Page 42 of Alien on the Moon

“I was going to apologize.” He sighed, scrubbing his face with his hand as though fighting off a headache. “Not for being willing to accept that the project is coming to a close, but for not seeing what our fight really was about.”

Her eyes narrowed behind her round glasses. “And what’s this fight really about?”

“That you feel like me giving up on the project is the same as giving up on us.”

Her mouth gaped. He was right, of course, but she assumed he hadn’t picked up on the subtext of their argument. Still feeling too obstinate to fully agree with him, she averted her gaze. “Well, I am also a bit upset about the project being shut down.”

He raised his brows. “But…”

This was so embarrassing. She knew she had been acting like an ass in the past day, but pride kept the words stuck in her throat.

Taking a slow breath in and out, she forced the words from her lips. “But you’re right that I was more upset because I felt like you giving up on this project was the same as giving up on us. I know that it’s not logical and you’ve reassured me plenty of times before that you care about me beyond this project, but—”

He held up a hand. “I understand. Someone very intelligent told me that you’ve probably been hurt before, and that makes it difficult to trust again.”

“Who?” she asked, a flicker of a smile crossing her face. “On a base like this, that hardly narrows it down.”

“We’ll worry about that later. First, I want to make it clear that I care a lot about you, Elena. You have one of the brightest minds I have ever met. You’re funny, beautiful, and kind. I would be a fool to lose you.”

Her eyes misted with tears as her throat tightened. “Thank you. I’ll try harder to believe you.”

Sighing, she shook her head. “But I owe you an apology, too. I shouldn’t have implied that you don’t care about this project, especially not to Jaku. And I should have been straightforward about what was really upsetting me instead of leaving you alone to guess. And I’m sorry for being so petty while we were fighting. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

He waved her off with a flick of his hand. “Already forgiven. And for the record, I do believe in this project. We have another chance, so let’s not waste it by fighting.”

“I love you,” she said. It surprised her the way it slipped out yet still felt entirely natural. The sky is blue, plants eat sunlight, and Elena loves Rylan.

His face lit up in a broad smile and he held his arms open as an invitation. “I love you, too.”

Grinning, she crossed behind the table and sat in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. Giving a little moan of appreciation, he deepened the kiss, his tongue and hers performing an elaborate dance.

“I missed this,” he mumbled when he came up for air.

She giggled. “It’s only been a day.”

“It’s been far too long.” His lips hungrily met hers again. A message on his comms dinged, interrupting the moment.

With a sigh, he opened it. Apparently, he had taken soil samples the night before because these were readings that she had not seen yet.

“Did you collect these last night?” she asked.

He nodded, grimacing. “Made the mistake of trudging through the field without my envirosuit. It was covered in that disgusting slime. I even took a sample of it to see what it was made of and whether the composition differed there. The squigs seemed to be eating the compost again, at least.”

She sighed. “Well, if we’re going to solve this, we should probably stop making out and look at these.”

“You’re just far too much of a distraction.” He nibbled on her ear, giving her goosebumps.

Elena opened her mouth to retort, but then something on the comms caught her eye. “Hang on…what’s this?”

She read through the analysis of the plant samples he had collected. A jolt of excitement and possibly hope passed through her. “It says the nutrient value in the leaves is almost equivalent to the bral on Thryal.”

He blinked and read where she pointed. “Wait, then why is it still yellow?”

Squinting at the screen, she bit her lip as she thought. “Maybe it has something to do with the atmosphere.” As the words left her mouth, ideas began to swirl in her head, and electricity pulsed through her, urging her to move as though that would somehow help the flow of her thoughts.

She got to her feet and paced circles around the office as she voiced her theory. “On Thryal, you have several miles worth of atmosphere and an ozone layer, which shield the planet from your sun’s rays.”

“But on Kheros, the atmosphere is much thinner,” he said. “The envirosuits are more to protect from the sun now than to help us with breathing. But if they’re getting too much sunlight…”

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