“We’re all a long way from home.”

Those words made Linda tense up a bit more. She never really thought the supposed ‘alien’ was serious about this whole thing — not when she first saw the invitation and all that. She packed up as if she were leaving mostly just to humor whoever had set up this whole thing. She never believed she would actually be going into space, until it was actually happening. Now, all of a sudden, she was nowhere near Earth, just like that.

She pulled herself out of her thoughts as Qyx guided the group to another area on the ship, leading them up a staircase that had just appeared, which opened into another hallway. When Qyx mentioned ‘Lifesavers’, a chrome tray appeared, floating seemingly on its own, carrying a set of small silver devices. Listening to Qyx’s words, Linda couldn’t help but voice her questions.

“Wait, so, will these allow us to, like, breathe in space? Or on other planets?” she asked hesitantly, trying to understand just in what ways the things would ‘save their lives’. “So does it also, like, keep us safe from crazy temperatures? Like planets that are really hot or really cold?” she continued as she slipped it on.

Qyx then brought them to the ship’s greenhouse, and Linda marveled at all the plant life on board. Normally she wouldn’t be so interested in such a thing, but, given the circumstances, “Wait, so, are these plants from your, um, home planet?” she asked, stuttering a bit as her shocked brain struggled to keep up. “Or are they from a bunch of different planets? Is this like some inter-galactic plant zoo?” she rambled, still seemingly having some difficulty putting her thoughts into words.

Qyx then told them where all their rooms were, and then left. Linda almost spoke up, telling her not to leave yet as she still felt so lost on the ship, but she hesitated, and watched as the alien woman disappeared down the hallway. She made her way to her room, walked inside, and tossed her bag on the floor, but she didn’t feel like sticking around there very long. Despite her fear and apprehension from earlier, she realized that she already had so many questions to ask — seriously, why did it seem like no one else cared? It’s an alien space ship for fuck’s sake! With, you know, an alien on board!

She couldn’t help but overhear the others on board trying to decide what to do next. Some of them suggested wandering around. “Well, what else are we supposed to do?” she asked them. “Just hang around in our rooms? It’s an alien ship — and I know I wanna see what other alien stuff is hangin’ around here.”

Qyx was aware that Linda had many more questions she'd like answered but in due time, they would be addressed.

Unlike Devon. Jennifer was still interested in wandering around. If she recalled, Qyx said they could pretty much do whatever they wanted and the woman wasn't about to fuss with formalities, not at her age. And not with such an opportunity dangling in front of her. From the look of things, Maverick also seemed inclined to go for a small jaunt around the ship. Jennifer nudged Devon a little. "I'm sure everything is safe." She told him, though she could only be so certain. They were now dealing with things that went far beyond their own technology and resources on Earth. The teacher was eager to poke around but still be respectful. She was sure Devon didn't want to overstep any sort of boundary or courtesy. "Come on then." She motioned to Maverick and Linda, figuring Devon and anyone else would tag along at their leisure.

Jennifer walked down the hallway and touched the small bit of silver around her neck. It felt natural already. Since she didn't have any direction in mind, she wasn't sure where to go. Part of her wondered if they could ask the ship itself for any sort of cool place to check out. Or maybe Linda or Maverick wanted to take the lead for a while. She slowed down and looked to her right and spotted something weird. There was a dim yellow glow coming from a room and she stopped in front of the door. The glow was light, radiating from the bottom and sides, despite it appearing tightly sealed. "I wonder what's in here..." Jennifer grinned and took a step close and it opened up automatically. Excellent. Jennifer glanced to the others and then continued to step through the entryway. She was greeted with a massive collection of treasures and artifacts. Most of the items were stored carefully but larger items were not.

Devon poked his head into the collection and let out a long whistle.

"Nice museum." He commented and stepped through and walked over to a small bar of gold with jewels in the sides and read aloud the description on the glass surrounding it. "Location: Jester, Date: Cooli99, Use: Architecture." He tilted his head and tried to imagine buildings made up of such lavish things. He was used to getting spoiled from time to time but he was interested in more than appearances. What sort of date was Cooli99? He scratched his head a little and loked around. there were tools and bowls and scripture, he saw a few things from Earths, most he could recognize but there was a sleek device which seemed really out of place, despite it being from Earth. From the look of things, some items were from the far future of Earth and Devon didn't think he was ready to think about it. He saw Jennifer, on the other hand, was moving around from item to item, taking every thing in. He admired her gumption but for now, he was trying to take thing in slowly.

"I wonder if we can find the kitchen, I'd love to try and make us something to eat." Devon finally spoke up. It wasn't that he was hungry per say, but he was interested to see what Qyx had to offer. And if he could, he wouldn't mind making her and the others, something to show his gratitude. "Should we keep looking around guys?" He asked the others. Jennifer made her way over to the Brit and nodded, not minding if he or someone else wanted to try taking the lead now. In Devon's mind, he didn't mean to take control. He was just voicing his concerns, or in this case, interest. Jen then said she was fine with leaving, since she had looked at everything and made a mental note to come back and take some notes when she had more time. "Okay." Devon just said and headed back out to the hallway.

