Saein Vernig's Story

Minn

The voice startled her, but as she spun about and noticed Cassandra, Minn giggled with numerous nods. "It's amazing...just look at all this!" She dove for the cabinets, extracting knives, listing off ingredients and rushing back and forth between appliances, making sure to give Cassandra the full run-down on the make and model and special features each had to give.

"It's like a dream...I very very delicious dream."

Minn giggled and faced her crew mate once more, suddenly realizing how long she had been talking. "Sorry..." she said, smiling nervously. "How are you liking the ship so far?"


Bond

"Engines sound like heaven to me," he replied, pulling out his screwdriver and saluting Saein with it. "Lead on!"

They ventured a bit further into the belly of the beast and Bond was smiling the whole time. He wondered about MAK, the AI on the ship. Reggie seemed to trust him, and Bond wasn't going to question Reggie after knowing her judgments were sound, but it worried him slightly, memories flashing in his mind's eye. The AI on his previous jobs had never gone rogue, but they were little help in crisis. Something to do with system failures and unresponsive chips. Bond believed relying on the AI for anything except tours was hard to do.

But it wasn't his place to worry about MAK right now. He followed Saein until the hallways turned more into a boiler room setup and he grinned, hearing the engine whirring nearby.

"Come to papa," he purred and pushed forward, pulling open the Engine Room door. "Oh glorious beauty. We meet again."

It was what he had hoped. Cylinder shaped, Cones at each end, gears here, levers there...He rounded the large machine twice, wondering where to start his inspections. He looked to Saein. "I could marry this thing."

"I could marry this thing." Bond liked the engine.

“I hope it doesn’t have a problem with polygamy” Saein agreed. “Let me listen to it singing for a moment.” She didn’t move for a minute, she didn’t even breathe. “Purrrrfection.” Her nose twitched. “There’s a tiny leak in the cooling somewhere, though. Too small to be noticed by the computer,” she waved her datapad that was displaying the information MAK had given her about the engine, “but it’s there.” Saein opened a door on the side of the engine. “Well, that’s a lot of pipes, and they all look fine. I guess I’ll have to tape a different seam every day until I find out which to fix.” She wrapped some shiny tape around her best guess, took a note in her datapad, closed the door, and followed Bond to observe how he inspected the engine from all angles.

After finishing most of the tour of the ship (the bridge had to be skipped because some were having a confidential conversation there), Saein had a look at the two rooms she had claimed for Bond and herself. They were pretty much identical, she picked the one with slightly less manly colours. She picked up her big bag and her suitcase full of metal from the land cruiser, dragged them to her room, and let herself drop onto the bed. It was a nice soft bed, really big too. “Ten crew members, not counting the captain. Five big beds. I wonder if she expects us to repopulate the Earth when we find it” she joked to herself.

“If that were the case, she would have hired equal amounts of men and women, and of compatible species only” MAK chimed in.

“Good points, MAK, but I was talking to myself.” A bed like this would have been nice a few years ago. Maybe... No, “You don’t play that game anymore. Besides, you couldn't, not with anyone on this ship.”

“I don’t play what game anymore? I’m not aware of any entertainment programs having been uninstalled” MAK asked for clarification.

“TALKING TO MYSELF!”

“You sound stressed, and incoherent talking to oneself may be a symptom of a mental health problem. Would you like me to schedule an appointment with doctor Greenhaven?”

“I don’t think the doctor can make the voice I keep hearing go away, but I’m sure I have a few tools that are just right for the job. So shut up, MAK, until I mention your name, or else.”

Silence. Saein brought her thoughts back to exactly half of the crew having rooms. She was annoyed the captain had left it to the crew to figure out who got those rooms, it was a way to reward selfishness and laziness. It wasn’t fair, though, to assume the others who had been quick enough to claim rooms were selfish or lazy, maybe they had reasoned the same way she did, or maybe they had different good reasons or just good luck.

“MAK, who else has claimed rooms?”

“Cassandra Lassion, Colin Seartjik, Eddie Ackers, and Bond Mason. Shall I shut up again now?”

“Yes, that would be nice. But don’t worry, I wouldn’t really attack you with wire cutters... maybe just a little screwdriver.” She still intended to give the room away, and now she knew who she didn’t need to offer it to. Who of the remaining five had to do a lot of work every day, and did she like? Minn, obviously. But what if Minn was too modest to accept? She remembered the bed was really big, if she put a pillow in the middle it could be considered two beds, and maybe an easier to accept offer. Maybe there was a way she could use that offer to find out more about the character of the others who had claimed rooms...

