And anyway, Hickory and Dickory were sitting out this celebration. They were aware they made most of the humans nervous.

"I was actually thinking of your parents," Enzo said. "Although they seem to be missing, too." Enzo motioned with his head to where John and Jane had been standing a few minutes before; now neither of them were there. I saw Savitri leaving the common area as well, as if she suddenly had someplace to be.

"I wonder where they went," I said, mostly to myself.

"They're the colony leaders," Enzo said. "Maybe now they have to start working."

"Maybe," I said. It was unusual for either John or Jane to disappear without telling me where they were going; it was just a common courtesy. I fought back the urge to message them on my PDA.

"So, the observation lounge," Enzo said, getting himself back to the topic at hand. "You want to check it out?"

"It's on the crew deck," I said. "You think we might get in trouble?"

"Maybe," Enzo said. "But what can they do? Make us walk the plank? At worst they'll just tell us to get lost. And until then we'll have a heck of a view."

"All right," I said. "But if Magdy turns into all tentacles, I'm leaving. There are some things I don't need to see."

Enzo laughed. "Fair enough," he said, and I snuggled into him a little. This new boyfriend thing was turning out just fine.

We spent some more time celebrating with our friends and their families. Then, after things had settled down enough, we followed Magdy and Gretchen through the Magellan and toward the crew observation lounge. I thought sneaking into the crew area might be a problem; not only was it easy, but a crew member coming out of an entrance held it open for us.