Asteroid Manifest

First topic message reminder :

The docking point for all incoming refugees and reports bound for the Guild, always packed and staffed.

The man looked delighted at Kasi's attempt, grinning wider. "I am Shoji, the second pilot of the Three that man this ship, and of the crew that brought Mandeep here in hopes he would get well. And it looks like he's getting well!" He chuckled heartily.

"How is Foxfire, Shoji?" Mandeep asked calmly, studying Shoji with cold eyes.

"She is getting clean! But it..." His smile faded and turned into a scowl, "So what if her tech is outdated!? So what if we use torque to create artificial gravity instead of the fancy stuff the space fairing races use?! It's not like the KITSUNE are SPACE VOYAGERS! WE DO NOT FOCUS OUR TECH ON SOMETHING WE HAVE NO MEANING IN!"

He stopped, then coughed for a second, bowing again, "My apologies. My brothers and I built Foxfire from scrapmetal, and it is insulting each time an engineer comes up to us and talks to us about artificial gravity. We know Foxfire uses outdated science. We are fine with it. Besides, it makes her more flexible to the elements and harder of a target."

Matt looked amused. "Oh man, you should talk to the pilot on our ship. She LOVES old ships." Yeah, he'd been given a lecture by Luka for calling the Devil a rust bucket, most everyone had at this point right?

Kasi looked bemused. "The Sister races do not even have ships, to us, this is beyond anything we could comprehend of." He pointed out. "you built the whole ship yourselves?" he looked impressed. "How does she fly?"

Matt laughed. "You are SUCH an engineer Kasi."

Kasi tilted his head. "I am not certain I understand what you mean by that. " He looked up at the ship. "I designed and built dams and irrigation systems mostly, I know very little of ships but they are fascinating. You use torque to create gravity?" Now torque he could wrap his head around.

"She sounds delightful!" Shoji said to Matt, looking pleased, "A ship is a ship, is it not? A master artist can paint with any brush, as they say."

He nodded to Kasi, "Yes, from the first bolt. It took us several years, but we pride ourselves in it. It is the only kitsune ship to even have artificial gravity, let alone a kitsune ship big enough for more than eight people, and can live in it, no less."

"She flies... Well, there IS a manual mode for her, in case one is NOT a kitsune, but..." He put his hand on the amulet on his chest. Like Chou's it was as deep as the night sky and glittered with stars, like a tiny galaxy, "We kitsune usually man it ourselves and transfer our energy into her to control the ship as if it were our own body.

"Yes, we use torque." He pointed at the rings and trailed it down to the center. "The rings rotate around the center hub, and the torque from that creates artificial gravity that pulls you to the outside of the ship. The center remains weightless, but you get the idea."

His grin suddenly split, "Would you... Like to see it in action?"

Kasi clapped his hands. "Yes yes!"

Matt laughed at Kasi's excitement. "Well you got at least one volunteer." He shook his head. "So, you use a sort of connection with the ship itself to control it? That's really cool. Our ship's a bioship, she controls herself. "

"your ship is very interesting as well." Kasi told Matt.

"Yeah, she's pretty cool. I always think it must be kinda weird for her having people living inside her you know? But I guess she's used to it."

"Why did you build her?" Kasi asked Shoji suddenly. "you said your people were not space faring, what inspired you to try to leave?"

"Well, though our people really aren't space faring, especially after the loss of our Sun so many centuries ago, with our planet nearly dying, our people did try to retrieve and update starmaps in the galaxy, traveling out to local areas to map out the courses. Though it could only be so far away. We needed to find away to get farther out in space to map out greater locations. And so, we designed Foxfire, the first cross-galaxy kitsune scouting ship!"

He puffed out his chest proudly at that. "We are still unsure and suspicious of making connections outside of the Guild, but at the very least our Celestial Emissaries allow it, yes? Well, if you would like to fly..." He pulled back his sleeve, a cuff of some sort with remote controls latched around his wrist. He clicked a few and a hatch from the center opened, a ramp pulling out.

Kasi's eyes widened, he looked absolutely enthralled.

"You're trying to find a new world?" Matt asked.

"How do you survive without a sun!" Kasi asked.

Shoji shook his head at Matt. "We are happy where we are, we simply like making sure we know what our neighbors are."

He then looked reminiscent, saying softly, "The August Celestials chose to come and save us from our deaths. Though our planet will never be the same, it is because of they we are here, alive and happy. Now, their nebula helps us keep warm and able to grow our food."

Matt recalled what Mandeep said about the sky, it sounded spooky.
"Well, at least you're happy."

Shoji nodded, "The nebula hides us from outside eyes. It is good." He tured and began walking inside the ship. Mandeep trailed behind, "Well? Shall you come?" Shoji grinned widely.

Kasi bounded after them eagerly.

Matt shrugged and followed. Hey why not?

They walked in, and lining the center hub were several seat with straps and belts to hold themselves in when they left atmospheres. There were two others in the hub, Chou, and another male. Shoji said something in their language, to which they both understood. The male went with Shoji to the pilot's cabin. There was something said over the speaker and soon two more fox people joined them -- Another red haired woman, presumably Akari, who held three snake-like draconic hatchlings in her hands, and another male. All kitsune held a manner of a hat, mask, or woven reed in their hair. The first stranger mle returned, and everyone started strapping in.

Chou looked excited. "Mister Mandeep! Mister Mattias! It is good to see you both!" She began trying to help Mandeep into a seat, but the man adamantly shook his head as he tried wobbling out of his chair, shaking on his bone-thin legs.

Kasi looked around excitedly, like a kid in a toy store.

