Jillian in Space Part 11
Within four hours’ time, the space station was in sight. Squirming slightly in her seat, Jillian yearned to leave the cramped quarters of the shuttle and begin the final prep work on Meowolf, which was her pride and joy. It had been a few hard days and Jillian couldn’t wait until the station was fully operational and she was back on earth celebrating her success with Spooky. They’d go to the finest restaurant and order the $500 dollar lobster dinner. Afterwards, they’d dance under the full moon, and as they nuzzled each other’s ear, they’d whisper their love to each other. Jillian sighed, the sight of his black masculine fur made her feel all giddy inside, not that she’d ever admit that to him, for a girl needs to keep her man on his toes.
A sudden jolt, followed by a loud clank jarred Jillian from her present dream. As the shuttle fully locked onto the station, Jillian undid her buckle and clamored to the bulkhead door. Making sure her oxygen was functioning, she twisted the handled. With a hiss, it swung open, revealing a white plastic tunnel that connected the shuttle to the space station. Cautiously, Jillian stepped through the opening and slowly made her way to the other side. Lifting her paw, she banged on the door to the station. There was no response, Jillian banged again. The ear piece in her helmet crackled and she heard a dog bark, “I’ll be there in a second. Ten minutes later, the door creaked open and Jillian forced her way inside.
Unsealing her helmet, she flipped up the visor and spat at the tall black dog, “What took you so long,”
“I was...ah…checking the life support,” the dog replied quickly. “We don’t want that to fail, do we?”
“Huh,” Jillian remarked with a huff. “And I don’t suppose that the crunchy peanut butter smear on your paw has any bearing on the functioning of the station, does it?”
“Oh, I just used it to patch life support together,” the dog replied with a smirk.
Jillian stopped and turned, “What? You better not have gotten a single drop of peanut butter in any part of my station. This is a finely tuned…”
“Star is teasing you,” Max said walking in behind them. “All this time in space, she needs to let off steam somehow.”
“She better be,” Jillian snapped, narrowing her eyes at Star. “If I find one thing out of place or gummed up with peanut butter, that dog is going to pay.”
“Calm down,” Max replied reassuringly. “I promise that Star is a professional, you can count on her to get the job done.”
“Okay…” Jillian replied slowly. “I trust you, Max. Let me change out of this bulky space suit and then we’ll get down to work.
