It was another average day on the UNSS Leif Erikson, Leon was a bit nervous though truth be told. They had been underway to their next scouted destination for a few days now. A few days in which he had been sweating bullets and trying to plan out an event that would forever change his life. He had asked Natalia to marry him, and he had meant it of course. But that didn't make the planning and the anticipation any less stressful in his mind.
In fact, the stress had clearly started to get to him he realised as he looked down at the partially reassembled air scrubber in front of him. He had been struggling with the bolts and now he knew why as he saw the filter was completely turned around backwards and upside down.
“So is that going to be actively polluting the air now because it's on backwards?” a voice asked from right behind him causing his heart to skip a beat.
“Whha!” Leon said as he whirled, startled. He clasped his chest and let out a slight wheeze as he saw who it was. “Christ almighty, don’t sneak up on people like that Taylor. You could have given me my death like that.” Leon hunched back over, keeping a single eye fixed on the man while starting to undo the wonky bolts.
Taylor just smiled kindly, not laughing but clearly not that upset about his actions either. “While I would love to take credit for being a ninja, I didn’t sneak up to you at all. I just walked over and noticed what you were doing.” His voice took on a slightly concerned tone as he continued speaking. “Are you alright Leon, I heard about your.. uh.. proposal.”
Leon threw up his arms, his spanner clattering to the floor. “You and everyone else, can nobody on this tin can keep a secret!?” he half wailed in his frustration.
Taylor had the presence of mind to at least look a bit uncomfortable as he put up his hands defensively. “Hey, I wasn’t looking for it. But I guess Natalia was talking to Terry about things to do and advice and then she mentioned it to me on accident. Well, all in all, I’m happy for you Leon, and I swear nobody heard about it from me.” he stated in a dire manner.
Leon stood and rubbed the back of his neck while letting out a sigh. “Yeah, I know that Taylor. Sorry for going off on you like that, but as you might imagine I have been under a bit of additional pressure lately.”
Taylor nodded solemnly and then shook his head slightly. He gestured to the filter “I can see that, look.. You don’t need to do everything on your own, Leon. That’s is part of having a crew, you rely on each other to get things done.”
Leon frowned. Had he been focusing on the proposal so hard that he had neglected to think about how it might affect the rest of the crew? “Damn.” he muttered quietly to himself.
Taylor spread his arms wide and gave a winning smile. “See? I am here to help, Doctor love is in the building!”
Leon couldn't help but crack a smile in spite of his somewhat gloomy mood. “Doctor love now is it? Has this been run by Dr. Kimathi? I mean, does she know that she had another doctor on board this whole trip?”
Taylor looked a bit annoyed but asked instead “I am serious Leon, I can help. Let me. For example, what are you planning for arrangements? Do you and Natalia have a location picked out? I mean, I would assume you do it on the Observation deck again, that was spectacular. And who is going to do the officiation for you?”
Leon weathered the bombardment of questions, the major one that stuck in his mind at once the most obvious and the one he had himself overlooked. “To do the reading? Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. Why is this so hard? Was it this hard for you when you asked Terry to marry you?” he asked a bit desperately. He had been in wars, the rigors of combat literally killing him. But none of it had seized his heart with such a vice grip of terror as the simple prospect of a wedding to Natalia. He knew he loved her, and she most certainly loved him. So why was it so hard to contemplate?
Taylor seemed to understand the struggle he was going through as he stepped closer and placed a supportive hand on Leon’s shoulder. “Hey, I got you man. I'll take care of the scrubber for you, you should go and talk to Joice. I am sure she would be happy to help you with the planning. I’m not sure if she knows though.”
Leon nodded. “Okay. Thanks Taylor.”
“Anytime Leon, just remember that we are all in this tin can together.” the man said with a grin. Leon gave him another quick nod and started walking away as Taylor crouched to fiddle with the vent system.
Leon continued down the upwards curving corridor of the ring, his soft soled shoes making little noise on the padded flooring. He checked his CAMS to see where Joice was, she looked to be on the habitation ring as well, though on the far side from him in the gym area.
He hurried his pace, hoping that she would be willing to help him out. He smirked to himself, how quickly he had gone from trying to keep a secret to actively seeking out help. But Taylor had been right about that, they were together in this. And it wasn’t like he could have realistically expected to keep the wedding a secret, not on a ship as tightly linked as the Leif Erikson.
