Bitter Fruit

A Doctor Who Story

1—Settling In

Adora walked down the hall of the luxury star liner "Princess of the Universe" looking for her suite, a robot butler behind lugging her dimensionally transcendent luggage. Most of the other passengers in her section of the ship were going to arrive leisurely so she had decided to get in before they did and save all the hassle of getting onboard at the last minute. Consequently, she was arriving at her suite in relative privacy and had the robot butler to herself. She stopped at her room door, stuck the magnetic primer "key" in a slot, then waited for the retinal scanner which would grant her access to her room. She did the first scan, received confirmation, then entered the suite and took a look around. The first room she entered was a living room with a tiny dining room to the right where she could eat her meals in private if she so wished. There was no kitchen, but there was a little counter with an electric teapot, a faucet and a small sink so she could make her own tea. Pleased, she went to her left and opened a door that led to the bedroom. There was an oval bed with plenty of room, a curtained window on the left side looking out into the stars and plenty of closet space. She checked out the en-suite bathroom; the whirlpool tub was spacious as were the sink and shower and the fixtures looked like they were made of star-stone, their gleam opalescent.

She told the robot butler, "Put the bags on the bed and then you are dismissed."

"Yes, sir-or-madam," the android said. It put Adora's luggage down then left the suite.

Adora opened the curtains and began to unpack her luggage. She recalled the clothes-shopping trip with Reyapre, the conjoined twin and their shopping consultant and shuddered a little. The trip had involved over twenty hours of trying on and taking off different items. All the while the shopping consultant reminded Adora that all the clothing she was getting was top-of-the-line and meant for special occasions, not for everyday wear. Adora had thought it was ridiculous to buy so many clothes that would only be worn once, so she insisted on getting several pieces she liked and could mix and match with other things she already owned.

She hadn't been able to do anything about the expense and waste of purchasing six formal gowns but it couldn't be helped; the consultant and Reyapre insisted that she couldn't wear a dress twice. In the end a fashion designer made the last three gowns as they had found nothing suitable. That also had been a chore; she had been measured in every direction thrice and told time and time again what a shame it was that she was so short and plump, which annoyed her immensely.

Now that it was all behind her it was time to do her research on what an inter-stellar pleasure cruise was like. She hoped she could make the work last so she wasn't alone and bored and uncomfortable for most of the trip. She didn't sleep more than two or three hours a week, so coming up with activities was a high priority. She made up her mind to spend all her daytime hours soaking in the experience and save the actual writing until the rest of the people were asleep. She put her toiletry bag on the bureau top then got out her writing bag. She rummaged through it, looking for the all-important "staff pass" she had been given. It would allow her to access usually restricted portions of the ship like crew quarters and work stations, the kitchens and perhaps the bridge itself, though that might not actually be useful. Still, she had it set in her mind to examine any nook and cranny she could stick her nose into for this book. She got the pass out, attached it to a lanyard and put it around her neck, then made sure she had her little voice recorder ready for when she got an idea she wanted to remember. Once she was done with that she set up her laptop at a desk in the corner of the living room and made the space as cosy as she could.

Adora was just about to freshen up when she heard a knock at the door. Surprised, she got up and opened it. In the doorway stood an Althed, a cross between a caterpillar and a human. He bowed and said, "Good morning, madam. My name is Grelvav and I am your steward this voyage; if you have any needs I'm the one you come to. Is your room up to your standards, madam?

"Please call me Adora, Grelvav; I'm no fancy lady. I'm here doing research on the pleasure-cruise experience so I can write my novel. See—I even have a 'staff pass'."

Grelvav started waving his antennae around. "Oh, yes—we were told you would be coming onboard. I have a map of the ship here so you can see the total extent of what you're getting into. You will be allowed a thirty-minute time window to spend on the bridge once we come out of hyper-space at our first stop, but you'll have to stay out of the way of everyone. You can choose to go exploring on your own, or we can assign you a crew-member as a guide, or a little of both. Most of the crew will be happy to talk to you about their experiences, though I will let you know almost all the crew are well-seasoned staff; you can't leave the job of tending to the guest needs of a cruise like this to amateurs."

