As promised, Jeff arrived smiling brightly and waving at the sunrise after two moons. The ship he piloted now looked much more comfortable on him and had plenty of room for the five passengers. It looked like an oblong pill from the outside; tan top and bottom with a wide, horizontal black band separating the two halves, paralleling the ground around its entire middle. Perfectly smooth along the outside, it hovered a foot off the ground. From inside, support pillars obstructed the view in parts, but was more or less a full three hundred and sixty degree visual of the surroundings out of the blackened window.

Once settled into their seats, Jeff handed everyone a small earpiece and pointed to his own ear sporting one. With a quick inspection, they all hooked the earpieces on. Chip and Henry had some trouble with theirs because of the shape of their ear stalks, and ended up just holding it in place when Jeff started speaking.

“Hoomans, Ancarans, I am glad to see you no different than when I left. Adrienne, I got your brother to our medical teams. They are working to help bring him back to health as quickly as possible. Our scientists have also been monitoring your hole in space and have some ideas to discuss. They were very excited to learn you are engineers and scientists yourselves. OH! Can you hear me? Are your earpieces working?” His words were being translated in real time, directly into their ears. Jeff wore a cocked eye and one side of his cheek tugged back like he was questioning the devices, really hoping to not have to repeat himself.

“Hullo. Hoomans.” Jeff waved a hand and squinted at them all, looking stunned and unresponsive. The humans looked to each other as if someone else would give them words to say. Grasping, Phil finally turned back to Jeff and said, “Thank you Jeff. This is very..new. We just talk normally?”

“Hmm,” Jeff smiled warmly. “You are welcome, hooman. Yes, speak normally. You should all rest, you are safe now. We’ll be back as quickly as possible, but the journey is long. We can talk plenty on the way and when we arrive. You don’t have to wear your translators while you rest, but I’ll wave for you if I need to talk. Chip and Henry, sorry we don’t have any to fit your ears yet, but once we’re back, we can model up a perfect fit for each of you.”

Phil glanced over at Adrienne, smiling warmly, and caught her eyes as he settled into his seat a little more comfortably. Adrienne’s worry about Allen had grown non stop since Jeff left with him. She hardly slept or interacted with any of them. Her face remained a blank shell as they traveled, protecting the outer world from her storms within. With news that Allen was being healed, and knowing they were safe for now, Adrienne was regaining her color.

The ship, having rotated to face back from where Jeff came, pulled ahead, accelerating exponentially. Starting at just a crawl, its pace continued to increase more and more quickly until the surroundings were a blur and only the distant sky and landscape remained a clearly visible feature. Phil glanced over to find Chip and Henry were glued to the windows with their eyes wide and mouths drawn.

Phil leaned over, nudging Darek who sat next to him and pointed with his chin at Chip and Henry. Speaking softly so as not to disturb them or Adrienne who was out like a light, Phil said, “Can you imagine what this is like for them. Their minds have to be completely blown right now. They didn’t even know there were other intelligent species on the planet a few days ago, let alone in the galaxy, and now they’re traveling at the speed of sound in a vessel with more technological advancement in one square inch of its body than their entire civilization from the sound of it. Could you imagine living that!? Oh man, I don’t know if I could handle it as well as they are.”

Darek chuckled as he considered it “That is pretty wild. It’s different for them too, because we’re the tall ones. Could you imagine if they were twice our height!? That’d be a real freaky meeting. I mean, even Jeff is big, and he startled the crap out of me, but we have way more size on them than he does on us. I don’t know how I would handle that.”

“I bet they didn’t even know things could go this fast. They probably don’t know what most of the planet looks like.”

“Wild.” Darek said again. He shook his head in wonder and closed his eyes too. Phil’s mind was still too active to let him drift off. He watched the blur of the trees with occasional open spots that exposed the sky and distant mountains.

Chip and Henry continued to gawk at everything, and Adrienne breathed softly in the flickering light, covered tight in a blanket Jeff had given her. Phil let himself stare innocently at her for a while. He enjoyed the peace he saw, the ease he felt knowing she was feeling better now. He watched her thick hair as the light passed through, making it glow in quick flashes like lightning on clouds; watched and wished he could snuggle up to her so they might both feel warm and safe. He watched until his exhaustion got the better of him and drifted off, leaning against Darek’s shoulder.