Matt nodded to Chou. Hey again, how's everything going?"

Kasi examined the seats and stared at the snake things. "What are those?" He asked.

"Dragons..." Matt smiled softly.

Chou bowed slightly to Matt out of habit. "I have been well, but with Mandeep healthy and well, we will be needing to depart in a few days. Though we are contacting the Emissaries to see if they--"

"Chou, that's a secret." Shoji's voice sounded like a warning through the speakers as the camera suddenly swung around to gaze at all of them. There was a sound of machine starting as Mandeep almost stumbled into his chair, but was still stubborn in getting help as he had difficultly turning around to properly sit.

Akari smiled and nodded, again, bowing to both of them in greeting -- as had the other two brothers, in silence -- "Windserpents are very renowned creatures on our homeworld," she explained softly as one of them squeaked and shifted restlessly in their sleep. "They are more than just mounts and rides, each serpent-rider forms a bond that lasts a lifetime, their bond so strong they can communicate with the mind, which would otherwise be nonexistent. They choose to be our rides and companions, it is us that are grateful for their relationship."

Matt smiled softly. "Awesome." He got strapped into a chair like everyone else.

Kasi fumbled with his restraints.
"What do you mean non existant without the bond?" He asked. "You will be leaving with them?" He looked to Mandeep for that.

"Without the bond, we would not be able to communicate with them." Akari explained, "Our vocal communication is nearly impossible to translate intelligently. We can only communicate telepathically. Most serpent riders can only communicate with their own drakes, though there has been a rare occasion where the dragon chooses to speak to a stranger."

Mandeep looked away from Kasi. "I have yet to decide."

Matt tilted his head. "Man telepathy is confusing." He settled into his seat.

Kasi smiled to Mandeep. "What else would you do? stay here? It is nice here, but I fully understand the desire to continue to travel. At some point I will find passage away from the guild, but in the meantime I intend to learn all I can from this place. There's still much I have not explored. "

"It can be." Akari chuckled.

Mandeep shook his head, pondering. "I just don't know..."

The ship rumbled and suddenly rocketed off the face of the asteroid, shaking violently. It would take a few minutes before suddenly everything fell silent, and their bodies began to float, weightless.

There was a sounding of moving machinery as one could see through the window that the rings outside the ship were expanding and beginning to turn. The walls beside the chairs gave ways to doors, which opened to ladders. The camera shifted the focus to the strangers. "When you hear the gears stop, feel free to go where you like -- oh! Feet first when going down the ladders. The torque might catch up to you. Wouldn't want to land on your head..."

Kasi laughed in delight at the shaking and then the feeling of weightlessness.

Matt looked a little queasy, he gripped the restraints tightly and squeezed his eyes shut as they took off and even after the shaking and roaring stopped, he still looked a bit uncertain and shaky.

Kasi watched through the windows, eyes wide in fascination.

Matt would suddenly feel a gentle hand on his arm. If he looked, he'd see Chou, who was gazing at him with concern. "Are you going to be alright, Mister Mattias?" She asked softly. Meanwhile, everyone else was unhitching their belts, even Mandeep, and expertly began to travel towards the doors.

"Why don't we make it a grand tour?" Akari giggled, now being nipped by the ears by the tiny dragonlings awoken from their naps.

Matt nodded slowly. "Yeah.. yeah.. i'll... be fine." He swallowed hard. "Haven't... had a takeoff that turbulent since I was a kid." He forced a weak laugh. Small ships were always rough, and even after so many years of space travel, he'd never quite gotten used to the really rough takeoffs and landings. It was like being 15 again, clinging to his twin brother as they both begged fate not to let them die.

Kasi struggled out of his restraints and bounded after the others. He pressed his face against the windows and stared out at the rotating hoops.
"This is incredible, do you not agree Kanistha?" He glanced back to Matt.

Matt managed to unclip his belts and get up, albeit a little shakily. "Yeah... it's a novel experience."

Shoji laughed at Kasi's enthusiasm from the speaker, watching him from his camera. Still, Chou didn't seem convinced. "Maybe we should get you somewhere to rest a bit..."

Matt shook his head. "I'm fine, i'm fine." He didn't look that fine, but at least his stomach had decided to stop threatening to bring up its entire contents. He grimaced.

"You do not look very well Kanistha, perhaps you should go rest." Kasi tilted his head at Matt.

Matt smiled weakly. "You guys.. got any water?"

"Bath or Drink?" Akari asked with a grin. The baby dragons were now wriggling around, floating around aimlessly while making tiny squeaks in both frustration and delight.

"uh.. drink." Matt looked a bit uncomfortable. "Thanks."

Kasi followed the others up a ladder.

Akari nodded, hopping down the ladder. "Follow me!"

A they got farther out, the heavy weight of being pushed out from the center caught up to them, dragging their feet downwards until they reached the hallway that bent up in a loop. It didn't feel exactly like artificial gravity, but it was a suitable imitation.

Kasi followed happily, the sensation of the gravity was strange, but he enjoyed the new feeling. He bounded along after Akari, jingling as he moved.

Akari led them to a sliding door. Inside was a low hanging table where, instead of chairs, it was surrounded by cushions. In the center of the table, a hibachi was sitting there, so far unused. Akari went to the side of the room, where a small kitchen sat silently, and she began pouring out glasses of water. The room was otherwise cozy, with decorative scrolls portraying multi-tailed foxes, and had one with four creatures on it, a white crane with red feathers, recognizable as Chi-Ji, a black ox, a silver-white tiger, and a jade serpent dancing around a depiction of home planet.