"I think I'd rather do my own exploring, thank you. But that leads me to my first question—how long have you been on the 'Princess of the Universe'?"

"I've been on staff with the company for the last eighty years; in fact, I was brought on the very same year this ship made her maiden voyage. I didn't start on this star-liner, but I've been here for the last fifty years in various positions. Ordinarily I would be assigned to all twelve suites in this section, but this time out we have a lot of VIP's in the suites. This cruise I am in charge of this deck, this section, port-side. My co-steward Oolraben will have the starboard side."

"How many people is that for you?" Adora wanted to know.

"Let me check." Grelvav pulled out a tablet computer and did a bit of typing, then said, "Seven adults, three adolescents, and four children; two families have acquired separate rooms for their offspring. The adolescents and children will have their own staff, but I'm the head of the team. If you are ever inconvenienced by the youngsters let me know right away so I can tell my staff what they need to work on. There's a guest on one end, then you, then the one family with the adolescents in two suites and the last family in the last two suites. They're the ones with the small children, so you shouldn't hear them."

Adora asked, "Do you think you'll have a hard time this voyage? You can tell me the truth; I won't tell anyone else and if I use it in the book I can change your name and species."

Grelvav hesitated, looking around, then said low, "I don't like having this many children to deal with, extra staff or no; they tend to disrupt the other guests and I don't like having to soothe ruffled feelings. I don't mind telling you between us that the other guest is a diva and VIP of high status so I'll be busy keeping them happy and it will be a chore. I don't want you to think this will in any way diminish the treatment you'll be getting, though."

"I'm very self-sufficient, Grelvav, thank you. As for peace and quiet, I only sleep two or three hours a week, so I won't mind a little noise."

"I understand that you like Earl Grey tea first thing in the morning, are a light eater at lunch, enjoy a good massage, don't eat sweets and don't like being fussed over. That will make my job much easier."

Adora was surprised. "Where did you get your information from?"

Grelvav shrugged. "I'm not sure where the profiles come from; a dossier of every VIP guest is given to the particular steward to prepare them for the voyage. To that end I advise you to get your appointments for your daily massages now if you want them; the slots will be full before we leave and you'll have to make do with whatever's left. I can set that up for you if you wish . . ."

"Yes, please."

"Do you have a time you would prefer?"

Adora thought, then said, "Early mornings, please, before we get planet-side on our stops."

Grelvav was already typing in the information. "Gender or species of masseuse?"

"I have no preference," Adora said.

"Excellent." Grelvav finished typing and asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Is there a pool? I love the water."

"There is a wave pool, an aquatic exercise pool, three open pools, a diving pool, one pool for the children, two adults-only pools and the spa has their own hydrotherapy pool," Grelvav said.

Adora was shocked. "All that water in space? It must cost a fortune!"

"Actually," Grelvav said, "we pick up ice from the rings of the planets we visit so we can offer more fresh water rather than the stale, recycled stuff other ships have to rely on all trip. We're the only ship in the galaxy to do that. We scoop the ice up, let the dirty water out so we don't take away from the beauty of the rings and everyone's happy. But I'm afraid I have to rush off; so many things to do before we set sail . . ."

"Thank you so much for your time, Grelvav!" Adora said. "I hope I can ask some more questions sometime when things settle down. Will all the crew be busy now?"

"Once we've done the escape drill and first pull out of port everyone will be unavailable for the most part; I'd wait until tomorrow to get to know any of the crew. Please let me know if you need anything else."

"I will, and thank you!"

Grelvav turned around and went back down the hall. Adora grabbed her holo-camera and started taking pictures, first of her room and then the door. She took a picture of the map Grelvav had given her and decided to go exploring, while keeping out of others' way. One thing she wanted to do was compare her suite with some of the other types of rooms on the ship. She made up her mind to go down to the lower levels of the ship, but just then Grelvav came back and caught her by the arm. "I don't have much time, but I thought you might want to see the Universe Suite—I've been asked to give it a once-over to make sure it's presentable. Are you interested?"

"Oh, yes!" Adora said. She slipped the map into her writing bag and followed Grelvav down the hall and to an elevator. Adora noticed that the steward used a retinal scan and breathed into a tube to activate the elevator and asked, "They have a private section of the ship?"

