Chapter 331

Aboard the Starship

The two had walked what seemed to Eileen to be miles of corridors. As they stepped through yet another of the strange looking doors/hatches, she glanced at Bill. “And this is?” she asked as she motioned to the seemingly endless rows of shimmering somethings ... machines maybe, the rows so long that they seemed to fade into the distance, and those rows also appeared to slope slightly upward.

Bill glanced at her, the uneasy feeling again accosting his nerves just as it had the other times he had entered this area. “Feel it?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Eileen quickly replied, unconsciously hugging herself as if she felt cold. “It’s just ... I don’t really know; it feels like something is going to happen – something I wouldn’t like, I suppose.”

Bill let out a somewhat forced chuckle. “Let’s just call it a feeling of uneasiness. Jeff says it’s a result of the equipment here.”

“But what is this place?”

“Jeff says it’s the engine room. This is where Ship manipulates the dimensions, plus the ... area also contains her warp drive and translation engines.”

“Translation engines?”

“As best I understand it, she uses them for reasonably short distances – and I’m not sure what ‘short’ actually means – but she translates from one place to another. For longer distances, she has some type of warp drive. She can also use a slower propulsion system utilizing her inertialess drive as she did when Arlene took us up a little while ago.”

Eileen’s unease increased as she tried to focus on the long line of ... equipment. The harder she tried to focus on the shimmering things, the more uneasy she felt. “It feels as if all this is ... working, or something, but the Ship is just sitting still, isn’t it?”

“She, not it,” Bill corrected. “I suppose you could say she’s sitting still, but then again, she isn’t actually in contact with the ground; she’s hovering just above it. She’s bound to be very heavy, so I suppose she wouldn’t want to leave deep gouges in the outdoor range. Crap, I don’t know for certain. Jeff just told me she hovers out here, and the energy she’s expending, in her assessment, is trivial. Maybe it is compared to moving between star systems or galaxies, not to even mention the dimensions.”

“In a way ... this is all very beautiful,” she said, gesturing, “but sensing the awesome amount of energy there must be in this place, well, it gives me goose bumps.”

“There is no danger to you. All my equipment has redundant shielding,” Ship supplied.

Eileen had jerked as Ship suddenly spoke. Embarrassed, the pilot tried to smile. “Uh, thank you, Ship. It’s ... beautiful in here, but I’m embarrassed to say that it makes me feel a bit tense.”

“Thank you for the compliment,” Ship said, a tinge of pride in her words. “It took many millennia to perfect my drives, and I continue to refine them, as well as all my systems.”

As the two finally neared the lounge, Eileen quietly said, as much to herself as to Bill, “How big is Ship, anyway?” Then stopping and turning fully to him, “And while we’re on the subject, that ... range scares me almost as much as the engine room does. How can there be an entire planet there when you just step through that ... doorway?”

Instead of answering, Bill tugged on her hand. “Let’s get a cup of coffee and maybe a snack, okay?”

“Yeah, I’m hungry, too,” she agreed with a somewhat forced smile, since she was more than a little worried about what was shortly to happen between them.

“Oh, this is nice,” Eileen remarked as she stopped momentarily to look around when they entered the lounge.

Bill nodded toward the counter. “We can place our orders over there.”

When they got to the counter, a holo popped up showing a listing of various food types: beef, pork, fish, vegetables, etc. There were also listings for desserts and drinks.

Eileen, wondering how to make a selection on a holograph, hesitated.

“Just touch an area and the selections under that subject will expand,” Bill offered.

Hesitantly, Eileen touched the drink icon and to her amazement the holo felt solid. “I thought it was just a holograph, but it feels real.”

Bill shrugged. “I don’t know if the menu is really there, or there is just some type of tactile sensation from the holo. I do know that Ship can manipulate matter and energy in ways we haven’t even dreamed of.”

She reached to touch the coffee icon, but stopped to glance at Bill. When he nodded, she touched the icon, then the number of cups she wanted. Frowning, she said, “It doesn’t offer any way to input what you want in your coffee.”

Bill grinned at her. “That will be on the table.”

Eileen glanced around at the empty table tops, but decided not to say anything.

“Two Danish to go with the coffee, please,” Bill said aloud.

Eileen made a derogatory sound as she frowned at her partner. “Why didn’t you tell me I could just ask Ship? And what’s the use of the holo?”

Bill let out a quiet snigger. “Well, I didn’t really mean to tease you. Sometimes, it’s nice to peruse the menu to jog your memory. Other times, when you know what you want, you can just ask Ship for it.”

“How long will it...” But Eileen didn’t finish her question, because the coffee and Danish were suddenly sitting on a tray just to the side of the holo. Eileen continued to scroll through the menu. “Some of the dishes show Diana’s or someone else’s name beside the item.”

Bill smiled at her as he pointed. “Those are personal recipes from one or another of the women. And before you ask, the food here is indistinguishable from the original because Ship replicates it exactly. For some time now, the women have been bringing food out for Ship to duplicate in her memory banks, consequently, she has built up a substantial menu.

