Once we stepped off the cargo bay ramp, I held out my arm, real gentlemanly like. She smiled as she hooked her arm though mine, and I proceeded to escort her through the station. A space station is a world unto itself, and they are chock full of people! People wearing every type of clothing imaginable! Strange, exotic, bizarre, risque, non-existent, glowing, flashing, conservative, revealing, you name it. But in the midst of all those outfits, my little Spitfire glowed like a burning white star. People were stopping on all sides, to watch us walk by. They pointed and whispered, and smiled, and some even waved!
Spitfire stopped walking and looked me up and down. "What are they looking at?" she asked.
"They are lookin' at you, Bee, not me!"
"Nuh huh..." she said, looking around at the people.
"Ya huh!" I replied.
A little girl waved shyly at her. "Ain't she pretty mama?" she said.
Spitfire blushed and waved back. We reached a transport kiosk, and she was about to summon an autocab, but I stopped her, and instead, pushed the button for an autolimo. "My treat." I told her. She giggled and bounced. Which sort of ruined the whole goddess thing she had going on, but it sure did interesting things to the front of her dress to make up for it!
She had made reservations at a very upscale restaurant. A fancy pants place called Le Gourmet Bistro Galactique. I wasn't sure what that meant, but I was fairly certain they didn't serve hamburgers. Two men came out and opened our doors, like we wasn't able to do that ourselves. The one that got Bee's door forgot to shut it as he watched Bee walk up the steps, and the limo took off with it still open. Then, there was a bit of a race up the steps, to see who was going to open the next door for her. I won, and escorted her through it. A man was standing behind a tall, tiny, little desk. He was scribbling in a book when we walked up.
"May I help you? he asked, without looking up.
"Um... I have a reservation." said Bee.
"Name, please?" said the man, sounding bored.
"Um... Spitfire?"
"Spitfire?" echoed the man. He finally looked up at us.... and continued to look.
"I... Yes, Spitfire."
The man continued to stare at her like she had grown 2 heads or something. I was getting a bit peeved now.
After a few seconds, I bent over, and positioned my head between his and hers, forcing him to look at me. "The lady said, her reservation is under the name Spitfire..?" I prompted him.
"Oh, yes sir! I am so sorry Miss, umm, Madam err..."
"Miss Spitfire will do just fine." I informed him. Spitfire was gripping my arm like she was afraid of being snatched away.
"Miss Spitfire here, just made a killing in the commodities market, and is treating me to dinner to celebrate!" I said proudly, mainly because I knew what commodities meant... I gave him a big wink over Spitfires head.
"Miss Spitfire. Yes, I am sorry. I must apologise for staring, it's just that you are so..." Mr. Fancy Pants waved his hand at her from top to bottom. Then bunched his fingers together, put them to his lips, and made a kissing sound as he flicked them away. "Magnifique!" He grabbed a datapad from his little desk and touched the screen a few times. "Oh yes, here it is! But that table! No, no, no, that will never do! He pushed a button on his pad and spoke into it. "Jamie? Jamie! Prepare V.I.P. table number two, immediately." He looked at us and said, "One moment please, Miss Spitfire. Sir." A minute later, Mr. Fancy Pants opened the next set of doors, and motioned for us to follow him.
Talk about swanky! This place was fancier than the guest quarters on-board Aria. Gold and crystal chandeliers, sparkled from the ceiling, with the flickering flames of hundreds of holocandles. Down the centre of the room was a wide, red carpet, and to each side, were dozens of round dinner tables, covered with long, red silk table-cloths, edged in gold. Holocandles flickered in the centre of each table as well. The walls were covered in rich, dark red wood. And hung with large, fancy, gold framed paintings all around. He led us down the centre of the red carpet. When I say led, I mean, he somehow made it seem more like a royal procession! Conversations on both sides of us stopped, as people of all kinds watched us walk by. At the end of the room was a low, half circular platform, just a single step up. On it were three more tables, while above it hung the largest chandelier of all. All three tables were currently empty, but Mr. Fancy Pants led us right up to the middle one. He walked around to the back of the table, and pulled out a tall-backed chair and held it. Spitfire looked at me, unsure what to do, so I led her around the table to the chair, and held her hand while she settled herself into it. Mr. Fancy Pants then helped her scoot it back in place. She looked up at him, her eyes big and luminous, and said, "Thank you very much."
Mr. Fancy Pants gave a genuine smile and said, "It is my pleasure, Miss Spitfire!" I sat myself down right next to her. I didn't have much choice, as she wouldn't let go of my hand. Another man brought us each a menu, and then left, right away. Mr. Fancy Pants said, "My name is Alphonse. If you need anything at all, just ask for me." And with that, he was gone.
From where we sat, we overlooked the entire room, and everywhere we looked, faces were looking back. We hid behind our menus. I looked over at Spitfire, and all she said was "Wow..." I laughed. We started looking over our choices.
"Spitfire... I don't know what any of these are!" I said, confused.
"Me either!" she said. We sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do, when the same man who'd brought our menus, came back with a bottle in a big silver flower vase.
"Champagne, compliments of the house." he said, smiling at Spitfire.
"Oh, she ain't old en... OUCH!" How she managed to kick me that hard without her work boots on, I don't know. But it sure enough hurt!
"Thank you very much!" she said. The man grinned big, and proceeded to open the bottle. Then he filled her glass. I had to hold my glass out, and then clear my throat to get some.
When he left, I said,"That hurt, and you know you're not..."
"I'm sorry! But PLEASE Morgan, just this one glass. Just this one time, PLEASE?"
