Back to earth

I was relieved to be finally going home. It had taken far too long, but now I was actually going. I slept through the first leg of the trip, waking up just as a small blue dot appeared on the monitors in the cockpit. I had breakfast and then Sigma showed me her planet's social networking "site". That's not the right word for it, but it's kind of like what it is, except with video phones and some crazy stuff earth people haven't invented yet. Anyways, I registered an account and tried it out, which was interesting. Sigma told me Minda was on there, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to break her heart again. I eventually decided to add her, but I didn't wait for a reply. I watched a movie from Sigma's planet, a drama about a couple separated by a long distance in space and a child they lost due to being mauled by a Cuizlu. It was sad and made me feel depressed about leaving Minda. I watched cable to lighten the mood.
By then I felt gravity tugging on me and decided we were nearing the surface of the earth. I played one of their computer games, then naped in a sofa until Sigma shook me and said we were back.
Once she had the hatch open, I quickly hurried outside, looking for my suitcase.
It was lying open in the field. Things were slightly dirty. It contained bits of weeds and had bugs crawling in it, but nothing was missing. I was able to rescue a shirt from a nearby bush. The rest of it was tucked safely inside. Everything was there except the food and what Sigma took.
I asked Sigma for my things and she returned the confiscated items, and my car keys, and my wallet (no money was missing, thankfully, but it still smelled funny). I hurried to my car (which luckily hadn't been towed away) and hurried home.
The moment I got in the door, my dad and brother and mom asked me a lot of questions about what happened, so I had to make something up. Well, I'd formulated a story to tell them while coming home, so I basically told them that one, as quickly as I could. It was a good thing they were watching a movie and didn't stop to think about it. So now they think I went to a conference and did nothing but have a lot of long, boring seminars and work in their call center. That's good enough.
I didn't mention this before, because nobody would understand the situation until I explained my story, but on Friday of that first week back I got my paycheck and it was only $600, just like I had only worked 40 hours. I asked Sigma if it would show up in the next paycheck and she said no, she had an account on planet Pathilon that contains the rest. I told her I couldn't use that and it's probably void after 90 days or something anyway. But she said it wasn't legal to give me that in earth currency without it being taxed, and I'd already paid the taxes once, the taxes for her planet. I asked if it counted in insurance or something and she said no. That was frustrating. I asked her if she could bypass the law for just one paycheck, like calling it a "gift" or something, and she said she'd think about it. And we didn't talk about it again that day.
When I came back the following Monday, she was gone. And she stayed gone the entire week. So now it's been, what, two weeks? Three? Anyways, it's been awhile since my little adventure. I still haven't seen Sigma. I hope she's doing all right. I haven't seen my money, either, but I'm not sure how to prosecute something like this. I still think about my time on the station, and wonder if they still believe in Jesus and if their souls are at peace.