They stepped off the cart and out into the VIP corridor, headed for the doors to the passenger area, and Max did his best to keep the fake professional smile on his face as Nico's hand found its way into his back pocket, and she practically wrapped herself around his side.
To the cameras they would look like the perfectly besotted newlyweds, and those were the first impression images that would be uploaded to the Data Net for Mary to find.
Everything that came after that would be greeting old friends and staff, so these would be the only images of interest for the next hour or so.
"Don't overdo it. The fake innocent and gentle look will never fool your mother." Max whispered to Nico, who covered her mouth and giggled as the doors opened and the cameras flashed.
It was perfect timing, and Max saw in the journalist's minds that the images were of an extremely close couple sharing a joke as they walked, and not some overdone scene that Mary would see through instantly.
"Thank you all for coming to welcome us back. It is great to be home aboard Terminus again after so long out wandering the universe.
I have heard many things about how you have improved the experience in our absence, and I am certain that both myself and my Subcommander are going to have a wonderful time learning how much things have changed." Max greeted the crowd.
"Thank you Commander. We have waited a long time to show you all that we managed to do to improve the reputation of the Terminus Trading Company and the comfort of our guests." Admiral Drake replied with a cheeky smile.
Max noticed that the old soldier was now quite tanned, and he smelled like coconut oil, so he was likely lying on one of the many artificial beaches when he got the news that the Commanders were on their way back, and he needed to get dressed.
One after another, Max greeted everyone who had come to welcome them, until he got to a familiar face in the back.
The representative from the Dryads was here, with their head botanist practically hanging off her side, with adoration in his thoughts. The two had clearly made some relationship progress while he was away, though he wasn't quite certain of the physics of such a relationship.
"It is good to see you again, Commander Max, Commander Nico. The World Tree is growing beautifully, and the rest of the plant life on board is in pristine shape." The Dryad welcomed them.
"Thank you. I know that it is no easy feat to keep such delicate lives growing in a space vessel, but they are important to us." Max replied.
There was a sudden scream in the distance, a long and drawn out note of horror that ended as suddenly as it had begun, and Max quickly extended his thoughts to see what had happened, and who might be responsible.
Only, it was no crime. They had erected a bungee jumping station in one of the vertical columns, so the guests could have an eighty-metre free fall, and then get pulled back up just before they reached the pond at the bottom. The stretch of the rope was set just right so that they could almost touch the decorative fish living in the waters, and then they were hurtled back up into the air again.
"I see that the extreme cruise moniker isn't only our destinations." Max laughed.
"Extreme is all a state of mind. Many of our guests consider the gravity slides an extreme experience. But the flying dodgeball contests, bungee jumping and the full contact Rings league are accepted by most as features worth visiting for." Admiral Drake agreed.
"We have a rings league?" Max asked.
"In a way. We only have one team from Terminus, but we have worked out a deal to provide the Portal services so that other teams can come here to play for our home games. It has been a huge hit, and in two months the playoffs will be starting, which will stress our capacity to the maximum.
I'm sure you noticed that we've already expanded the guest section almost all the way to the Academy, so I'm not sure how much more capacity we can add, but the league only requires fifty thousand live tickets be made available, and everyone else can watch online." The Admiral explained, while twisting his long grey moustache into a curl with his fingers.
"And we're up to a capacity of how many now?" Max asked.
"Two hundred and ninety thousand transient guest rooms, and two thousand long-term VIP suites that we have on yearly leases to a handful of major companies within the Reavers and the Alliance."
If they doubled up in the beds, that was nearly six hundred thousand guests at once, a truly impressive level for any sort of amphitheatre. Some of the seats would likely be terrible views, but as it was a flying sport, there was a chance that the match would make it up toward the upper seats at some point, so it wasn't a total loss.
Max didn't know how many people could be put in bleachers around one of the vertical columns, the open areas that the designers of the ship had built in for cargo movement and a feeling of spaciousness, but it should be many times that of a standard stadium, given that the ship was hundreds of metres tall.
"What events are planned for today?" Nico asked as she took in the subtly changed interior of the ship.
"Nothing too major for today. It's a school holiday, so we have a collection of nonalcoholic beverage specials at the water parks, and we have turned up a selection of the slides to double their normal speed.
There is a gravity barrier at the end to slow the passengers back down, but the Innu find the experience quite thrilling, and most of the students agree." Admiral Drake laughed.
"Now that sounds like fun. I am definitely going to have to try that out later. But I suppose that we should likely make an appearance for the guests as well. I know that they're waiting to see us, since there was a fireworks show in front of their viewports when we made our way over.
If we delay too much longer, they will start thinking that they're not important to us."
"Good point. How about we head to the fifth floor restaurant alley? It's one of the more upscale areas on the ship, and it gives us a good chance to meet with people, since it's always packed. Then we can do a welcoming speech if you like. The walk down the street will be on the overhead displays so that the guests know you're here." Admiral Drake informed them.
That was pretty normal for celebrity visits to most places, and Max couldn't deny that to the people here, he was a celebrity of sorts, much like getting a visit from the CEO of the multinational corporation you work for.
"Alright. Let's do this. But I don't think we can take the slides unless we want to end up soaking wet at the other end." Max amended as Nico turned toward the tunnel entrance.
"I forgot about that. Alright, we can take the boring way."
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