Page 16 of Alien on the Moon (Thryal Mates #3)

Rylan

The next day, they ordered a few broods of squigs to be introduced over time and began the construction of a tinted glass shield over the bral and vreben while the team focused on strengthening the atmosphere. That way, the light feeding the plants would not be as strong as it was. It was a temporary solution, but it seemed to be working.

Within a couple of days, the plants were turning green again and were growing faster than ever with the nutrients from the first generation of squigs. Bral grew to be about six feet tall, with everything from the stems to the flowers edible.

Still, the plants hadn’t flowered yet despite being mature enough to do so. This unsettled Rylan, and he searched for what they could still be missing.

“I think we just have to be patient,” Elena said one day as they took soil readings from the field. “These plants have been through a lot. Speaking from experience, that tends to make you something of a late bloomer.” She punctuated that pun with a wink.

He threw his head back with an exaggerated groan, both at the bad pun and because they’d had this conversation before. “I know. But with how precarious the project is, I don’t want to take any chances.”

She gave his arm a squeeze. “I get it. I’m nervous, too. But I also think things are going to work out. We’re closer than we’ve ever been, and I’ve been thinking about ways we can boost the atmosphere. I think we need to increase the water vapor, which can be done by…”

He watched her as she theorized, and he wondered, not for the first time, how he could be so lucky that the universe brought them together against literally impossible odds.

“And then we can… What?” Her blue eyes sparkled. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Because I love you,” he replied without hesitation.

She seemed to melt a bit at that but covered it with an affectionate roll of her eyes. “I love you, too. But come on. These plants won’t grow themselves.”

A week later, her prediction about the plants flowering came true. “Rylan, come here,” Elena said, excitedly waving him over from where he was doing his soil readings.

Curious as to what had her bouncing up and down with joy, he jogged up. “What is it?”

She pointed to a vreben plant. A white and pink flower poked out from beneath the increasingly green leaves. It had climbed up the stalk of a bral plant, which also seemed to be flowering. “We did it! We have flowers!”

She threw her arms around his neck. He stumbled in surprise but still spun her and set her down with a kiss. “We did it,” he repeated and ran his thumb along the soft flower petal.

He almost couldn’t believe it. The moon had life, and it looked as though it could be sustainable. Once they had the atmospheric conditions more similar to Thryal, the bral and vreben were going to thrive.

“We need to tell Arccoo,” she said, taking pictures of the flowering plants.

They headed to the office, and Elena used the prince’s private channel to call him. When Rylan asked about it, she shrugged. “Being the royal sister-in-law has its perks.”

Apparently, it did indeed. Rylan would have had to go through a minimum of three layers of bureaucrats in order to finally get to Prince Arccoo, but the royal answered Elena on the second ring.

“Elena, is something wrong? Are you okay?” the prince asked as soon as his hologram appeared. Rylan almost felt bad for worrying him, but Elena had no such qualms.

She arched an eyebrow. “Why would you assume that something was wrong?”

Even with the grainy hologram image, it was obvious that the prince was rolling his eyes. “Because you only call this private line when either you’re in trouble and you don’t want Carmen to know about it, or it’s her birthday and you don’t want her to know what you’re planning. And I know her birthday was about six months ago. Ergo, something is wrong.”

A shit-eating grin crossed her features. “Nope! For once, it’s good news. Rylan is here, too, and he can tell you that.”

“It’s great news, Your Highness,” Rylan said, unable to hold back his own grin.

Elena pulled up the pictures of the flowers and sent them to the prince. “Check your messages.”

The hologram tapped the comms on his wrist. Then his face spread into a grin. “Is that what I think it is?”

She nodded. “We’ve finally got flowering. I’ll send you the brief on what our problems were and how we’ve solved them, but for now, we have a couple of hives of pollinators waiting to be sent up. With any luck, we’ll have our first crop in a couple of weeks.”

“You’re right. That is excellent news.” Prince Arccoo typed into his comms again. “I’ve just sent the photos to the royal council and let them know that I’m going to give you an additional three months. If you have a crop by then, we’ll see about continuing this project indefinitely.”

