From his room, he leads me to an elevator that takes us down to a hangar. It seems to me to be different from the one I woke up in. This one is kept lower. Another reason I recognize this hangar as different is that the Politaris has been lowered onto a platform there. There's nothing like that here.
In this hangar, there are two types of ships. Small ones, like the ones Gasard repaired, but also a few larger, more boxy ones. "In this room are the spaceships for our recruits," he points to one of the small, sleek ships. "And then our small transporters." With a nod, he gestures to another type that he walks towards.
"Small?" I inquire, looking at the transporter that seems like a giant to me. As he comes to a stop in front of one of these giants, I pause in amazement.
"Here on board, we only have five small transporters," he explains. "They are needed when something runs short on the station, like food, or if certain materials are needed. My task is to fetch these delicious fruits as soon as they run out." The warrior smiles at me as he says the last sentence. It doesn't seem to be a very strenuous and absolutely boring job.
"The larger transporters have different tasks. One of them supplies us with spaceships. Extra-large orders are placed for that."
He continues walking and steps to the side of the transporter. Like with his room, a touch is enough, though it's hardly a touch, more like a hint of it, under which a passage opens up in this spot.
Curiously, I step behind him.
The interior is filled with a heavy darkness, its mere presence sending shivers down my spine.
A light seeps in from the hangar, which the darkness pounces on like a hungry beast.
The warrior takes a step forward towards the entrance. Lights come on after he crosses the threshold, until the entire interior is filled with dim light. The illusion dissipates.
In terms of brightness, it can be compared to the Politaris. A faint glow spreads through the room, reaching even the corners.
I enter the ship eagerly, but what I see confuses me greatly.
Compared to the rest of the machine, this room seems tiny. I measure just over five steps to the other side. From the back wall to the front, I make it in four. I estimate the height to be two and a half meters.
Under the curious gaze of the warrior, my fingers explore the bare walls of the empty space.
I look around, bewildered.
"What were you expecting?" he asks with a smile on his lips.
"I'm not sure," I confess. "But what I didn't expect is an empty room."
"Did my room displease you for the same reason?"
Indeed, that's true. In his room, I saw that there's storage in the floor for furniture. Automatically, my gaze drops down, but here it consists of two layers of narrow sheets.
I stand on one of them, the second layer being the solid outer skin. In a narrow space between them, cables and all sorts of things run along to make the technology work. That's how I saw it on the other ship and it won't be different here.
I can't imagine everything being stowed away with folding techniques. So where then?
I look at him, confused.
"There's a storage room in the back," he explains to me. "Between that and the cockpit, there's another space for non-perishable provisions, water, dishes, and seating."
I listen intently to his explanation.
"The rest is like in my room." He steps to the front wall. When he touches a specific part of it—or is it just the gesture with his hand?—a control panel appears floating in the air to the right.
Curiously, I step closer.
It hardly differs from the one in his room.
His fingers move around the keys. Over the years, his movements have become fluid. Each finger blindly finds its target to prepare for the launch, but today each of them goes individually, revealing its function to me precisely.
With pressure on the first key, the door closes. After another, light falls from the front part onto us.
I turn my head. Where there was a dark wall, now there is an image of the hall. So clear and realistic, as if there were a hole. A projection, as I realize when my fingers plunge into it and feel the solid wall on the other side.
Now I understand why it's so dark inside here.
This effect is caused by light. Another source of it would destroy much or even make it difficult to recognize individual elements.
He presses another button. As the ship suddenly rises, I initially have trouble keeping my balance and stumble back a step.
The warrior's laughter rings out, greatly amused by it. I shoot him an angry look, then I look back at the projection.
Slowly, the transporter moves and flies over the other ships towards a wall. Before us, a huge door opens from the floor to just below the ceiling. However, it's not much wider than the ship itself.
As the transporter flies through the door, I realize it's some sort of tunnel. But I can't see much more than a few bare walls. Everything is only illuminated by the light from the hangar. After the door closes behind us, the transporter is swallowed entirely by the darkness.
I wait eagerly to see what will happen in front of us.
