Page 9 of Alien on the Moon (Thryal Mates #3)

Elena

A week after she recovered from the flu, the base received a message from the palace that Carmen, Sofia, and their partners were going to come up for a visit. Arccoo wanted to see their progress, so, naturally, everyone was in a panic anticipating the arrival of the crown prince.

Being his sister-in-law, she didn’t have the same reverence for him, but she knew they needed to show progress on the project. Otherwise, the royal council would pull the plug, and all their hard work would be for nothing, so she had every reason to be nervous.

And that wasn’t even getting into the fact that her sisters were going to meet Rylan. They were going to love him. She knew this. But she also knew they had high standards—especially for the youngest in the family—and would be very vocal in the unlikely event they thought that Rylan was unworthy of her.

“Almost ready?” he asked from the doorway to the lab.

She grinned, trying to tame the swarm of butterflies in her stomach. “Yeah. And you?”

“As I’ll ever be,” he said. Hand in hand, they walked to the hangar where the crown prince and his extended family would be landing. “I’ll admit that I am a bit nervous.”

“About meeting the prince and keeping the project running or about meeting my sisters?”

He flashed her a wry smile. “Yes.”

“Arccoo is a good guy. You don’t have to worry about him. It’s my sisters you have to be scared of. We’re very protective of each other.” She gave his hand a squeeze and let it go as the doors opened, and the royal cruiser landed. “But you’re going to be great. I know they’ll love you.”

“I really hope you’re right.”

With a pneumatic hiss, the doors opened. Carmen and Sofia were the first ones out. Shrieking with joy, the sisters ran to hug one another. It had only been a couple of months, but it felt like longer.

Carmen was the first to take a step back, grabbing Elena by the shoulders and studying her. “How are you feeling? You said you were sick a few days ago.”

Elena shrugged. “Just a forty-eight-hour bug. Nothing serious.”

“Yeah, you can’t keep a good mad scientist down,” Sofia said, punching Elena in the arm.

Laughing, she rubbed the spot. “What about you guys? How have things been?”

“Same old, same old.” Sofia leaned against Carmen, using her older sister’s shoulder like an armrest. “It’s been pretty boring without you blowing up the lab every other day.”

Carmen rolled her eyes. “What Sofia means to say is that we’ve missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” Behind her sisters, Arccoo and Zaraq cleared their throats. Elena smiled sheepishly at the oversight and approached to hug Zaraq first. “Good to see you.”

“Glad you’re doing well,” he replied.

Turning to Arccoo, she pressed a fist to her heart and inclined her head. “Your Highness.”

Rolling his eyes, he wrapped his arms around her. “My little sister, you bow to no one.”

She reciprocated his hug. “I trust that you’re treating Carmen well.”

“You’ve threatened me with regicide enough times to know the answer to that,” he teased. It was an old inside joke between them. Any time Carmen seemed even vaguely displeased, Elena and Sofia would threaten regicide. The royal council didn’t appreciate it, but they and Arccoo found it hilarious.

He even put in his final will and testament. If I have been murdered, despite comments to the contrary in the past, it was most likely not Sofia and Elena Flores. Those words were intended as jokes.

Stepping back, he rested a hand on her shoulder. “I’m eager to see what you’ve done with the place.”

“Rylan and I can give you guys the grand tour,” Elena said.

Her boyfriend made a fist over his heart and inclined his head. “I would be honored to do so, Your Highness.”

With a gesture for them to follow, she and Rylan started walking. “We’ll take you to the compost field first. You can see what all those squigs you’ve ordered have been up to.”

“Shouldn’t we put on oxygen masks?” Carmen asked as they headed out the door.

Elena shook her head. “We don’t have to. The air is thin but breathable now. We should be fine for a little while.”

“It was Elena’s idea to focus on creating an ecosystem rather than a garden.” Rylan pointed to the compost field, which was starting to have some shoots grow from the ground filled with squigs. It stood as a sharp contrast to the nearby field of fertilized dirt that still lay barren.

“I didn’t know you had a green thumb,” Sofia said.

Arccoo frowned, though, when he looked at the shoots. Elena’s heart sank. Bral was supposed to be a dark greenish brown, but these were a golden green. “Are you sure you planted the right crops?” he asked.

She nodded. They still hadn’t quite figured out the change in color. It wasn’t rot or infection, but nobody on the base had any idea what was causing the damage. “We’re looking into it.”

Carmen rested a hand on his shoulder. “Science is trial and error. You can’t just brute force it into the results you want.”

