I glanced down at my hands as I frowned slightly. I had never liked the feel of rings on my fingers, they had always felt wrong, like they inhibited my fingers' mobility. Plus, my teacher that taught me about building and maintaining planes always said jewellery was a bad idea to have when sticking your hand into machinery. So I had never bothered wearing one. My eyes travelled the short distance to my wrists and I tilted my head slowly, I had never had a problem with bracelets. I had just never found one I loved enough to wear all the time. However, if I got one I could fill with all my crap, then it would at least be important enough to carry around. Much like my purse. I grinned like a school girl at the idea of having new jewellery and turned to look at Itshu Biyu.

  “Bracelet would be preferable.” I said to her.

  She nodded her head before reaching out to what I quickly realised was a mini bar with a door. Turning my attention back to the one in front of me, I opened it to see an arrangement of chocolates and snacks. I got excited, for a moment, I thought it was like back home until the image moved and started scrolling. I then realised it was a food dispensing machine and I had to choose what I wanted it to print. There were all sorts of food, like breakfast, lunch, and dinners. They ranged from slap it together to fine dinning at restaurants that famous people went to exclusively. As well as drinks to match each range.

  “This is amazing” I whispered as my eyes roved over the options.

  “Ah, it's just some nutrient pastes slapped together to look and taste like the real thing, barely worth adding to the budget, the licences to have the dishes listed as an option is what makes it expensive, and my cousin certainly has spared no expense for her listings…” Itshu Biyu trailed off as she frowned.

  “By the look on your face, I'm guessing it's going to take a while for us to build up our swagger to this level” I stated as I watched her out the corner of my eye.

  She subtly nodded before reaching out and making her selection on the screen, and it began printing. I glanced and saw whatever had been selected was hidden until completed. I turned back to look at my own screen, trying to decide what I wanted to have.

  “How long till we arrive at my new home?” I asked, trying to gage how much time I had to eat with.

  “Should be an hour or two, it depends on how far your ship was from the Lazarus when we departed.” she responded as she took her plate. My mouth started watering at the smell of the ribeye sitting on her plate. I quickly turned my attention back to my own screen and started looking for dishes with ribeye. I quickly found one with veggies and buttered mashed potatoes. Unable to resist, I pushed the screen, choosing it and waited for it to print. When it appeared, I quickly collected it, placing it down on a tray that had come out of the armrest the moment the food had appeared. I picked up the cutlery that had come with the food and dug in, enjoying the meal immensely.

  Close to an hour later I was leaning back in my chair holding my stomach with one hand and moaning in pure happiness at having experienced the best meal of my life. In the back of my mind, I had already mentally spent the money to get the licence for that dish. I didn’t care how much it would cost, I wanted it now, that was just how good it was.

  “That was the best meal I have ever had.” I declared as I wriggled happily in my seat.

  “Oh, will you stop it, it was food, not sex.” she snickered as she watched me.

  I giggled as I turned to look at her, regarding the statement as I considered how truthful her statement was before slowly smiling at her and rolling my shoulders.

  “I don't know, perhaps it is better than sex.”

  Itshu Biyu made a soft mewling sound as she wriggled a little before giggling and slowly nodding her head. “Mmhm, I suppose you have a good point, it was certainly a good meal, but I don't think I would admit to it being better than sex.”

  “Oh? You would know? I thought you cultivators were all about modesty and having a cultivation partner or something.” I replied as I snickered at her.

  I saw her smile slightly as she turned away, blushing. I giggled as I started looking around for any indication on how close we were to our new ship before looking back at her.

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  “Sometimes, one's cultivation partner is just that good with a big thing.” she replied shyly as she blushed deeper.

  I let out a laugh as I blushed slightly and nodded my head before deciding it was time to change the subject, I glanced around again as I looked for that indication that we were close, and I could learn what my responsibilities were about to be.

  “Uh, any idea how much longer it's going to take to reach the new ship?” I asked, trying to keep the nerves out of my voice.

  She glanced at something on the far side armrest before turning back to look at me, she shrugged, making me feel like she didn't know or was just messing with me. I let out a small grumble as I glanced at my plate, wondering what I should do with it.

  “We will be there in a few moments, the pilots are starting landing procedures as we speak. As for the plate, just leave it around somewhere, it will be cleaned up when the shuttle is vacuum scrubbed.”

  “What? What do you mean vacuum scrubbed?” I asked, looking at her with confusion.

  “Oh well, they blast the interior with all sorts of lasers, and then they open the entire thing to space before sending nanites in to clean the entire thing.”

  “That seems a little excessive… doesn't it?”

