It was wonderful, it was humbling and it rendered her speechless. Her eyes widened in her soft, round face and she was certain her mouth had fallen open at some point but she couldn’t seem to make the effort to close it. 

She’d let Jack lead her through the ship with a grin on her face, her eyes dancing with curiosity and merriment as he’d spoken and so gentlemanly helped her over thresholds. She had to admit his admiration was nice, if a little overwhelming. She still felt off kilter by the attention, unused to regard of this sort. But she was fairly certain it was genuine, Jack was just to sweet and genuine himself to be anything but. But she kept feeling like she should look behind her to see who it was he was gazing at with such warmth in his eyes. But there was no one there. 

It never once occurred to her that slipping into the mostly deserted belly of a complex and maze-like ship on the arm of a virtual stranger was possibly not a good idea. It never occurred to her that there would be many hours before she was expected anywhere. Was it a matter of naïveté or a good judge of character on her part? She didn’t stop to consider even a moment, she just held the arm of the man who led her deep into the bowels of the ship and looked at everything she saw with an open excitement and delight that was written clear on her round face. 

Then they reached their destination. The place that was the culmination of his wonderfully rambling tale and their “stepping out.” She was going to tease him about Gobs and a few other words he’d run by her that she hadn’t been able to puzzle out, but didn’t. She couldn’t. She was too busy being speechless and wowed. Her grip tightened on his arm for a second as if she needed to ground herself in something earthly. And then she let go and stepped further onto the catwalk, looking all around at the blue and the life that moved within it. His few words of science found their way to her ears but lingered there, not penetrating the fog of wonder that held her. 

The seal with the prosthetic caught her eye and she watched it as it glided past, its mismatched eyes seeming to know more than they should. It seemed to her that the seal fit this new world more than she, a blend of science and nature. Swimming in the world that kept them all grounded.

She felt so small, in a good way. 

A soft little noise slipped from her mouth, a hitch or breath, something that might be a sob. Her open mouth closed and her eyes blinked a few times in rapid succession. If when she spoke her voice trembled, it would be hard to say as she whispered her words with all the reverence one would give to a church.

“Oh, Jack.” She breathed. “It is so beautiful.” 

She pressed soft fingers to her lips and stepped back close to him, having a very hard time pulling her eyes from all the blue, all the life. 

“Thank you.”