Dizzy, very dizzy. Sheranee always felt like this when waking up from cryosleep. Her eyes hurt a little as they opened after sleeping for six months. Fortunately, only a few weak red lights illuminated the inside of her capsule.
Her vision still blurry, Sheranee barely saw the big red emergency exit lever right in front of her. Fortunately, she did not have to use it. As the clamps fixing her body to the capsule in flight let loose of her, the cryopod slowly opened.
A blinding white light forced her to squint as she floated around the cryogenic archive in zero gravity, everything around still hazy. Sheranee stretched, trying to wake up her sleepy muscles. Her eyes slowly recovered, allowing her to make out a few shapes.
But then a giant shadow devoured her.
Darkness engulfed Sheranee. Floating around in zero gravity, trapped by what felt like a soft cloud of fake fur, she habitually curled up. Soon, Sheranee felt the grip of artificial gravity and she fell onto a hard, rhythmically shaking surface. She must have been in the Vellamun's habitat ring and someone, a certain someone, carried her.
"Setanto!" she let out a sleepy squeak.
Suddenly, Sheranee felt herself being thrown around in a high arc, hitting a soft, bouncy surface. She could only twist and turn, disoriented. A blinding white light hit her face as the bag opened. The next moment, she saw Setanto looking down on her with a wide grin on his face, arms rested on a padded surface.
"What are you doing," Sheranee hissed, "We agreed on no abductions before breakfast!"
But he only replied with an innocent expression, "Do you notice anything, Honey Bunny?"
Dumbfounded, Sheranee looked around, finding herself in the Vellamun's command center. Spin gravity of 0.8g, a giant screen with higher definition than the human eye could perceive, unless improved by Doctor Moreau. Would have made for a great little cinema if only the seats had been more comfortable.
Only now did she notice, most of the old furniture had been either rearranged or disappeared completely and the gray walls had been repainted in black. She lay on a big, red couch, taking up most of the command center. A low table before her, giant pillows, the biggest being already occupied by sleeping Funi. The command center had been transformed into a private cinema.
Her eyes widened as she squealed out in excitement, "That's my old couch! How did you..."
"Well, some rooms weren't finished when we launched. If I have to set up some furniture anyways it may just as well be a nice couch."
Sheranee grabbed him by the collar and pulled herself up to kiss him on the cheek, "Thanks! Now excuse me, I have to get dressed."
Speaking of getting dressed, Sheranee, still in her underwear, noticed something. Setanto did not wear the standard uniform, but a tight-fitting golden yellow shirt with a black collar, together with wide cut black breeches and the usual knee high black velcro socks instead.
"Valentina dressed you up like this, didn't she?"
"Yes and she's got something for you too." he ruffled her hair.
This one time, Sheranee granted it to him and he enjoyed it with a very wide grin. Fortunately, her suffering did not last long. "Setanto!" they suddenly heard Tapeesa shouting in the distance.
A short moment of silence followed. "You built the spa?" Sheranee guessed.
"Yes," Setanto answered, mildly confused over the blue-eyed girl's reaction, "Tapeesa is in the hot tub."
"Did you...?"
"Yes, I'd never let her or your underwear get wet for the wrong reasons!"
"Did you give her a towel?"
A short moment of silence followed as Setanto realized he had forgotten something. "I'll be right back," he ran out, calling for Tapeesa, "I'm coming, Butterfly."
Soon, Sheranee got dressed. Not properly in her own opinion. The girls went to the kitchen, where Setanto was busy cooking, dressed up in wide cut velvet pajamas with fake fur on the inside, a zipper at the front and an integral hood, decorated with two teddy bear ears. Valentina wore red, Tapeesa blue and Sheranee green.
"I look ridiculous!"
"You look cute!" Valentina disagreed.
Tapeesa replied in a very different manner, "You act ridiculous as well 'Commander', it fits."
Sheranee glared at her for a short moment. Then she grabbed Tapeesa's hood and pulled it over her face. "I'll take it back," Sheranee looked at Valentina with a grin, "The hood was a good idea. Makes the design Tapeesa-proof!"
Valentina let out a slight sigh as the girls walked through the aquaponic gardens inside the habitat ring. By now the plants had fully grown, giving them their own on board jungle with Pomato plants, strawberries, raspberries, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, many different spices and medicinal plants. Numerous fish swam in the aquarium as well. But it was not at full capacity yet. The crew would only be awake for short periods during their journey through the solar system. Plenty of time in between the crew's waking periods for Tacitus to replenish food supplies automatically. The aquaponic ecosystem would not yet have to work at full capacity.
When the girls arrived in the kitchen the smell of fried fish and boiling rice, accompanied by an appetizing sizzling sound and the sight of Setanto wearing an Apron greeted them. Funi and Vini meanwhile looked up to him waiting for something tasty to fall down. The two little Apuas did not have to wait long. He threw some raspberries down to them the moment the girls entered.
