Exploring the Stars

Chapter 2 - And New Experiences to Go with It

"Emeka, you just passed her door, you helped the captain pick her, and she's got what you like in a woman – brains, a great smile, a desire to see the stars, and a cute tush. Who else would you be thinking of?"

Emeka laughed then blew a raspberry at his wrist. "Simple when you say it, Mr Holmes. Now, I think ..."

"... you'll head down to the pool. No guess there, my friend." With that comment, he heard a chuckle as well.

Laughing again, Emeka dropped his toga in his hamper, then headed to the pool.

– o O o –

Dr Gamal ElDin had never been to space, but had always wanted to go. In the résumé requested for joining this crew, that was the only thing she put in the "desires" section they requested. "I want to journey deep into space – to travel the stars, literally." And she had never gone up to any of the three GeoDocks because she wanted her first trip to space to be momentous – not just the "Atlantean Tourist Stop" she felt the 'Docks had become.

She'd been raised on Asimov Island, where her parents had emigrated when they'd met the Foundation's requirements for admission. Outside her position as physician at the Asimov Medical Institute, her passion was archaeology, which led her to the find that the Sishi clan had brought from the asteroid belt nearly half a century before. But that was all here on the island.

And now she was part of the first team that would be heading to the stars. She was aboard as the physician, but they all knew that she'd have first access if they were to find anything of cultural significance. She felt she was sleepwalking and was pinching herself every fifteen minutes or so just to prove to herself that this was real.

She knew some of these people by their reputations. Dannay had sailed throughout the world's oceans, and was a noted xeno-biologist. Hari had been on several trips through the asteroid belt finding resources to add to Arret as well as to the Atlantean islands. And Emeka had a passion for optimizing the equipment that was running each of the islands, so she was sure he'd already gone over this ship with his proverbial fine-toothed comb.

And she was included with these exceptional people.

The only one she didn't have a lot of information about was young Ksenia, who she only knew was their astronomer, and was chosen due to her exceptional "out-of-the-box" doctoral dissertation. She'd just turned 21, yet her paper rocked the rest of her field. Gamal smiled to herself. "And she doesn't realize the effect she's had, you can tell by looking at her," she said to herself.

"No, Gamal, dear, Ksenia doesn't," her wrist comp, Serket, responded.

Gamal snickered. "You always know what and who I am thinking about, don't you, dear friend?"

"No, sweet, only when you are obvious. It's just that you are obvious much of the time," was the giggled response.

"It's just such a remarkable group, though," she murmured.

And she was going with them. She was in daze as she opened the door to her suite. On seeing its size after she opened the door, that's the least she could call it – it was nearly as large as her apartment near the hospital; she guessed it was 25 square meters, and she saw a door to another room as well as a stairway to another level.

She looked back across the salon where she saw the infirmary. After having Serket drop her bags in her room, she walked across to check it out. It mirrored her rooms in size. It looked as properly equipped as any hospital, with autodoc, statis system, and various cabinets. She had filled out a questionnaire about what medical supplies she might need for a long distance voyage when she had applied to be part of this crew; she was sure she would find everything she'd requested. And like in her room, there was a stair going to the lower level, where she found more equipment for her use if necessary.