Yuen-Mong's Revenge (19 page)

     
The open door at the front led into the flight deck which had seating
for two people. Along the corridor — the one leading to the airlock they
had entered — were four sleeping cabins for two people each, the first
one being larger with women’s and men’s loose cabin clothing neatly
placed on the double bed, as if somebody would shortly come back to get
changed. From her mother’s description, she recognized the small
counter top with a mirror that reached to the ceiling as a vanity used by
people when they got dressed and made up their faces.
But why would
they make up their faces?
she mused.

     
The other three bedrooms looked unused. The bathroom-toilet facility
was at the far end, next to a staircase that led to the lower deck which
contained storage facilities, the shuttle airlock, the main engines powered
by nuclear fuel cells, and the fuel tanks for the orbital and reaction
control thruster systems.

     
"What luxury compared to the ship I came in, and just for the two of
us," remarked Atun, visibly impressed by what he saw. "Despite its age,
it still looks modern and brand new."

 
     
"I think it was on its first voyage."

 
     
She followed him back to the flight deck, where he sat down at the
pilot’s station. A sphere hovered in front of him on the flight console. It
looked as if several sheets of paper were loosely stacked vertically inside,
with the area behind the sphere just barely discernable. The top sheet
displayed status information of the ship. Only the title line of the ones
behind was visible.

     
"Is this a holoscreen?" she questioned, eyes sparkling with excitement. "How fascinating!"

     
"Yes, it is," he replied, once more surprised that she recognized
something she had never seen before.

     
He reached inside and seemingly touched a sheet farther back, sliding
it out next to the stack. It showed a three-dimensional image of the ship.
She could not resist, leaned over his right shoulder, and placed her index
finger on the sheet labeled ‘Atlas’, and the sheet displaying a sector of
the galaxy shifted on top of the stack. She laughed, touched it again and
slid it to the side. He touched the outside of the sphere and shifted the
entire display closer to her.

     
"Atun, you will have to teach me how to use this."

     
"Yes, I will… I already put the ship back on power. All functions
seem operational. Obviously, the navigation atlas is twenty years out of
date, but that should not cause us any problems. We can update it at the
first port of call. All that is needed is to get the main engine from stand-by up to full power and we can be off. That process should not take more
than half-an-hour."

 
     
"Could we go into a higher orbit? I don’t like it so close to the ring."

 
     
"Yes, we can do that and then decide where to go."

 
     
"I will store away the gold and our food and explore some more."

 
     
"OK, take your time."

 
     
She found the refrigerator next to the catering unit. There were several
food containers and five bottles inside. She removed the food and
without opening the containers threw them into the adjacent waste
disposal. She studied the labels on the bottles with curiosity. Four were
white wines, the fifth and heavier one said ‘Champagne’, all listed
Aotearoa, Old Earth, as the place of origin. It triggered a vague memory
of her mother telling her that the best wines in the Galaxy were still
produced in the southern hemisphere on Old Earth, one of the few
remaining inhabited areas on that planet that had seen over 90 percent of
its arable land area rendered poisonous by chemical and nuclear
pollution. She wondered what wine tasted like. They would have ample
time to find out.

     
In the corridor was a small storage cubicle just right for the four
leather bags containing the gold nuggets.

     
The first bedroom drew her like a magnet. She picked up the loose top
that must have been her mother’s. The material felt soft and smooth. She
put it on her cheek and closed her eyes, bringing up the face of her
mother. Her keen sense of smell detected a faint but familiar odor she
had always associated with her. On the spur of the moment, she got out
of her craw leather clothing and put on her mother’s top and pants,
looking at herself in the mirror.
Yes, they fit.
She picked up her father’s
and held it up in front of her.
They should do for Atun.

     
Then she opened the top drawer of the vanity. It contained many little
bottles, tubes, and round containers.
These must be the perfumes and face
creams she talked about.
She opened one of the bottles. Immediately, an
unfamiliar, but pleasant fragrance wafted to her nose. The drawer next to
it contained little scissors —
good, I won’t have to cut my nails with a
knife anymore
— tweezers, a flat tool with rough surfaces, and more
tubes and containers.
I must ask Atun what these are for.
The next larger
drawer underneath contained flimsy looking garments, socks and strange
shaped see-through things that looked like two legs attached together.
She guessed that these were the things women wore underneath their tops
and pants. Her mother had called them briefs, bras, and hoses. The
drawer below contained more substantial male undergarments and socks.

     
She found women’s and men’s pants, various shapes of tops, and even
two full length tops —
dresses
? she wondered — and footwear in two
closets closer to the door. She guessed that the first contained her
father’s, the second her mothers clothing. She would try hers on later.

     
Atun’s call interrupted her. "Yuen-mong, where are you?"

