Vanguard Of The Mutants

6: Gateway to the Stars

Soon, the starship Vellamun would pass through the wormhole. Tacitus had woken the crew a week before, so they had time to prepare. By now, the aquaponic facilities worked at full capacity. The aquarium teemed with fish and the conveyor belt system going through the entire habitat ring and its water tanks carried loads of mussels.

Tapeesa walked through a small jungle in space. Little rice fields floated on the water with various fish swimming in between the plants to keep them free of algae. Doctor Moreau had genetically engineered these unusually large plants for maximum output. Back on Earth, such plants played an essential role in feeding ten billion people.

But Doctor Moreau had also miniaturized a few plants for the Vellamun's gardens. Among them were mini cacao, coffee and cinnamon trees. In the shelves right above the rice stood numerous pomato plants.

Vini climbed around, eating leaves off the plants to make space for tomatoes. The wild Red Pandas, Doctor Moreau had developed Apuas from, would eat mostly bamboo. But since the Vellamun lacked the space for those, Doctor Moreau had engineered them to be able to eat many different foods. Tapeesa did not disturb the little fuzz ball.

Soon, she came across Setanto wearing a headpiece with two green plastic antennae while carrying a red bag slung over his shoulder. A devilish grin spread over Tapeesa's face as she asked with fake innocence, "Setanto, do you know where Valentina is?"

The big guy wanted to say something, but then a muffled voice came out of the bag, exclaiming, "I'm here."

Tapeesa snickered, but this opened up a little question. "That's not the same bag you carry me around with, right?" she asked Setanto.

"No, I have specific bags for each of you. Red for Valentina, green for Sheranee and blue for you."

"How come I never noticed?"

"It's hard to see from the inside," Valentina answered with impatience in her muffled voice, "He can fill you up tomorrow."

"I know." a dirty smile spread on Tapeesa's face.

"That's news to me," Setanto raised an eyebrow, "You know, I'm not an entertainer, you can just book for a day or two!"

"Wrong!" Tapeesa pulled out a sheet of paper with very girly handwriting on it, including little hearts everywhere, written with a pink felt pen, "We made a schedule for you. Monday and Thursday is Valentina's turn, Tuesday and Friday you belong to me, Wednesday and Saturday are for Sheranee and on Sunday you get a day off."

A moment of silence followed. Setanto immediately recognized Valentina's handwriting. He just looked at the sheet for a while, amazed, but not really surprised, "I knew it! There's a reason why your rotations are so orderly."

"Well," Tapeesa clasped her hands with an even dirtier grin on her face, "Doctor Moreau said, you're on this ship to protect and comfort us. Right now, there is no evil alien in sight.."

"If there was one girl on a spaceship full of guys, created to 'comfort' the crew, it would be considered sexist!"

"True, you may punish me for my bigotry tomorrow. There's nothing quite like breakfast in bed with a big, juicy sausage. Especially if it dislocates your jaw a bit."

"Uhm..." Setanto could only stare at the blue-eyed girl with a blank face. Scenes like this appeared in every single one of Tapeesa's books.

The bag reacted in a very different manner, "I know! So considerate of Doctor Moreau to improve the taste!"

"One of our most underrated modifications I guess," Setanto sighed only a bit. After all, it benefited him too.

Awkward silence followed. The big guy needed a moment to get over all this. Tapeesa just stood there and snickered. It took a bit too long for Valentina's liking.