Voyage to a Court of Stars

"That's the last of it," said Emma, as she closed the hatch to the cargo bay. "All we have left is the crew quarters and the bridge."

"You've done a fine job," said Marci, his voice coming from a speaker near the ship's control panel. "I'm impressed."

Emma smiled at her lover. He was so handsome, even when he wasn't in human form. She'd been surprised when she first met him - he looked like a man, but had told her he was an alien from another world. It had taken her a while to get used to it all, but now here she was, about to set off for his home planet with him.

"It hasn't been easy" she replied, "but I've enjoyed every minute of it."

They looked at each other for a moment before they kissed, their lips pressing together tightly as they held each other close. They were both smiling as they pulled away from one another.

"We should get started on checking everything else over," said Emma, reluctantly moving away from Marci and walking up to the control panel. She pressed a button on it and lights flickered on around them as various systems inside the ship began to come online. "Oh! The view screen is working too!" she added excitedly, pulling up a display that showed a bright point in space ahead of them. "The star system where we'll be arriving soon."

"Very good," said Marci. "Let me know if you find anything we can fix before we leave orbit."

Emma nodded and started walking across the bridge towards the door to the crew quarters when her phone began to ring. She frowned slightly at seeing who it was calling her and paused before answering it. It had been almost two months since she'd spoken to him and after everything that had happened with him, including what she'd done to end their relationship, she didn't feel much like talking to him right now. The call ended after ten seconds without anyone picking up and Emma sighed before opening the door and heading through into the crew quarters. She kept walking until she got to her own room where she entered and shut the door behind her before sitting down on her bed and putting her head in her hands. She felt so tired, but knew that sleep would be hard to achieve as memories flooded back into her mind of how things used to be between them. She'd known for years that he was no good for her, but had never been able to break away from him until now - until she'd met Marci...