Starship Traveler Ch. 01

"When I need to, um, excrete, could you make me one of those? I could use it and then you could take it away to some other place for the ship to recycle. It would help me a lot if you did that."

"Yes, Revekah, thank you for your willingness to tell me what you need. I did study your culture, but there is a large amount that I did not completely understand. It will help immeasurably if you assist me in understanding what you need to feel comfortable."

Again she ran her hands down the length of her body. "Could I have some clothes?"

"I could make you clothing, but they would not last very long. The ship would start to recycle them in only a short while. Are you cold? I could adjust the temperature."

"No, I am not cold. I am just feeling naked. In my culture naked means vulnerable. It is easier to feel safe and confident if I could have something to wear."

"That would be difficult. My culture does not use inanimate objects. The ship regards any inanimate object as something to be recycled."

"So the ship is alive?"

"Very much alive."

"And you communicate with it, like you communicate with me."

"I use the same portions of my nervous system to do it. But the ship is not sentient. It is not the same experience."

Revekah felt a wave of exhaustion. "I feel so tired all of a sudden."

"The adjustment takes a great deal of your energy. It is normal to feel fatigued. You are experiencing extreme amounts of stress; mental, emotional, and physical. Would you like to have your support surface horizontal or continue in a reclined position?"

Flat, but please don't bond my arms down." As the surface became horizontal, she asked, "Could you make it a little softer please?" And as the surface became more yielding she laughed, "It's an adjustable mattress." Her voice was foggy and fading into sleep when she asked one last question.

"Do you sleep?"

"No, Revekah, my species does not sleep."

A random thought drifted through her exhausted mind, 'then you don't dream'. But she was too far gone to speak out loud.

His answer was prompt, "Dreams seem to be a human characteristic."

Sleepily she thought, 'get out of my head'.

"Sleep, Revekah."

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