(42) Accommodation
Other than the launch, the only thing I can say about the flight is that it was calm. There was no shaking or rattling when I finally looked out the small window and saw the blackness of space, only peace broken by the occasional chatter of the others in the cabin.
Right now we are docking with the “Cruise Ship” as they call it. Not cruise because is supposed to be a pleasure trip but because the ship is massive. Really, if the shuttle was big, the only way I can describe the ship is monumental.
After performing the “Acceleration burn” to match our speed with the ship, we could get out of our seats. Until that point, we had to stay strapped in, but that was only for an hour.
So I’m looking at this ship through the window. My classmates have all decided on copying me.
“That enormous…” comments Aya. She’s been quiet for most of this trip, but I guess she couldn’t help but comment on the size of this ship.
The ship’s appearance is arrow like. There’s a gigantic half circle on what I assume to be the bottom part, and that’s attached to a ring of spheres. Moving up, a thin plate that reflects light separates the bottom from various rotating rings along the body of the ship. It ends in a single sphere made of a transparent material that I wouldn’t call it glass as it’s semi-opaque.
I turn to Neko and ask with a cheeky smile. “So, is the resident expert going to explain what we’re looking at or are we just going to be left speculating?”
The others also turn to her, as if requesting an explanation.
She jerks and reels back. “Really?”
I, and the others, nod.
Naeko then moves next to the window and starts. “Righ, you see that giant bowl? That’s the engine, it’s high specific impulse low thrust interstellar class engine. That means it’s very efficient but has to fire for a long time. Don’t ask me for specifics on function. I’m not an engine expert.”
‘Well, at least this time I didn’t have to ask for the translation. Also “I’m not an engine expert”? Thank Solus because we’d already be late for the tournament by the time she’d be done.’
She continues. “Right in front of it are the fuel tanks. There’s eight of them and they can carry enough fuel to speed this ship up to half light speed and slow it down again. Really, using such a ship for interplanetary travel is such a waste, but the people demanded fast space travel, so that’s what we get. Obviously, for a trip like this, there’s way less fuel in them.”
‘I think I get it… Not really, no, but let’s keep nodding.’ And that’s what I do.
Again, she continues her explanation. “Now, that circle that separates the engine compartment from the passenger and crew compartments is made of solid lead, and it’s arguably the most important part, bar the engine, as it keeps away all the harmful radiation that the engine discharges when firing. Above it, like I said, is the passenger compartment and the crew quarters and on top you have the bridge.”
We keep nodding at her explanation.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but… Let me just warn that you girls might look kind of… indecent right now.” The Director warns.
I look around to see what he’s talking about, but I don’t notice anything wrong… Until I look down and realize that whatever kept our skirts from flowing in the wind clearly doesn’t work in space.
“KYAA!” Aya shrieks, and forces her skirt downward.
She has the most noticeable response, but we all do something similar.
After that, frankly embarrassing display, seriously, how did I miss the Zero-G? It’s like the MAIN thing you are supposed to notice when you get to space…
Anyway, that feeling didn’t last long. The shuttle docked at the cruise ship and we filed out through a docking-port on the top side of the cruiser. There we passed through an airlock where we promptly fell on our asses as gravity abruptly returned.
Then we got separated into groups with the Director and his assistant going one way, the duelists going another and finally we cheerleaders going to yet another location.
I made sure to confirm with Aya, Aiko, Mia and Yasuna that we would go meet them at some point to go over some strategy and theory crafting about dueling later on and we went our ways.
The interior of the ship was a stark difference from the shuttle. White was the primary color, with black a close second. It was here that I finally felt like I was straight up in a science fiction movie. Automatic sliding doors? Check. Hidden in wall lights? Check. Uniformly dressed folk? Er. No, not really. The only people I’ve seen dressed uniformly are the staff, with colored jumpsuits. Other than that, I did notice some people about our age wearing uniforms similar to ours, so we are not the only academy on board, which makes sense if you think about it. With a ship this size and a travel time of 4 days, it’s not like there would be any other way to get to the station on time for the tournament.
We walk through what seems like half the ship and finally get to our accommodations for the next few days. It’s a spacious room, about twice the size of the dorms in red rank, and there’s 4 individual beds each with an accompanying bedside table. To the right there are 4 mini-closets, similar to lockers but bigger, with a holographic display above each of them with our names. To the left, a big sofa stands with a holographic TV in front of it.
I happily walk into the room and put my small bag into the closet with my name on it, but then I look back and notice Haruna and the others standing still next to the door with their mouths wide open and eyes basically popping out of their faces.
I close the closet and walk back to them before crossing my arms and asking. “You good?”
Haruna snaps out and croaks. “This has to be a joke….”
