Chapter 17

Sophie

"So, from what I understand, starships don't run on fuel the way you or I think of it," Sophie said, speaking into her camera as she fiddled with the controls on the ship. "There's actually two different methods depending on how you're traveling. One is crystal based. Which, all my crystal girlies can use to rub into everyone's faces: they were right. Crystal energy is real. But it's like a specific crystal? Or like a specific crystal cut specifically? Or something. Honestly, Serval isn't really knowledgeable about starship engineering, but not everyone can be perfect. The point is, that's how they travel faster than light through subspace. And once you have your subspace crystals set, you're pretty good. They don't break down or don't do it that often or something? It's complicated.

"The other method of travel, slower than light travel, doesn't use the crystals. Instead, that method is done through a fusion reactor, I think he said. And that doesn't require traditional fuel either. It works by using this super special metal thingy or whatever in like a nuclear reactor style thingy – like I said, he's not good at explaining it. The point is: our stop isn't to ‘refuel' the starship. I misspoke yesterday when I said that. What we're refueling is the food synthesizer, our water tanks, and we need to clean out our septic tank. So, the fancy spaceship doesn't really need anything. It's the squishy people inside that need refreshing. That's why we're at this charging station.

"However!" She grinned evilly at her new combot. "Serval showed me how to operate the ship yesterday. Including the gravity generator. Which is not connected to the charging station. Which means, now that he's not here, I can turn it off at will!"

Cackling like a mad witch, she disabled the artificial gravity. The indicator changed, now showing that the gravity was off. She didn't notice an immediate change, but when she bounced, trying to test how quickly it was wearing off, she immediately lifted off the ground.

She cried out in surprise, then laughed in delight as she grabbed hold of the control panel to keep herself from flying off. Her guts had dropped suddenly, like she was falling from the top of a high roller coaster, but it never stopped. Her hair didn't flow like it was in water, it just kind of moved to a position and then stayed there until she touched it. So did her clothes.

"Yes!" She yelled eagerly, laughing as she looked at her combot. The little robot was already capable of hovering, and so it wasn't affected by the sudden loss of gravity. "And now! We begin my new challenge series! Zero-G! For today's first challenge, I'm going to attempt to get dressed, do my hair, and do my makeup, in Zero-G. So, let's get ready with me, space style!"

Then, just because she could, she proceeded to do flips in the air. Zero-G flips were fun, because she could just spin. And unless she grabbed hold of something, she didn't stop. The air was still there, of course, but air resistance, at this speed, was negligible. There was nothing stopping her from doing cartwheels or backflips or just flipping upside down entirely.

So, she did.

Laughing wickedly, having the time of her life, she did tricks for the camera. Until she remembered that she did, in fact, intend to get dressed. She had brought her clothes and stuff into the bridge so she wouldn't have to try leaving the room and risk not being able to get back. She'd be editing out anything too salacious, so she didn't care about stripping down to her undies. She didn't think she'd be able to get out of view of the camera anyway.

It was her first time in Zero-G. She didn't want to risk breaking something – either herself or the ship – so, for now, she was just going to stay here and edit out anything too weird or personal.

The outfit she had chosen was another one from Kiseck. It featured the blackest tights she'd ever seen that hugged her form, keeping her butt nice and high without squishing her thighs and while still being snug, but not tight, around her waist. It went with a tunic style shirt made of flower silk designed to look like flower petals that had been sewn together in a color pattern resembling the pinks and yellows of a beautiful sunrise. It came with silver sandals that had crystals dangling from them that matched the bracelets that went around both wrists.

And since it was a get ready with me video, she decided to do the elaborate eye wings that she hadn't done while on Holivair. She wasn't going anywhere, but that wasn't really the point of a get ready with me video. She didn't have to actually leave, she just had to get dressed.

The hard part wasn't really the makeup so much, it was the hair. While it would stay where she put it, she wasn't used to it not actually falling down and she struggled to get her long locks into order. Her swooping bang, like a cartoon princess, was easy. But that was a style she could do with her eyes closed in an unfamiliar room, zero-g was no challenge there.

