the loader.
“Gentlewomen,” Plet said, inclining her head a few millimeters. “Welcome aboard. Lieutenant Kinago, please see to their comfort.”
“It would be my pleasure,” I said. I applied a salute to my forehead, then extended an elbow to Jil. “Please come along and see your quarters.”
Jil battened on, and I proceeded toward the boarding ramp.
The cooling system was in full operation, so the ambient temperature within was several degrees lower than the desert sunshine outside. After a moment of shivering, the ladies had acclimatized. They looked around, their brows wrinkled with curiosity. I followed their glances, taking in the thin layer of the cream-colored inner hull against the steel-blue of the shielded and armored outer hull. Beside the hatch were glassteel-fronted cases containing emergency gear, each with a series of images instructing on their use. Beyond the airlock, the size of the average foyer in the Imperium compound, a short corridor led to the main passage. I was accustomed to its appearance, but I realized how utilitarian and forbidding it might seem to civilians.
“Why don’t we start with a tour?” I asked. I directed them to the main corridor and to the right, where the ship’s artificial gravity took hold and turned us thirty degrees. “This way is the bridge.”
“Here we have the nerve center of the entire ship,” I said, entering the command module with understandable pride. “You see all the screens and tanks that provide telemetry for all information the crew will need to pilot the ship and take care of its many functions. The four station chairs are for command, navigation, communications and defense, and are fitted with complicated padding and harnesses to protect the officers during launch, landing and any rough travel.”
“Battle?” asked Marquessa, with a frisson that shook her delectable flesh. As she was not related to the imperial family, she had not had to go through the academy for two years’ service. Instead, she had taken part in an ecology program on a planet being terraformed in Colvarin’s Department Store system. I imagined what it must look like to her to enter a warship for the first time. The walls full of screens and scopes must be a trifle overwhelming.
“If need be, of course, but our first move would be evasive tactics,” I assured her.
“Why are there six chairs?” Hopeli asked, pointing out the obvious.
“Well, that one is mine,” I said, pointing to the one slightly behind and to the right of the center of the bridge. It had superbly comfortable padding and an enhanced sound system installed. Its extended frame was custom-fitted to my long back and legs.
“Where do we sit to watch the launch?” Sinim asked, eagerly, peering around. “I don’t see any other seats.”
“Not in here, I am afraid.”
I led them off the bridge, past the hydroponics garden and conference room, showed them briefly the location of ladders and conveyance chutes around to the cabins and bathing facilities, storage facilities, and repair bays. I explained the spinning core that ran through the center of the ship, to provide normal gravity while in the void. I looped back briefly to the cargo bay at the far aft just behind engineering. With all the goods needed for the trip, including military skimmers and aircycles already occupying a large portion of the area, the addition of the ladies’ luggage filled it up to the toes of the evac suits hanging on the walls in their individual cubbyholes. We had just room to squeeze all the way around to observe the aft airlock and back again. Our tour ended in the common room.
“This is where you will observe launch, or anything else you choose,” I said. I flipped on all the lights.
The enormous chamber, thus revealed, elicited appreciative oohs from my audience.
“This is the entertainment center,” I said, my voice echoing off the white enameled panels that were the default walls of the room. “It
“Gentlewomen,” Plet said, inclining her head a few millimeters. “Welcome aboard. Lieutenant Kinago, please see to their comfort.”
“It would be my pleasure,” I said. I applied a salute to my forehead, then extended an elbow to Jil. “Please come along and see your quarters.”
Jil battened on, and I proceeded toward the boarding ramp.
The cooling system was in full operation, so the ambient temperature within was several degrees lower than the desert sunshine outside. After a moment of shivering, the ladies had acclimatized. They looked around, their brows wrinkled with curiosity. I followed their glances, taking in the thin layer of the cream-colored inner hull against the steel-blue of the shielded and armored outer hull. Beside the hatch were glassteel-fronted cases containing emergency gear, each with a series of images instructing on their use. Beyond the airlock, the size of the average foyer in the Imperium compound, a short corridor led to the main passage. I was accustomed to its appearance, but I realized how utilitarian and forbidding it might seem to civilians.
“Why don’t we start with a tour?” I asked. I directed them to the main corridor and to the right, where the ship’s artificial gravity took hold and turned us thirty degrees. “This way is the bridge.”
“Here we have the nerve center of the entire ship,” I said, entering the command module with understandable pride. “You see all the screens and tanks that provide telemetry for all information the crew will need to pilot the ship and take care of its many functions. The four station chairs are for command, navigation, communications and defense, and are fitted with complicated padding and harnesses to protect the officers during launch, landing and any rough travel.”
“Battle?” asked Marquessa, with a frisson that shook her delectable flesh. As she was not related to the imperial family, she had not had to go through the academy for two years’ service. Instead, she had taken part in an ecology program on a planet being terraformed in Colvarin’s Department Store system. I imagined what it must look like to her to enter a warship for the first time. The walls full of screens and scopes must be a trifle overwhelming.
“If need be, of course, but our first move would be evasive tactics,” I assured her.
“Why are there six chairs?” Hopeli asked, pointing out the obvious.
“Well, that one is mine,” I said, pointing to the one slightly behind and to the right of the center of the bridge. It had superbly comfortable padding and an enhanced sound system installed. Its extended frame was custom-fitted to my long back and legs.
“Where do we sit to watch the launch?” Sinim asked, eagerly, peering around. “I don’t see any other seats.”
“Not in here, I am afraid.”
I led them off the bridge, past the hydroponics garden and conference room, showed them briefly the location of ladders and conveyance chutes around to the cabins and bathing facilities, storage facilities, and repair bays. I explained the spinning core that ran through the center of the ship, to provide normal gravity while in the void. I looped back briefly to the cargo bay at the far aft just behind engineering. With all the goods needed for the trip, including military skimmers and aircycles already occupying a large portion of the area, the addition of the ladies’ luggage filled it up to the toes of the evac suits hanging on the walls in their individual cubbyholes. We had just room to squeeze all the way around to observe the aft airlock and back again. Our tour ended in the common room.
“This is where you will observe launch, or anything else you choose,” I said. I flipped on all the lights.
The enormous chamber, thus revealed, elicited appreciative oohs from my audience.
“This is the entertainment center,” I said, my voice echoing off the white enameled panels that were the default walls of the room. “It
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