Elena snorted at the hypocrisy. She’d lost count of the number of times she’d said that to Carmen and Sofia over the years.

Rylan shared a knowing look. He’d probably experienced the same problem, too. Such was the struggle of scientists.

“So, not saying that this isn’t impressive, but are we going to stand around staring at rotting food or are there other places you want to show us?” Sofia asked, wrinkling her nose.

Elena nodded sympathetically. “We’ll take you to the lab next.” It really did smell awful out there, even with the squigs breaking down the waste. “We can show you the equipment, explain how it works, and tell you what’s on our wish list.”

“How far from the base is it safe to explore?” Zaraq asked, taking his partner’s hand. “Sofia and I want to see what the rest of the moon looks like.”

“We can go over that in a bit,” Rylan replied, leading the small group back inside. “The short version is that it depends on whether or not you want to use an oxygen mask.”

“Will the mask block out the smell?” Sofia asked.

Elena tipped her hand back and forth in a so-so gesture. “Eh, it’s better than nothing.”

“Unfortunately, we’ll have to do the meet and greet first,” Carmen said. “So, we’ll stick to the base for now.”

Rylan tapped Elena’s arm. “I could show them around the lab while you explore with Sofia and Zaraq if you want.”

“I thought you wanted me to stick with you,” Elena whispered.

He flashed her a quick, small smile. “Do you think I’m too much of a nervous wreck to introduce your family to our coworkers?”

“Stop.” She rolled her eyes. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Then go and have fun with your sister. The lab will survive without you for a few hours.”

“You don’t mind, Carmen?” she asked and pointedly ignored the way her older sisters glanced at one another. They’d picked up on something between her and Rylan, but in the interest of preserving her dignity, she wasn’t going to mention it until her sisters brought it up.

“You and Sofia go have fun,” Carmen said. “The meet and greet stuff will be pretty boring. Trust me.” She batted her lashes at her husband. “Not saying that I want to shirk my royal duties, though, of course.”

Arccoo chuckled. “Of course.” His hand curled around Carmen’s waist, pulling her close as they walked. “A future queen has to get to know her subjects.”

Elena and Sofia exchanged glances and then began to playfully retch in unison. Rylan raised his eyebrows at this. The idea of making fun of a royal was unthinkable for the Thryals, even if the royal was also a brother-in-law.

Arccoo, being the youngest and only recently named heir after his brother’s treasonous actions, was used to being teased by family. He would never voice it, but Elena suspected he thought of her and Sofia as his little sisters, too, and enjoyed being included in the playful bickering. His brother’s mockery had always come across as scorn.

“We’ll meet back up at lunch.” Carmen hugged her sisters goodbye. “Just don’t get yourselves killed out there.”

Sofia rolled her eyes. “The most dangerous thing is falling into the compost. Right, Elena?”

“That and the spontaneous quicksand holes,” she lied with a shrug and headed to the envirosuit supply room. “It took out one of our guys about a week ago.”

“Wait, what spontaneous quicksand holes?” Sofia jogged to catch up to her with Zaraq close behind. “There’s spontaneous quicksand holes?”

Elena let her stay in suspense for a bit before bursting out laughing. “The look on your face!”

Sofia’s expression fell, though Elena couldn’t tell if it was from relief or disappointment at the lack of dangerous environmental features. “There are no spontaneous quicksand holes. Are there?”

Snickering, Elena shook her head. “Nah, I’m just fucking with you.”

“Then let’s get a move on,” Zaraq said. “I’ve always wanted to try a low-gravity backflip.”

“You’re in luck, because the further from the terraformed land we go, the weaker the gravity. It’s like a trampoline park.”

“A what?” Zaraq asked, confused.

Sofia took his hand. “Trust me, babe. You’ll love it.”

Elena led them to the area least affected by the terraforming. She hadn’t yet figured out why gravity was weaker in this area, but it was on her list of mysteries to solve.

They bounced for a couple of hours, all the while catching up on each other’s lives. Sofia and Zaraq had been exploring some nearby exo-planets and hunting down legends on Thryal.

Life seemed to be a nonstop adventure for her sister. Elena was happy for her but knew that it would be an exhausting life for her. She wasn’t suited for an existence of spontaneity like Sofia, nor was she suited for the diplomacy and manners of royalty like Carmen. For a time, she thought she’d be married to her work, but now that she’d met Rylan…

“So,” Sofia said as they made their way back to the base for lunch. “That cute head scientist. What was his name? Ryan?”

