Size Difference Space Cruise (Smutt Books #10)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

Beth

Istared at the stamp on my wrist, worry rising that a cruise billed as ultra-advanced would rely on something as primitive as ink on skin to mark who was allowed aboard.

The disappointment that our shuttle had no windows piled onto that anxiety; I wanted to see the ship we’d be spending the next several months on.

The metal floor beneath my boots vibrated faintly, a low hum echoing through the cramped cabin, and the stale, recycled air tasted metallic on my tongue.

My gut twisted as I replayed every detail I might have missed.

What if this wasn’t a legitimate singles cruise at all?

What if the alien version of a singles cruise was merely a front for a human-trafficking ring?

Applying with my friends and paying good money didn’t guarantee legitimacy.

The whole thing could be a scam. The fact that the entire trip cost less than my usual cost of living for the same period on Earth had seemed exciting at first, but now it felt like a baited hook.

Perhaps our traffickers were using that bargain to lure us even deeper.

My heart was pounding, my hands felt damp. I needed to calm down.

I was letting my head run away with me again. I wasn't in any danger. I was safe.

I took a deep breath. Inhaling slowly, holding it, then exhaling. Focusing on my breath.

My friends had great instincts. They wouldn't have agreed to go on this cruise if it were a scam.

"What kind of space shuttle doesn't have windows?

" Dani griped, blurting out my negative thoughts for me.

I smiled at her, glad that someone could voice it.

She had styled her hair to start off this trip in the form of a rocket, managing to look remarkably similar to a character called Ruby Rhod from an old science fiction movie, except her hair was its natural black instead of bleached.

She sat in what would be the window seat in our three-person row, which was another disappointment.

When I got on the shuttle to be flown up to the spaceship, I thought I would be getting on an alien shuttle.

Instead, we all got our wrists stamped, handed over our luggage, and then walked into what looked like an airline cabin, but without windows.

It didn't move like a human plane, though.

There had been almost no sensation when we took off, if take off was what we were doing.

Maybe they had just loaded us into a soundproof box and plopped us on a ship so we could be sold off in a different country.

I glanced over at the balding middle-aged man several rows ahead of me.

Then again, maybe not.

"Maybe I should go see if I can talk to the manager," Dani grumbled.

As if by cue, the entire roof of the shuttle vanished, exposing us to the vast, endless dark of outer space.

I screamed.

In my defense, I wasn't the only person who screamed.

Several shrieks echoed around the cabin.

The balding man actually flung himself out of his chair, elbowing the woman in the aisle seat next to him as he scrambled over her, pushing her down so he could trip and fall into the aisle.

He wasn't the only man on the shuttle; there were a good number of them, and he wasn't the only person who got out of his seat in alarm.

"About damn time," Dani muttered.

"This is so cool," Mara agreed from where she sat on my other side.

Of course, neither of them was startled.

Both of them were brave in entirely different ways.

Mara careened through life like people were popcorn flavors for her to taste and discard, and Dani had a different way of seeing the world that had nothing to do with the fear-mongering mess that lived in my head.

I glanced across the aisle to see that Jess and Lin were both staring up at the ceiling with varied expressions of excitement and eagerness.

As usual, out of my group of friends, it was just me who was startled.

"Please remain calm and return to your seats," the sexy cat lady in the front of the cabin sang out as a soothing, low tone filled the cabin, underlying her sung words with a tone that managed to make my shoulders relax just from the sound of it.

She was one of the Norratar species, but for some reason, she was dressed up in a maid outfit, which looked rather fetching and was tailored to fit her flat front, as the females of her species didn't have the whole rounded mammary gland thing.

Dani had laughed inappropriately hard when we first boarded, and the sexy cat lady seemed pleased by the reaction.

"The viewing display has activated, so you can get your first look at Vaurelcar Masak, who will be hosting us for this cruise. "

I looked around at the stars over my head, not seeing anything.

It was just all empty space, and looking up at it was as terrifying to me as that one time I went snorkeling and the edge of the reef suddenly dropped out from underneath me, a huge cliff that plunged down into the unseen depths.

I floated there on the edge, my body entirely frozen as I stared at the vastness below me.

I felt like that now, looking up at the endless expanse of nothing that was peppered with the occasional speckles of stars.

Except there was one large patch where there were no stars, only black.

External lights turned on, illuminating the black edges with a green glow that made the huge sphere seem as if it just popped into existence from the void.

"Vaurelcar Masak," I murmured to myself, taking in the name of this glorious ship, this leviathan that had appeared out of the depths to reveal itself to us.

It grew larger and larger until all we could see was the smooth, seamless sides of it, except for a hole that opened up in front of us, ready to swallow us whole as we headed straight for its maw.

The inherent terror of the moment was muted by the hearts.

They were drawn just above the maw, as if by an excited tagger rushing to get the whole thing spray-painted, were the words: "Welcome Humans!" with two comically large hearts on either side of it.

We entered the hole, and the space lit up in front of us as the wall of the mouth closed behind us.

Everyone looked forward to where the lights were, but I looked back.

It was always a good idea to look away from the distractions and see what was being hidden.

The difference in the lighting made it difficult to focus, but the parts were bright enough that I could see something moving, like hundreds of long white snakes moving to carry dark black panels to cover the gap.

"Get up already, I want to get out there," Dani said, waving her hands at me like she was shooing me. I looked over at Mara, but she hadn't budged yet. No one else in the room was standing yet, either, other than the sexy cat lady. Everyone was staring out at the view of the new space around us.

"If you want to be in charge of that, you take the aisle seat next time," Mara said.

"I didn't know there wasn't going to be a window," Dani grumbled.

I couldn't hear any sound, but the shuttle had landed inside a rather nondescript room with smooth silver walls and a textured white floor.

There was a line of Norratars, of all genders, dressed in French maid outfits, and as I watched, they approached the side of the ship and began removing luggage, carrying it off to the only exit to the room I could see.

There were a few small robots in the line of people taking luggage.

"Why are they all dressed like that?" a woman in the row ahead of us murmured quietly to her friend.

"What's with the outfits?" Dani shouted, causing the people in the row in front of us to twitch with the loud slap of her voice.

The sexy cat lady at the front of the bar leaned back away from Dani's caustic tone, her tail slightly twitching as she sang out her response.

"This is what was provided for our ship's official duties to mark us as on duty," she sang out.

"Wearing these outfits indicates that we are here to be of service and not to fraternize. "

"Too loud, Dani," I whispered.

"Why sexy servants though?" Dani called out again, softening her tone and angling her face up so she wasn't shouting directly at the backs of the heads of the people in front of us. "You all look like you're going to a costume-kink party."

"We were informed these outfits have a long-standing tradition in human culture and would be immediately recognizable," the sexy cat lady said, smoothing down the front of her skirt. "The Empress herself suggested the design modifications."

The outfits could have been modest and traditional looking at one point, but the changes were to make the skirt shorter and fluffier, and give the entire maid outfit a more gothic lolita look.

"The Empress strikes again," Mara chuckled.

The sexy cat lady straightened up, and the roof of the shuttle reappeared just in time for a door to slide open next to her.

"It is time to exit the vehicle," the sexy cat lady said, gesturing to the door.

"Your luggage is being taken to your respective rooms, which you will find just down the hallway.

A guided tour of the ship will be held at the start of every human hour, with the tour guide leaving from an observation room closest to your room block.

Any electronic devices you have brought on board have now been synced to a twenty-four-hour clock based on human timekeeping, but you can find universal standard time on your wrist unit as well.

The official cruise will begin tonight at 8 pm, after all humans have arrived. "