Richard rested his leg on the long folded out chair; it fit him comfortably. He'd finally had some space to himself. The coolness of his surroundings made his skin prickle, and the clear metallic surface of the walls made his head dance in a pool of numbness. He shook his head, and then turned left and looked out of the window. An array of stars shined back at him, he didn't look at the brightest ones; it was the dim stars that held his gaze. Because they were the farthest, and they were far more interesting to him, the blackness of space was all around him.
Richard thought about the times he looked out a window on his home world, the many arrays of colors bouncing off of trees, and the lush beautiful land enveloping everything, and the cry of the birds dancing on his eardrums, but those things had nothing on the vastness that was space, and now he could finally enjoy it, finally.
It had been a long time since he'd been able to travel the stars, ever since he started working he'd always been asked to do favors from one end of the galaxy to the other. He didn't mind being a man of slight bit importance, but with a job like his, he couldn't help being observed all the time. He manned Tarragon, a ship so caught up in lore he wondered if he was a living fairy tale, or just a pretentious myth. Hesitantly he sat inside the cockpit, his assistant; Elizabeth Cole walked in and placed her cold hand on his shoulder.
"Everything is going to be alright captain, I've taken all precautions, now just enjoy the ride." She imitated the reassuring nature he saw in a woman from before The Rebellion, he forgotten her name, but not her mannerisms. Wait, what was it again? Maybe it was Karen, or Danielle? Richard thought. He smiled, and nodded to her, it had been awhile since he'd had to work with an android before, but Elizabeth was pleasant, and her model was indistinguishable from a real woman, which might be why he got goose bumps every time her cold hands touched him. "Thanks," he said. Richard couldn't stop looking at her from the corner of his eye, the way she moved and the way she looked at him with those green eyes; they were dubiously human. He'd gotten used to spending time with Elizabeth—as any man would—he never thought he would, but living in space made the oddest things feel welcoming.
It had been six months since he'd talked to another human, well a real one anyway. Richard had gotten quite accustomed to the cold harshly lit control panel, and the restoration deck that held a small number of nostalgic knickknacks from his home world Acuras. Tarragon: it had just enough space for five travelers, him and the rest of the crew, and their guide. He tried to mind her though; the all expanding cosmos was enough for him to deal with a slight bit of annoyance. Richard had always loved traveling on a spacecraft, watching the stars jet past him was euphoric, but Tarragon was a ship that carried its own sense of wonder. "Mind if I sit?" Elizabeth motioned to the empty chair just beside him. He nodded, and she sat down.
He hated when she did that, especially because he knew she'd tried to make idle conversation, why was she doing this, what was her goal? Richard sighed and reached over and grabbed the mug off of the counter, he sipped, and reluctantly downed a day old shot of coffee—straight black—not the good stuff. He looked down at the mug; a small illustration of a red dragon was etched on the surface. Kind of tacky He thought. It had a primitive style to it, why anyone would bother drawing this on a mug? He couldn't think of a reason, but things were like that out here. The ordinary seemed to be discarded, and the strange seemed to be in abundance. Mercenaries, merchants, and just plain old travelers, traded and communicated with each other, exchanging goods from one end of the galaxy to the other. Richard sat back and inspected the cup once more. I wonder which part you arrived from. He thought.
"When do you think we'll be arriving to Terra?" Elizabeth said. Richard turned towards her. He saw the look of someone who knew the question of what they asked, but nonetheless, she asked anyway. He decided to indulge her, a little.
