“Well this is where I leave ya, Pilot. Thanks fer the lift today, and the other lift. Plenty of lifts I’ll probably be thankin’ ya for ta be honest,” Lachlan reasoned, standing properly in the hallway just outside of Cromwell’s quarters, hands behind his back. The competent Brit gave him a smile.

“I’m the only one regularly flying anywhere other than one hangar to another. After so long in transit I’ll take you down to the surface and back six times a day and seven on Sunday if you need it,” she laughed softly. “Shouldn’t you be with Alice Winters though?” Lachlan gave her a brief shrug.

“That excitable science lassie doesn’t need me around for now. I’m just the muscle, yeah?”

“Self-deprecation is not a particularly attractive trait in a man,” Cromwell remarked, leaning against the doorframe as it slid open and revealed a glimpse of a neatly made bed in the small space behind her. “And is there a reason you continue to refer to me as Pilot? Here I thought we were friends. You’ve been on my shuttle twice already.”

“Which is exactly why I’ll keep callin’ ye Pilot Cromwell if it’s all the same to ye,” Lachlan said, allowing his stiff posture to relax a bit. “Worst happens if I offend Alice is she looks at me sideways and goes on about whatever idea she’s got cooking in her head. The fluffy lass on the surface, if she manages to get through my armor we might have a problem, but even then I’m probably lookin’ at scratch marks. Yer the one flyin’ me into space on the regular. Not aimin’ to get on yer bad side.”

“And if being referred to by my rank instead of less formally like the…other women in your life? If that’s something I find irksome?” Cromwell dropped the loaded question with a smug smirk on her face. She giggled after a moment of letting him stew, bringing a hand to her lips. “Oh you boys in fatigues are just too easy. Lighten up, Private. If there comes a time I feel that to be true and would rather you call me Elizabeth, well you can count on me letting you know. Goodnight, Lachlan. See you for breakfast? I’m sure we’ll be on call whenever those Cauthan run out of food.”

“Bright an’ early I’m sure,” the young man managed, caught well off-guard by Cromwell’s flirtations. “Y’have yourself a good night now, Pilot.” With a brief wave they parted, a pleasant hissing filling the empty corridor as her door slid shut. MacGregor was not given long to contemplate his most recent interaction as a group of his fellow marines, most of whom were still on bridge duty, came around the corner at the far end of the hallway.

“Just the man we were looking for! Storytime, Mac. What’s it like down on the surface?!”

“Guess it’s gonna be a bit of a long one,” he muttered happily.

-----

Veera had just managed to get Fenrir settled and ready for a snooze when the door to her new cabin slid open. To her delight it was Russell, and Fenrir was not disturbed much by the intrusion. The hyrven laid his head down on his paws as Veera walked quickly to give her human a hug and kiss.

"You look just like when we first met," she gushed happily, running a hand over his close cropped hair and smooth, shaved face. It softened as he held her hand in his.

"And you look nothing like when we first met. How's he doing?" Russell glanced over her shoulder at the hyrven snoozing on the basic synthetic leather couch that dominated the 'living quarters' of the space. "I've never had a cabin like this…"

"Perks of having a wife, perhaps?" Veera murmured confidently, having seen Xan's own lodgings aboard the ship. It was clean and bright and impressive, but it didn't hold a candle to their small living area, partial bedroom wall, and separate bathroom. She guessed in total it was slightly larger than her home on Mara, but certainly less square and more rectangular. "Fenrir got finished rubbing himself all over everything a little while ago. He uh…"

"Had an accident?" Winters laughed.

"Where is he supposed to go?" Veera protested. "It's kind of our fault but-"

"Where did he go?" Russell wondered.

"Just out in the hallway there. I was able to clean it up with some of that disposable cloth in the outhouse."

"Outhouse?"

Veera pointed to the bathroom. Russell opened his mouth in an 'ah' shape and repeated the word. "But Russell, there is no tub in that room. How would one take a bath?"

