We all look at each other awkwardly for a second after Emily's departure. The first person to move after that ends up being Lumi. Actually she started moving before Emily even said goodbye. Clearly she wants nothing to do with us. The moment she was dismissed she was already walking towards the door. We only now notice that she's at the door because as soon as we take our eyes off each other we hear the wailing souls from the door again and turn to look at her.
She doesn't even acknowledge our stares as she simply walks out the door and closes it behind her still with the same expressionless look on her face. There's once again an awkward staring contest between us as we decide whether we want to stay and chat or just head off like Lumi.
Normally on jobs with other people I tend to mingle with everyone else and get to know them. You never know when you might need help from another merc and you have to entrust your backs to them on the mission so it's good to get to know each other.
Unfortunately this team is not only new to each other but they are also primarily lone wolves. I and Tommy are likely the only ones who have worked in a team before. While Dede do work together I'm fairly certain they haven't worked with anyone else before. Marianne is rather famous for completing ridiculous missions alone which would imply she mainly works alone at the very least and Lumi just left without even talking to us.
Delilah and Marianne are the next to move. They both head for the door. Delilah starts dragging Dahlia along and the woman appears to reluctantly agree as they leave through the door. Delilah actually stays quiet for once and I wondered why. Until I saw the huge grin she was trying to suppress and realized she was just excited to use her new 'toys'.
Marianne was only leaving because she was bored apparently. While she did take her box on her shoulder she appeared to only be taking it with her and was in no hurry to open it. She did open it when she was here but kept it closed ever since.
Everyone else leaving meant that it was just me and Tommy left in this massive hall of the temple. "Wow been a while since it's been just us huh?" I murmur softly to no one in particular. Obviously Tommy's the only one in the room but it wasn't really directed at him so much as it was an opening for him.
If he didn't want to talk then I'll just shrug this off as an open comment and go home myself. Truth be told I want to try out the new toys myself but I don't care as much as Delilah apparently does and really I can always do that tomorrow or the day after. So long as I do it before we're called on for the mission then it's fine.
"I suppose it has" Tommy replies shrugging. It appears he does want to talk after all. We both nod at each other and then exit the place ourselves. We don't really have any questions about the mission. Emily clearly wasn't used to running this kind of meeting considering how all over the place it was but she at least got the facts across in an organised manner and that's all we need really.
Come to think of it I imagine Emily's speciality is probably business meetings rather than military ones. It's no surprise she didn't know what she was doing. Though I'd expect she'd given orders for some hits herself I don't think she's tried to manage a team like ours before.
I shrug off my thoughts as I hear the wailing of the doors and walk outside into the salty air. Once outside we squint through the salty storm to find several glinting metal objects at the edges of our vision. We also manage to catch Marianne and Dede walking into something. Presumably the metal things we can just barely see.
"Even if this salt isn't harmful to anyone without open wounds it certainly is annoying." Complains Tommy beside me as he continuously tries to brush pieces of salt out of his hair and clothes. Of course his effort was futile as the salt just gets replaced by more salt from the storm and he has to start brushing it off again.
Even though my hair's fairly long myself I don't bother to brush it yet. I have a living example of how futile that battle would be standing right next to me so I really don't want to bother. Even so… "It really is" I reply finding the salt touching my skin to be somewhat irritating regardless.
We walk to the ships as fast as possible and decide we should ask if we can ride in the same ship since we're going to the same place anyway. So we do a little jog to the nearest ship where a robot is waiting outside the door.
"Hey can we ride the same ship since we're going to the same place?" I ask a little briskly since I'm still annoyed with the salt in my hair and touching my skin. The robot's only response is silence for a moment and I wonder if it can't understand me and we might have to separate after all.
To my surprise however the robot comes back to us after a few seconds and nods before opening the hatch on the ship. The ship itself by the way was just a civilian ship with a bit more space than average. At the moment it looked a bit like a sideways metal bar with legs coming out of each corner of the rectangular shape.
But if you take a closer look you notice that the bar gets thinner the further right you go and the legs holding up that side of the ship are significantly smaller and less sturdy than the ones on the left side.
