The Ship of Space had been on its way towards the transdimensional portal for three months before the majority of its crew came aboard.
A cage of lab rats was sent first, just to make sure it was safe. No-one had ever teleported over such a great distance before, a distance the moon trogs calculated to be over thirty thousand million miles, and with the wizards still harbouring painful memories of the interference introduced by the felisians, they wanted to be very sure it was safe before any human made the journey..
They were made even more cautious by the problems they were having with communication. The further away the Jules Verne went, the longer it took for Farspoken messages to travel the distance, until by the time the ship was approaching its destination a wizard stationed in Lexandria Valley would have to wait over two days to receive a reply to an enquiry. It was soon established that teleportation suffered the same effect, and there was some serious head scratching as the wizards contemplated the fact that anyone teleporting to the Jules Verne would spend a whole day in a strange state of non-existence. Where exactly was the wizard during that time? they wondered, and what long term effects might it have on the unfortunate teleportist?
The lab rats suffered no apparent ill effects, though, and so a human wizard was chosen to follow. Graal Sonnjek was quick to volunteer, seeing it as a good way to enhance his reputation and boost his career. He was a good wizard, but was having trouble getting noticed by his tutors. Normally, only a small proportion of wizards returned to the University for a course of higher education, mainly gained by the simple means of being taken on by a senior wizard as their assistant. That meant that they were in short supply and the senior wizards had to squabble over them in a most undignified way.
That would have suited Graal just fine. He rather liked the idea of being valued and appreciated, of maybe being haggled over and farmed out from one master to another in reply to their earnest entreaties. He turned out to have timed his return rather badly, though. News of the Rossem Project had by now spread all across the human populated world and junior wizards from almost every human nation and independent city had come to claim a part in it. Lexandria University was therefore enjoying a glut of junior wizards and Graal was just one among many. Graal had gone the rounds from one senior wizard to another, stating his case, pleading to be taken on, but everyone had all the assistants they needed. It was enough to make one tear out one's hair in frustration!
After this, though, everyone would know his name, and they would be queuing up to take him on. Several other young hopefuls had had the same idea, but this time he'd been lucky and he had been the one chosen. He just hoped that it was good luck, rather than bad. Despite the opportunity this was giving him, he was still more than a little apprehensive.
For him, though, the gamble paid off. He entered the valley's teleportation cubicle, the good wishes and earnest prayers of the assembled wizards glowing in his ears, closed the door behind him and opened the second door onto the Jules Verne's hanger deck feeling just fine, if a little strange at the thought that a whole day had passed in the single moment the journey had seemed to take him. The wizard waiting for him aboard the Ship of Space had given him a quick once over, to make sure he wasn't dying or anything, and then he'd gone straight back to the valley for a proper examination.
They took a whole week to make sure the voyage had had no effect upon him, and then the full crew of the Jules Verne began to teleport over. It would be the first time the ship had ever been fully occupied. Up until now, while they made sure there were no nasty design flaws or spell conflicts waiting to surprise them, the ship had only carried a skeleton crew, and that had been enough for its two shakedown missions; the investigation of the Rings of Salammis and a whistlestop tour of the planets of the Tharsolar system. Now, though, the ship was trusted to be spaceworthy and reliable. True, another unexpected space hazard might wipe out everyone aboard, as the unbelievably powerful skydeath field surrounding the planet Rama had almost done, but that would just have to be risked. The potential threat posed by the presumed Shipbuilder civilisation was even greater.
"My first time aboard," said Lirenna, staring around the crowded hanger deck in fascination. Then she noticed the curvature of the walls and her guts tightened up in alarm at the graphic reminder of just how small the ship was. It seemed incredible that so many people were going to be spending an unknown length of time inside such a tiny sphere. How many was it? Twenty one humans alone. A trog, a dozen moon trogs and eight shae folk. All inside a sphere twenty five yards across. Surely they would all be screaming mad within the week!
