Time stood still.
All of the crew members and specialists from the plague ship were comfortable and stable, with healers at Satamia monitoring them.
Jimox and Teina trembled as they leaned on each other and looked around. Pride showed in their eyes. Avians, ursines, reptiles, and monkey mammals were all safe and likely to recover. Members of all those species, and others, had given countless years of service, and sometimes their very lives, to Siminia Three Planet Station over the previous two hundred years.
That planet station and its retreats, created out of an old amusement park and a handful of resorts, were the closest things the elderly couple had to children.
Teina coughed deeply while Jimox held her close. When the fit finally passed, she struggled to find her voice, but only managed a whisper. “I can feel . . . fever starting. Our last mission, dear Jimox?”
He trembled, knowing the adrenaline rush of the emergency was wearing off. “I can feel it too. Yes, I think this was our last mission, dear Teina.”
“I think . . . that’s okay.”
“Yes. I’m ready too. I don’t think this old heart of mine would win against a new virus.”
“Nor these old lungs of mine.”
“Perhaps . . .” he began tenderly, “one more short journey? The sand dunes are only about a hundred meters outside the back door . . .”
“I would love to walk with you in the dunes, dear Jimox. As long as I can
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lean on you.”
“You can, if I can lean on you . . .”
She giggled for a moment like a young girl. “I’ve always loved sand dunes.”
Jimox chuckled with the spirit of a boy setting out on an adventure with a girl at his side. “Me too.”
They made their way slowly out the back door of Kemlo Desert Retreat just as the ship full of healers landed in front.