A door next to where the legs on the left side were emerging from opened forwards like a ramp and the robot walked into it presumably wanting us to follow it. So we obliged if only to get out of the salt storm.
We hear the clanking of metal beneath our feet as our shoes come into contact with the ramp underneath us. Surprisingly the sound actually wasn't very loud. The ramp had some give to it as most ramps do so our footsteps sound was actually being muffled by the ramp's movement to accommodate our weight.
It even feels a little springy. Like those springboards used to train people in gymnastics and such. Of course they're rarely used nowadays but they still do exist and I remember my teacher telling me that I can use it to get used to changes in momentum caused by your environment if I mix in some normal boards with springboards.
Once we walk over the ramp and into the ship the feeling under our feet instantly changes as does the unpleasant feeling in the air. Instead of salt sticking to my skin or getting in my hair I feel a cool breeze brush against my face. It wasn't particularly hot outside but just the feeling of an air conditioner makes me feel more at peace.
The feeling under my feet also makes me feel assured. Instead of the springy unsure footing of the ramp my feet now firmly stay in place on the metal underneath my feet. There isn't even a little give. I feel my feet touch the floor and it holds steadfast against my weight. The floor didn't move a single centimetre when I stepped on it.
I can feel the bumps on the floor against my feet and realize that the floor has grip helping mechanisms installed. Both so we don't slip when we take our shoes off and also so if someone has flat shoes they can still grip the surface of the ship's floor.
The interior of the ship is just as comforting to someone like me. In front of me is a large hallway. It appears to stretch beyond the limits of my eyesight to my right. To my left on the other hand is only a single door, one which our robot guide steps through completely ignoring myself and Tommy who also appears to be satisfied with the interior of the ship.
Though that's perhaps more because he's now able to see the progress he's making at removing the salt from his hair and clothes. I don't even see the particles of salt hit the ground so I have no idea how they are going to clean the ship after we leave. I assume however that it's the robot's job so we don't have to worry about it.
Once Tommy had finished getting the salt out of his hair and clothes, or at least his attempt at doing so, he turned to me and asked. "Shall we check out the rest of the ship and settle down for the journey." His words had the implied meaning though of 'don't talk about anything on the ship we can wait until the journey's over to talk.
Relaying my knowledge of his implication I nod with a confirming look in my eyes and head further into the long hallway. My footsteps clacked against the metal floor in a rhythmic pattern once more. Though this time the floor did not give under my feet.
Down the hallway was only more hallway. The only thing that was different was the sign next to the doors that would appear every so often as we walked down the hallway. They wouldn't be specific though, more along the lines of describing it's intended use.
'cabin', 'engine room', 'power source', 'robot storage', 'pantry', 'kitchen' and a number of other plates that are next to the doors that I simply walk past. Though I only saw one cabin. Ideally we're looking for an area with two cabins that are relatively close together.
Sure enough after walking through the hallway for a while we find two doors with the sign 'cabin' written next to them in nice neat script across from each other. It did take us a while to find however. We even managed to discover that the hallway is in fact finite along the way as from the doors of our chosen cabins we can see the end of the ship.
The doors themselves were fairly standard affairs. They are a metal arch with a slit down the middle that allows them to open into the walls. Under the signs that are next to every door is a panel of sorts glowing a light blue colour and showing the shape of a hand in the centre. Placing our hands on our cabin doors almost simultaneously the doors open with a slight rush of air and the sound of whirring machinery.
They split open almost like cracking an egg and in the blink of an eye the sounds and movement in front of us stop as we find ourselves in our living spaces for this journey. The living spaces themselves were also of a fairly basic variety.
Protruding from the back wall that you find right in front of you as you enter is a tiny desk with no legs or support. It merely looks like a flat panel extending from the back wall but is actually fairly sturdy thanks to the artificial gravity holding it in place.
It still might snap though if you put a person's weight on the edge of it but so long as you distribute the weight evenly it's a fairly sturdy construct despite how flimsy it looks. Even better having it open underneath the desk allows for the computer case to be put under it and saves space in the rest of the room.
