Aya and Flora asked around where Taylor left his spaceship and it was only young Buck who seemed to know. He was leaving the beer barn with his numerous brothers and sisters whose mother strained to keep watch over them all. "After we explored Buck island," Buck chimed in, quite proud he knew something the village didn't, "He used some kind of wee-mote can-troll thingy and parked the ship on Buck Island. "

"Thanks Buck," Flora said, smiling warmly.

"Are you really going to fly the ship like you said?" Buck asked.

Flora boldly laid her hands on her hips and gave her best interpretation of Aya. "I didn't say it for nothing."

All of Flora and Buck's brothers and sisters chimed in with the kind of childish admiration of their eldest sister. "Flora you're so cool," one said.

"Flora I want I want to be just like you," another said.

Flora's pale complexion was prone to redness, but she rarely blushed as red as that moment. "Well I do say..." she remarked in her sweet country accent.

Aya patted her friend on the back. "We should go before you get too starstruck."

She seized her friend by her hand and led her away.

Flora's head was still swimming in the praise her younger family members had soaked her in. As they walked to the lakeside, Aya began to realize that Flora was more than a soft, fragile belle. It turned out Flora had a constitution similar to Aya's and put the things she cared about ahead of her fears. Aya knew she would have to do the same thing if she wished to fly in Taylor's deathtrap. At the time, she was more curious about what her friend felt as they walked from the wooden village to the sandy pathways lined by yellow grass.

"Flor, I really like what's gotten into you," Aya said with an appreciative tone.

Flora returned her words with a shy look. "Well to tell you the truth, you have Aya. Seeing my friend in danger made me realize I can't stay meek."

Flora's voice grew thin and emotional as she spoke, "If I was, I wouldn't have you anymore."

Aya's eyes sparkled with confidence. "And I can assure you I'm not going anywhere. Trust me, with you, Eterna and Jeeg in my corner, I have one helluva team."

Aya received equally approving glances from both Flora and Eterna's inky visage on her arm. It it seemed for these two women, their bond was never stronger; and for them, this day was the height of the fifteen year friendship.

Feeling nothing would come between them, they were ready for their next journey as well. They reached the lakeside where water lapped the sand. In the late afternoon they could see the glint of Taylor's ship perched on the third floating island to the left, a good distance from them but not totally unreachable by bubble. When Aya informed Flora of this, she grew a bit nervous. She had never traveled in one of her bubbles because her parents had deemed swimming in it "uncouth for a proper lady." That and Flora didn't like swimming in general. Aya smirked a little when she saw Flora hesitating. "So you'll fly in Taylor's ship, but not my bubbles?"

"My law, I just don't want to get my dress soaked," Flora chided back.

Aya crossed her arms and rolled her eyes in a friendly way. "You could always shed it. After all we have bigger problems right now."

"Y-y-y-ou're right. I do hope nobody sees me doing this," Flora shot back and lifted her sundress over her head, hastily undressing to her undergarments and removing her large sun hat in the process.

Soon, she stood there bashfully covering up her skinny body. Her knees were pasty and knobby and Aya always had a good laugh when she saw them. They looked like they belonged to some pale creature from the underground with the amount of light they saw. She shivered a little too in the light afternoon breeze. "Aya, come on, I don't like standing out here like this."

"I forgot that some of us aren't used to wearing aerodynamic clothing." Aya teased.

She then turned to the matter at hand, and began to conjure up a bubble with her staff along with the rhythmic movement of her fish tattoos. She looked out the side of her eyes and watched as Flora shivered, observing the water slowly circle until it formed up into a mass while biting her lip. "Well, your chariot awaits"—Aya stuck her tongue out and leapt into her bubble.

She popped her head out. "This is another reason why I wear light clothing. It makes bubble travel less of a pain."

Aya could see her friend tremble a little so she reached out her hand and slowly Flora grasped it, before walking to her bubble. Flora dipped her finger in and made a sour face. "It's so cold."

