Chapter 27

I head to the farm with a bounce in my step. I still have to work, but Irene is here with me. Technically, she is sitting under a tree a distance away from the soil and the grids, but I don't care. She is in my proximity, and that's what's important.

I lift the handle of the cart with stacks of dry grass. It would be easier if we used the livestock to pull this, but they are already working and I don't have the patience to wait for them. The barn house isn't that far away, anyway.

On the way to the barn house, I peek at Irene. She has been sitting under the tree for a long time, almost as soon as we arrived. She is too far away for me to see her face, but I can imagine the frown on her face.

The sky is still clear without a single sign of a spaceship. Maybe she is still staring at the sky, hoping those beings will come and will arrive soon. I hope so.

But... Watching her sad face hurts me, yet there's nothing I can do to help. I told her to work on something with me and the team so she could get her mind busy with something else, but her mind is so elsewhere that I doubt she heard me.

She is going to be fine, right?

Maybe it's not the best idea to tell her to think about the positive when things are out of her control.

The sky is still quiet, so...

I shrug and continue to the barn house. If those beings really can't make it here or don't want to come, we can always try to contact someone else. The forest is dangerous, but we can figure it out. I'm not sure whether we have the machinery, but we may be able to get the spaceship here. Since the communication system is fixed, we can contact someone else for help.

I arrive at the barn house when the male there chuckles. "You have no patience, huh?"

"It's not that heavy, anyway. They are just bulky to carry around."

"Yeah, but... I guess you want to get off work sooner rather than later."

"That's for sure. Why spend the whole day when that's not needed?"

He helps me with unloading the stacks and carrying them into the barn house so that the big truck can arrange them into piles that can almost touch the ceiling.

The tractor is still out there producing bundles of dried grass. Today's schedule is to get all the grass ready. I think it is to prepare for something. Maybe the weather is going to be bad soon.

Back in base camp, where the headquarters is located, the weather is almost the same the whole year, so I've never prepared for something like that before.

I do know, after traveling to a few, that every planet is different. But I'm usually just there to attack targets and never stay for long.

The stack inside the barn house builds while the ones on the trolly diminish. It is satisfying to keep working at this even though it has nothing to do with smacking the Empire's minions or firing at their facilities. Maybe... Since I'm not heading back there ever again, it's not that bad to get used to this place.

There is still a load on my chest thinking about that.

I guess I did get myself into trouble because I wasn't that smart back then.

But I met Irene and she's my mate now. She is going to stay here with her beings. I'm going to be here to help her. She is capable of taking care of herself for sure, but if she needs another pair of arms, or... another single brain cell, as she likes to mock me, I will be there for her.

I take a breath as I lift the final stacks of hay when there's a shadow above me. I look up to see...

Wow! That's a big spaceship!

There's a logo of a diamond on it alongside a pickaxe. So... I guess it's not the Empire's spaceship, and also not an uzain battleship, which means I'm going to be fine.

"Melzul! Look!" Irene points at the spaceship with her staff. "Are these...?" Her eyes light up and she runs to me. "Let's get going, we'll tell them where to land."

She has shorter legs than me, but she runs a lot faster than I can catch up. I hope no one cares when I drop my work once again.

We climb into a spaceship and she starts it almost before we can close the door. I roll my eyes. "I know you're in a hurry, but this much of a hurry?"

"I don't have time for your negativity!"

Ha! Now she's the one saying it.