"In a way, it's my first time aboard as well," replied Thomas, squeezing up against the hull of one of the two Hummingbird class scout ships to allow a group of half a dozen Beltharan soldiers to pass. "The ship was almost empty the last time I was aboard, and I don't just mean people. Have you seen how much equipment they're bringing aboard? Where in the name of hell are they going to put it all?"
More people were leaving the teleportation cubicle, and the two wizards decided to leave the hanger deck to make room for them. They had to climb across the decks of the two scout ships to get to the other side of the chamber, where the stairs were, and as they ascended they passed the crewmen's quarters, where eleven Beltharan soldiers, including their friend Matthew Winterwell, would be bunking for the duration of the mission. The next deck up was the officer and civilian habitation deck, containing twelve single person cabins, one of which was Thomas's. It also contained the galley and the lounge which, in a rare moment of magnanimity, the Captain had stated would also be accessible to the lower ranks.
As they made their way to Thomas's cabin, the wizard admired the changes that had been made since his first visit. Then, the ship had had the crude, unfinished, dishevelled look of a worksite. Indeed there had still been several teams of workmen aboard working on the fittings and furnishings. Getting in the way and rendering several whole decks unusable as paint and glue dried.
Now, though, everything was done. The final finishing touches had been added and every surface was bright, shiny and new. The wooden paneling along the walls was polished and varnished to bring out the grain and give it a pleasingly smooth feel. The brass rails and fixings gleamed in the light of the glowing globes of marble in the ceiling and the hand painted signs giving directions to various locations looked as though they'd been fixed in place that very morning, which may very well have been the case for all Thomas knew.
Pleasant though the decor was, though, the ship was still cramped and claustrophobic, even though valuable space had been used to make the main corridors good and wide. There was even a sizable open space in the centre of deck three where a number of small chairs and potted plants created a pleasing gathering space.
The corridors containing the crew cabins were painfully narrow, however, and two people passing each other had to press themselves against the walls while one squeezed past the other. Lirenna was visibly unhappy with it, and Thomas guessed she wouldn't be leaving deck one, the shae deck, any more than she absolutely had to. He remembered the Muellin, the shayen bird of paradise aboard which he, Lirenna and the other Claimjumpers had travelled back to Ilandia with the Orb of Proofing. That ship had been open and airy, with plenty of empty space, the way shae folk liked it.
The designers of the ship of space had done their best to give the shae folk accommodation they could endure. Deck one of the Jules Verne occupied fully half of the ship's central sphere, a space equal in size to that allocated to the humans. Whereas the human area was divided into three decks and would be occupied by at least twenty people, though, the shayen area was a single open space containing illusion spells to create the impression of being even bigger and would be home to only eight shae folk.
It had to be that way. Humans could tolerate confinement, up to a point at least, but shae folk would go insane if exposed to the same conditions. Having shae folk aboard was a horribly inefficient use of the ship's space, therefore, but there was no alternative. The Jules Verne relied upon shayen magic, and the shae folk wanted to have some of their own people aboard to keep an eye on it, to make sure the humans didn't steal all their secrets.
Even with all the space allocated to them, though, it had still been a long search to find shae folk capable of tolerating life aboard the Ship of Space, and despite their best efforts they had only managed to find three husband, wife teams. Married shae folk couldn't bear to be away from their spouses for the length of time the mission was likely to take, so if one went, the other had to go with them. The final two had to be an unmatched pair, therefore, and Lirenna was one of these. The other was a pureblooded female shae by the name of Flinda Luell whom Lirenna had already briefly met and said was very nice. "I can see us becoming good friends very quickly," she'd told Thomas shortly before they'd come aboard.
Their belongings had already been brought aboard, and Thomas found all his stuff piled unceremoniously on his cot. "It's so small!" cried Lirenna in surprise, looking around the tiny room. The bed, cupboard and writing desk with its small chair almost filled the compact space, so that she had to press up against her husband to close the door behind her.
"Yeah," agreed Thomas, "but it's all mine. It's quite an improvement over what Matt's got. He and the other soldiers have to eat and sleep in sight of each other. The only privacy he's got is a small locker that he might just be able to squeeze into if he went on a strict diet for a couple of months."