He passed by several rows of rooms before the hallway narrowed slightly, the doors becoming less frequent and many of the walls now dominated by large windows into the adjoining rooms. He looked through them as he neared Joice’s location, her dot on his device putting the blond woman in the track room. Indeed as he approached he noticed her in the low ceilinged room and he entered through the automatic doors which whispered closed behind him with a slight thunk.
He waited patiently by the door which was near the beginning of the small running track. The room was large, well as large as could be put aboard the two-hundred-ten-meter-long ship’s habitat rings. The ceiling was low, only a bare two and a half meters above his head. Not so close as to be debilitating, but it did tend to make such large open spaces of the ship feel a lot more cramped. As if he was in a room that was far larger than it had any right to be, or he was somehow taller than he was supposed to be. Either way, the feeling was slightly off putting.
Joice seemed to notice him from across the room as she gave him a quick wave. He waved back politely as she trotted over to him. Panting slightly, she nodded at him while taking out the earbuds she had been wearing. “Hello Leon, what’s up?”
Leon tensed slightly, his mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to think of the words to convey his dilemma. Finally he settled on a simple question. “I.. need help. I was hoping you could help me with something.. personal.”
Joice looked him up and down, her strikingly blue eyes a bit suspicious. “Last time you asked me that I ended up cleaning alien snake poop out of an air duct with you and Oliver.”
Leon tittered before he replied briskly “Yeah. I remember. Max still doesn't seem to like me very much. Anyways no, that’s not it this time. I have a thing I have to work around the crew’s scheduling. And, well frankly, you are a much better organizer than I am and I was hoping you could help me.”
She cocked her head and asked curtly “Is this about Natalia?”
Leon’s mouth opened. “You know? Who the fuck.. Nevermind. It’s not important right now. My question still stands.” He took a step to the side, facing his body towards the track as he held a hand out. “Want to walk and talk maybe, that way I'm not entirely disrupting your workout?”
Joice fell in alongside him. “Yes, that would be nice. I am trying to make up for that dinner last night. I had an extra helping but what can I say?”
“Doc Kimathi’s cooking is pretty good, I will freely admit. I may have had an extra helping myself as well. Who knew you could do so much with catfish and potatoes.” Leon patted his stomach, thoughts of the savory brown vegetable gravy from the night before making his mouth water. The ship had a limited menu, more than enough proteins and essential nutrients to keep them alive. But a limited flavor pallet.
Joice and Leon walked side by side for a few moments in silence before she broke the silence, her head turning in his direction as he rubbed his hands together a bit nervously. “So, do you have an idea of when you want to do it?”
“Do what?” Leon muttered, not quite sure if she was referring to the planning or the wedding.
Joice rolled her eyes and muttered. “Men..” She slowed her pace just slightly as they rounded the corner on the track. “When are you and Natalia wanting to do the ceremony? Do you want to do it mid transit or when we get to another safe location? Do you want to do it like we did Taylor and Terry’s wedding?”
Leon nodded mostly to himself. It was a good question. “I was hoping to do it out of warp, the likelihood that something could go wrong is minimal. But not zero. As for the docket, I was thinking we could just do a traditional style wedding. Read the lines, say the vows. Simple.” It all sounded quite fine to him, but Joice wasn’t having any of it apparently as she raised an eyebrow and stopped suddenly causing Leon to stumble slightly as he was caught off guard.
“What?” Leon asked her as she just continued to stare at him.
“You haven’t put any thought into this at all have you?” Joice seemed a bit put out. He knew immediately that he had said something wrong, she was generally a very reasonable person.
He scrambled to think of something to placate her before she got going. Her anger was quite legendary aboard the ship and he had been on the receiving end of her sharp tongue more than once. “I have, it’s just. I never thought I would get married, it was never part of the mission. In fact it was Natalia that wanted this, I was perfectly happy with the way things were…” he trailed off as he saw stormclouds gathering on her features.
She shook her head and sighed loudly. “You Leon, are a hopeless mess. Yes, I will help you. But on one condition, you need to get serious about this. Natalia cares about you Leon, more than you care about yourself I would hazard to guess. I might be your friend, but I'm not going to do everything for you. I want you to go and talk to Chris about getting some of those nice rings like Taylor had. I'm sure you can handle that right?”
He nodded a bit sheepishly before she waved a hand. “Good, now leave me alone. I want to finish the rest of my workout in peace.”
Leon started towards the door. “Thanks, Joice. I appreciate this.” In response she just made a shooing motion and replaced her earbuds.
