Star Seekers: Igniting Jerom's Universe

The airlock door opened and a wisp of pink hair floated in front of my face. “Oh my god, Jerom, you’re so cute! I’ve missed you so much!”

I pushed Dr. Ocbir out of the way. “Dr. Ocbir, she’s here now. I can see her, and it’s *not* fair that you get to be with her all the time down there and I have to wait so long to see her again!”

Dr. Ocbir was still looking over at his smartphone as he floated. He finally noticed me in front of him and held up his hand for me to stop talking. “Just a moment, Jerom, let me check on something.” He began typing again on his phone.

I turned to Mr. Cheese who was still lying facedown on the floor. “What are we going to do?” I asked him. “She’s here now, but we don’t know how long that will last! We need to say something to her, or else she might not remember us when she goes back home.”

Mr. Cheese didn't answer me. I leaned down closer to him and whispered in his ear, “This is our chance! We may never get another one like this again... What if they give her amnesia or something and forget about us?”

He slowly turned towards me until he was facing me head-on. His face was covered with blue and green bubbles that made it look like he had a beard and mustache; it would have been funny if it wasn't for the serious look on his face right now. “She won't forget us, Jerom, she's just being polite by introducing herself to you first. She knows who we are... You're not going to scare her away by spouting your wordplay nonsense at her before she even gets inside the ship!” He turned back around and faced the wall of the airlock again; his voice sounded muffled but I could still hear what he said: “You'll scare her away with your stupid wordplay... Just let her talk for a second; maybe then she'll be able to remember us too... Oh nooo— oh nooo! The bubbles are starting to pop... Now she's gonna think I'm a big meanie-head! And then she'll leave before I can ask her out— AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!”

The rest of Mr Cheese's words were muffled as well, but I could make out most of them anyway: “This is all your fault, Jerom!! Why did you have to go *there*?! Why did you have to find *that*?! Why did you have to bring *it* back?! You've doomed us all!! It's all your fault!! You've doomed us all!! It's all your fault!! You've doomed us all!!! It's all your fault!!! You've doomed us all!!! It's all your fault!!! You've doomed us… ow ow ow ow ow ow ow....”

I stuck my fingers into my ears and tried covering up my eyes with my hands but the bubbles kept popping no matter what I did. Whenever I uncovered my eyes I could only see white dots everywhere (and sometimes orange dots), but whenever I uncovered my ears the bubbles continued popping no matter what I did (and sometimes red dots).

Finally, there were no more bubbles popping anywhere in my field of vision or hearing. Mr Cheese stopped crying out loud too; apparently he went quiet when he realized that there were no more bubbles left in front of him either... That didn't mean that there weren't any left behind him though because when he turned around again even more bubbles popped right behind him… Right after that more bubbles popped right in front of him… And even more popped right behind him again….