Standing stock still, the yonat snorted. “You are not a trainer, Ensign Snow. You work in the belly of the ship, that is it. I don’t tell you how to do your job, you don’t tell me how to do mine. Not that you can begin to understand my duties or responsibilities.” With a final swish of his tail, he turned to leave. A few steps away, he turned. “Ms. Kor, I expect you in the training room each morning after breakfast. We will figure out your magics on the way to Abritos.”

Viera wasn’t sure if the words were a promise or a threat. She was just happy to have a few minutes away from her grouchy trainer.

Chapter 17 - Another Day, Another Lesson

Viera

“Again, Ms. Kor.”

Viera slowly let out the breath she’d just taken, breathing out the frustration she felt at having spent the last four days with Flower Prancer. She wasn’t sure what she’d done to deserve this backlash of karma, but whatever it was, the four days of nonstop training had better be enough to wipe her cosmic slate clean.

She could feel Flower Prancer’s amusement. He enjoyed tweaking her. The poor yellow bouncy ball suffered the brunt of her emotional release as she gave it a quick squeeze before tossing it at the wall. With barely a thought, she stopped it, and reversed it back to her hands.

“Now the Sonic Push.” His tail swished. Is he irritated that I’m getting better? Gah! He’s so annoying.

Viera took a few seconds to close her eyes and relax her body and mind before doing magic. Being angry at Flower Prancer was a sure way to mess things up. She had to find her Zen before she did anything harmful. Once she felt she could accomplish what she set out to do, she set down the rubber ball, and picked up a piece of paper.

Over the days they’d been practicing, they’d decided having something that wasn’t going to destroy the ship was desirable. She’d discussed the issue with Thorn and Juniper at dinner.

***

“Why not just use a bouncy ball?”

Viera sighed. “If I generate enough difference between the slow time of the area around the ball and the speed of the area the ball is in, the ball can still explode when it hits the wall. Last time, one of the chunks careened into Flower Prancer.”

Juniper bit her bottom lip to stop from laughing.

Thorn’s face scrunched up as she thought, in a similar way to Scout. “What about a small metal ball? It shouldn’t break apart.” She gave a mischievous smile by the end of her statement and she tilted her head in challenge.

Shrugging one shoulder, Viera replied. “It’s your ship. If you want all the holes in the wall to repair…”

“Whoa,” Juniper leaned forward. “Are the balls moving that fast?”

Viera just nodded.

They all ate in silence for a few minutes, then Juniper’s face lit up as she stared back and forth between Viera and Thorn. “What about a paper ball? It wouldn’t cause damage, and if it did fly apart, I doubt it would hurt.”

***

“Today, Ms. Kor, if you please.”

Viera shook her head, sad to not be sitting with her friends, and funneled all her angst into crumpling the paper into a ball. She tossed it towards the wall. When it was barely out of her hand, she sped up time for the paper while slowing the time for the air around it. The paper ball existed in a faster time bubble than the area around it, pushing against the static slowed time. This caused a time friction to build, that when all magic was dispersed, allowed the object, the paper, to explode forward like a bullet train.

When she released her magic, the paper zoomed forward, snapping out a sonic blast and the paper ball smacked the wall. If I added a bit of water, that would be a lot more satisfying. Viera bit back a snort that threatened to escape her. Explaining the noise to Flower Prancer would probably result in hours more training.

“Adequate. I think—”

The door to the training room opened and Juniper’s head appeared. “Sorry to interrupt. It seems the communication panel is down in this room, and you aren’t getting our signals from the panel.”

Flower Prancer’s tail swished. “We are doing significant practice, Ensign Snow. I assume this is important?”

“The Commander requests Viera, er, Ms. Kor on the bridge. We’ve reached the planet.”

Excitement surged through Viera at the thought of finally seeing an alien planet, Thorn’s planet. She didn’t dart off; she’d been Flower Prancer’s student for too long to make that mistake. But when the yonat turned for the door, relief flooded her. Yes! I can finally be done with his lessons for a bit.