"Well, there's two ways of getting used to being in water. Slowly wading yourself in or..."—Aya's face displayed an expression that normally belonged the wiliest of Aquans—"You just dive right in."

Aya yanked her friend forward, who let out an eek before getting fully submerged in Aya's bubble before they took off.

The two flew through the sky. Aya seeing that Flora was frantically covering her mouth, grabbed her friend and they swam up to the top of the bubble. Flora let out a big gasp and shook her drenched ginger hair. "Why I never would do such a dirty, under-handed thing, Aya."

"Yeah, and I would," Aya said, sticking her tongue out. "We couldn't be here all day. Everyone is counting on us!"

Aya could see her friend was no longer paying attention but was holding her hands up in the air as they soared.

"Whoa, golly. This is actually kind of fun!" Flora exclaimed. "I always had a feeling I'd like flying and this is the closest I've ever been to it."

Aya frowned and muttered under her breath, "This is as much flying as I'd really want to do."

Aya released Flora from her bubble and they both dropped onto the floating piece of stone with Taylor's ship neatly parked on it. It gleamed in the sunlight and the light shone in Flora's eyes.

"Whoa this thing is so cool," Flora said looking up at the vehicle. "I wonder if he left it open?"

Flora had forgotten how cold she was and began to tinker with the cockpit. "I've always dreamed about spaceships but it's been so long since I've actually seen one. The last one I saw was when you crashed on our planetoid."

It was Aya's turn to shiver, but she shook off the thought of the wreckage and loss. "Let's just find how to open this thing."

Flora's eyes darted to a small latch on the ship's underside. It was small, dark and grey. It contrasted with the ship's blue and purple coloring. She hooked her fingers into it, and marveled as the ship's underside opened like a door. She climbed into its interior and found a button on the ship's small control panel with a shape of the glass window on it. Aya was completely bewildered when her friend disappeared, having been leaning on the cockpit in the hope that she could find an opening there. Without warning, (for Aya at least) the cockpit slid back and Aya fell into the ship's cockpit with a scream.

"Hey Aya, I found the way inside!" her friend exclaimed.

Aya quickly rose onto the cushioned seat, shaking her slightly frazzled head. "You don't say Flor."

Aya quickly observed that the inside, though comfy with tan insolated seats, it was a tad crammed. There was only a pilot seat and two passenger seats behind it. Aya's feet ached at thinking of being confined in it for weeks on end. She leaned up on the seat and watched her friend tinker with the control panel. Something caught her attention that was completely unrelated to the panel itself. It was a crude bobble toy of a nude woman placed on the dashboard. Its butt jiggled as Aya leaned forward on the ship. "What is this man's fixation with butt spasms?" Aya looked to Flora with questions in her eyes.

"He doesn't care about that, Aya." Flora groaned in return.

Aya's eyes and curiosity were quickly drawn to something underneath it. "Flor, look under the figure."

Flora quickly grabbed it and held it up. It was a photograph of a person who seemed out-of-this-world to both Aya and Flora. The visage was a woman of undetermined years. Her hair was as bright white-yellow as white lightning. Though her face was completely smooth, she had an adult air to her that made her look like she could have been anywhere from 35 to 55. She wore thick rimmed glasses, a low-cut pants suit and had a powerful commanding grip on a customized thunderbolt shaped pen; all signifying she was a strong willed business woman with a sense of calculation like animal instinct. Her hair was tied back in a long, electrifying ponytail, spilling out in a jagged way, and underneath her eyes were thick zigzag patterns drawn on by eyeliner. It was clear to Aya that electricity and its deadly nature were a central motif for this woman. The fact she was a business woman was concealed from both young women who had never signed a piece of paperwork in their lifetime.

Upon closer inspection from both Flora and Aya, they shared their divisive opinions on the photograph. "There's something fake about that woman," Aya decreed with narrowed eyes.

"I dunno Aya. She's very stylish for a woman of her age. I like her interesting sense of fashion," her friend responded.