"That is an excellent point," he allowed with a smile, moving past her to begin shedding his armor. The barber had laughed when he'd walked in wearing a full Aegis, but had done the job well. "We just use it as a catch all term for anywhere you're supposed to do your private business. I'm glad Fenrir is the type of guy not to poop where he lives. Yeah, keep going in the hallway. Good boy!" He complimented the hyrven. The animal saw fit to open a single eye, glancing his way but otherwise not reacting.

"That's quite enough talk about the bathroom then," Veera insisted. "What about you, Russell? You had to see a healer, right? Is all well? Many things happened when you were gone. I met some of Alice's elders."

"That right?" Winters asked, stashing his armor out of the way along the wall between the bed and bathroom. Clad only in his undersuit he was suddenly struck by a thought. "I really should have brought some clothes."

"What about that?" Veera asked of a neatly folded pair of Event Horizon jumpsuits. They were not accompanied by any undergarments, though a small note resting on one of them detailed how to place an order for such via the manufacturing bays. Russell cocked his brow.

"Think I'd rather go naked."

"Well I certainly wouldn't complain," Veera purred, watching as that odd, black second skin was peeled away to reveal her husband beneath. She cleared away the offending clothing from their bed, placing it on an empty shelf nearby. Russell sat down and pulled her into his lap.

"I'd thought you'd be curled up by now," he murmured, knowing only a light voice was needed with her exceptional ears.

"It just seemed so neat and clean. I didn't want to mess anything up! I've never seen anything like this cloth. They feel so thin."

"Are you afraid of anything?" He wondered.

"Certainly not in this room. I cannot wait to sleep on something this soft. What worries me is you. You still haven't told me about your meeting with the healer."

"I'm fine, Veera. Your planet seems to have been good to me. They couldn't find anything wrong and there were plenty of tests; needed blood drawn for Alice too, so we'll even get an antibody panel out of it. You know I wouldn't hide this stuff from you."

"That's exactly the sort of thing you'd hide from me, something wrong," she insisted, taking in the scent of his neck and nipping lightly. "But now I can just ask Io."

"Veera," he groaned, partially in pleasure and partially in exasperation.

"It's ok, love. I believe you and I'm thrilled you're well. The lights are getting dark in the corridors out there. Why don't we get to bed and talk about the rest?" She purred, the subtle shifting of her hips making it plain just what sort of conversation she had in mind.

"Hmmm," he moaned softly, cupping her cheek with a hand and kissing her lips. "Is it that time again already?"

"I don't have to be in heat to want you!" She insisted hotly as her feathers flared and shook. She glanced down at his bare chest. "But yes…I would feel a lot better if we mated tonight."

"Give me a moment then?" He requested kindly, walking over to the door. As with every cabin on the Event Horizon, a small tablet rested in a charging port just to the side of the bulkhead. With a couple taps he was able to set the door to chime instead of open directly in the event of a visitor. "Now where are you?" He mumbled, looking for a specific setting but not wanting Veera to wait too long. Fortunately he was able to locate the desired application, and a smile broke out on his face as he realized that Io had updated the available options for viewports. He selected a particularly memorable image from Mara and tapped 'apply'.

"How did you do that?!" Veera gasped. After removing her own clothing she'd been staring with lidded eyes at her husband's naked form as he played around with a thin, alien device. That attention had been captured by the sudden activation of the window above their bed, which now displayed a Maran snowscape. It looked curiously similar to where she'd gone sledding with him. "Russell, how is this possible?"

Eager to inspect the newest curiosity in her life, Veera had scampered across the bed on hands and knees and was now tapping at the screen gently with her claws. Her tail was alert and held high, giving Russell quite the view in the dim light as he returned to the bed with tablet in hand. She stiffened as he leaned over her. "Here," he offered, holding the device where she could see it. "What do you think, sex or science."

"You should know by now," Veera mewled, reaching between her legs to align him with her center. "I'm a greedy, selfish female."

"Damn!" Winters hissed as Veera rocked her hips back and continued to push, eventually positioning their bodies in a kneeling, upright position. He bucked into her a couple times in reply, earning her claws pricking against his thigh.

