She was rattled and kept questioning and answering herself.
"Would the baby be okay?"
"Yes! The baby is absolutely fine."
"They would no let pregnant woman on the shuttle if it was not okay."
"Whose idea was this!"
"It was a mutual decision."
She rolled her eyes at the thought of how ridiculous she was being. She tried to reassure herself that everything would be fine. She kept repeating, that it would not be too much longer. They were almost out of the Earth's atmosphere. Her eyes were still shut. She wondered, how long it had been? She stayed hopeful.
Chester was still staring at Ino, while he reminisced. Thoughts kept drifting in his mind. He questioned, what would happen if he never found her? Where would he be now? Would he have died a lone? There's people out there that never find anyone or get married. Could he have ended up one of those people if their paths never crossed? He could still end up to be one of those people, if she left him, he thought.
"Ino, I love you and I will love you forever." Chester shouted at her.
He then noticed, he was shouting for no apparent reason. Her eyes were shut, not her ears. He looked down and mouthed, why am I shouting? As if he was scolding himself, for not thinking, before he spoke.
"I love you, too? Is everything okay?" Said Ino worriedly.
"Yeah, I just wanted to remind you." He chuckled.
A prerecording set off through the loud speakers, "All passengers, we have safely made it out of the Earth's atmosphere. We will now turn on the gravity, and you will be free to enjoy the shuttle amenities. Lavatories are now open. Your assigned sleep pods are now available. Your luggage should also be in your sleep pod. We will reach Zoltan in approximately 3 months. Thank you for boarding Intergalactic 6 and we hope you enjoy your trip to Zoltan."
She looked over at Chester. He was 10 years her senior. He had short black hair, dark brown eyes and was shorter than average, but still taller than her. Only 5' 10" tall. He was looking out the huge window, in between the seats.
The aisle attendant was walking over one by one to each passenger to unclip them from their seat. Ino was relieved, that the turbulence they felt ceased. The aisle attendance unclipped Ino, then Chester. They got in line to be clipped inside the capsule tube and for it to hoist them down to ground level.
"Chester, I need to go to the restroom. Do you want to come too or meet me somewhere?" Ino asked.
"I need to go use the restroom too. Let's just both go. There's too many people. It's crowded and It's easier than splitting up." Chester retorted.
Because the government wanted to be progressive and cater to the LBGT community, restrooms signs were changed. Bubbles for a more feminine preference; The squirrel for manlier preference; A cluster of stars meant it was for anyone and everyone's use.
Chester and Ino, made their way to the lavatory. Ino, then rushed and pushed into the door with bubbles to use the restroom. After she was done in the stalls, Ino was trying to wash her hands, but the automatic soap dispenser was not sensing her.
She was waving her hands back and forth, side to side. When she finally got the soap to dispense, she also had difficulty getting the water to turn on. She repeated the same process and then added waving her hands under other faucets, to see if they would come on. She finally got the one in front of her to turn on and started washing her hands.
A woman approached her and unexpectedly started rubbing her belly! Ino was dumbfounded. A complete stranger just started rubbing her belly! She was startled and froze.
The stranger asked, "How many months are you."
"6 months, can you not do that." Ino said, backing away.
Ino, didn't know what to do. It was like she wanted to yell, Stop! She wanted to do something. She wanted to shake the water dripping from her hands at her, yet she didn't want to cause problems.
She doesn't like confrontation. She was just shocked that this woman felt like it was okay to rub a complete stranger's belly, without getting permission, as if it was okay. That was all she managed to say, even though, she thought of a million other ways to respond.
"Oh, sorry. I just got anxious and I get so excited about new life." The lady explained.
"It's okay." Ino responded defensively.
The lady walked out of the restroom. Ino stood there wishing she would have handled it differently. She wanted to say, No, it's not okay. You, don't do that. She wondered, if she had overreacted or if she handled it correctly. Was her hormones making her extra sensitive? Why did she feel violated. She walked out without drying her hands, unhappy with the situation. Chester was already waiting for her outside the doors. He could tell something was wrong. Ino went up to him and hugged him. She told him what happened and he validated her feelings. He also felt like it was strange.
He tried comforting Ino by telling her that, "Some people don't have a sense of personal boundaries. Next time just back up and say, No! You don't have to say anything else. Just, No! It will get your point across."
He wanted to make a joke or make light of the situation. By telling Ino, maybe the strange lady was doing black magic or something and Ino didn't realize it. He saw it on a documentary, before. He didn't want to scare Ino and make things worst, so he kept it to himself. Chester suggested they go find something to eat to cheer Ino up.
Chester asked, "Ino, what do you feel like eating?"
Ino thought for a few seconds and replied, "Ramen, extra spicy ramen, with kimchi!"
"I think they have ramen vending machines here, let's go look around." Chester judged.
Ino and Chester went around the entire commons area. They saw all sorts of vending machines and hot water dispensers. Microwaves, Macro-waves, and toaster ovens. There was even a claw game Machine that had different types of dried ramen, that would help indecisive people choose. Ino, wanted to try this. She has always been good at the claw games.
She was bad at choosing what she wanted to eat and this seemed like the perfect solution. She felt like it was easier than going through the motions of making a decision on food. This had to be invented for people like her, she thought. What she won is going to be what they ate. The machine was play until you win, so there was no way they could lose. Unless the claw machine was broken, she would receive a prize.
It reminded her of the arcade claw machines, that had the candy in it that said, play till you win. In this case, instead of being filled with candy, it was filled with ramen.