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A cold, grey metal door opened on level five. If you looked through the door you would see a surprisingly spacious set of quarters. Peeking out of the door was a blonde haired, green eyed girl. She looked back and forth, up and down the dull corridor. The only thing she could see was more doors, leading to other quarters. Those quarters would not be as nice as the ones she lived in, she knew.
She placed one naked foot on the metal floor. It sent a cold shock up her leg, far less nice than the carpeting she was used to. She brought her other foot out to join it, this time braced for the cold. She was outside and in the hallway. The teenage girl had gone this far before but she had never gone past it. Down the hall and to the left was a lift. She knew this, but had never seen it before. She took a deep breath and turned left.
The hallway turned twice before it ended at a door. There was a button. She pressed it. The doors opened with a smooth slick. The girl stepped inside, keeping her feet away from the dark, sticky stain in the back. She pushed a button for deck seventeen. As the lift sped upward she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet.
The doors opened to reveal a whole new world. People of every shape and size were moving back and forth. There was a roar of the countless voices mingling, dancing and becoming one common, chaotic voice. She started to walk forward. The girl could not help flinching back whenever she came too close to another being.
Off to the right was a bar, filled with people. Some were passengers of various transports. Others were residents of the space station Tower. There were criminals and merchants, artisans and laborers.
At one table sat a young Asian woman. She sat there were a computer pad in front of her. The screen displayed a chess set. She moved her bishop, placing the computer in check. A movement caught her attention. She hit a button, putting the pad into sleep mode. She stood up as the drab clothed man approached her.
“You must be Eddie Valiant.”
“I am.”
“My name is Mulan. I’m the security head on the Evangeline.”
“I’d rather take a registered transport with highly armed contingent of soldiers.”
“Mr. Valiant, I am a veteran of the Hun War. I received the Great Heart from the Emperor of Zhonghua himself.”
“Zhonghua was conquered.”
“I can guarantee that if you decide to transport yourself and you prisoner on our ship that your prisoner will not escape. I will stake my honor and my family’s honor on that.”
“Mulan takes her family honor very seriously,” a woman with long, rich colored hair said as she leaned in.
Mulan sighed, “What is it Megara?”
“I just came to tell you we will be leaving Tower soon.”
“Is this dame from the Evangeline too?”
“Oh yes, call me Megara, the pilot. Now excuse me while the two of you plan on bringing vicious murderers on board, I have to finish some very important shopping,” Megara said the last part over her shoulder. She walked off with her hips swaying under her clothing.
She knew all eyes were on her as she left the bar. Men fell all over themselves to hold doors open and offering to help her. Megara would give a salacious, sultry grin. If someone offered to help her she would always say that she had everything well in hand, with that same grin in place. It only seemed to encourage them further.
She had a bag of new clothing when she passed a particular shop. Megara had a suspicion. She stepped inside and began looking between the bookshelves. Sitting cross-legged on the floor was their engineer.
“You do know we are leaving soon, Belle?”
Belle glanced up from her book, reading glasses in front of her brown eyes. “We don’t leave until 1600.”
“Have you even looked at your watch lately?”
“It’s only” she looked at her watch, “1430. That’s later than I thought it was.”
“Just make sure you don’t lose track of time again. I’d hate to leave port without you. Don’t get lost is Mary Shellfish again,” Megara said as she began to walk away.
“Mary Shelley,” Belle called back after her retreating back. She shook her head. Megara just didn’t know how to appreciate classic literature.
Belle pushed herself up from the floor of the bookstore. She added three more books on top of Frankenstein. Her hand hesitated. For a moment she contemplated. Then she grabbed two more books and added them to her nice little pile. Those should be enough to last her for awhile. At the very least it would last until they landed on Vespucci. She balanced her piled expertly as she walked up to the counter.
“Is that all you are buying today?” Cedric asked. He was a blonde haired man with a certain snake like quality to him. He was also the owner of this shop.
“Yes, this is all.”
“You didn’t buy very many this time, Miss Belle.”
“We lost half the shipment to Agrabah. It cut into the money we made from it.”
“That will be one hundred thirty-two,” he read off of the register.
Belle reached into her pocket without a second thought. When she left the shop it was with a bag full of brand new books. She swerved around people, cutting a path through the sea of humanity. It only took ten minutes to make it to the airlock that led to the Evangeline.
“There you are,” the captain said.
“Sorry, Tiana. I got caught up in the bookstore.”
“Yeah, I know, I know. Always reading them books with your head in the clouds. If you weren’t such a hard worker I woulda sacked you long ago.” The smile told Belle that Tiana was not seriously thinking of firing her.
“I’ll start prepping the engine,” Belle said before heading inside of the ship.
Tiana stood outside with her checklist, marking off as various crates of cargo were loaded on board as well as one prisoner in a portable jail cell. The cargo was followed by their passengers. She greeted each one with an easy smile that welcomed them on board the ship. She gave each of them a short introduction and told them about how things would go on her ship. They would always be surprised when Tiana got to the part that she cooked meals. Most passengers could not seem to wrap their heads around the idea that the captain was also the cook when they had passengers on board.
She was honestly looking forward to going to Vespucci. It would be nice to see her mother and Lottie again. There was a small smile on her face as she signed off on one last crate that was arriving late. When everything and everyone was accounted for she stepped on board and sealed the airlock. Hopefully, there would be another smooth start to their journey. Then again that depended on chance as much as it did whether or not Megara had been dumped lately. After she made sure all the cargo was securely locked in place she climbed up a ladder and out of the cargo hold.
The Evangeline came to life and pulled away from Tower. In the cargo hold the lid of a crate opened. A certain stowaway peeked out. Rapunzel still could not believe she had really done it. She was away from her mother and was going to get to see the universe.