***

The light of the scattered moon was bright, it illuminated the flat plains they were now cruising through. Its soft bluish glow cast down on everything, taking the lonely edge of the darkness off. Phil sat upright to stretch himself and looked out the full circle of windows as they cruised. Jeff was still at the controls, subtle hints of yellow and blue light from their display made his many minute facial features stand out. His facial dexterity was incredible. Phil watched without being noticed. It must be strange in a society with no eyebrows. He questioned himself to try to appreciate it and put himself in that kind of world. What if humans had no eyebrows and relied on their facial expressions and motions more? Would communication be better? Worse? Different at all? What things would be different because of it? How many individual muscles does he have in his head? Is he consciously aware of how to control all of them? What does his skull look like under the muscles?

The distant horizon and moon hung motionless in place while the world whipped by. Phil imagined the ship was at the other end of a pendulum, anchored at the moon, swinging forever in the one direction toward Valderia. He stared out and soaked it in as he imagined answers to his questions. His whole understanding of existence had been transformed within the past week, but it made him feel hopeful. There was so much more to understand now, and obviously a lot more to it than anyone thought. It was exciting more than scary, he reasoned.

After a few minutes of waking reflection, Phil decided to go have a conversation with Jeff. If he was going to know an alien, he might as well make a friend of him. And with a chance to learn from someone so different, he felt he had to seize the opportunity. But first, he needed a bathroom.

Phil opened the door to the small compartment in the transport's rear and found himself looking at a smooth white bench. The interior of the space was illuminated with a clean, blue-tinted light. Confused at the lack of a bowl, he went up front to Jeff.

“Hey Jeff, how are you holding up?” Phil spoke with his translator now back in place. Jeff turned to acknowledge Phil and invited him to sit in the seat next to him. “I am holding nothing, Phil.” Jeff showed his empty hands. HA! Phil barked a laugh so unexpectedly he threw his hands to his mouth to catch it.

“Are you okay, Phil? What happened?” Jeff said.

Phil smiled, amusement in his eyes. “Nothing Jeff, sorry, I used a figure of speech I didn’t realize you wouldn’t know. We’re going to have to be very literal… or teach each other the little fun parts of our language. ‘How are you holding up’ is meant to see how you feel, if you’re still okay doing what you’re doing. Usually when you’ve been doing something for a while, or if something bad happens to someone, you might ask them that afterwards to check in on how they are. Since you’ve been piloting for, I don’t even know how long now, I was checking to see how you feel. Traveling long distances can get lonely or boring sometimes. So… how you holding up?”

Jeff turned a little toward Phil with a smile of appreciation and nodded approval. “I am feeling well, thank you. It isn’t so bad, I mostly sleep.” Phil’s face contorted in fear and question and Jeff immediately understood, “the ship is automated. I don’t have to be awake. I just monitor the controls and make sure we’re still on course to get where we’re going. I also like to look ahead in the scanners to make sure nothing unexpected will be crossing our path, and we must avoid bodies of water, this ship cannot cruise over water. It will come to a stop on its own, but its avoidable. Between all that, I sleep. It makes the trip go faster.”

“That’s cool, then.” Phil said.

Jeff’s face twisted in question “I do not feel the cold.”

“Oh, sorry” Phil corrected himself again, “ ‘cool’ is another way to say ‘good’ for humans, I wasn’t describing temperature.” Jeff nodded understanding and replied, “It looks like I’ll have to be learning fast.” They shared a chuckle.

“I have to use the bathroom but uhh, I don’t see one.” Phil said.

“It is at the back, the door to the left.”

“Yeah, I tried that one, but it’s just a bench.”

Jeff confirmed a nod at Phil. “That is it. It should be working fine.”

“But . . . where do you. Ya know. Where do you go?”

“Into the room. Where else would you go?”

“No, no. Where do I GO..like I have to pee, where do I do that?”

Jeff's forehead pinched, and he stood. “Come.” He walked to the back and opened the door, welcoming Phil to it with an open arm.

Phil looked inside and again saw only a smooth white bench. “I don’t get it… where’s the bowl?”

Jeff's face twisted more. “Bowl?”

Phil nervously chuckled at the misunderstanding. “I don’t get it… how do I use it?”

“Did you close the door?”

“No, I just looked in and didn’t see a bowl, so I came to get you.”