 
     
She stuck her head out the door and replied: "Here, in the first
sleeping cabin. Come, there is lots of clothing that may fit you."

 
     
He joined her. "You’ve already changed. You look cute in that."

 
     
"You like it?"

 
     
"Yes," he answered while opening her mother’s closet. "There’s quite
a choice." He took one out and held it up. "Nice … strange."

 
     
"Strange? What’s wrong with it?"

 
     
"Nothing’s wrong. It’s just so different from the current fashion. What
they wore twenty years ago." He looked at the label. "Vanessi! One of the
top designer houses. Your mother had expensive taste."

 
     
"She was very rich."

 
     
He looked briefly through her father’s clothing. "Good quality things.
I think I’ll be fine in those… Will you take this cabin?"

 
     
"Yes, I would like to."

 
     
"OK, I’ll take the one next door. I’ll shift the things later. But now I
want you on the flight deck to watch me place the ship into a higher orbit.
You might as well learn the ropes right away."

 
     
"Yes, I would like that."
Learn the ropes? What a funny expression!
She smiled at him and with one last glance at the cabin followed him to
the front.

* * *

An hour later Atun showed Yuen-mong how to use the catering facility.

     
"But should we not check if any of that food is spoiled?" she asked.

     
"All the dry ingredients and the water will be fine. These units constantly test any mixed food and discard it if it’s not OK anymore."

 
     
"I would like to eat the food we brought along first, otherwise it will
spoil."

 
     
He guessed that she did not trust the ship’s food and smiled. "OK, that
is probably a good idea."

 
     
"Can you heat food that is already prepared? I would like to heat these
meat sandwiches. The swamp spinach will make them moist and the meat
juicy."

 
     
He showed her how to use the microwave and then set two places at
the table. When the sandwiches were hot, she brought the plates and said:
"Do people on Palo celebrate by drinking wine with food?"

 
     
"On Palo it’s mainly beer. We’ve many different types of beer for
various occasions. Wine comes from Old Earth and is mainly drunk on
Andromatis. It’s very expensive."

 
     
"And Champagne?"

 
     
"That’s a type of bubbly wine used for celebrations. Why do you
ask?"

 
     
Without a word she got up and fetched the bottle of Champagne from
the refrigerator. "Here," she said, handing him the bottle. "Did anyone
ever have better reason to celebrate than we?"

 
     
"Champagne!" he exclaimed, studying the label. "And from Old
Earth! This must be worth a fortune."

 
     
Laughing, he quickly got two glasses from the catering section,
popped the bottle and slowly filled them.

     
"Is there not also some ritual before drinking?"

 
     
"Yes, on Old Earth, they raise the glasses like this and chime them
together while looking into each other’s eyes."

 
     
They did. He was surprised by her solemn face.

     
"This is good. It feels funny in the throat. But I thought that if a
couple celebrated they would link arms."

 
     
"How do you know?"

 
     
"My mother told me. Come!"

 
     
They both got up, linked arms, and drank, bumping into each other.

     
"And then they kiss," she added, smiling impishly, and quickly kissed
his lips.

     
He was confused. When he had asked her, she had refused to say she
loved him and now this. He was sure she was not flirting. It felt more like
she was trying things out. Maybe she was simply overexcited and she had
all the right and all reason to be.

     
The aroma of the meat reminded him how hungry he was. He noticed
that she watched him carefully how he used both fork and knife and then
did the same.
She has never used cutlery.
She also refilled their glasses,
whenever they were empty. By the end of the meal — two sandwiches
each — the bottle was empty, and she was giggling.

     
"You know what I feel like now," she asked.

     
He shook his head.

     
"I feel like trying out the shower. You come and show me?"

 
     
She got up and took his hand, pulling him along. He explained how
it worked, and she immediately stripped. "Come," she said, "you need
one too. You stink as badly as I do."

 
     
Under the effect of the wine, his inhibitions were gone, and he joined
her. They washed each other’s back. It felt intoxicating to be so close to
her, feeling her breasts brush his arm when she turned. He restrained
himself from taking her into his arms.

     
"Will you cut off your beard?" she asked.

     
"Would you like me too?"

 
     
"Yes, I think so. You may find my father’s shaver in the cabinet
behind the mirror there."

 
     
He got out and dried off, while she washed her hair — the first
shampoo in her life, he mused. In the cabinet he found an electric shaver
and got working, removing the long beard hair. It was slow going. She
joined him, watching with interest. He got distracted seeing her sensuous
body in the mirror. When he was finished, she touched his smooth chin
with a light caress. "I like your face smooth."

 
     
He picked up his craw skin clothing and went back to her cabin to get
dressed.

     
"Don’t put on those stinky things again. Find something from my
father’s," she called after him, looking at her naked body in the mirror.
She had never seen herself like this, only in the distorted reflection of
still waters.