The ship was finally coming into dock now. It was not that the trip had been long, but that the passengers, or just  two in particular, had been very anxious to leave the ship. They had left Earth only a few days ago, but hiding a stow-away on a ship on a military vessel like this had been more than a little difficult. But they had finally arrived at the first stop as the ship once again took up it’s continual celestial journey.

Ceri’s had a firm hold on Andrew’s hand and he led him down from the ship to the dock. Andrew Rafflesia, right now disguised as any other military personnel smiled warily to his companion who offered a smile in return. He hadn’t snuck aboard and to this planet to carry out some kind of grand plan for espionage, no, this was something much more intimate. While Ceri was bound by his duty to leave Earth and return to his home planet of Venus, Andrew had no such ties to Earth. He left the place that had been his home for so long, and followed Ceri, because living without him didn’t seem like an option.

The blonde in the lead stopped abruptly once they had gotten to the colony lying beneath the boiling surface of the planet.

“We’re here….,” he was a little breathless from excitement. “This is my home…”

Andrew returned the grin and took of the hat that had been part of his disguise, letting  his reddish-brown dreads hang in front of his face (this clean-pressed look really wasn’t his style), and took a look around him. He took in the high cavernous walls that had been carved into for a decade now as the colony slowly grew. White lights hung from the walls, all connected to some unseen generator, most likely kept elsewhere, and the packed dirt that made up the floor created dust as others walked along.

“It’s great, Ceri. It’s really….” He wasn’t sure how to describe it, this place seemed rather simple.

Ceru chuckled a little and started to pull Andrew along again, down a large passageway that everyone else seemed to be taking.

“This is just a receiving area, we mostly just unload cargo here. The real colony is…here!”

He pushed Andrew ahead of him to let him see for himself. The place seemed like a small city, some of the buildings even resembled miniature skyscrapers. There were people hovering above them on some kind of machines , and lights seemed to be glowing at him from the distance.

Andrew dreads whipped around as he turned back to Ceri.

“I didn’t think it was going to be like this. You said it was new, I guess you guys bloomed pretty quickly.” He likes plant puns…..

“Come on,” he said as he grabbed Andrew’s hand and began to lead again.” I’m taking you to my house, this place isn’t really big, you’ll see most of it on the way there…You don’t mind right?” He frowned a bit and continued on. “I’ve been gone for a year, I really want to see my parents…and maybe have them meet you…”

Andrew offered Ceri a nervous smile which he returned quietly as they went on. Andrew could already tell this might be a little awkward…