The Vellamun's crew shed a million tears upon launch. But the next morning, their world among the stars already looked much brighter.
They spent almost the entire day preparing the Vellamun's food producing facilities. Vertical zero gravity gardens in the front section used for growing grain which Tacitus would harvest automatically and store for many years. Several small protein synthesizers, most of them used for growing chicken meat, beef, pork and even reindeer meat. One, however, had been designed specifically for synthesizing blood for medical emergencies and, as a result, could also make milk and eggs.
But most of the Vellamun's food would be produced in the aquaponic facilities. A huge aquarium contained in the walls and floors of the habitat ring, connected with floating and hanging gardens for all sorts of plants.
Pomatoes, rice, numerous types of vegetables and berries, a few hundred spices and medicinal herbs, coffee and even a cacao tree, genetically engineered to be smaller and more productive, allowing the crew to make their own chocolate. The aquarium below these gardens had yet to be filled with all sorts of fish, crabs, lobsters and mussels.
Almost everything here had been genetically engineered to some extent. The shellfish had been modified for better taste and the fish were all female so they would also produce caviar. Some of the plants, however, had even been genetically engineered from the ground up.
Mushrooms producing antibiotics. Nuts facilitating lucid dreaming if food was spiced with them. Even flowers, producing an aphrodisiac which doubled as a contraceptive. Although the crew did not need this one, since they had adjustable birth control implants. Thus, they kept the seeds in storage and used the space for something else instead.
With so many different plants and animals soon to grow in the habitat ring's limited space the biodiversity relative to the area of the habitat ring would soon grow to rival the tropical rain forests of Earth. A paradise for plant lovers like Valentina. She had told everyone where to put all the plants, always leaving space for Funi's and Vini's tiny little tree houses.
After all, the Apuas had an important job in these gardens. They would eat the leaves and make space for fruit as long as the little fuzz balls and the crew needed it. Once they went to cryosleep, the plants could keep their leaves. This reduced their productivity to almost zero, but increased their life expectancy by orders of magnitude.
All this had been set up and only needed time to grow. Now, the crew set up their living area, which made up less than a fifth of the entire habitat ring. Everything else had to be dedicated to aquaponics.
Setanto walked through the Vellamun's front section, holding onto the padded walls with velcro socks while carrying a massive crate through zero gravity. Funi sat on top of his head, stretching out her tiny little paws to try and grab everything in reach.
Soon, he arrived at the entrance point to the habitat ring. A rotating section in the otherwise fixed corridor connecting the forward and rear modules. He stepped in, velcro socks holding onto the carpet floor. Now it seemed as if everything around him spun. Funi, still clawed to his head, stretched out her little paws as if riding a roller coaster.
Setanto went down one of the two staircases leading out into the habitat ring. A red carpet floor indicated, this one went to the living quarters, as opposed to the one with the green carpet, leading to the aquaponics. Slowly, artificial gravity started to grip him as he went down the stairs. The crate in his hands became heavier and heavier until it felt as if he carried a baby elephant.
He quickly arrived in the habitat ring's living area. A central pathway running through the entire ring separated various rooms here. As he came out the staircase, a wall and door to his right separated the living area from the aquaponics, a solid wall to his left contained the large bathroom, soon to be a spa and right before him, on the other side of the central pathway, lay the Vellamun's massive living room.
Several sofas looked out the huge window into space, a little kitchen integrated into the living room as well as a dinner table. With the transparent floors all over the habitat ring, the crew could see their massive aquarium at all times.
Setanto turned left, walking past the bathroom door, then the door to the Vellamun's little training hall, which he had decorated with an inspirational He-Man poster. Leaving the living room, Setanto had one room on either side. The command center with a large screen and stereo sound system lay to his right. He had no idea who got the idea to set it up like a boardroom, but he knew how to turn it into a private little cinema which would double as a gaming room.
