22: Fishing with your father is a classic.

This time, the classic ship we all know and love was not adventuring into the cold and wide reaches of space or the depths of the jungle, let alone the bowels of the Earth, no, this time it was floating peacefully on a vast expanse of water. 

The ocean of an alien planet was almost all that could be seen on the vast horizon lit by the two suns of this solar system. The waves were huge, but that was no problem for the Professor's and Samus's magnificent mechanical creation, which they had worked hard on to make even more powerful and unbeatable than in the original story.

As the ship floated peacefully, the Professor and Samus sat on the hull of the ship, on beach chairs, with a cooler and several packs of beer cans beside them. You'll say it's illegal for minors to drink alcohol, and it is, but they weren't on Earth or any planet connected to it, they were on an almost unexplored watery star.

Samus acknowledged her father's gesture and, with a certain boredom on her face, handed him a new can of ice-cold beer, which the old man began to drink without pausing. They had not spoken to each other during the whole journey and stay, was it necessary? At least not for them, not now of course. They enjoyed the cool breeze, the gentle sound of the titanic waves, and, above all, the peace that fishing brings. 

It was a rare moment of relaxation and peace between them, no adventures, no scientific stuff, no philosophical topics, just the company of each other in a relaxing place for them. 

Samus was wearing blue shorts and a top of the same color, exposing a lot of her skin. If you looked closely, you could see a few scars from her training and a few fights she had had, showing her effort and inexperience. 

[Here is a picture]

Even the cuts and stabs that Skull Knight had inflicted on her were still there. Her special gloves never left her, almost considered more a part of her than just an accessory. 

Her father wore his now classic clothes, the only difference being that his current glasses were much darker, to avoid the discomfort of two suns shining on an old man like him.

The hours went by, and though the light hardly changed, there were changes in them. Empty cans piled up as the alcohol did its thing on them. They hadn't caught anything, life here was very difficult and it wasn't that stupid, but that wasn't what they came for.

"So... do you know what God thinks of people like me?" her father asked, breaking the long, unspoken silence that had settled over them all this time, and although the professor's tone was unusually serious, Samus could sense a slight fear in his words.

"He doesn't care, good, bad, believers, non-believers, in the end, we will all go to the same place, if anything some people will have more advantages than others. In this universe of course, in others..." Samus' voice trailed off at the end, not finishing her words, but her father was clever enough to draw his conclusions. 

"What does God think of science?" he asked, with less fear in his voice.

"God likes human exploration, He says that it gives Him pleasure to interest us in unraveling things that are simple to Him because He doesn't like us to be dependent on Him.

When a scientist spends years researching a vaccine, a cure, a better medical machine, these are the things He likes about humanity" Samus focused on the purely human aspect of this question, but the concept applies to every conscious species in this universe.

"Did he create life for some purpose?" the professor smiled proudly, but he asked this question very carefully, wanting to know Samus' answer.

"There is not, life was not created at his whim or his need, it came about because this universe was made to harbor life, nothing else. In other places, it might tell you that the answer is 42, or that it is to worship God, but here, in our home... it doesn't. We must live as we see fit so that in the end there will be no regrets," Samus' answer seemed to soothe something in the Professor, who staggered to his feet as he felt something bite the hook of his fishing rod. 

"Wow, this one's really big, help me!" the Professor demanded, prompting Samus to drunkenly grab the rod for the Professor and begin wrestling with whatever had taken the bait. 

The creature's strength was so great that even the ship twisted, almost 90 degrees. But the father and daughter's feet were firmly anchored to the ship, and they gazed curiously at the ocean below, where the silhouette of a huge creature appeared. It looked like the stereotypical giant monster fish, even its scales were dark green, with huge dorsal fins. 

The creature swam, dragging the ship down with it, but neither of them wanted to give up that easily, so the Professor went into the machine and accessed the weapons system. Soon after, a good dose of energy weapons not only boiled the ocean below but turned it blue, apparently the blood of the thing they had killed.

"Could this thing be edible?" asked Samus curiously as she watched a tractor beam emitted from the ship, lifting the colossal body of the sea creature they had captured. 

Shortly after it was lifted into the air, huge jaws emerged from the sea and closed a few meters away from the body of the previous monster, a snake-like creature with huge teeth, red eyes, and a presence full of ferocity. Samus looked at this new monster with curiosity, not liking the feeling that what was in front of her was somehow intelligent. 

