“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.
“We all are a bit different but it all comes down to Valhalla for those called warriors. I’m a ravager… we believe in a form of Valhalla. We’re like space warriors…. we have a code. We’re honor bound… we fight great battles at times… kinda like…. uhhhh As petey says… uhh Vikings or pirates I guess. And we belive were guided to Valhalla’s gates by those space critters out there.
“Huh,” Carlos said as he pondered. “That… sounds pretty nice, actually. Valhalla, um.. what is it to you? Is it a paradise?”
“In a way yes…. it’s the absolute… the final…. we stand in the halls of great warriors….. we drink, and eat with honor…. and we watch the world around us…… time is nothing…. but everything is perfect…. the food and drink unending…. and the companionship of our fellows eternal…….”
“Huh,” Carlos said softly. “On Earth, um… Valhalla is all that… but the legend says that there’s going to be a big fight between the realms and the warriors who died and resided in Valhalla would rise again to fight for the good of everyone. Or… something like that… I’m honestly not well versed in the Norse belief system…”
“Norse? That’s what all warriors of space belive too. Thatcwe are honored in breath and will rise to life when it was time to be summoned.”
“That’s… just what it’s called here on Earth,” Carlos explained. “There’s probably thousands of religions here on Earth – Norse is just one of them. Honestly, for a while I thought it was a dead religion. But that was before we had an actual Asgardian appear to help save the world.” He chuckled softly.
“Wait! One of the warrior gods actually came and saved terra! I …. wow… I hope someday to be honored with a drink with one in the halls of asguard….”
Carlos smiled slightly at Yondu’s apparent excitement. “Yeah, he… he did,” he said. “It was, um… It was Thor, the God of Thunder, if that means anything to you space-faring people. From tabloids and rumors, it sounds like Stark has great Avengers parties, especially when Thor’s in town.”
“And he dines and parties with mortal terrans?! I may have to get into one of those. Damn… that’s….. do those terrans even know how big of a honor that is?!”
Carlos’ smile grew wider. “Well, I think the Avengers might have some idea… I mean, he’s their friend and all. Others probably think he’s just taken up the title of Thor… I mean, I did until I did the whole space adventure thing.
“One of his friends here is the guy I mentioned earlier… um, Iron Man. One of Earth’s heroes.”
“Friends! With a literal god!! Oh dear Odin!! Shit Odins legitly real! Forgive me Odin for saying your name without honor!! Fuck!!!” Jumps up knocking the tablet over and starts doing the ravager prayer of forgiveness.
Carlos stared at the communicator in shock and in some concern. “Uh, Yondu? Yondu, are you okay? Yondu!”
Picks it up and nods to him. “Fine. I’m fine… was just sending a forgiveness prayer to Odin father of Thor god of thunder..”
“Uh, yeah, I … I saw that,” Carlos said. “You just dropped the comm though, and… I didn’t really know what I was looking at.”
Yondu smilesand sighs. “Love you carlos. I miss you and … can’t wait to get to terra to see you again…”
Carlos blinked. He smiled shyly at Yondu. “I miss you too,” he said. “I… I look forward to seeing you too. And the boys, of course. Just… It’ll be great all around, I think.”
The Perfect Scientist 