"The Universe Suite is its own deck, actually. You need a retinal scan and breath scan to get on the elevator and there are two elevators just for that deck. Take whatever holo-pictures you like, but you can't touch anything in the suite; the occupant this trip has severe OCD and will notice if anything's been moved out of place. That's why they're asking me to do the once-over; I know the placement of each molecule in that suite. This guest is a regular and I used to be the only steward they would work with. Fortunately, the occupant has branched out a bit since then; I trained three stewards myself. They still call me at times to step in on an issue, but I try to make those incidents very rare. Here we are!"

Adora took a picture of the room door, then followed Grelvav inside. She was astonished. The whole suite had one continuous window that wound around the front part of the grand living room/dining room. There was an ancient, pristine baby grand piano as the centerpiece of the room, with chairs and sofas ringing it. There was a dining room table off to one side, also ancient wood polished to perfection with sturdy wood chairs that matched the table. To the left were four doors. Grelvav finished tidying up the main rooms, then opened the first door on the right side and showed Adora a private study with rows of bookshelves stuffed full and another antique piece of furniture—a roll-top desk made of ebony wood. Grelvav looked at the desk and studied the surface, then moved a potted plant a tiny bit to the left and rolled the desk top up a fraction. He scanned the bookshelves quickly and turned one book upside-down in the shelf. Before Adora could ask he said, "That's where the occupant left off reading the last time they were here. They prefer real books to other forms of reading, so we put in a small library here. If it isn't marked in just that way we'll have a very unhappy passenger who will sulk for the first week of the trip and I for one don't want to deal with it."

Leaving the room, they went to the next door. This was a bathroom that was so fancy Adora didn't dare take more than a step or two inside. There was a sunken whirlpool bath big enough for eight people, a shower grouping almost as large, castethon tiles and countertops, a triple sink and a masseuse table to one side. In one corner was a medium-sized sauna. Grelvav fixed the towels just so, took a cloth out of his pocket and wiped down the masseuse table, then left the room. Adora took more pictures and moved on.

The third room was actually a hallway that led to four separate bedrooms. Each was decorated in a different style and color, with real wood, rare metals and expensive furnishings. Grelvav said, "It took two years to put these rooms together, I'm told. All the furnishings had to be just so, the linens were hand-sewn and they agonized over whether to use real wood on the inner surface of the rooms or if they could get away with a high-quality Klinob wood glaze. In the end they used the glaze, but don't tell anyone; it's a ship secret." Grelvav looked each room over and made minor adjustments in each, while Adora snapped all the pictures she could.

Finally they made it to the Master Bedroom. Adora looked at the bed as Grelvav turned it down and asked, "What are the sheets made of? They almost glow."

"They're Relpinad spider-silk and again, hand sewn. There's a special machine in the crew quarters on this deck to wash them in."

"Crew quarters? Here?"

"Yes, here; there's a hidden door in the study to get there. You never know when a guest might require something, anything from a foot rub to a bottle of Chaldrid wine from Yarsil. The steward assigned to this deck is always either here or fetching something to bring here, no shore leave or off-time. You get paid a lot for it, but I'd rather not have the proverbial axe over my head if I make a mistake. I've done that route and I prefer the regular VIP's much more than the prima-dona's that end up here."

Adora looked up from the bed and gasped in surprise. There was a special window in the bedroom, a stained-glass one. It was a picture of a cave with a star-stone shining out of a stalactite, and a river running along one side. "Incredible," she said.

"It is impressive, but wait," Grelvav said. He flipped a switch and suddenly the river was rushing by in both sight and sound, the gem was glistening in rainbow colors and you could hear and see drops of water sliding off the stalactite. "I'm not sure of the technology involved, but I've never seen anything like it in any museum, art gallery, or exhibit. I doubt it cost any less than a trillion credits to construct, either."

"Who built it? And why put it on a cruise-liner?"

"Not a clue. Perhaps one of the original crew-members that started out on the 'Princess of the Universe' would know, but no one I ever worked with had even heard of someone who heard of someone who knew. There's a rumor of some creature on Renstigon who's on-call to fix it if it ever breaks, but so far we've been very lucky. But we'd better get going; I'll really hear it if anyone finds out I let you up here."

