Theta as he was known, his birth name long abandoned, thought about the data packet that had just been passed to him by the Brain of The Gringolet. Vivien was her name, and they were acquainted, though only barely. He knew they shared similar views about their role in the Fleet and the results of The Excalibur incident. Unfortunately, as the Head Administrator of The Avalon, he had little opportunity to properly converse with many of the Brains who were deployed on the regular. He would have to make time for her before she left, especially given the contents of what she’d sent him.

Vivien had managed to install an implant without an inhibitor integrated into it. The subject was set to become a Brain, provided he was able to survive the final conversion and adapt to the lifestyle. He would have to keep an eye on him, perhaps take him under his wing. It wouldn’t do to have someone unsympathetic find out that he didn’t have an inhibitor. With that in mind, he tagged the young man’s file so that he could keep track of him and sent Viven an invitation to meet. They had much to discuss it would seem.

The Gringolet – Parking orbit around The Avalon

Dan boarded the shuttle to The Avalon alongside Joseph. They were both in the process of being reassigned to their actual first postings with the Fleet but were making a stop at the famed vessel first. Joseph apparently was going to be going to some sort of officer academy for a bit to get trained up into an instructor of some variety. Dan wished he was so lucky. He was going to be shipped off on the next troop transport to the front, but according to the schedules, that wasn’t due to happen for another two weeks, so he’d have some downtime at least.

The shuttle was different from the variety the Gringolet carried, this one was purely for space transport and reflected that fact in its design. All elegance had been stripped from the design in favor of a simple box-like shape. The simple ion engines extended from the sides on minimal but sturdy struts. It was also notably completely lacking in weaponry.

The shuttle’s most notable feature, however, was that the front end of the ship rather than the rear was devoted to boarding, the pilot being seated above the rest of the craft rather than at the very front. Right now, it was landed in a hangar, but its design made it clear that it was able to easily dock with multiple airlock configurations as well. This ship had been very clearly created for one purpose, and that was to easily move people and equipment between ships.

His examination was interrupted by the door suddenly opening up and a short ramp extending. The queue began to move forward, and Dan sidled onboard. The layout was more like a civilian aircraft than a dropship which was mildly disconcerting, but Dan quickly adjusted and found a window seat in a row near the middle of the craft. Joseph had found a seat still open near the back of the craft, several rows distant from Dan.

The seats themselves were quite comfortable though the large gaps in between the seats made it clear they had been designed with people far taller than Dan in mind. He’d never really thought of himself as short at an even one-hundred and eighty centimeters, but he’d noticed himself looking up far more often than he was used to since he joined up with the Avalon Fleet.

Eventually, all the seats on the ship filled, and a few minutes later, it took off. A gentle touch from its secondary thrusters sent it drifting out of the hangar and into the surrounding emptiness. Without the artificial gravity of The Gringolet to dampen the force, Dan could feel when the little ship gave another quick burst of its thrusters to swivel into place before engaging its ion engines to begin the slow approach to The Avalon.

Dan tried to get a good view of what was happening out of the small window but saw little. It turned out that starships that varied in color from mottled gray to black weren’t terribly interesting to look at against the backdrop of space. He could see part of The Avalon’s lengthy structure from his window, and while it was interesting to see the dim glow of ion drives traveling back and forth, he quickly realized that there just wasn’t much to see on the approach.

It was disappointing that there wasn’t much to see, but Dan didn’t let it bother him overly much. He pulled out his tablet and brought up a novel he’d downloaded from The Gringolet’s library. It was an old story from Earth about a King called Arthur. There was no end to the retellings and various side stories, but one of the original legends was apparently where the name for The Avalon came from. Learning that had sparked Dan’s curiosity, and so he’d taken it upon himself to at least read one of the stories. It was interesting if a bit difficult to get through at times.

Time passed quickly as he lost himself in reading the strange book, and before Dan knew it, the shuttle had nestled into a docking cradle. He put away his tablet and joined the other soldiers as they filed out. His first look at the inside of The Avalon was boring, to put it lightly. Just more ship corridor and bulkheads.

He didn’t have time to absorb that thought as he was swept along by the traffic of human bodies moving along the passageway. Eventually, he was dumped out with the other passengers into a larger open area where he was able to spend a moment to gain his bearings. He pulled up his destination on his tablet. It was a hostel for soldiers who were on shore leave or layover. Technically he was on a layover, but the extended time period made it seem more like shore leave. He was fine with that, though, since he hadn’t had a real break since being a prisoner, and that hadn’t exactly felt like a vacation.

Dan turned his thoughts away from the fact that a little over a month ago, he’d been a prisoner for the organization he now worked for. It wasn’t a productive thought, and he needed to figure out where he needed to be going. He queried the network for directions and, after a few moments, was rewarded with a map and a route with step-by-step instructions.

Without further hesitation, he followed the instructions and found himself in a train station. They traveled through tunnels, suspended by magnetic rails that ran the lengths of said tunnels. It was an old design from before the first lunar colony even, but it was fast enough, and the technology was proven and reliable. He approved of utilizing something that worked rather than inventing a new, most likely worse, solution for the sake of making something new.

After a few moments of navigating the station, he found his train stop and was just in time for it to arrive. He strode aboard and looked around for a place to sit. The seats here were definitely much less comfortable and were designed with a minimum of maintenance in mind as opposed to comfort. Dan didn’t really need comfort, though, as he would only be on the train for a few minutes to travel to the appropriate ‘rib’ of the ship. The ‘ribs,’ as they were called, were the train tunnels that traveled the circumference of the ship rather than the length. They occurred every half a kilometer apparently, which seemed pretty frequent to Dan, but he didn’t mind if it cut down on how much he had to walk.