The boy then waited for the others before he walked down and sniffed the air. When in doubt, he decided to let his nose do some of the work. He had a feeling Maverick might also want to find the kitchen area. "So this is pretty crazy," Devon commented as they walked along. When they did land on a new planet, he was sure the bombshell would finally drop and he wouldn't be so calm about the idea of just flying into space, leaving his family and friends behind. But to him, he wasn't in any real danger. This was an adventure and he really needed that kind of excitement desperately. "I didn't think I'd be in a place like this just 24 hours ago." He shrugged a little and looked to the others to see what they had to say on the matter. Jennifer kept quiet, pretty sure she was in the minority that this was something she often day dreamed about and that now that it was happening, she finally felt comfortable.

Nathaniel woke up after what he thought was a short nap. In fact, he had been sleeping for almost two hours, but at least he didn't feel like he would nod off in front of everyone anymore. In fact, he had been so tired before he flopped onto the bed in his room that he could barely remember what he had done right before that. Looking around his room, he noticed a couple things that seemed a little bit strange in his fairly small, but comfortably furnished room on the ship. The first was an AC outlet on one of the walls, likely added by the alien not long before it visited Earth, and the other thing was a display he assumed was a clock, but he couldn't understand whatever format it was in. Chances are the alien was either unfamiliar with the way many humans displayed time, or it just forgot to change it before they got on the ship. It was at this point that Nathaniel figured there was little to do in his room, got off the bed, and exited the room.

Once he was outside of the room, he looked over where the greenhouse was. From where he was standing, he could see some interesting plants, but he had also heard about some sort of museum thing on the ship. Unable to make up his mind, Nathaniel stood in the hallway, looking a little bit lost.

Linda chose to tag along with the rest of the group. Not having any specific destination in mind, she just let Jennifer take the lead for a while. It’s not like she had any idea where anything even was on the ship, anyway; Linda was content to just explore and see what they found. A glowing light coming from the edges of one of the doors quickly caught the group’s attention.

Linda’s eyes widened as she entered the museum. She really couldn’t believe that Qyx was just flying around with all this lavish stuff. (Who has a built-in museum on their spaceship, anyway?) In fact, she wasn’t sure how the whole museum fit on the spaceship, anyway, as the whole thing sure seemed to be a lot bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside. At any rate, while she didn’t understand the date system on a lot of the artifacts, she couldn’t help but think that quite a few of the items were from Earth’s own future. She quickly averted her eyes as if she’d just stumbled across a bunch of spoilers on the internet that she didn’t want to read, thinking it wasn’t right to look at them. She wondered if even knowing anything about the future could potentially cause some sort of freaky paradox. It worried her a little.

Devon then suggested that they should look around more, maybe try to find the kitchen. Linda nodded. She hadn’t tried much alien food while she was still in shock-mode, so she was suddenly curious as to what Qyx had to offer. “Yeah, I haven’t tried much food from Qyx’s, uh, home planet.” she replied hesitantly. “What planet did she say she was from, again?”

As they continued to wander, Devon mentioned how he couldn’t imagine being here 24 hours ago. “Oh, man, you have no idea.” Linda quickly spoke up. “When I saw one of those fliers, I wasn’t even totally sure if it was serious, but I packed anyway.” she started to explain. “And then… when we actually started boarding the ship, I just couldn’t believe any of it was actually happening. And, like, I felt like I was the only one really, you know, freaking out about the whole thing.” she told him. “I mean, how is everyone else so calm about all this?!” she laughed, a bit nervously, still not 100% sure how to feel about the whole experience.

She then noticed Nathaniel standing in the middle of the hallway, looking rather lost. “You ok, man?” she asked him. “We’re uh… just kind of exploring if you wanna join us.” she offered.

Linda had asked what planet Qyx had come from and Devon glanced to her. "Ummm...XYD...I think?" He said, repeating those letter, pretty sure he remembered correctly. From the sound of things though, the others didn't mind that they could make a trip to the kitchen, wherever it was. Jennifer saw Nathaniel up ahead as Devon said to Linda, "I think we're all handling this differently. I mean from the sound of things, Jennifer here was waiting for this her entire life." He smiled. "And well, I wanted to run away." He shrugged, keeping his own explanation short original.

The group got a new addition with Linda reaching out to Nathaniel and they kept walking. Now rather than Jen taking the lead, Devon stepped up and led them down the hall. He was just poking around but he had a feeling if he let his nose or even his gut do the leading, he would be able to find the kitchen. Of course he considered asking the ship itself. “Hey uh...Corrector?” He spoke up, not sure if he was saying that right or not. “Are we heading in the right direction if we wanted to find the kitchen?” He asked as he paused to listen.

