Chapter 13
Now that you’ve decided you want to pursue a future together, how do you both want that to affect your official relationship status in the universe?
This is an important question to begin thinking and talking about.
There are several formal relationship designations legally recognized on an intergalactic level: Starbonded Partners, Chartered Companionship, Merged Household Affiliation, Polybonded Clusters, Contractual Wedlock, and more.
Research your options and come to an agreement on what would suit you both best. While an official status is not required per se, it will provide you with greater recognition and protection as partners wherever you go in this vast universe.
Gemma
“Good morning, my wonderful friends! Look outside and behold my brilliant idea from last night,” Khephren announces.
We all stare out the bridge’s view window at the otherworldly sight in front of us.
“Welcome to Cosmic Kingdom: The Intergalactic Theme Park!” Khephren’s tentacles flail in the air with excitement.
“I am so not in Kansas anymore,” I mutter to myself, unable to tear my gaze away from the surreal vista.
Luna wraps an arm around my shoulder, and I lean into her.
The alien theme park hovers ahead, positioned within a stable ring of satellites around a vibrant nebula that performs an ongoing multicolored light show unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed.
It’s truly stunning, a sight I will never forget until my dying day.
“The Rainbow Nebula is so much more impressive than its name, don’t you think?” she asks softly.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. Even the Northern Lights on Earth pale in comparison,” I admit.
“Isn’t it so romantic?” Khephren sighs dreamily, tentacles flapping.
“Super romantic, babe,” Sasha assures him.
Najar sighs. “Of course you’d pick a theme park.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fun,” Felix says. His eyes sparkle. “Maybe I’ll get to see some new animals there too.”
I smile fondly at my brother and shake my head. Some things about him will never change. But that’s yet another reason I love him to pieces.
“Well, I, for one, want to find out how an intergalactic theme park compares to the ones on Earth.” I rub my hands together in anticipation.
Luna bounces on her toes, her green tentacles doing a kind of cheer move that makes me smile. “Hell, yeah! That’s my girl! Let’s enjoy this to the max!”
Khephren dances around the bridge. “We’re going to have so much fun. I can’t wait.”
“Rein it in a smidge, babe,” Sasha orders him sweetly. “Let’s not scare off our new crew members quite yet.”
Khephren blushes. “Sorry. I can get overly enthusiastic sometimes.”
Sasha pulls him in for a kiss. “And I love that about you.”
“Okay, enough schmoopy talk,” Luna says. “Let’s park this baby and get on with the fun.”
I can’t stop myself from grinning. She is so much fun, and ridiculously sweet too.
My mind wanders back to the handwritten note she sent me last night.
At first, I was startled when it arrived via a delivery chute in the room that I didn’t know about.
But her words melted my heart the moment I read them.
Luna is thoughtful and attentive. She didn’t get upset or annoyed when I needed some time alone to think.
Instead, she was quietly supportive and understanding.
My mental list of reasons Luna’s pretty damn perfect for me keeps growing by the hour.
I still haven’t arrived at any conclusions about what I’ll do with my future now that I’m part of the Sleigh Belle, but I feel less freaked out about not having a plan.
I decided to take things as they come and wait for inspiration to strike.
In other words, I’m going to trust in myself and the universe on this one.
“Luna’s right,” I agree cheerfully. “Let’s get this theme park party started!”
Khephren doesn’t waste any more time and docks the Sleigh Belle in the Cosmic Kingdom’s massive equivalent of a parking garage for spaceships, after which we disembark like a band of kids hyped up on sugar and adrenaline.
We’re practically racing each other to the park’s entrance, a slightly less excited Najar drawn along by my brother.
Felix has his work cut out for him with his new boyfriend—but I know that’s the way he likes it.
Men can be such weirdos sometimes.
At the entrance, Khephren pays for us all, and I make a mental note to figure out how the heck money works in the rest of the universe. Then we go through a biometric scanner that is apparently an even more advanced version of what we have in the med lab on our ship.
Wow, I’m already thinking of the Sleigh Belle as ours, not theirs.
“It identifies species, checks for any communicable illnesses, and scans for weapons or biological hazards of any kind,” Luna explains, winking at me.
“Have I told you that you’re super fucking cute today?”