They hurried out of the suite and Grelvav took Adora to her deck. "Thank you so much, Grelvav," Adora said. "I don't know how yet, but I want to work that window in, somehow. That is so incredible . . ."

"I'm sure to see you later, Adora. Right now I better see when the other passengers I'm serving are arriving so I can have everything ready."

Adora took out her map and considered for a moment where she wanted to go. The ship was getting busier as passengers made it to their rooms and Adora hoped to get some glimpses of other passenger accommodations. She went down to the lowest deck of passenger rooms and asked politely if she could take pictures, then worked her way through the decks up to her own. Everyone was very nice and cooperative with the picture-taking. Adora thought as she went on that though the lower deck rooms had cramped space, tiny bathrooms and no windows, it would still be quite a trip. After all, the point of the cruise was to see other planets and have fun on other worlds, not to sit in your room the whole time. By the time she finished with her project it was mid-afternoon and the ship was almost full. She found that she had used up a chip's worth of holo-pictures and went to get another. Adora was a little concerned; she hadn't even left the space dock yet and she was down a picture-chip. She went to the concierge station and waited in the long line while other passengers milled around in the lobby. When Adora got to the counter she saw a weary Dirsob waiting to help her. "How can I help you?" it asked.

"I'm trying to get some data chips for my holo-camera . . . I've already used one up and I haven't even been here a day."

The Dirsob said, "You want Deck Eleven, just above us, on the right, or starboard side. There's a shop called 'Smiles' which has all types of cameras, chips, and lenses. They also do professional photography and hard prints. They won't be that busy yet, so if you hurry . . ."

Adora smiled and handed the staff a fifty-credit chip. "Hope you get some rest tonight."

The Dirsob brightened up considerably. "Thank you so much and enjoy the cruise!"

Adora went up to Deck Eleven and found the shop. She wondered which would be better—a box of many small chips which she could use by the day, or larger chips which would hold more. In the end she had to get the small chips; the shop didn't carry larger chips for her camera model.

The clerk apologized several times, telling her, "If you want we can get you some on our first planetfall; it's just that your camera model is a bit older than what we have in stock . . ."

"It's not a problem," Adora told the clerk, "I'll just do my pictures hour-by-hour. Do you have sixteen of the small chips? I brought seven large ones; I didn't expect to need more than that."

She bought a twenty-chip package, the smallest they had and headed back to her room. She took the picture chip out of her camera, labeled it, "Day One—Still at Docking Station", then set it to the side. She popped in a new chip, made sure she had everything she needed and set out again.

As she stepped out of her room she found a small crowd milling about in front of the suite next to hers. A humanoid caught notice of her and said crossly, "No pictures of Eppid Lim are being handed out at the moment; he's barely in his room. You groupies will—"

"I'm not a groupie, I'm your next-door-neighbor. My name is Adora."

"Sorry, Miss Adora, didn't mean to give you a hard time. I'm Sandly Bowe Itz, security for Eppid Lim. You've heard of him?"

"Actually, I haven't." Adora said.

Sandly pulled her aside and said low, "Don't tell him that, please! He likes to think of himself as a household name and we'll have a rotten trip if he feels he's under-appreciated. He's a fitness guru and model who believes everyone can have a body like his if they'll just work hard enough. He's coming on the cruise as part of an Entertainment Grid series, 'Eating Well in High Places'. If he tries to get you to be in one of his exercise videos or follow his diet plan and you don't want to, just smile, nod and ignore whatever he was telling you. He probably won't hassle you too much; you look a bit young for his tastes."

Adora sighed inside but also felt grateful. People always thought she was in her teens or younger; no one would ever guess she was in her 970's. She reminded herself that in this case she would reap the benefits and said, "Thanks for the warning; I'll try to pretend . . ."

"No, thank you for trying to save us from a terrible experience. See you around, Adora . . ."

Adora heard the shipboard communication message that everyone had to participate in the emergency drill as soon as the ship left port. She listened to the instructions, memorized her lifeboat number and location, went there and waited with all the other passengers and finally went to take pictures of the main entertainment portions of the ship.