Chapter 21

Brigit is in her quarters working on paperwork - why they still call it paperwork, she doesn't understand as it is all digital - when Tyche interrupts her, "Excuse me, sorry to interrupt your vital paperwork, Captain, but The Maiden is approaching the ship, and I thought you might want to meet her."

"Thanks, Tyche; I'm on my way. Inform the crew, would you? I know they will all want to be there."

"Right away, cap!" Tyche answers.

Brigit can't help but grin as she gets up and goes to the bathroom to check herself out in the mirror. If there was any doubt whether the Artificial Intelligence on their ship has gained sentience, it is squashed when Tyche is sarcastic and picks up on things from the crew. They know Brigit despises paperwork and commiserates with her, and they picked up on Rory calling her 'cap' and how it annoys her and yet, she seems to like it as the corners of her mouth would turn up slightly.

She has changed into her dress uniform after getting back from the date with Cali. She smiles and makes a little sound at the remembrance of the kiss. So all she has to do is straighten herself out, make sure her hair is good in its customary ponytail, and head for the lock.

Brigit gets to the lock at almost the same time as the rest of the crew. Rory isn't there right when she gets there, but she comes skidding around the corner, clearly dressed up in a pair of nice slacks and a stately brown blouse. "Am I late?" Rory asks.

"Nope, just in time," Brigit answers as she looks around and notices that everyone is a little dressed up. Not going out clothes, but more pleasing than the usual ship suits they usually wore. The bell rings just as she has finished giving everyone a once over. Brigit reaches over, cycles the lock, and steps back.

The Maiden enters the lock as soon as it is open. She seems to glide in. The brilliant emerald gown she wears further helps in this appearance. It doesn't seem to have sleeves but just places in the folds that her arms appear. Her brunette hair flows down and appears to join the gown except for the shaved left side. On that portion of her head, there is a tattoo of a splendid assortment of flowers. If you knew her for long, you would discover they are all from her homeworld of Cat's Eye.

She sees Rory with her shaved head of patterns of Celtic knotwork and flowers and machinery and smiles. Her smile is almost as beatific as Brigit's. Everyone's first impression of her is aloofness. That aloofness doesn't come from an attitude of being better than the other person, just separate. And she is separate. She is a member of the Executive Branch of government for all the Blessed Accord.

"Greetings, crew of Tyche. Thank you all for welcoming me aboard." Serene, The Maiden, says in a voice that seems to carry without being overly projected. She is used to addressing crowds and crowded legislatures and functions with other heads of state.

As she greets them, they all turn their heads to the left and then back in the customary show of respect to The Maiden. Brigit steps forward. "Welcome to our ship. We've prepared your quarters. If you'd like to follow me, they are right down this hall." She turns and starts walking down the hall. The crew parts, and The Maiden follows Brigit. Her luggage floats behind her, displaying the latest in personal scale anti-gravity technology.

The crew watches in awe until they disappear around a corner, and then they all start talking at once.

"Wow," Doc says in an understatement.

Rory looks down at her ship-shoes, unconsciously making herself small, but still asks in wonder, "Did you see her tattoos?"

"That gown. Do you think she wears stuff like that all the time, or just for official business?" Cali wonders aloud.

Adair starts to say something, but they notice Rory and slips over as the others were talking over each other. They pull Rory aside a little and whispers, "Hey, are you okay?"

Rory nods before responding, "Yeah, mostly, but we can talk later."

Adair takes her arm and walks away, "Or now, we need to finish the last-minute course adjustments, anyway. Let's go." They turn to everyone else and announce, "We're going to finish the last-minute course changes. You all have work to do, I'm sure." Adair says, as they walk away.

That turns into a signal for the rest of them, and the gathering breaks up. Doc heads to the kitchen to prepare for dinner. On his way, he asks Tyche, "Hey Tyche, what time is pull out planned for?"

"Well, Rory and Adair haven't finished final calculations, but I don't see it deviating too much from what it's set for right now. And that is 18:13." They respond.

"Okay, that means dinner will happen while we're navigating. I'll be in the kitchen if anyone is looking for me."

As he walks down the hall, Cali, who had still been a little transfixed by the appearance of the Maiden, bounds up. And if she didn't have magnetic ship shoes on, she would have come skidding to a halt. "Hey, need any help? You're going to have to do boxes, right?" She asks.

"Yeah, and sure. I always appreciate the help." He says as they head to the kitchen.

#

Later they are all assembled on the bridge for the customary call and response before pull out. Luckily there are a few spare consoles, so not only can Doc be there, but the Maiden can be there as well. She had asked specifically so that she can experience the newest ship of the fleet from the bridge.

Brigit turns to Cali. "How is the cargo? Is it locked down and ready?"

Cali responds with a smile, "Yeah, it's secured and double-checked. Not as heavy as last time. Also, Doc managed to grab some filamentals, so we'll have some to eat on the way. The ship is ready once."

Brigit turns to Rory. "How are the mechanicals?"

