Opet and the Tales of Heroes

Chapter 5: The Beginning of Familyhood

"I know with you, you don't have to worry about my shift becoming a burden with you," Opet said as she walked up to the door that led into the bridge.

"Yeah, I have no issue with it," Raavi replied. "I am used to operating on a full day cycle back on Aphadus anyway. I still can't believe that they have days and nights on these planets. How do the others live with that?"

"Heh," she replied as she turned to look at him. "You would get used to it. Besides, the lack of light sometimes made good times."

A couple of hours had passed since Opet and Raavi were in her quarters together. Hours of conversation had passed, but it was time for Opet's shift to begin. She stood in her full uniform as she put her hand to feel for any irregular wear and tear. They watched as the door opened up to let them in.

"Are you sure I am not going to be a burden on your shift?" he asked her.

She waved her hand at him. "Nonsense. All we are doing is moving from one room to another. You still haven't seen all of the bridge yet anyway. Besides, it will be so much more fun now that you are going to be here anyway. Makes the times go by so much faster having someone to talk to regularly."

Raavi once again could see the interior of the bridge. He walked by Opet's side and could feel the room's difference even if only a few hours had passed. To see the difference in the appearance of the New Olympians just seemed to make sense in some way. Much like the technology that he could see and behold. The door closed as the two walked up near the large center projector of the room. Opet observed something that was going on in the projection as she was taking note of the other dots showing up on New Olympia's orbital projection map. Raavi had not taken notice of it. A dot was leaving the planet of New Olympia as another one appeared from the gate array.

"You will get used to looking at this map," she commented.

"I am assuming these are the ships that are coming and going?" he asked.

"Yes. Our fleet never leaves orbit, so you will always see the familiar dots of the Olympian warships. The larger center dot is the UHN Osiris, which is the Lunaran Ark, our ship which is...." She used her gray hand to point at the dot. "Right here......below the UHN Enki and the Viracocha."

"Interesting names for your ships."

"They are named after the fallen great ones. We honor their sacrifices as a new ship is made."

"There you are," a deep voice echoed in the room. The voice alone was startling to hear for Raavi. It sounded like a female voice, but it had such a deep bass to it that it could be misconstrued as something else.

Raavi could hear the sounds of a mass that was walking up the stairs. He turned to look at it as Opet was already looking at the figure that was approaching them.

"Wha?" were Raavi's only words as he looked and beheld a creature. It had an alligator or crocodile's head that was connected to the torso of a large cat such as a lion. Brown and orange fur lined the sides of it as its back was a hardened gray skin. Protruding from the end was a lion's tail. It looked like a demon that walked on four legs. It stood at four feet in height but was somewhat lanky in appearance. It had black hair with woven dreadlocks, almost as if the creature had a mane.

Raavi recoiled back a little bit in terror and shock upon seeing it. The creature, however, remained calm and at ease as it walked up the stairs. It sat its butt down to the floor as it looked up and even gave a toothy smile to him.

"Hello, Raavi," it spoke again as the deep voice echoed in the room. "Have you eaten? Because I feel rather.....famished."

"Ummm....Opet?" he looked at her. Opet seemed to give a small chuckle in response.