9. Sarah
SARAH
The Fleet kept to Hawaii's time, so when we arrived from Chicago, it had only been nine in the morning ship’s time.
That had given Tyrone and I time to settle into our rooms, his across the corridor from mine, chat with Xeranos, or Xero as he asked me to call him, while he filled me in on fun things to do during my layover.
My watch said it was a few minutes past seven in the evening Chicago time and my stomach was making insistent noises while I tried to decide if I dared to try using the replicator to make myself something to eat, when a chime sounded at my door, and Xero announced it was Tyrone.
“Come on, I’m starving, and I know you’re missing your kids, but sitting in there moping isn’t going to change the fact that they won’t be joining you for another two weeks.”
“I was thinking of checking out the replicator and seeing how good the food is.”
He gave me puppy dog eyes. “Please. You’re the only person I know on this whole ship, and I don’t wanna eat alone.”
I took in his ridiculous expression. He even had his lower lip out in a pout, which looked ridiculous on a grown man.
He reminded me of Caleb with that expression, though there were plenty of years yet before my son would have anywhere near that amount of scruff on his face.
Or on his arms and legs for that matter, if he did grow up to be hairy.
I caved, not really wanting to sit there and navel gaze while I picked through my dinner alone, second guessing my decision to go along with my mother’s suggestion. I could try the replicator later, for a snack before bedtime.
“Okay, sure. Have you decided where we’re going?”
“Xero told me about this awesome sounding Thai restaurant. Hey, make sure you bring your tablet. They zap it so they get some kind of credit for our meals. Something about meal allowances paid for by the Fleet. Everyone gets free food, can you believe it? They even have a supermarket on board, and people who live here can go shop, get whatever they want, and just tap their kunnarskyn thing or tablet, and no worries. Same thing with clothes, so after dinner, I’m gonna go get me some new threads.
I could use some new work boots too. How about you? ”
“And it's all free? Do the Mylos take it out of our allowance towards our homestead set up?”
“Nope. I even asked Xero the same thing. This is like, just because we’re residents here within the Fleet, even though it's only for a couple of days.”
Some retail therapy did sound fun.
“I’ve never had Thai food before, so you’ll have to help me choose.”
“Okay, then, new bestie. Let’s go.”
I followed him out, and once we reached the designated recreation and commerce deck, I nearly lost my mind.
Wandering Star was an absolute marvel. It was so vast, and with the rows of shops and eateries, not to mention the actual parks filled with green grass and trees and bushes and flowers, and even a small beach in a holosuite sort of place, it filled me with awe.
The Mylos had taken every sci-fi franchise out there and basically said, “Hold my beer”.
Xero hadn’t exaggerated one bit. If anything, he’d understated what I would find.
I ended up having a blast, Tyrone telling me funny stories about his former co-workers over our plates of pak leang and khao soi.
I, in turn, told him of the crazy things staff had found in the motel rooms, including the time one of the other maids went in to clean a room while the guest was out and heard scratching on the bathroom door.
Which she opened, and was shocked to find it had been caused by an actual juvenile sloth hanging from the heated towel rail.
To make it even crazier, there was a young lion cub in the bathtub.
It turned out our guest was some kind of animal smuggler and was transporting the animals from a private jet to their new owners who’d bought them as pets.
The retail therapy after we ate helped buoy my spirits as well.
I not only bought new clothes for myself that would be suitable as the owner of an inn slash boarding house in a frontier colony, but also several new outfits and pairs of shoes and boots for the kids, including the next two sizes up.
By the time we went back to our rooms, we were laden with so many bags we’d had to request they deliver most of them to us in the morning.
Aboard the Wandering Star it was impossible to avoid happy families and their children, as the Mylos and their families, and the military veterans and theirs, were everywhere one looked.
Maybe I was a bit of a masochist, but I refused to spend the remaining two days we had to wait for our outward bound ship to arrive locked in my stateroom.
Instead, I joined my new “bestie” and went out to eat, went to the beach, even going early so we could catch one of the hula classes the Mylos warriors took as part of their physical fitness training and cultural exchange.
Tyrone and I went for a swim afterwards and got a shave ice.
“That’s the closest to ever getting to go to Hawaii I’ll likely ever get.”
“Same,” I admitted.
“Do you like to bowl?”
“Um, I guess? I haven’t done it in years.”
“Then how about lunch at the bowling alley? I doubt a Dragonii colony has one.”
Tyrone kept me occupied and distracted, though occasionally I found my mind drifting, thinking how much the kids would love whatever we were doing. I called them before their bedtime each night, regaling them with things I’d seen aboard.
“Well, it sounds like you needed a mini vacation without kids,” my mother said. “These two weeks will do you good, give you a break so you can get things set up.”
I hated to admit it, but she was right. I’d not had an entire day to myself since the moment I’d discovered Harold was cheating.
The true test came when I met our fellow passengers as they joined us aboard our outgoing flight.
Nick Carter was also going to New Haven as he was the colony’s new school teacher, and had three children and a golden retriever with him.
New Haven also had a new sheriff’s deputy amongst our lot, with three more children and a dachshund.
I couldn’t help but draw parallels between our families, seeing as I also had three kids and a dog.
There were two more people going to the same planet as Tyrone: one single woman who was some sort of botanist, and a married childless couple in their forties with the wife’s teenage brother.
Tyrone naturally drifted towards them, leaving me to spend more time with Nick and Deputy Darren as he laughingly introduced himself and their children.
