Landing the ship was not as easy as drinking a glass of water. The commands and parameters on the control chair were in Old High S'skash, a kind of writing who had fallen into disuse for thousand years. The New Martians had regressed to oral culture and then had adopted the Earthener writing. "What is written on this indicator?" JS asked in the throes of a galloping frustration crisis, but Eve and the ship herself weren't very helpful. "Dammit! Eve, what do you know about the hangar?" Eve reeled off a couple of quatrains and the ship added two more of hers, but the result was mercifully called by JS: "Bloody total darkness!" "It is said that the mother ship, the crazy one, was also a ship that sang, so I suppose that this hangar was built for a ship of enormous proportions." Eve ventured and added: "It is said that the Forsaken were about 20,000 souls. So the ship had been large enough to contain them and the hangar should be adequate." "Holy cow, a heavy battle cruiser!" JS murmured with a grin. "You belongs to the same ship class, I suppose. What's your size?" "Size, dimensions? What are they?" asked the ship clearly puzzled. "Your physical dimensions. How long, large and high are you?" JS explained. "I don't know." Said the ship with great distress. "We don't have any of that here in Nowhere, if I have understood what they are." Then the ship blurted a description that made things worse. Eventually JS understood that the Nowhere was an abstract mathematical dimension, and that only the release from the Nowhere gave physical embodiment to the ship. The Nowhere was something totally different from the hyperspace, but this was a concept to be explored further and later. "We need a brainiac, here!" JS sighed. Finally it was time to try the landing, also because JS had exhausted his repertory of curses and swearwords, something he had hitherto believed impossible. The pitch black darkness of the cavern for a moment seemed to shrink, shrivel in itself and then changed into another total darkness, but more corporeal and not metaphysic any longer. Then lights in front of them, above them and below them glowed. "Godamighty! She's really huge!" JS and Eve exhaled. On the side of the immense spaceship a door opened. A gangway reached out to them. JS and Eve had reached the deck and the ship greeted them with the typical one hiss 'six to broadside'. JS saluted and said: "Request permission to come aboard, madam." "I'm yours, my captain, no need to ask permission." NMS Victory stated and proudly added: "I'm reading the honors protocol in your mind. I hope I was correct!" The ship took them to the bridge, and the Commander's chair. JS sat down and the imprinting was done. Eve did the same on the Naga's chair. When they were at the center of the bridge, the ship and Eve started a song. "Why don't you sing with us, Jay?" asked Eve. "I've musical hear for engines, gunshots, explosions and ticking. But I'm out of tune with real music. I'm sorry." JS smiled. Suddenly the music stopped for a moment and then began again. It was a waltz. "Out of tune and this, then? It was at the bottom of your mind!" chuckled the ship. JS looked at Eve with her dress draped around her slender figure. He remembered he was in full-dress uniform and could not resist the romantic temptation and was weak enough to ask: "Would you dance?" putting one hand around her waist and taking her hand with the other. "I cannot.." "Listen to the rhythm of the music and follow my lead." JS smiled and whirled her into the middle of the floor. --- Thank you to all people who appreciated the previous picture! Thank you for viewing and drop a note if you like! CREDITS: Lyrra: Ensign M4; Davorama: Modular Command Chair; Moyra: Serpentine; Tyllo: Metal Ornaments; Kibarreto: Commander.