"You like anyone who is fashionable," Aya laughed and pointed a thumb towards herself.

"True. Hey what's this written on the back?"

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Flora turned the photo around to show Aya what she had caught a glimpse of. Written on the back in fancy penmanship was a little message: "Taylor, you got the world in the palm of your hand, baby."

Aya pondered upon who this woman was. What was her significance to Taylor? Was she his mom? His lover? Aya had a feeling she wouldn't know until she talked to the king of sleaze himself. They felt a jerk of the ship, Flora screamed and dropped the picture to hold onto the control panel. Aya grasped onto the seat. "Flor! What are you doing?" she asked closing her eyes as she shook.

"I don't know. I swear I didn't touch the control panel until now."

The ship slowly began to rise causing Aya to scream in a voice much more girlish than her deep assured tone. "Please Flor, just land this thing."

Flora began to hastily push buttons as the ship began to soar but a female voice resonated from the control panel. "Control panel lockdown. Sit back and enjoy the flight."

Aya cried as she covered her eyes, wishing she was anywhere else but Flora kept her eyes open and remained energized despite what was happening. She was enjoying the flight and with a free "oh yeah!" she threw her arms in the air and let go of the essence of being a proper lady that her parents had painstakingly imbued in her. She felt free for the first time since she was born and her attire and screaming voice reflected it. She didn't even care where the ship was taking her, she just enjoyed the flight.

It seemed to be taking her to the coast where a small group of people were stationed. The ship landed with a "now entering landing mode" and soon rested on the ground.

Flora noticed the people standing before her. Jeeg, her mother and father, Taylor and two of the larger farmers were stood to greet them and one of the farmers had a rapier fixed at Taylor's throat.

Taylor hastily manipulated a small black device in his hand, which was presumably the ship's remote.

Flora was so full of excitement she didn't realize she was standing dripping wet in her undergarments with her hands raised high, showing off her neatly shaven under arms to the world. "Flora, why in san hill are you standing in your skivvies in a spaceship?" Mr. Du Bois said his face an angry shade of red. "Come down this instant".

Flora's shame and meekness returned instantly to her and she wrapped her arms around her body "Oh dear, I'm so sorry."

"Is that earian girl up there? Did she convince you to behave like a shameless wild animal like her?"

Upon closer inspection they soon saw that Aya was too busy huddling on the floor of the ship to even combat Du Bois' use of derogatory names. Everyone including Flora believed she was overreacting but she had not been on a spaceship since the day she fled her collapsing planet and crashed on this planetoid. She had no idea how she was going to brave riding one again but she had to. She even trusted living beings like Eterna more when it came to flight, but it was a bias she had to overcome all the same. She never wanted the ship to lose control like hers had, and she hoped that Flora would be able to tame this wild spaceship.

As both women stepped down; and Flora reinserted herself into her dress, the two girls were filled with curiosity why everyone was standing around them.

"Daddy," Flora asked at last, "have you finally decided if Aya and I can go?"

Du Bois looked hesitant and brushed his mustache. It was only when his wife gave him a mighty glare did he finally speak, "I was going to say no, but then somebody got to me."

Flora's mother stepped forward. She had a lively youthfulness in her eyes, something that often wasn't present in the mothers in the village. "Dear, you won me over completely when I heard you stand up to your father."

She put her frail white arms around Mr. Du Bois and held him close to her shoulder. "I love my husband deeply, but a moment hasn't gone by where I think I settled down too soon."

Aya could see Flora tremble with emotion when she realized Mrs. Du Bois finally understood her.

"Saving our people is the most important thing," her mother continued, 'But I hope you have an adventure on the way."

"Oh mom," Flora cried and hugged her.

"I'm letting you go, daughter," Du Bois said, sternly. "And I will convince the people that this is the best plan of action. But you better remember us and represent the Du Bois family crest in the best way possible."

"I will, daddy. Thank you," Flora said softly, looking up at him.

The burly mustached man, hardly a sentimentalist got behind his wife and daughter and embraced them. "I didn't realize I'm going to miss you," he said.

