"Not really sure.  I've shown them to a few people in different places, and some of them took the designer's details so that they could get in touch with her." Saskia explains to Shui, "But that was all before we left the Imperium last year.  I have no idea if any of them ever tried to make contact with her."

The arrival of Yas, and her strange comment, brings a puzzled look and a shrug, "I have no idea what you're talking about.  Do you, Shui?  We're just going to find something for Keryn to wear for sunbathing, Yas."

She chuckles, and she leads the way to her quarters, "For all I know the woman who gave me them is now the biggest designer of swimsuits in the Marches." a gesture towards her coveralls, "As you can see, I'm not exactly a fashion expert."

They enter her cabin, and the engineer pulls open a drawer, "Here we are."

There are an even dozen suits, in various colors and patterns, all neatly folded and encased in transparent resealable polymer packaging, along with three stacks of plastic wafers, each of them embossed with the same logo and bearing an embedded chip.

"Take all of them to Keryn and tell her she can pick whichever one she likes."

"One can hope, Ms. Blake, that your friend has done well with her suits." It's a hard thing to deal with sometimes, the vast distances and travel times.  Shui sometimes wonders about checking a star-chart to see how far she is from 'home', but to get it all on the same screen at once would reduce the scale to 'meaningless'.

"As for Ms. Crow," she continues with the Security Chief's arrival, "she refers to a conversation we had via messaging...regarding men and suntan lotion."  Amusement dances in her eyes for a moment.  "I have the lotion here," the steward replies, tapping her bag as she obediently trundles along behind the engineer.

Once there, the suits are revealed.  Shui raises her eyebrows in interest.  "Quite a selection, Ms. Blake.  Have you chosen one for yourself from this designer's work?"  She begins gathering up the suits, preparing to take them to Keryn...of course, they have to fit, as well.

After loading a couple of extra EVA line coils onto the bed of the air-raft, Ash begins to raise the craft out the dorsal hatch.  He takes it slow and careful; he figures that the extra space in the bay should make moving around and egress easier.

Ash eases the air-raft up an out into the open, feeling the sunlight on his face and noting the play of the shadows and light.  He relishes the open horizon as the water stretches in all directions out to the horizon.  Ash keeps the vehicle hovering suspended for a couple of moments before moving the craft forward and attempting to land it just forward of the dorsal hatch on the Profit Margin's main spine.  "Easy does it, Tescali.  You break it, you bought it ..." he mutters quietly to himself as he nudges the controls, slowly moving the air-raft forward and lowering it.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:48, Wed 11 May 2011.

Ash drops the 'raft onto the top of the hull and applies a low negative thrust with the grav modules, so that the vehicle is pinned on the upper hull.  The batteries are fully charged, so the raft should have power to hold it in place for several hours.  As he walks back across the hull, he remembers that the local gravity is a little higher than standard, but easily tolerable.

Shui gathers up the swimsuits and heads across to speak to Keryn.  In the passenger lounge she meets Corlan and Eneris waiting to be taken where they need to go to get onto the top of the ship.  Corlan seems to have loaned the other man some clothes for the "mission".

Everybody else on the crew is getting ready to go topside...

"Ah yes, that one, the designer.  Feels like years ago.  Oh, wait, it is, isn't it?  Dang, feels like yesterday too, hmph...'

Yasmine muses as she follows the others, figuring she will not be doing much until it is time to get the sheep, ah, passengers out onto the ship.

"Indeed.  Lotion and men, a sticky combination at best," she grins at Sushi and then chortles with amusement before muttering, "I sure ain't going to let anyone help me with anything but my back either way..."

"Yeah, Sassy, which one's yours? Don't tell me you gone full body suit?" she then asks the engineer with a teasing smile.

Shaking her head and smiling at Yasmine's dire pronouncement (heaven itself will not help the one who tries for more...), Shui greets the two male passengers.  "Mr. DeSant, Mr. Armusezash - please follow Ms. Crow," she requests, with some relish.  "She will be more than happy to assist you with gaining the upper hull, as well as sunscreen."  The steward waits a beat, then hands several bottles to Yasmine.  "Getting you the necessary supplies, that is.  For the moment, I am occupied assisting Ms. Taylor, after which I would be pleased to entertain requests for refreshments and comfort - chairs, towels, the like.  When I arrive, if there is a need I can also apply sunscreen."   having done theraputic massages for people in the past, Shui isn't leery of slathering sunscreen on the hard-to-reach areas of someone's back.

