Daniel stared at the massive space vessel before him. It was easily half a kilometre long and a hundred metres wide. It had giant thrusters on the back for fast travel and small rockets dotted along the hull, angled for an easy vertical takeoff. A small ramp extended from what was the cargo bay of the obviously two-storied ship. It was this ramp that Daniel and Tyler walked up. Just inside the doorway was the Avian’s crew. Tyler introduced each of them in turn. There was Valek the dragoness. She had fiery red scales that dominated her surprisingly human-sized body. Her claws that tipped her hands and feet were pure black. Her eyes shined green with intelligence and her long muzzle was filled with sharp white teeth. Her tail lashed from side to side irritably as she caught sight of Daniel. Tyler had earlier informed him that Valek was the former guardian of the ship, but an injury was preventing her from doing that at the moment. If she did heal, then she could always do with the help. Something told Daniel this wasn’t true. Next up was Bill the dwarf. He was short, barely making it past Daniel’s waist. He had a long ginger beard and wore a grubby brown aviator helmet, World War Two style, goggles and all. He was the ship’s engineer. There was Yaris, a feline. She had a humanoid shape, but with all the features of a cat, such as pointed ears and slitted eyes. As well as the short grey fur that covered her body. She was the ship’s cook. Jeff was a lycan. He was a different subspecies to Yaris, but they came from the same planet. He had similarly coloured fur to her, but his was shaggier and longer. Like Yaris, he had a humanoid body except with wolfish features thrown on top, like a muzzle and pointed ears on top of his head. He was in charge of navigation. Janet was next up. As a Scardarvian, she was green-skinned with horse-like legs that executed in horse-like hooves. The rest of her seemed more or less human though, and she let her long black hair flow freely past her shoulders. She was in charge of maintaining everything that Bill didn’t, which was anything non-mechanical. Last of all was Karen, who looked much like Hailey, and was probably the same species. He wore glasses over his orange eyes, though they weren’t regular glasses. He was in charge of the ship’s technology, and so one of his glasses’ lenses was actually a computer screen, which was linked to the ship’s main operating systems.

“So what do you do?” Valek demanded arrogantly. Daniel grinned and hefted one of the many guns Tyler had bought him. It was about the length of his arm, the perfect example for his retort.

“Big guns at low prices.” Daniel left the hold to organise his room.

“Oh great. Another one of those ones,” Yaris moaned sarcastically. “Isn’t it bad enough that we have to put up with Jeff’s witty remarks?” Jeff grinned.

Daniel glanced around the room. All his stuff had been transferred there, not that there was a lot of it. It was quite a cosy room. The bed was in between single and double, not quite the right size to be either, and it was much like a bunk bed, except for the fact that the top story was a storage space, not a sleeping one. It was here Daniel deposited his items, except for his clothes, for which there was a small chest at the foot of the bed. As promised, there was also a small desk and matching chair pushed into the corner. However, it was an enigma to Daniel as to what one would use it for. He decided to leave the small book he had purchased a while back on it, as the chair looked like it might be a comfortable to read on. Having nothing else to do, Daniel decided to try and familiarise himself with the layout of the ship. He came by the engine room, the mess hall, the corridor that contained all the sleeping quarters and all the other useful areas one might want on their ship. After about an hour of aimless wandering, when Daniel was beginning to think he was getting the hang of the place, Tyler announced over the intercom that they would be lifting off in five minutes. Daniel didn’t know what to expect, so decided heading back to his quarters might be a good idea. However, he soon realised he was lost and did not know the way back. He rushed around frantically, only succeeding in getting himself even more lost. He turned a corner hurriedly and smashed right into Valek.

“Watch it meat bag!” she growled as she picked herself up off the ground. Daniel scrambled to do the same.

“S-sorry,” he stammered.

“Why the hell are you in such a rush anyway?” Daniel felt like an idiot.

“Uh, the uh, umm... the ship was, ah, taking off... I-I was trying to get back to my quarters before it did.” Valek snorted. She seemed very unimpressed.

“Well, next time you hurtle into me like that, I’ll bite your hand off, hear me?”

“Cr-crystal clear.” Valek took one last look at him, snorted again, and then walked off. Daniel realised he was back at the mess hall and could quite easily make his way to his room from there. He sat on his bed while the ship took off. It wasn’t quite what he had expected. There was a slight jolt as it left the ground and a smooth ride from then on into space. Daniel soon found himself wondering where Tyler was planning to go with his crew, and consoled to ask him in the morning. Morning? Daniel checked his watch. It would be night on his home planet, but out in space, time was relative. Daniel supposed that the passengers grabbed some sleep whenever they could, which was now for him. He lay down on his bed and tried to get some shut-eye.