Rylan respectfully put his right fist over his heart and inclined his head. “Thank you, Your Highness. Your restored faith means a lot to us.”

“Restored?” Prince Arccoo raised his eyebrows. “I never lost it. Your team is one of the most brilliant in the galaxy. I knew if anyone could figure it out, you would.”

Rylan didn’t know what to say to that, so he simply repeated the Thryal gesture of respect. “I am honored to be among those you hold in such a high regard.”

“Tell Carmen and Sofia I won’t be coming back for another couple of months,” Elena said. “And that I love and miss them.”

Prince Arccoo smiled. “Of course, little sister. We all miss you, too.”

With that, they said their goodbyes and shut off the comms. For a moment, they just stood staring at one another in shock at this sudden turn. Then, with a squeal, Elena threw her arms around him again.

The zegs arrived on the base the next day, and they set up something that Elena called an apiary. “On Earth, we have honeybees,” she explained as she finished putting together the slots in the wooden boxes.

“The insects collect nectar from flowering plants and return it to the hive to make honey, which they eat. But they make it in excess, so humans take what they don’t need and use it as food.” She opened the box of zegs. “According to my research, zegs and honeybees are remarkably similar, so I was thinking that even if we aren’t harvesting their byproducts like honey, apiary techniques will help in keeping them alive and healthy.”

Reaching inside the box, she pulled out a smaller cage, which seemed to carry the zeg queen. She set it inside the apiary and opened it, letting the insect crawl out and explore. The rest soon followed.

She smiled up at Rylan. “Now, all we have to do is wait and see if they take to this environment.”

In a couple of days, over half the field was blooming, and the zegs were hard at work pollinating the plants and building their hive with the apiary as their base. It was fascinating to watch. Though there were only a handful of flora and fauna species so far, he was endlessly amazed by the way life grew out of what began as a barren wasteland.

And it was all thanks to Elena and her clever way of seeing the world.

But then, one night, he found her in the field looking oddly melancholy.

“Isn’t it a bit late to be running soil samples?” he joked.

Elena didn’t rise to the teasing. Instead, she gave him a bittersweet smile and waved for him to come over. “We have some pods. They’re not ready to be harvested yet, but maybe in a week or so.”

He squatted down beside her and touched the small green pod. “That’s amazing.” She should have been overjoyed, but instead, she looked worried. “What’s wrong?”

With a weak laugh, she shook her head. “Overthinking as usual. Don’t mind me.”

Standing up again, he pulled her to her feet. “No, don’t do that. We’re all about open communication now, right?”

She sighed. “Right. But we’ve been through this before. You love me. You want to stay with me. But I keep thinking about what happens after this. I’ll go back to the palace, and you’ll go wherever they send you. We might never see each other again.”

She gritted her teeth in frustration. “I know it’s irrational and you’ll get tired of giving me reassurance eventually, but—”

“Who said I would grow tired of giving you reassurance?” he asked, cutting her off.

Her lips curled into a bitter half-smile. “Well, it has to be exhausting. Right? We just keep retreading the same conversation because my stupid, irrational brain refuses to accept that you really do love me as much as I love you.”

He flicked her forehead. “Hey, I happen to like your brain, even if it is sometimes irrational. So, don’t insult my girlfriend like that.”

Pulling her closer, he just spent a minute holding her in his arms. “If you need reassurance from time to time, I don’t mind giving it to you. Remember, relationships are symbiosis.”

She sighed. “I know. But I don’t want it to be parasitic. You seem to have it together, so our relationship is, by nature, you giving more and taking less than me.”

“You think I have all my shit together?” He snorted. “Before I met you, I didn’t even realize how lonely I was. The moment you walked into my life, you made it infinitely better.”

He leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “You aren’t a parasite, and you never will be one. You’re a brilliant, kind, funny woman, and it’s a privilege to know you. I’m not a believer in a higher power, but when I think about the odds of us meeting and falling in love, I begin to doubt my own skepticism.”

