Page 1 of Alien on the Moon

Chapter 1

Elena

Elena swore as the microscopic wire slipped out of her tweezers for the millionth time. She dropped her project, leaned back in her chair, and sighed loudly.

“Why can’t things just work for once!” she exclaimed, irritated. She’d been working on an improvement to the restaurant tech on Thryal for over a week, but things kept going wrong.

With another long-suffering sigh, she got up and dropped the microscope headset onto her small desk in the corner of the lab. With her hands on her hips, she looked around. Almost everyone had left for lunch, leaving the alien lab looking like a ghost town. She walked over to the snack table and grabbed a trima bar, similar to protein bars back on Earth.

Outside the sole window of the royal lab, the Thryal sun was shining brightly over the capital. As she munched on the protein bar, Elena spared a moment to admire the alien planet. She had come here with her sisters, following Carmen when she fell in love with the prince of Thryal. Now, her sisters were both happily married, and she felt more left out than ever before.

Elena bit her lip, watching as a royal transport pod landed and a bunch of Thryals rushed out. The sun made their trademark shimmery gray skin glow. If she could just figure this gadget out, maybe she would finally feel useful, and the royal engineers and scientists would consider including her on actual important projects.

Newly motivated, Elena returned to her soldering. When the wire obediently soldered into place, she let out a whoop of joy and sang exuberantly to herself.

Her middle sister’s laugh made her head snap up, the lenses over her eyes making the world spin for a second. Sofia snorted.

“Hey, Wall-E, it’s time for lunch,” she said teasingly.

Elena’s lips curved up, knowing her big blue eyes would be magnified ridiculously through the lenses, especially on her petite frame. She tugged the headset off and gave Sofia a playful glare.

“Wall-E was a technological marvel, so that’s not the insult you think it is,” she replied primly.

Sofia grinned. “Well, you know, a sentient robot saving space and all. I thought it was apt.”

“Technically, Wall-E was— You know, never mind. I’m starving. Let’s go.” Elena knew if she explained further, she’d be falling straight into Sofia’s trap of demonstrating her nerdiness. She knew her sisters loved her, but with her history, the teasing sometimes hit too close to home.

Sofia threw an arm over her shoulder—her way of apologizing—and led Elena to the royal dining room.

“Let’s go see what ridiculous outfits Carmen and Arccoo have on today. Shall we?”

Elena snorted, grateful for the change of subject.

“They really do get more absurd every day. It’s like she’s begging us to make fun of her,” Elena replied. Despite the ridiculousness, warmth filled her. Seeing her sisters happy after everything they’d been through was a balm to her heart. Sofia’s marriage was still new. She and Zaraq had just returned from theirhoneymoon to Earth. The way Zaraq couldn’t stop talking about it made her strangely proud of her home planet.

They walked into the dining room, the long table piled with colorful Thryal food. Elena perked up. The food here was still an experience, even though they’d been here for ages. Eating bright orange potato-like dishes never got old.

Carmen and Arccoo halted their conversation as the sisters entered followed by Zaraq. The ex-fugitive still had an element of roughness to him, which suited Sofia perfectly.

Sofia nudged Elena, and she covered her mouth to hide her grin. Carmen and Arccoo wore matching shimmery puke-green robes—robes!—with mustard-colored embroidery around the edges.I will never unsee this, Elena thought humorously.

“Hey, sis, how’s the lab?” Carmen asked.

Elena sighed and dished up some food. “It’s fine. Lots going on, though I’m not involved in much of it.” She cringed at how dejected her tone was. She was grateful for Arccoo letting her work in the lab, and it wasn’t his fault the others thought she was just there for decoration.

Arccoo frowned, his dark eyebrows casting a shadow over his violet eyes. Before he could say anything, Elena waved a hand and repeated. “It’s fine, really. They found a new fossil in the Gruiph Orbs. Did I tell you that?”

Sofia and Carmen exchanged their signature “our sister is going on a nerd tangent”look, which Elena studiously ignored.

“They just came back with it yesterday. You know how in our world stuff gets preserved in amber?” she directed to her sisters. “Here, it’s something called reactoim, which sounds too much like rectum to me, but anyway.” She paused to chew a bite of food. “It’s bright pink and harder than titanium, so it’s super hard to get the fossil out without destroying it.”

Though her sisters listened patiently, Arccoo seemed to be the only one interested. Elena deflated a bit. Carmen noticed and smiled gently at her.

“So, what are you going to do to get it out?” she asked kindly. Elena shrugged. She hadn’t been privy to that discussion, as usual.

One might think a degree in mechatronic engineering with a master’s in biomechanical studies would pave the way for her to be part of the team, butnope. Everything about her screamed “outsider,” as usual.

At least on Thryal, she could attribute it to being an actual alien to them, whereas on Earth, she had no such excuse. Her mouth twisted to the side.At least the tech in space made up for it,she told herself.

---