“That was the collar communicating directly with the ship’s systems. Your identification and measurements have been updated in the ship’s S-Gen.”
“S-Gen?” So much weird stuff to learn. I truly felt out of my depth as the now empty platform lit up with bright green light that was concentrated at the base. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the spectacle and when the lights were gone, a lump of fabric lay on the platform.
“Spontaneous matter generator.” Dare bent over and picked up the fabric. When he lifted it for me, I saw that it was a knee-length tunic of some sort with strange leggings connected beneath it. Dare handed it to me and I discovered that it was open in the back. I stepped into the leggings and pulled it up, shoving my arms into the long sleeves. As soon as I had it on, the material closed itself in the back, fitting me like a second skin. Dare looked me over, his gaze lingering on the slightly scooped neckline that prominently displayed my collar. His attention drifted down to my breasts and waist, to the slightly flared skirt that fell almost to my knees. Beneath that, the leggings covered me completely to my ankles and my bare feet looked oddly out of place.
Dare pressed his hand to an indentation on the side of the S-Gen. “Boots for Lady Deston.” At his command, the green light returned, leaving a pair of matching boots that would cover me to just above the ankle. He held them out and I slid my feet into them. I thought they would feel odd without socks, but the boots contracted around my feet just like the clothing had around my body and they were soft as silk on the inside.
Deston ordered clothing for himself as well and put on a fresh uniform and boots before taking both of our towels and my sheet and rolling them up in his hands. He pressed a small button in the wall next to the S-Gen unit and a drawer slid out from the wall. He dropped the towels and sheet inside, then gathered his discarded uniform and boots from the bathing room and dropped everything inside before closing it. A bright green light leaked from the edges of the drawer and I tilted my head to watch.
“That’s the reclaiming unit. All matter is reduced to its base form and reused by the system.”
I thought about it for a moment, looking around the room. There were no drawers for clothes, no boots on the floor, no half-eaten food on the small table next to the bed. “You use everything once and recycle it?”
He smiled. “Yes. The subatomic particles that made your towel might be used to create shoes tomorrow, or a bowl of soup the day after that. Everything onboard the ship is recycled this way. No one goes hungry. No one goes thirsty. No one suffers from poverty. As long as the ship has energy, we can create anything we need.”
Holy freaking wow. I looked down at my new clothes. They were great, but I had one little problem. I’d worn leotards and other one-piece articles of clothing many times, and they were a complete pain in the ass when it came time to use the restroom.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen a toilet in the bathing room. I looked around. There didn’t appear to be one anywhere. I hadn’t needed one yet, so it had slipped my mind. Which seemed weird, and wrong. Was there something wrong with me after all? Had the transport messed up my kidneys or something?
“What is it, mate? You can ask me anything.” Dare lifted his hand to my cheek and I held still, allowing his touch. Already, he felt so familiar. Easier to deal with than Zane. But, for some reason, I was worried about the commander. He was so hard, so strong. He had so many people, a whole fleet of warriors, relying on his strength and I’d hurt his feelings. Little old me, Hannah Johnson, preschool teacher from Earth. I’d wounded the mighty commander with a few honest words.
Great. No toilet, and now I felt like a heartless bitch. This was just getting better and better. I sighed. I might as well ask Dare now, no mat
ter how embarrassing it was to talk about. “I don’t see a toilet.”
Dare wrinkled his brow. “I don’t understand, and my stims have no word for that. What do you need?”
Holy shit. Was I really going to have to explain it to him? I felt my cheeks grow hot, and this time it wasn’t from arousal, it was just plain embarrassment. “You know, a place to go when you need to get rid of your body’s natural waste? Don’t you guys ever have to, you know, empty your bladder?”
Understanding dawned on his handsome face and he actually laughed at me, which both pissed me off and made my face feel even hotter. “Didn’t Doctor Mordin explain this to you?”
“Explain what?”
“Everything is sent to the S-gen reclamation system. Even your body’s biological waste.”
“How?” What the hell was he talking about?
“Do you feel the need to empty your bladder?”
I thought about it for a moment, taking stock of how I felt. “No.”
He smiled, looking relieved. “Good. You had me worried, mate. But it appears the implants placed during your medical exam are working properly.”
“Implants?”
“Yes. During your processing, your internal waste systems were implanted with reclamation devices. This is done to our children at birth. The system will clean your blood, as well as transport and remove all waste from your body as it is generated.”
Holy hell. I would never have to use the bathroom again? “So, I’ll never have to—you know—ever?”
“Not unless you travel outside the range of the ship’s system. If you were to explore a new world, and lose contact with our system, then your body’s old biological processes would still function normally.”
Weird. Not that I would miss that particular task, but I suddenly felt like an alien. Or a robot. Or something weird and not human. My hands were shaking a bit as I smoothed the front of my plain uniform.
“So the plug—”
“Can stay in as long as your mates see fit,” he replied.
Time to think about something else.