Leon exited the track room, his head abuzz with stress and a little shame. She was right, he hadn’t been putting much thought into the whole marriage idea. He started off towards the nearest ladder, Chris was likely in the mineral lab. He spent more and more time in there, always talking about some sort of experiment he was hatching up.
Leon didn’t care what the man was doing as long as it wasn’t affecting the safety of the ship or the crew. In fact, he had noticed that the older geologist was acting much more excitable and lively than he had been for the rest of the trip. It was nice to finally see the man opening up and looking excited to be on this journey.
Leon took the nearest ladder to the ship’s core before pulling himself along the microgravity to the fifth habitat ring’s section. The slow rhythmic thumping of the large ring’s magnetic bearing was a bit calming to him. The noise reminded him of the sound of waves from afar, as close as he was going to get to an ocean for a thousand light years.
It took him only another minute to climb the ladder and soon he was striding along the gently curving hallway towards the mineral extraction chamber. That was where Chis’s CAMS device was pinging him to. Nearly as soon as Leon entered the room Chris noticed him.
The older man perked up and cast an arm in his direction before beckoning him to come closer. “Oh Leon! Come come, I was meaning to message for you but I keep forgetting. It’s really just so exciting.”
Leon was immediately interested. The man was standing in front of a large table on which was situated a glove box. One of the containment chambers that came equipped with airtight seals and reinforced rubber gloves that allowed the observer to interact with its contents safely. He couldn't see what was in the box, not from his angle next to the door and so he walked down the small stairwell towards the excited man and his mysterious box.
“Alright, you have gotten my attention now, what have you been working on?” Leon reached Chris’s side and looked into the box.
He frowned. “What is this?” Leon asked confusedly.
Chris nodded and gestured to the contents and then lifted a hunk of the greenish rock he had found a little while ago that was sitting next to the containment box. “I was sure that these formations were biological in nature. I'm a geologist, but I have also done extensive studies of fossils and their identifying features. But the closer I looked at these formations the less sure I was of their age and fossilised nature, it got me thinking. Could these actually have been the way in which they grew, metallic alloys for shells and no requirement for oxygen?”
Leon just frowned. “Okay, but what does this have to do with.. Whatever that is.” He finally pointed directly at the containment box. Inside was a small asteroid-like rock, its surface the deep black of a chondrite. Except for directly on the top where a strange patch of green had seemed to spread. It was topped with a trio of tiny white polyps, the small flower shaped creatures looking decidedly strange with their very rigid body structures that seemed to wave slightly in the still air of the chamber.
Leon looked closer and then at the other man’s smiling face. Suddenly a thought occurred to him and he shook his head. “No, you aren’t telling me that those came from that are you?” he asked, gesturing towards the broken green rock next to them on the table.
Cris just nodded smugly. Loen was impressed, the discovery of void life had at first seemed an impossibility with their observation of the Glimmer Drorns. But it indeed seemed as if it was even more prevalent than they had dreamed could be possible. Every few systems seemed to harbor some form of strange new revelation whether that system was inhabitable by them or not.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Leon frowned at that. If life was so prevalent in the universe, why had they not yet encountered any living intelligence? Sure they had found the Aori space hulk, but they had been gone for hundreds of thousands of years by the time the UNSS Leif Erikson had turned up. “Do you think it’s wise to bring those things onto the ship?
Leon watched the small polyps intently as they waved silently in their containment box. Chris touched a dial on the side of the machine but didn’t turn it. “I don’t think they will cause us any issues. They are deathly allergic to oxygen it seems, the quantities present in our atmosphere proving more than strong enough to render them totally inert. Which I discovered the hard way.”
Leon realised he was getting sidetracked and tried to steer the conversation back towards what he had originally come down to the room to discuss. “Well, this is great, and I would honestly love to hear more about it at a future time Chris. But I actually needed some help from you.” this was it, either Chris knew or he didn’t.
Chris looked him up and down. “Is this related to the ablation damage on the transport SSV? If it is then not to worry, I have the replacement parts inspected with Chad’s help.”
Leon shook his head, a bit tense at the prospect of talking about his engagement to Natalia. “Well, it’s actually about something else. So, you previously helped Taylor fabricate some rings for their wedding? Well, I..”
Chris cut him off with a chuckle. “Oh, I see what’s going on. She finally managed to change your mind huh?”
“What?” Leon said, a bit taken aback by the man's sudden interruption.
