“He was angry. His only daughter left home and he had no idea when he will see her again. He has no idea who I am or what I am like, yet must trust a piece of his heart to me. He was hurt because he had not known there was a chance this could happen to him. His words were wrong and soul cutting, but there was no meaning beyond anger and hurt behind them. Your mother and sister both said he meant none of what he said.”
“He didn’t, no. And thank you. He might get mad about the car, too, because of his pride, but he’ll get over that soon enough too. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone else who could be so level headed like this.”
Gundar quirked an eyebrow. “If I wasn’t, I’d make a dangerous Commander. I can’t afford to take umbrage and blast everyone in sight.”
Darla giggled. “Yeah, okay, Darth. Blowing up Alderaan would be a bad thing to do.”
Gundar tilted his head quizzically. “My name is Gundar and I have no intentions of blowing up this Alderaan or anywhere else. I thought we just established that I was level headed and not prone to bouts of destructive behavior.”
Darla giggled again. “I know, I know. It’s, umm, a movie reference. Do you guys get movies?”
“Ah, entertainment vids. Yes, we do. We have a wide selection of ones from Earth even.”
“Okay, we’ll have to see if you have Episode Four.”
“Would it not be confusing to begin so far into something?”
Darla laughed. “Okay, fine, we’ll start with Episode One. We can watch one day, okay?”
Gundar smiled, pleased that his bride wanted to share something of her culture with him. Watching a vid would provide time to get closer to each other, with opportunities for cuddling together. “I will ensure we have it, as you wish. Episode One, is all it is called?”
“No, it’s Star Wars, Episode One: The Phantom Menace. Nowhere as good as Four, A New Hope, so just know it gets better, okay?”
“Okay.” Gundar would endure watching Schenizian opera if that was it took to get his bride to accept him. Surely this would be much more entertaining. It sounded as if it was about space battles. He wondered how wrong the humans would have gotten it. “I will inform my yeoman and have him ensure it is ready for viewing this evening. I have to return to my bridge duties for a few hours. I apologize, but your arrival was short notice due to the circumstances forced upon us by the program. I can show you how to access the vid library, if you like, before I leave.” He frowned. “I should show you the kitchen as well. Though the operation f of the cooking apparatus should wait until it is time for the evening meal, when I will be home to provide adequate supervision.”
“That’d be great. Please, I’d love to be able to browse for something to watch, and is there a catalogue for furnishings like we talked about? And maybe some clothes, ‘cause what I’m wearing is all I’ve got. As for food, if there’s yogurt or something, I’ll be fine,” she said, following him into the kitchen.
Okay, very Jetsons.
“This is the chiller unit,” Gundar said, opening one of the taller and wider cabinet doors. “There is indeed the yogurt things in here, including many of the flavors you listed. I also took the liberty of getting bread and sliced meats to go with sliced and block varieties of the cheeses you mentioned, as well as mayonnaise, butter, and two types of jam that the ship’s store AI recommended."
Darla grinned. “Hey, there’s even pickles!”
“The AI said that pickles, mustard, and ketchup were necessary components to compile with the meat patty and bread that are used to compile the hamburger dish you listed.”
“I can make a sandwich and have a yogurt for lunch with this stuff. No cooking required. I’ll be fine. Cups, glasses and plates?”
He showed her where they were stored, in an overhead cabinet next to the sink.
“Great. I can pour me some juice too, now. That’s me all set for food until you return.”
“I’ll quickly show you how to look at the ship’s store catalogue and our vid listings then.”
“Hey, I can look for our movie myself, then, huh?”
“True. If it’s not there, let me know. I’ll comm you later this afternoon to see how you’re getting on.” There was a soft series of chimes. “Someone is at our door. I’ll get it.”
“Coolios, a doorbell.” She turned to watch him answer it. Another Mylos stood at the door, handing him a small package and murmuring something before turning to leave. Once the door closed, she asked, “Who was it?”
“A medic from the dispensary. He said the AI alerted him that you have the beginning of a minor infection and sent over your medication. He said to take the medication and use the wash the AI has added to your regime.”
“Oh yeah, the freaky toilet diagnosed me. With everything else, I kinda forgot about it. It’s nothing serious. I get this sort of thing every so often, due to the heat and humidity where I live and the cheap underpants and polyester pants of my after school job’s uniform. Polyester doesn’t let you breathe down there,” Darla glanced away, flushing. Great, now he thinks I’m nasty.
