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“You’ll thank me for it later.”
“I think the word for gratitude is getting lost in translation.” He had the last word as he departed the living quarters and went to the main part of the ship to rejoin the soldiers.
He was being so witty these days. Maybe he should be the one to write the speech. The lack of physical connection to Rone was making me cranky, too. I decided to open my laptop again since we were still en route to our next destination. I didn’t want to arrive unprepared.
I was about two paragraphs into the speech when a noxious sulfur smell filled my nose. I looked around the room for a potential culprit. There was nothing in here to give off such a nasty stink. Was there a plumbing issue on board the ship?
I glanced over my shoulder to see gaseous clouds of green, purple, and gold swirling outside the window. So that was the cause of the smell. We entered a pocket of space filled with methane and sulfur clouds. Interesting. The ship had an advanced filtration system to keep the dust matter and smells of outer space from the interior. Did a part need to be replaced?
We came out of the area of clouds and the smell faded away, though it sure took its time. I took it as one of the things I was privileged to experience by traveling through outer space. I hoped most humans would get a chance to see more than their little corner of the universe, even if it meant venturing out into orbit and catching a whiff of rotten-egg-smelling sulfur gas clouds. At least they were pretty.
The ship landed on the moon base. In the next six hours, things were a blur. I gave my speech in front of the soldiers and civilians working on the base. I enjoyed seeing the diverse faces of the different alien species and watching the soldiers demonstrate the use of their new vehicle technology. I coughed and sneezed once they turned the engine on a four-seater flyer pod.
Rone gave me a concerned look as I covered my mouth and made a poor attempt to stifle a sneeze. “Are you feeling well?”
“I’m fine. I think it’s the smell of the new fuel cartridges.”
“We’ve been using the same fuel cartridges. Is it the atmosphere on this moon? I can get you a mask.”
I stifled a sneeze so well it became a squeak. “I think I’ll be fine. Maybe those gas clouds we flew into earlier are still getting to me.”
Rone’s facial expression turned to one of doubt. He said nothing else about it.
Why was I bothered by all these smells all of a sudden? I couldn’t remember being this sensitive to rocket fuel and space particulate before. I hope I wasn’t developing allergies.
My squeaky sneezes ceased once we wrapped up the trip to the moon base and boarded the ship to head to our next destination. That evening, while Rone and I were eating dinner, I counted on my fingers the places we visited over the past couple weeks. “Racopia, Racopia’s moon base, Sigma space hub and outpost training facility, the moon base where I had the sneezing fits.”
“Elgernon,” Rone reminded me of its name.
I put my fork aside. My vegetarian dish of cauliflower steak was too hot. Did the ship’s cook go a little heavy on the pepper tonight or was it just me? “We should be on our way home, right?”
Rone was having no trouble with the extra peppery pepper steak. His was made of meat. He gulped down another medium rare bite before answering my question. “Not just yet. We have another planet to visit before we go to Xaxos.”
I watched him down the steak. Maybe my dish was the one with too much spice. “Which is?”
“Zol, my home planet. My cousin Gofrin invited us to visit.”
I hadn’t heard Gofrin’s name in a long time. “That’s nice of him to think of us.”
Rone didn’t look too thrilled to see his cousin. “I meant to stop by the last time we were near Zol, but there was the mission on Xaxos I had to complete.”
I gave a nod. “Understandable.”
“I figured, it’s on the way home.”
“It is.”
He pushed his empty plate to the side. “You’re amused.”
I offered him a smile. “I just enjoy seeing all these different sides to you that no one else can witness. To them, you’re the intimidating and powerful overlord of the Arcturus galaxy and commander of the Wanderstar Fleet.”
“No one else gets a front seat to witness my family’s antics.”
“They're no different than the dramatic family reunions I went to when I was a kid.” I made a correction. “Except, none of my cousins had multiple wives. At least not all at once.”
Rone sighed. “Gofrin will chatter nonstop.”
I knew how he felt about his relatives on Zol, and now, technically, my in-laws. They could be a little tedious. We all had different lifestyles and strong personalities that could clash. In the case of Rone and Gofrin, some personalities were stronger than others.