Chris just stepped away from his pet project and clapped a hand on Leon’s shoulder, guiding him away from the glove box and towards the other side of the room. “I might be old, but I’m not too old to see what has been developing between you and that lovely young woman. Natalia has been trying to tie you down since before we even left Earth. Trust me, there were sparks there even when you two first met.”
Leon was a bit bewildered, he looked at the ground and then back to Chris a few times as they reached a large workbench scattered with documents and small rock samples. Chris cleared off a space and reached up to grab a small red metal box. Leon followed the motion with his eyes as his mind whirled. “You really think so? I mean, I knew that she liked being around me. But you really think she was looking to marry me even back then?”
Chris placed the case on the cleared spot and gave him a side eyed look. “The mind of the fairer sex can be impossible to fathom. I spent many of my younger years attempting to understand women, I gave up and decided to dedicate my life to the study of the Earth instead. At least rocks will never tear my heart from my chest and stomp it into the dirt in front of me.” Chris sounded a little bitter as he said it.
Leon opened his mouth to ask the man a question but stopped as Chris held up a hand. “No, forgive me. This isn’t the time to dig up skeletons, here. Take a look.”
Leon leaned forwards, and a small gasp escaped his lips. The small, padded metal box was full of rings. And not just rings, pendants and bracelets too it looked like. He blinked and then turned to Chris, his voice full of surprise as he asked, “How did you, did you make these all yourself?”
Chris just gave him a smile. Leon continued to look for a moment before he reached out, then stopped. “Err.. may I?” he asked the geologist.
Chris gestured “Of course. That’s why I am showing you. Making jewelry is a bit of a hobby of mine, a good way to make a little money on the side back on.. Well, back before all this at least. Now it serves as a good way to calm my nerves if that makes sense.”
Leon was listening to the man as he continued speaking, but only with half an ear. One of the rings in particular had caught his attention. He reached out and plucked it up, turning over in his hands. It was small, likely the perfect size for Natalia’s hand, but that isn’t what had drawn his immediate attention.
The ring was a striated silvery color with flecks of gemmy green crystals the size of rice grains. This was topped with a small but stunning gemstone that seemed to be attached to the material of the ring itself, as if it had grown from the material rather than been set. It was a deep hazel brown and gold, almost an exact match to the color of Natalia’s eyes. While he looked at it it made him think of her, he knew almost immediately that it was the ring he wanted to use.
He turned to Chris suddenly, startling the other man out of his speech about the virtues of platinum group metals in the making of historical themed brooches. “This is the one, please you must let me use this one Chris. What do you want in exchange? I'll give you.. What do you want for it?” Leon cradled the ring, its precious form far too incredible for him to let it go just yet.
Chris shrugged. “I don’t want anything. It's not like we use money out here anyways Leon. Just promise me that you are not going to drop it or anything. That one took me about eighteen hours to finish. Those rutilated peridots are a pain in the ass to excavate without breaking.”
Leon just nodded. Chris made a noise attracting his attention once more. “You will need a ring for yourself, won't you?”
Leon chuckled. “Yes, of course. Are you sure these are okay to take without..”
Chris waved him to silence. “I’m an old man, Leon. I have very few true passions left in this life, but this is one of them. Trust me, getting to see my work actually used is payment enough. Otherwise these would simply gather dust ten-quadrillion kilometers from any use, or however far we are now.” Leon heard him add in a mutter.
This was great, he had already accomplished two of the things he had been set out to do. At this pace he would be finished up and be able to show Natalia he was truly taking this seriously. He looked at the selection again and chose a grayish-white metal band. He picked it up and was a bit surprised by its weight. “What is this? Iridium?” It looked close, but the color was off.
Chris pointed to the ring. “That one? No, I don’t think so. It seems to be a naturally occurring alloy of osmium and iridium. I found a relatively large deposit of it in an asteroid we harvested a while back. It has some unique properties, but seems to be incredibly durable. It’s a good choice for a wedding band.”
Leon hefted the large ring again, it was indeed interesting. “It feels good, heavy. Solid.” he mused aloud. “Thanks again Chris. I have to go, I wanted to go and ask some other people some favors.”
Chris leaned over and closed the red box with a snap. “Sounds like you have a plan. Good, keep to it, it will make things go much smoother.” he seemed to mutter something else under his breath but Leon didn't hear what it was. Chris just glanced at him as he put the small box back on the shelf he had gathered it from earlier. “Well, get it moving then Leon, you have lots to do it seems.”