  “Indeed, but it's a new ship, so we have to make sure nothing new comes on board, after all people come from all sorts of planets with all sorts of little microscopic gremlins. Basically your home planet is an unknown so where ever you go is scrubbed before another steps foot in it. But don't get me wrong, you were checked over before you came onto the Lazarus, and we didn't find anything harmful to us. Today's scrub is more to do with a maiden voyage, and we don't know what was left on the ship when it rolled off the dry dock floor, so to speak.”

  “What? Are we okay? We just spent an hour here.” I almost shriek, feeling slightly panicked.

  “Mm, don't know, will have to go through decontamination with the ship.” she replied as she took a few things out of her pocket, tossing one to me before placing the other in her mouth. She then buckled herself with four points to the chair and closed her eyes.

  Getting the hint, I quickly did the same, buckling myself in before tossing what ever this mouth guard looking thing was into my mouth. I glanced at her for a moment before closing my eyes right before a loud beeping noise washed through the cabin.

  The next 12 minutes were comfortable and terrifying all at the same time. I felt the lasers wash over me. I felt the plate I was still holding disintegrate in my hand. The next moment, everything was sucked in all directions away from the middle of the cabin. I felt like I was being pulled into the seat and ripped from it at the same time. When that finally stopped, I enjoyed a weightlessness that allowed me to float in my seat. I smiled slowly, enjoying the feeling, before I dropped an inch back into my seat. I found it interesting and fascinating that I couldn't breathe through my nose, but my mouth seemed to have oxygen I could breathe. Next came an itching feeling all over my body, that persisted for a minute. Then the sucking air returned. When I finally fell back into my seat, I heard Itshu Biyu spit something out of her mouth and take a deep breath. Following suit, I spat the guard out and breathed deep before opening my eyes. The entire cabin was sparkling slightly, like it had just been cleaned and made to look brand new and luxurious again. I suddenly smiled, as my body felt relaxed and clean, like I had just been to a spa retreat for the last week.

  Itshu Biyu, got to her feet and quickly scooped the mouth guard oxygen tank thingies into a ziplock bag looking thing before stowing it away in one of her pockets. Just as I was about to comment I got distracted by the door opening just behind her and I saw we had not landed yet, but the shuttle was coming down quickly towards the deck. I was surprised when they didn’t land but hovered a dozen feet off the deck and Itshu Biyu turned to me with a sheepish look on her face as she shrugged her shoulders.

  ”We have to jump,” she called out to me.

  ”what! Why?” I shouted back as I looked down at the distance between me and the deck.

  ”same reason they had to scrub the interior” she called back as she moved over to the door looking down. Then turned and grinned at me, “come on, Commander, it's time to meet the crew!” She then turned and leapt out the open door.

  ”son of a…” I cut off mid-sentence as I grimaced, seeing her hit the deck and roll a few times before getting to her feet and waving for me to jump.

  I let out a groan as I inched towards the edge. I knew I had to do it, but I really didn’t want to experience the impact of landing. I stopped and started thinking about how Itshu Biyu had done it without hurting herself. A few moments later I remembered she had been rolling and wondered why. I mentally played it back and saw she had her knees bent before impact, and her arms raised over her head. The moment her feet touched the ground, she was already falling to her knees. When her knees were halfway to the ground, she moved her body, so her shoulder landed on the ground as she tucked her chin to her chest and went into a roll. At first, I didn’t get it, but as I mentally rewound and played the scene over and over, I noticed she was redistributing the impact from her feet into forward momentum as she distributed it across her back, allowing her to roll across the floor without breaking any bones.

  ”shit,” I whispered, as I was unsure if I could reproduce such results.

  ”Come on, Kenna! We don’t have all day, I’ll catch you if you're that scared.” Itshu Biyu called out to me.

  “I’m not scared!” I yelled back as I mentally prepared myself for the jump. I slowly started playing the sequence of events in my mind, making sure I wasn’t forgetting anything, before stepping up to the edge and looking down at the deck.

  A moment later, I noticed Itshu Biyu raised her hand to her ear before whispering something, then turned to look up at me before whispering something into her hand again.

  ”Come on, Kenna. The pilots are starting to get antsy. They want to leave, but you are holding them up, the control tower is also demanding they move and clear the landing zone.”

  “What the hell… I am the owner of this ship, right?” I asked her.

  ”yea?” She responded hesitantly, like she was trying to figure out where I was going with this.

  ”and you are the captain… right?” I asked as my eyes narrowed slightly.

  ”yea?” She responded hesitantly again, still trying to work it out.

  I suddenly smiled as I stuck my head out the door, delivering the line I had always wanted to say to someone that was trying to hurry me up but didn’t have the authority.

  ”then tell them to shut the hell up, I’ll get to it when I’m damn well ready!

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