Twinks in Space: Fantastic Voyage - Part Two - 13. Chapter 13 - Volcanologists

Lyoth and Stawren were aboard the Galaxy Surfer again. The two were about to leave the trio of planets inside the Aergoroth Nebula, and they were looking at the list that the scientist had given them.

“Four ingredients,” Lyoth stated, “granitewood from Jitha in place of the ancient petrified calstos that they said is almost used up in the universe. It will be interesting to visit my home planet again after so many years. I hope we’re reunited with Phentrom and the others before then; I’d like him to come with us.”

Stawren brought her hand to Lyoth’s arm. “I hope you’re reunited with him soon.” She read the next item. “Solidified doziniath, along with the four locations the scientists knew about.” She pointed at the next item on the list. “If we’re going for the volcanic parstiline first, the nearest of these doziniath locations is this one.” Stawren shifted her fingertip to one of the star map positions.

“And last, talsimite crystals,” Lyoth stated, “which we’re supposed to somehow get from godstroll blood. I guess we’ll just have to figure that out later.” He sucked his teeth and said, “Okay, so, parstiline, I’m not looking forward to dealing with the volcanic planet. What did they say it was called?”

Stawren pulled out her device. “I made a note. The volcanic moon is called Eckas-3, and the system is named after the only planet with life, where the research center is located, the Issdur system.” She punched in the coordinates and the Galaxy Surfer lifted off the surface of Pilia. “On to Issdur first, they should have whatever we need to collect the parstiline.”

The scientists of the Aergoroth Nebula had provided the Galaxy Surfer with a new hyper-shielding system that allowed the ship to slip through the gas and dust of the nebula smoothly. When it was free of the cloud, Stawren activated the cavitation engine. Its timer indicated there were only seventeen minutes of flight time.

Lyoth looked over at Stawren.

She turned to him. “What? What is it?”

“Stawren, would you please tell me a little about your wife?”

Stawren looked surprised and startled, and she let out a single grunt noise that was full of sudden sorrow and deepest loss.

“I’m sorry,” Lyoth quickly added. “You don’t need to tell me anything. I know it’s only been like two months.”

Stawren took a breath. “Viotij was my everything.”

Lyoth repeated himself at a whisper. “I’m so sorry.”

Stawren began to quietly cry, but she said, “No, no, I want to talk about her. I’ve spent a lot of time trying not to think about losing her. Viotij used to call me her Little Star.” Stawren let out a small laugh through her tears. “She was two years older than me, tall, muscular, much bigger than me, but she was so gentle and sweet and compassionate. Viotij may have looked like she could’ve taken on anyone, but she was mellow and always ready with a joke or a burn or a read. She was hilarious, and she laughed often and easily.” Stawren did not stop the tears that trickled down her cheeks, and she added with a chuckle, “Viotij was not a good cook, but she could prepare cups of tea like an artist. She scented her skin with lavender, and she always smelled flowery. She was my counterpart; I was the best version of myself – my favorite version of myself – when we were together. We got married on the beach. It was a cheap ceremony because we had very little, but our friends were there, and we partied for over three days and nights.” Stawren let out a laugh through her tears. “Viotij was the best part of me. She was the heart of me.”

Stawren fell silent.

“I’m so sorry she’s gone,” Lyoth said quietly.

Four quiet minutes later, the Galaxy Surfer exited hyperspace.

A map of the system appeared on the screen.

Stawren pointed at the planet labeled Eckas. “The moon orbits this gas giant.”

“And the volcanology center is on this one,” Lyoth added, indicating Issdur.

They plotted the short journey through the system, and they arrived above a rocky planet a few minutes later.

“Where are the cities?” Lyoth asked. “There’s not much down there.”

Stawren punched a command into the terminal in front of her. “It says the center is on the other side of the planet, in the only settlement, a place called Wilg Town.”

A moment later, the Galaxy Surfer had already arrived, and it began its landing descent. The ship touched down in a flat region outside of the small rundown city, and the two warriors exited the vessel.

Lyoth turned back to look at it, pulled a remote control out of his pocket, and pressed its button. The hyper-shield activated, and Lyoth smiled. “Thank you, Ilial!”

“It was a good idea to have the scientists add an advanced security system to the Galaxy Surfer,” Stawren replied.

“It was heartbreaking to lose the Quasar Queen,” Lyoth added. “We won’t be letting that happen again.”

He and Stawren approached one of the city gates. This place isn’t very impressive,” she said under her breath as they entered.

“Welcome to Wilg Town!” a woman called out to them. “Are you part of a research team?”

“We’re not,” Stawren admitted. “We are hoping to acquire a substance that I believe is called parstiline.”

The woman was surprised. “Why are you looking for that? It’s just waste material, and it disintegrates quickly. We don’t collect it or keep it here; it wouldn’t last anyway.”

Lyoth patted his bag. “We’ve been given a containment unit that is supposed to halt its degradation.”

“But besides the container,” Stawren added, “we don’t have any gear that can collect the parstiline, so can you direct us to an equipment depot where we can pick up some supplies?”

The woman frowned at them and commented in a doubtful tone, “Well, I guess you should head over to Fire God’s shop. It’s just down the way,” and she pointed.

“We are much obliged,” Stawren said as she and Lyoth made their way along one of the dingy streets.

“Not many people around,” he commented as he looked down a few alleyways. He leaned closer to Stawren. “Why do you suppose the scientists acted like parstiline is a common thing for volcanologists to collect, but that woman told us otherwise?”