"Easy now, love. You know I can take care of you just like this," she assured him, resting back easily and covering the entire front of his body with her fur. As his arms wrapped around her torso she took the tablet from his hands, scrutinizing the digital display. It reminded her of Io. "Now, how about you explain to me how you made it snow outside?"

"Veera, how the hell am I supposed to do that when you-" Winters hissed as another wave of laughter and subsequent pleasure passed over his wife's body and, in turn, his own manhood.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," she cooed approvingly, placing one hand on her belly and delighting in the feel of him. "Unless of course you want me to start tapping whatever catches my eye? Hmm, what's this?" At her touch, Veera managed to turn off every light in the room, casting them into a darkness more complete than almost any natural night on Mara. "How does it feel to mate with Seil, the giver and taker of light?"

No amount of self control could stop the spluttering laughter that erupted from their lips, Winters holding Veera tight as they fell forward and braced themselves against the wall and viewport. It was a new experience for them both, the combination of uncontrollable mirth and the pleasure of sex; but it did feel good, very good. And for a moment the tablet remained lost in the dark as vision gave way to the other senses, further heightening their pleasure.

"Wasn't that blasphemy?" He wondered in amusement.

"Maybe, but I never liked Vash much," Veera replied without worry. "I've come to respect Kel greatly though…and I've given my very body to his avatar. I'm sure he'll protect us," she simpered. Russell felt his body explode with fiery desire as his wife played the 'sacrifice' to his 'divine form'. "So…will you teach me how this room works now?"

"Alright alright, you sexy thing" he conceded happily, biting her ear close to her piercings and taking the device back from her. "I love you, by the way. Here, let's get the backlight on this thing. There we go. So this is how you control the viewport…"

-----

“Thanks for, you know, coming out here with me at night. The pain is definitely better in this place. Not sure they’d just let me roam around unattended though,” Xan spoke, slowly floating down towards the hangar floor as Alice passed him on the way up, momentarily cutting short the conversation. “Could you at least wait until I’m done falling? Gods, this place is like something out of a fever dream.”

“You wait for me then,” she suggested with a smile. As Xan looked down to ensure his landing would be a smooth one on his good leg, Alice slowly oriented herself to face the ceiling of the hangar, its featureless, gray surface coming ever closer. After half a year aboard, Alice had more than gotten the muscle memory down. Her launch had been perfect, carrying her horizontal body within a couple feet of the surface before she began her slow and inevitable fall back towards the floor. Placing her hands behind her head, she sighed happily as she descended. Xan watched as she moved past him and came to rest on the metal floor with a soft ‘oof’. “Care to join me then? It really doesn’t feel bad with the low gravity.”

Xan cast a glance around him before ruffling his feathers and tentatively sitting down. Without a working second eye it was difficult to hold an adequate survey of his surroundings. True to Alice’s word the hard surface did not offend his posterior or leg as he stretched out. “I’m pleased Veera came up with us. I don’t…understand anything,” he admitted sadly.

“From what I can tell, my brother’s been teaching her things almost since they met. Don’t feel that way, Xan. It’s not your fault,” Alice advised kindly before throwing a playful wink his way. “All you need is someone to take that same time with you.”

“You really don’t give up, do you?”

“Why should I? This is the most exciting day, well couple of days, in my life. You don’t realize how-”

“I don’t realize anything! And your hyperactivity isn’t helping,” Xan snapped before bringing his fingers to his eyes and closing them tight. “Look, that came out wrong…Alice?”

“I did it again, didn’t I?” She eventually asked. Xan opened his good eye only to be momentarily blinded by the industrial lighting on a thin railing mounted to the ceiling high above them. When he’d blinked away he turned to his right and found her looking back at him with watery eyes. At his distance he could tell they were about the same color as many of the villagers’, including Zolta’s.

“I’m not sure what ‘it’ is,” he replied quietly. Alice took a deep breath and closed her own eyes, pounding her good fist against the floor on the other side of her body. The force almost lifted her off the ground.