Sigh. Like I'm gonna say no... We still hadn't figured out what we were going to eat when the man came back to take our orders. We asked about this and that, but after hearing about gen-snails, and mutogoose livers, we gave up. "Do you have anything like a hamburger?" she asked. I nodded enthusiastically.
"A hamburger, Miss? I umm... I will go ask Mr. Alphonse."
Mr. Alphonse came over, and said, "Miss Spitfire, hamburgers are not usually on our menu, but I will ask the chef if he will prepare something special for you."
Spitfire blushed, and thanked him again, and Mr. Alphonse disappeared into the kitchen. When he came out, he gave us a nod, and then returned to his little desk.
We watched fancy people come and go for a while, and all of them seemed to watch us, as well. Every now and then, someone would pass our table, and nod or say howdy-do. Finally, three waiters came out of the kitchen, loaded down with platters. They began setting up little tables all around us and laying out plates left, right, and centre. One waiter offered us a choice of bread. After we picked what we wanted, he arranged 2 slices side by side on each plate. Another waiter then placed a large meat patty on each. More bowls and small plates were then arranged all around us. There was 3 or 4 kinds of cheese, different kinds of lettuce, onions, and sautéed mushrooms. Not to mention ketchups, and mustards and other dressings. It was like having our own little buffet. Spitfire giggled and laughed as she tried different things, and we would share bites back and forth, when we found something we particularly liked. We even forgot about all the people out there watching us.
After we finished our gourmet hamburgers, they wheeled over a cart, stacked like a pyramid, with different types of dessert. I was too full to eat another bite, but my little Miss Spitfire managed to put away a huge slice of chocolate cake. There was more giggling and laughing, as she tried to feed some to me. And that's when I noticed the champagne bottle was empty. As well as half of a second one! Now when had that happened? I had only had two glasses myself.
They brought the check, and both our jaws dropped a bit. I was going to pick up the tab, but Spitfire would have none of it, and forked over enough to buy 2 cargo pods of foodstuffs! Mr. Alphonse was there as we started to walk out, and he even kissed Spitfire's hand, as he told her to please come back sometime. Once we were back on the street. I started for a transport kiosk, but Spitfire grabbed my hand and said she didn't want to go back to the ship yet.
"Let's go do something, Morgan, please?" she said, as she pulled me away from the terminal.
"What do you want to do, Bee?"
We could hear music coming from somewhere, and she started pulling me toward it. We found a park sector further into the station. Most every station has a few of these dedicated areas around. It gives people a place to go and relax. They were usually planted with trees, grass, flowers and such, just like this one was. It was currently in night mode, so the lights were all turned down to dim glows. They had a stage set up, and people were sitting in the grass and on benches that were scattered all around it. A real band, rather than a robotic one, was playing the music there. Spitfire pulled me down to the grass, and we sat there and listened for a while. Eventually, the band changed places with a new group, and a pretty young brunette girl took the mike and started to sing. Her voice was beautiful, and seem to flow through the crowd. People sitting in the grass, and on the benches, were swaying back and forth to her song. Spitfire stood up, and started to sway to the music as well. She had her arms out, and her head flung back and she started to twirl and dance. I didn't stand, or try to join her. She wasn't trying to dance with me. She was dancin' for me, as well as for the sheer pleasure of it. A circle seemed to magically clear around her, and people gathered around it to watch. The music seemed to dance and spin with her, as she moved around the circle. Her hood fell back, and her white hair flew out in every direction, like a cloud before the moon. One moment, it would conceal her face. The next, it would fly away to reveal her flashing grey eyes, with their golden lids, and her ruby lips. As the song reached its' climax, Spitfire spun and leaped into the air. When she landed, she promptly tripped and fell... Right on top of me. I managed to catch her and break her fall. She was laughing, and the people around were applauding and laughing as well. Both for the singer as well as Spitfire's impromptu performance.
She had gone rag-doll limp, so I laid her on her in the grass on her back. Then I quickly, and delicately, re-arranged the strips of cloth that made up her outfit, putting them back to where they all belonged.
"That was so beautiful." she said, laying there looking at me with those eyes, a smile playing over her lips.
"Yes, yes my little Spitfire, it was. It was very beautiful!"
She gave me a big smile then and closed her eyes. "I think I'm a little tipsy, I can feel the station spinning!" she said.
"I think you're a lot tipsy!" I said. She just laughed. "Ready to go home now?"
"Ya."
I helped her stand, and then we headed for the nearest transport kiosk. I called an autocab, and helped her in. She sat, leaning against my side, with her head on my shoulder. She was asleep before we reached the ship. I managed to get her out of the cab, and then carried her up the ramp, through the ship and to her bunk. I was in a dilemma about what to do with her outfit. I knew she wouldn't want to sleep in it, but I couldn't wake her enough to take it off. Finally, I just took a deep breath, and began undressing her. It took me a while to figure out all the catches and clasps and such, but I eventually did it. There was an old t-shirt of mine, that she occasionally wore to bed, but when I tried to put it on her, she just pushed it away. So, I gave up on that, and lay her in her bunk. I pulled the covers over her, and carefully hung up the delicate little strips of cloth that made up her outfit. I gathered up all the gold bangles, and set them on her desk. Then I made my way to my own room. I hadn't even finished getting myself undressed, when Spitfire appeared in my doorway, shuffled over to my bed and crawled in. Oh well. I climbed in beside her, and she snuggled close.
"You have fun tonight?" I asked.
No answer. She was sound asleep.
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