She’s wearing a pair of overalls over a tight thermal shirt, and she’s rocking the look. I’ve always loved a woman in overalls. Not sure why, but Luna is proof that my preference is spot on. Who wouldn’t find that hot?
Luna gives a little twirl and waves a tentacle at me flirtatiously. “Had a feeling you might like this. Wait until you see me in my special jumpsuit for heavy-duty tasks in the engine room, baby.”
Her voice comes out in a sultry purr, and I know exactly what I’ll be fantasizing about all damn day.
Luna drags her eyes up and down my body in a way that sets every nerve ending of mine on fire. “You’re looking gorgeous, as always.”
I flush with pleasure. Waking up fresh and revitalized after last night, I picked an outfit to show off my seriously fly self.
Ready to strut my stuff, I put on one of my favorite retro fifties swing dresses, the white one with red polka dots, and did my hair in an updo with victory rolls and a green satin ribbon.
I give her a little twirl of my own and then dart a quick kiss on her cheek. “Of course I am, but thanks nonetheless.”
She grins at me brightly.
“Welcome to Cosmic Kingdom,” an artificial, computer-like voice intones as Sasha completes his scan. “Please be sure to wear your juvenile visitor wristband. You will not be allowed to go on any rides for which you fail to meet the minimum height requirement.”
“The fuck?” Sasha yells, his face going nearly purple in outrage.
To everyone’s surprise, it’s Najar who starts laughing hysterically. “Hahahahaha! This moment will live in my memory forever.”
“I will end you, Najar,” Sasha growls.
“For your safety, we are assigning you a child chaperone drone. Their name is Nanny Bubbles,” the voice continues, unfazed.
“I’m not a fucking child!”
A robotic arm darts out of the biometric scanner and slaps a band on his wrist so fast he can’t avoid it.
“Enjoy your stay at Cosmic Kingdom!”
A drone appears, hovering over poor Sasha and following him as Khephren drags him, much like one would a grumpy toddler, into the park.
After the rest of us manage to get through the biometric scanner without any issues, we huddle up as Najar explains our game plan. He definitely has some serious dad vibes, or maybe even grandpa vibes.
“Everyone, pay careful attention.” He points to the unusual bubble-making fountain in the center of this square.
“If you need to find anyone while we’re here, use your messaging device and then come here.
It will be our meet-up location should anyone need it.
Otherwise, you’re free to explore the park as much as you wish, but be sure you have returned to our ship no later than thirty minutes after the park’s closing time.
” He levels us all with a stern gaze. “Understood?”
We all hurriedly agree and then go our separate ways as couples.
Luna and I are immediately on the same wavelength because when we look at the park map, we each point to the same attraction.
“LightSpeed MegaCoaster!” we shout in unison.
Giddy, we run to the line for the ride. Unlike the parks I’ve visited on Earth, the lines for rides at this one move at a rapid pace, and in no time at all, Luna and I are settled into our seats on the LightSpeed MegaCoaster and the ride begins.
Normally, I love rollercoaster rides, and based on the name, that’s what I’m expecting with this one. Poor, foolish Gemma. I should have known extraterrestrials would take this to a level I’m not quite prepared for as a human.
Once in college, some friends and I went to a midnight movie screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
We brought along some trippy treats, namely gummies, to best appreciate this film, a stoner favorite among many a hippie in the seventies.
When we got to the total mind-fuck scene where the main character is traveling through time and space and everything around him turns into a psychedelic light vortex, I remember feeling like I was in that vessel with him, rocketing through the universe.
The LightSpeed MegaCoaster is so much more mind-blowing—and terrifying.
Somehow, the Cosmic Kingdom built the track for this particular ride in such a way that it juts into outer space, going far out from the park and directly into the fucking Rainbow Nebula.
The ride and its track are encased in a mysterious clear material that gives us an unobstructed view, but there’s nothing beneath us but emptiness.
New fear unlocked.
I’ve barely wrapped my head around how impossible this ride seems to my poor overwhelmed psyche when the coaster sends us careening out into the universe at breakneck speed and straight through part of the Rainbow Nebula, which is even more beautiful than what Kubrick envisioned in his film.
It’s surreal and downright sublime on one level, but on the other, I’m ready to shit my pants at the knowledge that there’s nothing between me and guaranteed death other than an unexplained clear material.
What if it cracks? What if an asteroid suddenly hits it?