Hillys hovered in front of them. Huge; iridescent; ocean-blue, against the nebula filled, star-dotted infinity of cradling black that submerged them.
"Hey."
Jade's voice was low. Double H and Pey'J heard her.
"What is it, Jade? Troubles?"
She shook her head no.
"No. No troubles. Just a question."
She, reluctantly, moved her gaze from the outside.
"Can we stay a bit longer?"
Whatever Pey'J had wanted to say, his mouth shut it in as he closed it. It fell open on its own accord after that. Jade smiled, her eyes crinkling, before she faced the window, leaning against the frame and resting her chin on her forearms.
Pey'J, flabbergast, stemmed his fists into his hips, staring at his niece. A hand settled on his shoulder. He stopped, but only to glance behind and up to the soldier, brows lifting. Double H mouthed 'Later', and called,
"The oxygen tanks will last safely for another hour. We have time."
Jade nodded, slowly; the tip of her nose stayed almost pressed against the bull's eye. From her companions' point of view, it looked as if the tip was dipping into a dark, deep well.
Double H signed Pey'J to follow him to the controls. He pursed his lips, but relented. Not before he knocked him, slightly, against the torso – he wanted answers. These he would get, Double H murmured. Just look at her face.
So Pey'J looked again. And he saw it in her posture, relaxed; in her face, alight; in her eyes, transfixed. Stars floated in them by.
The Beluga glowed in Hillys's halo, as they drifted in their current home.
