There is this universe. A very large universe, indeed. And in this universe there are galaxies. Very big galaxies, but not nearly as big as the universe. And in a certain galaxy by the name of The Milky Way Galaxy, there is a planet, called Earth. And on this Earth, there is a girl named Crescent Moon. However, this girl is not on Earth. At least, she is not during this story. No, this girl is on a spaceship that is circling around Earth. And that is where our story begins.
"Um, excuse me, Sir.." she stumbled as the said "Sir" looked at her in bewilderment.
"I believe the correct term you are looking for is Captain." He replies.
"Yes, of course sir- I mean captain! But um, captain..may I use the restroom?" Crescent Moon asks in a rather shy manner. It might confuse you as to why she is asking permission to use the restroom, but you see, she is no ordinary passenger on this spaceship. In fact, she is actually a captive on this spaceship.
Our Captain, a very young and attractive captain if I'm going to be completely honest, is not the most noble of captains. He is actually a refugee of the law, at least that is what he likes to call himself. Most would call him a fugitive. What he did to make himself a fugitive is unknown, but he is an infamous fugitive of five countries (France, Germany, Mexico, Canada, and Switzerland). There are several rumors as to how he became a refugee of the law, including stealing the very spaceship he is piloting right now (Although Crescent would not be able to vouch for his piloting skills, as they are not very good. I guess one is not allowed to develop good piloting skills when one is avoiding receiving justice for one's crimes. But that is merely an observation.). Kidnapping the daughter of a very rich senator of the United States of America for ransom is a crime I can definitely assure you to not be a product of the gossip (I guess you can add the United States to the list of countries he is wanted in.) However, what he lacks in respect for authority, he makes up for in a charming smile and proper kidnapping etiquette (His words, not mine.)
"Crescent Moon- wow that is a mouthful. Would you mind if I called you something else?"
"Oh! Well-" Crescents begins but is interrupted.
"Cress! I shall call you Cress. So much better. Rolls off the tongue. Well Cress, I am nothing if not an honorable captain, and you should not think of yourself as a captive. Until your extremely wealthy parents pay your ransom, we will be spending a lot of time together! Consider yourself a guest on my spaceship. Here I will show you around! The works for my special guest." The captain winked as he quickly put the ship on autopilot and began to give Cress the VIP tour of his ship. "The spaceship you are currently aboard goes by the beautiful name," He paused for dramatic effect, "The Rampion. Catchy isn't it? Rhymes with champion, which I am, and this ship perfect for me."
Now Cress had always been a shy girl. She often avoided people at her all girls boarding school in Paris, preferring the company of a computer. Cress was a professional at entertaining herself for hours by playing against her computer at card games and hacking into databases, finding out very personal secrets of people she probably should not know (for example, by hacking into the Emperor of the New Commonwealth's, Emperor Kaito's, personal database she was able to see he had been intensely researching a mechanic the same age as him living just outside his palace's borders. Cress could not see anything threatening about this mechanic so she assumed the emperor was harboring a crush for her.) But there was something captivating about the Captain that made her intrigued. She was naturally curious, and since she did not have a computer handy to find out every single detail about him, she resulted in asking him questions. "Did you name the ship yourself?"
"Well...no."
"Then who did?" She continued to pester
The captain chuckled nervously. He had a perfectly sassy comeback ready, but Cress cut
him off before he could use it. "I could've sworn I saw the American Republic military listing the Rampion as one of their space ships." She stated this very firmly, but when she saw the Captain's shocked expression she started rambling, "I'm sorry, I could be wrong of course, though I usually never am, my memory tends to impeccable, and I swear I remember seeing it in the list of military spaceships after I had looked into the general of the American Republic. I also saw that the listed price of the spaceship had been over 3 million dollars, and that was three years ago, surely is must have gone up. Gee, you must be very rich to have boughten up. Richer than my father even! But the of course, that does not explain why you would kidnap me for ransom? Did you go bankrupt? But then why didn't you just sell the spaceship. Unless...of course!" She paused to catch her breath and then whispered, "Captain, did you steal the Rampion?"
He stared at her in bewilderment for at least ten seconds, but those seconds felt like ten minutes for Cress. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to accuse you of theft it's just-"
"I thought the list of American Republic military weapons was classified?"
Cress somehow managed to stutter, "Oh well...I got bored?"
"You mean to tell me that, you hacked into The American Republic Military's highly classified database...because you were bored? Don't most girls your age go out shopping with their friend's or something?"
Cress's eyes widened as she looked up at him and whispered, "I don't really have friends…"
The Captain stared at her for a second before changing the topic, "Well, aren't you something." he muttered under his breath. "Anyways back to the tour. If you go through this hallway, it will lead you to the common room, which is connected to the kitchen." The common room and kitchen were quite small, and only decorated with a couch and a TV, but Cress felt it was cozy compared to her gigantically lonely living room at her house. "That door over there will lead you to the engine room, and the door directly opposite to it will lead you to the rooms and bathroom. Sorry sunshine, we will have to share one." The captain winked at her.
Cress's eyes once again began to widen and her blush was quickly spreading all over her face. She couldn't tell if he was flirting or not. All the flirting she had witnessed online was much more direct. This was for too subtle for her to tell. In all honesty, he could've told her she was beautiful masterpiece he wished he could hang up in his room so he could stare at her forever, and she would still think he was just being kind. (but to be fair, if he had said that, there is a chance he would just be teasing.) The Captain was also a notorious flirt in all six of the countries he was wanted in. Wanted for crime against the law as well as crime against the heart.
The Captain brought her to a door, that, like the other doors, had no doorknob, but instead slid open. Cress did not step into the room for she had no purpose in being there. Instead she simple peaked in. Inside she could see a white room with grey furnishings. Only a bed and a wardrobe. The lights were attached to the walls, as they were in the rest of the ship.
She looked over at the Captain just to see him already looking back at her. It was in this moment she realized she did not actually know his name, she just kept referring to him as the Captain. "What is your name?"
"Now, I can't tell you that can I? I can't have you going back to your parents and telling them who took on you on this very nice vacation." the Captain winked.
Cress thought this over. She really wanted to know the Captain's name so when she got home she could find out everything there was to know about him, but she did not know a way she could convince him to trust her.
"Ask me anything. If my answer makes me seem like a trustworthy person, then tell me your name. If not…" She started to stutter as she found she was not sure how to end that sentence.
"Hmmm...alright, what do you think of my beautiful ship?"
Cress knew the best way to earn his trust was to be honest. And while she did find the ship to be lovely, there was just one thing missing…
"Well, if I am going to be quite honest, she is great! Except for…"
"Except?!"
Cress started to stutter shyly, "Well it's just um that there aren't any...door knobs."
"Door knobs? The one flaw you find in this grand ship is that there are no door knobs?" the Captain exclaimed bewildered.
Cress blushed and looked away. "Door knobs are fun."
The Captain stared at her for ten seconds. "Thorne. Captain Carswell Thorne."
Author's Note: The reason this started so broadly (the universe) is because i did not really know where to start whoops. The characters are from The Lunar Chronicles by: Marissa Meyer. You should read it. Good stuff.