“Ah, go inside and close the door and sit. The control panel will illuminate then. There will be four options stacked for you to select. The first is for liquid waste. The second is solid waste. The third is a full evacuation, and the fourth is in case you feel the need to vomit.”

“Ohhhhh, okay. That’s different. Thanks. Sorry to bother you.”

Jeff nodded and walked away.

Phil closed the door and waited. A rectangular area next to the bench illuminated and four light blue bars glowed against a dark background. First is liquid, second solid, third full… I guess I might as well go full. Phil pressed the third bar and a beam of light rolled down from the ceiling to the floor, humming as it went.

“Evacuating.” His earpiece said, translating the pleasant female tone that came from nowhere in particular. A medium tone chimed and Phil’s eyes shot wide when his bladder tingled, then felt suddenly relieved. The tone chimed again and his intestines tingled, then felt lighter. Again, it chimed and he couldn’t help but grunt as his eye’s rolled back in unexpected pleasure, feeling a tingle in his groin. “Nooooo way,” he said through more grumbles and a shiver as his body became thoroughly relaxed

“You gotta be kidding me.”

A deeper tone chimed, and the voice spoke again. “Evacuated.”

Phil sat for a few moments, composing himself before leaving.

“That was the strangest thing I have ever experienced, Jeff.” He said as he sat down next to him.

“You don’t relieve yourself on Earth?” Jeff asked. His features wrinkled through confusion and amusement.

“Well. Not like that, that’s for sure. I didn’t know what full meant. That was… let’s just say unexpected.”

Jeff raised an eyebrow, humphed, and went back to looking at the gauges before leaning back into his seat again.

“So, you don’t listen to music or anything? What about what you played for us when we first met?” Phil asked.

“I do like to play music, especially my music from the sky now that I have it, but with you all sleeping it isn’t a good time. I can manage for now.” Jeff said as he gestured to the rest of the passengers with a shrug of his shoulder.

“Well, what do you say we wake them up when the sun rises?” Phil asked, with an eyebrow cocked mischievously on the same side as his half smile. Jeff’s grin was all the reply necessary. They would understand each other just fine.

“So, what are the Valderians like? I realized that when we first talked, you said you weren’t from here, which means you don’t look like they do, right?”

“Right.” Jeff replied as he finished tapping one of the controls to turn off the display for now. “They look more like you. Though if your group represents average, they are slightly shorter than you and their skull shape is more squared than yours. But not in an extreme way. You will probably be surprised with their appearance. They carry hair like yours, and eye patches like yours.” Phil angled his head and pursed his lips, “Eye patches?”

Jeff curved his two pointer fingers and put them up to his forehead. “Eye patches, like yours.” He said as if it were a surprise Phil was lacking this simple piece of knowledge.

“OHH, ha, okay. We call those eyebrows?”

“Why?”

“Uhhhm.” Phil’s mouth snapped shut, stumped “Hm...Ya know I’ve never actually thought about that.” Jeff nodded, all the tiny folds of his face expressing acceptance.

“What are they like then? The Valderians? They’re clearly pretty advanced, which is nice. Humans are advanced too.”

“The Valderians as a society have focused on living well, so their technologies and pursuits are all guided towards improving life; all life. They are very peaceful, though can be emotional. They are very connected to their environment; they worship the ground they walk on for always being there to support them. I mean, not literally, but they revere this world highly for giving them life. That’s what this is about.” Jeff pulled a pendant out of his shirt to show Phil. It was a brushed silver metal about a quarter of the size of Phil’s palm, grayed with wear. One large circle at the top was filled with a flat, but brilliant blue mineral that shimmered a great depth. Three branches came off the circle from one point at the bottom of its center. The three branches were evenly spaced, forming two equal sized triangles, sharing an inner edge with open bottoms. A small open circle capped each of the three branches so they stood side by side without touching, and a large ring enclosed the whole figure.

“It’s a symbol of this world. The largest circle represents our planet. The next biggest, and the gem, the inner blue - the brilliance of our sun that brings life to us. The three branches - one for each intelligent species that has flourished here. The Valderians want peace and community for everyone. They would make peace with the Netmada and when they are ready to join the world, the Ancara.”

Phil examined the piece thoughtfully. Maybe being stranded here wouldn’t turn out so bad after all, he thought. When he flipped the pendant upside down and held it by the largest circle so that the three smaller ones branched upward, something made him pause. It seemed familiar. Like it was something he had seen or held recently. He stared at it trying to dig through his memory, but got nothing.