“Ever since I was a little girl, sometimes I would…lose myself,” she admitted. “It’s not really that I stop being me, but my focus just tunnels down and there’s almost nothing else that matters. I get giddy and happy usually, the thrill of a new discovery or achievement. But other times it’s when I get nervous, like when I had to defend my masters. That’s my proof that I’m a woman of learning, I guess. Like your cane, or scars, or reputation.”

Xan thought nothing about his injuries had anything to do with his apprenticeship, but he allowed the human to continue her explanation.

“It’s been both lately. I am so excited and so nervous my chest still feels like it’s going to explode.”

“And so you started thinking about me walking again? About your…what was her name, the older female?”

“Yvonne?”

“Yeah. Her looking out for Asha’s cub; all that stuff that seems impossible?”

“I…yes,” Alice admitted with unvarnished shame. “Upon reflection I think I most regret whatever that noise was that I made when you and Gerard were first introduced. Oh yeah…that one’s going to come back years from now when I’m laying in bed and thinking of nothing.” She couldn’t help a self-effacing chuckle. “My brother just seems to do it so easily…”

“Yeah well, he’s done some things since he first showed up and knocked out both of the sun guards,” Xan replied, stretching out and feeling his leg stiffen at the memory. His useless eye itched. “Including snatching me away from Kel so I could continue living on as a shell of my former self. He didn’t just walk on in. At least it sounds like you wanted to be a priestess…or whatever you call yourself.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Priestess is fine for now,” Alice whispered. A physical manifestation of her uncertainty tightened the muscles around her ribs as she dared to ask what had been on her mind for some time. “Are you…upset that he saved you?”

“I was,” Xan admitted without hesitation. Alice had shared something of herself that seemed private and unflattering. He intended to make the exchange equal. “Look, I was never the best guard, alright? I’m not big like Antoth or Tarn, but I liked fighting. And to your brother’s credit he helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses better…well enough at least. I was able to kill two of them before I got cut up and left for dead. Your brother, Io, and Veera saved my life. I woke up in pain, with a broken body, useless to Uthos…and even someone like Veera is proving a better guard and scholar than I’ll ever be. Guess Kel might still be a bit appealing when I look out there,” he admitted.

“L’appel du vide,” Alice said quietly.

“The what now? Did you just start speaking another language?” Xan demanded.

“In a way,” she responded. “It’s a saying from Gerard and Yvonne’s native tongue, French. My brother and I, as well as most of the crew, speak English. But there’s been a ton of cultural mixing throughout human history and sometimes things just stick from one to the other. That particular phrase literally translates to ‘the call of the void’. I suppose your people might call it the call of Kel.”

“Sounds about right,” Xan murmured, remembering the unearthly tug from deep within his mind as he’d stared into the black. “Do you get it too?”

“No, I don’t. But I’ve spent most of my adult life knowing that there was a good chance I’d go into space. And humanity as a whole has learned so much about the way the universe works that it lessens the impact of something like staring out of a hangar and into space. But it’s a common occurrence even among humans. You shouldn’t feel ashamed of it or anything.”

“You know just how to say one thing and make me feel the exact opposite,” Xan scoffed, disappointed in himself more than anything. “There’s too much. I don’t even know where to start.”

“If you aren’t tired we can start right now. You wanted to know what Gerard will be doing with those small samples of food he took from Veera, right?”

“I suppose so. Veera seemed to get it right from the outset,” he pouted.

“Oh just stop it, would you?” Alice replied with a hint of edge to her voice. “You think I can’t tell that the only time you get upset is when women are better than you at something?” Xan swallowed heavily, feeling a momentary spark of fear and adrenaline that accompanied the feeling of being made aware of one’s own failings. “Just stop comparing yourself to her, alright? The reason we took some of your food was to ensure that you can digest our food,” Alice told him, not giving the Cauthan time to protest as she moved onto science.

