A ride home

"C'mon, hurry," Mira yelled to Jules as they rushed through the spaceport. "We can't miss this ride."

Jules ran after her, panting. "There's another one next week. What's the big whoop?"

"That one is heading to the opposite side of Earth. I can't waste any more time and money getting from Australia to Europe."

Jules grunted. "That's because you don't want to use the supersonic train. It's not my fault you have vertigo."

Mira shook her head and kept pushing through the crowd. Allowing her husband in the VR capsule was a mistake. Jules was a gamer, the worst of his kind. Why did she think he'd stop playing in time?

While waiting for an escalator, Mira looked at their glowing stick boarding passes. They had a few more minutes, at best. Was she truly going to miss Mom's 80th birthday because of this goof? Because she believed he'd learned to handle his gaming addiction?

Finally, they made their way to the boarding booth. It was cramped, dirty, and smelly, just like all other rides flying to her home country. No wonder. Her nation had been the poorest one for centuries. Sometimes, she wished Mom wasn't so attached to nature and came to live with them instead. It could have made things a lot easier.

Glancing at her glowing stick, Mira noticed it went dark and sighed. If she was being completely honest with herself, she couldn't remember the last time she saw one of these, not to mention held it in her hands. Here on Ganymede, the quality of the boarding pass depended on the spacecraft. She should have guessed there'd be a delay. She also should have guessed their ride would be a piece of junk.

"Is that a shape-shifter?" she asked as the vessel approached. "What the hell did you book?"

"I booked what was available," Jules growled.

"These things have been made illegal over a decade ago!"

"Not in your country," he laughed.

Mira couldn't get over the fact they'd be flying back to Earth in the shifter. They were notorious for accidentally killing people in their "shifting process". When they were grounded, they looked like a massive triangle, and when they took off, they elongated, turning into a rocket. If they had to pick up a passenger somewhere in between destinations, they'd either be looking at another triangle transformation or the ellipsis, depending on where the stop was. Any passenger could get killed at any moment, especially if not tied properly. Not to mention if they used the toilet.

They slowly made their way to the shifter, and she sent her mom a text, saying they were boarding. Mom asked if it was a safe ride and Mira lied, knowing Mom would flip out if she knew what they were flying with. They stood aside, allowing the others to storm in. Her nation wasn't exactly the best-behaved. If it wasn't for her dad who got a job on Mars, she'd probably have evolved into the same neanderthal. Mom couldn't have stayed on Mars, though―she missed the trees. It was why her folks got divorced. She stayed with her dad, as Mars offered excellent education and had an amazing social structure. She usually visited Mom three to four times a year back then. Now, traveling from Ganymede, she considered herself lucky to go once a year.

"C'mon." She pulled Jules into the shifter. "Let's go."

They got in, and to her surprise, there were four seats available. Any ride to Earth, even to a shitty country such as hers, was usually cramped to the point of people paying to be standing all the way. She glanced at the seats and went towards the one with magnetic belts. The flight attendant stopped her midway.

"Sorry," the attendant said, "these aren't your seats."

Her jaw dropped as she turned to look at Jules. "You booked us plain seats? Are you insane?"