I follow, reaching him just in time to have a white space suit boot thrust in my arms.
“Get dressed. I check airlock is still working.” He starts, drifting off as his hands work over the console beside the door.
He mumbles to himself, beneath his breath. I barely catch a word between the ‘ahhs’ and the occasional “chert” - usually followed by a quick slap against the machinery.‘Percussive engineering,’I hear Alex’s voice say in my mind.
I slide the rest of me inside the suit's torso, slipping into both boots before I reach for the gloves. My hand pauses over them, my eyes focusingon the helmet instead. The black, red and gold patch on my shoulder reflects in the visor. Taunting me.
Home.
I’ll never see it again.
Never seeMutti.
Never bring Alex back.
She is going to kill me when she finds out she will never see that damn cat again. Not that it would live long with the portionsMuttifeeds him - he’ll be lucky to survive three years without developing diabetes.
A burden for another day.
Yuri is staring at me now. His brow wrinkles.
“Wie bitte?” I ask, dumbly.
His frown deepens. “Perhaps we go get the Kid to help.”
“Kid?”
“Luca.” Yuri reaches for his comms.
I grab his arm, stopping him.
“Alles gut.I was thinking. Of Earth.”
Yuri’s frown softens, his smirk returning. “All ladies will be crying that I am gone.”
My eyes roll in exasperation. I have my doubts about Yuri’s ‘ladies’. Even stronger doubts about the ROSMOCOS’ Human Resources department, and their non-existent seminars on sexual harassmentin the workplace.
“You have woman back on Earth?” He asks nonchalantly as his hands slide the helmet over my head, adjusting the UV filters on the visor.
I frown, “You know Alex is my wife,right?”
“Da,” He flaps his hand in an attempt to disperse my comments. “Your wife has boyfriend.” He turns to face me. “What about you?”
“Nein.”
“No boyfriend?” Yuri smirks.
“There was one woman…” I start.
His grin returns in force, his mouth stretching wide. “I knew you holding out on me.”
“It’s nothing….” I begin, my mind reeling back to Earth and the one and only time a woman took an interest in me after Alex left.
“Diana, my assistant.”
Yuri’s eyebrows hike up his forehead. “Chert, you dog.”
“It wasn’t like that. She knew Alex.”
