Beyond The Glowing Whirlpool

Chapter 6: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

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Today was another boring, uneventful day for Stacie. She's been stuck at the dining hall for the past three days now and hated every minute of it. Besides the work by her specialty, Stacie was also given a side job. She was stationed to work at the dining hall for the time being. A first job that was given on Atlantis to every newbie. Since, besides the chef they didn't have a hired help, all crew members were responsible for taking on different chores and maintenance, which were scheduled and rotated by turns. 

All-day she's been running around serving drinks, brewing coffee, passing around plates and picking up empty dishes. 

"Good thing at least we have that industrial dishwasher because I absolutely hate this ordeal!!" Thought Stacie, as she prepared empty dining ware for its bath. 

She wasn't alone helping Mr. Stephen with food prep, there was one other person, whose shift had ended much earlier than Stacie's and it was her turn to clean up the dining hall after dinner.

 ⚜

The long and tiring day was slowly shifting to its end, and the dining hall was finally starting to look emptier and emptier. Tired by now, she finally had a chance to sit down for a bit at the bar counter. Stacie plopped her head on the top of the counter, cushioned by her folded arms, and watched the espresso machine brewing a new batch of black coffee for the night owls that might pop in last minute demanding it. She couldn't wait for her shift would be over soon, so that she can get back to working on that one stone shard with some ancient writing on it, which Melinda's group found on their recent expedition to the island. The intoxicating aroma had filled the air around her and the intense craving for some of that energy as well, hit her hard. She pulled out a large mug and poured some. 

"Ahhh!" She let out a long sigh. "Best part of this day so far!" She inhaled the sweet steam, as she gripped a hot cup with both hands, bringing it closer to her lips. "I know it's rather late for coffee, but I myself might end up working on that shard probably all night at this point..." she sighed hopelessly. "Why on earth did captain put me on the evening shift here, when he wanted me to get that thing translated as soon as possible, since it may contain some critical info, as he said so himself." She mumbled to herself frustratingly.

As she sat there, sipping her coffee, absentmindedly watching the room become barer and barer, she noticed a tall, stern-looking figure suddenly walk into the dining hall, dressed in deep blue, that it seemed almost black from a distance, snugly fitted to the body warlord-like outfit. The looks of which resembled a futuristic ninja, or assassin of some sort. The stranger made his way to the furthest side of the hall, sat at one of the empty tables, and absentmindedly stared out the large window. Stacie was hit with a shock-wave of realization as she followed him with her eyes. 

"Hey, that's a..." She froze to the counter suddenly forgetting all about being tired and her coffee. 

The stranger's appearance was so striking and majestic, that it would be hard not to notice him, and yet to Stacie's astonishment, only some of the few remaining crews members there, turned to glance at him, and others didn't pay him any attention. At the back of her mind, she knew it must be because everyone around here was used to seeing Satterans by now. And yet still, she couldn't help her surprise at their passive reaction. 

"So that's what the aliens here look like..." Thought Stacie, gawking at him with a mouth drop open. "Yeah, totally nothing in common with Earth's depiction of them. Especially the little green man version." She chuckled to herself as she pictured a short, naked green creature, with a large head and black eyes standing next to this tall and majestic specimen."Alice's right... That is one heck of a good looking alien! And here I thought Frank Traversi was hot!"