Ran said softly. He might have touched her hand if it weren't for the enlisted personnel.
The hatch ground closed, then coughed several times to clear its seal of dust. Pressure in the compartment increased momentarily; then the ventilation fans cut to idle.
"I've had a pretty comfortable life," Wanda said. She met Ran's eyes. "I guess I don't like having my nose rubbed in the fact that a lot of people don't, even on Earth."
She smiled, shifted to put her body between herself and her subordinates, and squeezed Ran's hand.
"Let's get cleaned up and help the commander," Ran said. "If he's got a hundred Grantholm slave drivers coming aboard, he's going to want us around."
IN TRANSIT:
BISCAY TO AIN AL-MAHDI
Miss Oanh found the Quiet Room tucked at the end of a blank corridor. The bulkheads whispered. They enclosed the starliner's service mains, not living spaces.
The Empress provided a generally acceptable ambiance for her Third Class passengers and expected them to adapt to it For those who could pay, however, the huge ship had nooks and crannies molded to every foible.
Most passengers would visit the Starlight Bar only once in a voyage, if that often; but the "experience of sponge space," or the possibility of that experience, might s
The hatch ground closed, then coughed several times to clear its seal of dust. Pressure in the compartment increased momentarily; then the ventilation fans cut to idle.
"I've had a pretty comfortable life," Wanda said. She met Ran's eyes. "I guess I don't like having my nose rubbed in the fact that a lot of people don't, even on Earth."
She smiled, shifted to put her body between herself and her subordinates, and squeezed Ran's hand.
"Let's get cleaned up and help the commander," Ran said. "If he's got a hundred Grantholm slave drivers coming aboard, he's going to want us around."
IN TRANSIT:
BISCAY TO AIN AL-MAHDI
Miss Oanh found the Quiet Room tucked at the end of a blank corridor. The bulkheads whispered. They enclosed the starliner's service mains, not living spaces.
The Empress provided a generally acceptable ambiance for her Third Class passengers and expected them to adapt to it For those who could pay, however, the huge ship had nooks and crannies molded to every foible.
Most passengers would visit the Starlight Bar only once in a voyage, if that often; but the "experience of sponge space," or the possibility of that experience, might s