Saein wondered what it would be like if Minn did accept the offer to share the room, and what it would have been like if she had been a Firni too. The girl seemed to have a nice personality, she was pretty, and best of all, she appeared to be a great cook. She might have long term potential. “Saein Vernig,” Saein said to herself with a mischievous grin, “your intentions aren’t pure, and you know it. You’re going to get yourself in trouble that way.”

Time to get back to work. She took her datapad, wrapped up her notes about the small issues she had noticed and the few repairs she had made in a nice report, added the sentence “I’ve seen new ships that were in a worse state” and asked MAK to deliver it to the captain. Work done, time to wander around the ship aimlessly.

Saein stared out of a window. There wasn’t anything particularly interesting to be seen behind it, but when one wants to stare one has to do it somewhere. Deciding to be serious about relationships and then not having any was one thing, possible future serious interest interfering with her plan for a little joke another, and that wasn’t even mentioning most of the complications. “I’ll just do something” she thought. “Like going to the kitchen. I could use some food.”

“Hi Minn! Hi everyone!” Saein entered the kitchen. “Whoa, who and what is this?” The concept of androids offended her a little, it wasn’t right to completely replace living people with machines. On the other hand, such a complex machine intrigued her. After hesitating a moment, she knelt next to Reggie. “Need a hand, captain?”

Cassandra looked up as first Reggie and an android burst through the doors. She instantly stopped what she was saying about already finding a room, and looked over at the android. Her race never encountered any before, but she had seem some on her way to apply for the job. When Saein also entered, she decided to leave. Not like she had a problem with other people, but she had an itching to both get away from the bot and explore the ship. She smiled kindly at Minn, offering a small wave.

"It was nice talking to you. I'll come back later, don't worry. I have more exploring to do." She said, before backing out the door and turning to face the empty hallway. She retreated back to her room, quite surprised she managed to find it again. She took an extra minute to look at the room closer, opening each drawer and feeling around for anything that could be hidden. All she found was a small layer of dust. Shrugging, she took a seat on the bed.

"MAK, do I happen to have an office?" Cassandra said, once again hoping the AI would hear her. Didn't seem like he ever stopped listening, because she had an answer soon enough.

"Yes. Would you like me to show it to you?" The Xylamar nearly ran out of the room in excitement. Instead, she settled with an amused chuckle before standing and leaving the room, looking down the empty hallway once before remembering AI had asked her a question. "Please do, MAK." She answered, and she soon felt her datapad buzz. She checked it, to see the AI had left her somewhat of a GPS system. She smiled once again before following it, taking a left her and going straight here. Suddenly, she found herself standing directly in front of a door. She put her datapad away and opened the door, to find a very large office. It had a desk on one side, but the rest of the space was empty. Perfect. She tended to do a lot of pacing.

"Wonderful. I was wondering, though. Do you happen to have any blueprints?" Cassandra said, grinning as she started looking through the drawers.

Minn

Cassandra ended up leaving once more bodies filled the kitchen and part of Minn, as she returned the goodbye wave, wanted to retreat with her. The captain had brought in an android and asked for food. What did an android eat? She studied the bot with a tilted head, twirling a piece of her pink hair as she chewed on her bottom lip. Saein had entered too, looking for food no doubt. What could she make that would satisfy everyone? Eddie wanted food first...

Smiling to Saein, still loving her similar colored hair and catching herself waving to the mechanic, Minn twirled about to find the pantry still left open from her searching moments before. She tapped her chin, bent down, crouched, stretched up to reach, swayed side to side to see into the darker corners of the shelves....Eventually she pulled out three fist sized blue labeled cans, found seasonings in the upper cupboards, the proper pans in the drawers and fired up the stove.

Even though most species didn't like butter or couldn't even tell the difference between it and peanut butter or applesauce, she started melting some from habit and sniffed the air lovingly, lounging against the counter and pushing the yellow blocks around the bottom of the pan as they melted into yellow streaks. She added some seasonings, quite fresh still too from their home planets, then set to find the right kind of meats. She knew different species liked different meats, so she pulled out simple Venison, genetically recreated about 20 years ago in the Central planets, some Tarc, a delicacy to most aliens since most planets had access to shipments of it from the Mid-Central farms, and pig. She loved the smell of pig. It was more for herself than anything she supposed.

