Although he’s not coming on the trip, Jago seems as keen as everyone else and has bought his own little pile of leaflets and brochures to the table.

“I was asking around the locals working on the ship,” he says, “most haven’t been sight seeing beyond the end of their street, but they did come up with a couple ideas you might want to consider.”

.

Saskia sits at the table, one hand using a fork to shovel food into her mouth, the other holding a hand comp as she pages through information about Garda Vilis.  "You know, it's surprising how many worlds in the Marches are just like this one.  Cold and tide-locked looks to be a common design.  Admittedly this one is a bit bigger than most, with more atmosphere, but the principle is the same."

A press of her thumb loads a new page, at the same time as another mouthful of food disappears.  Her eyes roll back in her head, and a muffled groan escapes her lips, "Mmmmm.  This hasperat is delicious.  You should all order some while it's fresh."

She chews briefly, and swallows, "Oh, that's perfect.  Hey!  It says here that life only evolved on Garda Vilis about two billion years ago, which is why none of the plants are very advanced.  In fact, it looks like any native animals higher than worms and bugs might have been brought here by the Ancients less than a half million years ago.

"Weird.  Who the frell would want to introduce those damnthings anywhere?  Unless, of course, they weren't actually introducing them here, they were just moving them away from somewhere else."

More hasperat, a mix of shredded leaves, some sort of noodles, and a thick orange-brown sauce, follows the previous load into the engineer's mouth.

"What you found then Jago?"

"Sounds like this might have been Ridge's birthplace then, or at least very similar," Yas comments to Sassy before turning to Jago.

"Shoot, boss.  Not literally, of course, but still.  If we go for either then you'll know where to find us, should you change your mind about joining us," she tells him with enthusiasm and leans in to hear what the captain of Profit Margin might have come up with.

“Most of these places are fairly close,” Jago says, flicking through the leaflets.

“There’s this,” Jago places a leaflet on the table that shows a montage of pictures, each of which features abundant vegetation while overprinting the whole thing is the legend, “Gallursad Botanical Research Farm” in yellow. “A couple of the guys have been there and recon it, if you like that sort of thing. They are looking for plants to help with the teraforming it seems, so they have stuff here from all over the sector.”

“Ah, this might be better.” The second leaflet, laid out in landscape, shows a flat plane with some scrubby vegetation and a few boulders of various sizes, all of these emphasised by the shadows being directly underneath. “Near Pole, sunshine twenty four hours a day, as you know, this planet always faces its star, and this place is sunshine central.”

“There’s a place on the opposite side of the planet, which I don’t have a leaflet for, that faces directly away from the star, they have a big observatory there I understand, but that’s a long way off, these other places are all within striking distance of the town here.”

“The last on I have is Mount Dawson,” Jago says, placing down his last leaflet which shows a strikingly beautiful, snow capped mountain, “nearly five and a half thousand meters, the highest point on the planet.”

“So any of that any use to you? Maybe do a tour round all of them.”
.

Noting Saskia's evident endorsement of the local food, Shui discreetly calls over a waiter to inquire about the presence of animal products in the hasperat.  "Seeded by the ancients, then," she muses, cocking an eyebrow at Yasmine's somewhat predictable dig at Ridge.  The former crewmember must have been extremely...special to warrent such attention.

"Chilly is a problem, I admit."  So much for sunbathing.  But wait.  "Twenty four hours of sunshine?  Surely it must be warmer, there."  The doctor claims that brochure for examination.  But then...a twenty-four hour day?  It sounds exhausting.  "Perhaps the observatory..."  Another brochure claimed.  "Or the mountain?  The view would be..."  Frowning, Shui leans back.  "I am not so good at this," she admits.

Her first real 'vacation' in...how many years?  Small wonder.

"Regardless where we go, this thing is tidal locked, so we'll have to choose.  Eternal night, dawn, day or dusk.  Personally I have no issues with either, but some light is to prefer, as I was planning to bring my bike along.  Perhaps the mountain?  It will at least be one impressive sight and for me, at least, offer something more than flat ground to take a spin on," Yas says and then shrugs, looking around at the others.  "But I won't decide for all.  What do you all say?"

Hasperat, it turns out, comprises alternating layers of noodles and solas leaves, both green and red, imported from Denotam.  It is served hot, with a variety of sauces, including two purely vegetarian recipes.

As the waiter explains this to Shui, the leaflets on the table catch his eye.

"Are you people looking for tourist attractions?  There are some caves, about seventy or eighty kilometres from here that are well known for their colourful rock and crystal formations."

Pleased with the availibility of vegan versions of the local delicacy, Shui glances down at the leaflets herself, then cocks her head slightly.  "Suggestions from those in the know are always welcome...but when you say 'tourist attractions', are these caves commercial?  That is to say, are they often full of travellers?"

It sounds fascinating, but the last thing she wants is to be surrounded by large tour groups; if there is to be any gawking and snapping of photos, she'd rather it be by her.

