“Pooh.” Jillian made a face. “Silly overprotective alpha males. There’s nothing that will hurt you on board the ship as long as you stay away from the unmated males’ area. Now, I’m looking at your coordinates and it looks like you’re directly across the ship from me. So the fastest thing would be to bring you right through the center. Ooo, have you seen the temple of the Mother of Life yet? Omigod, it’s just gorgeous. I’ll plot you a course that takes you past it so you can grab a peek as you go.”
“But…” Liv shook her head. “Look, Jillian, I hate to disappoint you but I don’t even know how to use the public transportation here. I mean, the ship is huge and Baird has only taken me to places around our area.”
“You don’t have to use the sub-tram,” Jillian said, sounding impatient. “I mean, you’ve got a Take-me, don’t you?”
“Sorry, a what?”
“A Take-me. It’s kind of like a little scooter-type animal thing you ride on? They’re used more in the center of the ship than the perimeter so you might not have seen one yet. I always think they look like that push-me pull-you animal from the Doctor Doolittle books, except for the green fur. Did you read those when you were a kid?”
“I—” Liv started but Jillian steamrolled over her.
“My mom was big into retro-reads and we had the whole set. Anyway, it rests when you’re not using it. Just look for a blue wall panel in the food prep area and push it. It lives off the stuff you put down the waste disposal unit in the sink.”
“Hang on.” Jillian’s chatter was making her dizzy. “Just give me a minute—I’ll go look.” She left the disembodied head hanging above the holo-link and went to the kitchen before Jillian could go off on another tangent. Really shouldn’t be doing this, she told herself as she searched for the wall panel. Well, I’ll just see what she’s talking about. If there is a form of transportation here, I need to know about it in case of emergency. She couldn’t actually imagine an emergency wherein she would have to climb on the back of a push-me pull-you with green fur to escape, but the justification sounded nice.
Sure enough, when she found a small blue square the size of her palm beside the sink and pushed it, a large wall panel, about five by five, slid out of place. Liv looked cautiously into the dim area revealed behind the panel and found herself staring into the big purple eyes of a creature about the size of a large pony—all three of them. The creature made an enquiring humming noise deep in its longish throat and shuffled out into the kitchen. Liv couldn’t help noticing that it had a neck like a llama—or make that two necks. Because right where the creature’s backside should have been, was another long, shaggy neck and head complete with three more large purple eyes. The second mouth appeared to be chewing something—probably whatever she’d shoved down the sink disposal following the breakfast she and Baird had shared.
“Oh, uh, hi.” Liv backed up uneasily but the strange, two headed creature followed her on its six, awkward looking legs. She couldn’t help thinking that the knees bent the wrong way but it seemed to move well enough. “You can…uh, you can go back to your little cave.” Liv made a shooing motion at it which the creature ignored. “I just wanted a look at you, that’s all,” she protested. Turning, she went back to the living area, hoping the Take-me would get the hint. Unfortunately, instead of going back to its home beside the sink, it ambled after her.
“Oh goody, you found it,” Jillian said as soon as the Take-me came into view of her projection. “Bring it here and I’ll give it the coordinates.”
“Jillian, I really don’t know. Baird said—”
“Poo—are you seriously going to let him tell you what to do? I tell you, Livvy, these Kindred guys are great but if you let them they’ll keep you locked away day and night. Mostly in bed.” She giggled. “I mean, they’re just so overprotective it’s ridiculous so you have got to take a stand and come see me. I’d come to you but our Take-me is having a check-up right now. I think maybe I shouldn’t have fed it banana peels but how was I supposed to know they could have allergies to Earth food?”
“Well…” Liv thought of how long she’d been cooped up in the small suite. The truth was she was dying to get out. Her first week with Baird, when they’d gone on so many dates, had been much less complicated and tense and a lot more fun. Besides, he’ll be gone to that conference until tomorrow and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. “It would be nice to see more of the ship,” she said cautiously, thinking aloud.