He passed the pendant back to Jeff, not taking his eyes off it until it was tucked away again. “Seems very meaningful, I think we’re going to like staying here, especially if your people are as awesome as you’re making them sound.”

“Can I change the subject?” Phil asked. Jeff only grunted his approval.

“We noticed the sky seemed to glitter, like really glitter. How does it do that? And what happened to the moon? And what exactly is a day here? They seem so fast.” It was obvious from his expression the curiosities had a mind of their own.

Jeff chuckled “Which should I answer for you first?”

“Whichever one is shortest?”

“Okay, we divide a day into four sections. Two sections with the moon and two sections without the moon - so two full rotations. The moon revolves around our planet more slowly than the planet rotates. During two of the sections, when the moon is present, it is on the far side of our planet from our star and so we see it. It casts the light of the star back down on our world, making that time of darkness less dark than the one without, and it is partially visible in the bright day sky. During this night time with the moon, much life slows, but other life thrives and becomes more active. There are many beautiful places to see and the sky itself glitters because of the moon. During the second sections with no moon, as you have observed, it is very dark in the night except for the stars. Most life except for a few creatures’ rests during this time. The next rise of the sun is considered the beginning of the new day when the moon is returned.”

“I’m trying to wrap my head around this.” Phil said, looking out through the window. “Our home’s moon is special like yours; it changes appearance and isn’t always in the sky for us to see. It used to have a big influence on culture, but our moon is a sphere. After seeing yours, ours feels like it’s just another nearby planet.”

“Hm.” Jeff grunted again.

“What destroyed yours?” Phil asked?

“Destroyed?” Jeff looked confused at this description.

Phil’s own confusion was reflected. “It’s… in pieces… isn’t it supposed to be, like... a ball?”

“It was not destroyed; it was fragmented.” Jeff nodded understanding as he elaborated. “Our evidence suggests that many millions of years ago a very large body or bodies passed through our system. One or more of those collided with our moon and our planet. There is a place here of grand waters, spreading across a sizeable portion of the planet. This is an area I must travel to get to Netmada. The waters, we believe, are there from one of the impacts. It tore a large gash into the planet and the surrounding waters of the oceans drained into the rift. The same forces hit our moon and fragmented it, smearing it across our sky. Part of what you see is also from our planet.

We think it is perfect this way, not destroyed. These events made our home what it is. Our world spins at the speed it does because of this impact, our moon is present and absent when it is because of these impacts. We feel the temperatures change because of the way we tilt because of these impacts. The sky glitters because there is an incredible amount of dusts remaining from the collision, slowly falling back to us and lighting as they burn in the atmosphere. We believe it has glittered since the time the collision occurred, and will continue to glitter for the rest of its life.”

Phil’s face was that of an amazed child who just appreciated that Earth was actually a large living sphere, and not a flat playground stretching only so far as they could see or drive. “It’s an incredible universe we live in.” He said, still amazed and processing what he learned.

“That, hooman, we do have in common. We share an incredible universe.”

“Mmm.” Phil nodded, sinking into his thoughts.

Throughout the trip to Valderia, they took breaks to get out and move around. Despite their speed, the planet was so vast that progress felt slow. Chip and Henry pulled out a small seed filled ball and kicked it around, hopping and popping it with whichever part of their body they could to make sure it didn’t hit the ground. Without their packs on, they were hilariously nimble. Adrienne giggled herself red once they got really into it. They flipped, tucked, and buzzed at each other, weaving in and out of the humans and whatever terrain they had stopped in. Each time, Phil only had about a minute of seeing them, combined with Adrienne’s hysterical giggling before he laughed too.

A few times, Chip and Henry tried to get the humans in the game, hilariously catching them off guard. Darek could volley a couple here and there and got better with each of their stops. It took three stops for Phil to realize Chip and Henry had been messing with him and intentionally hitting him in the back of the head whenever they could, but only often enough to keep it looking accidental.

Jeff would walk off from the group a bit and run through a set of calisthenic exercises, pumping out pushups, lunges, squats, and whatever other exercises the land would allow him; sometimes doing pulls on tree’s, or hanging from rocks. Phil watched and admired the strength from a distance at first, but joined in on some of the moves. Jeff was friendly about it and loosely coached him when necessary. When he caught Adrienne watching him, he would shrug it off, allowing the distance to hide his self-consciousness, but would begin the defensive conversation in his mind about anatomy and fulcrums and his injuries that made Jeff so much stronger than him.

