A cruise is just like a panacea that overloads my productivity. Within just two days, I spend all of my available time working my sweat out to fix the drones. The duty of robot fixing, after some negotiations, has been transferred to Mirai. She says that she can delay her research later.
Soon, the day of the cruise comes like a wind. We already find ourselves carrying a backpack and a suitcase, queueing at the Tokyo Cruise International Terminal and waiting to get on board. Although it is still freezing winter in Japan and the rest of the countries residing in the middle portion of the Northern Hemisphere, again, it is summer in the south.
- Why is it so cold? - Mirai is hugging herself and trembling.
- How do you even feel the temperature?
- Another network of sensory modules spanning across my shell. When I like, I can just switch it on. They would measure the temperature and send corresponding signals to my central processing unit, which sends signals back to the modules to simulate the feeling of hot or cold. Of course, I can just turn it off when facing extreme temperatures.
Another redundant modification, but if I lose my sense of temperature one day, I would likely do the same.
The ship we are boarding today is one of the most grandeur cruise ships that the world can offer, with the size of a few international stadiums. Besides the mechanical statistics that far exceed commercial cruise ships (which a science person like me cares about the most), there are all sorts of entertainment facilities, from typical ones offered on a cruise to things that one would never think to exist for a cruise. There is a laboratory to conduct research, a room for invention with all sorts of materials and a large field underneath the colossal entertainment infrastructure for virtual reality projects. Not many people care about that stuff, though.
- Please scan your ticket here. - The crew stands in front of the cruise ship's entrance, instructing us on how to enter.
- Thank you.
Mirai opens her handphone, which has already stored the ticket code and brings it to the ticket machine. It makes a beep to signal successful entrance. We enter the ship.
Using light refraction technology, the cruise ship looks like a normal ship from the outside, but the moment we pass through the entrance, paradise appears. In front of us, as highlighted in big, bold and capital letters in the centre of the brochure which we looked through before we go on the trip, there is a huge square, surrounded by restaurants, shopping centres, sports complexes and countless facilities an ordinary folk like me can only dream to visit. And of course, this is still just the first impression.
Our ticket also tells us the address of the accommodation on the ship, which is a room on the top floor of a five-star hotel near the end of the cruise ship. When the light refraction barrier is lowered in the middle of the ocean, this room will have one of the best views observable from the ship. We drag our luggage through the streets, marvelling at the luxury which suddenly materialises in front of our own eyes. Of course, since the trip has not started, the facilities are still closed. However, just getting to breathe this air that reeks of money is satisfactory for commoners like us, so no complaint. We come relatively early, so we do not see anyone here yet. The cruise will be much more vibrant once everyone is aboard.
We have reached the hotel entrance. The receptionist handles our check-ins, while our luggage is brought to our room by the servants. We take the elevator to ascend to the highest accommodation floor. Casually strolling through the seemingly infinitely long hallway, we finally reach our room, and I scan my fingerprint at the door sensor. We enter the room.
Unlike any five-star hotel room, this one is decorated such that there is a balanced mix of the fresh feeling of the ocean and the utmost elegance of the human architecture. The room is a double-bed room, with a large screen that would provide live and high-resolution footage of multiple cameras built around the ship to view the regional aquatic creatures, and of course, they provide streaming services. There is also a mini-fridge, a working table and most impressively a balcony that directly faces the ocean, situated such that the ocean breeze can blow through whenever we want.
And not to forget, the cruise ship is also equipped with barriers that can simulate and control the weather around itself, in case of a storm or some extreme weather events. This means that after stepping through the light refraction barrier, the weather change from the natural coldness of the winter to the artificial heat of the summer. We quickly change into our summer clothes.
- So, what do you want to do now, Mirai?
- We wait, Yuusha. We wait.
We use the elevator to go to the highest floor of the hotel. It is an open space, where people can rent telescopes for stargazing, or just to watch the peaceful sea when the veil of night is cast on the sky, or even simpler, just to watch the colourful atmosphere of people playing at the main square.
We lean on the glass fence at the corner of the top floor and watch as more and more people enter the cruise ship. All of them, if not wear accessories with exorbitant prices such as gold-plated watches or diamond and jewellery bracelets and rings, are escorted by automatic robot servants or pets. This snaps us back to the reality, that we are "winning" the tickets to one of the most extravagant cruises that the world can offer. Anyway, if they have reached such a level that money is nothing more than pieces of paper, they would not be so bothered if they see a commoner. The affluent type that society disgusts is the middle-high income earners who flex their tiny fortune, yet they look down on the people who earn less.
The ship will set sail at noon sharp and is set to casually travel to the South Pacific Ocean in a span of two days, with no intermediate checkpoint in between. This also means that all available facilities will be open for use around the afternoon, while the first few hours will be used for information dissemination. These few hours will be crucial for me to do my work which has been piling up since the holidays.
The clock slowly ticks towards midday, and from eleven onwards, I start to see an influx of passengers jostling to enter the ship. They are split between different accommodation spots on the cruise ship, depending on their preferences. We are technically free riders, so wherever the tickets put us in, we just follow.
It is now noon. The announcement system is activated, asking everyone to go back to their rooms. We take the elevator to go back to our room, and as we enter, the screen is automatically turned on. There is a live video from the crew of the ship.
- Good morning our passengers. Thank you for trusting Tokyo Cruise International in bringing you the best and most world-class cruise travelling. Before we set sail to the South Pacific Ocean, our destination, please note that...
While Mirai, who currently has nothing to do, is attentively listening to the instructions, I plug my earphones and do my work. The video would be saved in her memory storage for at least a week anyway, so effectively, there is no need for me to listen to it.
After the long instructions and advertisement of all of the available facilities provided by the cruise ship, the screen finally turns off. After a few minutes, we feel the initial vibrations of the engines which last for a few seconds. In the next seconds, the cruise ship has been steered away from the harbour and is now heading towards the South.
Then, the next announcement comes, signalling that the entertainment facilities are open. We go to the top floor again, which is now already filled with people. As swift as a wind, what we see down there is no longer empty and closed shops, but a much more bustling atmosphere with flocks and flocks of people inundating the restaurants and shops. There are also quite a few people who choose to just enjoy the scenery, like us. It feels a bit awkward, though. We are surrounded by couples, the group which is the most likely to enjoy sightseeing.
- Anyway, Yuusha... I think you know what I am thinking right now, right?
- Yes, and I think you also know what I am thinking now.
As the people of science, there are things that we would simply nod in agreement, without a need to debate over them. We head to a directory booth and search the direction.
- OK, so the place is here, underneath this chain of shops, on the left of the ship. - Mirai points to the map.
- I see. Let's just go. We will figure it out along the way.
Yes. We are heading towards the lab area.