“Rylan.” Elena rolled her eyes. She knew this was coming, but she had hoped her sisters would be kind enough to refrain from interrogating her about her love life in the middle of her very important work.

“Right.” She smirked. “Are you guys experimenting on each other—if you catch my drift—or is it just extreme sexual tension right now?”

Elena’s cheeks burned. “Did you have to say it like that?”

“It’s my sisterly duty to phrase things in the most embarrassing way possible. Right, Zaraq?”

Her partner stepped back. “I’m not getting in the middle of this.”

“Smart man,” Elena said. Well, there was no way Sofia or Carmen would let this go now. She might as well fess up. “Rylan and I are together, but I don’t know if we’ll stay that way. After the mission—”

Sofia playfully elbowed her. “He’ll sweep you off your feet and to another lab for some more sweet, sweet nerd love.”

“You’re the worst.”

Sofia winked. “I know.”

After removing their envirosuits and getting cleaned up, they headed to the cafeteria to meet up with Carmen, Arccoo, and Rylan. The trio sat at a quiet corner table. After grabbing their food, Elena, Sofia, and Zaraq joined them.

Sofia slapped the lunch tray on the table. “So, you’re dating my sister.”

Rylan’s emerald eyes widened as he glanced between Sofia and Elena. The latter shrugged and shook her head in resignation. “I warned you,” Elena said.

“How long have you been together?” Carmen asked. Elena knew not to look to her for any protection from the onslaught of humiliation to come. Her oldest sister was just as bad as—if not worse than—Sofia.

“A couple of months,” Rylan replied carefully. The next several questions came rapid fire from both older sisters.

“What’s her favorite color?”

“What food texture does she hate?”

“What does she like to do when she isn’t in the lab?”

“What makes her feel better when she’s sick?”

“What’s her favorite snack?”

“No need to interrogate him,” Arccoo interrupted, earning a glare from both older sisters.

Elena just buried her face in her hands.

Carmen took his hand and gave it an affectionate squeeze. “Arccoo, I love you, but you need to butt out. This is a sacred Earth ritual known as ‘making sure the youngest has good taste in men.’ It’s our right as older sisters to interrogate him.”

“Still, don’t you think this is excessive?”

Rylan held up a hand. “It’s all right, Your Highness. Elena has already warned me about this Earth ritual.”

He turned to Carmen and Sofia. “To your questions: teal, slimy, read or draw, drinks ginger ale and rests while watching stream shows, and Milkas, a delicacy she’s kindly shared with me.”

Sofia raised her eyebrows. “Elena shared some of her homesick snack stash? You really must be special.”

“Yeah, she barely even shares it with us,” Carmen said, hiding her smile behind a sip of her drink.

“So, did I pass?” Rylan asked. “Do I have your stamp of approval?”

Sofia and Carmen exchanged glances, holding a conversation with just their gazes. Almost in unison, they nodded.

“You passed,” Sofia said.

Carmen held up a finger. “Probationally.”

He sagged with relief while Elena, face still in her hands, groaned. Why did her sisters insist on being so embarrassing?

“For what it’s worth, you and Elena seem to be a good match.” Arccoo winked. “Your intellect is very close to matching hers.”

Rylan straightened up at that. The prince had given him his blessing to date his sister-in-law. Elena knew he had some insecurity about not being nobility, so this was a boost to his confidence.

“You do understand that I’m a commoner. Right, Your Highness?” Rylan asked and then immediately backtracked. “Not to imply that I don’t trust your judgment, but—”

Zaraq laughed. “Rylan, I’m a commoner, too. And with my history, if Arccoo was to be displeased with anyone, it would be me, not the genius scientist.”

Rylan shot Elena a confused glance. She hadn’t told him about Zaraq and his past, mainly because it wasn’t her story to tell. “Later,” she whispered, and he nodded.

“To be honest, I don’t think I can forbid this even if I wanted to,” Arccoo said. “These women are far too strong to be dissuaded by anyone, including the orders of a prince. Did you know that they repaired a spaceship on their own in order to get here?”

Rylan chucked. “I heard something to that effect.”

“It was mostly Elena,” Carmen said. “She figured out how to repair Arccoo’s ship almost entirely on her own.”

Rylan took Elena’s hand. “I’m beginning to suspect your previous telling of this story was a bit modest. “

She shrugged. “It wasn’t relevant.”

Laughing, he shook his head. “You never cease to amaze me.”