“What does that word mean, digest?” He requested. Behind them the doors of the hangar opened and a small, white robot appeared. Its body was narrow and wider at its circular base than elsewhere. A small touch panel screen made up the top. To nobody’s surprise, Io had commandeered said screen to project her face. It moved with surprising speed towards the two of them, leaving a trail of slightly cleaner hangar floor behind it. An arm opened from its smooth side and hailed them in a vague imitation of a wave.

‘Good evening, you two. Is all well?’ Io asked. ‘I’m just doing some cleaning at the Admiral’s request.’ Xan’s eyes looked ready to bug out of his head while Alice began laughing. She sat upright and crossed her legs, shooing the cleaning bot away with a hand.

“C’mon Io, we’re trying to have a little late night science time here. Do you plan on possessing every robot on the ship, or just the ones nearby? And my arm is fine!” The robot twisted back and forth to ‘regard’ both of them before turning fully around, a tad miffed at having been dismissed so flippantly.

‘As you say, Alice. Gute nacht.’

“Thanks mom!” Alice called after her, forcing the robot to a halt.

‘I shall pretend I didn’t hear that, young lady. Farewell,’ Io replied, the lilt in her voice making it clear that Alice’s ‘transgression’ was a non-issue.

“She’s really sweet, isn’t she?”

“Long as I’ve known her,” Xan agreed, sitting up so that he and Alice could remain eye to eye. “So...you were saying?”

“Right, digestion. So…ah I guess we’ll start with this. What do you think happens to the food we eat?” Alice wondered.

“You mean other than coming out the other end?” Xan replied drolly as Alice sniggered. “Can’t say I’ve ever thought about it much.”

“Well it doesn’t look the same, right?”

“No, definitely not!” Xan agreed humorously. “Doesn’t smell the same either.”

“So between your mouth and your ass, something happens,” Alice concluded with a devious expression. Great scientists were not meant to have foul mouths. “That something is your body removing the energy and nutrients it needs to survive from the food you eat. So your bones, muscles, feathers, fur, talons, all that stuff. You need resources to make those things along with energy to move your body, and food is where you get it from!”

“Alright, that all makes sense,” Xan affirmed. “So that’s what you call this process, digest?”

“Well the proper word in that context would be digestion. Digest is a verb,” Alice corrected slightly, wondering if the Cauthan language had words for verbs, nouns, and other articles of speech. Xan seemed to understand, and so she carried on. “Have you ever thrown up?”

“Yes?” Xan replied slowly, his tone full of confusion at the abrupt change of topic.

“Tasted pretty foul, I assume?” Alice said, fiddling with her A-MACS until she found a three dimensional display of the human body and its organs, a stylized aid used for high school education. She projected it for him. “How much do you know about the stomach?”

“Not much?” Xan replied as she pointed to a sac of flesh somewhere just below the digital human’s rib cage.

“Well that’s where your food goes to be broken down,” Alice informed him. “That foulness you tasted when you threw up is because of all the acids and other substances your body produces that dissolve and absorb food.”

“Wait…how is that possible? Wouldn’t we, you know, eat ourselves? I know I can eat chesko just fine. Not sure how Cauthan is much different. We’re all made of meat.”

“See, you don’t have too many rocks for brains,” Alice complimented him. Xan balled a fist to ‘retaliate’, but then remembered himself.

“Ha ha, very funny,” he opted for instead. “If Gael or Rakis said something like that I would have slugged them.”

“Friends of yours?” Alice wondered.

“They’re on the guard force,” he said tersely.

“Ok. Sorry to bring it up. Back to food?” She offered brightly, not allowing the mood to darken.

“Sure. You were going to explain why I don’t have a gaping cavity in the middle of my body because I’ve eaten myself alive?”

“It’s funny,” Alice mused, looking over at him. “We’re so different, our species, but boys will always be boys it seems. Or should I say men will always be men?”

“What in Kel’s name is that supposed to mean?” Xan demanded.

“Just that I’m sure my brother would say something equally silly. I find it comforting, if not a bit curious, how much talking to you is like talking to any human man.”

“I…oh.” Xan bit his tongue, unsure why he was upset at not having a suitable reply. To his relief, Alice continued right on as she always did.

