Page 8 of Alien on the Moon

“This is amazing! How did you even get this here without messing with the balance?” She ran a hand over the curve of the machine. “This is a centrifuge,” she explained. “If the mechanisms are a nanometer off, the whole thing breaks. They have to be built to exact specifications.”

“The engineers had the parts sent separately. They built it here,” the man replied, also placing his crate down. “It took six months to build.”

“That’s amazing,” Elena breathed.

Before she could ask more, Stiya rushed into the room, her eyes wild. “Oh, there you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Good, you’ve met Rylan.”

Elena’s heart stopped.

Her jaw fell to the floor.

Embarrassment heated her cheeks to nuclear degrees.

This… this was Rylan? The freaking head of the research project? And she’d been talking to him like he knew nothing. She buried her face in her hands.

“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled. A soft laugh made her peek between her fingers.

Rylan shrugged, still smiling. “It happens. Don’t worry about it.”

Stiya looked between them with a frown creasing her eyebrows. “Wait, what happened?”

Elena groaned.

“Nothing happened. Elena and I were just getting acquainted.” He picked up his crate again, a sly grin tugging at his lips. “Shall we?”

Elena bit her lip and followed his lead. Her breath still felt stunted, her cheeks burning. Besides his obvious amusement at her embarrassment, Rylan didn’t seem bothered by her oversight. She would have expected a man in his position to be pissed that she didn’t know who he was.

Elena groaned internally. Why did he let her go on for so long?Because you didn’t give him much chance to speak, genius.

It wasn’t the first time she’d cursed her rambling tendencies, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

Rylan led her to an incubation room further down the lab. This time, he was explaining things as they went along.

“This is where the soil experts conduct their research and experiments. We passed the atmospheric science area—with the centrifuge—and yes, those were the bral crops.”

He smirked at her over his shoulder, making her cheeks heat for a different reason. If she hadn’t met so many Thryals back on theplanet, she would be questioning whether every Thryal man was impossibly handsome. Her brothers-in-law definitely set a high standard. Though she thought Rylan surpassed even them.

“We transition them slowly from Thryal’s air to Kheros’s, to see if they can naturally adjust their biology. It hasn’t worked so far,” he said, his face growing serious. Elena could see a slight indent between his eyebrows, revealing his worry.

She bit her tongue. She would have time for in-depth questions later. They placed their crates down, and Rylan held out a hand for her to shake.

“I’m pleased to officially meet you, Elena,” he said with a smile. Elena bit her lip, shaking his hand.

“And you, Rylan. I really am sorry about before.”

He laughed and shrugged. “I did try to correct you, but then you saw the lab. It’s nice to see someone else so excited about a bunch of machines.”

Elena gasped in mock outrage. “Bunch of machines? How dare you! This is some of the most advanced and coveted technical equipment I’ve ever seen!” They both laughed, and Elena was grateful for Rylan breaking the ice.

They walked to the end of the lab, Elena still eyeing the equipment excitedly.

“This is where I work. We’ve cleared a desk for you over here,” he said, leading her to an empty desk. “You can shadow me for a few days to see how everything works.”

“Thank you, that’s really great,” Elena said. She tried to hide her surprise at his openness.

“Is something wrong? Did you want to be in a separate section?”

“No, no, it’s just…” Elena laughed sheepishly. “I feel like I’m getting the royal treatment. I mean, I guess I am a royal now or whatever, but back on Thryal, they sort of just let me tinker about without involving me in any serious projects.”

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