"If you can understand me, fuck off, this is our prey," Samus said, her words spoken at her normal voice volume, but she used Alchemy to amplify her voice, annoying the ferocious creature that now turned its attention to her. 

Sensing the threat of some good energy weapons being aimed at it, the creature showed a strange expression of resignation on its ugly face and then plunged into the ocean, its silhouette not disappearing, but at least not as threatening as before. 

Samus entered the ship where she saw the Professor examining a holographic display he had scanned the entire creature they now had to see what useful things they could find on it.

"Its flesh is edible, but only in certain parts of its body, which will make it easy to transport," the Professor simply entered a few commands and within seconds, the ship's cold storage room was filled with several tonnes of fresh meat, ready to be cooked to anyone's liking.

"Then our fishing was fruitful," Samus smiled before she took the pilot's seat, took control of the ship, and took off. 

The ship passed through the atmosphere of the planet and then began its warp process, in which it was space that moved, not the ship, all powered by the expensive dark matter provided by MOM. And even though Samus didn't like the woman, she had to admit that the lady knew how to use her badge. 

There was a pleasant silence on the ship, father and daughter didn't have to talk too much, the questions the professor asked Samus and the time they spent together were enough for both of them, so their arrival on Earth and the landing on the Planet Express was relaxed.

Samus called the boys to help her prepare something good for dinner, they had enough to satisfy everyone's whims, even Zoidberg's exaggerated food intake.

"Oh God, I never expected a random creature in the universe to taste so good," Amy ate a piece of fried meat, not worrying about her weight since Samus had a potion for that.

What, Samus is a woman, of course, she would have potions for not getting fat, to think she wouldn't be heretical in itself. It was one of her brand's best-selling products, along with some beauty potions, make-up, and even hair color. The fact that they are 'organic' sells a lot more, believe me, things haven't changed in the future.

It has already been said that, unlike the original story, Planet Express was not short of funds, both father and daughter did their best to make it so, as they both needed a lot of material resources for their creations, even the Professor had become increasingly ambitious in creating things he had not been able to before, even anticipating the events of the original canon.

Remember the F-Rays? They were created earlier, and Samus was inspired to use them as a replacement for one of the items in her future power suit. 

Samus even saw that her father had plans for a time machine, although he hadn't started building it yet because Samus pointed out the problem that it could only go forward without going back, which would be dangerous, so she stayed with the plans, even though if she could do it, she could do it easily.

"Even with meatballs, it tastes delicious!" said Hermes as he shoveled a large portion of spaghetti and meatballs into his mouth. 

Samus and Zoidberg ate a classic, lasagne, using the meat they had brought as an ingredient. Ciri had a barbecue, and the Professor ate his share in style, using chemical cooking. 

"Seriously, this stuff tastes too good," Ciri said, her lips stained with sauce and her cheeks bulging, she just couldn't stop eating, so she spoke with her mouth full.

"It's a miracle of the universe, that's what it is," the Professor said, making Samus smile and take advantage of Zoidberg's carelessness to steal a slice of pizza from him, the level of trust between them had reached that point. 

"I think it would be appropriate to thank God for allowing such a delicious creature into his creation," Samus said, making the others laugh as she ran around the table, running away from a Zoidberg who wanted his slice of pizza back. 

Everyone's happiness was evident, and that was one thing the Professor noticed now, the happy faces of his employees, nay, friends. Even though it was Zoidberg who was smiling, he did not feel uncomfortable, he did not feel lonely, he felt happy. Then he turned his gaze to the cause of it all, Samus.

He admitted it to himself, maybe Samus came into this world on a whim of his to have an affair with an Amazon, which was a great experience by the way, but he never saw himself receiving the news that he was a father, let alone raising a child. He had always been alone, even if he had some gaps in his memory of his youth, or if he had some affairs with MOM in the past, it was always him, in the laboratory, researching, inventing, and building.

Now he had an image in front of him that he never thought he would see in his life, and a tear of happiness fell from his eye as he smiled, no doubt he was happy, and he wouldn't change that for anything in the world. 

"I think I should drink a toast to Pazuzu, he told me days ago that he had a son, maybe he would like the present," whispered the professor, not knowing that in the future two humans and a robot would join the warm scene before him, making his life much happier.

Life in 2999 is more than good.