"And that's the completed look!" Sophie declared after she finished, beaming into her combot. She was floating sideways now, slowly rotating around in a big circle, sitting cross legged, as she posed. "This alien casual wear is good for a fun night in, or a chill night out. I love how easily the makeup goes on out here. And I really love-"

The door to the bridge swooshed open and she turned her head. Serval was there, floating, one hand on the doorway, giving her an unreadable look. She smiled.

"Hola, mi amor," she greeted, beaming.

He just stared at her. "What does that mean?"

"What? Hola? That means hello."

"No. The other one."

"Oh, amor?" She smiled, batting her lashes sweetly. "Oh, nothing. Just kind of a general term of endearment. Don't think too hard about it."

His eyes narrowed, like he didn't believe her, but he had no way of calling her out on it. He couldn't exactly look up Spanish words. The Coalition knew a lot of things, but they unfortunately only knew one human language, and it was English. He could only take her word.

"Alright," he finally said. "Why is the gravity off?"

"I'm making a video."

"Yes, you told me you would before I left. But why does that necessitate the gravity being off?"

"Fun?" She shrugged, still slowly rotating.

"Well, turn it back on. I'm trying to load the storage bay and it's very difficult to do when nothing stays where I put it."

"Oh, yeah. About that…"

He blinked at her. "You don't remember how."

"No, I remember how."

"Then, what?"

She beamed. "I'm stuck."

"What?"

She turned, twisting in the air, reaching for the panel. It was just barely out of reach. But zero-G wasn't at all like swimming. There was nothing for her to push against, and the harder she struggled, the more she spun in place. Her makeup and discarded clothes twirled uselessly in the air around her. Grabbing them did nothing as they weren't heavy enough to push off of and throwing them did nothing because they couldn't affect the screen to turn on the gravity. Not that she didn't try. A makeup brush, her bronzer, and a hair tie were all floating in random spots around the room, victims of her attempts to throw them at the control console before they ricocheted off into oblivion, out of her reach and lost to the void of the room.

Serval made a sound, either smothering laughter or biting back a sound of annoyance, before he shoved himself into the bridge, pushing off the doorway with first his hand, then his feet.

His momentum carried him all the way to her side where he caught her up in his arms. She giggled, grabbing hold of him as he twisted in the air, boots coming to rest on the display screen. He pushed off from there, turning again, landing on the ground. He grabbed the console with one hand, stabilizing them in place as Sophie laughed.

Her legs kicked in the air as he hit the screen, restoring gravity. It happened slowly – probably to prevent them from slamming into the ground. He slipped his arm under her legs, keeping hold of her as he came to rest on his feet, and she settled into his grasp.

"Hola, mi amor," she purred again, kissing his cheek.

"Ua lea, lov'alel," he returned, one of his olules stroking her neck, making her shiver in delight.

"Did you get everything you need?"

"Yes. I bought you presents."

"Oh, I love presents." She patted his chest, silently urging him to put her down. Which he did, keeping one hand on her lower back as he stood straight. "But you know you don't have to buy me things, right?"

"I enjoy buying you things. Besides, at least one of them is for work."

"Oh?"

"I bought us outfits for the photo shoot for the ad campaign."

"Oh! Yeah!" Sophie beamed. "Awesome, did you want to do that now?"

"We can."

"Have you heard anything back from that little bug thing you installed in Prince Qui'tal's charging dock?"

"No, not yet."

"Ugh," she dropped her head back. "Seriously, how long can a combot go without charging?"

"Some can go ten tendays or more," he chuckled, stepping back. "But whenever he does, my device will get all the information he has stored and send it right to us. I'll get a notification the moment the data hits my system, and I'll let you know. Until then, I have a few other stories we can follow up on. And, of course, the ad photos."

She smiled. "Great. I'll finish up this video and go get dressed."

"Did you not already have this in mind?" He looked at her outfit. "You're already dressed."

"No, this was for the video. I'm going to do something a little more subtle for the photo shoot. And it depends on the dress too. What did you get me?"

"I left it in your room. It's a very simple style so it can be appealing on any world the pictures are put up. And so that it doesn't distract from us or the logo of the company."

"Smart," she nodded. "I'll just need to wipe this off and change. Just give me like twenty minutes."

His brow rose. Not saying a word, but doubt written clearly across his face.

"I'll be quick," she promised, sashaying away, her loyal little combot following after.