Janae nodded.
Roemary glared at her. "You still don't have a chance," she spat.
"We'll see," Janae replied. She couldn't think of anything more snapping to hit her back with, and even as she walked toward the rear room, she couldn't think of anything witty that she could have said. It was like her mind locked when she wanted to say something sharp and have a solid reply to a distasteful person.
Instead, she just tuned out everything around her and focused on her breathing. It wasn't that she was nervous.
Okay, maybe she was a little bit.
But it was nervousness that was also excitement.
She was about to step onto a new world for the first time in her life.
While others, she guessed that Roemary was one, traveled interstellar all the time and saw all sorts of places, Janae didn't have the means to do it, so she lived on her world, on her own, more concerned about where her next meal was coming from.
This was excitement that she couldn't quite believe was happening.
She was in space.
About to step onto a new world!
How amazing was that?
She reached the main room and saw the doors at the far end, oversized and heavy, and waiting to open. The ship slowed, she could feel the momentum change, and the engines started to break.
The vessel touched down, and for a second, everything felt like it was falling through the ground before the ship rebalanced itself and everything equalized. Janae put her hand on the nearby wall to steady herself and noticed that others had to do the same.
"Maybe those pilots need to learn how to land," one of them said.
She chuckled because she wondered the same thing.
When the ship settled, she glanced around and realized that Graecey stood near the front, directing attention to her.
"Now, ladies, this is how we must do this because the Kantenans are new to our program. We have to regard them as they request, which is why we are heading out in small groups, rather than all of us at once.”
"Will we all get to meet them?" one girl asked.
"No, there will not be a receiving line. The Kantenan will come forward and speak a few words. Then he will pick his bride.”
"What if his bride isn't in the group?"
"We have contingencies planned if that is the case," Graecey said. "When the Kantenan chooses, the rest of us will walk back to the ship."
"Will we get to see more of the world?" another girl asked.
"I can see what we can arrange," Graecey said.
That made Janae smile. A tour would be fantastic. Amazing. Brilliant.
The big heavy doors that led to outside began to open. Janae felt the warm, moist air blast them, and it felt surreal.
Beautiful and surreal.
A couple of the women immediately groaned that the air would ruin their hair, and Janae shook her head. They were about to depart on a new world, and they were worried about their hair?
Silly.
She headed toward the opening door and took in a deep breath at the top of the ramp before she descended.