Not that you actually need to save the space. After all the only other thing in the room is inside the wall. To be specific it's a pod or bed of sorts. Though at first glance it looks more like a hole in the wall with pillows in it. However those pillows are of fairly good, though not amazing, quality and the mattress is actually built into this hole in the wall.
There's also several other features that come built in with this bed. There are speakers in the wall that allow for someone to hear indistinct whispers, calming music or anything of their choice that helps them sleep. There's also the shutter-like item that closes the hole in the wall when you want to sleep. This allows you to adjust the lighting to your own preference.
Similarly the 'air conditioning' I mentioned earlier actually has a separate system that goes through each bed/pod individually. Meaning you can also change the humidity, temperature and climate of your sleeping space. This is a fairly common feature on most pod beds but it's still above average as ships go.
Other than the bed though, there's absolutely nothing else in the room. The left wall is left blank and lonely. Even the wall right in front of me only has the desk. The desk's convenient don't get me wrong but it's still just a desk and ignoring convenience the aesthetics make the place look fairly bare bones.
I am somewhat curious why they didn't use a better ship to escort us though. They were clearly trying to entice us to work for them especially if Emily's last comment about our toy boxes is anything to go by. 'You get to keep it if you stay give it back if you don't and there's a trial period'. That was basically the message I got.
Yet despite giving us all these fancy weapons they skimped on transport. I'm pretty sure they can afford to spare a few luxury ships if they really wanted to which means this choice is deliberate more than anything else. But I can't figure out why they wouldn't give us a luxury ride if they wanted to entice us.
Perhaps they wanted to show their sincerity? After all they wouldn't be able to provide a luxury ride every time we completed a mission. The only reason they have luxury ships to spare now is because we're the only team they're working with. But clearly they're going to expand and when they do they won't have the resources to give us a ride every time.
So maybe they're just being honest with us? They're just saying 'Yeah we can't give you luxury all the time but we'll do the best we can for you and we'll never lie to you and give you what we don't have.' Of course I could be overthinking this and they're actually just cheapskates and I'm making excuses for them.
Ugh this isn't my strong suit. I decide that thinking is Soph's job and a loud thud rings throughout the room as I drop my toy box in the empty left side of the room before another series of thuds rings out. This time it's me stomping over to the pod in the wall.
Once there I flop down into the bed and feel it spring me back upwards for a second before dropping me back down again. Now that I think about it Soph's not around any more. Guess I'm gonna have to do some thinking for myself once in a while. Not that I want to.
Ugh Soph why'd you have to go and die on me like that?! I pout and scream at her in my mind for leaving me in the situation where I actually have to think about the political nonsense. Now that I think about it, she was probably good at that stuff because she owned a business. Not that she ever told me.
Another pout later and I decide to turn on my side and stop thinking about Sophie. It'll just make me depressed and I don't need that. I do wonder what Tommy wants to talk about though. He's clearly keeping this secret from our mystery client so presumably it's about them.
I doubt even Tommy could find out who Mainframe is in so little time but maybe he wants to discuss the offer of staying on permanently. It was a bolt from the blue really but…. Eh who cares. I won't decide on that until this mission's complete.
I can't figure out what Tommy's thinking either and the fact that I now have to think about so much complicated stuff has me rather frustrated so I decide I can't get to sleep like this. Lets switch gears. With that thought I press the shutter and the pod goes dark.
Then I place my hands against the walls around me looking for the palm reading panel that I saw when I entered. I end up groping in the dark for quite a while but eventually I hear a dinging sound and the screen suddenly lights up the now dark pod with the typical blue light from panels like this.
It certainly doesn't help calm me down but I only have to look at it for so long. Deciding I don't need to bother changing the settings as I'll only be look at it for a little while I just press on the audio control option on the screen and select the music option.
I find a title I like and a calming melody sung in several voices and playing different instruments resounds throughout the pod. I close the panel down and the pod once again descends into darkness. Once it does I try to focus on the sound of the music as I drift off to sleep.