As their ship ascended, Mia watched the shrinking buildings and landmarks below. The pod’s transparent walls and floor allowed for an amazing 360-degree view. Within seconds, their aircraft was above the clouds and blinding sunlight streamed in, causing Mia to squint until Korum did something that minimized the glare.
“Wow,” Marisa breathed, echoing Mia’s own feelings. “This is so not like traveling by airplane . . .”
“We’re moving much faster than your planes,” Korum explained. “In another few minutes, we’ll be reaching our destination right outside of Earth’s atmosphere.”
Mia reached over and squeezed his hand. Her heart was pounding with excitement and trepidation, and she could only imagine how the others must be feeling. Her dad was looking a little pale, and her mom was holding Mocha so tightly that the little dog was squirming. Even Connor was uncharacteristically quiet, a look of awe on his face.
“It’ll be all right, my sweet,” Korum said, leaning over to kiss her temple. “Everything will be fine.”
“I know,” Mia said quietly. “It’s just incredible, that’s all.”
He smiled, showing that sexy dimple in his left cheek. It made him look even more gorgeous than usual, and Mia desperately wished they were alone right now, instead of surrounded by her family.
As though reading her mind, Korum whispered to her, “Later,” and Mia felt her cheeks heating up. His smile changed, became more suggestive, and she pinched his arm in response.
He lifted his eyebrows questioningly, and Mia gave him a frown. “Not in front of my parents,” she mouthed, and his smile turned into a full-blown grin.
Determined not to let him make her blush, Mia looked down, watching with barely controlled excitement as they got further and further away from Earth. When she was little, she had dreamed of being an astronaut, of going to the stars and exploring distant galaxies. Like most kids, she had grown out of that, eventually choosing a more suitable profession. Now, however, she was being given a chance to live that long-ago childhood dream, and it was beyond amazing.
Soon, they were so far away that she could see Earth in its entirety – a beaut
iful blue planet that looked far too small to be home to billions of people. Looking at it, Mia couldn’t help but realize just how vulnerable the entire human race was, tied as they were to this one place that looked so defenseless in the vastness of space.
“What are you thinking about?” Korum asked, reaching over to stroke her knee.
“I was thinking I understand now why the Krinar want to diversify,” Mia said, “why you don’t want to bet your survival on any one planet. It looks so fragile like this . . .”
“Yes, it does, doesn’t it?” Korum’s hand tightened on her knee. When she looked up at him, he was looking at her with a strange expression on his face. Before she could ask him about it, though, she heard her mom gasp.
“Oh wow, Korum!” Ella Stalis exclaimed. “Is that your ship?”
Mia looked up. They were approaching something that looked like a large bullet. Dark-colored, it was surprisingly plain-looking, completely unlike any starship she had ever seen in science fiction movies.
“That’s it?” she asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. Krinar transport pods looked more advanced and futuristic than this ship that could supposedly go faster than the speed of light.
“That’s it.” Korum smiled. “It’s not quite how your people imagined it, is it?”
“No, it’s not,” Connor said, speaking for the first time since their transport pod took off. “How did all those thousands of Krinar fit into that? It looks kind of small . . .”
“Oh, this is not the ship that brought us here,” Korum explained. “You’re right; that one is much bigger. This ship is something that I made specifically for our journey. There are only about seventy of us who are going to Krina this time; there was no need to use the bigger ship for so few people.”
“You can do that?” Mia’s dad asked, staring at Korum in disbelief. “Just like that, you can create a ship that can go to a different galaxy?”
“Korum can do it,” Mia said, understanding her dad’s confusion. “Not every Krinar can. He is the one who came up with this design. Right?” She looked at Korum.
“Yes,” her lover confirmed. “This particular design is mine. We had ships with faster-than-light capabilities before, of course, but these are the latest generation. They’re safer and easier to operate.”
“I see,” Dan said, looking at Korum with a mixture of shock and respect. The same emotions were reflected on Ella’s face. Apparently Mia’s parents had not understood the extent of Korum’s technological prowess until this moment.
As the pod approached the ship, Mia could see one of the ship’s sides dissolving to let them in. Since all Krinar houses had similar entrance technology, she barely blinked at the sight. Her family, however, found it very impressive.
“How exactly does this intelligent stuff work?” Marisa asked. “Do the walls actually think for themselves?”
“No,” Korum said. “This is not artificial intelligence in the true sense of the word. It’s not self-aware in any way. When I say ‘intelligent technology,’ what I really mean is that it’s an object that’s able to carry out its specific function in a way that mimics the capabilities of an intelligent being. So, for instance, my house can make meals, maintain temperature that’s just right for our bodies, keep out unwanted visitors, and clean itself. It performs those tasks as well as a human or a Krinar would – but you can’t really carry on a conversation with it.”
“That’s so cool,” Connor said. “Do you guys have robots that you can talk to?”
Korum smiled indulgently. “Yeah, those were popular a few thousand years ago and then kind of went out of style. Now they’re mainly used to entertain small children, although some adults like them too.”