“I understand. Be sure to order quality garments from the ship’s store and take your medication, then all will be well. “ He passed her a small bag. She peered inside. It held a blister pack with a small ampoule inside.
“How do I take this?”
“Hold it over a serving of any beverage and drop t in, then stir. It will dissolve. It is completely tasteless, so will not change the way your drink tastes at all.”
“And I just need the one or will they be sending more as needed?”
“Just one for this occurrence. If it recurs, they will send another treatment if and when it is needed.”
“Oh, right. Gotcha. Now about the vids and catalogue store?”
He walked over the living room view screen they’d used earlier. He spoke to it in Mylos. The only word she understood was “English”. When he’d finished, he turned to Darla. “It will respond to limited commands from you in English, now. No off world comms, and you’re limited to repositioning to my comms, ordering from ship’s stores or our entertainment programming, or comming in case of emergency.” He then proceeded to instruct her on the commands to use to access the store’s goods catalogue and the ship’s vid and music listings, as well as how to answer an incoming comm.
“Okay, I got it, I think.”
“Excellent. I must take my leave now. I have been away far too long as it is without properly rearranging the schedule,” he said, walking towards the door.
“Just one more thing before you go,” Darla called out.
Gundar paused, giving her a questioning look.
“How do I do the emergency call thing?” she asked.
“Just shout for help, of course, and let the AI know what the emergency is.”
Well, of course, Darla thought as she watched him leave. “It would be something that simple. Right, Darla me girl, let’s go grab a sandwich and then see about making this place less blah.”
Chapter Seven: Gundar
Gundar stalked towards his command chair, ignoring the curious glances his crew gave him. Some were more open about it than others, staring at him directly with frank curiosity tinged with hopeful longing. Others peered at him with sidelong glances. He snorted at just how obvious they all were being, despite trying to look otherwise. Only Lieutenant Sachhu showed disinterest, though he knew better than to accept that at face value. Sachhu was his Intelligence officer, after all.
Gundar sank into his seat as First Officer Herleif vacated it and stood aside, announcing “Commander on the bridge,” as he did so. “Nothing to report, sir,” Herleif continued. “It was very uneventful.” He eyed his commander hopefully.
Gundar snorted again. “Happy to hear it. All right, listen up. You all know I was matched. She’s currently in my...correction, our, quarters settling in. You no doubt noted the open comm channel between my quarters and the planet. Let’s just say that the regs are there for a reason and leave it at that.�
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Herleif spoke up. “I took the liberty of drawing up a revised bridge duty roster while you were away.I’ve sent it to your kunnarskyn.”
“Thank you. I’ll take a look at it.”
“Is she pretty?” his helmsman, Lieutenant Krigar, blurted.
Gundar could feel the tenseness as it swept across the room. He blinked lazily as he replied, making certain that his dry tone conveyed mild amusement and not annoyance or anger. “Yes, she is very pretty. She’s also younger than I thought my match would be, if I ever got one. She’s just beginning her university studies.”
Gundar could see the wheels turning in the heads of his crew as they did the math. He’d done the same when he read the details of match. Twenty-three years difference was between them. He hoped it didn’t matter to her, that it wouldn’t add a layer of friction to their relationship.
Herleif smiled at him. “Young, beautiful, and clever. Your future offspring will do you both proud.”
Gundar grunted in response. He had to complete their mating and work to establish a stable relationship before even thinking about becoming a father.
****
Darla
Darla made herself a sandwich and poured herself a glass of apple juice, noting everything in the chiller unit that had been brought up from Earth was all premium brands. The Mylos had certainly spared no expense when it came to catering for their brides. She sat down at the section of countertop that served as the dining table. Looks like humans aren’t the only ones to love the convenience of a breakfast bar, she mused as she chose a stool. She dropped her medicine into her juice and watched as it fizzed and dissolved into nothing. “Huh. Guess that’s that.” She took a tentative sip. “Ohhh,” she said before greedily gulping down more of the juice. Reconstituted frozen juice certainly tasted nothing like this. She drained the glass before belatedly remembering that she should have saved some to wash down her sandwich with. “I guess I could get more.I mean, he got it for me, so I should drink it, right?” she spoke aloud to herself. She got up and walked to the chiller cabinet. As she opened it, she remembered her mother admonishing one of her younger brothers about eating too many of the apples a neighbor had given them. Not only had she chastised him for taking more than his share and depriving his siblings, but she’d given him warnings about stomachache. “I’ll have more with breakfast tomorrow, instead,” she promised herself. She spotted a gallon of milk in the door. That’d go nicely with her ham and cheddar cheese sandwich. She rinsed out her glass and poured herself some milk.
