“No,” Korum said. “We’ll go see the mind expert first, to restore your memory.” And to undo the softening – but that part went unsaid. Mia knew they were both anticipating and slightly dreading the reversal of the procedure, unsure of just how much – if anything – would change between them as a result.
Staring at the transparent wall in their bedroom, Mia could see unfamiliar stars and constellations in the sky. They were already in the Krinar solar system, a strange and beautiful place with ten planets circling a star that was roughly 1.2 times the size of Earth’s sun. Krina was the fourth planet in terms of distance from its sun, and it was strikingly similar to Earth in its size, mass, and geochemical composition. “That’s why Earth is so important to us,” Korum explained. “It’s closer to Krina than anything else we’ve come across in all the years we’ve been exploring the universe.”
The main difference between the two planets lay in its moons. Earth had only one, while Krina had a grand total of three – one about the size of Earth’s and two smaller ones. “We get some spectacular tides,” Korum told her. “They’re more like small tsunamis. Earth is better in that sense; in most places, you can live right next to the ocean and not have to worry about anything more than an occasional hurricane. On Krina, the ocean is more dangerous, and we don’t have any settlements within twenty miles of the shore.”
To Mia’s surprise, she learned that when Korum referred to the ocean on Krina, he meant The Ocean – as in, one huge body of water. Unlike Earth, where the original supercontinent of Pangaea had broken apart into several continents, Krina had one giant landmass that served as home to all the Krinar. Tinara, Korum had called it.
That fact also explained something that had puzzled Mia before: the relative lack of variety in Krinar appearance. Her lover’s people all tended to be dark-haired with bronzed skin, and, while there were variations in coloring, there were significantly fewer differences among Ks than between humans of different races. The Krinar were more homogeneous – which made sense if they had all evolved together on this supercontinent.
“So why does your cousin Leeta have red hair?” Mia asked. She’d met the beautiful Krinar woman a couple of times since her memory loss. “Is there a gene for that in the K population?”
Korum shook his head. “No, not really. Some of us have hair with a slightly auburn tint to it, but nothing like the shade Leeta is wearing now. She has altered the stru
cture of her hair molecules since coming to Earth, probably because she likes that look.”
“And there are no blond, blue-eyed Krinar?”
“No,” Korum said. “No Krinar with hair as curly as yours either. With your curls and blue eyes, you’ll really stand out on Krina.”
“Oh great,” Mia muttered. “I’ll be stared at even more.”
Korum smiled. “Yes, you will be. But that’s not a bad thing.”
Mia shrugged. She knew the Krinar didn’t regard staring as rude, but she was still uncomfortable with that specific cultural difference. “So when are we meeting your family?” she asked, switching gears. “Are they going to be there to greet us when we arrive?”
“No. I told them we’ll visit them right after you regain your memory. You’ve already met my parents once before, and you’ll probably feel better if you remember that original meeting.”
Mia yawned and turned over, pressing her back against Korum’s chest and letting him spoon her from behind. He hugged her, pulling her closer. “Go to sleep, my sweet,” he murmured in her ear, and Mia drifted off, feeling warm and safe in his embrace.
* * *
“Oh my God, is that it? Is that Krina?” Marisa rose from her seat, pointing at the planet that was growing in size before their eyes. Mia was staring at it too, her heart beating like a drum from anticipation and excitement.
“Yes,” Korum confirmed, smiling at them. “That is indeed Krina.”
They were all sitting around a floating table, having breakfast. It was their last meal on the ship before their arrival. Connor was unusually quiet again, and Mia could see that her parents were just picking at their food, apparently too nervous to eat normally.
They were sitting in one of the rooms that had a wall facing the outside of the ship – a wall made of the same transparent material as the Krinar houses. Korum had chosen it on purpose, to let them watch as they approached Krina for the first time.
Their ship was moving with incredible speed, and soon the planet was visible in greater detail. “We’re coming from the Tinara – the supercontinent – side,” Korum explained. “That’s why you don’t see a lot of water, the way you do on Earth.”
And it was true. The sight before them was quite different from NASA images of Earth from space. Mia could see only a thin ring of blue; instead, everything was dominated by a giant brown landmass in the center – the supercontinent. As they got closer, she realized that what she had mistaken for a brown hue was actually a combination of green, red, and yellow colors.
Soon, they entered the atmosphere, and Mia noticed a faint reddish glow around the ship. “That’s our force shields protecting us from heat and friction,” Korum explained. “We’re still moving fast, so if it weren’t for our shields, we’d burn to a crisp.”
Gradually, the glow faded, and the ship slowed. As they broke through the cloud cover, Mia saw a large forest spread out below them, strikingly colorful . . . and unusually untouched. Where one might’ve expected to see cities and skyscrapers, there were only trees and more trees.
“We’re going to a special landing area for intergalactic ships,” Korum said, apparently anticipating their questions. “It’s a good distance from any of our Centers.”
“Why aren’t we taking a transport pod down, the way we took it to get to the ship?” Mia’s dad asked. “Why land this whole ship?”
“Good question, Dan,” Korum said. “When we were on Earth, we took the transport pod up because there are no good landing areas for ships like this. That might change in the future, but for now, it’s easiest to keep these types of ships in orbit around Earth. Here on Krina, we’re equipped for this, so there is no reason for us not to land.”
Now Mia could see a large clearing ahead, with some structures that resembled giant mushrooms. It had to be the landing field. Sure enough, their ship headed directly there and a few minutes later, they touched the ground.
They were officially on Krina.
As they exited the ship, Mia felt a blast of heat reminiscent of Florida weather at its hottest. It was also difficult to breathe, and she felt light-headed as she tried to draw in more air. Grabbing Korum’s hand, she waited for a wave of dizziness to pass.