U.S.S.A Alice

Chapter 7 Dreamboat to disaster

We finally got into the hallways and my god was it beautiful, the carpet while not my favorite design was a breathtaking blue with a gold pattern. We were all gathered in the foyer to get a welcome speech from the captain. I was so excited to meet him or her, even Damien was eager to meet them. It had gotten rather crowded down here, we were standing shoulder to shoulder with other members of the crew. All of us were waiting for the captain to appear and welcome us aboard. "Hey Alice, do you see that?"  Damien pointed at a group of people moving out of the way of something. I couldn't get a good look at what was moving in the crowd; being shorter than most of the people here, was that the captain? There was a loud thumping on the podium above us, then we saw him. A large pair of arms gripped the side of the podium, then a big grey oval head rose to the microphone. A smaller pair of arms grasped the microphone towards the gaping hole that was the captain's mouth. The captain was a Voidrian? I had only seen one other seen one in person before. My god their faces are atrocious to look at, but his voice was surprisingly less horrifying than I expected. The captain's mouth unwrinkled open. His voice sounded very mellow and friendly but almost disembodied, I couldn't tell if it was the translator or if that's how he naturally sounded.  

"Greetings everyone. I am captain Yhareth and welcome aboard the Umbra. Most of you are new here, there are plenty of old hands here to help you all become well acquainted with the inner workings of the ship, as well as helping you with your jobs."

Yhareth huh? Voidrians had such odd names, they also spoke weirdly as well. He went on more about the history of the ship and its significance and how important it is we do our jobs as best as we can, as nice as it was where we were. I couldn't help but notice the strangely quiet yet oddly rustic atmosphere of the foyer; the sound of people breathing around me and the coldness of the room made me feel rather uncomfortable. I also noticed some of the paint looked as if it were peeling off the old kind of grungy walls. 

"I cannot wait to serve alongside you all as we expand further into the great void and bring further prosperity to both our peoples, may the great ones bless us all with good fortune."                 

After the speech, everyone was gathered by occupation for accommodations. There were groups for all the professions on board, there was one for security and one for the science teams. Damien and I walked up to the person who was in charge of leading the group I was assigned to.- "Hello we're together, are there any quarters for couples?"  The group leader looked down to face me. He was a tall lanky man with glasses. - "What're your and your partner's positions?" - "I'm actually supposed to be with this group but..."- "I'm supposed to be with security."  Damien cut in.- "Ah I see the confusion, we don't usually get a lot of couples aboard so everyone gets their own rooms, except for families. You two aren't married are you?"  I wanted to say yes but that would be an obvious lie that would be found out in no time. Damian has never proposed and we have never really spoken about marriage.- "Oh no, we're not." - "Hmm, that's alright. You two can always see each other on breaks, or it's only a week if you're both too busy."

"Well shit, did you not look into that at all?"  Damien asked me. I could hear the annoyance in his voice. I shrugged. - "I had no idea that there wasn't any cohabitation for partners, nothing was said about that anywhere."  I looked around trying to think of what to do now. Damien let out what sounded like an exasperated sigh, he stepped over to me and gently lifted my chin to face him. - "It's alright, We'll both get to see what's on this rust bucket anyway. Hell maybe one of us will get a room with an indoor pool or something fancy like that."  I gave him a hug, then we went our separate ways with our respective groups.

Lilith and I as well as all, I think several dozen other researchers followed the group leaders into the maglev elevators. The elevators could fit about a dozen people, we were all separated by first names, phew. Lilith stood there, staring daggers into me as I turned around to look at her. The elevator was rather cramped, two larger guys stood shoulder to shoulder next to me, making me feel like I was about to be squished by them. Five or so agonizing minutes later we reached the 33rd deck, the doors opened revealing a pristine alabaster white and sparkling silver spectacle of interior design. Everyone audibly gasped and wowed at the marvelous sight before them while I stood there wide-eyed at the heavenly sight in front of me. "Welcome to deck thirty-three everyone, now follow us to the living quarters where you will all be staying for the next week."