She raises her hand, indicating her dataglove.  "Please feel free to have a member of the crew page me if I am not available."  The steward knows full-well she will be running back and forth for the next little while - enjoying the sun and water will be something she can do later in the day, when everyone's needs are met.

Including sunscreen.

"Ms. Blake, Ms. Crow - I look forward to seeing you and your choices of suits topside," she murmurs to the crewmembers.  Men's suits tend toward the utilitarian.  Womens' suits, on the other hand, especially with a choice of designer styles...that could be interesting.  Men really should put more thought or care into their clothing, she decides as she heads off to Keryn's cabin and chimes the door.

"Ms. Taylor?  I am here with a selection of swimsuits, also useable for sunbathing."

Eventually everything is organised, and everybody, crew and passengers alike, find themselves standing on the upper hull of the ship, surrounded by open ocean which stretches, unbroken by any landmass, to the horizon in all directions.  The air is filled with the smell of salt water, and a white sun stands high in the sky, with a small dwarf companion gleaming a sullen red close by (at least from this angle).

Keryn, wearing a borrowed swimsuit in black and fluorescent green, climbs up from the air-raft bay, with a little assistance required due to the heavier gravity.  "The air's thinner than I expected... " she starts to say, but whatever she was going to say trails off as she notices the view.  Then her head tilts back and she looks at the sky.  For a few seconds she appears panic-striken, but she finally manages a nervous smile, and a half-hearted joke, "That's a high ceiling.  How do they service the lighting units?"

Corlan and Eneris find themselves a comfortable place to sit near the dorsal turret, and after Corlan has spent a few minutes studying the weapon mount from various angles, the two older men settle down to play seven-man teron on an antique board with metal playing pieces.  Keryn, meanwhile, locates a spot beneath the main sensor array, where there is plenty of shade, and it's probably just coincidence  that the array obscures much of the open sky from her view.

When Jago comes up the ladder, wearing a pair of shorts and a loose-fitting shirt, he takes a quick look around, stretches, and gives a satisfied nod.  "This all looks very nice."

Assisting Keryn as she makes her way out, Yas grins and shields her eyes as she peers towards into the sky.

"Well, you need a really big step ladder - and someone to hold it," she explains with a deadpan expression.

She is still wearing her bathrobe over her bathing suit and is seeing to that everyone is at least somewhat safe where they are before she will even think about removing it to catch some rays, of the benign sort at least.

"So, first time outdoors, eh?  How does it feel?  I grew up under the sky, well, we did have a house, but still.  Must be something to take in, eh?" she asks the young woman, leaning against the sensor array, helping to temporarily block a portion of the sky.

She intends to get some time with the young woman, feeling responsible for her, as well as a sort of connection she cannot quite explain.  The week in J-space did not offer much time between them, so she hopes to make the most of the time here.

Tylen dumps his bag somewhere on the 'high ground' and walks down the beach towards the sea.  "Been a long time since I have been to the beach." he says with a grin.

When he gets to the edge of Profit Margin, he sits down and lets his bare feet dangle into the water.  Reaching out, he dips his hand into the water and then raises it to his lips.

Poor, overwhelmed Keryn has the more-than-capable Yasmine to watch over her for the moment, so Shui focuses on the other passengers and the crew.  First, she distributes the sunscreen - formulated to block the harmful UV wavelengths while allowing the beneficial, vitamin D-inducing kind through.  Verbal instructions come with every bottle.

"...and be sure to apply evenly, Mr. Tescali..."

"...do not miss your nose, Ms. Blake..."

"...back and shoulders as well, Mr. Orgesh..."

People, she knows, can be lax with such things, resulting in considerable pain for days to come.

Then the drinks - bottled water and juices for everyone, with more in a nearby cooler.  There is food as well, in another small, cooled box - sandwiches and wraps of various sorts.  Finally everyone appears comfortable, and even Jago approves.  Satisfied, Shui feels prepared to relax...somewhat.  She'll have to keep her eye out for people in need of refreshment or other attention, but....

Pleased, she removes her tan capris and shirt, revealing her simple black bikini.  A pair of thin-rimmed sunglasses replace her normal pair of lenses.  She doesn't bother with sandles, prefering to feel the sun-warmed hull of the ship against her soles.  Her dataglove remains on her hand, an oddly exotic match to her suit.  Then, following her own instructions, the steward removes a small tube of near-invisible sunblock and begins the lengthly process of application, starting with her arms.

