Lin in particular took a lot of interest in training Alora in basic ship life. That included what we decided would be her first task as a crew member, loading the food processor. It all came in tubes. Meat, vegetables, fruit, spices, and flavored powder for beverages. Our specific unit was said to be the latest model for ships our size. We had one hundred and seventeen slots to provide a fantastic variety for such a small crew. Things we ate a lot of, such as chicken and potatoes, we would fill up multiple slots to avoid needing to restock anytime soon.
Alora took to the task easily. She was intelligent enough and the system was virtually foolproof. If she did manage to place a tube in the wrong place, she would be alerted to it immediately. Lin ran a report once she was done just to confirm everything was as it should be.
That was one thing the future was not lacking. Reports. We could analyze pretty much anything. Since there were so many vital units to monitor on the ship, that was a good thing. It kept us busy, especially since our ship was new and not yet thoroughly tested. Eventually we’d move most reports to the alert only if issues setting.
Occasionally I would play around and run reports on the strangest things. For example, I was able to discover that specific tiles in our floor would wear out faster than others due to our foot traffic patterns. That was to be expected, I thought. However, the manufacturer placed reinforced floor tiles where faster wear was anticipated. But every crew was unique. And since some of our quarters were unoccupied there were places receiving no wear and tear whatsoever.
Based on current usage models, the captain's chair was expected to last over two hundred years. That was obviously because I didn't use it. I always sat in the pilot's chair instead. The toilet had a good life span projected as well. That was due to the fact that we only had four crew members and one of us never had to pee or poop. Portia as an android saved us on practically everything except power. She needed to hook in for five minutes every day. We referred to it as her nap time, but she was totally alert during the process.
As an android, Portia did not need her own quarters. She wouldn't use the bed and had no personal belongings except for the four outfits that she brought onboard with her. Those were the ones that my wives selected and approved. Since the outfits were designed for humans, they wouldn’t last near as long as her robot body parts. Having a variety might eventually come in handy, though my wives chose mostly plain designs for their unwanted crew mate. None provided any exposure of Portia’s legs or breasts.
Alora had never been in space before, or even flying through the atmosphere of Pegillas. That was true of most of her kind. With no windows on the ship, it wasn't much different than spending all your time in a building. Only the stronger gravitational force of lift off gave her cause for concern. Jump however was another matter entirely.
Common Peggy religion associated the alternate universe used for interstellar travel with the concept of hell. She did not know much about spaceships and trade routes. It was her assumption that she would never be leaving the Pegillas star system. Revelation of our destination shocked her almost enough for her to change her mind about working with us.
Yet she couldn't return home without paying her debt. Lin went to great lengths to describe the scientific reasoning for use of the alternate two-dimensional universe. Explaining that most of the ships that docked at TruPort were interstellar craft seemed to help a little.
Exceptionally few Peggies had ever ventured beyond their system. Myths and superstitions were born from those that did. It prevented all but the wildest, or most open minded depending on your viewpoint, from attempting it over the last couple decades. That just served to solidify that concept in their faith.
I didn't want to outright attack her religion. So, we did our best to play it off like it was just a misunderstanding. After a while she calmed down enough that she wouldn't need to be sedated before jump. We felt that it was best to keep her in the control room with us just in case.
The situation tested our relationship for sure. We were claiming things that went against the religion that she had been taught since infancy. I could clearly see that she was viewing us differently. After all, according to her parents, we were minions of the devil for traversing through the dark beyond. Demons.
I worried that the shadow monster might appear again to refuel her fears. We were wisely avoiding any discussion of that phenomenon in her presence. I was clear with Portia not to engage in conversation with Alora regarding rip-jumping at all. She would have a much more difficult time choosing her words carefully.
There was no record in our ship's computer of a drug variation successful on Peggies to avoid nausea during the interstellar shift in universes. Their anatomy wasn't much different than ours, though. So, we cut the human dose down and had it ready if she experienced any health problems during her first jump. There was a debate on the benefits of knocking her out completely. My worry was that she would never overcome her fear if she didn’t stay awake through the process.
The intelligent alien species of Pegillas had adapted much of modern human technology. That included medical use of nanites. Unfortunately, we didn't have any of those that were approved for Peggies onboard. Portia said there was a twenty-one percent chance that she would
