Among Stars

Two Pairs of Eyes

Naina woke up and her back and neck hurt. She groaned, and tried to shift her position, but none of the resulting ones appeared to be comfortable enough. She opened her eyes, and noticed that she was leaning on a wall, was covered with a medical-looking blanket, and that she was alone in the room. Mizuni's pod was open, and empty. It was still on, and the status light was green.

Naina sighed, relieved, and close her eyes again. "At least she made it," she mused. "I don't even remember her waking up. I must have fallen asleep on my feet," she chuckled, and got up.

"Correct, Captain Melcey," Quera said. "Dr. Mizuni's pod opened successfully, and she was unharmed, if a little bit shaken and in less than ideal health. It's been 1 day, and 16 hours since you fell asleep, Captain Melcey," Quera told her.

"Where is she? And where's Perez?" Naina asked.

"Both of them are currently in the room that Perez calls 'HQ' or 'home', depending on his mood," Quera said.

Naina chuckled. "He does call it his HQ," she said and stretched. "Have they eaten anything? Do we have food?" she asked.

"I directed them towards the Travelstar's food reserves when they complained about being hungry, and Dr. Mizuni was especially thankful for the Proxian fruit," Quera said.

Naina laughed. "Those are good. I'm glad to hear she's feeling better. I'll go see them now. Thanks Quera," she said and walked towards the hallways.

"Anytime, Captain Melcey," Quera said.

Naina entered the room and saw Perez in his chair, leaning back with his eyes closed. Mizuni was sitting near him, reading a datapad.

"Hello sleepy-head," Naina said as she entered the room.

Mizuni turned to the door and saw Naina. "Hello, sleepy-head," she answered and smiled at her. "Thanks for saving my life, Captain Melcey."

"Naina will do fine," Naina said. "Of if you insist, I'd rather be Dr. Melcey for you than Captain. It seems more fitting," she said, smiling.

"I remember you saying various unmentionable words towards the last person, who called you Doctor, Captain Melcey," Quera said with an amused voice.

"Shush," Naina said. "He was an idiot, and it had nothing to do with that. Besides, he wasn't a scientist, and he said it to mock me."

"Hello, Quera," Mizuni said. "I'm not used to the fact that an AI is always listening."

"I can disabled my audio reception in this room, if it makes you feel better, Dr. Mizuni," Quera said. "I can hear Captain Melcey anyway via her ear implant, in case I'm needed."

"Eh, no need for that, Quera," Mizuni said. "I need to get used to it anyway, or, I was going to anyway..." she said.

"Oh yeah, you were going to build an AI here, right?" Naina asked. "I had to use the NAIND-computer and your QAIE-modules, sorry about that."

Mizuni shook her head. "No, they weren't going to be used anyway now. Now that..." she said and turned her gaze down. Tears formed in her eyes and she sniffled.

Naina looked troubled. Nervously, she walked to Mizuni, and first placed her hand on her shoulder. "I'm... I'm not very good at this, but..." she said, and touched Mizuni's wrist with her other hand. She pulled on her hand gently and drew her closer.

Mizuni threw her hands around Naina's neck and buried her face in her shoulder and the side of her head. Mizuni was slightly taller than Naina, who put her hands behind Mizuni, and squeezed her against herself.

"I don't know what I can, or should, say, but I'm not telling you not to cry. Sometimes it helps," she said quietly and pressed her head against her.

Mizuni wept and shivered, and Naina held her close. She felt Mizuni's tears through the fabric of her suit and looked troubled. "I'm sorry, if this is insensitive, but at least we know they didn't suffer. They would have been entirely unaware of anything, in the sleeping pods. It's not a dignified way to go, but at least it's entirely painless," she whispered and patted Mizuni's back.

Mizuni sniffled and straightened her head, and at the same time Naina turned hers. Their noses touched, and their eyes were mere parts of an inch away from each other. Mizuni stared into Naina's pupilless, brilliant green eyes, and they stared back into her bright lavender ones. Naina's cheeks turned slightly towards the same color as Mizuni's hair, and her cheeks darkened towards more of a peacock blue color.

Both of them took a step backwards and dropped their gazes to the floor.

"I... uh... thanks," Mizuni said and turned her back towards Naina to hide her blushing cheeks.

And Naina did the exact same thing. "No... mmh... no problem," she said quietly and cleared her throat. "You... uh... Quera told me you had no problem finding the food? And that it was okay-ish?"

Mizuni turned around, her cheeks still slightly darker, but cooling down. "We did! Thank you! I love Proxian fruits, and I haven't had them in ages! We didn't have anything like that here," she said.

"Glad you liked," Naina said and smiled. "I'm a fan too. I'm happy you share my taste."

Mizuni smiled at her. "Oh, you need to taste this thing we had here. I don't really know what it's made of, but it's like... like if you made Proxian fruit into a milky paste?" she said. "It's terrific. I'm addicted to it," she laughed.

"You'll have to show me," Naina said, smiling. "Actually, I think I need to eat and I'm getting hungry just from thinking about food. Where do you put the supplies?" she asked.

"I'll show you," Mizuni said and lead Naina out of the room and towards the hallways.

When they were gone, Perez straightened in his chair and smiled widely, then chuckled to himself. "I think the two of you are going to get along very well, maybe even better than I thought," he mused. "I know I said you'll love her, but I didn't mean it like that," he grinned.

"Agreed," Quera said. "This might get interesting."