Yasmine still appears content to chat with Keryn, though Shui keeps her eye out for when the security chief wishes assistence with the sunblock, herself - Saskia as well.  Tylen's action catches her eye, and she cocks a thin brow.  "Mr. Orgesh," she calls, "you might find the water a touch too salty for your taste."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:43, Mon 16 May 2011.

Tylen is a bit cavalier with the suncreen, but does rub it into his arms and legs where they are exposed by his shorts and tee shirt.  While the coverage is reasonable it certainly isn't even all over.  However, he does take time to do his feet, face and neck  as well.

When Shui comments on the taste of the sea water he grins.  "Just a taste of home.  I grew up on the beaches, looking for crabs in the rock pools, dodging the jelly fish and watching out for the seals.  If I hadn't got into space it would have been a life at sea." he concludes with a grin.  "Or in the processing plants." he adds even more sombrely.

Standing up he moves back to the high ground at the middle of the ship.  "Will you keep an eye on that for me?" he asks as he removes his dataglove and offers it to Shui.  "I'm going for a swim."  He takes a couple of paces towards the edge of the ship when he turns back to the doctor "It is slaved to report if any large creatures come close." with that he heads off towards the water's edge.fancy a s

Shui nods thoughtfully as Tylen explains his background - something she hadn't known about the man, something of interest.  "I myself never saw the sea until I left my home," she muses.  No playing in tidal pools for her, snatching opportunities to examine the wonder of a slow-crawling crab.  "It sounds...wonderful."

The processing plants, far less so.

Without question, she accepts the dataglove.  "Ah, so our sensors are programmed for such?  I was curious...of course, you and Ms. Crow would be most thorough."  She'll have to hold it, of course - she already has her own on her hand, and Tylen's would certainly not fit without extensive modification to the size.  "Certainly I will take a swim of my own, when time permits." A shame she can't join him, but for now she appears to be the guardian of Tylen's dataglove.

Tapping her lip with a fingertip, she considers his scarred back as he heads off to the water.  When Tylen returns, Shui decides, she should ask if he needs her to apply sunscreen on the hard-to-reach area.  Not at all a daunting task, and it will certainly prevent discomfort later.  Something to save for later, though; until he returns, she should check on the rest of her charges, and see if Yasmine, Saskia or Keryn require the application of sunscreen.

They might have already made arrangements of their own, of course.

"Well maybe Jago or Ash could watch the sensors?" Tylen suggests.  "The glove is acting as a relay to the sensor display in my turret, so they could equally pick those up on their personal computers." he continues with a shrug, "After all, swimming with company is always better than swimming alone." he concludes with a smile.

After parking the raft near the dorsal lock, Ash climbed out of the vehicle and settled down on a spot on the hull midway between the sensor array and the water line.  Has a towel laid out and is merely sitting with his knees bent up near his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs.  He is alert, but mostly just quietly watching the water disappear into the horizon line.

While the others reminisce about their upbringings, Ash quietly ponders his own experiences on Jewell.  His family had never been very rich; so, while Jewell was mostly covered with water, Ash's personal experience was with overcrowded public beaches and coastlines choked with sewage and pollution.  Jewell's precarious frontier location near the Zhodani border often affected that portion of the quality of life.  And near the shipyards, the technology and factories for military purposes generally took precedence over recreational needs of the populace.

While, Ash grew up with an open sky - the solitude of the open ocean is something that he cherishes.  Watching the light dance of on the glassy surface of the open water as the sea undulates with its huge underlying ocean currents is an invitation for a little bit of solitary reflection to him.  He loved doing such things on the infrequent boating trips as a boy and he hasn't had the chance to do so, for a number of years.

His quiet revelry is broken when the others start to clamber up onto the surface, though Ash remains quiet until Shui actually approaches him.  He accepts the suntan lotion from Shui with a slight smile and a nod for acknowledgement.  A simple "Yes, Ma'am." emanates from his lips along with a glance at the asian woman when she proffers her instructions for application.  He slowly and meticulously starts to apply the cream, making sure that he covers all of his exposed parts, which given the tank top requires some gyrations for his back, but he eventually gets it done on his own.  He replaces his slaved HUD headband, p-comm, and wrist computer back into their respective places once the sunscreen has been applied.