Aya smiled at the family's warm embrace, but then she noticed Taylor glaring at her with a smirk on his face.

"Why is he here?" She demanded to Mr. Du Bois with an angry glare to match.

"This boy had two choices, either he was going to rot with the rest of us, or he's going to do something good for the people of the planetoid."

Du Bois whacked Taylor's head hard, temporarily knocking the smirk off his face to Aya's delight. "See he's part of a company that owns a lot of spaceships and he's going to convince them to save us with his diabolic silver tongue."

Aya crossed her arms, frowning in displeasure. "He better not backstab us."

Taylor shot back with a candid look. "Honestly, I just want to get out of this hell myself. But there's something I want to ask you alone, Aya."

Aya sensed the ensuing conversation had something to do with his past behavior. Perhaps he'd feign regret and would inauthentically grovel to her about what he did and the trouble it landed him. Perhaps that was wishful thinking because even if it was insincere it would be fun to witness.

"Ok," she said, "But I'm not going near him unarmed."

Du Bois nodded, and the burly bearded farmer holding Taylor's neck hostage handed the rapier to Aya. The other farmer removed the remote from Taylor's hand and bound his hands back together. Aya positioned the sword at Taylor's neck with an even greater intensity than the farmer did, causing Taylor to draw tense gasps. When they were far away enough from everyone else Taylor spoke. " Being so close to you, I can feel the way you breathe. So hostile and agitated. I must have hit a nerve with you."

"You can drop the power play, Taylor. I'm fully in control here." Aya said, angling the sword with even more of a slant.

"That you are, that you are," Taylor scoffed as his voice deepened. "And because you are, I want you to tell me something."

"What?"

"Why haven't you told them what I did? Surely you've had the chance to by now."

Aya paused for a second before realizing Taylor was still trying desperately to get the upper hand. "Let's just say, the people of this planetoid aren't as forgiving as I am."

"How so?"

"They hadn't done it in a long time," Aya's face stretched to form a dark smile, "but they would have sent you to the gallows."

Taylor's sharp sneer teetered a bit, and she could see him grit his teeth more. He fully believed her. "Any reason why you would save me after what I did to you?" he hissed.

"Oh, I'll never forget it," Aya smirked, "But let's just say I learned things about my very essence from some friendly vines that allow me to be just a bit more forgiving."

Taylor laughed a cold dry laugh. "Aquan women, as cryptic as always."

Aya and Taylor walked back in their uncomfortable position when Aya handed the sword off to the farmer again. More people had arrived, this time bearing fruits. Some also had rummaged through the ship and found some space suits. They were waiting to pack everything inside; but first, the newly christened female astronauts had to prepare themselves.

Jeeg greeted Aya with a warm hug. "Well it seems like you'll be going soon." The elder's voice shook.

"Really?" Aya exclaimed "But Flora doesn't know how to fly yet."

"There's something called auto pilot, Du Bois says, I don't know what kind of magic it is, but it will do the work for you"—Jeeg added a little aside under his breath—" I wish I could put my chores on auto pilot."

Aya put her tight hand on Jeeg's shoulder and gave him a firm embrace. "You know, you can't slack off just yet old man. The whole planetoid's depending on you too."

"I'm well aware," the old man said with resignation, "We must prepare you to leave. I'm going to miss you so much. To think, this is the first time we've been apart for nearly fifteen years."

Aya felt like crying, but she held it back. "I wouldn't have it any other way, my old friend."

Jeeg's bushy eyebrows softened against his old wrinkled skin and Aya could tell that was the response he longed to hear. "Good. Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Yes," Aya said, "The Nature's Gate requires you to visit it and perform a ritual of some sort. I don't know what."

"Ah the restoration ritual," Jeeg replied. "That's going to give these old bones a work out."

"You know of it?"

Yes," Jeeg said sadly, and he looked down. "It was what our planet required but I failed to provide."