Vegetables would be needed too and she started cooking an array of these as well to hopefully fit the general taste of the crew. She still needed to get to know everyone for more specific dishes, so this one may not appeal to most, but she could only try her best without much to go on.

After making decisions for about twenty minutes, she had five pots going, three boiling fruits or veggies while two were cooking meats. She decided to roast the Tarc and prepared the oven and proper dishes stat.

Satisfied with her timers and the aroma filling the large oval space, she faced all who had entered now and slumped against a stool with a glorious smile. She had never been in a finer kitchen and to see that she would be feeding so many in just a few moments...she was filled with buzzing excitement.

She needed Eddie to hurry up and find the kitchen. These people were going to eat before him if he didn't. She would see to that. Someone was going to eat all this food.

"No, I've got it. I've worked on Androids before," Reggie said smiling down at Saein. "He just really needs food, so helping Minn out be the wisest thing to do. Although, I don't know if she needs help, she seems to be handling the situation."

Reggie peaked over around Dlew to see Minn busy running about the kitchen. There were so many pots on the stove, things in the oven. The Shariva looked like she was running about crazily, but Reggie could see the focus in her eyes. She knew exactly what she was doing.

"So, Dlew, tell me about yourself. If you're going to working on the Nightwing, I need to know what you can do."

She grabbed a screwdriver and dug her way into the gears. Tightening a few, removing stuff that didn't belong. He was definitely in bad shape, but they would easily fix him. She had an old storage bin filled with spare parts. She was sure there was something in there she could use.

Eddie had found himself wandering around aimlessly for quite a while. The ship was pretty big and going on his own little adventure was beginning to take some time. A bit into his lonely walk, his nose began to work, picking up some scents in the air. He knew instantly that Minn was making food... delicious food.

Ackers followed his nose more than anything on his way to the kitchen. It was as if he was floating and being dragged to the kitchen by the aroma of the food. Soon, the smell that permiated the air intensified as he drew nearer to the kitchen. His mouth watered as he finally entered the kitchen that was not only filled by Minn and the scent, but others as well. They couldn't touch the food! Not until he had eaten. He smiled.

"Here I am," he said to Minn, announcing his presence in the room. He wasn't sure if it was done yet, but if not, it was to be very soon. He was really excited to get to eat something that smelled so tasty. Kinda smelled like pork. His glance met the android, which normally would've aroused a question or two, seeing as it wasn't there when they first came in, but.... food. The food was all he wanted to have anything to do with right now, that and Minn by extent. "It smells.... awesome," he stated as he killed some of the distance between he and the chef.

Minn

Minn giggled as Eddie approached, obviously enticed by the scents. She stirred a few times saying, "You'll have to wait a bit longer, Mr. Pilot."

She watched the Android then added more spices and then decided to take a seat since her food wouldn't need watching for at least ten minutes. This was the part she disliked. The waiting.

She sat straight though, smiling over to Saein and waving her over along with Eddie. She was suddenly so enthusiastic and confident. Food did that to the pink-skinned girl.

"Did you guys get a look at the place? How is it?" Minn hadn't seen much else other than her haven here, not that she needed any other space. Not even a bedroom she supposed, her idea of a bedroom quite irregular of course. Maybe an actual bed would be nice like at the Inn. She considered, but waved her thoughts away, smiling to the other too and sitting ever straighter.

"You'll have to wait a bit longer, Mr. Pilot."

Eddie's face twisted into a frown as he heard these words. The horror. "It's torture," he said as Minn took a sit as Eddie's dreaded 'wait' began. He swore he'd personally beat up whoever invented the waiting period for cooking.

Eddie found a seat near Minn after she waved him and Saein over and promptly sat down and smiled as he did so. Well, at least she seemed a bit more happy now that she was in the ship and cooking. That was good. Happy people made Eddie happy.

"Did you guys get a look at the place? How is it?"

"Yeah, I've got all the locations of this ship fairly memorized. The Nightwing is a beaut," he said. "Definetly built with comfort in mind, judging by the bedrooms. I'm glad I claimed one," he laughed. "It's torture enough being hungry! Adding being tired to the mix wouldn't be really fun..." he sighed. "That food needs to hurry up and enter my stomach..."

"I could inject it straight into your stomach but that would be a waste! The taste is 90 percent of the fun!"