Though the training rooms were on the lower level of the ship, the lift brought them to the bridge in short order. When the doors slid open, the view screen showed a huge green planet. The sight took Viera’s breath away—it was beautiful.

As she slowly stepped forward, her head tilted. “Do you have oceans?”

Behind her, Juniper chuckled. “We do. What you see here is one of our bigger continents. Though Abritos has a lower percentage of ocean coverage than Earth, we do have large water masses.”

Viera moved in as close as she could without getting in the way of the crew. “I keep expecting to see cities, like we have on Earth. Do you have anything like that on Abritos? Did the krottel destroy them? It looks like everything on the planet’s surface is vegetation.”

The more Viera gazed at the planet before her, the more her heart beat faster and numbness traveled down her arms. What did the bugs do to the planet? Will the chanzii have to rebuild? Has their entire world been annihilated in such a short period of time? Will the bugs try to do the same thing to Earth? Closing her eyes, she tried to get a fix on the emotions of the others on the bridge. Ironically enough, no one seemed devastated.

She sensed Thorn walk up to her before she felt her warm hand on the center of her back. “No, Viera. The krottel didn’t harm our planet, at least, from here it doesn’t look like they did. I’d like to get food into you so you're at maximum magical capacity, and then head down to the planet. The ship will do an in-depth sweep and then we’ll visit the two biggest cities. I want you to do your mojo thing.”

So many thoughts and emotions fought for center stage. Excitement and anxiety were winning out as Viera and most of the bridge crew departed for the cafeteria. Viera wasn’t even sure what she ate. All she wanted to do was get down to the planet … an alien planet.

Everyone was a-titter, talking and laughing as they filled plates with food. Many of the chanzii shared stories of their hometowns and what they did before the krottel came.

Learning how to manage and focus her magic took a lot of energy. Everyone knew Viera needed to eat more to balance out what she used by manipulating time. Despite the fact that she wasn’t sure what she ate, she did notice that the plate filled up at least once during the boisterous meal.

When everyone was done, they headed to the platform that would transmit them down to the planet. Viera clenched her hands, trying to hide the fact that they trembled. I’m visiting an alien planet. She gulped. Is this really safe? God above, what am I doing?

Before she could think about it more, she was shuffled up onto the platform with Thorn and Horax and the world started to waver.

Chapter 18 - Home Sweet Home

Thorn

The air smelled … like home. Chills of excitement ran down Thorn’s body as she stood in the pavilion of the main city. The scent of the doxii and frillow—the blue and yellow flowers that decorated the paths—perfumed the air.

Juniper ran over, a tiny squeal following from her throat. “Can you smell them? The flowers? I didn’t even realize how much I missed them.” She dropped to her knees and picked a yellow frillow, the petals wide and round, and slipped the stem behind her ear.

Thorn knew they needed to get to work, but she wanted to spend a few minutes and let the feel of her world soak into her. The gravity was different than Earth’s, Torville Station Number Six’s, or even on her ship. The air smelled, even tasted different. The sound of the birds centered her —music that was deeper than the songs on Earth—made her feel relaxed and at home in a way she hadn’t in years. Even the low buzz of the insects was familiar.

“I’m finally home,” she whispered, her body practically vibrating with its connection to Abritos.

Viera slipped an arm around her. “You are.” She leaned in, resting her head on Thorn’s shoulder. “Your joy is intoxicating. I feel like I could get drunk on it.” The two stood for a few more moments while Thorn let herself enjoy being in such a familiar environment.

After several minutes during which the rest of the bridge crew spent their time walking around, Viera pulled away and looked at where they had landed. “Thorn? You said that the krottel didn’t harm your city, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And Horax dropped us in one of the major cities that the krottel attacked?” Viera sounded confused.

Thorn took a deep breath, looking over the fields of flowers and trees. There were birds flying in the distance. Flocks of multi-colored flying beasts with flowing silky fur. They were large and friendly, as long as they weren’t threatened. The patterns they flew told Thorn the childbearing of the species were near their time. The other three sexes, the two that helped to impregnate, and the one that was the most likely to raise the young, flew and sang the song associated with baby-joy.