A day into our trip, we stopped at a space station where Tyrone and his fellow colonists got off to catch a different flight, and we picked up Darren’s Dragonii mate, Tarek, and a Dragonii child named Vrann who was being adopted by a couple already on New Haven.
The day after that, we were there, and we got to experience Bob for the very first time as our shuttle contacted the spaceport to gain clearance to land.
“Okay, just as a heads up, the colony’s AI, as you may already know, is a variation of the program that comprises Xeranos back among the Mylos fleet, and they consider themselves siblings.
His name is Bob, and he is known as a bit of a jokester,” our pilot said once we’d strapped in and he started the engine.
That was all the warning we got before he opened communications with New Haven.
“Silver Horizon’s shuttle is now ready to begin landing clearance.”
“Good afternoon, Silver Horizon. Welcome to New Haven. There’s just one thing before landing clearance can be granted…Knock knock.”
The children giggled while we adults exchanged incredulous looks.
Our pilot sighed. “Who’s there?”
“Cargo.”
More giggling, and now Darren was shaking his head, a smile teasing the corners of his mouth.
“Cargo who?”
“Cargo unloading is only to occur once landing safely.”
Nick groaned. “Oh, that was bad,” he said softly as the children were now giggling wildly.
Our pilot did not share their enthusiasm.
“Copy that, Bob,” he replied with a snort. “Um, hahaha,” he fake laughed.
“You’ll do,” Bob said, and I suddenly realized that the joke was apparently some kind of test. Just what sort of place had I actually agreed to come to? “Clearance granted. Follow my guide beam.”
We touched down several minutes later, and when the shuttle bay door opened, it was to a sight that looked like a movie set.
The landing pad was outside, with a nearby hangar that had its doors wide open and aliens walking around, going about their business.
A sign in English, as well as what I presumed was Dragonii and something else, said that the way through Customs was through there.
Not that we could have gone anywhere else, as we had a welcome wagon waiting for us, so to speak.
I barely had time to look around the rest of the area, getting vague impressions of blue green grass, a pale aqua sky, and two giant moons that loomed freakishly large in the sky.
Darren and Tarek were immediately rushed by a human male and his Dragonii husband, along with their human child, eager to pick up Vrann.
I could hear the human dad thanking them for looking after Vrann during the trip.
Nick and his children were likewise met by his mate, Rethan.
Rethan had a small farm close to Vrann’s new family, as near as I could make out before my own mate came striding across the hangar towards me.
Holy crap. He was even more handsome in person. Bigger too.
“Doran?” I asked, feeling stupid because, of course, he was.
He nodded, a soft smile playing around his lips. “And you must be Sarah.”
“Yep, that’s me.”
He peered around me, his lips turning down when he saw only Sweetie.
“Where are the kits?”
Well, crap. No one had told him.
“They’re coming to join us once the house is ready for them,” I replied brightly, trying to not show how much I missed them. “They’d said it would take two weeks for the house to be built.”
His expression cleared. “Ah. Yes, well, they just finished the private residence and shared public rooms part and will be done with the tenants’ rooms by this evening.
So, once we put the things you brought inside, everything will pretty much be ready.
Kelran is having the guest room furniture delivered this afternoon, and my brother and I will put together the beds and hang the curtains once they’re finished. ”
“What remains to be done for them?” I asked, curious.
“Bathroom sanitary ware and its plumbing, as well as adding the light fixtures.”
“Oh. If I’d known, I’d have gone ahead and brought the kids. I wasn’t expecting it to be finished until next week.”
He nodded. “Bob had the machines run all night, which he doesn’t usually do due to potential noise disturbance, but the sheriff and his family will be our first lodgers, so it became necessary. They have yet to decide on their house.”
“Well,” I said with false cheer as I followed him to where workers were unloading our household goods onto trailers with some sort of open topped truck thing pulling them.
“My parents will be bringing them, and I thought we could have a small wedding while they’re here.
Just us and the kids and my parents and I guess your brother, unless you have more family who will want to come. ”
He nodded. “My sister and parents would like to be there, I am certain.”
“Great. Then, um, we can decide where to have it. Our backyard or living room maybe? I want it to be simple. And is there a justice of the peace or whatever who can marry us?”
“I do not know what that is, but I will ask Khaelor. He will know if we need the priestess or if Johree can perform the required ceremony.”
Priestess?
“I don’t want a priestess,” I blurted out, imagining an alien religious ceremony that would push Mom into asking why the colony didn’t have a church with a pastor who could have married us instead.
Doran merely nodded and helped me into one of the truck things. “This is my flitter,” he said, handing me Sweetie. “We’ll go as soon as everything is loaded.”
I nodded. Our furniture and other belongings had made it to the Fleet in time to be loaded onto the Silver Horizon.
It was all good quality stuff, purchased while I was still married to Harold, so I’d not wanted to leave it behind.
I’d purchased new sheets and lightweight quilts for the beds, though during retail therapy with Tyrone.
I’d also picked out the curtains I'd wanted, which Xero had forwarded to Bob, who’d placed the order with the general store.
The quilts were actual patchwork ones, purchased from a small store which sold handicrafts.
I’d gotten one for my bed, and one for each of the kids’ beds.
Mine and Doran's bed, I corrected myself. And the week is half over, so pretty soon we’ll be getting busy in it.
My cheeks grew warm at the thought, and heat pooled in my belly. There were going to be zero problems in the bedroom department, at least. Not from me, anyway.