There was a very delicate pause before a female monotone voice answered, “Yes. May I provide you with details to your desired location?”

“No...no.” Devon looked to the others. “I think we’re good.” He smiled slightly. “I just want to make sure we’re not going in the opposite direction.” He shrugged.

“Understood. If you need anything, let me know.” It replied and Devon laughed a little, giving a slight smirk. “How’s that for hospitality?” He was impressed but he had a feeling he’d continue to be impressed with the ship and Qyx for a while. Devon went back to walking and Jennifer looked around, trying to figure out if there were some cameras or sensors that helped the AI spaceship keep track of them. The woman figured it must be something they couldn’t see. After all, the technology surrounding them was inctredible and beyond anything back on Earth. Jogging ahead, he saw a door labeled ‘kitchen and pantry’ and he tapped on the door, proud of his find. “Come on guys. Let’s see what grub we can rustle up.”

Jennifer smirked and followed after the young male. Youth was always amusing to behold. The professor wasn’t put off by it as she felt like a little kid in the candy store. There was no envy in her bones as she entered to see a very sophisticated kitchen. It was large and off in the back was the freezer and fridge. “I thought there was a pantry here. Is it digitalized?” She pondered aloud as she ran her fingers along the polished silver counter. Devon had made his way over to the fridge and opened the double doors. There was an array of colorful ingredients but many of them were unknown to him. “What looks good?” She called out to him.

“Why don’t we each pick something and start tasting and fooling around?” Devon suggested and used his head to gesture the others to join him. He grabbed a yellow item which could either be a fruit or a vegetable. It was oval shaped and had blue freckles on it. He smelled it and stepped back to let the others have a go.

Nathaniel stood around in the hallway sleepily. Hopefully there was someone nearby, as he didn't want to start wandering around the ship aimlessly, especially since he didn't want to stumble into anywhere that he wasn't meant to go, like wherever the ship's power source was. Fortunately for him he heard some voices from somewhere further down the hallway. He recognized Linda's voice. Apparently they were talking about how unbelievable this entire situation was. Nathaniel considered this for a moment. In all honesty, if he hadn't been partially asleep when Qyx picked them all up, he would've nearly been hysterical. Granted, nobody would believe him when he got back, but it was amazing that he knew the answer to a question humanity had been seeking for many years. Nathaniel was so distracted by his own thoughts that he didn't notice that there was a group of people in front of him, and Linda was looking at him somewhat concerned.

"You ok, man? We're uh...just kind of exploring if you wanna join us."

Nathaniel stumbled for words as he responded, "Uh, yeah, I'm ok, just a little bit tired, but at least I'm not walking around half asleep any longer. What's there all to see on this ship? Seeing how I'll probably be on this thing for a while, I should probably get to know my way around."

“‘Waiting for this her entire life’?” Linda echoed in a sort of ‘you’re joking, right?’ sort of tone. “That’s, um, I mean… ok.” she sort of let the thought fizzle away, not wanting to insult anyone, but she just couldn’t get over how weird it was that someone would wait their whole life for an alien to show up and whisk them away to a life of adventure. She just couldn’t get over how strange that seemed to her.

Then, Nathaniel spoke up about wanting to learn his way around. “Yeah, that’s what we’re doing, too.” Linda replied. “As of right now, we’re just looking for the kitchen.” she told him.

The ship then offered directions to get there, which was… interesting. “I kind of wonder just how intelligent the ship is.” Linda whispered to the others after the Connector spoke. “I mean, is it like… sentient? Or is it just a fancier version of Siri?” she kept her voice down as she asked, not wanting the ship to “hear” her because that seemed like it would be awkward. But, she was still curious. Given everything that had happened, a space ship with a mind of its own didn’t seem too far-fetched.

The group then made their way to the kitchen and pantry, and the fridge stocked with non-Earth ingredients. At first, Linda was somewhat eager to try something, and she reached in and picked up a sky blue, lemon-shaped fruit (or at least she thought it was a fruit, though she wasn’t completely sure) from the fridge. Looking down at it in her hands, though, she started to have second thoughts. “Do I… do I even eat the skin on this…?” she asked unsurely, not knowing whether the skin was edible or if she was supposed to peel it off. Plus, what if it’s like… super spicey or something? Oh well, I guess we’ll find out… she then shrugged, and decided to try biting into it. The skin was tough, but apparently her teeth had still managed to bite through the surface because an intense sugary taste started to pour into her mouth. “Augh!” Linda exclaimed, not expecting such a strong flavor as she pulled her mouth away to reveal a thick, pastel-blue liquid starting to ooze out of the holes in the skin. “Wow that’s… that’s strong.” she commented, before trying to lick some of the ooze off the surface. She shuddered a bit at her second mouthful. “Wow, that’s like, really strong.” she continued, smacking her mouth a bit as she tried to dilute the almost unbearably intense flavor. “Like… super super sweet.” she told them. “Not sure if it’s supposed to be eaten raw.”