A Fluid Strangely

The rusty humming of the ventilator signals to Nigel that his brain is probably waking up to the reality he endured for two months already. His aching limbs from the hard bunk bed add to the sensation and a small sigh of mental exhaustion escapes his lips.

Uff, another day. Last day.

The monotony ends today, that Nigel knows. Yet, it was one night too much, one dull sensation too lasting. Wearily he lifts himself up with a crouching back for not bumping his head against the low ceiling above. Then, he pulls his socks up.

Normally, socks are considered to be cozy and well, they are. But if you wear them all the time, even the coziest socks start to feel like a pressure band. Nigel reached this state.

Groaning, he starts his morning routine with the prospect that he will have a brief meeting with the ship's captain before the landing procedure starts. He needs to be on time.

##

She lets herself sink into the comforting seat behind her office desk. It's been a busy morning and a few minutes of calm solitude feel like a treasure. But there is no time for idleness. The meeting with Nigel starts soon and so she is preparing her data for his briefing.

She scans through some files and then suddenly pulls her gaze away from the screen and focuses on the abacus she had put on her desk.

Today is the day a real mathematician will see the sea. Finally.

And only a few minutes later, Nigel enters.

He peers at the abacus of hers with interest and then takes his seat opposite to her and her office desk. She gestures a welcome and starts,

"Today is the day."

"Yeah, it is," He sighs in agreement.

"So, let's walk the landing procedure through and then talk about the moon."

"Frankly, I would like to skip directly to the moon. The landing procedure, that I learned by heart already."

The captain raises her brows, "Oh good good, so directly to the moon then. I like that."

"Yeah, I have a question about that," he thumbles his tablet out of one of his pockets, "You wrote something about a bonfire?"

She nods, "Yeah, we need that to shoo away the Lendon Hornets."

"Hornets?"

"Well, their discoverer, Mr. Lendon, thought they are similar to hornets but I do rather see a proximity to terrestrial mosquitoes." She smiles to underline the irony and Nigel utters an "Oh uh!"

Then he adds, "Okay, I didn't have a bonfire on earth since my childhood. Particularly not with green fire as you wrote, so it's quite an oddity to me."

"Yeah, it comes along with the high amount of Borax at the shore's sand. It's odd, but frankly, I like green fires."

And then, she takes a deep breath to change the subject, "But talking about unusual mixes of substances: You need to see the physician in one hour to get your breathing implant injected."

"Yikes!" His grimaces tell everything about his dislike.

"Well, it's still better than a full tight suit and a breathing mask, trust me."

"I know. Still, it gives me the creeps," he counters as a matter of fact.

But she smiles and folds her hands, "Yet you will be rewarded with the astonishing experience at the moon's unknown ocean for which we are really grateful that you, a mathematician, are willing to take a look at."