“When Jeff and his team came back from the cavern where they found Ship, she knew nothing about what the human race ate. To further complicate things, she and Jeff had problems communicating at all. Had he not been a Prime, they would never have made it home. As it was, all she could do for Jeff and his team, as far as food was concerned, and once Jeff was finally able to communicate with her to some extent, was to duplicate their emergency rations. They were all sick of MRE’s by the time Ship finally found Earth.”

Bill picked up their tray of coffee and Danish, the two settling at a table nearby. They talked as they ate, but the closer to finishing her Danish and coffee, the more nervous Eileen became. Smiling disarmingly, Bill reached to put his hand over hers. “We both know what Arlene has set up, but, again, we don’t have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”

Eileen frowned, letting out a barely audible and unconscious sigh. “Oh, I know. It’s ... I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m acting like a virgin, and I realize it, but still ... Are you sure you want me for a wife?” Before he could respond, she waved her hand a little, then hurried on. “Oh, I know you told me you love me, and ... strange as it sounds, I can feel that you do, but...”

“I think that’s part of Little One’s enhancement...”

“But I barely know you,” she went on. Then before he could respond, “I know. I know. You’ve told me, and Jill and Kathy have too, that women that an Alpha chooses fall in love with him quickly, and he with them. My heart feels okay with what’s going on, but my ... uh, brain is telling me that you’ll get what you want and then dump me. In my heart, I know you won’t. But it’s happened to me before. I dated this guy for months, and I really liked him, but somehow I continued to be just a little bit uncomfortable with him. But we finally had sex. but ... he changed almost immediately. He bragged about fucking me to his friends and did it in front of me. When I tried to break up with him, he got physical.”

Bill tensed up. “He hit you?”

“Oh, no, but he pushed me against the wall as soon as we got back to my apartment, and tore my blouse as he snatched it off me. He kept raving about me being his woman now.”

Bill sucked in a breath, his face changing to stone. “He didn’t rape you, did he? I’ll kill the...”

Eileen realized that she could actually feel his anger. “No. No,” she responded, grabbing his hands as they faced each other across the small table. “I managed to pull away from him and get my pepper spray out of my purse. I sprayed his eyes and told him to get out.

“The next time I saw him, he tried to apologize and make up with me, but I wasn’t going down that road with anybody. Since then, I’ve been a lot more cautious about who I date.” She hesitated a moment before going on, “Well, actually, I haven’t been with anyone since then. Oh, I’ve dated a couple of guys, but I never was intimate with anybody after that.”

Bill seemed to force himself to relax. “Maybe we need to just go back to the Retreat. You know, of course, if we do make love here in the Ship, most everyone at the Retreat will soon know about it. And before you make the next assumption, it won’t be me saying anything. I think that most all the women at the Retreat are on the same wavelength or something, because what one knows, the rest seem to know in short order. And I can assure you that the men do not talk about their sexual experiences to each other, and I for damn sure don’t, at least to anyone other than my wives.”

Eileen finished the last of her coffee and put the cup down. In a blink, the table was clear. “Thank you, Ship. Everything was delicious,” Bill said.

“You are welcome,” Ship’s melodious voice responded.

“Uh,” Eileen began, feeling foolish talking to the air, “I really appreciate your allowing us to tour the ship, uh ... you,” she finished, feeling even more foolish. Then to herself, How in the heck do you talk to a starship?

“You are also most welcome, Eileen,” Ship responded.

The young pilot thought she detected a hint of amusement in Ship’s voice. Coming to her feet, Eileen reached out a hand to her soon-to-be mate. “We’ve seen everything except the suite Ship has prepared for us.”

As Bill stood, “You sure? After what you’ve told me...”

Eileen slid under his arm, pulling it tight about her, both of them turning for the doorway. “Nope. Logically, I know that there is no way I can fall so deeply in love with you so quickly, but ... my heart doesn’t agree. By the way, you have two wives that think the sun rises and sets because you want it to. Why they’re willing to share is a mystery to me, but then again, ‘willing to share’ doesn’t come close to describing their enthusiasm. I don’t understand it, but oddly enough, I don’t have the slightest bit of jealousy when I see you kiss them, or when the three of you left me to go to your suite, even though I knew that you would be making love with them shortly.”

“Alphas’ women aren’t jealous – well, according to Jeff. He says it has something to do with the enhancement, but Diana says it’s part of being an Alpha’s woman. Who knows? Maybe it’s a little of both. But just as odd is the fact that none of the Alphas are jealous of each other. All the women at the Retreat are running around braless, breasts bouncing and nipples showing like crazy. I’ve seen Jeff ogling my wives’ breasts and I have his and the other Alphas’ wives, but all of us know it will never go beyond that. I don’t know how to explain it, but Diana could literally sleep naked next to me and I would never touch her inappropriately. I just don’t ... have any desire to, and I would never disrespect an Alpha by doing anything with his wife ... or significant other. And I’m positive that applies to all the Alphas.”

As they walked through the door to the suite, holding hands, Eileen pulled Bill to a halt just inside the door. “It’s ... different. I mean, the, uh, furniture looks comfortable, but there’s still that ... alien flavor to the suite, at least here in the sitting room.” Quickly going over to the door of the bedroom, she opened it to stare inside. The bed, like the alien furniture in the first room, looked ... odd.