I woke up from a very comfy bed to the notice that the population had increased to nearly a thousand. "Yes."

Then, alone in a my cabin with no one to distract me, I finally took the time to check my stats. "Status sheet."

Sean Murphy

Rector 3

0 unspent Grace

Stats

3 of 3 unspent

Might. 12 Agility 12 Health 14

Perception 10 Ingenuity 12 Calculation 12

Charm 9 Influence 8 Spirit 11

Abilities

Sanctum

Rite of Sanctuary

Bless

Sanctums claimed 2 of 3

St Kentigern's Catholic Church

S.S. Pastoria's Sunrise Chapel

"Oh good, another priest power." But I could check out "Bless" in a moment. Right now I had a chance at self improvement. The question was, do I make myself better at something useful, or bring up some of my weaknesses to at least the level of a normal competent adult.

Increasing my perception would be nice, since all my other physical and mental stats were all above average. But then there was my social abilities. Very lacking for someone who's supposed to be in charge. It would also be nice to not be the scary loner guy for once in my life. "Screw it. Charm one. Influence two."

Maybe one day I would get to level up again. But if this was it, I would be better off not having any weaknesses in any area for the rest of my life rather then worry about not being enough of a bad ass in one thing that comes up only every now and then.

Then. A shower. A shower in a bathroom that was cleaned to a professional standard rather than my bathroom that was cleaned to a "good enough" standard. There were also fluffy white towels instead of hand me downs from home.

A clean set of shorts and a tee shirt from the ships store finished off my morning, then it was outside to find Rill waiting for me. "People want to talk to you. If you had been any longer I would have woken you."

I gave her my warmest grin. "Well good morning to you too Rill. Have you eaten yet?"

She gave me a hard look. "Why are you being nice? Stop it. It's weird." then she began heading down the hall, while looking over her shoulder. "There is food, follow me."

The Verco girl led me up to a large dining room with a lot of windows, where a few ship's staff members were tending to a buffet with eggs, meats, toast, and some fruit. All of it looking tasty and all, but somehow less fancy than I would have expected.

I guess standards tend to drop after a zombie apocalypse. I saw Lester and his wife sitting at one table with another elderly couple and waved at them before I headed over to fill a dish.

A man with a name tag saying Estevan stepped over to meet. "My apologies sir, but the captain has instituted rationing, nothing major, just tell me what you want and I'll serve it." He did his best not to stare at Rill.

I looked over what was offered up, and remembered that food from home would run out fairly soon. "I understand. Could you give me a bit of everything, and if it isn't too much trouble, could you ask everyone to save their seeds. Maybe even take charge of collecting them for now. We might want to plant some things either in this area or other places the ship can reach."

Estevan looked a little startled. Then smiled. "That would be a good idea sir, I'll get right on it." I think giving the guy something constructive to do might even have gotten me a extra slice of bacon.

I glanced over to my dining companion. "Rill, you might want to try a little of everything, even if you don't like some of it. It might be your only chance to ever try some things." She gave me a almost offended look, before looking over the table and asking Estevan's replacement about each thing laid out on the buffet.

The new seed guy and another crew member were making the rounds of the tables, each having a quiet word with the diners remaining in the room. Good man there, right on top of things. I promised myself I would try to remember his name. Estevan.

I headed to a side table that would be out of view of anyone looking to bring me more problems, then thought it over and took a seat right in the middle of the room. If I was going to be in charge I needed to be approachable, and besides, from the middle of the room it would be easier to spot people I could put in charge of dealing with the problems as they came up.

Rill caught up with me and sat on the far side of the table with a sideway glances for everyone else in the room. I took a bit of the eggs I had gotten a trickle of maple syrup on, then asked her "What going on Rill, you seem a little on guard?"

She shot me a wide eyed look. "How did you know"

Huh? "Know what?"

The lizard girl slunk down in her chair. "My grandfather told me to guard you since we are in trouble if you die."

She still seemed pretty depressed, more then she would be over just being stuck being around me. Why? Oh, yeah. "It's not you're fault you got shoved out of the room, you have every reason to believ that no one would be stupid enough to try to betray us to a enemy who wants us all dead. Besides, it's hard to tell what a member of a entirely different species is thinking."

Rill sighed and poked around at her plate with her fork. "I'm supposed to be better than that."

I put a few things I had heard and put together. "You just became a adult before this all happened right?"

She gave me suspicious look. "Half a moon cycle ago, at the proving grounds." She sighed. "I never even the chance to get my arm marked."

I took a slice of bacon to make it appear I was thinking that over instead of just spitting out a platitude. "No one starts out great at something, you get better with time. So give yourself time."

