He was flipping through a report on his tablet with a look of annoyance. Noila had dressed in the suit she had arrived in and taken one small bag of things she had collected while she was in Antarctica. “Hello, Noila.” The captain’s tone was flat. “I need to take that from you.” He pointed to the bag. “Sure. Thanks for helping.” She looked around at the empty station. “Is anyone else coming? I thought I was going to be late.” “It’s just you, and you can’t bring anything back that hasn’t been approved, so whatever’s in that bag, you can leave here or I can destroy it for you.” “Oh, uh, well, since I’ll likely be coming back, can you have them hold it here for me? “Will do.” He took her bag and threw it on top of one of the round disks, which disappeared beneath the ground. “It’ll be here when you get back,” he grunted. “Now let’s go.” “You’re running the whole ship back just for me?” “You’re my only passenger, but this is a supply run, and I need to get back to my ship too.