"I can smell," he laughed at his pun. It was quite true though, he could tell due to the smell... just like earlier. He glanced towards the food for a second before returning his eyes back to Minn. "It smells great," he said enthusiastically. "I'm glad I called first dibs on your cooking and I believe I might've found at least one person I genuinely enjoy the company of, Minn," he said. "Most of the cooks on my other ships were... well, lets just say they disliked to joke around,"

The scent teased his nose again. "Well, their food smelled bad anyways," he said. "And I'm sure that smelling good makes the food that much better. I don't think you have to worry about that part though, do you?"

Minn had smiled and waved to her, and of course Saein had responded with the same expression and gesture. Suddenly she felt very self-conscious.

"No, I've got it. I've worked on Androids before. He just really needs food, so helping Minn out be the wisest thing to do. Although, I don't know if she needs help, she seems to be handling the situation." The captain suggested Saein should help Minn instead.

“Well, you see, I have never worked on an Android, so I’m curious. But I have to admit Minn’s cooking is at least as fascinating. I’m not a terrible cook myself if I may say so, but I think I’d just get in her way.”

Eddie announced his presence in the kitchen, Minn gestured at both him and Saein to come talk with her. “Alright then, can’t ignore cook’s orders” Saein joked to Reggie. Eddie sat down next to Minn, Saein chose the seat on the other side next to the cook.

"Did you guys get a look at the place? How is it?" Minn asked.

Eddie replied "Yeah, I've got all the locations of this ship fairly memorized. The Nightwing is a beaut. Definetly built with comfort in mind, judging by the bedrooms. I'm glad I claimed one. It's torture enough being hungry! Adding being tired to the mix wouldn't be really fun... That food needs to hurry up and enter my stomach..."

Damnit, why did he have to mention the bedrooms? Now she couldn’t mess with the minds of all three who had claimed rooms before her at once. Eddie and Minn continued to talk about food and smell, Saein just nodded in agreement to Minn’s point about smell being vital to taste, her mind was on how best to change her plan. Maybe it was best to only try to tease Eddie, he deserved a revenge for embarrassing her with his joke about racism. By the time she had made up her mind, Eddie was listing kinds of meat he liked.

“I used to like sartiki meat a lot when I was a kid, until I met a live one. The big eyes, the soft fur... and when I petted it I felt it really wanted to be cuddled... so now I prefer not to know what kind of meat I’m eating, even when it’s not the real thing. Anyway, you asked about the ship, and that reminded me of something I was thinking about when I claimed my room. The bedrooms are lovely, and the beds are about three times as big as what I’m used to. I haven’t seen the barracks, but I doubt they’re as nice. But if you put a pillow or a folded blanket or something in the middle of those big beds, I don’t see why anyone would have to sleep in the barracks. So, Minn, if you haven’t claimed a room of your own, would you like to be my roomie? And Eddie, have you thought of one yet? I’d suggest the doctor, you’d want him to be well-rested if he ever has to operate on you...”

Saein bit her lip for a second, watching Eddie’s face, then burst out laughing. “Nah, it’s completely up to you if you want to share your room or not. But Minn, that was a real offer. You can even have the room to yourself if you want to think about it or need privacy, a cook who sleeps well is more important to me than a nice bed.”

"Wow, that's amazing" Reggie exclaimed when Dlew showed her the portrait. “That is pretty cool,” Saein commented, “an Android, a kind of portrait of the idea of a person, drawing portraits. A work of art creating works of art. Very strange, but I think I like that idea.”

Dlew felt uneasy when more people came over to see his drawing even tho it was not even finished, but he didn't show that he was uneasy.

After a few minutes Dlew finished up The captains portrait and then turned to look at the Firni and started to draw her.

"And Eddie, have you thought of one yet? I’d suggest the doctor, you’d want him to be well-rested if he ever has to operate on you...”

Eddie obviously showed disgust at that idea, his face betraying him. After a second, he regained his composure in time to see Saein laugh. "I'll decline that offer. I'm not too fond of physical contact," he looked at her and winked. "Well, at least not with guys," he said in a laugh.

Eddie listened to Saein's offer to Minn and smiled. That was actually very nice of her, and he appreciated kindness in general, regardless of whether or not it was to him. An odd thought came across his mind: Why didn't heterosexual girls mind sleeping with other girls as much as heterosexual guys did? He actually pondered this. The thought of sleeping with another man-sexually or not-disgusted Eddie. He wasn't against that as long as it wasn't with him, he was fine. But still.... what the actual fuck?

