pretty one sided to me."
"That’s reassuring." Seven smiled. "Would you like me to show you how to operate the ship?"
"Yeah, I think that would be pretty cool."
Seven held her hand out for Dale to take, leading him to the chair in the front.
"So the panel in front of you doesn’t react to language or worded commands."
"How do I use it then?" Dale asked, placing his hand on the smooth surface. As soon as his finger came in contact, he felt a part of his mind become detached, filling with images and models of what looked to be a three dimensional solar system.
"Well, if it works for you, you should be seeing the midway map of our star system."
"I see it."
"It is used by sliding and pressuring different points on the table."
"Okay." Dale pushed down on the surface, causing it to bow slightly. The view changed, drawing closer to a planet a short distance from the yellow star at the center. The planet was colored the same as rust along one side, but at the edges, there was a distinct line of green that curved off out of view. As he drew closer, a bump rose up off the planet’s surface until he noticed the distinct shape of the ship. He zoomed in closer. The ship grew larger and larger until the domed command bridge filled the view. Dale jumped back, taking his fingers off the table’s surface as a miniature version of himself did the same in his thoughts. The image cleared.
"What was that? I just saw myself in my head sitting inside the ship. How is that even possible?" Dale asked, keeping his hands in his lap.
"Particle resonance mapping technology. It allows for a live feed of everything existing that impacts any other object or particle system in the universe."
"That sounds incredibly complicated."
"Well, in theory, if a particle with a particular mass going at a particular velocity impacts a particular point on another molecule, the resulting impact will have a unique effect on the object it comes in contact with. So, if we calculate that impact, we can generate schematics that assess and estimate its origin as well as the shape, density, and materials that makes up the initial starting point."
"I can see a lot of problems with this technology."
"It works." Seven shrugged. "So are you ready to go?"
"Sure."
"Well need to signal to everyone on the ground that were taking off. If they don’t leave, before then, their molecular integrity could be compromised."
"Well, everyone already seems to be away from the ship. I can’t see anyone outside."
"On my mark then."
"Wait, shouldn’t we be buckled down or something?" Dale asked, searching around the seat cushion.
"No, take off does not affect the gravity fields in the ship."
"That doesn’t even begin to make sense."
"Well, if it’s any help, you can hold on to your arm rests. Here," She began. "I’ll sit with you so you aren’t afraid."
"Seven, I’m not afraid. I’m an astronaut. I’ve done this before."
"Well, I’ll stay here anyway because I feel like it." She nuzzled her head in to his chest and kept her eyes towards the front of the ship. "Isn’t that something that you want anyway?"
"Well, sure I guess so." He returned her embrace. "It’s just so unusual for me to be friends with anyone else. Most people just see me as a hardworking, silent individual who does what he’s told. Nothing more. Nothing less."
"Well, I know you better than that."
"You do? Even though you’ve only known me for a less than a day?"
"Yes I think so. I was made for you. I think that means I should know you. Better than yourself even."
"Huh. Well, I’ll take that." Dale pressed his face in to the hollow at the base of her neck. "Hopefully this isn’t infatuation though. That would be a total downer."
Seven was silent for a moment. "I don’t think so. Time will tell."
"Maybe." He breathed deeply and hugged her more tightly. "But if you keep letting me hug you all the time I might never get to know you."
"Well, that’s something we can take care of later. I’ll help you sort through your confusion. We need to launch though." Seven placed a hand on the table top. "We want the overseers’ space station."
"Yeah." Dale confirmed, totally infatuated with the feeling of being so close to her.
Seven pushed down twice and swiped, pushing down again.
After a few minutes, Dale lifted his head. "Are we having any trouble?"
"No, we left quite a while ago." Seven pointed at the view outside the dome, keeping her other hand on the back of Dale’s neck.
The world was fast dropping away, the only sign of propulsion was the dust storm that seemed to congregate and then fall once it touched the bottom of the ship.
