The pod had some cryogenic machinery, but I think they depended heavily on that `bed' I tore out. Some machines blasted me with cold liquid, another device attempted to stab me with needles, but they didn't aim correctly (even if they knew my physiology) and something kept leaking all over the place. All that stuff just left me cold and uncomfortable.
As I feared, I did not have a long space journey ahead of me. Right away, I felt myself falling, which implied a gravitational pull...and the whole space station appeared to be following me downwards.
...Even more alarming, part of the station exploded. It made no noise, but the visual made me flinch and cower in fright.
It's one thing to have your doom approaching fast, quite another to see it slowly looming before you and being powerless to stop it. My life pod fell for a good ten minutes, a time during which several pieces of debris made alarming strikes against the exterior. It put me in a prayerful mood, especially once I hit the atmosphere, wherein the whole compartment shook and flickering flames appeared outside my little window.
The temperature appeared to be increasing. I accepted death as my inevitable fate, preparing my soul accordingly.
Humans say every cloud has a silver lining. These had pink linings, and I dropped through a thunderstorm...Unusual rain, too. The droplets appeared to have tiny legs.
I got a close look at some when they pelted the glass, marble sized dust mite things, rolling and crawling across my window. They prodded the cracks, squishing their bodies flat to wiggle into my pod. At first, I tried to shoo them off, but since it didn't change their mindless behavior, I gave up, assuming they'd be there to initiate the decomposition process once I crashed and died on the planet below.
`Aerobacteria,' I suppose you could call them? Possibly `aeroplankton'?
Lightning struck my pod. I saw stars, lost bodily sensation, and for a brief moment my pulse stopped.
Somehow, I recovered, but it seemed I'd lost time. Somewhere in between, my pod had flipped over, and now I had a full view of the alien landscape rushing up to meet me.
A rocky, mountainous area. To the best of my knowledge, rocky and mountainous were not words you wanted to associate with an astronaut's landing. Ideally, it should be something like "A safe, shark free ocean landing."
A gray, arid landscape...peculiar geology, dark gray swirls and curving stripes cutting across the soil and boulders in artful ways. A landscape dotted with oversized cow patterned gorse. Here and there stood blue-white plants, suggestive of saguaro cactus, but with leaves...
Unfortunately, terror at my impending demise (or, at least, crippling injuries) tempered my appreciation of God's masterful handiwork.
...Even with the vegetation, it didn't look like a soft place to land.
Of course, what could I really do about it? The pod had no controls to speak of, other than the lever that operated the door hatch, and I didn't want to jump outside - I at least had the pretense of safety within its interior.
The compartment trembled violently as it descended.
A long time ago, I'd been shown a documentary about an extinct religious sect of Christians who made chairs and never reproduced sexually. They had a song: "Glad I am a Shaker, glad I am a Shaker..." Absurd what things pop into one's head when they're about to die.
Having seen recordingsof humans using pods like mine before (mostly fictional) I expected rocket thrusters to kick on at some point. The fact that I heard only silence filled me with dread.
Rough turbulence. Perhaps this planet had breathable atmosphere.
"Tell Shaking Boxcar Joe, there's sawdust on the floor..." More gallows humor from the right side of my brain.
A faint clicking noise drew my attention to a dust mite thing that had somehow made its way into my compartment.
At first, I fancied it as a pet, but when I picked it up, it just tried to crawl away, so I ate it. Rather like uncooked, unseasoned shrimp, with a tinge of bandages and something I can't compare in earthly terms. When others crawled in to join its associate, I snacked on them like popcorn. On the whole, much more pleasant than thinking about the ground.
Fooph! A sudden upwards jolt and a slowing of my descent. I pressed my face to the glass, attempting to catch a glimpse of...whatever it was, but only caught a flash of red.
Had I been picked up by a dragon? A red Nazgul? Batman or Boba Fett with a fancy silent jetpack? I thanked God for my mysterious deliverance, then, in a louder tone that (presumably) Batman could hear, shouted another thank you.
Nobody replied to me. "Perhaps it is the pod who has the silent rocket pack."
Some rocket pack! The ground still came rushing up at a worrisome pace. I braced for impact as an immense boulder approached (or should I say, I approached the boulder?)
I winced as the pod struck the object with a bone jarring crunch.
A second later, airbags exploded from the pod's exterior, obscuring my view through the window. Within the pod, more airbags deployed, prompting horrible associations with Final Destination 2 (I did after all, use the pod in a way not intended by the manufacturer). Fortunately, this resulted only in the partial immobilization of my body, and a couple airbags popping on serrated portions of my exoskeleton.
I can only compare the next ten to fifteen minutes to an amusement park ride, the pod flipping end over end, my body jostled and tossed in the `inflatable bouncy castle,' until the pod at last crashed facedown on a stretch of gritty rock.
Oh, and that red thing I'd seen had been a parachute.
I frowned at the dirt and gravel outside my window, wondering how I would ever get out.