She sniffled, her eyes glassy, and for a moment, he panicked. Had he said something wrong? Humans cried when they were sad, but he didn’t think he said anything that would hurt her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” He took both her hands in his. “What did I say wrong?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head, wiping her eyes. “You said everything right. More than right, actually. That’s the kindest and most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”

His brows furrowed in confusion. “Then why are you crying?”

She let out a short, staccato laugh of embarrassment. “Well, most of the time, humans cry because they’re experiencing negative emotions but not always. Sometimes, we cry because we’re overwhelmed with positive feelings. This is a happy cry, not a sad one.”

He let out a relieved breath. At least he wasn’t a total idiot. “I meant every word I said. And I know you will be there when I need you. You aren’t someone who turns their back on people they love.”

“Never,” she agreed.

“Then, let’s go back inside. I’m freezing.” He nudged her back toward the base and both started walking in quiet contemplation.

She finally broke it first. “Rylan?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

He took her hand. “I love you, too.”

It was a week before the first crop of vreben was ready to be harvested. The bral still had some more growing to do before it was ready, but everyone pitched in to pick the pods.

Three-quarters of the harvest was sent back to Thryal as proof of their success. The final quarter was to be a dinner incorporating the vreben they had picked themselves into the main course. After all, they deserved to enjoy some of the fruits of their labor.

“Here comes the final test,” Elena said, scooping a bunch from the buffet onto her plate. “Does it taste good?”

They sat down across from each other in a secluded corner of the cafeteria. Rylan grinned. “On three, we take our first bite. One… two… three!”

They both took a bite at the same time. The vreben was hearty and earthy, and it perfectly complemented the spices the base’s cooks used.

Living on an austere moon base meant the food tended to also be austere most of the time. The cooks often had to improvise with preserved food, so this was the first truly fresh vegetable they’d eaten in a few months. It was delicious, made all the tastier by the fact they’d grown it themselves.

“Apparently, victory tastes like beans.” Elena grinned as she went in for another bite. “And it’s delicious.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Rylan offered his mug of satcha flower tea up to toast. After the crisis had been averted, he decided to lay off the Jolt on the advice of the base’s doctors. It was making him far too jittery and anxious, anyway.

Elena clinked her mug of tea to his. “To victory!”

“To science!” he added, toasting again.

Elena got that familiar mischievous look in her eyes. She batted her lashes girlishly. “And to romance.”

He raised his brows. “To romance.”

Instead of clinking her glass again, though, she surged forward and kissed him from across the table. He barely had time to set his drink down before her lips were on his.

“Victory may taste sweet, but you taste even sweeter,” he said.

Elena laughed and sat back down. “Ugh, barf. You’re so cheesy.”

“I don’t know what cheese is, human,” he retorted playfully. “You and your Earth idioms.”

She took another triumphant bite of the vreben. “You know you love them.”

“And you love confusing me with them.”

She nodded, conceding the point. “You’re right. I totally do.”

“Get a room,” Jaku teased as he passed by them. “You’re so cloyingly sweet that you’ve given me a cavity.”

“Oh, we’ll definitely get a room later,” Rylan replied with a wink.

“Rylan,” she chastised without any real heat. Her cheeks blushed a pretty shade of pink.

“You two lovebirds have fun with that,” Jaku teased. “If you need me, I’ll be sitting as far away from you as possible.”

Elena rolled her eyes, but the smile did not leave her face. “Enjoy your meal, Jaku. We’ve all worked hard for it.”

“We really have.” Jaku headed to a table on the opposite corner, only to pause a few feet away and look back. “Seriously, though, thank you, Elena. You saved our project.”

She shook her head. “We all did.”

As Jaku left, Rylan took her hand from across the table. “He’s right, though. If it wasn’t for you, the project would have failed months ago. You’re a hero.”

The color of her cheeks darkened even further. “Like I said, we’re a team. None of us could have pulled this off alone.”