"This signifies our agreement, then?" Erzo asked, his voice laced with something more than just formality.
"Absolutely. On Earth, we seal many deals with a handshake," Polly affirmed, her voice steady despite the butterflies in her stomach.
But their hands remained joined, neither of them in a hurry to let go. Their eyes locked, and it was like diving into a deep, dark ocean of feels. They hadn't kissed since the first time, but the memory lingered. The guy had mad kissing skills like he'd graduated with honors from the University of Smoochology. Polly knew darn well she was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from being totally swept off her feet by his alien lip-locking prowess.
"Okay, deal sealed," Erzo said with a slight nod, releasing her hand. He stepped back, effectively nixing any chance of a kiss. Not that there was going to be one. Right?
And just like that, their agreement was in place. Polly had her exit strategy. Thirty days, and then she could high-tail it back to Earth if she wanted. And she was pretty sure she wanted.
Yeah, she'd be Earth bound. No point in sticking around for a faux romance with a hunky green alien, even if he was, well, hunky. A tiny voice in her head muttered something about disappointment, but she hushed it quickly. Maybe it was just that infamous space sickness messing with her head.
Just as Erzo was about to say something else, his communicator chirped to life. He whipped it out, and this time, he stayed put while he answered.
On the other end was Addy. "Good morning! Your bubble tour is starting in about fifteen. Get down here, stat!"
"Got it, thanks," Erzo replied, shooting Polly a glance before focusing back on the holographic call. "We're heading out now."
Polly couldn’t help the eye roll that escaped her. Time to play pretend as the universe’s newest, happiest, not-really-a-couple. She braced herself for a tour filled with fake smiles and touristy enthusiasm. Oh, the joys of intergalactic dating!
But then Erzo gave her that knowing grin as if he was in on the joke. And suddenly, with their arrangement blatantly stamped ‘no strings attached,’ the whole thing seemed even more irresistible. Polly gulped at the thrill of something so transactional, yet so intimate. This charade charged every shared look, every accidental brush of skin, with a spicy flavor of forbidden fruit. It was like being told not to push the big red button—the impulse was just too dang delicious to resist. And it was risky, it was exhilarating, and oh, it was so tantalizingly tempting.
Polly hesitated at the threshold of the bubble tour capsule, her heart pounding. The bubble was precisely that—a transparent, fragile-looking sphere floating in the vastness of space. “I can’t do this.”
His reassuring voice floated to her. “You’ll be fine. Just step inside.”
“But it’s all open,” Polly protested, eyeing the forcefield that barely seemed to separate them from the vacuum of space. The bubble, a clear orb with a scarcely visible frame, hovered there, a testament to space-age engineering and her worst fears.
Her gaze was irresistibly drawn to the void outside, the vast, endless expanse of space that lay beyond the thin, invisible barrier. Other families were embarking on their tours, children bouncing with excitement, oblivious to the dangers. A little boy with antennae like Re-lee’s pointed animatedly at the stars, his eyes wide with wonder.
“To just float around the station like this?”
Erzo nodded, understanding her apprehension. “It’s a carefully charted course. And there’s no need to worry about the glass. The forcefield is more than enough to keep us safe.”
Polly bit her lip, glancing back at the bubble. It was one thing to hear about it, another to see it—this gossamer-thin shield between them and the endless void.
His hand rested gently on her shoulder, his touch a solid, grounding presence. “I’ll be right beside you. We both need oxygen just as much, so I understand your fear.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Here.” He offered her a small metallic device shaped oddly like a fake mustache. “It’s an air breather, just in case. A precaution for us both.”
Polly glanced around. No one else was wearing one. “You got this for me?”
“Yes,” Erzo said and rested the larger of the two on his face, and it rested under his nose and over his upper lip.
Polly took the device, her fingers trembling as she placed it under her nose. It adhered to her skin, a weird but comforting sensation. She could feel the cool air it emitted, a lifeline in the vastness of space.
Erzo tapped a control, and suddenly, the bottom of the bubble frosted over, creating the illusion of a solid floor. The change was subtle, but it eased Polly’s anxiety enough for her to step forward into the bubble.
“Here we go,” Erzo murmured, stepping in close behind her. The bubble sealed, and they were suddenly in an intimate space, their bodies almost pressed together.
The bubble began to float, effortlessly drifting away from the station.
Polly felt herself lifting off the ‘floor,’ her body light and unmoored. “Why is space so... so?”
“Welcome to zero gravity,” Erzo said, his voice low and steady.
Panic surged through Polly as she found herself adrift in the bubble’s weightless interior. Desperately, she grasped at anything solid—and found Erzo’s tail wrapping around her like a secure tether. She clung to it, her anchor in the disorienting expanse of space, as he drew her close to his body.