I raise an eyebrow and look around the room before quizzing. “What has to be a joke?”
She opens her arms wide. “This room!” she declares. “What kind of room is this?!?!? It’s tiny! And we barely have any space for ourselves!”
‘… You’ve got to be kidding. This is bigger and nicer than what we got in the red dorm.’
Unfortunately, Haruna wasn’t kidding, and both Nanako and Naeko agreed with her, which prompted them to go around the room complaining about every single detail they could find. Focusing on the lack of a bathroom in the room…
‘This is what I get for hanging out with the rich girls, isn’t it? For fuck’s sake, we’re thousands of Miles above the earth and they care more about a room that we aren’t even supposed to hang out in!’
We have a pre-made training schedule to follow, thanks to our absence at the Academy, Mark Brown, the action duel Professor, has assigned us a schedule so we don’t fall behind the rest of the class, and if we miss even a day we get extra classes when we get back. And when where not doing that, we have to train for our routine! So we have basically no time to hang out bar the night, but we’ll probably be too tired to do anything but sleep, anyway.
Maybe it’s my preconceptions of what space travel’s supposed to be like, but these accommodations seem more than reasonable for us, that, in the end, are secondary cast members at best and eye candy at worse.
With this in mind, I yell. “Can you guys stop winning for a second?! Holy shit, how can you be this spoiled!?”
They all turn to stare at me with stunned looks on their faces.
I don’t stop there. “We aren’t even the main attraction and if you all are going to act that way during this trip, then we’ll not even be the secondary. So stop whining and get your shit together!”
I can’t stand spoiled brats. There’s just something about having everything and still wanting more that leaves an acidic taste in my mouth I find truly repulsive. Especially now that I have Yuumi’s memories. Sure she might have been a spoiled brat as well, but that ended after she got kicked out, and the memories of her time in the streets are so vile I only went through them once to work out how the “Undesirables” get treated in Dragoon City. It was not good. Ignoring them is the MO and if she even tried to reach out, the only thing she got was violence.
It’s later in the afternoon. Contrary to what I said earlier, we’re currently hanging out in our room. I haven’t apologised for saying that, and contrary to Yasuna, I’m not going to. They deserved that and, going by their behaviour after I said it, they know it. Haruna was avoiding me, with some looks from time to time like she’s trying to work out what to say. Naeko and Nanako are less subtle, with some stammering from time to time before they give up on saying anything at all.
But that stops now, when I see the three walking up to me on the couch.
Haruna starts. “Yuumi, we were being stupid…” she says, playing with her hair. “I can’t imagine what you went through as an orphan… What am I saying? We messed up big time, huh?”
I look at Naeko
She whispers. “I’m sorry.”
Then I turn to Nanako
“You’re right… We’re spoiled…” she follows.
‘… This is the best they can do, isn’t it?’ I wasn’t ignorant to the fact that these three probably aren’t used to admitting they are in the wrong. But I wanted to believe otherwise.
I let go of a sigh. “Haaah. Haruna, listen to me.” I stand up. “It isn’t the complaining here that got me, it’s your attitude as a whole…” I look off to the side.
Haruna raises an eyebrow and nudges her head to the right, then asks. “How so?”
With Haruna prompting me, I say. “Well… Sometimes I wonder if I’m the one out of place here.” I let out another deep sigh. “You are all rich and spoiled… And I’m an orphan… Our personalities don’t mix and that situation back then just serves to prove it.”
These were my honest thoughts, as much as I hated to admit it. While in reality Yuumi and these three were more similar than I was letting them know, I’m not Yuumi, and I’m also not the same person I was before I got reincarnated… It’s complicated and I’m still trying to figure out who I am myself.
Her face pales, and she quickly rebuts. “No way! Yuumi, we are the ones who fucked up here, not you. I get our views can be… A little disjointed from reality… But that’s why you’re here! So you can ground us if we go too far!”
I jerk back before taking a few deep breaths and plopping myself down on the couch.
‘Is she being purposely manipulative, or is this just how she acts?’
“Are you serious? You are fine with me chastising you when you do something like that?” I ask.
“A hundred percent.” Haruna replies without skipping a beat.
…….
I slowly turn my look from Haruna, passing over Naeko and Nanako, and they also give me a similar response.
‘You know what? Fine, let’s go with this.’ I don’t have a reason to doubt they are being serious. After all, they have done nothing malicious yet, and being vigilant with every single person I meet just leads to paranoia.
“Ok then, I’ll that one slip for now. Let’s just make sure that in this tournament we get as much attention as the duelists themselves.”
“That’s what we’re here to do. Isn’t that right, girls?” Haruna prompts.
Both Naeko and Nanko jump and yell. ““YEA!””