Greetings to you, dear readers and guests of my blog! I want to offer to your attention the continuation of my space epic called "Journey to the Unknown".
With its beginning, you can get acquainted with my blog or click on the parts links below.
Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

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If you remember, in the previous part of our story, we broke up with the main characters after they flew off in a spaceship along with the rescuers who had flown to their rescue.

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Journey into the unknown / On the ship...

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Together with Arthur, they provided me with a small, but very cozy cabin, equipped with a soft comfortable bed, a small bedside table and a computer desk, on which there was a device of unknown design.

Above the table was a round window in which the stars were visible.

The whole situation was maintained in the postmodern style: clear, smooth lines, nothing superfluous, everything is only the most necessary.

I was also pleased that there was a bathroom in the cabin. You can’t even imagine the bliss that I experienced when I got up under the elastic jets of warm water pouring out of the shower ... How long have I dreamed about it ...

No less bliss engulfed me from the feeling of fresh sheets sliding under a clean naked body, exuding a pleasant aroma.

Unnoticed by myself, I fell asleep and did not even hear the moment when Arthur got out of the shower and lay down next to me.

We slept no more than two hours, but we felt great. We didn’t have time to put ourselves in order, as the monitor lit up above the cabin door, and the girl who appeared in it invited us to the dining room in a pleasant voice.

Only the members of our crew and Red, the commander of the ship that sheltered us, gathered in it. He once again greeted us aboard his ship and said that our journey to the planet, where the spacecraft was heading, would take about 2-3 days.

So far, he has offered us to eat dishes cooked by a skilled chef, and rest, gain strength before disembarking on the planet, where he promised to organize for us an excellent tour of all known too many travelers, interesting and beautiful places. At the same time, we will be able to learn more from the history of the world in which we will soon find ourselves. Well, for now, we will be introduced to the ship itself. The captain's assistant will personally conduct an excursion for us in the very near future.

In conclusion, the captain of the ship said that he would like to personally meet each of us, to learn about the fate of which we were thrown onto that planet, from the surface of which he took us.

I will invite you to my cabin in turns, he said. - Do not worry, I'm not going to learn any secrets from you, I just like to learn something new, something unknown to me earlier. In addition, our meeting took place in an unusual situation.
Well, for now - enjoy your meal!
With these words, the commander bowed and left the dining room.

Only now I felt hungry and even miss the normal human food. When looking at the dishes before us, which exuded a delicate, captivating aroma, my stomach instantly shrank from the anticipation of a long-awaited delicacy and purred with impatience.

I pushed the plate closer to me with the first one. It looked like our earth soup. To taste, however, was also not very different, but there was a certain "zest" in it, apparently, it was given by some local spices.

A little satisfied, I cast a quick glance at my comrades. They, like me, all attention was focused on food. They ate silently, intently, without taking their eyes off the plates. It was immediately obvious that they were all hungry during our forced retreat on that planet.

Taking a plate with a second dish, I vainly tried to figure out what it was made of. The taste test also did not give me information about which plants and meat of the animal it was cooked from. My cosmobiologist's experience here is clearly not enough.

Leaving aside my attempts at the researcher, I began to enjoy the taste of this dish, which seemed to me simply divine.

Having had enough, Arthur and I returned to our cabin. Surprisingly, he was silent and thoughtful as ever.

Arthur, what's wrong with you? Are you alarmed about something? Or do you just do not like the dinner that we fed? - I asked him with a smile.
No, Zaya, it's not about lunch. It was very tasty and satisfying. I worry about what awaits us on the planet, where we are going. What kind of creatures inhabit it ... Judging by the appearance of the crew members of this ship, they are not much different from us.
They have not so strong muscles, a somewhat elongated skeleton, which means that their civilization is more technologically advanced even in comparison with ours, the earthly one, and the structure of their bodies may be due to conditions on their home planet, such as gravity and Atmosphere pressure. I think it is worthwhile to study this issue in more detail.
On the one hand, I am pleased that we will finally get to not the backward planet, which we encountered earlier, but where we will be able to find out in which part of the Universe we are, and how we can return home.

On the other ..., - he paused thoughtfully for a few minutes, and then said, - we do not know what they really are, how peaceful they are or, on the contrary, how belligerent. And whether we bring to the Earth uninvited guests in their face ...
Let's not pre-fill ourselves with assumptions about what we do not know. - I said.
I think a lot will be clarified during the conversation with the captain. But we will go together, together as one, a separate team, as representatives of the Earth.
Then we began to admire the stars as they passed by the ship, the design of which was also unknown to us.

I don’t even know how long we stood there, spellbound by the magic of the cosmos. Gradually, my thoughts turned again to the dream of a house, about how we would be met there when we finally returned to Earth.

The voice of the girl sounded from the monitor, led me out of a state of dreamy thoughtfulness. She again invited everyone to gather in the dining room for dinner.

This time the commander was not there. Only members of our crew gathered in the dining room. All of them already felt quite relaxed, tension in their faces, the stiffness of movements disappeared ...

During dinner, we exchanged impressions. Some of us have already visited the captain, but could not tell anything interesting. The usual questions about simple things - who, where and how came on the planet. Actually, what else could he ask ordinary cosmonauts?

After dinner, we wandered around the ship, looked in on a visit to friends, and then again watched the stars for a long time.
The night passed quietly. We finally rested and were full of strength.

Shortly after breakfast, the assistant captain led us through the main spaceships of the ship, talked about the purpose of certain devices and mechanisms unknown to us, and also told us that this ship was partially made up of living matter. Yes-ah, the technology they had developed at the highest level, we still have to grow and grow to this.

Shortly after the tour, we were finally invited to the cabin to the captain.

It was also furnished in the Startan style. Nothing more, just what you need for a short rest. A small excess could be considered the presence in the cabin of a small bar with alcohol, whom the captain decided to treat us. Since we were unfamiliar with these varieties of wine, we completely relied on the taste of the owner of these drinks.

Red chose a red, tart wine, poured it into glasses and served it to us. For some time we silently enjoyed his divine taste, and only then the conversation began.

Basically, I said alone. Arthur, as always, preferred to shift to my fragile female shoulders the difficult task of negotiating.

I described our planet in detail, told everything I knew about the destination and the goals of our expedition, which failed as a result of a catastrophe in an unknown part of the Galaxy.

I also told him that my rescue capsule had landed on a small planet, where, by lucky chance, I met my lover, who was with me on that same expedition. I also told that we helped local scientists build a spacecraft and begin exploring outer space in order to find a more advanced civilization that could help us in our search for a way home.

The captain silently listened to my confession, occasionally inserting leading questions or commenting on what I said.

Then he paused for a bit and then promised on arrival on his planet to talk with some of his superiors and friends and ask them to help us.

The commander also kindly agreed to tell us about his planet Ergan, about how it is equipped, what its natural landscape, flora, and fauna are.

When he learned that I was a biologist by profession and was collecting exotic animals for the zoo, Red said that I was in for a real paradise. He was sure that I had never seen animals living on his home planet.

Satisfied with the conversation, we parted with the friendly host friends, and went to our cabin, making rosy plans for the future.

Having decided to have a good rest before disembarking on an unknown planet, we went to bed early and woke up only at dawn, shortly before the ship flew to the planet and began to decline ...

Gathered on the captain's bridge, we looked with delight at the huge ball, somewhat similar to our Earth, the outlines of the continents and the water surface of the oceans.

The starship entered the dense layers of the atmosphere and began to descend to the surface of the planet ...

To be continued...