Stawren shrugged at him. “It’s a mystery. Hey, look, there’s the sign for Fire God’s Heat Equipment Shop.” She scrunched up her face. “What are those other symbols? Is that another language?”

The two entered, approached a man behind a counter, and Lyoth informed him, “We need gear for collecting parstiline.” He quickly added, “It’s for a low-temperature experiment.” Lyoth hoped that if the man thought there was some purpose for the parstiline, he would be less likely to question them.

The man nodded. “Tell me the gear you need and I’ll grab it out of the back.”

“Well, we don’t know what we need,” Lyoth admitted.

The man was confused about more than just the parstiline. “You don’t know what you need? Well, I’m not a volcanologist; I just run this shop. Scientists come in here and tell me what they need, not the other way around. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you may need to talk to an expert, and since you two aren’t experts, I think you ought to track down someone who is.”

Lyoth and Stawren were frustrated by his reply.

“You can’t just tell us what other researchers take out into the field?” he asked.

“I refuse to take responsibility for whatever might happen to you two,” the man behind the counter said flatly.

Stawren grabbed Lyoth’s hand, and she urged him outside. “That conversation was going nowhere. Let’s find a pub and see who’s there.” She looked up at the darkening sky. “The sun’ll set soon, and people will be heading to dinner. Let’s join them.”

Lyoth conceded, and a moment later, they entered a tavern called the Worm’s Ear.

“Weird name,” Lyoth commented.

“Do worms even have ears,” Stawren added.

The two warriors found what they were looking for in the busy pub. Not only was a group of volcanologists right in the middle of a presentation at a large table in one corner, but quite a few other people were dressed in jumpsuits with their science team names printed on the fabric.

Lyoth and Stawren approached the counter and were greeted by the barkeep. The man had a thick accent.

“Hallo, strangers, whot’ll et be?”

Stawren pointed behind him. “I want one of those house specialties, but I can’t pronounce the name of it.”

There were a lot of consonants.

“One glazz o’ tsdvriglvrti, comin’ right op!” the man replied.

Stawren raised her eyebrows at the sound of the word.

“Make it two,” Lyoth added.

“Two glazzez o’ tsdvriglvrti,” the barkeep stated, and he set to work preparing them.

One of the patrons at the bar leaned toward the two new arrivals. “Good choice,” she said with a toothy smile, “you’ll like it. That’s what I’m drinking.”

Lyoth stuck out his hand to the woman. “The name’s Lyoth, and may I present to you the rebel hero Stawren. This is our first time to your planet.”

“Oh, I ain’t from this rock,” the woman replied with a laugh. “I don’t think anyone is from Issdur. We just all come here for research. You can call me Valli.”

The barkeep placed the two glasses of tsdvriglvrti onto the countertop. “Enjoy! Ye be needin’ anyfing ta eat?”

Lyoth looked over at Valli. “What do you recommend?”

Valli turned to the barkeep. “Give ’em each a bowl of ristral,” she ordered.

“Comin’ right op!” The barman turned and headed into his kitchen.

“What’s ristral?” Stawren asked.

“Pasta!” Valli declared.

Lyoth chuckled. “We’ve eaten pasta together before,” he said to Stawren.

They each took a sip of their beverages. The tsdvriglvrti tasted sparkly.

“So, what things involving volcanoes brings you two to our little corner of the universe?” Valli asked. “There’s no other reason folks come here.”

“We’re connected with a group of scientists,” Stawren explained, “and they want to conduct some experiments on volcanic parstiline, but we don’t know how to collect it, so we’re hoping to find some volcanologists who can help us get it on Eckas-3.”

“Parstiline?” Valli replied. “Why would anyone want to deal with that junk?”

Stawren and Lyoth were confused.

“What do you mean?” he asked. “What’s wrong with it? We know that it’s volcanic and it breaks down quickly, but that’s about all we know so far.”

“Parstiline is a nasty substance,” Valli said with a scowl. “Getting to Eckas-3 is easy enough, but parstiline? It bubbles up from fissures in the area surrounding the volcanoes. It’s reddish-brown, the consistency of molasses but even stickier, and it stinks worse than rotten strizlizard eggs.”

“Ewww,” Lyoth replied.

“Exactly!” Valli confirmed. “And I’ve never heard of any uses for it. What’s your group trying to do?”

Stawren shrugged. “Something more advanced than we understand.” She indicated herself and Lyoth.

“I see; you’re the worker bees, the drones,” Valli said with a knowing nod. “Look, I’ve never dealt with the stuff, but I can have my shuttle auto-pilot you to where there should be eructation sites of parstiline on Eckas-3. I can also loan you both suits and the tools we use for collecting samples of molten rock. It might work in the same way with the parstiline since it’s also liquidy.”

“Wow,” Stawren replied, “that’s extremely generous of you.”

Valli was curious and wondered what the scientist wanted it for. She focused on Lyoth and Stawren, “Anyway, all this will need to wait until morning. My team made the journey earlier today, and our ship is recharging. Enjoy your tsdv…” she did not get out the pronunciation… “your ts-difficult to say!”

“Tsdvriglvrti!” the barkeep declared as he exited the kitchen with plates of pasta in each hand. He set them down in front of Lyoth and Stawren.

They enjoyed their meals and a few more rounds of drinks with Valli, and when they left, she directed them to the only inn in town.

“I’ll come back and meet you here in the morning,” Valli told them, and she left Lyoth and Stawren for the night.