Orientation

Marcus followed closely behind Jake, walking down the boarding ramp onto Calista. She was a clean ship, fresh from the star-docks by less than a week, and Marcus found himself staring in marvel at it's spotlessness. He had to scold himself internally, becoming so distracted he nearly bumped into Jake. Easy Marcus, it's not like this is your first time on a ship.

Jake was busy introducing the pair at the check-in desk. "Jake Thomas and Marcus..."

"Ahhh... Swain," Marcus nervously replied.

"Yeah, Marcus Swain, reporting for duty, Ma'am." Jake flashed the clerk a charming grin, as was his habit, but she was too swamped with the incoming crew to be swayed.

"Passenger relations orientation, crew lounge B." She handed the pair two security passes and pointed them down the hall.

"Where's that?" Marcus asked after walking off.

Jake walked over to a wall-mounted map and looked it over. "Hmmm... we are here," he said, pointing to the star denoting the ventral entryway. Marcus scooted closer, trying to get a better idea of how the craft was layed out. The map displayed the ship as standing nose up, engines down, the way the ship was relative to most passengers, with multiple levels of rooms on the outside and various entertainment facilities, like ballrooms, casinos, and theaters, running down the ccenter. Marcus and Jake appeared to be standing at the top level of the passenger section, a floor not unlike the lobby of a hotel room. Above them, where the lounge was, sat the "crew only" area, which was oriented at a 90 degree angle to the passenger section. Though the ship retained its smooth, rocket shape, the crew section had its gravity generated from the ships dorsal side, so that the nose was the front and the passenger section was in the back.

Marcus walked down the hall he'd been directed towards, and saw the gravity interchange ahead of him. He opened the door and found that the hallway gently curved down. The pair walked down the curve, experiencing an eerie feeling that the ship was rotating under them, and when the floor leveled again, they found them selves standing on the crew section's gravity plane.

"Oh, so that's how it works," Jake commented.

"Apparently," was all Marcus could muster.

The two wordlessly approached the orientation lounge, both fighting off the disorientation from the gravity shift. They entered the room pretty much near the end of the pack, and dropped into a pair of empty seats at an empty table. There were plenty of seats for the audience, so Jake and Marcus were able to keep the table to themselves. The lights dimmed, and a holofilm sprang to life.

"Welcome aboard the Galaxy Ship Calista. You are now part of an elite crew selected to provide the topmost service to the most discerning travelers..."

They can't even bother to introduce us in person. Marcus would have been insulted if he wasn't so bored. He was just short of drifting of to sleep when Jake gave him a sharp poke in the side. "WHA!" he started. "What is it?"

Jake pointed across the room. Marcus followed his gaze and saw a tall, tan-skinned, brunette, wearing a brown jumpsuit and sitting in the back corner of the room, all alone. "You think she's free?" Jake asked.

Marcus didn't have time to answer. While he was staring at the lone vixen, her own uninterested glare met his. He was transfixed. Marcus tried to flash her a smile of his own, one he'd always been told was 'handsome.' Unfortunately, the woman returned his glance with a trite smile of her own before returning to her stony glare and leaning back into her chair and staring at the holofilm.

Jake rested a hand on Marcus' shoulder. "Hey man, don't worry." He made the unmistakable jesture of bending his first two fingers together and flicking his tongue between them. "Besides, plenty of other fish in the sea."

Marcus tried to relax, but he couldn't help feel that, even though her eyes rested on the cartoon hologram of a sailor hippopotamus, she was still monitering him out of the corner of her eye. It gave him the creeps.