Althea stepped into the service corridor that passed along the back wall of the Tourist Trap. She saw the ship's resident terraforming specialist, Orianna, just ahead and walking briskly toward the door. Realizing she was probably the last crew member to arrive, Althea stepped into a quick jog to catch up to the younger woman. Althea gently tapped her shoulder. Orianna turned and immediately her expression became a welcoming smile. "Althea! When did you get back? Glad you could join us." The two hugged exchanged a quick hug. Orianna grasped Althea's shoulders, leaned back slightly to fully examine her. "Allie! Where're your pants? I know captain Roaouh's not big on formalities but seriously? Your shapely calves will send the twennies into a moral panic." "Oh, no!" Althea threw up her arms in feigned panic. "How could I forget pants!" She grinned and leaned closer to Orianna. "Or, maybe, they just might catch the attention of a strapping young colonist or two," Althea arched her left eyebrow for emphasis. "Do you really think they're that easy to arouse?" Orianna leaned close as well, her voice a stage whisper. "You're incouragable." She held up both hands to indicate ignorance. "I'm not a historian. How should I know? Are you so easily bored during our little interstellar voyages? Perhaps a more dignified hobby like poetry or celebrity paprazzi?" "No celebrities on a colony ship, Orianna. Besides, I like my current methods of diversion just fine." Althea honestly liked the young ecologist despite her affectation of being a stodgy fun-damping field. Orianna always had a sincere concern underlying all her fussiness. "Enough silliness, my girl. How's the terraforming business on, uh, Gliesse 87, uh, D? C?" "Gliesse 844E. Just fine, thank you. There wasn't much to it. The automated seeder ships just had to tweak the CO2 a bit to bring it down to more managable levels. I'm really only going to have to make a few recomendations and do some last effort checks to make sure nothing catastrophic awaits our fine band of cultists, I mean, colonists." "Now who's incouragable? Have they chosen a name for the planet, yet?" Orianna nodded and smiled, "Akeakamai." "Hawaiian? How quaint!" "Althea! You surprise me. You know your romance languages!" "So few cultures survived the Great Filter Event, Mom always thought I should learn at least one language from the dawn of space-faring civilization." They laughed quietly and joined arms before strolling into the concourse area. They were on the upper level, as were the entirety of the Rocinante's crew. They found a spot at the back of the gathered crowd. Orianna waved her hands to quiet Althea. "The captain's going to start her address, now shush up!" The look of subtle adoration in the ecologist's face was one Althea somehow found adorable. "You're seriously crushing--" Althea lazily blocked Orianna's attempt to poke her where the breast scar was underneath her dress uniform. She laughed at the younger woman's faux pained expression. = = = = = = = = Continuing the story begun here: Amazon CE:4693 Thanks for visiting!