Red On Black

Chapter 3

Rehtaeh:

She was making her way through the ship. Just down the corridor from her metal box was a small bay of cryo pods, the Doctor and the guard were there looking peaceful as they slept, as well as a couple crew members. She floated through the ship touring every room, every area. It was tube-like in general structure with two levels, and four distinct zones, each of which could be purged in case of an emergency. At the very rear of the ship was the main engine room and propulsion bay, where the massive ballasts were. In front of that there was a distinct cargo area, which could be separated from the passenger bay. There was a vast assortment of trade goods that were expected in different ports across the galaxy. Crates filled the hold from floor to ceiling everything was strapped down tight so that the goods wouldn't shift while there was no gravity. Then there was the passenger bay where her room and the hall ways of cryo pods were. In the prow, the very front was the main ship; it held the flight deck, the control rooms and its various cabins.

Five hundred years was bound to change a lot, and she was curious about the world around her. So far, other than the odd thing here or there, not much had changed. It seemed to her that as much as humans changed, they stayed the same. She was maneuvering along the upper passenger corridor looking at the people in the Cryo pods, matching the scents and sounds she had heard to their faces and bodies. These Cryo pods were very different from the one that she had been in for the past five hundred years, these ones though they held their occupant in a deep sleep, there was still the ability to breathe, to move and to rest. The one thing they all had in common, they looked peaceful and at rest. She analyzed each one as she went, trying to get an idea of who they were, what they might do or whether they were friend or foe.

There were all sorts of travelers, people from all walks of life, some were the transient worker types and there was one man who looked like he was from higher society traveling the back roads to save a few bucks. The majority looked like Merchant types, people who were transporting their goods from one place to another. A couple of business men beside a woman in a similar black suite as her cohorts'. There was even a family mother, father, daughter, traveling together. She imagined that they were on their way to start a new life on another planet. She could tell who was traveling together because of their docket numbers flashing on the glass panel of their cryo pods. People traveling together had numbers in sequence. She stopped in front of a teen, there was no information on the pod. No docket number. The kid wore clothes that could suit both genders, hair cropped fairly short, and a cap to further mask his or her identity. She figured her for a girl, she could be wrong, but all of her instincts were screaming that the kid was a girl. Regardless the kid was a runaway for sure.

She moved on to a dark skinned man who wore the robes of the Muslims or Islamic people of her time. She briefly wondered what religions there were in these new days. She was more spiritual than religious in any way, but she respected those of other faiths. To each their own. Beside him there were three boys aged approximately 12 to 17; they also wore robes like the man beside them. They all looked similar and shared enough traits that they could be related. She saw a couple, who had weathered skin; they looked like they worked in the sun like landscapers or construction workers. They smelled of sweat and dirt and hard work.  Their individual scents were so interconnected she assumed that they were a married couple.

She was working her way to the strong steady heartbeat that had helped her focus enough to carry on and get healthy. She was over her cabin now, near the front, when she saw two men across the aisle from each other. One had a medical smell to him the other one had the steady heartbeat. She looked at the other first; saving her savior for last. He was handsome enough, tall, curly blonde hair; he was in good shape and, all in all, seemed hale enough. She didn't pick up on any injuries that would require medication though, and the scent of him was almost overwhelming. She backed away from his pod with a frown on her face. Was it possible he was some sort of addict? Another question about the society these days, what kind of drugs were available that she would have to learn to steer away from? She understood the basic machinations of an addict so she would need to watch out for his erratic behavior if she had any need to deal with him in the future. He wore a blue jacket with the name Johns on the chest, well at least she knew one person's name.