Rory's tone is much more formal than usual. It also includes much more information than is usually in her report. "I changed Number 2 scrubber before pull out so we are good for the trip. The sail generators are powered up and ready to spin into action. The Transition drive is warm and ready." As much as she wants to impress with her quality work, she can't help some excitement from slipping into the report. "The sails and drive are ready to be pushed to the limit cap. See if they aren't. The ship is ready twice."

Brigit addresses them all, making eye contact with each before resting with the Maiden, "Seeing the board all ready, I declare the ship ready thrice. Everyone to your stations." As an example to everyone, she lifts her coffee mug from the table. When everyone has cleared the table, she recesses it back into the floor before turning to the front of the bridge and addressing the AI, "Tyche, usual bridge configuration on the main wall, please."

"Sure thing, cap." And as they respond, the wall changes, showing the scarred and dented metal of the orbital. Here, one of the ship painters had created a small mural that added a splash of color to the grey metallic skin. Tyche displays the proposed route out of the system in the upper left and the locking mechanism in the upper right. The bottom right has various systems statuses.

"Thank you." Brigit thanks the AI and looks around, and finds everyone is in their stations.

The maiden stands off to the side, looking like a statue as everyone conducts their business. Brigit looks over periodically and when she does, the Maiden turns and smiles, but she can't easily read her.

"All right, Adair, please send the final departure request to the station," Brigit orders in a pleasant tone.

"Sent." Adair says, and then a moment later, "Permission granted, they wish us a pleasant trip and hope the Maiden gets there in time." A moment later, they smile. "They have a pool going on when we make it to Terrene. People will talk about how we pulled off this quick of a trip for some time."

Brigit smiles. "Okay, well, let's give them something good to talk about. Adair, disengage locking clamps."

"Done," Adair responds, and the lock indicator on the screen cycled green, red, then green.

"Take us out, slow and steady, Adair." Brigit starts the trip. "Tyche, please put a small image of the rear of the ship in the bottom left. Make this standard pull-out setting."

"Done and done, cap," Tyche responds, and the image changes.

There is a moment when they can feel the movement as the ship pulls away from the orbital. It gets smaller and smaller and then Brigit tells Adair, "Okay, bring them about and set course."

As the image changes and the orbital slides off the right side of the screen, Brigit addresses Rory, "Sails ready?"

Rory nods, "Yes Captain. Ready to deploy."

Brigit gives her an odd look at the formal title and checks the course readout. "It looks like we will be safe to deploy sails in fifteen minutes."

As she said this, Doc slips out and down the ladder. Cali follows him.

It isn't long before Doc and Cali return with boxes of dinner and hand them out to everyone. Brigit and Adair get separate boxes than everyone else.

Brigit opens her box and smiles over at Doc. "I love sushi, this is a great food to eat while waiting."

After eating a few sections of sushi roll, Brigit turns to the Maiden, who has been standing off to the side until now, but is currently seated with them all at the conference table that is lifted for this purpose, and says, "I imagine you make lots of trips around the sector." What do you think so far of the new ships coming off the line?"

After swallowing her current bite, the Maiden says, "Well, I haven't seen everything yet, and I'll appreciate a tour later, but from what I've seen, I'm quite impressed. It really amazed us that your AI achieved sentience." She addresses the ship. "I've seen the crew refer to you as Tyche, the name of the ship. Did you choose that?"

Tyche says, "Yeah, I searched through all the names and was having a hard time finding one that 'fit'. Then it occurred to me that in an actual sense, I am the ship, so I looked up the qualities of Tyche and liked them, and well, here we are. Oh, and five minutes until we're ready to deploy sails."

After finishing another bite that she takes while Tyche is talking, the Maiden turns back to Brigit. "I'm also very interested in trying out the climbing machine. That seems brilliant indeed."

"I'll instruct you how to use it later, definitely. Also, I'll give you a tour when we're done with navigation." Brigit assures her.

The talk of new inventions reminds Rory of the wards. "Captain, should I deploy the wards now that we've left dock?"

"Yes, please." At the odd look she gets from the Maiden, she explains, "Adair and Cali created a rather ingenious way of making sure we don't get any unwanted intruders. All the details are in my most recent report. And as Cali found out, it is quite effective." She smiles over at Cali as the AI interrupts.

"We're at a safe distance from the station. Sails can be deployed now, cap," Tyche announces.

"Rory, deploy sails. Adair, are we still on course?"

"Sails deploying, Captain," Rory says, having extremely good posture ever since the Maiden came aboard, and the screen shows the graphic of the sails casting out from the ship, collecting the solar wind and pushing them to Terrene. Brigit makes a mental note to talk to Rory later.

"On course and on schedule." Adair's fingers fly over the keyboard, and then they change the announcement with a big smile. "actually, we're on course to be about three hours ahead of our calculations!"

After the sails finish deploying, Brigit says, "Okay everyone, good pull out. First section has the watch. Maiden, would you like a tour now?"

The Maiden shakes her head. "Actually, I need to rest a bit. Later?"

"Of course." Brigit heads to the ladder, "Everyone not on watch, Dismissed."