“What kind of cereal?” Dienna asked.

     “Some oat-grain kind.” She replied.

     “It tastes like Cheerios.” Tia said as she came out with a bowl of flake-shaped oats.

     “Okay,” Dienna said. “I’ll go with cereal.”

     Corazon and Giselle came in soon after and, when everyone had finished eating, Twilight asked about everyone’s schedules.

     Corazon, Tia and Dienna repeated their decisions from the day before, with one exception: Dienna worded hers differently.

     “I think I’ll go and explore the port today. I’ll probably work tomorrow.” She said.

     “I think I’ll spend all day working.” Felicia said. “I’d like to find out more about how this ship works.”

     “I’ll stick with Corazon.” Giselle said. “Work in the morning, bale in the afternoon.”

     “Okay, let’s get started.” Twilight got up and led Felicia, Corazon and Giselle to the evaporator.

     “I’m going back to my room.” Tia announced to Dienna. “I might go and play some of that training game thing. See you later.” Then she left.

     Dienna followed her plans and left the ship and docking area to the amazing port. She hadn’t spent much time wandering the streets before she bumped into Ray.

     “Oh, hello.” He said.

     “Hi.” Dienna replied. “What’s up?”

     “Huh?” Ray was confused.

     “You haven’t been to Earth lately, have you?” Dienna assumed.

     “I wasn’t even born there. My parents are from Earth, but I was born in space.” Ray replied.

     “That’s interesting.” Dienna mused. “So you’ve never even seen Earth?”

     “My parents try to describe it to me.” Ray replied. “But someday, I’ll have to go and see it for myself.”

     “You’re not missing much, believe me.” Dienna said.

     “But, I’ve never seen flowers, or trees like that. And I’ve never seen the animals that live there.” Ray argued.

     “You’re not missing much.” Dienna repeated.

     “What makes you say that?” Ray asked.

     “Earth is so boring.” Dienna explained.

     “That’s because you’ve lived there your whole life.” Ray said. “I’ve never even been there once, so it’s an unexplored area for me. You’ve never been to space before, so it’s an unexplored area for you. That’s why you’re out here looking around.”

     “Actually.” Dienna said. “I’m only here to get away from helping with the repairs.”

     “Don’t tell anyone,” Ray whispered. “But so am I.”

     Dienna smiled. “Do you want to look around together, then?”

     “Sure, why not. Hey, did you see that music store?”

     “Yeah, but there’s nothing in English.” Dienna said.

     “I could translate for you.” Ray boasted.

     “How?” Dienna asked.

     “You forget,” Ray replied. “I was not born on Earth. English is my first language, but I know several others.”

     “Okay, let’s see how good you are, hot-shot.” Dienna challenged.

     “Okay!” With that, Ray took Dienna by her wrist and pulled her along to the music store. “Pick a chip.” He said.

     It took Dienna a moment, before she remembered that a chip is like a CD, only square. She pulled out one that had a picture of some fish-like aliens on it and handed it to Ray. Ray took it and put in a device that would let them hear a sample of the music.

     To Dienna, it was strange chattering noises that came out, however, to Ray, the noises meant something.

     “He says, ‘Follow your dreams until you die’” Ray translated. “’That’s the only way to fly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just make sure your dreams come true. That’s the right thing to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

     “How do I know you’re not just making that up.” Dienna asked.

     “You don’t.” Ray replied. “Unless you know Drenk.”

     “Do Drenks know English at all?” Dienna asked.

     “Yeah,” Ray replied. “My parents said that the Drenks adopted it as a second language in order to thank a group of people for freeing them from the Bandaa.”

     “What’s your dad’s name?” Dienna asked.

     “Jerry.” Ray replied. “Why?”

     “That’s one of the names Tyler mentioned.” Dienna said. “Your dad was one of the people who saved the Drenks from the Bandaa, wasn’t he?”

     “How’d you know?” Ray demanded.

     “I’m traveling with Twilight, and Tyler, who works at a café here, gave us the whole list. Jerry was one of them.” Dienna showed off.

     Ray growled.

     “What’s so bad about your dad being a hero?” Dienna asked.

     “It’s embarrassing.” Ray said. “Especially since I’m a klutz and I can’t do anything my parents want me to, and the only thing I’m good is shooting guns, and even then, I’m not very good.”

     “What do you mean, ‘not very good’?” Dienna demanded. “You were quite a challenge, yesterday! Some of those shots were incredible! Even I couldn’t have done some of those.  Besides that, I ran out of ammo before you did. I think you’re the better shooter.”

     “Then how come I lost?” Ray asked.

     “Because Tia is the best pilot this universe has ever seen.” Dienna said.

     “Ha, ha.” Ray remarked. “Do you want to go do something else?”

     “We could go to arcade and work on your shooting skills if you want to.” Dienna suggested.

     “I’ve got something cheaper back at the ship.” Ray said. “It’s a,”

     “Training module?” Dienna finished. “I thought so. We’ve got one, too.”

     “Okay, let’s go to my ship.” Ray said. “If we’re lucky, we can avoid my folks.”

     Dienna laughed a little before she followed Ray to his ship. It was docked about five ships to the right of Twilight’s ship.

     “Here we are.” Ray announced. “The Yellow Sun. Home, sweet home.”

     “You live in there?” Dienna was surprised. The ship was about half of the size that Twilight’s was.

     “Yeah. I can show you around, if you want.” Ray offered.

     “Whatever.” Dienna replied, sincerely cheerful.