“Oh
I think he did. Got upset you weren’t there. But he’s ok now. Sometimes
comes and searches the ship but yeah. There wonderful lovely
creatures.”“They are,” Carlos agreed. He’d never seen anything like them. “Gosh… I hope his parents are somehow able to let him know that it’s okay. Or… I dunno, Yondu… You, um… your species seems to have some minor telepathic abilities. I… I dunno if this is presuming too much, but… are you able to just…let him know I’m okay? I’m just asking – I don’t know what I’m talking about, so I’m just asking…”
“Don’t worry his parents took care of him and… Hmm I guess they can understand me in a way… I whistle and they understand that way I guess. Don’t worry it’s ok. Maybe someday you’ll see him again. But always remember he’ll be you soul traveler…. he’s a baby so that means you will have a long life. You’ll both be old before he carries you to Valhalla…”
What…? Carlos had wondered about what aliens believed regarding the afterlife, but the subject had just… never come up. Did they think space whales were basically boats to the afterlife? That… well, he could see that making sense as a belief.
“You believe in Valhalla?” he asked. That was a term that Carlos had thought was exclusive to Earth… well, until it was revealed that one of Earth’s heroes was actually an alien – a Norse alien, if there was such a thing.
The Perfect Scientist 