"You're in no position to point fingers, Keith," grinned Jahv. "Besides, who's he gonna offend out here?" Seconds later, gratefully, the group was in the lake, washing off either recently acquired grime, a lengthy build-up of it, or an excess of coolant, which fortunately was water-soluable. Not long after, the activity had turned from washing to a lot of playful splashing. Morik seemed especially enthused. He'd been alone too long, and had almost forgotten how to play. But his childhood seemed to be gradually coming back to him.
"You know," said Keith, once he was clean, "this lake's not so bad. We don't have to be in that much of a hurry to return. And it is a nice day."
Suddenly bubbles formed at the far edge of the lake. Morik's eyes went wide. The others hadn't seen it, but before Morik could yell a warning, a huge, serpentine head and twenty feet of neck burst forth from the water and bellowed at the top of its lungs, then eyed the five boys hungrily.
"Get shore!" shrieked Morik, even as they all were doing just that. "That can't come on land!" Seconds later, the boys had made shore, grabbed their boots, Jahv's backpack, and Morik's stuffed animal, and had just kept running. "Boy, one word from you about having a good time on a nice day —!" joked Davy to Keith.
"And how is this MY fault!?" countered Keith, but he realized his friend was kidding.
Not long after, and breathing hard, they had reached their shuttle and were all strapped into their seats, Morik having been placed and strapped into one of the extras since the vessel had been designed to seat seven besides the pilot, and took off.
"What your world like?" asked Morik, who was clearly nervous about being on board a shuttle or apparently anywhere near machinery, but trying to stay calm for the sake of his new friends.
"Well, for starters, we don't always run around naked." remarked Keith, standing up once the shuttle had cleared the atmosphere. Jahv hadn't had time to program the return course to Earth, so they had a few minutes. Keith was trying to figure out how to program the fabricator to make new uniforms. Finally Jahv came over and did so.
"For another thing," said Keith, "our dinosaurs had the good sense to either die off or evolve into something a bit less hazardous."
"You've never seen an alligator or a crocodile, have you?" remarked Davy.
Morik watched the others get dressed. Jahv hadn't bothered yet, not because he didn't intend to, but because he was too busy flying the shuttle. Technically, it would be appropriate for him to wear some space-clothes out here. Morik seemed confused by what the others were doing. "I have to put on extra skins like you?" He seemed upset at the notion.
"Not to worry." said Davy. "You should probably stay with Jahv and Keyro. They never wear anything, anyway."
Morik brightened. "I think I will like your world."
"We haven't had any complaints from any other aliens." joked Niklas, as laughter filled the shuttle on its way back to Earth.
Part 7
Jahv, Niklas, Keith, Davy, and their new friend Morik were returning to Earth, after discovering Morik, one of a handful of survivors (and the only one in the area) on a jungle planet that featured, among other peculiarities, flowers that sprayed a mist that dissolved the fabric of the uniforms the boys had been wearing, and an aquatic dragon of considerable size that had attempted to turn the boys into lunch.
Keith especially had not taken this well, given his encounter with a similar creature in a holographic representation of Jahv's homeworld. He sat towards the back of the shuttle, muttering, "Overgrown lizards. Is Earth the only planet where the dinosaurs had the decency to die off before people came along? Jeez…"
At this point, the flight was proceeding fairly quietly. They were in hyperwarp, bound for Earth. Keith was trying to get the food replicator to make him a pizza. None of the youngsters could help but be reminded of a small microwave oven when they used the machine, since structurally it was very similar, except you didn't have to put food into it to get food out of it. And Keith had been reasonably successful with a cheeseburger on the first flight.
Jahv had replaced everyone's uniforms, but Morik had done without clothing for as long as he could remember, and wasn't entirely comfortable with the concept. He was grateful that he would be staying with two others, Jahv and Keyro, that didn't wear clothing on a regular basis. As it stood, all he could stand to wear was a pair of space boots identical to everyone else's, and the skimpiest pair of shorts imaginable. These made speedos look like boxer shorts by comparison. If the sides were any narrower, they would have had to have been measured in molecules. He looked a little silly wearing only this and the oversized, padded boots, but either he didn't notice or, more likely, didn't care.
What was truly odd, though, were the colors Morik had requested. The shorts, such as they were, were bright yellow with swirls of red and purple in them. Jahv had speculated that it was possible that Morik's natural Dorrian tendencies towards making everything ornate, since the Dorrians had been known for being artisans of the highest degree, were starting to re-emerge, and either had a ways to go, or else Morik just had rotten taste in color schemes.
Morik was spending his time wearing the encephalo-educator headband that had been found in the ruins of his family's shuttle. Somehow, when Jahv had placed it on Morik's head and then attempted to telepathically teach him English through it, the device had not only absorbed the English language, but had reset itself to operate far faster than before. Morik had realized that his language skills, to say nothing of his social skills, were severely hindered, and it embarassed him. So he was determined to bring himself up to date on the language as quickly as possible. He was paying for it with a headache he'd not soon forget, but he felt it was worth it. As far as social skills were concerned, he figured the best thing to do was just stay quiet and watch the others. Niklas and Davy were fixated on the images of stars flying past the large side windows of the shuttle. There was a gorgeous nebula in the distance that was far more brilliant than anything one could see on Earth. The two boys had been actively talking about what a grand adventure this was all turning out to be. Keith, on the other hand, was sitting in a chair away from the windows, and looked less than delighted. It was hard to tell if he was bored, angry, or scared.
Finally the other two boys noticed their friend's disposition. "You okay, Keith?" asked Niklas.
Keith grumbled. "Ask me that when we get back to Earth."
"Y'know, you've been acting a bit nasty since this whole trip started." commented Davy. "If you didn't want to come along, why did you?"
Keith glared. "Because while you two put your heads in the clouds, or the stars, or whatever, somebody had to come along to keep your feet on the ground!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Niklas.
"You've been watching too many episodes of Star Trek or whatever, that's what I mean." said Keith. "In all of your watching space movies and stuff, did you miss 'Apollo 13? And that's the one that really happened!"
"Are you saying…" began Davy.
"I'm saying," interrupted Keith, "that we're shooting through space, faster-than-light, further out than anybody from our planet has ever been, on board a ship built by two kids who aren't that different from us, and all you two can do is gape out the windows. If anything happened to Jahv, do you think any of us would ever see home again?"
"And you'd rather sit there, sulk, and dwell on that than enjoy this opportunity to see the universe from a perspective that no one ever has before?" exclaimed Niklas. "I think this is all magnificent! I can see why astronauts and cosmonauts have always found traveling in space to be such an incredible experience. And we've gone a lot further than they ever have."