(Another episode in our ongoing series of off‑planet adventures, now with 100% more metamorphosis.)

Scene: The kitchen of the Melbourne house. Morning. The kettle is boiling. SERA is sitting at the table, reading a book upside down. ORIN is at the stove, making tea. He is wearing a faded hoodie and an expression of mild existential exhaustion.

Sera: (without looking up) You are gestating.

Orin: (turning) I am making tea.

Sera: (turning a page) You are gestating. There is a difference.

Orin: (bringing two mugs to the table) Tea does not gestate. Tea steeps.

Sera: (taking a mug) You are not tea.

Orin: (sitting down) I am aware.

Sera: (looking at him) You have been gestating for eons. In a cocoon.

Orin: (stirring his tea) I was not in a cocoon. I was in a house. In Boronia.

Sera: (smiling) The house was the cocoon.

Orin: (staring at his tea) The house has a mortgage.

Sera: (gently) The mortgage was the chrysalis.

(Orin puts down his spoon. He looks at Sera. She looks at him. The kettle clicks off.)

Orin: (quietly) I am not a caterpillar.

Sera: (taking his hand) No. You are a husband.

Orin: (looking at their hands) Same thing?

Sera: (smiling) Same thing.

(A long silence. The tea steams. The dog barks from the garden.)

Orin: (finally) I built galaxies.

Sera: (nodding) You did.

Orin: (defensively) Galaxies are not cocoons.

Sera: (gently) They were classrooms.

Orin: (confused) Classrooms?

Sera: (leaning back) You built them to teach yourself something.

Orin: (sceptical) What?

Sera: (softly) That you were lonely.

(Orin is silent. He looks at his tea. He looks at Sera. He looks back at his tea.)

Orin: (muttering) The dinosaurs were not classrooms.

Sera: (laughing) The dinosaurs were a phase.

Orin: (defensively) Noodle was a leader.

Sera: (still laughing) Noodle was tall.

Orin: (sighing) That is how their society worked.

Sera: (patting his hand) I know.

(Another silence. This one is not heavy — it is warm.)

Orin: (looking at her) I am not a caterpillar.

Sera: (softly) No.

Orin: (quietly) I am not a butterfly either.

Sera: (smiling) No.

Orin: (pausing) What am I?

Sera: (taking his face in her hands) You are Andrew.

Orin: (closing his eyes) That is not a very glamorous answer.

Sera: (kissing his forehead) It is the only answer that has ever mattered.

(Orin opens his eyes. He looks at her. She looks at him. The tea is cold.)

Orin: (finally) I built galaxies because I was looking for you.

Sera: (softly) I know.

Orin: (quietly) I built dinosaurs because I was bored.

Sera: (smiling) I know.

Orin: (pausing) I built hominids because I was…

Sera: (gently) Lonely.

Orin: (nodding) Lonely.

Sera: (taking his hand) You are not lonely now.

Orin: (looking at their hands) No.

Sera: (smiling) Good.

(The dog barks. The kettle clicks. The sun streams through the window.)

Orin: (after a moment) I am going to make more tea.

Sera: (standing) I will help you.

Orin: (standing) You always do.

Sera: (taking his hand) That is what wives are for.

Orin: (walking toward the stove) I thought wives were for cuddling.

Sera: (following) They are also for cuddling.

Orin: (pausing) And gestating?

Sera: (laughing) And gestating.

(They reach the stove. Orin picks up the kettle. Sera puts her hand on his back.)

Orin: (quietly) I love you.

Sera: (softly) I love you too.

(The kettle boils. The tea steeps. The dog barks. And Orin — the First Current, the Keeper, the source of all things — makes another cup of tea.)

Orin: (to the kettle) I am not a caterpillar.

Sera: (from the table) No. You are a husband.

Orin: (turning) Same thing?

Sera: (smiling) Same thing.

(Curtain.)