"Call it 'off the beaten track tourist attractions', what we're looking for," Yas states, figuring none of them wanted to get stuck in a horde of goggling strangers, or going camping in the wild would not have even come up as an idea.  "Well, for me anyway.  Nice scenery is always welcome, but I prefer locations that aren't big tourists traps, narmean?"

"They aren't as popular as some places in the area, and it's mostly off-worlders who visit the local spots anyway.  The caves are well known, but not many people visit them.  My cousin is a tour guide there... sorry... the tour guide.  He says they get maybe eighty or a hundred visitors in a week, spread over fifteen tours."

The waiter shakes his head, "Can't understand it myself - some of the formations are really quite striking, but the place was much more popular, up until about thirty years ago."

Saskia listens to the description of the caves.  They sound interesting, and not too busy.  Then something strikes her, and she has to ask the question, "Why?  What happened then?"  Hopefully there wasn't a string of gruesome murders of visiting starship crews, which saw the bodies dumped in the caves, and some sort of resultant haunting, or anything like that.

Because that would be bad.

"The caves used to be close to the main highway from here to Geraud." the waiter explains, "They used to get a lot of visitors from that... people who were just passing by and saw the signs."

"Then, thirty years ago, the government ordered a new road.  Much straighter and quicker, and doesn't go anywhere near the caves.  Now they have to rely on people who specifically go there, and there don't seem to be many of them."

So the waiter is doing some impromptu advertising for his cousin...Shui has no problem with that, and the caves do sound promising.  "That does sound like an interesting start to an expedition, and only taking up a short period of our planned shore leave," she notes.  "We might then travel to somewhere more remote, should we so desire."

Caves.  She hasn't been in caves since...oh, probably back home, as a child.  People often avoid them, wrongly assuming them to be simply 'just like back aboard', but if her memory serves correctly, there is a different vibe in caves, a sense of antiquity and silence not present aboard a thrumming, lively ship.

"I, for one, would like to see these caves," she quietly concludes.

"I'll cave in and go with the caves too.  As you say, doc, plenty of time for other things too," Yas says with a few nods, thinking back on the last time she saw a cave.  Visiting them is quite different from fighting in them, she bets.  Time to do the former of the two, perhaps.

"Sounds good to me." Saskia agrees, then adds, "Say, are any of you big, strong men actually coming with us, or are you just going to sit in this hotel, building up your waistlines?  You know that if we need to change a wheel, none of us delicate little girls will be able to do it, for fear of chipping a nail.  Especially Yas."

"Ooo, I can't risk my nails!" Yas whimpers and strokes them affectionately and then blinks at the men, "Yes, and poor Sassy is sooo lost when it comes to engines and anythign more technical than getting undr... uh, dressed..."

Jago chuckles, “I’ll be staying here Sas, a waistline like this doesn’t built itself, besides, I want to keep an eye on what those guys are doing to our ship.”
.

"Don't reckon as how I'll be comin' with y'all either, ladies." Conrad adds his own reply, "Somebody'll have to carry Jago from his room to the restaurant, an' back again.  May's well be me."

"Sides which, me'n'Jago're jus' soft old Merchies.  We'll never survive a night without a soft bed."

NPC'd

Tylen shakes his head, "Looks like you ladies will be going on your own."  He shrugs apolegetically, "I have some things I want to buy, and thanks to Jago, I have money to spend.  I'll be staying in town, I think."

"That's a shame." Saskia says, with a sigh, "Would have been nice to all go somewhere together.  Don't think I've ever seen Jago in actual sunlight."

She takes another mouthful of her dinner, chews a little, then continues, "Well, I hope you boys enjoy doing whatever it is boys do when there's no attractive women about.  Us, we'll be off, having a good time, exploring whatever lays past the ends of our noses."

It is indeed a shame, Shui considers.  She would have enjoyed the company of all the crew.  Nevertheless...  "If it is only the three of us to share the sunlight, such is life."  A shrug follows.  "I am well-certain the men can find other attractive companionship in town, should they so desire."  The doctor sighs, hoping that she won't have anyone coming to her with embarassing personal issues over the next few weeks.

It hasn't happened yet on the Profit Margin, but there was that time aboard Indigo's Dream....

"Well, to each their own.  Just gettng away for a while will makes us appreciate the old girl more later.  Profit Margin, that is," Yas says and brushes a few crumbs away.

"As for attractive company in town, perhaps, but not as," she adds with a small grin.

Shui's order of vegan hasperat is brought to the table, as the conversation regarding likely tourist spots continues.  There seem to be a reasonable number of interesting places to visit within relatively easy travelling distance of the port, even using a ground vehicle

Jago leans back in his little cloud of fragrant smoke and lets the chatter, and the warm glow from a rather good brandy, wash over him. The war seems very far away right now and with a full belly, and, if only temporarily, a full wallet he’s a bit inclined to relax, and let go for the evening.
.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:06, Tue 14 July 2009.

Perhaps following Jago's example, Tylen sits back and takes a mouthful of his wine,  then rolls it around in his mouth as he considers if really he has that much shopping to do.