Mavin's Epic Odyssey

Mavin was a little bit nervous.

"Dad? Dad, are you there?" Mavin pressed the button on his phone with a gloved finger. "Can you hear me?"

"I'm here, Mave." Dad's voice was slow, but his face was smiling through the screen of the device. "Where are you now?"

"Just outside of Arachnia, Dad. We're about to dock in about an hour, then I'll make my way to your location." Mavin looked out at the star-speckled darkness around him. The sky was black as space, with just the dimmest hint of stars and planets in the distance. Every now and again he saw a shooting star streak across the sky. It made him feel small and alone. "I've never been this far from home before."

"You're doing fine," Dad said reassuringly. "Your mother and I are so proud of you for making this journey to find me." He frowned slightly as he looked at Mavin's eyes, which were closed for some reason. "Are you okay? You seem a little...tired."

Mavin opened his eyes and smiled back at him, then turned away from the camera for a moment to give himself a couple of seconds to clear his head a little. It wasn't easy being so far from his parents; not only had he not seen them since they left Earth over three years ago, but they had no way of being in contact with each other while they were aboard different ships hopping through space towards their new home world of Snotritha - where Mavin's father worked as a biologist studying new species of fish. His mother had joined him not long after he'd arrived, and they'd decided that it would be better if Mavin stayed with her on the planet while they waited for their new house to be built.

"I'm okay...just missing you guys is all," Mavin replied with a sigh, then flashed a winning smile into the camera again as he added "But I'll be there soon! Just one more day!"

Ten minutes later...

"So, how do we get there?" Mavin asked as she and Cudgel returned to their cabin after dinner. They'd met in the crew mess hall, where people from all over the ship would eat together without worrying about upsetting anyone - each species seemed to have their own eating area when it came time for them to dine alone. At first Cudgel had thought it was rather strange that humans would want to spend time inside eating...but now she understood why they did it: it seemed that everyone wanted some time off from their own kind while they ate. Everyone except her and Mavin; he'd been happy to eat with her anyway. And she'd been happy to have him join her for sure! He really was quite handsome for someone who looked like he'd been grown inside a watering can! But now she had something important to share with him...something she didn't want him to feel bad about later on when he found out what she needed help with: finding out how to get from here on board ship over to where her family lived aboard another ship called the Oceanus Rex...where they could finally find each other again! She smiled excitedly at him and began opening up her suitcase...

"Is this going to work?" Cudgel asked as she held up a thin sheet of metal shaped like a tube with an open end on one side. The metal looked light but strong...and it would fit perfectly around her body and help her sink down into the water whenever she wanted it to! That way she could let go near the surface of deep ocean waters without getting caught by strong winds or waves!

"That's right! This is something called an 'M-suit'! It's made especially for people who visit water worlds like ours who need help staying underwater for long periods of time. The air inside will help you float like we do in space so that you can breathe without having to swim underwater all day like us fish folk do. But if you want to move faster underwater than us fish folk do, then just put more pressure on the front end of your body using these two buttons here, then push harder against things using your feet so that air inside is forced out - that'll make you sink faster!" Cudgel showed him how this worked by squeezing both buttons until her head went below water (that part made her giggle!) before holding one button only and pushing harder against his arm; with that one simple movement, she was able to swim underwater against his arm, with her eyes even under water! Wow! That was awesome!!

"This is great!" Mavin exclaimed.

"It was very expensive though," Cudgel said softly as she watched him play with it some more. "It cost me most of my savings, but I think it'll be worth it once we get there tomorrow!"

"Well, I'm happy to