Relax

July 27th, 2840 AD 9:30 AM CST, Noah 3 City Entrance

On her day off, Charlotte Medina was able to wake up on time and walked right out of her door as Susan was about to knock on it. A situation which confused Susan at first until she just decided to smile and accept this miracle. Together in civilian clothes, the two walked through the hallways of the ship crew focused portion of Noah 3 towards the main entrance into the civilian area. An area known as “Noah 3 City.” The entrance was a huge, metal doorway that couldn’t belong to anything else.

“Have you ever been here before?” Susan asked before grabbing the switch to open the door. “I mean, this is your ship after all.”

“I don’t make it outside of my room and the bridge that much, so no.” Charlotte looked with eagerness at the large door in front of them.

“The weight is heavy for those who wear the crown, huh?” Susan smiled. “That’s OK, but we do need to start making more plans to at least eat in here more often.”

“I can certainly agree with that.” Charlotte eased up and pointed at the door. “Let's go already, jeez.”

“Yes, captain. By your command.” Susan pulled the switch and the heavy doors opened with a hiss. What was behind revealed a mysterious angelic aura from the bright light passing through it.

If Charlotte didn’t look directly up at the false ceiling of the spacecraft 1000 or so feet up, she would confuse what she saw as a small city similar to the one she used to live in on Earth. There were tall buildings of different stages and sizes, paved city streets with sidewalks, signs other than street signs showing the direction of apartment complexes and residential districts somewhere in the distance. Immediately in front of them were a set of restaurants, shops, and a taxi station.

“Should I call a taxi or do you want to walk?” Susan asked Charlotte who was still in ahh of what was in front of them.

“I wouldn’t mind just walking for my first trip into Noah 3 City.” Charlotte smiled. “I want to know the size and feel of it before expediting the trip through it”

Susan did a quick flick up motion and a floating map of the city showed up in front of her. “Charlotte, I’ve always loved your style. We want to go straight to business, right?”

“Business before pleasure, as they say. Is there any place that has a stage where we could hold it?” Charlotte asked, still looking across the city in amazement.

“Hmmmm.” She searched through the map. “The college has a performing arts center and there is a decent sized convention center we can check out.”

“Which one is closer?”

“The convention center considering that it’s 2 miles away. The school itself is another mile after that.”

“Well, let’s go. Please lead the way.” Charlotte insisted.

“As usual I see.” Susan started walking with Charlotte following closely behind through the sidewalks of the city streets in front of them.

Today was the weekend, which meant the sidewalks and streets were not as busy traffic wise. The smaller crowds present stared at the two at a half glance during their adventure. Maybe it was the two, younger women following a floating holographic arrow that gave them away as outsiders. Or they were recognized by people who know everyone in the city. Whatever the case was, Charlotte and Susan didn’t seem to notice or make much conversation with anyone around them during their walk. Those two were filling themselves up in the atmosphere of Noah 3 City to notice.

After traveling about 25 minutes on foot, the two emerged in front of a tall, glass but steel framed half sphere of a building with larger, metal rectangles jutting outside of five different parts equally spaced around the circumference of it. There were a lot of color banners advertising something hanging all over the building, a large crowd also wandering around in the see through areas, and different styles of music blended together on the outside.

“That certainly looks exciting.” Charlotte was a bit curious then looked at Susan with a smile. “Want to go in?”

“Of course, for professional reasons as you know.” Susan tried to hide her own enthusiasm.

“Yeah...that’s right. Professional. I think we can actually say that in our situation though.”

The two walked across the street and moved through the entrance of one of the rectangular areas in front of them.

“Hi, welcome to the Noah 3 Music Festival. The two week long celebration of music from the planet Earth. Today features mid 20th century music. Would you like two tickets?” One of the staff members behind a table greeted them sitting behind a table.

“Yes please.” Susan commented looking at the events and groups on the banner above the staff member.

“Together or individually?”

“I can pay for both of us.” Charlotte gave Susan a thumbs up.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, let me take this one. I owe you after all.” Charlotte walked to the counter

“Alright, go on.”

Satisfied with an answer, the staff member responded with “please put your palm on the scanner, ma’am.”

Charlotte placed her palm on the scanner and a holographic screen popped up with a picture of her face, her full name, and rank above the monitor right in the cashier’s face. This completely threw off the staff member attending to them, their two coworkers, and eventually led to the small number of citizens who walked into the building after the pair stared at them in shock.

“I knew you two looked familiar, Captain Medina. That must mean that you are Commander, Susan Ray.” He started as the commander.

“Guilty as charged.” Susan sighed. “Charlotte, we’ve been caught.”

“I suppose we aren’t the most inconspicuous people. Maybe we should have worn sunglasses or something.”

“Captain, I can’t ask you to pay for your ticket here.” The staff member started typing into a console and deleting the current tickets.

“I don’t mind paying.” Charlotte sighed.

“Out of the question. This is your ship after all. You are already working to keep us alive everyday. What would my boss and coworkers say if they saw me forcing the captain of the Noah 3 to pay for a couple tickets?”

“I can’t talk you out of it?”

“No, it’s impossible.”

“Then can I donate the ticket price to the event?” Charlotte looked hopeful.

“I guess I can’t stop you from doing that.” The staff member sighed as they reluctantly gave out holographic badges as Charlotte dropped the digital amount of money into the donation bin. “Thank you, captain.”