To his left lay the ship's library. The Vellamun had well over a thousand hardcover books on board and a digital archive with more than the crew could ever hope to read. They even had the resources on board to make their own paperbacks. But for most of the journey they would be in hypersleep, living in a virtual world where they could hold all those ebooks like hard covers and wander the digital archive like a city-sized library.
Tacitus automatically opened the door as Setanto walked in to see Valentina put some books into the shelves. Every wall covered by a bookshelf, except for the giant window looking out into space. Comfortable seating, including bean bags and a little desk in the center to create a nice reading corner. Since Vini slept on one of the bean bags with all four paws stretched out in the air, Setanto put the crate down as quietly as possible.
"Your books are here, Jellybean." He said in a quiet, deep voice as he stretched his back, happy to put the heavy crate down.
"Thank you!" She chirped before hopping over and opening the crate to reveal an ocean of books.
Valentina pointed at two book stacks inside the crate, asking Setanto, "Could you please bring these to my room? Just put them on my bed, I'll sort them all later."
"Will do, Jellybean." he answered, taking the books and going on his way to Valentina's room.
Leaving the library, he only needed to turn left and walk a couple steps to arrive at the crew quarters. Four small rooms on opposite sides of the central corridor, one for each crew member. Behind them lay only two more small rooms, an additional washroom and the Vellamun's little sickbay. Then, the aquaponics continued. Valentina had asked Kane, the chief engineer of project Vellamun and Aine's nephew, to install the doors from the crew's private quarters back on Pirene station here.
As a result, their rooms all had brightly painted doors. A blue butterfly gracing the door to Tapeesa's cabin, an angry, saber-toothed bunny with a sword guarded Sheranee's door and a fluffy golden lion watched over the corridor from Setanto's door. Valentina had painted her own door with bright pink, blue and purple flowers.
Setanto went through her door, entering the single most tidy room on the entire ship. A shelf, filled with a vast, neatly arranged collection of plushies to his left and a desk to his right. At the cabin's end, next to a large window, lay an empty shelf and her bed on the other side. To make planning easier, the Vellamun's designers had decided to make all beds the same size. As a result, the girls now had gigantic, Setanto-sized beds.
When he put the books on her bed, he noticed a couple things. Valentina had set up an honorary place for her favorite books on top of the shelf, decorated with a teddy bear and a crying smiley. Some books, Valentina could not read without crying every other page and then she always needed a hug. Setanto's hugs had proven more effective than Tapeesa's or Sheranee's.
He also noticed various drawings on her desk. A bit of concept art for the daycare she wanted to set up in their space colony, but mostly yaoi fanart of her two favorite characters of all time from her favorite book series of all time. A pretty boy, named after a tree and his gay angel boyfriend named after the month he met his lover. She had unilaterally decided to give the angel fabulous long, silver hair.
A remake of the most iconic scene from Titanic on top of a rusty old bus, a piggyback ride and one drawing showing the two boys as beekeepers tasting each other's honey. As a member of the bisexual master race, Setanto could attest to the cuteness of these drawings. Valentina and him had been fawning over Tree Boy and Gay Angel for a while now.
At the same time, Sheranee entered Tapeesa's room to bring back a book she had borrowed before launch. Here, the bookshelf stood on the far side of the cabin, next to a blue bean bag looking out the window into space. Tapeesa's bed and plushy shelf stood near the entrance. Right over her bed hung a huge poster of her favorite literary and anime character. A blue-eyed, blond assassin, whom Setanto and Sheranee had given the nickname Cuntosaurus Rex.
When Sheranee walked in, she noticed Tapeesa had crawled under the bed with only her lower half sticking out. "Oh no, I am stuck. Please help me, Setanto!" the blue-eyed girl chirped.
"It's me bitch, get out there!" Sheranee replied, stepping over half of Tapeesa.
"Oh, fuck you then." Tapeesa sighed with audible disappointment.