[0000]
The Quaceb, Book 2: Part 2
[0000]
In case you're wondering, that popcorn thing was a joke. Aliens have a strange sense of humor. This nennop thing, though...not a laughing matter.
Also, obviously, Quana already knew a great deal of my story without me telling it, because she was there. That being said, she did enjoy seeing me emotionally exposed and vulnerable...so she did actually snack on crispy baked roaches while I gave this account.
Since this story is long enough as it is, I'll omit Quana and Morgan's comments for the time being. We'll get to them later.
Incidentally, I'm a normal human guy...mentally at least, so I maybe didn't phrase everything exactly like you read here...I still struggle with "opening up," but I did share this with Quana in writing later.
Anyway, you already know how I became an Abreya, how...the church thing got started on planet Pathilon, and how I proposed to Quana. So...
Domed living room area of Quana's spaceship, The Supica. I'm wearing my palace uniform, she's in her alien casual wear, paisley leather shorts, floral print tunic. I'd just dropped on all fours, presenting the ring box with my tail, just like a good male Abreya. She'd said yes, kissed me on the mouth. Our gray skinned friend, Dista, recorded the proceedings with a small black wand.
Honestly, wasn't sure what to do with my hands. I mean, we're engaged, and yeah, I guess that means I'm entitled to touch anything on her body, but then again, we're only engaged, and, you know, not used to freely thinking...fleshly thoughts about a woman, or freely doing things that are fleshly with her.
Quana, though, continued kissing, arms wrapped around my tunic, pink tail curled snug around the hips of my leathery purple leggings.
A little more confident, due to all this kissing, I hesitantly reached around the midsection of her tunic. Still not confident enough to touch anything lower.
We're engaged, I kept thinking. It's not official yet. I tugged her tail awkwardly back with my own.
Quana blushed green when she finally pulled the four salivating parts of her tongue out of my mouth, swallowing like she'd found something tasty inside. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve, gazing with wonderment at the silver band wrongly adorning her middle finger. "It's...a little tight."
I laughed. "Here. Let me show you where it goes." I slid the ring onto the next finger over.
"Nala..." she stared at the cubic zirconium. "This...isn't a diamond. What is this?"
I paled, breaking out in a cold sweat. "I couldn't afford a real diamond." I looked away in shame.
"Oh Matt!" She grabbed my chin, smiling at me. "You humans are so funny. We don't even use wedding rings where I come from. Did you really think I cared so much about a silly diamond that I wouldn't marry you if you didn't have one?"
I shrugged.
She kissed me again. "How's that."
I stared at her in speechless bafflement for a moment. "You...don't care if it's a diamond?"
"Matt, I'm a princess. I'm always surrounded by wealth. If I cared about that, I would have married Nabal. The fact that you spent all you had, to try to win my heart, that's..." She smiled, wiped tears from her eyes, cleared her throat. "I'm impressed."
I still felt guilty, like I'd given her a cheap prize from a gumball machine. My stomach sank. I really considered taking out a loan for a real ring, but I'd either be using my parents' or my fiancee's money, or I'd have to struggle with finding an Earth job to pay it back. "It's called a cubic zirconium. It's like a fake diamond. They're notoriously cheap. I'm sorry. I'm broke."
She laughed. "Matt. I already said yes. It's okay."
"Do they have loans on your planet?"
"Matt..." Quana groaned.
Her words finally registered in my brain. "Wait, you don't use rings?"
She nodded. "You saw that yoke Nabal put my tail into, didn't you? The Quisdor?"
"Umm...Isn't that kinda bulky and impractical?"
"It's a device that marks your tail. Permanently."
I gaped at her. "Oh." Then Inarrowed my eyes in suspicion. "Wait, what do you mean, mark?"
Quana smiled. "Your tail will be adorned with the symbol of our unified families."
"Umm, what about you? I don't know if I've got a symbol."
She crossed her arms, pausing in thought. "Don't you have a family crest?"
"The Gannon crest is kind of big. How are you going to fit that on my tail?"
"We'll just use the letter G."
I chuckled. "Okay."
She shook her head, flashing her buckeeth at me. "I may have called you a Wusu, but you've got guts to ask me something like this." She swallowed. "You do understand this will be the ultimate long distance relationship. You're going to spend a lot of time away from home, away from family and friends. You sure you want that?"
I gazed at her, the silver fur gracing her exposed arms and legs. My eyes traveled up the cream colored fur around her throat, to the mouse-like humanoid face. "Quana, I love you. I'm willing to make the sacrifice."
She pulled me to my feet, kissing me on the lips, tongue splitting into four wiggling segments inside my mouth.
I joyfully returned the kiss. When we at last pulled apart, gasping and panting for air, Quana gazed at the ring, and me.
"So...It's not like marrying your dog anymore, is it?"
"I kissed you, didn't I?"
"Just wanted to make sure." I grinned. "You don't know how happy this makes me."
The gray faced Abreya's mouth fell open. She jabbered excitedly with Quana. Quana confirmed it: She and I were getting married.
Quana led me to a couch that looked like a Venus flytrap. "So...Now we really have to see...your parents."