“Mostly here. They only come up to ships they recognize. So It’s good to see big daddies pod again.”
Carlos hummed and nodded. “How… how does the rest of the
crew react to them? Do they like space-whales?” They probably weren’t called that, but Carlos was hoping his communicator, or Yondu’s, would translate the term for him.“We call them voids. Or void spirits. But the crew respect them. It has been known that if they happen upon a ship then have saved lives before.”
Carlos nodded. “Sort of like dolphins,” he said, though of
course he didn’t expect Yondu to understand that. “I see. It’s good to hear
that your crew respect them. I… no offense, but I was honestly a bit worried.”“Rightfully so. But all space pirates respect them. Those that don’t do not live long.” Lands back at the ship but doesn’t let him go.
Carlos just let Yondu hold him for a little bit longer, as
they were talking. “Do the spirits deal with people who try to hurt them?”
Carlos honestly couldn’t blame them if they did.“Every now and then you’ll see wreckage…… and star dust surrounding it…. so we say yes. That’s why you respect them….”
“Oh… wow,” Carlos said softly. That was… a terrifying
concept, but… actually kind of a great one. Only idiots and monsters would be
punished really, it seemed.“Otherwise they are as you saw. Calm gentle creatures. And today. You made a friend.”
Carlos chuckled. “Yeah, I… I guess I did.” He looked at
Yondu. “Hey… can I get those pictures onto my datapad? Next time we’re
planet-side, I wanna see if I can get them printed.” It’d be tough to convert
them to a file that could go onto his phone, so he figured he could show his
dad and brother physical copies when he got back home.“Sure. Get ya a nice little old booklet to hold all the pictures. Gonna have a whole bunch to show yer folks.”
Carlos smiled and nodded. “Yeah – I’d like that,” he said. “Great
idea.” He then thought for a moment. “I think my dad would like you. After he
and my brother get over the ‘aliens exist’ thing… I think they would like to
meet you.”“Yeah… maybe. Who knows right.” Nuzzles.
Carlos chuckled softly. “Well, you ‘nose’,” he joked. He laughed at his own bad pun, but then quickly
stopped. “Uh, sorry if that didn’t translate… I was making a pun. My bad, if
you didn’t understand it…” Damn. It just slipped out – he hadn’t been able to
make puns so he tried to give up on them.Yondu couldn’t help but laugh and presses there foreheads together and nuzzles. “So the nose …knows…. hmmmm…. well I nose something. I want to kiss you…” tips his head up and kisses him.
Carlos laughed softly, a little embarrassed. But also
because Yondu was kissing his space helmet in between them. “Yondu, that’s…
that’s not working,” he giggled. But then he sighed audibly. “But I guess it’ll
do,” he said and he leaned forward in his helmet to kiss his own glass.Smiles at him. “Let’s finish up here then go warm up under my thick furs. I’m not a fan of the cold.”
“It’d be colder without
the suits,” Carlos told him. But he understood – he worried a little bit that
his fingers would go numb if he stayed out for too much longer. He gently
pushed away enough, still keeping a grip on Yondu, and turned to begin working
again.
After a while he decided to ask: “Do you understand English?”
The Perfect Scientist 