Homesick

“Three rubies. Winning hand.”

“What? No, you can’t just declare you win. You haven’t seen what I have.”

“There’s nothing that you could have that could beat three rubies. It’s simple logic.” A card floated out of Zilin’s tentacle, briefly rotating enough to reveal a flickering red gem on its face. It confirmed what the iyk’s hand was, but he wasn’t one for lying.

“Three diamonds could beat three rubies,” Dens said. He twined his arm lazily around a security strap. “I could have three diamonds.”

Zilin’s three eyes squinted. “And do you have three diamonds?”

“Well…”

“Show me your hand, Dens.”

Dens stuck out his tongue, holding his cards close to his chest.

“Show me, you stupid biped!” Zilin oozed out from his security straps, floating across the few feet of cockpit and lashing his tentacles around Dens’s arms. “Why are you so bony? You’re like a tree!”

Dens laughed, struggling, and his cards drifted up out of his grasp. Zilin reached up, snagging them one after another.

“It’s not three diamonds,” Zilin declared.

“One of them is a diamond,” Dens said. But then sighed, admitting defeat. “Fine, you did win.”

“I’m getting better at this game than you are. Just another way the mighty iyk are superior to you puny vertebrates!” The iyk lifted off Dens’s chest slightly, posing his tentacles in a display of strength.

“Yeah? Well I still have one thing you’ll never have.”

“And what would that be?”

“A skeleton.”

Zilin scoffed. “That may be, but at least I don’t get stuck in doors.”

“I do not get stuck in doors!”

“Yes you do. I have witnessed it.”

Dens rolled his eyes. “You know what? C’mere.” He grabbed at the iyk, grappling him around his core with one arm. “C’mere you giant mollusk.” And, despite Zilin’s squawks of protest, he gave the alien a firm noogie on what passed for the top of his head. “Who’s stuck now?!”

Zilin retaliated by wrapping tentacles around Dens’s face until the human was forced to relent in order to breathe. Once they were detached from each other again, they were both laughing. Or, at least, Zilin was making the bubbling sound that Dens had come to learn meant the same thing.

Suddenly, Zilin pushed away, towards the view port. “Dens, look. Planetrise.” The iyk spread out in front of the carbon glass, looking like a violet inkblot suspended in water.

Dens disentangled himself from the security straps, grabbing on to one of Zilin’s tentacles and letting himself be pulled up to the viewport alongside the alien. Outside, in a blaze of gold, the rings of Meten V were breaching above the icy horizon of the planet’s largest moon, Pedolas. Fiery dawn, rising over plains of barren, cratered gray. And, beyond, the starlit emptiness of space. For a moment, Dens could feel the momentum of their observation module as it careened along its orbit. A tiny capsule of metal and air, arcing towards that silent giant.

“Wow,” he said. “That’s a nice one. I should take a picture for the people back home.”

“Yes…” And, in that moment, Dens felt Zilin’s tentacles coil around his chest again. He moved his hand up, resting it on top of them. The iyk’s body was warm against his.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“No, no, I am in good condition. I’m handling it fine this cycle.”

Dens looped his arm around the alien’s core again, though this time more tenderly. “Yeah, I miss it too.”

Zilin made that bubbling laughter sound again. “You miss Kyrl? How? You’ve never been to Kyrl.”

“Ah, you know what I mean!” Dens gave the alien a shove, but not enough to dislodge him. “I miss Earth.”

Zilin was quiet for a moment. Then he asked: “What is it like? Your homeworld? Earth.”

Dens glanced down at the iyk. He shrugged. “I, ah… Honestly? I never saw much of it. Spent most of my time inside the cities. And now that I’m out here, I keep wishing I’d been to more places back home. Traveled more. Seen more of the wilderness. Earth had gravity, though. Lots of nice, sexy gravity. And people.”

“I miss the people,” Zilin said. “I miss going out in crowds. Hearing so many voices at once that I couldn’t tell what any of them were saying. I miss parties.”

Dens pursed his lips. “Whew, there’s a horrifying thought. An iyk party. All those tentacles…”

Zilin shuddered suddenly, pressing himself up against Dens’s chest. Dens realized the alien was sobbing.

“Hey. Hey…” He curled his arms around the iyk. Unattached to anything in the cabin, the two of them began to drift slowly away from the viewport.

“I am sorry,” Zilin sputtered, his core heaving. “I am sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Dens said. “I thought iyk were supposed to be paragons of logic, though. Free of all those… burdensome emotions.”

A bubbling laugh rose from Zilin, despite himself. “Very humorous,” he said. And then he let out a sigh, his boneless form nearly deflating. “Maybe I’m a bad iyk. I’m not smart enough, and that’s why they sent me all the way out here, to get rid of me.”

“You know that’s not true,” Dens said. He kneaded gently at a space between the base of Zilin’s tentacles. “We both had to pass lots of tests to prove we could handle this assignment. They don’t send losers to do this kind of thing.”

“I don’t feel like I’m handling it very well…”

“That’s not what you said earlier!” Dens shook his head. “It’s fine. You don’t have to be. That’s what I’m here for. Humans and iyk, we’re both social species. Apparently. That’s why we’re compatible for these kinds of missions.”

Zilin sighed again. “I wish I was a delvite. I hear delvites never get lonely. You can send them on solitary observation posts for dozens of cycles and they’ll thank you for it.”

“Eh, fuck delvites. What’s a delvite got that we don’t? Besides natural armor. And claws.”

“You want to mate with a delvite? That sounds unsafe.”

“Ok, I need to give you another lesson on how English curse words work. … Oh, you were joking, huh? Here’s a free lesson: you’re a shithead.”

Zilin was laughing again. “But I do not have a head!” Dens pushed him down and gave him another noogie. By now, they were back against the far wall of the cockpit. A playing card floated past Dens’s face, and he snatched it.

“Give me your cards, I’m dealing another hand.”

“There’s no point. I can already defeat you. I’ve mastered this game.”

“That was just beginner’s luck. Give me your cards before I turn you into calamari.”

“What’s calamari?”

“Calamari’s… Yeah, you know what calamari is. Shithead. Give me your cards.”