“You don’t digest yourself because your stomach regenerates itself…I assume. I can only speak for humans, but I think the figure is that we replace most of our stomach every four hours. For the lining that’s in direct contact with the food you eat, it’s something like every five minutes.”

“And how long is that?” Xan wondered.

“Let’s float again. I’ll show you starting…now,” Alice told him, using one hand to push herself up and into something of a twirling spin. Xan breathed out, feeling none of Alice’s seemingly abundant energy. While he was in no mood for sleep, out of his element and surrounded by terrifying wonders of science and engineering, that didn’t change the fact that his body was tired and his leg was comfortable in the low gravity. And so he chose to watch instead. There was no doubting Alice’s skill at ‘floating’. Whether all humans could spin and turn so gracefully or if she just had plenty of experience he did not know. What he did know was that he liked the ebon fur that grew from her head. Though she could not move it, it was long, voluminous, and reminded him somewhat of the crests of many females in the village. It was something tangible and familiar, and in low gravity the thin strands seemed to flow together like water around her head and shoulders. “Too comfortable down there?” Alice asked as she descended anew before heading back up. Xan simply nodded. On the third trip Alice allowed herself to come back to rest on the hangar floor. “Well, that’s it!”

“What’s it?”

“My stomach lining should have completely replaced itself by now!” She declared proudly.

“No way…” Xan muttered.

“Pretty crazy, isn’t it? Things like this are part of the reason I became a scien...a priestess,” Alice adjusted, finding the title oddly compelling.

“So what are those other humans checking for then? Russell has eaten our food just fine and it sounds like whatever goes on in the stomach is pretty powerful.”

“An astute question. Hey, why are you laughing?” Alice pouted as Xan began chuckling heartily at her relatively bland statement.

“You sounded exactly like Thantis there for a minute. All you forgot was ‘my apprentice’.”

“Oh come on, you know you’d get all moody again if I called you that,” Alice replied with a wink. “But in all seriousness it was a good question. Think of it this way…” She trailed off as Xan waited patiently, trying to come up with an appropriate analogy. “Your body has very specific needs. From my understanding even your most basic…your most basic essence is different from ours.”

“Do you not come from Seil?” Xan asked.

“You call him the giver of life and light, yes?” Alice clarified.

“We do.”

“Then I suppose the answer is no. We have our own sun, called Sol, but it isn’t worshipped as a god anymore.”

“Anymore? What happened?” Xan inquired, becoming ever more curious as the topics of conversation came closer to his innate understandings of the world.

“We learned what it really is. Check it out!” Alice offered, swiping through a few searches until she found an animated model of the sun complete with sunspots and coronas. “Yours is very similar. A ball of burning gas that would instantly vaporize anything that comes near it…makes sense though, doesn’t it?” Alice asked, positively delighted at the meandering course of their conversation. Xan’s countenance had dimmed.

“Is that what happened to your brother’s comrades?”

“Not exactly…they survived contact but their ship eventually broke apart from the stress and killed them,” Alice affirmed sadly. “It’s one of the most curious coincidences in the universe, isn’t it? Something so deadly, but if you get the distance just right you get a beautiful world full of life and light, just like yours.”

“Good riddance,” Xan muttered, whipping his tail in annoyance. “I always knew that guy was full of shen shit. Someone should tell Antoth. Perhaps when we rebuild his temple it should be dedicated to Kel or Uthos.”

“Wait...what?” Alice gasped, suddenly fearful at her core. The last thing she wanted was to be responsible for a shuffling of the Cauthan pantheon.

“What was it you said? A ball of burning air?”

“Ah…that’s not exactly it, but yes?” Alice allowed, figuring the Cauthan didn’t yet grasp the third state of matter.

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone,” Xan promised, making a complicated motion with his fingers over his chest as if to say it was locked behind his sternum.

“I don’t understand,” Alice whispered in confusion. Xan sat upright and she followed.