When Tylen suggests that Shui swim with him, Ash - who is once again seemingly staring out at the vanishing horizon once more - offers casually, "I am already monitoring the sensor displays, Doc."  He glances over at Shui a slight, crooked smile crossing his face, "Feel free to take Mr. Ogresh up on his offer.  I'll watch all of your items and make sure that nothing happens to them.  And I'll be able to warn you two of anything large that might interrupt your swim..."

"Everybody remember that if they're going to swim, they need to secure themselves with an EVA line." Jago instructs, "Yes, I know there aren't enough to go around, but that's to ensure that somebody stays on the ship to haul somebody out if they get in trouble.  You'll just have to take turns with them."

"No line, no swimming."


"Oh," he continues, "And don't do anything too strenuous.  The air is a little thinner than standard."

As if to demonstrate his commitment to this latter point, the captain finds himself a comfortable looking place to settle down, and sprawls out in the light of the two suns.  Then, suddenly remembering, he sits up, lights his cigar, and lays down flat again.

About to demure for the moment, Shui pauses when Ash speaks up.  Turning to face him, she raises both eyebrows behind her sunglasses, considering the offer.  Everything is settled into place now.  It's quite possible she'll need to be working later.  Saskia and Yasmine can apply sunscreen on each other, should they so desire, and none of the remaining crewmembers and passengers have exposed backs.

She sniffs the air, closing her eyes and feeling the wind crawl across her skin - the first real wind in...months?  No, less, but it's a rare thing for them.  Rarer still the opportunity to actually swim in the ocean.  And Ash was kind enough to offer openly without being asked; should she repay him by refusing?

No.  He has offered, which sets aside issues of selfishness - to spurn such an offer would be rude.

"Very well, Mr. Tescali.  You have me convinced, and you have my thanks."  She gives their new pilot a bow as she unclips her dataglove, sliding it off her wrist.  The skin beneath it is slightly paler than that of the rest of her arm, and it feels unbalanced to not have its weight on her wrist.  Clicking off the sunglasses, she kneels and places both gloves and the shades beside the seated Ash.  "I believe I owe you," Shui notes with an arched brow. "Hopefully that will prove incentive to not allowing us to be swallowed by local fauna."  A poor joke, lacking wit, but she cannot help it; her mood is good.

Turning back to the gunner, Shui angles her head slightly.  "Well then, Mr. Orgesh.  It appears I have the time."  Jago has an important - and wise - announcement, and the steward bows her head.  "Of course, Captain Lanza," she reassures the captain, hunting around for an EVA line.  It won't go well with her suit, but she shrugs into the harness with practiced ease, affixing it to a clip on the hull.

Amusement shines in her eyes as she scans the ship's edge, finding a likely point she paces in that direction.  "Do try to keep up," the doctor flings over her shoulder to the gunner.

A glance into the water from the drop-off reveals no metal outcroppings just beneath the surface; Shui's legs flex and then she's gone, splitting the water in a clean dive, the EVA line unspooling behind her.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:18, Tue 17 May 2011.

"Something to take in, yes." Keryn replies to Yas, "I just need a little time to get used to it I think.  On Frenzie I went up to one of the external view towers one time.  I could see the sky from there, but it was just black, with lots of stars, and I always knew there was something between it and me."

"Here, it's not the same.  There's movement, all those clouds drifting about.  And nothing between me and the sky.  Just makes me a bit nervous, but this helps." reaching up and back, the young woman pats the support strut for the sensor array.

She stops talking for a moment, thinking, then continues, "How do people cope with it?  You're used to it, but do you ever feel... unsettled... in places where the sky is different?  Like red, for instance?  I saw a world in a holodrama once where the sky was red, not blue like this one."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:05, Tue 17 May 2011.

"Thanks Ash." Tylen grins across at his fellow scout as he strips off his tee shirt and drops it by his bag.  He is just about to head off to the side when Jago reminds them of the EVA lines, and scowls across at the captain as he grabs one of the lines and secures it around his waist.

Just about then Shui challenges him to keep up, but she is already a pace or two ahead of him.  But Tylen has the advantage.  He has already been to the edge of the vessel and examined the water, and he knows there are no underwater obstructions to get in  the way.

He might be confident, but he doesn't appear to have the same ability of the steward and instead of trying to dive cleanly, he runs straight towards the edge of the vessel and launches himself into the air, drawing his legs up to his chest he hits the water back-side first.

"Top Class Bombing" he thinks to himself as he disappears under the water amidst the biggest splash he has managed for years.