Jeff’s workouts and stretches were followed by a brief rest to sprawl out on the ground and take in the sky. They all laid out near the transport, enjoying their own daydreams. Phil would position himself so he could glance at Adrienne without her knowing - his daydreams involving her hair, or eyes, or smell, and a beautiful alien landscape dancing about them. There was enough room for them to stand and move around in the transport, but being able to get outside and use their bodies made the extended periods of cruising pass more easily.

When everyone was awake at a couple points, Jeff played his music for them. Phil quickly understood why Jeff was so keen on waiting for everyone to be awake – he had two volumes for it – on and off. When the music was on, it was surrounding and too loud for a conversation. Phil was elated, letting loose an excited celebration with each new track of what Jeff called his music from the sky. The crash had broken all of their wrist computers, so he hadn’t heard his music in days when it used to be an almost constant soundtrack for him. Somehow all of his music was beamed down and received by Jeff for long enough that he had most of it saved. The beats, melodies, harmonic vocals, and soothing tones calmed Phil and kept him living in the moments. Having that small comfort of home gave him strength and serenity. He was even more excited to see that everyone else enjoyed the music, too, especially Jeff. My taste is so good even aliens like it, thanks grandpa.

“This is our last stop.” Jeff announced as the transport hissed and slowed. Phil walked off and spun himself in a slow circle to take in the tree’s and distant, low mountains ahead of them. The grasses smelled sweet, and some flowers let a creamy citrus aroma slip into the warm breezes. He picked a spot near a tree with a low enough horizontal branch that he could hang and work some pull-ups; this time it was Jeff who joined Phil in exercising. After a few of these stops and watching Jeff roll through the exercises, he had become much more comfortable. Only as he fatigued did his crash injuries bother him, and even then, not much. He thought to himself about the medicine Jeff had been giving them; That a huge amount of stress was lifted, and that they had comfortable rest, water, and food now. It’s amazing how quickly bodies bounce back. He grunted through the last few pushups of his set as Jeff came over and joined in beside him.

“You like to move too; I can see your strength returning already. You are stronger than you were at our first stop.” Jeff said, not looking at Phil, but staring straight ahead as he pushed the planet away from him in slow controlled sweeps.

Standing and breathing heavily, Phil responded, “Yeah, I feel good. I was just thinking about that myself. I guess I just needed to relax, rest, and then move again. Didn’t realize how stressful being on an interplanetary space crash could be.” He smiled to himself, realizing again that he wasn’t diving into his memories, but was instead soaking in everything around him. By the time he hit his whole body, he buzzed with peace and strength; his muscles feeling full and worked. Feelin’ good.

“You will like my training area. I’ll show you when we get back. I like to move and play, it’s okay here, we get the whole body – but in with my equipment…” He trailed off, nodding with a triumphant and almost cocky expression. “It is more fun. You will see.”

Phil chuckled lightly. “I know that smile. I don’t have a fancy gym, but I have something back home that I make that face for when I talk about it.”

“What is it?” Jeff asked before dropping into his next set of pushups.

“I call it Kyber, it’s a vaporizer for… mmm.. I’m not sure how to explain it to you. I guess you could say it’s for inhaling fun, or dreams.”

Jeff paused at the top of a rep and twisted his face at Phil. The crinkles showed confusion, wonder, and question.

Phil elaborated. “We have a substance back on Earth that when you ingest it, it makes you feel happy, makes you think more creatively. We take the oils from it and vaporize them, then inhale them. It lasts a few hours and it’s really enjoyable. We don’t do it all the time – just for fun or relaxing.”

Jeff nodded and dropped back to finish his set as Phil hopped up to grab a tree branch over his head and pulled his legs straight out ahead of him, making an L, then slowly lowering them again a few times before dropping down.

“What is this substance called?” Jeff asked, clapping dirt from his hands.

“Uhm, we have a bunch of names. Technically, the key substance is THC, or sometimes we call them cannabinoids.”

“That sounds interesting. Where do you get these things?” They both turned to Darek as he approached them.

“Can I get in on this one? I’m feelin’ froggy.” Darek said. Jeff’s face twisted.

