Her Alien Protector: A Sci-fi Romance

Part 37

Ava

I awaken to the blue star rising. Rigel is still sleeping, so I do some work—collecting plant samples.

When Rigel finally awakens, my faithful steed as I have affectionately nicknamed him flies me back to the Firefly.

"Seed pods," Kayla says when I hand her my collection of what I assume is grass. She is so excited she immediately goes to the lab, while I dutifully follow, backpack and all.

It still astonishes me to enter her lab with the living tree and roots growing out of metal. Glow Ball peeps, reminding me to open and let him out of the backpack. The rahoni quickly scampers up the tree and looks down at me from high up in the branches.

"I'm going to run some small experiments to learn what conditions each type of seed or plant thrives in, from cosmic radiation to microgravity," says Kayla, plunging her hands into the dirt where she is transferring the seeds. "Do you want to help?"

Her hands are flecked with dirt. I don't really want to do it, but since it looks like she has done most of the dirty part of the task...

"Yeah, sure."

Kayla pulls out even more seeds. What?

Okay, it can't be that hard. When I do it, though, seeds end up scattered across the workbench—in other words, everywhere except in the dirt.

Kayla overlooks my work, giving me pointers. I do as she suggests and on my second attempt, most of the seeds end up in the dirt with the metal mesh.

"Good work," Kayla says when she looks over my work integrating her suggestions into my workflow. "Thanks to this work, we'll potentially have more food sources identified."

I brush the dirt from my hand. "Really? It felt like all I did was put seeds in the dirt."

"You are setting up the experiments, which is important for us to be able to test all the possible growing conditions. Who knows where we will live in the end, but whether it is the Firefly, or a new planet or moon, we won't know which environment a plant will need. Running these experiments and then field tests could mean the difference between dying, surviving, or thriving."

"Can I do more?"

Kayla pulls seeds out of everywhere. I am overwhelmed, wondering if I can even make a dent in the supply.

Earlier I found the work a bit gross, encrusting my fingernails with dirt. Now that my fingers find a rhythm of pushing seeds into the dirt, I enjoy both the sensation of soft dirt on my fingertips and the feeling that I'm contributing to something much bigger than myself—our future food.

***

A few hours later, Kayla returns to the lab and reviews my work "That's enough for today."

"I don't mind working," I say, now that I know Kayla has millions of seeds stored away with so many conditions to test.

"Here in the lab, I have the lights set to timers to optimize plant growth, so you might not notice but the sleep cycle has started."

"Just a few more?"

"For health reasons, we should follow sleep cycles as best we can."

"I'm not tired. One or two more hours and then I'll go."

"There is another reason you should go. For one, it is not only your sleep that will be disrupted."

Heat creeps up my neck. "You don't need to check on me, I know what to do now."

"Oh, it's not my sleep that will be disrupted. You see, on my way here, I noticed a rather sleep-deprived, sad-looking Rigel roaming the hallways."

Okay, now I'm definitely embarrassed, my neck and cheeks feeling hot. "That doesn't mean he's looking for me."