With holographic badges attached to them, Susan and Charlotte made it through to the convention center and spent a couple hours wandering from one stage to another watching bands of all sorts playing Beatles music in one room and Count Basie jazz in another. There was an energy of enthusiasm that permeated through the crowd which caught Susan and Charlotte too. The performances were incredible and played by people who practiced for years.

In a moment of quiet in a lounge area a couple hours later, Susan commented “I think this space would work great. There really is plenty of room here that would work for our plan.”

“I agree. We need to find the staff office and talk about finding an opening for the election time period in a month or so.” Charlotte looked at one of the holographic floating maps.

“I really hope they aren’t busy. Otherwise, I guess there is the performing arts center. Did you still want to check that out?” Susan wondered.

“Maybe after some lunch. I want to rest my feet a bit at the Italian restaurant we saw on the street a couple blocks away.” Charlotte sighed dreamily. “I haven’t eaten pizza in a while.”

“Pizza does sound good after all the meals we’ve been eating at the galley. Besides, we still have a few hours before meeting some of our officers at the spa.” Susan smiled. “I think we can have some fun exploring the city a bit more as well.”

“Oh, there was an arcade with a holographic arcade that I wanted to check out as well. Want to go?”

“I don’t see why not.”

July 27th, 2840 AD 3:00 PM CST, Noah 3 City Spa #3

Every Sunday, the spas are only open to off duty military officers to relax and rejuvenate before joining going onto their six day work week the next day. At this moment, security personnel stood in front of the very boring, rectangular prism of a building to lock out civilians for the duration of the day. All five front guards paid attention as Charlotte and Susan walked up to the facility.

“Afternoon Captain Medina and Commander Ray. Please wait as we verify your identifications.” The lead officer said as they followed the typical security script while using their latest scanning software.

After a few seconds, holographic images once again showed Captain Medina and Commander Ray’s ranks and signatures. Their identities were confirmed.

“Once again, sorry Ma’am and ma’am. Only following procedure.” The lead exclaimed again.

“It’s not a problem, officer. There are ways to replicate appearances, right?.” Susan reassured the head officer.. “Have you found time to relax?”

“My break is next Sunday, Commander ma’am. Oh by the way, both of your swim suits were delivered as you ordered a couple hours ago. Please go to your designated lockers when you feel ready.”

“Thanks officers.” Charlotte saluted before walking through the door sliding open in front of them.

“Keep up the good work.” Susan followed.

“Have a relaxing time, ma’ams.” They both heard this as the door shut.

“So, what do you plan on doing first?” Charlotte asked while walking in the locker room.

“Oh, probably relaxing in the hot tub for a bit before getting a massage.” Susan just sort of relaxed. “What about you?”

“I was thinking about taking a nap in the sleeping chambers.” Charlotte sighed. “This whole trip has been exhausting.”

“Well, I would expect you to be tired considering you probably spend your Sundays watching shows and sleeping in. How about I wake you in a couple hours?”

“How thoughtful. Thanks so much.”

“What are friends for, after all? Let's get changed already.”

After finding the locker and opening them with a finger touch, Charlotte found her way to the sleeping room. A room filled with glass pods that filled the chamber with grey noise to help the occupant fall asleep that were designed to be as comfy and clean as possible to lure the occupant into falling asleep. It did come with an alarm system to wake her up and with Charlotte trusting Susan, she still set the alarm for two hours before drifting into a comfortable sleep.

An hour later, an alarm rang in her chamber forcing Charlotte awake.

“Huh, what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry to disturb your nap, Captain, but two intruders entered the premises.” It was the head of security at the front of the spa.

“Intruders? Who are they?” Charlotte tried to clear the sleep from her eyes

“Two kids, ma’am.”

“Two kids? That’s all? Let them stay.”

“Ma’am?”

“Let the parent’s kids know I will bring them home afterwards.”

“Their parents? Yes ma’am. On it.”

“Thank you. I will be returning to my nap now.”

“Understood ma’am. Have a good nap.”

Seeing that she still had an hour left before officially waking up, Charlotte drifted off to sleep only to be woken up by her alarm and Susan tapping on the glass.

“Wake up, sleepy head. It’s time for the hot tub. Also, I’ve brought some guests for you to see” Susan had her hands at her hips.

“I’m awake, I’m awake.” Charlotte tapped a button on the console and opened the pod. “I’m so ready for a dip in a hot tub.”

“Is she the captain?” A small voice appeared from behind Susan. It was a little girl.

“Who is this?” Charlotte climbed out of the pod and lowered herself to the little girl’s height by bending down.

“I’m...Amy.”

“Amy is it? It’s nice to meet you.” Charlotte held out her hand. “Yes, I am the captain of the Noah 3.”

The little girl shook Charlotte’s hand and smiled.

“What do you say, Amy?” Susan led on.

“Thank you for letting my sister and I stay.” The adorable Amy bowed.

“Awwww, no problem. Just don’t tell anyone, ok. Promise?” Charlotte per her index in front of her mouth in a shh motion.

“Promise.” Amy repeated the action with her small fingers.

The two adult women and kids spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the hot tub with some of the officers that showed up before getting changed and heading home for the evening. Amy and her sister’s parents were shocked to find that their children were brought home by the ship’s two leading officers. After that, Susan and Charlotte used a taxi to exit the city while the artificial lighting of Noah 3 disappeared once again through a giant, closing metal door.