"How come the ship is stable if there’s an uneven amount of material pushing at the bottom of the ship?" Dale asked.
"The dead particles can be sifted, creating a greater or lesser pull depending on the speed at which the molecules are spun."
"I guess that makes sense." Dale said, not really listening as he dug his face back into her neck.
Seven laughed, "You must really enjoy this."
"Mph. It’s not every day you meet a beautiful woman who thinks the world of you."
"True. Then again, I doubt I would ever meet a woman who thinks the world of me."
Dales laugh was muffled, "That would be funny." He paused, sitting up and slowly easing Seven out of the chair. "Seven, if I asked you to let me be alone for a moment, would that be okay?"
Seven nodded, dancing around to one of the chairs in the room. "Take as much time as you need."
"Thank you Seven."
Dale stood up and made his way out of the room, taking the flight of stairs down and moving in to a bedroom alongside the base. He sat down on the bed and started to think. His eyes would occasionally dart to the corners of the room and out the door where Seven would have been in the piloting room above. Eventually, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and went back up.
Seven was sitting in the same place she'd been before, but her expression was one of concern.
"I'm fine." Dale said, waving her off before sitting down in the big seat. "How much time until we get to the space station?"
"Only a few moments. You can see it on the horizon, just beyond the third spike on the left." She pointed.
Dale's eyes traveled to the front of the craft. A slim, rod like object was sitting in space at the edge of the dome. It was growing as Dale watched, becoming a line of pod like objects and then those pods became rings and those rings became biomes and in those biomes were houses and streets and cars and plants. Dale's eyes widened as the size and the sheer scope of the space station seemed to increase in never ending complexity.
"Who lived here?" Dale asked, pressing himself against the dome.
"These are the homes of the overseers. Before they left, they stayed here when traveling to the planet to assess mining operations."
"Why couldn't they just use this particle resonance technology you were talking about?"
"It's not that simple. The overseers required direct face to face communication as is the law. Did you notice there are no screens or picture displays in this ship?"
Dale looked around. "Now that you mention it, I can't seem to find any."
"This is a product of earlier times when technology advanced until computers could impersonate individuals of high status and provoke action on their behalf over these video feeds. This is a law that prevents imposters from taking control."
"What if someone were to go down and impersonate a high ranking official in person?"
"This is taken care of. There was much thought put into this."
"Sounds like a vague answer if you ask me." Dale said.
Before Seven answered, there was a slight jolt along the hull and the sound of an airlock being released.
"That would be the primary boarding hatch opening. It's on this floor through those doors."
Dale stood up and started to the doors. "How do you know all of this?"
"The computer created me a few moments after your ship was constructed. I was given that information." Seven wiped her hands over the table in a way that suggested longing before standing and joining Dale at the door. "There might be some new things inside, but I don't know. You come from somewhere we don't know."
"Well, I'd be surprised if you showed me anything new. After everything I've seen on the planet, I'm sure you couldn't possible surprise me."
"We'll see." Seven smiled and pulled the door open.
"Welcome to the orbiting space station Jester!" A large, monstrous looking robot with a bunch of arms and several mismatched legs stood on the other side of the door. "I will escort you to customs where you can officially begin your stay above our premium mining planet! Feel free to-"
Dale punched the thing before it said anything else, freaked out of his mind. The robot squeaked for a moment before slumping over and powering down.
"I am not moving that." Seven said, inching around it.
"Good cause I'm not either."
"That isn't good. That's the opposite of good. We need to get this off the ship."
"There's no way I'm touching that thing again."
"Fine. We'll take care of it before leaving. Okay?"
"Great. Let's get going before any more of those things show up."
"Good idea." Seven's footsteps echoed along the hall until she came to another door. Dale was following closely behind, but his eyes were firmly planted on the thing's massive carcass that was taking up most of the exit to their craft. He didn't like the way it seemed to be guarding their only escape, as if boarding the space station meant they could never leave. Judging by how the space station