The Quarry

[Rage Menelas]

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]Charlie's ship, Saar'floe, was a thing of wonder to his new apprentice. What had at first seemed like a lifeless, sanitary environment soon came alive in ways that Ryan never imagined possible.

He was initially taken down through the dark hole in the floor to a cavernous area below. It was lit with an eerie reddish-orange light that seemed to emanate from the very air. There was a strange fibrous netting that clung to the walls, which were similar in appearance to rusted iron, stark contrast to the polished silver walls up on the higher level.

Aft of this cargo area were the engines. Ryan inspected the massive, purring machinery with awe. He was told that it ran on anti-matter, which it generated itself. (Quite a feat when you consider an ounce of the stuff costs billions of dollars to create on Earth!)

Back up on the crew deck, for that is how Charlie referred to the deck where the bridge was located, he was taken to one of the cookie-cutter chambers.

This is your cabin.

Ryan looked in at the bare walls and the cold steel table, looked back at his host. Uh, it's kind of austere, don't you think?

Only until you decorate.

Decorate? he chuckled, well, when will my U-Haul get here?

U-Haul?

Uh, never mind... what do I decorate with?

Charlie pointed to Ryan's head. Whatever is in there.

Huh?

Observe. He waved his hand across the wall to the right of the entrance. A transparent grid appeared, floating in mid-air. He began to motion with his hand across the grid surface. Before long there appeared a rectangular shape. More gestures rounded its edges and gave it depth. Then it began to plump, as if it were being filled with something. Buttons appeared at evenly spaced intervals across its flattened surface and it gradually bled a pale blue color across it, turning the opaque image into a solid one. Now Ryan could see it was a mattress. Charlie backed up and motioned toward the steel table. The image detached itself and floated over the table, then gently came to rest there.

He motioned to Ryan, try it.

Ryan sat down on the mattress. It was thick, warm and comfortable. He shook his head in disbelief. How did you do that?

I simply manipulated my ship's systems. Come I will instruct you. And he spent the next several hours training his apprentice on how to access and operate the matter creator. When they were done Ryan's cabin had undergone an incredible transformation. It was as if the ship itself was made of some kind of super clay and Ryan was the sculptor! Teak floors replaced the steel, burnished cherry-wood cabinets graced the walls. He knocked an entrance in the back wall and put in a luxurious oasis hot tub that he recalled from a vacation in Vegas. And it just got better from there. He was the proverbial kid in the candy-shop! He just wished Shell was alive to experience it with him...