Chapter 21: Epilogue I

Jaxar:

Jaxar followed the sounds of a hammer clanging into metal. He found a female in a dusty red jumpsuit standing over a pump, tools spread on the ground. Not Nakia. Perhaps she had seen something and could point him in the correct direction. This moon was too large.

“Thank God. Are you here to fix the filtration unit?” The female stood, brushing her hands on her thighs. Thick goggles obscured her eyes and her teeth appeared just a little too large for her mouth. Dirt and grease decorated her Terran face.

He had never seen anyone more lovely.

“Hello? Big purple dude?” She waved a thick gloved hand at him. “Am I even speaking the right language? Sangrin, right?”

“You’re Terran,” he managed to say. He wanted to lean in and breathe her scent, but he already knew she was the one for him.

“Nothing gets by you. So… you here to fix the filtration unit or not?”

“Why can’t you? Are you not a technician?”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like the most highly trained position. I took a six-week course to get certified. Mostly I check if the lights are green. If they turn red, I follow the manual.”

“Then follow the manual. That must have been covered in your six-week certification.”

“Oh, you’re a smartass. Turns out there’s nothing in the manual for when a great big fucking bomb gets dropped on your Breathe Right Mark II.” She tossed said manual at him, hitting him solidly in the chest. “Now help me or fuck off.”

He was in love.