The redhead went over to the bookshelf to put the spicy fanfiction, called Secrets Of The Ghost Tree - How A Gay Angel Saved A Lost Boy back. Tapeesa wrote numerous books from the moment she could even write and Valentina made covers for her. Now, she had an entire level of her bookshelf set aside for her own work.
So much for Sheranee to choose from. Titles like Dragon Flames Of Desire, Enslaved By The Goblin Horde, Enslaved By Lycans, Draco Malfoy's Muggle Slavegirl, Gilgamesh And Enkidu - Manly Love In Uruk, Hot Alien Abduction, Hunky Heracles And Androgynous Alexander, Ra's Bride, Vampire Dawn, July Jingle Bells, Aryan Assassin's Girl Toy, Silver Hawk's Little Chick, Steamy Exchange Year In Shifter High School, Hot Exchange Year In Monster High School, Knocked Up By The Alpha, Knocked Up By A Dragon, The Xenomorph's Human Pet or The Dragon's Human Pet, Tapeesa had written quite a few books. Some fanfiction, some monster romance and some yaoi. All with varying levels of mature content, always violating the Wattpad guidelines in some way.
Tapeesa even had her diary laying around on the bookshelf, open for everyone to see. But since she wrote it in Sumerian Cuneiform and had told Tacitus not to translate, nobody else from the crew could read any of it.
As Sheranee wondered what to read next, she heard Tapeesa bump against her own bed. Then a short silence followed. "Uhm... Sheranee? Could you help me out, please?" the blue-eyed girl eventually spoke up.
"You mean to tell me you're stuck for real this time?!" Sheranee's eyes nearly popped out at the sight of Tapeesa's now genuinely helpless lower half.
Another short moment of silence followed. Until a small, muffled "Yes..." came from under the bed.
Sheranee cracked up, "No way! You're faking it!" she sat down on the floor next to the bed, slowly walking her fingers up the blue-eyed girl's leg with a devilish grin.
Tapeesa shuddered, defending herself with a squeak, "That's rich coming from lady 'I set Setanto's victory conditions in sparring to penetration'. Besides, why would I? You don't have a thirty-four cen..."
Suddenly, the door opened and Setanto stepped in. "Speaking of the devil!" Sheranee exclaimed while an expression of utter bewilderment spread on Setanto's face.
A moment of awkward silence followed as he saw half of Tapeesa under the bed and Sheranee eyeing her undefended rear with a hand on her thigh. Usually, it was the other way around. Having only heard 'thirty-four cen...' and 'speaking of the devil' he wondered with the most serious face and tone, "Am I interrupting something?"
"Not sure." the redhead shrugged.
"I am stuck, Step-Setanto!" the blue-eyed girl clarified.
"Not now Butterfly," Setanto answered, a little nervous, "I'm looking for Funi. She sat on my head five minutes ago."
Barely had he said this did the Vellamun's A.I. report, "Internal scan completed. Funi is currently in the kitchen, consuming the last gummy bears from Earth. I already told Valentina."
Soon, they heard a certain someone screeching, "Funiiii!!! You're getting fat young lady!"
"Great, thank you Tacitus," Tapeesa's voice came out muffled from under the bed, "Now with that out of the way, could you please help me out here, Setanto?"
But Sheranee stopped him dead in his tracks, "No wait, I'm teaching her a lesson about pretending to be stuck somewhere."
Setanto hesitated for a moment. "Not now." he sighed as he lifted Tapeesa's bed with one hand, allowing her to crawl out.
Tapeesa stood up again, hands behind her back, looking up at Setanto with big eyes and a smile, chirping, "Thank you."
"That's what I'm here for, Butterfly." he answered, ruffling her chestnut hair with one hand.
Then he looked over to Sheranee with a wide grin, stretching out one hand. "Don't you dare!" she squeaked, trying to get up from the floor. But Setanto caught the redhead and ruffled her hair as well.
