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I didn't mention all the sleepless nights during which I'd worried about whether Jiji would survive, nor the crazy vet-med bills, nor the reaction of my previous captain who'd told me to get rid of it. Obviously, I hadn't. Instead, I'd found a new ship and a new captain, and life was better for it.
"Do you have a lot of traditions on your planet?" I asked, not sure what about the pink kyvenoid intrigued me so much. Maybe it was the way she floated around the spaceship, kind of going around without much purpose.
I wondered what that was about.
Heather chuckled, a delightful sound. "You have no idea. Traditions is the name of the game on Earth."
"Your traditions are games?"
"No, it's another expression."
She seemed to have a lot of those as well, which made no sense. What was the point of communication if they dedicated secret meaning to their sentences? It made me wonder if I interpreted anything she said so far correctly.
My controlband on my wrist chimed, an alert from my cockpit that something needed my attention which was a shame. I was enjoying my conversation with Heather, even if she was hard to understand. That was partially what made her intriguing to me. She was like a living puzzle and I liked those.
"I have to go," I said, gesturing in the direction of the bridge.
Heather seemed dejected, although it was hard to read her facial expressions. "That's a pity. Thank you for the cereal bar."
Cereal. Another word I didn't understand but I appreciated her gratitude. I didn't know if that was a thing on her planet or if she'd picked it up on Kyven but it was nice to know that she was capable of having complex emotions, unlike some of the other aliens I sometimes came into contact with.
"What are you going to do next?" I asked, ignoring the alarm for a moment. It couldn't be that important if the sirens weren't going off.
Heather shrugged. "I don't know. Nothing, really. This spaceship is kind of boring, no offence."
"It's not my ship," I returned. My alarm chimed again and even though I knew better, I figured, what was the harm? "Want to see my cockpit?"
A snorting sound emitted from Heather that she smothered by covering her mouth with her hands.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"I don't think I can explain."
"Another expression?"
"Something like that. But yes, I'd like to see your...cockpit."
The way she said the word made it clear there was another meaning to it but she wasn't going to share it with me. It just made me more curious to learn more of her Earth language. I'd heard her speak it with the other kyvenoid female, a melodic string of sounds.
Hopefully, I'd have some free time when we docked on her planet so I could explore a bit. I hadn't been before and with good reason, my previous captain wasn't certified to visit planets and moons outside of the Galactic Union.
"Follow me," I told Heather, making my way up the bridge, relieved when Captain Ellabee was nowhere to be found. I didn't think she'd appreciate having a passenger in the command centre but I'd keep a close eye on Heather, make sure she didn't do anything wrong.
Jiji jumped off my shoulder when we got to the cockpit and rolled over to the flashing orange lights, drawn to them like it usually was.
Heather paused behind me. "Is that bad?"
"No, just have to check something." I sat down on my chair and requested a status report, acutely aware of the female standing behind me.
A long log rolled onto my screen with the issue highlighted.
I instantly pressed an alert button to send an alarm to the rest of the crew and reached for my headset. "Katak, are you there?"
No reply. He was probably on his break too.
Behind me, Heather came a step closer. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes, I just need to adjust the course. One of Zatish's moons has drifted from its usual orbit and is in our path." I tried my headset again. "Katak? Are you there?"
