They walked until they reached the port, making their way to His hangar. As they approached His ship, the landing ramp descended in front of them. He led Her aboard, and She could already hear the various systems and generators whirring on and coming to life. The lights in the corridor were dim for a moment, and then sprung to life as the landing ramp closed, bathing them both in an ambient, but nonetheless gentle, lighting. "Ok, if you're coming along, we're going to have to have a few grounds rules."
She nodded slowly. "Okay..."
"But for now, your place is in the cockpit with me." He pointed. "Once we've left atmosphere, and I've made the jump, we'll figure out the rest. I don't usually have passengers on my ship, but we'll figure something out."
She continued nodding until he finished. "That's fine with me."
He started walking down the corridor and then up to the cockpit. He sat down and strapped in, reaching up overhead and flipped a few switches, looking up at the darkened sky and the air traffic lanes. He looked over at the copilot's chair, and waited a moment, giving Her some time to buckle in, but then lifted off. He heard the roar of the thrusters as they took to the sky and broke free of orbit. "Ophelia, bring up astrogation and calculate the course to Baramasta."
He waited until the antispace generator had a green light, and then throttled forward. A vast tear seemed to form in the middle of the space ahead of them, stretching apart for that small fraction of a second until they were sucked in, the veridian and azure hues of antispace engulfing them. He looked down over the panel, and then at His wrist, checking to be sure his chronometer matched the ship. He sighed, and then remembered her, turning to look towards the copilot chair.
She sighed softly as soon as all seemed calm. "That...was...fun. So, Baramasta?" She turned in the co-pilot's chair to face Him, arching an eyebrow slightly. "Is it a place you'd recommend for an extended stay?"
He shrugged, but not with His arms, His eyebrows shifting towards His hairline as He considered it. "I suppose so..."
It was then that the projection coalesced on the cockpit's control board, standing near the center. "Captain Chariton? Why do we have a passenger?"
The suddenness of the voice's appearance startled her, and She jumped slightly, frowning down at the twenty-centimeter person standing on the console. She'd seen other virtual assistant's but they'd never had shape or form like this. The figure had long brown hair that fell over her shoulders and her blue eyes seemed perplexed, not angry. She appeared more curious than anything. The light green, uniform-style shirt and darker pants covered her appearance in a very conservative style. And while her appearance was that of an adult, as was her silvery soprano, her personality and countenance was child-like more than the mature adult she appeared designed to emulate.
"We have a passenger because..." Chariton stopped midsentence, looking at the other chair for a moment, his eyes taking in Her appearance, before he turned back to Ophelia. "Because She had nowhere else to go, obviously."
The image looked over at Her, and then slowly tilted her head to the side. "I see. And what is your name, Miss...?"
Chariton felt himself blushing a little. He felt foolish and realized he was about to feel humiliated when he had to explain that he didn't know Her name yet either. They'd been in a rush, and he'd just forgot to ask.
"Phytrelia. My name is Phytrelia. Brynn Phytrelia." She blushed a little as she turned to look at him, seeing that he was as red as she felt. "I guess we forgot that part, didn't we.
He smiled uneasily. "Yes, I suppose we did."
Brynn reached her hand across towards him and he took it. "I'm Captain Chariton, but you can call me Idris since it's just me and Ophelia right now."
She giggled a little. "Right now? What, do you normally have a bunch of formal individuals that you force to address you less casually."
Idris stammered a little. "Well, no, not exactly."
"He doesn't," Ophelia piped in. "It's just him and me. It's been that way for as far back as my memory banks have records."
"I see," Brynn said, looking to Idris with a smile as she picked up on the small stab of resentment she thought she heard in Ophelia's voice.
Idris smiled a little, stood up, and walked into the space that connected the cockpit to the main corridor of the ship. He was starving, a sensation he'd only vaguely become aware of while talking to Ophelia.
Brynn felt a little self-conscious, and also a little odd, talking to a computer. She wasn't really sure what kind of expectations she was supposed to respect, much less follow, in regards to what Captain Chariton would or would not want her discussing with his ship's computer. Or was it more than that? What it even an "it" in the first place, or was the system worthy of a "she"?
She quickly began to follow Captain Chariton out of the cockpit. At the last second, she turned, feeling it would be in poor manners not to say goodbye, even if it was a computer. "It was nice to be able to meet you, Ophelia."
As she caught up with him, she started talking to him immediately. "I think we should discuss sleeping arrangements. I'm sure this isn't a very big ship, so I'll be fine with whatever amenities you are capable of providing me. It is unlikely it would be the most uncomfortable place I've slept in before."
The machine he'd been facing chimed and he reached into the opening, taking a bowl from it. Steam swirled off the top as he moved over to sit at the booth-style seat that surrounded about half of the galley, a table extending around in front of it. He placed his food on the surface and looked up at her. He was going to have to give it a moment to cool down before he could eat it anyway. At the edge of his peripheral vision, he noticed Ophelia's image sitting on the edge of the table, legs dangling.
"Or I can just sleep outside..." she muttered, not sure why he'd chosen to ignore her.
He was still contemplating how he would manage everything. He didn't feel right about making her sleep on the floor, or any other place on the ship that might be just as uncomfortable.
"Captain, would you like to provide me with our destination so I can verify the course and provide you with updates on the estimated time of arrival?"
Idris sighed. "Give me a moment to eat, Ophelia. We can discuss it at greater length after I have had a chance adjust." He looked over at Brynn. "Are you hungry?"