"Don't give the Apuas so many treats," Valentina admonished him, "they are getting spoiled."
Setanto replied with facts and logic, "But they are so cute!"
Since Valentina could not argue with this, she just took the raspberries away and put them back into the fridge. But not before giving one more to Funi and Vini each. After all, they looked at her with giant eyes, standing upright on their hind legs while stretching out their front paws. Nobody could have resisted.
Predictably, Tapeesa and Sheranee rolled their eyes. She who sat in a glass house could not throw rocks after all. Tapeesa had something else in mind anyways when she looked at the apron-wearing Setanto.
"He would look much nicer in all black with a skull on his collar and black leather gloves. And don't forget the s...." the brown girl with a preference for blond bad boys was about to cause a disaster, but then Sheranee pulled Tapeesa's hood over her face a second time.
"I admit he'd look hot, dressed in Hugo Boss," the redhead sighed, "but I would die of cringe seeing you drool over this."
Valentina let out a sigh of relief. But then Tapeesa pulled her hood back, telling the Vellamun's artificial intelligence, "Tacitus, remind Valentina to ginger-proof her designs in the future."
"404 Error, order does not compute."
While Tacitus' circuits melted and Valentina cringed, Sheranee's face went red as her hair. "That's my joke! How dare you!" she screeched before charging at Tapeesa.
But then Setanto grabbed her by the convenient carry handle on the back of her pajama. He held the raging redhead up in the air with only one arm, while continuing to cook with the other. Valentina felt vindicated.
"See, that's why Teddy Bear gets his outfit first," the purple-eyed girl hissed, "He behaves!"
"A little too well, if you ask me." Tapeesa muttered.
This made Sheranee stop raging instantly. She thought about it for half a second. Still suspended in the air, the redhead admitted, "You've got a point."
Having read Tapeesa's books and seen Sheranee's reactions to them, Setanto had an idea what they meant. "So you want me to act like a werewolf manbaby with room temperature IQ and anger issues? Alright, guess I'll stop cooking and punch innocent walls instead." he shrugged while letting Sheranee go.
This notion terrified Valentina. "Nooo!!!" she squeaked out loud, looking at Sheranee and Tapeesa, "Shut up, you massive, massive idiots!!!"
Setanto patted her on the head for this. He used the chance while Valentina closed her purple eyes in appreciation to ask a very important question, "Since I'm feeding you, do I get a say in what I wear too?"
All three girls replied in unison, "No, you'd walk around in Spongebob underpants all day!"
"What's wrong with that? I'm wearing them right now." he shrugged and continued cooking.
The girls looked at him with blank stares. But just as Valentina wanted to explain how running around in brown and yellow underpants was not fashionable, Setanto pulled the sexism card, "If there was one woman on a ship full of men and the guys told her she's only allowed to wear what they give her while she's making dinner for them, everyone would, rightfully so, call it sexist beyond belief."
A short moment of awkward silence followed. Tapeesa wanted to say something, but Setanto already knew what she had in mind and responded preemptively, "And claiming that it's fine, because she gets to sleep with all those handsome guys would only make it worse."
Immediately, Tapeesa wanted to protest, but Sheranee stopped her, "No no, he's got a point."
"That doesn't change the fact you have a terrible sense of fashion!" Valentina hissed, which Setanto only laughed at. Nothing could ever rival the Spongebob underpants!
Opposite to the kitchen isle stood the dining table, set in front of a massive forward facing window. In the distance they saw the sun, much bigger and brighter than it had ever been back on Pirene. Tacitus had already let down the sun filters on all windows so the crew would not be blinded by the bright light.
The filters also acted as a secondary solar power array, only letting a bearably small amount of light through while absorbing the rest and turning it into electricity. When Sheranee asked for a report on the Vellamun's current power management, the A.I. reported, "I have turned off the fusion reactor to save fuel. Our solar collectors provide enough energy at this distance to the sun, even with the added strain on the magnetic field. We also do not need the engines for our slingshot maneuver around it."
"Nice," Sheranee answered, "Having an A.I. is very convenient indeed."
The crew put everything on the table. Their first proper dinner on the Vellamun, accompanied by a unique view over the ship's forward section with spectacular polar lights right before them. At such a short distance to the sun, massive amounts of radiation rained onto the ship while the magnetic field had been strengthened accordingly to protect them. Radiation levels on board did not exceed those on Earth. Even if the shield failed, Doctor Moreau had made the crew and their pets very resistant to the effects of ionizing radiation.
Speaking of the creator, as soon as the crew sat down, Tacitus reported, "I just received a new video message from Earth."
"Put it on screen!" Valentina squealed out.
The big window went dark, replacing their view of the sun with an image of Maximillian and Aine. With Astarema firmly in the grip of winter, the old couple dressed accordingly, holding steaming cups of coffee as they recorded their message. However, Maximillian took it a step further. He had grown a big white beard and wore a blue Santa Clause costume with white fake fur and prominent golden buttons.
