Claustrophobia

Chapter Two - Helios - 4

Her bags had been there, as she had expected them to be, as she had been told. They were placed at the end of a large, fabulously intricate king-sized bed, seemingly at Z9's preferred knee-height on purpose, just for her. The blue rug in the centre was thick and luxuriant, and Z9 stooped down to run her fingers through it. Beautiful. There was a table and chairs in the one corner, should she wish to bring someone around, which she of course had every intention of doing, to dine one-on-one. She pictured the image she had seen of DyGleyre in her infosleep, and wondered what it would be like to sit across from her, watch her small mouth chew, lips glossed, how it would be to kiss them.

She liked the cute ones. They were almost always better in bed.

Z9 went to her bags and opened them up, seeing a lot of clothes in there, but not as many as she had remembered. Spying the wardrobe up against the right hand wall, she walked over, feet silent on the blue rug and white carpet, and opened up the doors. Her dresses were hung up nice and neat. She smiled. Pulling them to one side, she spied a small cubbyhole at the back of the wardrobe. She put her hand in and fished around, her hand gripping something familiar.

He managed to get them in then, Z9 thought to herself. I don't know how and, quite frankly, don't want to know.

She looked at herself in the mirror inside the wardrobe. The dress she was wearing was her favourite, but perhaps wasn't the one that should be worn for making the best first impression in, whilst flitting around the other 2,086 passengers aboard Helios. She went to the porthole that stared out at the Port's gate, black with faint shimmers of blue energy flashing across it from time to time. She ran her finger around the rim of the window and the glass tinted, darkened, shut out the world outside. She began to change into nicer clothes.

*

She reappeared on the top deck in the dress she had worn when visiting The Lounge in Region 2 several months before, a pick of Gina One. She resisted the urge to run a finger over some of the sequins and jewels that studded the dress, stars in a fabric galaxy.

Up on the top deck there were many already gathered, hair to the wind. Z9 cast a glance upwards and saw that there was a thin sheen over the exterior of the ship. Manufactured weather, unique to Helios. Enough, she thought, to give a pleasant breeze, a tingle of something new and fresh, but nothing more. Her own hair shivered in delight, long cascades of liquid silver down her back. She left the doorway and wandered into the crowd.

Taking a drink off a waiter she danced through the celebrities, rich and famous, the ones everyone watched for. She saw movie stars, spying Lar.4G once again, chatting to several women, and two hanging off his arms.

I'll have to have him for myself for a night, she thought to herself, admiring the line of his muscles, the shape of his torso. If only out of spite.

She kept her eyes peeled for DyGleyre, along with trying to note if any of her other four targets were around. It was a large crowd, yes, but not an unmanageable one to scrutinise. Z9 made her way to the stairs to go to the next level up.

Standing there, looking down, she rested on a guard rail with one hand clutching the metal and the other around the stem of the glass. She smiled. There were certain perks that came with this job, and having a free cruise, given wealth and luxury, and all to take note of a plot that may or may not exist, was certainly one of them.

Off the side of the ship to the right, hanging between Helios itself and the gate out into space, three small lifeboats hung.

They'd better have more than them, Z9 thought, or else if something happens, someone's dying onboard.

'Ladies and gentlemen, and all those between.' A voice rang out over the ship. All aboard looked around in pleasant surprise. 'We are about to disembark. In ten minutes we would ask you to make your way inside, where the outside doors will be locked until further notice, for asphyxiation reasons, you understand. We invite you to several of our dining suites, where I may assure you that your appetites will most certainly be catered for. We hope you have a pleasant journey aboard Helios.'

Z9 smiled to herself as the voice stopped. She watched those below her begin muttering to one another, discussing where they would be looking forward to, which dining suite to have lunch in first, would they like to sit and dine with them? Yes, that was a very kind offer, thank you.

Z9 felt the engines hum a fraction louder. She rested a ring on her finger on the edge of the rail, where it began to call out beautifully. She turned to the left, where the doors were closing. A moment or two later, music began to be piped across the deck, beautiful, relaxing, calming music, something that she had once forced herself to try and get a taste for but could never quite break the low-class traditions of her youth.

Star-Cruiser Helios hissed, and lost touch with Celestria.