Page 7 of Alien on the Moon

“Look, we’re almost there,” Stiya said.

Elena almost laughed at the palpable relief in her tone. She was used to people quickly getting bored with her incessant questions, and she’d learned—mostly—not to be offended by it. It helped that Stiya had started looking at her with less annoyance and more respect. Begrudgingly.

Elena gasped as she followed Stiya’s finger and stared out of the window. Seeing the moon up close was remarkable. She let out a small, excited squeak.

“I’m going to walk on the moon!” she exclaimed with a fist pump. The texture of the surface was rough. Elena could see the tilled fields surrounding a large building.The compound. Cool. In the early morning light, the windows of the compound were brightly illuminated from inside. Elena pressed her nose to the window, trying to make out the plants. She frowned.

“How many plants have grown to full term?”

Stiya sighed. “Not many, outside. We have some plants thriving in our lab, but it’s proved difficult to replicate in the fields.”

The craft jerked as it landed at the dock. Stiya jumped up and passed an oxygen mask to Elena.

“We’ll need to unload the fresh food and new samples quickly. The team will be anxious to get started,” she warned.

Elena nodded, securing the strap underneath her bun. Stiya released the airlock and opened the craft.

A few people were already waiting to greet them outside the dock. Stiya waved a few into the cargo hold to collect the crates of fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat.

A tall, handsome Thryal male approached her. With his typical gray luminescent skin, the shimmer of his bald head was dazzling in the early sun’s rays. His emerald eyes betrayed his nervousness. Elena assumed he was a mail boy or laborer, judging by his standard-issue spacesuit and belt of tools. The oxygen mask blocked off half his face and distorted his voice when he spoke.

“Hi, you must be Princess Elena. I’m—”

“Oh, god, just Elena. Please. And great, you can help with the samples!” Elena interrupted, waving him into the craft. He started to argue but followed her.

“Here, be careful with these. They’ve been packed with the lids loose to help them breathe, so don’t tilt the crate.”

The man started speaking again, but Elena waved a hand.

“They must go straight to the incubation chambers in the lab. Try not to get too much of the compound’s air into it.”

The man frowned. Elena felt sorry for him. He seemed confused. He obviously didn’t know much about the project.

“These are the modified bral plants,” she explained patiently. “They’ve been raised in the lab down there.” She pointed more or less in the direction her ship had come. “To the exact specifications of the atmosphere here.”

She lifted a crate, carefully balancing it on her forearms. “If they’re disturbed too much, they’ll fail before they even make it to the fields.”

Elena thought she spotted a small smirk behind his oxygen mask, but she couldn’t be sure. She huffed. “Well, lead the way!”

The man lifted his crate and led her toward the compound doors. Elena noticed a few people nodding at him.That’s good,she thought.If they treat the lower staff with so much respect, maybe they’ll be nice to me.

They entered the compound, pausing to take off their masks. Elena’s eyes widened as she took in the lab. The array of machines and tech sent her blood rushing in excitement.

“Oh, wow, this thing is next level,” she said, stopping at what looked like a microscope. “It’s almost like a hybrid between a microscope and an x-ray machine, except you can set the depth and it’ll give you the microscopic image of any layer inside the subject.”

She blew a loose strand of hair out of her face. “It’s the only piece of equipment that can do that without destroying your sample.” Elena couldn’t wait to use it. “This would’ve been so useful during my masters,” she said wistfully.

“You don’t have this machine on Earth?” the guy asked.

Goosebumps erupted on her arm as he brushed against it. Elena held in a shiver.

Elena scoffed and shook her head. She was about to reply when a glass cube containing thriving plants caught her eye.

“Are these the bral crops? They look great.” She studied the control panel. “Oh, the atmosphere is set to match Thryal’s atmosphere. I wonder what the process is for transitioning them…”

The man seemed amused but didn’t offer a response. Of course, he wouldn’t know. He led her further into the long room.

Elena gasped as she passed the biggest centrifuge she’d ever seen, the machine taking up almost the size of a king-size bed. She placed her crate down.

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