Stupid jerk had done it again. Made her want to smile, even though she wanted to hate him so much. The man truly had written the book when it came to being a chauvinistic pig. He was a jerk. Someone she should steer clear of, and she tried, truly she did, but each time she got to the point that she wanted to smother him in his sleep, he did something to surprise, something so utterly male and hot. In this case, complimenting her ass, an ass she’d worried was a little too wide. An ass that always seemed a little too snug in the pants she bought. An ass he thought was sexy.

It made a girl want to march back in there, grab him by the shirt, and shove him up against a wall to steal a kiss.

Like seriously want to.

She didn’t, though, but mostly because Annabelle, in a tone much too sulky for a computer, announced, “The rings of Saturn are eminent. Do you still wish to collect a sample of the debris, Captain?”

We’re close to Saturn? A real planet!

Emma knew the ship hadn’t spoken to her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t curious. As Rafe strode out of the kitchen and recreation area, she tagged after him, biting her tongue instead of interrupting his instructions to his ship.

“Yes, I still want a sample of the debris and get us as close as you can to the surface of the moon we found.”

“Which moon, Captain?”

“Dumb question, Annabelle. There’s only one that’s interesting enough to warrant a second look. The one with the atmosphere. I want to gather some more readings. I had time, while on Earth, to analyze the ones we recorded as we came through the system. A few things stood out, so I’d like to grab a second set.”

“Does this mean I’m going to get to see Saturn?” Emma exclaimed, forgetting her ire in the face of her excitement.

While Rafe didn’t look back as he took the stairs at the end of the hall, he did reply. “You can see it from the safety of the ship. Saturn is not a safe place to visit. It’s comprised mostly of gas, with winds that would strip your bones in less than a second.”

“Then why are you getting a sample from it?”

He answered, even as he disappeared from sight, having stepped onto the bridge. “I am taking a sample from the rings and getting a more comprehensive set of readings from a moon your astronomers called Titan.”

“Why the interest in that moon? Isn’t it just…” she asked, the question trailing off as she stepped into the command center and the image on the screen drew her attention. The vast darkness with pinpricks of light had been replaced. She wouldn’t call it an improvement, though. The vessel coasted straight toward a wall of dirt, chunks of rock and dust forming a thick band. “Is it safe to fly so close to that stuff? Do I need to worry about one of those rocks putting a hole in the ship, sucking all of the air out, leaving us dried and frozen husks?”

“Nothing in space is safe, but in this instance, we should be fine. None of the debris you see is large enough to cause any significant impact damage.”

The king of non-reassurance, but since he didn’t seem worried, she would assume he knew what he was doing. Again, not very reassuring. “How do you get a sample? Are you going to space walk or something?”

“I wasn’t planning to. Are you volunteering?”

“Like hell.” She’d watched that movie Gravity and remembered the horror of drifting in space with no hope of rescue.

“Good answer.” He laughed. “Going out in that is suicide. The suits aren’t built for that kind of abuse. We’re going to use a mechanical arm to snare a sample. Watch.”

The camera view changed, and she was given a perspective from the side of the ship. Extending from it, a thick metal arm unfolded, the hinges giving it flexibility. She noted, on the end of the appendage, a pincer-like attachment much too big to grab at dust and small chunks of rocks, or she would have thought.

“How is that supposed to get samples?”

“You’ll see.”

The extended arm plunged into the dirt maelstrom. A break in it appeared as particles were suddenly sucked to the arm. They remained clinging, even as the arm retracted.

“How did you do that?” she asked. “Is it some futuristic force field? A super dirt magnet?”

“Nothing so complicated. It vacuumed the area. The suction pulls a sample from all around and keeps it clinging. When the arm pulls back into its storage area along the side of the ship, it will release the suction, and the particles will fall in the containment unit for collection and analysis.”

How mundane. A giant dust-busting vacuum. But he did mention containment? “So this sample. Is it well protected? It won’t like get sucked into the ventilation system and disperse spores that will turn us into murderous mutants, will it?”

“You know, for a girl who had a hard time believing the president was an alien, you have an awfully active imagination.”

A dirty imagination too, but she didn’t tend to share that part.

“Approaching the moon Titan, Captain.”

The announcement drew her attention. The screen showed an orb, an orb, which, in some respects, reminded her of Earth. “Are those oceans and clouds?” she asked, tracing the aqua green on the screen.

“Yes, but not of the variety you are used to. The bodies of liquid you see are comprised of methane for the most part.”

The ship stopped its forward momentum and seemed to hover. “Matching orbits with the moon. Sensors activated. Acquiring new data.”

“Actually, Annabelle, let’s land on it.”

“Land, Captain?” Annabelle beat Emma to the question.

“I think I could use a change of scenery and a chance to stretch my legs. And I know a certain crew member is curious.” Rafe winked and smiled at Emma, but it wasn’t the kind of smile that said he was doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He was up to something.

Eyes narrowed in suspicion, she asked, “Are you planning to ditch me there because I won’t sleep with you?”

“Of course not. I’m not a killer. I’m a pirate. I’d sell you before I wasted you.”

“Good to know I have some value, but still wondering why you want to walk on the moon.”

“Such a suspicious mind, and here I thought you’d be excited at your first chance to walk on alien soil. To even possibly gaze upon the remnants of a civilization.”

“Are you saying aliens used to live there?” Her eyes widened.

“Your star system is well suited to life. Mars, once upon a time, flourished with it. I suspect Titan also, once upon a time, played host to biological entities. But orbits change, asteroids impact, and whole ecosystems, and those living within them, can be wiped out in a moment.”

“You said we might find some of a civilization? What kind of pe…” She trailed off. Should she say people? That probably wasn’t quite right, and yet calling whatever lived there “things” seemed rude. She struggled for a word, a word that wasn’t alien, and failed. “What were they like?”

“No one can ever know for sure, not without finding a preserved corpse or images. But if my sensors and guess about the results are correct, then they left traces behind that time hasn’t completely obliterated. Traces you and I are going to look at. That is, if you want to come?”

Yes, he said that in his dirtiest dog voice, but that didn’t change the offer. I’m gonna walk on a moon.