Page 4 of Alien on the Moon (Thryal Mates #3)
Rylan
Elena was not at all what Rylan expected her to be. When he heard that the crown prince’s sister-in-law was coming to help with the mission, he was struck with a wave of dread, picturing a spoiled brat who thought she knew more than she actually knew about terraforming.
But Elena was a bright mind who thought outside of the box and seemed eager to learn. In some ways, she was brighter than most of their coworkers, and he found himself seeking out her advice even before some of the senior scientists.
Even stranger, he found himself seeking her out for reasons unrelated to the work.
“What are you looking at?” he asked.
She smiled and glanced up from her computer. “I patched myself into Earth’s databases to study our agricultural techniques and see if any of them could apply to Kheros.”
“Does your planet have terraforming technology?” he asked, pulling up a chair.
“Not exactly. At least, not to the same degree as your operation here. But we’re capable of surviving in some of the least hospitable places on our home planet.” She pulled up an image of a village in an ice-covered wasteland. “For example, humans have thrived in places where few plants can grow because of the frigid temperatures.”
“Fascinating.”
“I’ve also been looking into desert agriculture on Earth.” She pulled up a picture of a land covered in dust with no water or plants in sight. “There isn’t a one-to-one parallel with Kheros being terraformed, but it seems like a good place to start.”
“So, where did you live on Earth?” he asked. “Snow or desert?”
She blinked. “Oh, um, neither really. I mean, we got snow from time to time, but my sisters and I lived in a temperate area. We had warm periods and cold, but it’s not nearly as extreme as the ones I mentioned, so we had plenty of greenery around for us to farm and eat.”
He nodded. “You’ll have to tell me all about your home planet sometime. It sounds fascinating.”
Laughing, she shook her head, making his heart twinge. Was that no because she didn’t want to talk about Earth or because she didn’t want to talk to him?
“I’ll be honest. Outside of Arccoo and Zaraq, I’ve never seen a Thryal take an interest in Earth. I know, compared to your tech, we’re like backwoods hicks. You’re the first person I’ve met who says he wants to understand more about Earth. Do you really want to know?”
“Of course.” It didn’t hurt that it would give him a chance to spend more time with her. He glanced around the room. Most of their coworkers were already on their break, but she and Rylan were overworking as usual. “How about over lunch?”
She grinned. “Lunch sounds fantastic right now.”
Once they got their food, they found a quiet corner of the cafeteria. Rylan ignored the way the other scientists whispered and snickered among themselves. He knew there were rumors about the two of them dating, but he didn’t dignify them with a response.
Why would he? Doing so would only lend credence to them and might make Elena uncomfortable. And if there was anyone he did not want to be unhappy, it was the prince’s sister-in-law. He tried to tell himself it was just for that reason rather than having any real attraction to her.
But he’d never been good at lying, especially not to himself. When they sat down and she looked up at him with those bright blue eyes, he felt his heart palpitate.
“So, what is Earth like?” he asked.
Elena laughed softly, a small smile curling on her lips. “That’s sort of like asking me what my star system is like. Earth is complicated and incredibly diverse. Some people dedicate their whole lives to studying just a fraction of our history and cultures.”
“Thryal has been culturally united for the past several centuries.” He took a sip of his Jolt, letting the energy drink wake him up. “The planet is under a single government. It’s not like that on Earth?”
“God, no.” Laughing, she shook her head, her smile as dazzling as the stars in the sky. “Our geopolitical system is constantly evolving, with old countries absorbing others or new countries declaring independence from their mother country.”
“That sounds complicated.”
“You have no idea.” She took a sip of the ruava tea and a bite of her food. “And that’s just on the world stage. Our culture can vary, not just from country to country but even from city to city. Two communities in the same city can have completely different cultures depending on where they are.”
Humming thoughtfully, he took all this in. Aside from this mission on Kheros, Rylan had never been off Thryal, but he’d always wanted to see another planet. Earth’s culture seemed so completely alien to his own, and he was fascinated by Elena’s accounts.
He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “Maybe a better question is this. What is Earth to you?”
She hummed and then looked up out the window as though she could see Earth among the starlit cosmos. “Home, I guess. But also not. An old friend turned stranger.”
That was not the answer he’d expected. “What makes you say that?”
