The next morning, Max woke to the mental chaos of hundreds of thousands of people all watching the spectacular sight of a nascent star forming while they had their breakfast and waited for the next portal to open and take them to the resort destination.
Nico was asleep on his arm, dreaming of a quad-core Dyson Sphere powered Super Mecha that could destroy whole star systems at once, so Max let her sleep a little longer. It would be a shame to interrupt a dream that good, and her dreams were surprisingly specific and technically oriented, so he might actually be able to gain a functional idea from them.
Not about the quad-core Dyson Spheres, that was a bit overkill for anything that could be made humanoid, but it might actually work on a Colony Ship. A Dyson Sphere for each main gun battery, and then they could just go insane with the shooting.
That was actually a decent idea, given that the Dyson Spheres were fairly compact, and small enough that they could be placed near the weapons systems without too much trouble. Long-distance power routing for that sort of power flow was always a nightmare, so it would actually improve the efficiency of their space usage overall.
Max was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice when Nico woke up from her dream and began to make notes in her digital journal.
That was a normal thing every time that she had a new design idea, and this time he had even been paying attention to know what it was before she started writing it down. If she could turn that into something practical for a Titan Class Mecha, it would be outstanding.
The biggest hurdle would be the safety concerns for the Pilots.
"So how about you and me go out to the viewing decks and take a look at the stars while we have breakfast? We've still got some time before the transfer, and not much to do afterwards." Max suggested when Nico sat up.
"Not a bad plan. We should be more social. I mean, social with more people than a research team. Uncle Lu says it would be good for us to get out. I got a message from him this morning, and he seems really excited about the work they have coming up on the Moon Base. But he also says not to come back until at least three months have passed because he needs time to finish it." She added with a chuckle.
"I'm sure we can find something to do for that long. How about we put on something waterproof and try out the high-speed slides on our way to get food?"
Nico jumped into his arms and kissed his face. "Now you're speaking my language."
Then she hopped down and ran over to the closet to reorganize the items that were in her storage.
"Alright, I know that I've got something. Let's see here. Oh, there it is." She cheered as she held up a purple bikini and a matching purple sundress with white flowers.
Max laughed as he put on a pair of knee-length black shorts and a plain grey short-sleeved uniform shirt. Nico took one look at him, and promptly undid all the buttons, then gave him a thumbs up.
"Let's get out to the slides. Do you have your sandals handy?" She demanded.
"Of course, they're in the flat space."
Their outfits turned out to be a perfect disguise, and nobody they passed on the way to the slides even noticed that it was them. The closest that they came to being recognized was by an excited Innu child who wanted to tell them all about the technical data of the slides on Terminus.
"Really, they're the largest network of waterslides on a single cruise ship? Who would have guessed? Waterslides are amazing, after all." Nico agreed with the tiny admirer of aquatic engineering.
"Yep, and I heard that they were made specifically because the Lead Researcher herself personally wanted to encourage the Innu to come visit the humans. Isn't that crazy? Nobody does that, but the humans did, and look, they even made an extreme mode." The little boy rambled.
Max and Nico headed for that tunnel, and made a mental note of what corners they had to take to get to the pool front bar where they wanted to have breakfast, while they little Innu ran off to the other slides.
"See you later, my mom is waiting for me near the world tree. She said that I can have ice cream." He yelled as he disappeared into the tunnel, while the nearby guests laughed at his enthusiasm for life.
Nico rushed off to try out the high-speed tunnels, which were nearly empty at this time of day, since the students preferred to sleep in a little on their days off.
Most things on the ship were 24 hours a day, so there was no real need to rush unless you wanted something that closed overnight, or a specific menu at a restaurant that had separate daily specials.
The most popular options were the buffets, one of which was next to the location they had chosen. There was plenty of seating, they were informal, and there was such a wide variety of food that there was no need to worry about picky eaters.
They were also one of the lowest personnel to customer ratios on a daily basis. It had been decided that everything could be self-serve, and the staff would just replace the trays when they got past their timer or close to empty. With the self-cleaning systems in place inside the restaurants, and the cleaning bots that wandered all around the ship like mobile vacuum and garbage bin combos, it didn't matter if things to a little messy.
The restaurant was just as Max remembered it, sitting on the far side of the pool from the exit to the waterslides, with tables wrapping all around the far side and stopping at the hot tubs. It made for a nice isolated experience for those relaxing in the sand on the close side, while still being easy to get to.
They also had the best chicken and avocado omelettes on the ship, custom-made by the location's morning chef. Max placed their order and picked a table that faced the simulated exterior dome, which projected the outside skies for everyone to see.
Currently, that was the sight of a new star being born, and if Max's guess was right, then by the time he finished eating, Terminus would have moved, and he would have a clear view of their destination. Admiral Drake was pretty good about positioning the ship to give a good view from the domes, and they were far too large to dock with the local space station.
Sure enough, just as the waitress was clearing away their plates, the announcement came.
[All passengers, please be aware that we will be opening the portal to our next destination in one minute. No turbulence or power surges are anticipated at this time. This destination will send their own shuttles to bring passengers to the surface at no extra charge, but please be aware that there will be a port fee and air traffic control charge if you should wish to use your own vessel.
As always, departure times will only be extended by thirty minutes for absentee passengers, so please ensure that you are back aboard on one of the many scheduled shuttles.]
Max waited patiently as the ship prepared to open the portal, and then the most interesting planet that he had seen in a long time came into view. Nearly the entire surface was artificial. The actual surface of the planet had been covered with fake forests, resorts, lakes and beaches, while the planet's natural surface was a gigantic fortress city built underneath the glamorous exterior.
Everything that was made on the planet was built down below so that nothing marred the beauty of the resorts, and a large portion of the population whose minds Max could sense had never seen the sun before.
They spent their whole lives "Below" as they called it, and couldn't afford to vacation on the surface.
It was far from an idyllic life for the billions who lived here, but the tourists paid for a luxurious lifestyle for those with shares in the planet's Colony License. They had long since paid off the debts to have the world terraformed, but as usual, those taxes hadn't ended afterwards, they had just been redirected to new projects.
[Admiral, do the citizens down below have any sort of arrangement with the Reavers yet?] Max asked, knowing that they were getting preferential treatment compared to other ships here.
[Indeed we do. Both governmental and non-governmental organizations have made deals with us. We have a single shipment going down to the surface in our own vessels, would you care to take it in the shuttle from your Cutter?] Admiral Drake asked.
The shipment was an order of a hundred last generation biomass capable replicators, the sort that could make basically anything that you requested. They weren't on the open market yet, so that was definitely a Black Market deal, but not a huge issue for them.
[Certainly, have the shipment brought to our hangar, and we will take the private yacht to the surface, it's in the cargo hold of the Cutter right now, next to the Mecha.]
The ship looked comically small next to the two Titan Class Mecha. Though it was longer than them, it was sleek and slender, not bulky with armour and built for war. It was perfectly suited for the situation though, with its own shuttle bay, which could become a cargo bay, and it was luxuriously appointed for VIP guests.
[Admiral Drake, pick five of the Alliance bigwigs and ask them if they would like a private shuttle to the surface with us. Customs won't ask any questions if we've got top politicians on board.] Nico added.
[Understood, they will be ready in thirty minutes.]