“Do you ever doubt…well you must have, right? Why else would you become a priestess, a seeker of knowledge? I’ve had a lot of time to sit around and think; to think about the world and why it is like it is. I saw Kel that night I almost died, and I saw Kel today. Kel is more real than I could ever have imagined. Meylith, the mother, I want to believe is real. I see her in my parents and in your brother and Veera. Valta, Uthos, Tyrdus…they all are real because we are real. But Seil? Other than Antoth his priests always claim he’s this and that. But I’ve never known anything of the sort. If the power that causes our crops to grow is the same power that killed your people…that just doesn’t…I don’t know. I’m still working through a lot. What about Eiur and Auril? The two orbs in our sky, blue and gray,” Xan suddenly demanded, as if desperately seeking the final piece of a cosmic puzzle.

“And here I was thinking we would be spending all night talking about why we need to make sure our food has an adequate nutritional profile for your people,” Alice murmured, flipping quickly through the public records of the Event Horizon and finding a depository of information about the Seil system. It had grown exponentially since she’d first checked it two days prior. “Yep, there they are! Oh I really hope I can go walk on them sometime!”

Xan felt the weight of reality crash into his chest as Alice showed him the two moons of Mara and so blithely proclaimed that she would one day wish to walk on them, to tread upon his ‘gods’. “I knew it,” he growled, narrowing his one good eye.

“Wait, wait Xan let’s just-”

“You didn’t lie to me, right?” He ordered, his tone making it clear that coddling or roundabout answers would not work.

“No, I didn’t. Seil is a self-sustaining fireball that creates all the necessary heavy elements for life to exist. Your trickster gods are two rocky orbs that travel around your home planet. I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean for this to get all out of hand it’s just that-”

“I asked, and you told me. Stop apologizing,” he ordered. “My leg is fucked. That’s reality. I may not like it, but there it is. My left eye is gone, same with part of my ear. Seil, Eiur, and Auril are all physical objects. I can try to run from it or hide, but that will always be there to remind me,” he told her, gesturing to the vast forcefield that separated them from space. “So here I am. Least I have you to explain all this.”

“Just like that?” Alice gasped. “I don’t know. I’ve never really been religious in any way so I’m not sure what to say right now.”

“That sounds awful,” Xan remarked with surety, turning his head to meet her gaze directly. “I can’t imagine a life without Meylith, even if I’ll never mate myself.”

Alice found herself transported back to that night in the back of his car; sixteen, out of her element, excited and terrified all at once in the face of the unknown. She had managed to kiss him, but that course of action certainly was uncalled for in the current scenario. What she did know, however, was that females were allowed to initiate contact in his culture. She reached into the space between them and rested her hand atop his, gripping his own softly. “I’ll do my best to explain whatever you ask. And if you don’t mind, I might have some questions for you too one day.”

“Huh, what about?” Xan queried, finding it hard to imagine why he would be needed to explain anything to a human. “Oh, and thanks by the way.”

“You’re welcome. And I meant questions about you, your faith, and how you see the world. Maybe when we’re friends we can do that,” Alice suggested humbly, verbally confirming that she did not presume anything about their ‘relationship’. “But for now perhaps it’s best we stick with what Gerard and Yvonne are doing?”

“Sure. I think I need time to process this all anyway, figure things out,” Xan agreed. “I still don’t get why it’s an issue if your brother can eat our food.”

“In short, humans might be more resilient than you. Think about this ship,” Alice tried, gesturing all around them. “It’s pretty complicated, requires very specific parts, power, and supplies to keep running. In some ways you can substitute one thing for another, but not in others. Your body is the same. If you don’t get everything you need from your food eventually your body will suffer and systems will break down. Maybe your fur will lose its sheen, or your feathers will fall out, or your bones will become weak. So the important thing for us to do is get an idea of exactly what makes up your food, all your vegetables, grains, and meat. When we have that information we will be able to decide what to do about feeding you here while aboard. As much as your food is a delight to eat...you have no idea how amazing fresh produce is after six months in space; we don’t want to stress your village’s resources.”

“How kind of you.”