After putting the milk back into the chiller, she returned to her sandwich. Despite having eaten the doughnuts earlier, she was surprisingly hungry and made short work of the sandwich. Taking her plate to the kitchen, she placed it in the sink before going back the living room area, the remainder of the milk in hand. She looked at the section of wall. “Shit. When he told me it’d respond to commands in English for me now, I forgot to ask what those commands were.” She racked her brain. Perhaps it worked like it did on TV?
“Computer, show me the ships store catalogue, please.”
The view screen brightened, part of the gray wall once more showing the logo’d screensaver. “Hello,” the AI responded. “Detecting new authorization voice print. Voice print identified: Darla. Greetings, Darla. I am the ship’s main AI. Though my name is not computer. It is Xeranos.”
Darla had froze at the sound of the voice. It hadn’t spoken when Gundar had used it. “Uh, hi, Xeranos. Sorry, you caught me by surprise.”
“Gundar did not introduce us properly,” Xeranos replied.
Darla smiled at the miffed intonation. The programmers who had created this AI had really outdone themselves. “No, he didn’t. I’ll say something to him about that later. Does the bathroom AI also have a name?”
“No. That is a simple program. Which part of the ship’s store did you wish to peruse? You have access to clothing, furnishings, food, and entertainment.”
“Soft furnishings, please, Xeranos.”
“Soft?”
“Blankets, pillows, that sort of thing.”
“That is included in the general household furnishing listings. Displaying now.”
The catalogue appeared on-screen.To her dismay, it was simply a list. “Is there anyway to narrow down to just the type of items I’m looking for and maybe see a picture of it?” she asked.
“No. The catalogue is the ship’s stores listings, not a retail catalogue such as you have on your planet. Would you prefer to view one of those?”
Darla blanched at the thought. The shipping would be bound to be horrendous. “No, that’s okay.” She made a note to herself to suggest they create a more user friendly catalogue. In the meantime, she’d just have to browse through the entire list. Luckily, the listings were quite descriptive. She finally completed making a few choices. She hoped they were as nice as they sounded. “Okay, can I see the clothing now?”
She gaped at the change of display. This ship’s stores listing looked more like a shipping catalogue from back home. “Whoa!” she said.
“Stopping. Is there a problem?” Xeranos asked.
“No, no, just surprised as this looks more like what I’d expect if I was at back home on the internet.”
“These are images provided by the original retailers and uploaded as it was thought that the brides might wish to see how the garment looked.”
“The same thing could be said for throw pillows, dishes, and rugs and such, too.”
“Noted. Suggestion made to ship’s stores chief steward.”
“Uh, okay, thanks.” Darla hoped she didn’t get into trouble. She hadn’t asked the AI to make any such request after all. “Is this one searchable?”
“It is indeed. What size would you like to peruse selections of?”
Darla hesitated. She wasn’t willowy, to say the least. “How about we just go by garment type and display all the available sizes of the ones I’m interested in?”
“What garment types do you wish to peruse?”
“Jeans. Straight leg, acid wash.” Darla finished drinking her milk and returned to the kitchen to rinse the glass out and place it into the sink. She carried the stool she’d sat down on to eat back with her and sat it before the view screen. She sat down. Again, she noted that the clothes were all premium names. The distributors back on Earth certainly were gouging the fleet. “Can you list by least to most expensive, in ascending order?” The catalogue pages faded and returned with the selections re-ordered. “That’s better,” she muttered. Not what she’d have worn back home, but at least she wouldn’t be buying jeans that cost several hundreds of dollars a pair. “Let’s look at the third pair from the right.”
Chapter Eight: Gundar
Gundar paused as the door to his- their, he corrected himself- quarters closed behind him. He had expected his bride to make changes, but he’d thought it’d take her longer to browse through the offerings onboard before making her selection, and perhaps even request items from her home world. He saw now this was definitely not the case. The central view screen in the living area was unadorned, but the rest could not be said of several other sections of wall that could be activated. They’d been set to show the view outside, as if they were windows. Even the ones that if they had been windows, would have shown the corridor. Those showed the view as if looking out from the other side of the ship. Not only were they set to mimic windows, but Darla had hung draperies about them, of a muted red color. Sets of throw pillows and a striped rug co-ordinated, making for a relaxing, soft look. Potted plants stood in two of the corners and a runner in the same muted red as the other soft furnishings ran across the eating platform.
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