Leon smiled as he turned and made his way to the exit. As he walked up the small flight of steps that led to the main ring corridor, he turned. Chris was back at his earlier perch, his face glued to the glove box. It seemed he was very interested in what he had discovered. Leon would have to come back and humor the man about the small creatures, but for now he wanted to go and find Myung. He had an idea forming in his mind that he wanted to explore.
Leon slipped the rings into his pockets, separate ones so as to keep them safe from potential harm. He would need to find a small container to keep them in until they were needed. The last thing he wanted to happen now would be to lose them somehow. He closed the pockets with their small velcro flaps. They tended to not work so well in microgravity without the extra precautions.
It took Leon only a moment to locate the woman on his CAMS. She seemed to be in the hydroponics section, she spent a large portion of her time in the ship's vegetative areas, she had told him before that the humid environment reminded her of her home of Greater Korea.
Leon smiled at that, it was certainly a good analogue of a jungle, and the closet safe one for light years around. That he knew of at least.
The trip between the fifth and sixth habitat ring was uneventful, Leon soon found himself stepping up to the airlocked doors that led to the main hydroponics deck. The outer door opened as he approached before sealing behind him. He felt a small blast of cool dry air before the lock cycled and he was immediately hit with a wall of hot humid air. He took a moment to unzip his overalls as the heat made sweat bead on his exposed skin. Stepping through the doorway he was immersed in greenery, the many anchored trays and flowpans were filled to the brim with well maintained plants of many varieties. He could see air purifying spider plants and mold killing english ivy creeping along the ceiling pipes and conduits all around the long room.
The air was strong with the smell of turned soil and growing things. Leon pushed through a particularly dense patch of dwarf rubber fig, the plants having been bred for centuries to both produce latex and highly nutritious fruits. One of the many plants vital to the ship’s mission.
As Leon pushed into another dense patch he felt something seem to coil around his leg. He jerked reflexively and let out a short yelp as he looked down and saw a long sinuous body covered in blue green scales, a pair of chatoyant green eyes looked up at him inquisitively. The obvious intelligence behind them making him a bit uncomfortable. It was Max, the strange creature that had nearly killed Oliver. The Australian man’s ability to immediately bond with the creature that almost ended him didn’t surprise Leon overmuch however.
He relaxed only slightly, from what he could remember, Max was not overly fond of him and had displayed open hostility towards him on several occasions.
“Uh… Good snakey..” he muttered. Max continued to look at him, her eyes flicking to his face and then his hands a few times. She looked tense to his eyes, he was really not trying to get bit but if she decided to strike he wasn't sure he could do anything to stop the lightning quick creature.
As he stood there, arms raised in as non-threatening a way as he could manage, he heard more rustling and the sound of footsteps nearby.
“Hey, Oliver? Is that you?” Leon called out, he stopped as Max seemed to recoil slightly, the alien snake looking back towards the sounds.
He let out a relieved sigh as he saw the sandy haired man step through the nearby foliage. He was wearing a sleeveless white shirt, his overalls tied around his waist and his skin shined with sweat from the heat. Leon noticed almost immediately that the man was carrying a large pair of pruning shears.
Oliver just stopped and took in the scene for a moment before he guffawed. “Haw! You should see the look on your face. Max, get off the man, come here girl.” he prompted, one of his arms outstretched.
Max made a small chirping sound and gave Leon one last curious look before she sprang towards the shorter man. He didn't even flinch as she soared through the air and landed on his arm. She coiled around it and slithered up to settle herself loosely around the man’s neck, several of her small fins flexing as she found a comfortable position with her head resting on Oliver’s right shoulder.
Leon swallowed, he knew he would never let that thing coil around his neck like that, not in a million years. He nodded to Oliver, “Thanks for that. I don’t think she likes me.”
Oliver stepped closer and Leon tensed, but Max didn't move. “Doesn't like you? What do you mean, that is the closest I have seen her willingly get to anyone on this ship since she first came aboard. I'd say she likes you fine.”
Leon nodded as if he agreed, though he certainly didn’t. “Alright, I am looking for Myung, I assume she is in this jungle somewhere?”
Oliver gestured towards the direction he had arrived from. “Yea, we were just doing some hedge trimming. Gotta keep the path’s walkable mhmm.”
“Whatever you say, lead on Oliver.” Leon made sure to stay an extra step behind the man as Max raised her head and watched him follow. The grated metal flooring clacked slightly as they pushed through the somewhat dense verdure, the smell of growing things intensifying as they rounded a corner to see Myung standing next to a wheeled cart. The Korean woman had her back to them but had clearly heard them stomping their way noisily towards her as she spoke without turning.