"But there's only a single bed! When we, you know, we'll be all squeezed up against each other!"
"Sounds like fun," replied Thomas, and that made Lirenna smile as well. "It's only for a few months," Thomas added. "We can put up with it for that long. We'll be back home before you know it."
"I suppose," the demi shae conceded, putting on a brave smile. She started looking through all his drawers and cupboards, finding them all empty. She was still at it when there was a knock at the door, which opened, bumping against Lirenna's bottom. She straightened up and pressed back against Thomas to make room for the door to open, and then gave a little gasp of surprise to see Tassley Kimber standing there. The two women glared at each other for a moment, but then the human woman nodded a greeting, signaling a willingness to make peace for the time being, which Lirenna accepted grudgingly.
"Tom!" the stunningly beautiful blonde woman then said. "I just heard, and I had to find someone else to tell. Guess who's coming aboard to be part of the crew?"
Thomas hated guessing games. "Who?" he demanded.
"A felisian!" cried Tassley, delighted by the looks of shocked surprise that appeared on their faces. "One of the saboteurs who tried to wreck the ship! But he didn't need to sneak aboard this time. He was invited aboard as a member of the crew."
"How do you know this?" asked Lirenna, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"I overheard Saturn talking to Pondar about it. Pondar's not happy about it at all, I can tell you. In fact, some of the language he used..."
"Are you absolutely certain what you heard?" demanded Thomas. "You couldn't have misunderstood?
"He was very clear about it," the girl stated, grinning wider. "'Having one of those creatures aboard the ship is a grave mistake,' he said, to which Saturn replied something like it's a necessary evil and you can believe I won't take any chances. We'll take all necessary precautions to prevent any trouble. 'A cat running around in the University is easily overlooked,' he said, 'but would be spotted immediately aboard the Jules Verne.' So you see? It was clearly the felisians they were talking about."
"If that's definitely what you heard, yes," agreed Thomas, frowning. "But why take such a risk? Are they of some use to the mission or something? Something so useful, so necessary, that it outweighs the danger?"
"And why weren't we told about it?" added Lirenna.
"Perhaps he's afraid of how we'll react," speculated Thomas, but he dismissed the idea almost at once. Saturn wouldn't care what they thought. He would simply expect them to obey him. He had to know they'd find out sooner or later, though, so maybe he simply hadn't gotten around to telling them yet. "Where's the felisian now?" he asked Tassley. "Is he aboard yet?"
She didn't know, so they decided to find out for themselves. They left the cabin and wandered the ship. They pretended to be familiarising themselves with the ship's layout, but in reality they were hoping for a glimpse of an unfamiliar face. Someone who might be the felisian. Or perhaps they might come across Saturn himself. They could start a conversation with him, give him a chance to mention it. They headed towards the lounge, that being where people were likely to gather to greet each other and compare their first impressions of the ship.
The lounge occupied fully a quarter of deck three and had a fully stocked bar behind which one of the Beltharan soldiers would serve as bartender whenever his duties permitted. The rest of the room contained chairs and small tables while padded seating lined the curving outer wall. The room had been designed to be able to accommodate all the humans at once so that it could be used as an assembly hall if the Captain wanted to address them all together.
In a very real sense, the lounge would be the heart of shipboard life. The place where people with different ranks and duties could get together when off duty to enjoy companionship and a quiet drink, combating the divisions and hostilities that it was feared might otherwise develop between officers and enlisted men. Between soldiers and civilians. Between wizards and mundanes. It was empty at the moment, though. All the bottles were full and neatly stored under the counter, the glasses gleaming clean on the shelves of the wall behind. They walked through, therefore, and left by its other door.
"Tassley's got a natural job here," whispered Lirenna to Thomas as they left, too softly for the human woman to hear. Thomas grinned at the thought. A wizardess serving drinks, being pinched and whistled at by drunken soldiers... How many of them would still be their natural shape by the time the ship returned home?
