"Welcome to Flipper!" the captain's voice called out through the ship. "I'm your captain, @willisinspace, up here with my copilot, @doughouse. Welcome to the most special freighter in the solar system. Today we're off to Eros, planet of love. I hope all you lovebirds on board are ready for a lovely time." And then he laughed a wheezing laugh befitting someone who probably grew up on the dusty dark world of Itokawa.
"All of you folks out there should do yourselves a favor and stick to level 12. As a reminder, we are not a transport vessel. The other levels are for parcels, elements, neurotic goods, large industrial equipment, and whatever else they shoved on board, so please stick to your seat with your seatbelt fastened. Once we are safely underway, the large seatbelt sign in the center of the ceiling will turn off and you will be free to float about the cabin. Sorry folks, but we do not use rotational gravity.
"You are welcome to try the very small bar and snack area on our cursed level 13 and take in the horrible artwork of our crew. Prints are available for purchase. Float on up the stairs at either end of level 12 and hope for the best. Bathrooms are clearly marked in the center of each of the four walls in our little box. You will probably need them if you visit level 13. Ha ha ha! Good luck, spacers!"
The captain's fuzzy voice disappeared, and I pondered what to do during the flight. There wasn't an entertainment system since this wasn't a passenger ship. I could muck with my new ARM, but that would probably draw attention. Even though this was a cargo freighter, there were still somewhere between 100 and 150 people on the ship, this being a low-cost means of getting around the solar system.
The captain's voice returned right when I was about to start listening to some relaxing music, one of my Soothing Meditation Music for Cats playlists.
"Our total flight time will be about two hours and seventeen minutes. We'll try our best to avoid any asteroid turbulence, cosmic storms, pirates, or warships. If we do need you to return to your seats, the fasten seatbelt light will flash red. Now please sit back and enjoy the flight."
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I realized right away that this would be a boring flight. At least I had Sango to keep me occupied. I put him in a little carrier they gave me after a minor fuss with one of the flight crew at the boarding area, and he was not happy about it.
At first I thought my kitten was broken. I lifted up the carrier to stare at his tiny adorable face, and his mouth was hanging open, like in a scream, but no sound was coming out. I tried soothing him with pleasant sounds and gentle words, but he just stared at me with his mouth hanging open.
In my head, he was screaming, WTF is this! Meow am trapped! Oh meow god I'm meowing to die!
But he was overreacting. We weren't going to die. Crash-land, yes. But we weren't going to die.
And then I died. I died for 0.4 seconds after my heart rate spiked. I spotted her out of the corner of my eye. @auroraloon was on the ship with me.
I wasn't imagining it, although I did flip my sensors across radar, UV, gamma, and back just to make sure. There was no mistaking it. That woman with the dark curly hair, short now and missing the highlights, wearing a violet and white flannel shirt was @auroraloon. The shirt gave her away only because I remembered her violet eyes. Her hair was different, but when she turned to respond to the person sitting next to her and I saw her face, I knew right away.
She spotted me staring at her and looked at me for more than a moment. What she would have seen in that instant was me, observing her enthusiastically, holding a cat carrier up to my face, telling my kitty, "Look, Sango. That's the woman I was telling you about. She's fierce and beautiful, like you." Then she would have seen me pointing in her direction, realizing that the cat wouldn't follow where I pointed, and then pretending to throw a toy toward her so that the cat would look that way.
It was after I threw the fake toy that we made eye contact. I smiled like an idiot and waved at her with my fingertips. She was studying me, probably trying to determine how much of a threat I was to her personally and to whatever mission she was on. I didn't know much about her, but I had to assume she was on some sort of mission. The @auroraloon that I knew was pretty vague about herself.
When I had asked about her being reanimated, she had said, "It's complicated. They may already have a new version of me out there actually."
The current version of @auroraloon rolled her eyes at me and huffed, returning her attention to whatever she was holding in her hands. I assumed that meant she had decided I was not a threat. She was probably just annoyed because some dude with a cat on this freighter is checking me out. Boy was she wrong.
Who was she to the Introverts? I asked myself.
It was time to find out.