"You know..." A hand rests on my shoulder. "Our Emperor used to fetch the fruits himself." I look at him incredulously. "Back then, it was just a luxury for him," he explains to me with a smile. "Otscharsan and Marto found it unfair that they had to settle for that slop while he had those fruits."
I listen to his story and look ahead again. Instead of a black void, there's now a vast sea of stars in front of me.
"So you better not mess with those two."
He laughs loudly, while only one word escapes my throat: "Wow!"
In awe, I observe the many stars, compared to which the planet Dasura is hardly visible. Not yet.
Slowly, the spaceship turns right, and then flies along the wall of the station until it goes straight ahead. Just as slowly as the spaceship flies, a sandy-colored planet slides into view, filling a quarter of the field.
I stare at the image in amazement.
The spaceship accelerates, and the planet disappears from the projection as it flies past. And then...
Now in front of me is the metal wall of the transporter. The projection has disappeared, only the control panel floats motionless in the air. In front of it stands the fighter, typing something.
When he sees my bewildered look, he shrugs. "This isn't really meant to be a pleasure trip for you."
"Don't you have to fly this thing?" I ask him, confused. I'm disappointed, but I haven't given up hope yet.
"No," he replies. "The spaceship follows a predetermined route, so I don't need to do anything."
"And why don't you let me enjoy the view outside?" I pout and sit down on the floor. Why does he have to be so mean to me just when it gets interesting for me? I don't have to wait long for an explanation, and I wouldn't have expected anything else.
He comes to me and crouches down beside me.
"Accept one of the offers, and then I'll let you enjoy the view outside." A nice smile plays on his lips.
"Then I'll gladly accept Kaia's offer!" I say with an energetic nod. I look at him with a radiant smile, but he just looks back with a shocked expression.
"That's out of the question!" he exclaims. A sigh escapes him. "You can't even lock someone in a room for a day! It would end badly!"
Why can't I at least try? She's been nice to me.
I tell him that in a rather sulky tone.
"My dear, whatever possessed Kaia that day, believe me..." As the warrior says this, he stands up and goes to the control panel. "Kaia is a beast, not a nice girl!"
"And what am I supposed to do during the whole flight?" I ask him. I'm sulking about his behavior, which is clearly evident in my voice.
"Well, if you were older, I could think of something we could both do to pass the time." A wide grin spreads across his face.
"And what would you suggest?" I ask him, skepticism evident in my gaze.
"Well, there are two rooms here," he explains to me. "Down here is the cockpit, and upstairs, there are a few beds. Not very comfortable, but they serve their purpose." He gives me a meaningful wink. Meanwhile, I shudder as I understand what he means.
With a guy like him, I certainly wouldn't want to spend my time like that. Maybe with someone else, but definitely not with him, not even if he and I were the same age.
He shrugs. "There's definitely no child's plaything here."
"I'm not a child!" I protest loudly.
"At the moment, you're behaving like a petulant little girl," he snorts. "Maybe that's why Kaia treated you so nicely. She often acts just as childish."
Sulking, I turn my gaze away from him.
Why is he always so mean to me?
"You could just come up with something nice to tell them when we're back on the station," he suggests.
"I'll tell them that one of the guards kidnapped me and I could barely defend myself," I say.
He raises an eyebrow.
"As if I volunteered to drag you along, you nuisance." Suddenly, a smile forms on his lips, which initially surprises me. "Just tell them it was Gasard's fault! He often brings someone along to test his inventions. Sometimes even for several days. That's believable!"
"But I still don't know what I can do here," I sigh.
He shrugs.
"Well, I'll be training!" he tells me. "You can watch and admire me!"
In the end, I have no choice but to watch him train. I go to one of the walls and sit down on the floor there.
His fingers continue to move over the control panel until a three-dimensional projection appears in the middle of the room. A figure, about which he says he would prefer a real opponent, but something like this serves its purpose too.
And if I'm honest, what I see is interesting. The fighter is good in close combat, and now I understand why he's so fit. If he trains like this often, it's no wonder.
I watch the training for a while until I get tired.
As he said, there are some beds upstairs, and while he trains downstairs, I sleep there until we arrive.