“Oliver, thanks for the help, could you please take the detritus to the composting area?” She turned her head as Oliver made a coughing noise to grab her attention. She saw Leon and cocked her head. “Are you here to help me prune this chaos?”
Leon glanced at Oliver and shrugged. “Not originally, but I would be happy to help you if you need it. I’m not exactly busy at this moment in time.”
Myung waved at Oliver who grabbed the full cart and wheeled off into the brush. “Here.” She handed him a pair of shears like the ones Oliver had been holding. She reached out to the plant she was standing in front of. “I want to take the excess branches back to about a foot and a half. Don't clip them more than four centimeters past the edge of the planter though. I want the older growth to stay as this bush is a good producer.”
“What is it?” Leon couldn't quite place its species.
Myung stopped for a second as if she was unused to answering questions. “Sometimes I forget that you are military, not a scientist.” She nodded towards the bush. “It’s a super dwarf halifax apple tree. We have several of them for cross pollination purposes.”
“How does that work?” He asked, genuinely curious this time.
She pursed her lips. “I am sure you know about bees?” Leon nodded. “Well, normally the plants would be pollinated by insects like bees, flies or possibly even butterflies. But here on the ship we have a mostly sterile environment, though I have noticed that we seem to have a springtail problem in the carrots right now, but they are currently being held in check by some rogue beetles that managed to sneak on board as well. So we have a small ecosystem building here.”
Leon looked at the dirt near the base of the small tree, it seemed damp but not particularly populous. Maybe the problem had not spread to this part of the hydroponics yet. “Is it something that we should be worried about?” He said as he began pruning some of the more extensive overgrowth.
Myung shook her head, her long dark hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. “I don’t imagine it will be. We have several other species of beneficial detritivores in the soil already. Worms and several types of nitrogen fixing fungus. Though I must admit, the last minute idea to bring dry cultures of several types of edible mushrooms was a stroke of genius. I would never have thought of it. Really helps with reducing the compost load and they are good too.” She pulled off a large branch and tossed it into the ever-growing pile behind them.
Leon paused a moment before he opened his mouth to speak. But Myung beat him to it. “I will admit, I was a bit surprised to see you here, given how much you have been hiding out the last few days.”
Leon winced a bit. “It was that noticeable?” She just glanced his way and said nothing, a single eyebrow raised as if to tell him to get real. “Oof. Well, I am just glad that things are starting to move in the right direction now.”
She glanced at him again before saying something that caught him off guard.
Leon looked at her, mouth agape. “I'm sorry, what? I..”
She threw up a hand and asked “What do you want me to say? That I know you and Natalia have been using the yard for extracurricular activities? I knew about the proposal, I was probably the first person she told.”
Leon hung his head a bit. He should have seen that coming, Myung was probably Natalia’s closest friend on the ship besides himself. And he couldn't expect her not to tell, it wasn’t like secrets existed on the ship anyways.
He stopped snipping branches and turned to face her fully. “I hope you don’t think that I was trying to get her to do this, she is the one that came after me in the beginning.”
Myung waved a hand and asked “Leon, why are you here. Really?”
He shrugged. “I was hoping I could get some flowers for the event. I don't know anyone else on the ship better at getting things to grow than you.” He felt a little on edge as she just stared at him. He wasn’t sure why she was so upset, maybe it was just the fact that Natalia and Terry both had chosen to settle down for the trip while Myung was still not attached to anyone. But that didn’t really feel right. He decided to let it lie for the moment, it would likely come up again later.
Finally the shorter woman just nodded. “Yes, I’ll grow something, but it's going to be a few weeks at least before I have anything worthy of an event.”
Leon smiled, a bit relieved. “That is fine, we won't reach our next stop for another seventeen days anyways. Thank you Myung.”
It was at that exact moment that a rustling sound reached him. He turned and watched as Oliver walked back into the small open space. He stopped as the cart came to rest next to the pile of discarded vegetation. Looking around, Oliver scrunched his face slightly. “What did I miss? Anything interesting?”
Leon just shook his head as Myung went back to silently chopping the bush. “No Oliver. You didn’t miss anything important. I need to head back out, take care.” He waved to Oliver as he left, Max giving him another one of those curiously intelligent looks. He shivered slightly even in the hot humid air. He felt like he was starting to lose control, his right arm prickled slightly at the thought but he ignored it.
He would get things done, he always did. He tried to relax as he left the room, but the tension in the back of his mind didn’t seem to get any better.