"Can't escape me Honey Bunny!" he snickered while she tried to bite him. Then he let Sheranee loose again and she ran away to avoid being cuddled to death by the giant teddy bear. Tapeesa could only laugh at the sight.
Once Sheranee was gone and Tapeesa stopped laughing, Setanto turned around to ask the blue-eyed girl. "You're alright?"
"Yes," Tapeesa hesitated, "Why do you ask?"
"You've been quiet the whole day and now you pretended to be stuck somewhere. That means something is up." he answered, intentionally getting some distance in between them and positioning himself in a way where he would not block Tapeesa's way out.
"I was stuck for real this time." she squeaked quietly.
"Why did you even crawl under the bed to begin with?"
Tapeesa blushed a little, winced and sat down on the bed, hugging her knees. "What if Doctor Petain is right," she eventually whimpered, "What if the UFO we found really was just a failed project by some billionaire and we don't need an archaeologist like me where we're going? What if I really am a liability?"
Setanto went up to her bed, leaned forward, caging her in between his arms, each more massive than both Tapeesa's legs combined and looked her in the eyes. "I don't know the answer to any of these questions," he told her with a deep, but very soft voice, "Let's just presume you are a liability. So what? You are my liability and I wouldn't trade you for anything."
He kissed her on the forehead, "But you are not a liability! Even if there are no aliens or alien ruins on the other side. Remember how Sheranee and I got confused over all the plant names? So much so, Valentina banned us from ever touching the aquaponics without permission. She can't tend to the gardens alone and you are the only other person who can even remotely keep track of all these plants with their cryptic names. So don't you dare call yourself a liability! Nobody gets to call my Butterfly something so mean!"
A wide smile spread on Tapeesa's now deep red face while an electrifying tingle went all over her body.
Later the same day, an angry Valentina stormed into Sheranee's cabin. A plushy shelf on one side of the door, a closet containing her judo suit and fencing equipment on the other side. Just in case the redhead felt like being tossed around or stabbed by her creator's supposedly failed super soldier prototype. Her bed stood on the very end of the room, looking out the window with a hanging chair and a little bookshelf opposite to it. Right over the bed hung a giant poster of her favorite literary and anime character, a dark-haired assassin with turquoise eyes, whom Tapeesa and Setanto had nicknamed the Eternal Emo.
"Sheranee, did you leave the gummy bears out in the open?"
"No..." the redhead answered in an unusually quiet, unconvincing tone.
"Funi and Vini are getting fat," Valentina hissed, "They need a healthy diet, don't give them too much candy!"
Early the next day, the Vellamun's crew went into cryosleep. Their A.I. would wake them up once they had arrived over the sun. But while Valentina, Tapeesa, Sheranee and the two little Apuas went to sleep, Setanto stayed awake for a little longer to prepare some surprises for them. It would only take a day.
But before he went to work, he had to go back to his room once more. Set up in a similar way to the other rooms with a bookshelf, top level reserved for plushies, and a closet right next to the entrance. A massive bed, looking out the window with another shelf, mostly empty except for his guitar, and a working desk opposite to it.
In the top drawer of this desk, locked with a fingerprint sensor, he had something very special. The crew had this ritual. On every birthday, the others would write on a little piece of paper something the one celebrating had been right about at some point. No matter how small, no matter how long ago. They would always find something. Aine had established this and she had given Setanto specifically a Pro tip. She told him to not double down, but instead admit that he had been actually wrong on whatever tiny thing it was. Something the girls always loved to hear.
Curiously, Sheranee, Tapeesa and Valentina often did the same. One more reason for Setanto to love them.
But he was not here for these cards he kept as treasures. No, Setanto almost forgot to stow away the old Lego toys the crew had inherited from Doctor Moreau. Once they had set up a colony in space, they would pass these on to their own children. And if a brick got lost along the way, they could make a new one with the Vellamun's 3d printers.