She took a bite of the plo’meek stew she’d ordered for lunch. “In my native language, English, we have a word. Nostalgia. It comes from two other words in another language, Greek, ‘nostos’ and ‘algos.’ ‘Nostos’ means homecoming while ‘algos’ means pain. Put together, it means ‘the pain of not being able to return to a time or place.’ Right now, Earth only lives in my nostalgia. After everything I’ve seen and done, I can’t return to my own world and have it be the same because I’m not the same. Does that make sense?”
He nodded. It was a familiar feeling for him, a yearning to go back to a time or a place in his life where he never knew loss or grief. But even if he could go back, it wouldn’t be how he remembered it. “But you do miss Earth.”
She smiled. “Don’t you miss Thryal?”
“Sometimes. Though I mostly miss the conveniences and amenities. As long as I have my work, though, I’m fairly content.”
“I feel the same way. My sisters are my home, so as long as I’m with them, I’m content, but I miss a lot of Earth culture.” Her eyes brightened, and she leaned in mischievously.
“Speaking of… I have some Earth snacks in my room, and I’m really craving some chocolate now. I see that you can have caffeine.” She pointed to the energy drink next to his lunch. “What about theobromine?”
He thought for a moment. “Theobromine should be safe. As far as I know, it isn’t toxic to us.”
Grinning, she leaned back and clapped her hands. He’d seen her do it a couple of times when something delighted her, and he found it incredibly endearing. “Perfect. We’ll finish up here and then I’ll show you my snack stash.”
They quickly finished the rest of their lunch, and she led him to her room. His heart rate was elevated as he realized they were alone in her bedroom. His mind raced, trying to figure out the last time he’d felt so attracted to someone.
A purple foil-wrapped bar sat on her desk as though waiting for them. She snatched it up and gestured for him to sit on her desk chair while she took the bed.
“I’ll give you a little bit to start,” she said, breaking off a corner and handing him a solid brown triangle before taking a piece of her own. “This is a Milka chocolate bar. You can just chew and swallow or let it melt in your mouth. I do the second so I can enjoy it for longer.”
“Thank you for sharing this with me,” he said and popped it in his mouth. At first, he didn’t taste much. But then, it began to melt, and the flavor hit—a perfect balance of creamy, sweet, and the barest hint of bitterness. It was unlike anything he had ever tasted and truly divine.
It must have shown on his face because Elena laughed. “I take it you like it.”
“You said that this is called a Milka chocolate bar.”
She broke off another piece and split it in two, taking half for herself and giving the other half to him. “Milka is the name of the company that makes it. The food itself is called a chocolate bar.”
“And this is a regular snack on Earth?”
She tipped her hand back and forth in a so-so gesture. “Not necessarily this brand, because it’s a little expensive and higher quality, but there are other, cheaper kinds of chocolate out there.”
“Amazing.” He savored the rich flavor until it was gone from his tongue. “I understand you feel ‘nostalgia’ for Earth. I would, too, if leaving it meant leaving behind such wonderful human food.”
She laughed and handed him the rest of the bar. “Here. Take this one.”
His eyes widened. “But you said it’s something you keep for nostalgia. Are you sure?”
Her blue eyes twinkled. “Don’t worry. I bought several whole boxes of them the last time I visited home.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
He didn’t eat it that night. Instead, he hid it away for safekeeping. He would ration out this wonderful gift from Elena.
The next day, they ventured out to pick up some soil samples. Elena wanted to see why and how the soil was being depleted before any plant life could grow.
Though they were working on the atmosphere, it was still unstable, meaning they had to wear oxygen masks. When Elena stepped outside, she paused for a second at the threshold.
“What is it?” he asked, turning back.
“Only a handful of people from my world have set foot on our moon. It’s easy to forget where we are when inside the base, but I guess it just hit me.” She laughed. “I’m the first human to walk on an alien moon.”
She stepped onto the soil. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
He tilted his head in confusion. “What does that mean?”
“It’s what the first man to visit our moon said. It was originally supposed to be ‘one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind’ but he got excited and forgot that first A.” She jogged to close the distance between them, and they walked to the place where the soil first started to fail.
“What was the name of this spacefarer?”
