Entry 49

My thoughts of learning to pilot the ship fled my mind the morning we were supposed to rendezvous with the space station. I had Blaue help me pick out the most fashionable yet comfortable outfit in my wardrobe, so that I would fit in amongst the aliens. I then practically skipped to breakfast, ready to be underway.

To my surprise, Ven was in the mess hall waiting for me. His face was stern, set in a way that I was beginning to recognize as his “lecture face”.

“Please, Ven,” I said before he could speak. “Wait for me to eat breakfast before you start berating me?” I then slipped past him and sat at the table, across from John. He looked amused.

“I’m not going to berate you,” Ven responded, sitting at the table. “I was just going to remind you and your android of a few things. Today is the day we dock with the space station, and I don’t have time to worry about you getting into trouble.”

“We’re not going to get into trouble,” I said as I bit into a muffin. “Trust me, John won’t let me.”

“And I will be keeping an eye on them, Ven.” Blaue materialized in a chair next to John. She smiled brightly at her captain. “Don’t worry about them. That’s my job.”

“You forget I know you, Blaue,” Ven said, pointing a finger at the artificial cognizant. “You are mischievous. I would not put it past you to let them get into a little trouble for your own amusement.”

“That’s not fair,” I exclaimed. Blaue had never been anything but nice to us. I really did not think she would let us get into danger or fall into harms way. “Blaue would never let us go against your rules.”

“She had better not,” Ven said, his stern expression fixated on the hologram, who was giving him an innocent smile.

“Ven,” she said sweetly. “Trust me.” He rolled his eyes and turned his gaze back to me.

“Carlee, the space station is not Earth,” Ven began, and I interrupted him, saying, “How could I forget that?”

“What I mean,” Ven said, looking annoyed at my interruption, “is that you won’t begin to understand half of what is going on. Your android has done a good attempt of studying everything it can, but even it will not be able to come close to understanding all the species and cultural interactions. And not everyone is as understanding as I am.” I snorted. If Ven was understanding, then the people of the Universe must be an unsympathetic lot.

“Carlee, I’m serious,” Ven continued. “Stay with your android. Do as Blaue says. If I contact you, do not ignore me. This is very important. Now, do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand,” I assured him. I was not stupid. It seemed like he had lectured me about this every day.

“I already gave your android the link frequency to Blaue, so it can speak with her directly,” Ven said, holding up a small round piece of metal. “This is so you can speak to Blaue and receive my calls. You just place it in your ear.” I took the piece of metal hesitantly. It was very small. I was afraid if I put it in my ear it would get stuck.

“This is safe?” I said skeptically. “If I put it in my ear, it will come out later?”

“Yes,” Ven answered. “Now, will you put it in so we can test it?” I nodded and hesitantly put my hand with the device near my ear. Taking a deep breath, I dropped it in.