“That better not be sarcasm, Xan!” Alice chuckled. “Back on track though, we have two options. The first, if we recognize that your food is similar to our own at its most fundamental level, will be to simply allow you to eat our food and see what happens. Assume it’s you or Veera who takes that step, we would examine your body fully and as unobtrusively as possible to ensure you are in good health before and then see how you do on human food.”

“I suppose that makes sense. And the other option?”

“We would just make food that you can eat from scratch! Oh, and maybe Natori will allow us to grow your crops aboard? I should really ask him. If he says yes would you be comfortable providing us some seeds? I assume your crops grow from seeds, at least.”

“They do…mostly. Dato is different. You can just cut some of it and replant it. I’d have to ask Gentia. We can’t spare much,” Xan warned. Alice nodded.

“I would never ask you to compromise your people’s safety. Was just thinking aloud. We have something similar to a dato on Earth by the way, called a potato. How curious. I’ll have to ask Gerard what he thinks about it. The parallels between the planets are significant enough that it bears further study. But that’s for another time. Hopefully we will have the results of the food analysis tonight or tomorrow morning, should be a bit of spectroscopy and chromatography.”

“You lost me again,” Xan informed her of the obvious.

“Apologies. It’s a bit hard to explain that stuff to a layperson...laycauthan? I’m sure one day you’ll understand it all. For now just be assured that even a very small sample is sufficient for us to figure out what’s in it.”

“Noted. Looking beyond that though,” Xan changed topic, gazing out at his planet again. “Where do we go from here?”

Alice took a moment of pause, wondering at the answer herself. There hadn’t exactly been detailed direction from the higher ups. “I think for our people the priority will be to examine whatever it is that my brother found in the wilds. It’s the only lead we have so far on what might have happened to his ship. That’s good for us though, in a way.”

“How so?”

“It means that we can be flexible,” Alice supplied. “I can take some time to get acquainted with more of your village, learn about your way of life, and discuss any possible changes with you, Thantis, or Antoth. Until then I think learning about your body will be more than enough to occupy us.”

“Is that why you wanted some of my fur and scales?” Xan asked, looking down at his right wrist where Alice has removed one of his smaller scales with exceeding caution. It had still hurt and bled something fierce. The human had been ecstatic about the fact that his scales were ‘living tissue’.

“Yes, and I’ll see what I can do about getting some sort of painkiller going. Do your people have any sort of herbs or other remedies for pain?”

“We do. I take some in my tea each morning. I’ll ask Thantis if we can spare the herbs. If not, we can tell you what to look for in the wilds.”

“That’s more than enough. Thanks so much, Xan. And yes, the reason I wanted to look at your fur, feathers, and scales is to get an idea of how they will react to our decontamination process. Basically, there’s a room we have for cleaning people quickly so they can enter the main ship again after being somewhere that might have diseases or other harmful things. Not to say that your planet is dangerous, but we are taking precautions. Besides, I think it would be really fun to show you more of the Event Horizon!”

“Not sure about fun, but I can’t deny the curiosity,” Xan acknowledged. “Just…let’s work on a painkiller first if you need more scales? I’ll try to save mine if they shed but it doesn’t happen often.”

“That’s real sweet of you. Thanks, Xan,” Alice replied before yawning heavily and stretching her arms above her head. He felt a small twinge of guilt.

“I didn’t mean to keep you awake.”

“It’s fine. If this is better for your leg and you’re feeling like sleep would be difficult I’m happy to stay here.” Alice leaned closer to whisper into his ear. “Thantis won’t mind if we take a nap tomorrow, right?”

Xan’s muzzle developed a sly grin. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind when he hears we were up until the wee hours of the morning discussing the mysteries of the world.”

“Mmm, that does sound very important. Want to hear about what happens after you digest your food?”

“You mean shit?”

“Yes,” Alice nodded, laughing like a schoolgirl let out for recess.

“Couldn’t hurt. Let’s hear it then,” Xan offered. As Alice launched into discussion about something called an ‘intestine’, he finally noticed that their hands were still joined.