Saskia's swimsuit is a bit more conservative than the one that Keryn chose -- a one piece suit in cobalt blue and light grey.  The engineer has topped her outfit off with a sun hat, made of some sort of woven plant material and dark glasses.  When she comes up onto the top of the ship, effectively the roof of her world, she is carryng a blanket and a hand computer.

Spreading the blanket out on the warming metal of the hull, she sits, activates the computer and starts reading.  Maybe it's just coincidence, but her chosen location is aft of the sensor array, directly above Engineering.  After a few minutes she reaches out with her left hand, past the edge of the blanket, and lays it against the bare metal of the hull.

Only then does she start to look relaxed.

Ash merely smiles and gives Tylen a slight grin and a small salute as he watches his fellow Scout follow Shui into the water to take a swim.  He glances down at the item placed near him, counting them to make sure he knows what is there and mentally cataloging it just in case.  Then turns back to watching the water and the waves.

After a number of minutes, he leans back and begins to refocus on his HUD, merely using the ocean and distant as a back drop for his displays.  He rubs his knee idly, the increased moisture in the air causing it to ache slightly differently than normal.

Tylen hits the water like a bomb, ahead of Shui.  She has time for one amused shake of the head before splitting the water like a knife.  She's no professional swimmer, but she has a fair amount of experience with such things.  Holding her breath, she goes deep - twenty, thirty feet under - before stroking her way back to the surface, popping up with a gasp.

It's not unlike being in zero-gee, but the pressure is certainly different.

Treading water, she stares up at the sky, then along the waves, marvelling at how the sunlight sparkles on their tops.  Such a fine idea this was, coming here for 'fuel'.  She will have to inquire of Jago if that had been his primary concern...or the rest and relaxation the stop provides.  The doctor wouldn't put it past them - their captain is a cunning man.

"It appears you win, Mr. Ogresh," she calls out.

"Yeah, not quite the same as in a holovid, eh?" Yas says and looks at all the movements that indeed are going up in the sky.

She smiles at the young woman as the strut gets a pat for being there.  That is no doubt a first for it.

"Hmm, maybe the first alien sky I saw, but then, didn't really have time to think much about it.  Seen anything from blue to green, black to white, violet to red, skies on fire, rain so thick you could not see twenty yards and places with no sky at all, just empty space and low gravity, with risk of jumping into space.  But I do prefer the good old blue, probably because I grew up under one," she replies thoughtfully, losing herself in distant memories for a moment or two.

"I don't often get the time to sit down like this, though, not since I was a young girl, about your age, I guess.  Lived most of my days since then on a ship or on an alien world I knew next to nothing about, except I was there to do my mission and come out alive, preferably."  A chuckle and then she looks out over the ocean.

"Bet the seemingly endless ocean is new too, eh?  Want to try a bit of swimming later, after we catch some rays?"

Keryn listens to Yas talking about different places she has seen, but her eyes are drawn repeatedly to the people splashing about in the water, "I've never been out of the city.  Never," she repeats, "Everything is new to me."

"Like this place.  I've seen oceans in the 'vids... but they can't smell those, and you can't feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, or see the brightness of everything.  All new."

She looks at the people in the water again, at Saskia and Jago relaxing, at Corlan and Eneris playing their game, and at Ash, who seems to still be on duty.  "Everybody else seems to know what to do here.  I have no idea.  Given how inaccurate my understanding of the universe is because I based it on holovids, I'm not going to trust them to show me what to do.  And this is just the first place I've been to."

Yas' suggestion that they could try a bit of swimming brings a nervous reply, "I don't know how to swim.  But I suppose I could tie myself to one of those safety ropes and try it."

"Yes!" Eneris crows, clearly having won the first game.

"Those two do nothing but play that silly game all day."

Jago sits up when he hears the splashes.  It takes him a few moments, but he finally pinpoints the source and smiles.  After the problems on Frenzie, it's good to see the crew enjoying themselves.

"Well, stick with me, us, a while and you'll learn a few things about everything," Yas says and smiles at Keryn before looking over at Corlan and Enris.  "You'll learn.  Just do what you feel like, in places like this, anyway.  Among people you must of course follow the law, heh."

The head of security pats the young woman on the shoulder encouragingly.

"We'll take is slow and easy.  I'll show you, if you want.  The trick is to relax, do that and you'll actually float by default."

She chortles and looks over at Eneris, "As long as they enjoy it, right?"