Across the corridor was the galley containing three tables, each with four chairs pushed under it. The deck's pantry stood against the far wall, the powerful magics it contained making their magic senses tingle. Sitting in one of the chairs was the short but stout figure of a nome. The wizard Braddle Bandock. A diviner, gifted in the knowledge of spells designed to obtain information. He was poring over a thick, heavy book, his long, silver beard tucked into his gold buckled jacket to keep it out of the way, and he was carefully turning the dry, brittle pages with one hand while he held a glass of pale green liquid in the other.
He looked up as they peered in through the doorway and chuckled a friendly greeting. No introductions were necessary, as all four knew each other from their time in the University, so Thomas got straight to the point, repeating Tassley's overheard conversation and asking if he'd seen any strangers wandering the ship. Braddle hadn't, and was shocked by the very possibility.
He was able to offer a theory for why one of the shape changing saboteurs might be aboard, though. "If they do indeed come from a world on the other side of a transdimensional portal, then he might be serving as a guide," he said. "Showing us where the portal is and telling us about the worlds beyond."
The others nodded. "It's possible," mused Thomas thoughtfully. "Maybe they've come to some kind of a deal with the senior wizards. No punishment for their crimes in return for their co-operation. It's still a hell of a risk, though. No wonder Pondar's upset about it."
The nome looked at Lirenna, his kindly eyes examining her carefully. "How are you finding the ship?" he asked. "How are you finding the confined spaces?"
"I'm okay," replied the demi shae dismissively. "If the purebloods can take it, so can I."
"The purebloods are not close personal friends of mine. My concern for them is merely that of one person for another. I would be most distressed if you began suffering from confinement anxiety. May I give you some advice? Do not go to deck one until we're through the portal. So long as we're still in our own universe, find the closest, most confining spaces you can. If you're going to suffer aboard this ship, it would be much better to discover the fact while you can still teleport home. If you can tolerate the tiniest, most cramped spaces this ship has to offer for the day or two until we pass through the portal, then you should be okay for the next few weeks or months in the wide, open spaces of deck one. Just a suggestion, my dear, but I think you'd be wise to heed it."
Lirenna promised she would, thinking again of Thomas's tiny, cramped bed, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek for being so concerned. Then they left the nome to his reading and continued their search.
The corridors were packed with people looking for their rooms and carrying equipment and supplies to their storage spaces, and the three wizards had to keep ducking into rooms to allow people to pass. They passed through the corridor containing the Captain and first mate's cabins, and caught a glimpse of Captain Strong talking to one of the priests. The priest of Samnos whose name Thomas hadn't learned yet.
The Jules Verne was to carry four priests, each a worshipper of a different God to give themselves a wide coverage since they couldn't know in advance what kind of divine help they might need. No-one doubted that they would be needing the assistance of the Gods if their mission was to have even the smallest chance of success, and to this end the ship even had its own chapel, built in such a way that it was accessible from both the inner gravity sphere and the outer weightless shell in which the moon trogs would live and work. Thomas knew that the cleric of Caroli would be his friend Timothy Birch and that the priest of Caratheodory was Karog Gunlubber, the only trog aboard, but he had no idea who the other two, the worshippers of Samnos and Ramthara, were. No doubt they would all become well known to each other over the course of the mission.
They tiptoed past the Captain's cabin and carried on past one of the airlocks leading to the railed walkway that circled the outside of the ship. Thomas paused there for a moment, looking thoughtful, and Lirenna looked at him curiously. “What is it?” she asked.
Thomas smiled. “You haven’t seen what the stars look like in space yet, have you?” he asked.
“You know I haven’t. Why?”
Thomas’s smile broadened. “You’ve got to see it, it’s the most amazing sight you’ve ever seen! Come on, I’ll show you. There’s no point trying to describe it. You’ve got to see it for yourself.”
He led her towards the arlock, but the demi shae hung back. “Can we do that?” she asked. “Just go outside, just like that? Without asking permission or anything?”
“I won’t tell anyone if you don’t. Come on.”
She reluctantly followed him through the airlock, therefore, putting on one of the Necklaces of Vacuum Breathing that was stored there, and a moment later felisians and missing crew members were forgotten as she stared, almost hypnotized with wonder, at a spectacle she would remember until the day she died.