My bodyguard continued to stare at me before she finally snorted at me and dove into her food.

We had nearly finished our meal before a guy in a fancier uniform tracked us down. "Mr. Murphy? The captain would like to see you in his ready room." I gave him a nod as I stood up and stuffed the last slice of bread I had wiped my plate down with, gulped the last of my orange just and wiped my mouth off with a real clothe napkin. "Can we swing by a bathroom, I need to wash my hands."

He nodded. "Of course sir. This way." I noticed I had a lot more attention being directed at me as I followed the officer out of the room. It wasn't as if I tracking the people around me better so much, as far as who and where they were. But more like I had a better sense of what they were paying attention to, and how they were reacting to things.

They had been paying attention to Rill because she was strange and different, and I was just some guy only of interest because I was with her. Now I was some guy being called to do something by the crew, and Rill was following me like I was important.

I thought Charm and Influence would just make me better at getting people to like me and do what I want, but it appeared to also clue me in to how to do so. And this was just getting me up to normal, how socially awkward had I been before?

Well a living in charity housing with only one friend level of awkward I guess.

Rill made me stand out in the hall while she checked the the bathroom before she let me go inside.

With the electricity now restored, it was a quick trip by elevator up to the deck just below the bridge and a large office with the officer I had meet the night before, Captain Oats. Which meant he had only recently been promoted as the door to his office read "Captain Grunderson."

As the officer whose name tag I now remembered to read, "Turk", knocked and opened the door, I wondered if I was supposed to salute or anything. But as the captain invited me to come in and to sit, I just went with a nod.

Oaks was a older man, early forties I think, and sounded like he was a American. "I've been filled in on most of what's been happening here, and I guess the first thing I would like to ask you is. Are you willing to stay on the ship permanently?

I leaned back in my chair and held up one hand. "I think I'm going to need some time to think that over."

He sighed. "Well you might want to think about it pretty quick. People on board this ship are still in a state of shock, but once they realized you are a source of safety." He shook his head slowly. "I don't think they will want to let you leave, and I don't think I have enough authority yet to stop them."

The Captain began tapping all his finger on his desk, "This was supposed to be my last voyage aboard the Pastoria before I began training to take over another ship. The officer who was supposed to take over as first mate, Jake Brenner, is already pushing me. Arguing with every call I make."

He glanced at me, "If your right to come and go as you will becomes a issue, it's sure to be something else for him to challenge me on. So if you're going to go. Please go soon."

Standing up, he offered me his hand. "Of course I would be more than happy to welcome you aboard permanently."

I shook his hand. "Thank you for your time and advice sir." And left it at that.

Outside his office and down the hall, Rill whispered. "Are we running?"

I nodded "Yeah, this ship is a lot nicer than the church, but I would never get another chance to make another decision for myself if we stay here. Any clue how we get off the ship?"

She walked with me aimlessly for a moment. "Your giant snake?"

I nodded at her, "Good idea. Big boy?"

I tried a few more times. Nothing. "I guess he's either sleeping or has moved on."

Rill nodded. "We should try Tok, she promised me she would try to find a better way to get me to shore.'

A few questions later of various people, and I was back down in the crew quarters as Tok was finishing up sealing the hole she had cut in the side of the ship as another crew member stood and watched over her.

I waited until she was finished. "Hi Tok. Looks good. Rill is freaking out over swimming back to shore, so any ideas on alternative transport?"

Rill kicked me. Some bodyguard, she's the one I need protection from.

Tok looked a thoughtful for a moment. "There are smaller boats hanging from the side of the boat."

The crew member looked up with a grimace from the seamless welding job Tok had just finished. "Please Miss Tok, it's a ship, not a boat. The small boats are life boats, but we do use some of them as tether boats at locations that lack docks large enough for the ship."

I introduced myself and offered up my hand. "Hi I'm Sean. I need to get back to the church on shore to activate some safety features from my class for the safe zone. Do you think you can get us a lift."

He hesitated and looked away from me. "I would need to get permission from the captain or the first mate."

I leaned over to one side to make eye contact with him. "Hasan, I hate to put you on the spot. But I just talked to the captain. He pretty much told me to get off the ship to avoid getting caught up in a power struggle between him and some other guy whose name I've already forgotten."

As the crew member began to look even more concerned, I put him even more on the spot. "I would consider it a personal favor, and I'm sure the captain would appreciate it if you helped us out."

He huffed. "Alright, but if anyone asks, I was only supposed to be helping Miss Tok inspect the outside of the hole. Then you took over the controls and I didn't want to offend you by demanding you turn back."

I grinned. Another good guy. "Thanks Hasan. Let's get a move on."