“What is the word froggy?” Jeff asked. Phil and Darek smiled.

“Anxious, energetic. Like I want to move and jump around a little.” Darek said.

“Mm.” Jeff nodded and welcomed Darek with a hand. “Please Phil, continue. Where does this cannabinoid come from?”

Darek’s face lit up at the mention and he cocked his head at Phil. “What are we talking about over here, boys?” He asked excitedly.

“I was telling Jeff about Kyber. It’s weird explaining it to someone who doesn’t have any clue what it is.” Darek nodded and started pushups. “So, Jeff, it actually comes from a special plant. You can burn the plant and get the same effect, but we don’t really do that.”

“It is like Batah.” Jeff said.

“Bah-tah?” Phil questioned, feeling the new word in his mouth.

“Mm.” Jeff grunted. “It is a plant that brings relaxation, fun, and vividness to life when taken in. We have this plant, it sounds like yours, your cannabinoid.”

Darek and Phil went wide eyed and locked in on each other’s gaze. Their minds raced on the same track for seconds before either of them spoke.

“How do you get Batah here?” Darek asked.

“We grow and harvest it. It is common.” Their faces brightened more.

“Is it something we could try?” Phil asked.

“Of course, when we return, we can.” Jeff smiled at them.

“How do you use it?” Darek asked.

“We put it in a pipe or roll it up in leaves to smoke it, sometimes we heat it to form vapor like you described, we cook with it, make extracts. There are many ways.”

Darek and Phil were becoming more elated. “That sounds just like bud.”

“What is bud?” Jeff asked.

“It’s just what we call the cannabinoid. It has a lot of names. Sometimes we call it weed, bud, ganja, marijuana, they all mean the same stuff. I guess you just call it what you like to call it. Nug-nug’s, cheeba, gooch, greens, puff-poom-poom – it really doesn’t matter. I call it all kinds of things. It’s not the name that matters, it’s the feeling. But I like nug-nug’s.”

Jeff nodded agreement. “I understand. Batah has other names too, but Batah is the most common.”

“What do you call it?” Phil asked.

Jeff tapped the translator in his ear. “BATAH.”

Phil smiled and let it go.

“What does it look like?” Darek asked, thinking back to the plants that Chip and Henry had smoked with them.

“There are a few varieties. Each has a slightly different effect. Some more happy and energetic, some will make you sleep. Some you will laugh and laugh. They all make everything vibrant.” Phil and Darek leaned to listen like kindergarteners at story time. “Most is a dark purple color, there are leaves and dense buds with tufted strands of fuzzy stalks – like feathers or hairs. Some variety have a blue to them that make them almost black – those will make you sleep.”

Phil stared at Darek in realization as they both turned back to look at Chip and Henry.

“Jeff, where do you get Batah? Chip and Henry had a plant like what you described, and it made us feel amazing. It took our pain away, I stopped worrying and just felt good. It made everything look incredible. It was like our bud, but a little better.” Phil said.

“Batah will help you heal. It grows in many places. In nature, it grows in small stands. It usually tastes delicious; sweet and savory, and has hints of where it came from. Did they tell you where they got theirs?”

“No, we couldn’t communicate details with them and it hasn’t been on my mind since we met you.” Phil answered as he watched Darek complete a set of hanging leg raises.

“Mm. It could have been anywhere. No other plants look much like Batah, so if my words describe what you saw, that is probably what they have. There is another plant like Batah by their home, but it is stronger and has even greater healing effects. It only grows to the far south of the deserts, though. We rarely travel that distance, so it is not something you can find in Valderia.”

Phil nodded and hopped up to do more work.

“Well, Jeff, everything you’ve done for us already is great. I can’t thank you enough. But when we get back… you have to show us this Batah?” Darek said.

“Of course, Darek, we will exercise on my equipment and then go enjoy Batah. It will be a great time. My favorite.” He said, squeezing his arms and checking his full muscles.

Darek clapped excitement and smiled, energetically hopping into more exercises. Phil watched Adrienne over by the ship, stretching and strolling with Chip. Henry was laying out doing something in his journal, twiddling his feet in the air. They finished their short workout without more conversation. Each of them daydreamed about making it to Valderia, but for their own reasons. They gathered into the ship and hissed off again, a pot of excitement simmering, knowing that this leg of the journey would bring them to an alien city.