With the instructions he’d been given, Dan was able to easily make his way through the train system and was met with the next step of navigating The Avalon. He would finally be leaving the outer shell of the ship and entering the interior. He had gone a little out of his way specifically to exit into one of the more open areas so he could get a good look at what the inside of the ship looked like.

He paused briefly before the elevator that led up into the ship. He wasn’t able to wait long as the press of people coming and going forced him to make a decision whether or not to get on, and he stepped forward, the door closed behind him. The elevator made its way in rapidly and only made two stops along the way, dropping off some people and letting others aboard.

Dan wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with a crowded atmosphere. He’d grown up in a city and spent his life in the military so being around people wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was the sheer diversity of people. Kipouen wasn’t the most homogenous colony, but it certainly wasn’t very diverse either, and the sheer amount of variation in the small sea of humanity that Dan had found himself a part of was beginning to overwhelm him.

He was saved when the elevator reached its final stop on the ‘ground floor’ for the interior of the ship. He gratefully stepped out and was immediately awestruck and stopped in his tracks for a moment. He quickly collected himself and moved out of the way of the other pedestrians so that he could take in the sight before him.

The inside of The Avalon was huge, to say the least. He was only able to see part of it due to the massive rectangular column that looked like it spanned the length of the ship. It was hard to tell due to the distances involved, but he wouldn’t be surprised. The massive slab of metal was extended to reach most of the diameter of the ship, leaving ‘small’ gaps on each side of itself, and seemed to be slowly rotating. He could see that beyond the other side of the column, it appeared to be dark. It must be how they controlled the day-night cycle for the ship.

Turning his gaze lower, he could see buildings and parks blanketing the surface as far as the eye could see. There seemed to be a large amount of floor space devoted to greenery. Many of the ‘outdoor’ paths were lined with bushes or small trees, and he could swear he saw farms in the distance. Dan was beginning to understand why it was called a Worldship beyond just the size factor. It was truly its own self-contained world.

He marveled at the sight for a few moments and then continued on his way. He didn’t rush, choosing to take the time to drink in the new sights. He hadn’t really expected to be so taken by the ship. He wasn’t terribly pleased by the circumstances that had brought him here, but perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad.

Dan was unfortunately interrupted from his thoughts when a child ran straight into him, sending him stumbling a few feet from the collision. The boy fell over and began to cry. Dan quickly recovered but was unsure about what to do with the crying child. He looked around, trying to figure out if the boy’s guardian was nearby. He saw a tired-looking young woman escorting a small gaggle of excited children headed his way. She had the look of someone who was exasperated because an unpleasant but wholly expected situation had occurred again.

The woman approached the boy picking him up while she said to Dan, “Sorry about that, young Mohammed here is an excitable boy who tends to run off ahead when he really knows he shouldn’t.” The last part seemed to be directed more at Mohammed than it was at Dan.

Dan smiled, “It’s perfectly alright, I remember I was fairly energetic when I was young as well.” He hadn’t been quite as energetic as Mohammed, but that didn’t need to be said.

The woman rolled her eyes with a half-smile on her lips, “Oh, I’m sure your quite energetic soldier boy. Now be on your way. I’m not interested.” her tone was friendly but dismissive, and without another word, she guided the boy back into the group of children and continued on her way.

Dan just stood there somewhat bewildered. He hadn’t really meant anything by his comment, but he supposed she must receive a lot of inappropriate advances from soldiers on leave if that was her default response. He could see why she got so many advances. She was quite beautiful in spite of the fact that she looked near exhaustion. Dan resolved to try and not be the kind of guy that made a beautiful young woman act like that in response to a harmless comment and continued on his way.

***

Morgan felt bad about her backhanded comment to that soldier. She hadn’t meant to come off quite so standoffish, but a troop transport had just cycled a large contingent of soldiers back to The Avalon for shore leave a few days ago, and she had received no end of harassment on her one day off from duties at the orphanage. She’d just wanted to enjoy a lovely day shopping with one of the nuns from the church proper and had spent the day getting catcalled instead. Not that she didn’t like men noticing her, but she’d just been trying to go about her business that day.

She broke off that train of thought, it wasn’t healthy to think negative thoughts all day, and she had the children to take care of. Speaking of, she did a quick scan of the group of children surrounding her to make sure another one hadn’t run off. Luckily they all seemed to be sticking with her for now. They could go and enjoy themselves all they wanted when they reached the park. She just needed them to behave for a few more minutes.

An electronic display for public advertisements came into her view, and she saw the tired old propaganda that angered her every time. ‘Service guarantees Citizenship. Serve your community by raising the next generation.’ She turned away from it to keep an eye on the children. She wouldn’t just be another breeding sow to raise children to be sent off to die. She would gain her citizenship by continuing to work at the orphanage. Just a few more years, and she would have the right to free movement. Then she could finally leave this ship and be on a planet again, preferably one with fewer than average cameras.

Not that she was ungrateful, she had been saved by The Avalon Fleet when it had appeared in the skies of her homeworld. The aliens had been slaughtering everyone, and she recognized she barely escaped with her life intact. It was not her place to judge her saviours, but it was difficult. She just did her best and prayed, there was little else she could do.