“Neil Armstrong. He walked on our moon with Buzz Aldrin while a third man, Michael Collins, stayed back on the ship.” She paused to do some math in her head. “This was about sixty Earth years ago.”
Rylan’s eyes widened. “That’s not very long at all.”
“Like I said, we’re not very technologically advanced.” She shrugged. “We’re in the infant stages of spaceflight and haven’t even figured out how to travel faster than light.”
“How did you get here then?” He knew Earth was lightyears away. If humanity hadn’t figured out faster than light travel, it should have been impossible for her or her sisters to be on Thryal. Ordinarily, he would have assumed the prince had brought them, but from what he remembered, the prince returned from Earth alone, and the humans arrived later.
“Arccoo was rescued after getting out a distress call, but he left his damaged ship behind. We found the part he needed and fixed it up. Then we flew it to Thryal.”
She smiled at the memory. “I’ll never forget when we first broke free of Earth’s atmosphere and got a good look at our home planet. As far as humanity knows, it’s all we have, and it’s so small compared to the rest of the universe. We’re so small.” She laughed. “Which means that every time we fuck up, it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Right?”
“Right.” He was stunned. This woman and her sisters from a planet run by primitive technology had figured out how to repair and fly a royal cruiser and brought it right to the king’s door.
“This is the spot,” he said, stopping. They pulled out some flasks and got to work digging in the unyielding earth.
“Well, that’s part of the problem,” she said through gritted teeth. “This soil is packed absurdly tight. Makes things pretty hard to grow.”
“We’ve tried to break it up, but nothing seems to be working. It always seems to become hard-packed and dead again after about a week.” He closed the lid on the last flask.
She finished, too, and got to her feet. “So, the soil needs something that will continuously keep it churning to break it up.”
He sighed and was unable to keep the bitter frustration out of his voice. “We’ve tried automated machine tilling, but that requires too much energy and resources. It wasn’t viable.”
She hummed, not looking at him. Instead, she studied holes they’d made in the ground. “Before terraforming, was anything else living on this moon?”
“Nothing outside of some microbes and single-celled organisms. Why?”
Lifting her samples to the sunlight, she studied her specimens. “It’s just a theory that’s percolating in the back of my mind. I’m not ready to voice anything yet.”
He nodded, knowing how the scientific mind worked. Trying to put words to a half-baked theory only ever led to confusion and embarrassment. He could be patient and wait for her to tell him when she was ready.
“So, when you’re not in the lab, what do you like to do?” she asked.
“It’s difficult to do here, but I enjoy hiking and working out. It helps to clear my head and gives me the chance to take a mental break. I’ve found that my best ideas all seem to come after I’ve stepped away from my work and gotten my blood pumping.”
“Same.” Her blue eyes sparkled. “It’s been scientifically proven that breaks help the mind to refocus itself. While you’re thinking about something else, your subconscious is still trying to solve the problem, and usually it comes to a solution that your conscious mind would not have thought of.”
She grinned mischievously. “Do you want to hear a funny Earth story about that?”
Her smile was infectious, so Rylan nodded, a grin also spreading across his face. “I would love to.”
“Well, there was this ancient Earth mathematician named Archimedes. The king came to him with a problem. He suspected that the pure gold crown he had commissioned was actually part silver, and he wanted Archimedes to prove it. The mathematician spent days puzzling over it but got nowhere.”
“He couldn’t do a chemical analysis?” Rylan asked.
She rolled her eyes. “It hadn’t been invented yet. We’re a young species. Remember? Anyway. Eventually, Archimedes had to take a break, so he settled in to take a bath. As he submerged himself, he noticed that the water around him rose.”
“And he realized that the pure gold would be denser than silver and gold, which can be measured by the water,” Rylan said.
“Exactly.” She snapped her fingers and formed them into finger guns. “So, he shouts ‘Eureka! Eureka!’ which is ancient Greek for ‘I have it! I have it!’ And he jumps out of the bath and runs straight for the king to share his discovery, forgetting one crucial detail.”
Rylan leaned in closer. “What was it?”
She smirked. “In his excitement, he forgot to put on clothes before running from his house, through the streets, and finally to the king’s chamber. Moral of the story? If you have a major scientific breakthrough while in the bath, make sure to put on your clothes before announcing it to the world.”
Rylan threw his head back and laughed. “I’ll be sure to remember that.”