Everyone sniggered at the sight. Aine had told them he wanted to play Santa Clause in the previous message. Back then the crew watched it inside their virtual world with their bodies still in cryosleep.
"Hello kids," Aine greeted them while the Vellamun's crew had dinner. Everyone greeted back with a full mouth, "As you can see, I couldn't talk Max out of it."
Twirling his beard, Maximillian added, "Now that I have a reindeer sled and nothing else to do, I will bring presents to children all over Astarema and the Imenu Community every Yule."
The crew snickered upon hearing this. All, except Valentina, being a bit worried about Doctor Moreau's health. Despite global warming, it could still get below minus twenty degrees Celsius in the region this time of the year. Not the best weather for a seventy year old man.
But Aine had foreseen Valentina's worries, "Don't worry, our butler Tevaro follows him around, dressed as an elf. He'll look after Max."
Maximillian and Aine talked about a few other minor things happening back on Earth. The planet had become very peaceful recently, causing a sharp decline in ratings for most news media outlets. Something Aine found rather amusing, especially since those same headline-hungry, self-proclaimed journalists had tried to paint Maximillian and his creations as Neo Nazis earlier the same year.
They also told the crew about how well the first elections on Astarema went. Recently, the Astari had ratified their constitution, making their country a parliamentary monarchy with a figurehead monarch going by the title of Kaédras. Just as Maximillian had proposed.
Aine described the king of the Astari as, "A symbolic, apolitical head of state whose sole purpose it is to look good on camera and shake hands with people who need their egos stroked before they are willing to talk to us."
The Imenu had followed a similar trajectory, as Maximillian explained with a smile, "Fortunately, the uniqueness of the Imenu was not lost on the leaders of the Nunavut reservation. They are just as confused as your cousins over why the Imenu weren't given their own country. Just like the Astari, who are supposedly so different they can't be integrated into a global society. So, the Nunavut government gave the Imenu community lots of autonomy."
"It's like they have their own country," Aine noted, "But we can't call it that, because the World Government would get triggered."
While the crew chuckled at the ridiculous politics of Earth, Maximillian continued, "The Imenu basically adopted the same constitution as the Astari. Which is not surprising, since they developed it together in the first place. The only difference is that the Imenu have a Queen who looks good on camera and shakes hands with people who need their egos stroked."
After dinner and the video message ended, the crew immediately recorded a reply. They included numerous close up images of the sun and the majestic flares erupting from its surface.
Soon, the Vellamun closed in on the sun for its slingshot maneuver. The crew all gathered in the dorsal observation lounge, which Setanto had turned into a large bedroom, padded with numerous red velvet cushions. His gift for Valentina. Protected by powerful sun filters covering the glass dome they watched the sun from their sleeping bags floating in zero gravity.
It filled almost their entire field of view. Giant flares and sunspots danced in front of them, dwarfing the Vellamun while the ship's own magnetic field worked on full capacity to keep radiation levels down, creating majestic polar lights.
The acceleration pressed the crew into their cushions as the Vellamun catapulted around the sun. The golden home star's massive gravity threw the spaceship out into space, bringing it on course to Jupiter.
A few days later, the crew went back into cryosleep, only coming out periodically to see the planets. The starship Vellamun flew past the many moons and raging storms of Jupiter, the great rings of Saturn and the darkness beyond. All important systems managed by Tacitus for the long periods where the crew hibernated, their minds wandering through a virtual world.
Ten years after the Vellamun's launch, on February 20th of 2110, Maximillian and Aine received another message from the ship during breakfast. Immediately, they put away their electronic newspapers. Nothing interesting to read anyways. Conspiracy theories about Maximillian's past and creations had not sold as well as expected, so they had slowly faded away over the last couple years.
Their butler Tevaro respectfully left the room when they played the video message from space on their TV. Both of their hearts skipped a beat when they saw the Vellamun's crew appear on screen. Yet it felt strange at the same time.
As a result of spending most of their travel time in cryosleep, the crew had only aged biologically a couple months since launch. And to top it all off, they recorded this message from inside their virtual reality world, standing in an enchanted forest, all dressed up as fantasy adventurers. Sheranee an Elven archer with a magical bow, Valentina a healer with a fancy staff, Tapeesa a witch with a silly hat and Setanto a knight in shining armor with pauldrons designed to be comfortable for Funi and Vini to sit on. Fortunately, Kane had added virtual reality interfaces for the Apuas in their cryopods as well.
As the crew appeared on screen, they all exclaimed in unison, "Happy 80th birthday, Doctor Moreau!"
Maximillian smiled, tears of joy running down his cheeks. How old had he become! How far his creations had come! They sent him a picture of a comet Tacitus had taken with the ship's telescopes as a gift. By now they had almost reached the wormhole. So far away from the sun, the comets they encountered did not even have tails anymore.