HIs head rose and he stood as straight as his arched back would allow. "I will not let these people down."

"I know you won't," Aya said, embracing him once more.

Eterna barked and Aya looked at her. "Tell him it means so much to me that he's taking care of my family."

Aya relayed Eterna's message and Jeeg responded, "Don't worry, Old Wing and I will be like a pair of moms."

Aya gave a hearty laugh and her tattoo smiled. She bowed to Jeeg and walked to the crowd. Flora had already dressed herself in a space suit. It was made of a very thick cream-colored baggy material complete with a helmet that slid up. Flora looked a little consumed by it, but she still stood with total confidence in herself and her mission.

"Aya hurry up" she cried, "We can't be late to save the planetoid.

Aya ran to them. Taylor had already been restrained in a space suit of his own and had seated himself in the third seat of the spaceship.

"Ready when you are captain," he said, trying to bring levity to people's fixed glares at him.

Aya fit herself into her own baggy space suit. It was so restricting and she felt in it she could no longer show off her vitality nor allow her to dash through the forest at full speed. Space travel must have required one to be very dense and restricted. Aya climbed up on the ship's wing before fitting into the close space that was her seat in the cockpit. Pulling the diagonal straps across her chest, she felt as packed in like the other cargo. Flora had climbed her way in too. She began to tinker with the controls in the front seat. "Which one is the auto-pilot?"

"The auto pilot only activates on my voice command." Taylor said with a boast from his precarious position.

"Standing by at your service, Mr. Lunsford." The auto pilot's soft female voice said as if to mock Flora.

Flora pulled out the remote-control tablet. She began to press it haphazardly until a wave of text appeared on its screen. "To reset designated captain command system, hold down all four corners of the control padscreen," she read aloud. "....Aha!"

Flora spread two fingers on each hand across the corners of the padscreen and as the auto pilot repeated its "Standing by at your service Mr. Lunsford," its feminine voice grew deep and robotic until it ceased. "Auto pilot reset. Insert name of new captain."

"Flora Du Bois."

The voice changed to the friendly, feminine voice of a woman again. "Welcome to your first voyage Captain Du Bois."

"Captain Du Bois?"—Flora fluttered her eyelashes and pointed to herself—"Me? Why I never."

"Better watch out," Aya said to Taylor as he shook his head "Flora gets on a bit of an ego trip when she's in charge. Fortunately, I have nothing to worry about."

Taylor in return just muttered to himself. "So fickle. After all these years of treating her like a lady too."

"When will you realize it's just a machine?" Aya asked, trying to laugh amidst her own panic.

"Captain Du Bois, enter the coordinates for your next destination," the voice instructed Flora.

Flora gazed around nervously, realizing she hadn't a clue. "The City Electric," Taylor whispered.

"Ah yes, The City Electric, thanks swabbie," Flora responded.

"Coordinates now added, prepare for take off," said the ship as the cockpit's glass window slid firmly over the three seats.

Aya watched with baited breath as her friends cleared for lift off. The ship slowly began to angle itself with the sky and with the help of some reusable rocket thrusters on the sides of its wings blasted itself into the sky with a loud crackle boom of electricity. Aya frantically gasped the seatbelt straps that held her in place as the ground and people grew more miniature and diorama like.

"I'm doing this. I'm doing this." Aya said, her tone warbling, terrified and not able to convince anyone including herself. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as her lungs danced in terror inside of her. She stifled a look to the window and saw just as the sky merged with stars. She was off to see a whole new planetoid like she had done as a child; but this time, she hoped to bring with her not only her own life, but the lives of everyone else too. Everyone and the planetoid itself were all counting on her and she could not let them down.

Aya frowned but she quickly smiled when she saw her friend. It filled her heart with joy to see a human just as devoted to the planetoid as her. She knew this was the adventure she had always longed to go on. Not the space travel, but the journey to a whole other planetoid. She could not even imagine what she'd see, but she knew that every inch of this cosmic distance was part of the big dream, and she wanted to see it all.