The Glory Star Project

NINE

By the end of the week on the shuttle, Xav already knew he was in trouble. Here he had been faulting Jardan for falling for a Regulus girl, and now he was doing the very same thing himself. He consoled himself with the fact that he had the good luck to have brought her along with him rather than deciding to remain on some obscure planet where all his adventuring would be at an end. He didn’t think he would ever be able to make that sort of decision.

They spent most of their time in their seats during the trip, though occasionally Xav managed to coax Glory into walking to the front or the back of the ship just to 'earn her sea legs' and watch as the wormhole drew closer.

Not all wormholes were even visible, but the Great Wyrm could be seen from quite a distance. It was a huge, swirling pink mass that was constantly sucking in anything that came close to it; both of the currently present Nautilus ships were parked dangerously close but holding their attitude as they waited for all the teams he’d sent off to work on different worlds to return so they could go back to Gamlin Quadrant together.

Like all of the ships operated by GalactiCorp, this shuttle was set on a daytime-nighttime timer, and its lights dimmed or brightened in time with the Universal Clock, with about fifteen hours of light and fifteen of dim. The Nautilus ships, on the other hand, operated on the same clock as Gamlin Prime, the watery world where Xav returned whenever he was able, as he considered it his home.

They were quite close to docking inside the main bay of the Nautilus when Xav came over and gently shook Glory's arm, waking her. She smiled as she glanced out the window and realized what was going on.

"Now that we're hooking up with the crew, I should warn you, Glory, they love to tell stories about how I became so legendary," Xav told her as the shuttle was approaching to dock. He grimaced. "Don't believe everything you hear."

Glory giggled. "Come on, Richards, spill. Were you naughty on the Nautilus?"

He laughed along with her, and felt his face begin to flame up. "Um, maybe a little. Just be ready, that's all. Come on, we've docked. I can't wait to show you around."

When Glory moved toward her luggage, Xav reached over and caught her hand, drawing her with him toward the airlocks. "Let one of the workers do that, Glory. You're part of the elite crew, and we have more pressing matters. Besides, it gives them something to do. Out here, the last thing you want to do is deprive somebody of a task when they've been waiting for months on end to be given one."

"Is it really that bad?" she asked curiously.

"It can be," he told her. "Of course, we're currently just running a skeleton crew until all the travelers return from the worlds they were on, and once everyone has arrived it'll be time to tank up. But not before we throw a welcome feast in your honor."

"Oh, wow, you don’t need to do that,” she exclaimed, blushing.

He gave her hand, which he hadn’t let go of, a little squeeze. "We most certainly do, kiddo. There's no way I'd miss an opportunity to show off the new girl. Besides, it's a great way for you to meet the rest of the techos around here. I know it's your first time out, and you're still getting used to things, but I feel I should give you fair warning. These boys can be lazy if you let them, so you're going to really have to show them who's the boss."

She grinned. "Don't worry, sir, I'm good at that."

Xav wasn't sure he wanted to know what she meant by that. Glory was so full of fire, he didn't doubt that she was remembering something from her past, but he couldn't imagine what it might be. He was much more excited by the idea of stepping through the airlock and into the Nautilus at the moment than he was in learning the story.

"Here we are, Glory, your new home until we reach Gamlin Prime. And probably a lot of times after, too. It's not my primary ship, but I do use it frequently."

Glory's eyes were wide with curiosity as they stepped through and started to look around. It was her first time aboard an intergalactic starship, and he wanted to give her plenty of time to enjoy it.

"Come on, girl, let me show you some of the highlights," he offered. "The ship is much too big to see the whole thing now, but we could certainly trek through the observation lounge on the way to the other side."

"Don't you need to go to the bridge or something?"

"Not until the other crews have boarded their starships and we're ready to take a head count," he said with a shrug. "I'd say we've got at least another day or so before we have to worry about any prep work."

"If that's true, what are we supposed to do while we wait?" she asked.

"I'm going to show you this ship from top to bottom, of course," he said, grinning at her. "That way, you'll be familiar with some of the equipment you've never seen before. You did say you were worried about embarrassing yourself, right?"

"Yeah, sure," she agreed, blushing.

"But not yet, though," he added. "I think right now I ought to show you to your quarters. It's been a long ride, and you'd probably like to sleep in a bed for a few hours during this cycle."

Glory smiled up at him. "Richards, how is it that you always seem to know me better than I know myself?"

He laughed. "Just lucky, I suppose. And I've got a real knack for putting myself in the boots of others. My mother said I was doing that even when I was two."

She giggled softly. "Can't really imagine you as a two-year-old, sir."

"Call me Xav," he scolded. "And yes, I really was two. About sixty years ago. Now come on, newbie, let's get you back to your rooms."

Xav's smirk grew by leaps and bounds as they neared Glory's quarters, so much so that he was glad that she was following behind him down the narrowed corridor so she couldn't tell how excited he was. As the door slid open, he stepped aside with the full knowledge of what she'd find inside.

"Welcome, welcome, Miss Star!" shouted a chorus of about twenty voices.

Glory stopped in her tracks and stared at them, confused.

"The senior crew," Xav explained, laughing as he took her hand to bring her forward. "They've brought a cake and a few gifts along to welcome you. It's not every day this crew gets a new member."

"Oh, wow, you guys didn't need to," Glory exclaimed, blushing a deep pink shade as Kurana stepped over and led her to the seat of honor. She and Glory exchanged a look and started laughing together as well. She made quick work of naming off all the staff members, though there was no way even a girl as smart as Glory was likely to remember them all.

"Okay, guys, come on," Xav scolded. "Just cut up the cake and let the poor girl settle in. You'll all have plenty of time to get to know each other later, and we should be prepping for the wormhole in another day or so."

"Fine, fine," Kurana grumbled. "One of these days you won't be such a spoil sport."

After she'd opened all her gifts, everyone had eaten some cake, and the others had been shooed out, Xav found himself reluctant to follow his own orders and simply leave Glory alone. He shuffled his feet and watched as she fiddled with a new pair of anti-gravity boots that had been the gift he'd gotten for her and smiled at the thought that she seemed to like them the most.

"So, I guess I should get out of here too, huh?" he finally said when she raised an eyebrow in his direction. "If you want to clean up before bed you'll have to use a solar shower. It's a bit different from the vapor jets you were using on Regulus and on the shuttle. In deep space it's much more important to conserve our resources, and we won't be servicing the water reservoir until we reach the other side in a few months. Do you know how to work those controls?"

Glory bit at her bottom lip as his smile grew more hopeful. "Captain Richards, I'm sure you're in just as much need of sleep before the next leg of this journey as everyone else. You should head to your own quarters, sir. I think I'm more than capable of figuring out those controls myself."

Xav nodded, feeling his cheeks flush. "Um, sure. I'll see you at the mess hall later, huh?"

Glory nodded. "See you later, sir."