I couldn't hear any sound, but the shuttle had landed inside a rather nondescript room with smooth silver walls and a textured white floor. There was a line of Norratars, of all genders, dressed in French maid outfits, and as I watched, they approached the side of the ship and began removing luggage, carrying it off to the only exit to the room I could see. There were a few small robots in the line of people taking luggage.
"Why are they all dressed like that?" a woman in the row ahead of us murmured quietly to her friend.
"What's with the outfits?" Dani shouted, causing the people in the row in front of us to twitch with the loud slap of her voice.
The sexy cat lady at the front of the bar leaned back away from Dani's caustic tone, her tail slightly twitching as she sang out her response. "This is what was provided for our ship's official duties to mark us as on duty," she sang out. "Wearing these outfits indicates that we are here to be of service and not to fraternize."
"Too loud, Dani," I whispered.
"Why sexy servants though?" Dani called out again, softening her tone and angling her face up so she wasn't shouting directly at the backs of the heads of the people in front of us. "You all look like you're going to a costume-kink party."
"We were informed these outfits have a long-standing tradition in human culture and would be immediately recognizable," the sexy cat lady said, smoothing down the front of her skirt. "The Empress herself suggested the design modifications."
The outfits could have been modest and traditional looking at one point, but the changes were to make the skirt shorter and fluffier, and give the entire maid outfit a more gothic lolita look.
"The Empress strikes again," Mara chuckled.
The sexy cat lady straightened up, and the roof of the shuttle reappeared just in time for a door to slide open next to her.
"It is time to exit the vehicle," the sexy cat lady said, gesturing to the door. "Your luggage is being taken to your respective rooms, which you will find just down the hallway. A guided tour of the ship will be held at the start of every human hour, with the tour guide leaving from an observation room closest to your room block. Any electronic devices you have brought on board have now been synced to a twenty-four-hour clock based on human timekeeping, but you can find universal standard time on your wrist unit as well. The official cruise will begin tonight at 8 pm, after all humans have arrived."
"Get up, get up, get up, get up," Dani chanted under her breath, expressing her impatience as Mara stood and stepped into the aisle. When there was enough room for me to get out, I stepped back a little so Dani could squeeze in front of me. I let Jess and Lin out, and then we slowly shuffled towards the exit.
I looked down at where the stamp on my wrist had been. It had faded now, so it was invisible.
When I got to the sexy cat lady, I stepped a little to the side so I was out of the way of people exiting. I took a deep breath, steadying myself. It was a little nerve-wracking to talk to her, but the idea of trying to flag down one of the aliens running around outside the shuttle seemed much more daunting.
"Excuse me," I said quietly. "May I ask you a question?"
"Please," she sang. "I am here to assist."
"When you said wrist unit, what did you mean?" I asked her.
"The nanobots embedded in your epidermis layer," the sexy cat lady sang back at me. "Just tap on them to activate thedisplay. You can pull up your map, the internal messaging system, and access some controls, such as remote monitoring for things you might want to build in the manufacturing bay. You'll have more detailed controls on your room unit."
"Thank you," I said, tapping on the invisible ink tattoo.
A holographic screen projected on the back of my wrist, flat like a phone, was lying there.
"The symbols have been set up to be recognizable to humans," the sexy cat lady said. "So, navigating should be intuitive. For example, there is a little cog for settings control, such as if you want to have the screen project up instead of lying flat. If you need any help, you can ask anyone in uniform. You can also ask Masak if you can't find anyone."
"Masak?" I asked. "Isn't that the name of the ship?"
"Yes, the Vaurelcar we are in is called Masak," she replied.
So the ship's classification was Vaurelcar and its name was Masak. It probably had some sort of onboard computer that was set up to handle requests. The thought of that filled me with relief. I would much rather talk to a computer than flag down a Norratar dressed like a French maid.
"Thank you, have a good day," I said and quickly rejoined the line of people exiting the shuttle.
When I stepped off the ramp onto the white floor, I discovered it was slightly squishy, pleasantly padded like a carpet with a foam layer underneath.
My friends were all waiting for me just outside the stream of people heading for the open door.
"We waited for you!" Dani declared as I walked up to them.
"Let's go find our rooms!" Mara said.
"We should do the tour first," Jess said, her phone in her hand. "Let's get to our room second. If we hurry, we can catch the first tour in fifteen minutes."
