Aboard the Maelstrom

"Its a ship!" shouted Astra.

Stacy clutched Astra close as heavy blocks of stone fell around them, smashing on the temple floor. The only safe place seemed to be in the area around the altar and Carl crouched next to it, hands covering his head.

"Maelstrom has arrived," said the disembodied voice. "Are you ready for transfer, Princess Astra."

"YES!" shouted Astra.

There was a bright flash of light and Stacy instinctively buried her head in Astra's hair. When she looked up she saw that they were no longer in the temple but in a uniformly lit room with white walls and glossy black floor. On the far side of the room was a large white control desk with high backed swivel chairs. The section of the room that there were standing in had contrasting black walls and white floor and ceiling that glowed with an inner yellow light as if from a thousand small light bulbs.

Carl was curled up on the floor and he slowly stood and stared, open mouthed.

"What just happened?" asked Stacy.

"I think we are on board that ship," said Astra.

"And you're sure you know nothing about this," said Stacy.

"That I swear," said Astra. "Come on! Let's explore." She took Stacy by the hand and led her towards an archway on the far side of the room.

They followed a white corridor and came upon a large archway that led into a large room with with several more control panels, elegantly styled with curved edges, each with a high-backed swivel chair. There was a large screen that domninated the far wall that showed views out over the canopy of the forest.

"Welcome to the Maelstrom, Princess Astra," said a disembodied voice, deep and resonant. "I am Zen. Are you ready to take command?"

"Yes. Zen. Apart from us, how many people are onboard?"

"Exempting three humans currently on bridge, there are no crew members on board."

"What happened to the previous crew?" asked Astra.

"Information is unavailable."

Astra looked round at Stacy. Stacy shrugged. "Computer says no."

"Then tell us who owns this ship." said Astra.

"Information is unavailable."

Stacy hugged herself. There was something spooky about this ghost ship. And as for Zen, in some ways he sounded so human but there was something unnerving about his detached voice. She tried to remind herself it was just a computer, made to sound human but on the other hand she got this horrible feeling that was trying to hide something from them.

"Okay then," said Astra, "I guess the ship is ours now. How many crew does this ship require?"

"Ship requires seven crew to operate at peak performance."

"And what's the minimum crew complement?"

"Basic operations can be performed without crew."

"Excellent," said Astra, taking a seat in on of the curved swivel chairs. "Zen, take us into orbit, please."

"Confirmed."

There was a low hum, barely perceptible and the view on the screen showed the jungle drop away and the blue sky gave way to the blackness of space.

1. Astra looks for enemies

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