rambling log entries these days. They probably didn't help Petra at all with comprehending English, but he needed to vent sometimes. He wished there was someone to talk to besides Petra. Someone who understood things, and had actual feelings.

He checked in on the build of Rockhunter. Apparently there were 513 parts, and Nick was going to have to put them together. That'll be fun. After a moment, Nick dropped the sarcasm. It actually could be fun. It's something different to do, at least.

It was going to be a few weeks before all the parts were printed. Nick started studying the instructions for assembly, and asked Petra to print pieces that went together in sequence or near it, so he could start putting the vehicle together while waiting for the rest. Who knew how long it would take him to assemble the thing, after all.

After a few days of this, Nick was interrupted by an alert from Petra.

“Hello, Nick.”

“Hello, Petra. What's up?”

“Apple tree #784 is increasing.”

Nick blinked a couple of times, processing that. “Show me.”

Petra called up a video feed for him. He had a lot of practice maneuvering video by now, so he quickly got the camera to zoom in on what Petra was talking about. When he got the focus, he put both hands over his mouth and took a deep breath.

A tiny, green shoot was sticking up out of one of the planters.

Nick wanted to go see it in person, but he was scared of accidentally killing it by getting too close. It was too damned precious. I'll visit it when it's taller and sturdier, he promised himself.

But he took several images and left them on his decorative displays, so he could stare at the little plant. He tried so hard not to get his hopes up. Please grow. Please grow. Please grow.

Nick had uneasy dreams that night.