He tapped the side of his head strongly as if that'd shake the answer into his head. It didn't. Why the hell did this even matter? Even he didn't see much wrong with two girls sleeping in the same bed.... That thought right there just changed his thought train to something else... something perverted. His mind was now racing with lustful images of the two girls in bed. A small flush made itself obvious on his face as imaginary moans and images filled his mind. It took a while, but he finally caught himself.

Bad Eddie!

He mentally scolded himself for even thinking such things, but it still remained in his thoughts. God, he was such a bad person for imagining things like that. How the hell did he get so far off?! Why the hell is he thinking like this?!.... Curse his horniness... curse it!

"I'll decline that offer. I'm not too fond of physical contact," he looked at her and winked. "Well, at least not with guys," he said in a laugh.

“Then it’s lucky most of the crew is female.” Saein kept a neutral voice to pretend she hadn’t understood that what he had said was a bit naughty. She knew the freckle pattern on her face almost screamed “cheeky”, and she was going to enjoy every second of the rest of the crew not recognizing that yet. She thought of making a double entendre, but perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to do so in front of Minn. It probably also wasn’t a good idea to ask what Eddie was thinking and then blushing about. There was still an opportunity to stretch out the teasing: “But I don’t understand why you have a problem with the doctor. You’re going to have to undress for him sooner or later.”

“But I don’t understand why you have a problem with the doctor. You’re going to have to undress for him sooner or later.”

Eddie snapped out of his naughty thoughts and looked at Saein with a frown. "Don't remind me...." he sighed. "Well, I guess that is misery we'll both share," he teased back with a laugh as the countered the statement. "Remember to do everything the doctor says because I can tell you that having health complications while stuck on a ship will not be fun,"

His glance turned over to their doctor as they mentioned him and Eddie gave him a strange look as he noticed a blush forming on the doctor's face. He followed the man's eyes from his face to Minn. Turning to the Shariva, he laughed. "Looks like the doctor is stunned by your beauty," he whispered to her.

Dlew looked as two new face's entered the room so he finished up drawing the Firni, he went to draw the two new people who entered the room.

Dlew noticed the new guy was looking wierdly at the cook and he wondered what he was thinking about.

Dlew realized that the guy hadn't seen him yet and wondered if he ever will take his eyes off of the cook.

When Alex announced him self Dlew felt like his curiosity was barely satisfied and every thing felt awkward so Dlew thought to keep his mouth shut because alot of people were already uneasy with his presence on this ship.

Dlew then heard another loud grumble indicating he was really hungry, Dlew thought that every one in this room heard his stomach but only people who were around him heard it. So basically everyone who was watching him draw heard it.

Dlew felt like he was going to go out like a light soon but was holding on. (of course he didn't show any of it on his face, but the people who heard his stomach grumble knew that he was in need of food soon)

Minn

"Roomie?" Minn asked in response to Saein's question. She considered, thinking about her response as the conversation continued. Before she could respond however, Eddie leaned over pointing out the doctor's interest in her. Jumping a little and meeting the doctor's eye, she tilted her head. It wasn't the first time she had been called beautiful, nor that someone had looked at her in such a way. She wondered about the blush on his cheeks...

She went to check on the food while the talks continued and more people showed up. Food was almost ready and there were plenty of mouths. Good.

A few more minutes remained and Minn took her seat again, smiling to Saein. "Sure," she said with a sweet smile. "I'll room with you. Never had my own room before anyway. Would probably get lonely." She smiled to the other pink haired girl, glad to have a friend.

Eddie glanced over to the android, who seemed to be near death. He felt kinda bad but... he was going to dine first. He called it and he'd make sure of it. Smiling as he turned to Minn, he spoke. "So you two girls are actually roomies no-" a familiar and dirty thought crossed his mind when he spoke and a blush overtook his face for a second. He shook the thought out of his head. "...you guys are becoming roomies? That was really nice of you, Saein," he praised.

"I'm afraid I'll be sleeping alone... wouldn't want to accidently kick the doctor in my sleep or anything if he's going to be working on lives," he laughed. "As a gentleman, I must tell you that you are free to use my room if you girls have an argument or something like that. I hope not, seeing as we're confined in the ship with you, but it does happen sometimes, and I'd much rather sleep in the barracks than listen to two ladies fight," he explained.

"But! That we can worry about later! Right now..." he mouth started watering. "My nose is in heaven.... this waiting is killing me....."