“It seems to me that you’ve pulled a few practical jokes yourself, Cap.”

Weston could see Stephanos’s eyes light up as he began to formulate his next sentence.

Weston stayed serene, then interrupted his friend. “Does the word grounded mean anything to you?”

Milla looked between them in confusion. Grounded? What ground? We are on a space vessel.

Stephanos looked at her with an expression of mock pain on his face. “The captain doesn’t play by the rules. ‘Grounded’ is an expression that means ‘removed from active flight duty.’”

Milla looked across at Weston, noting the laughter in his eyes. “One of the perks…of command?”

“Just so, Ithan. Just so.”

The three of them broke out laughing, drawing stares from dozens of people who wondered what the captain and the space lady found so funny.

Weston was about to say something when a call from the bridge interrupted them. “Captain, we’ll be breaking orbit shortly. The transition vectors have been calculated.”

Weston tapped the switch on the side of the induction mic. “Good. I’ll be up shortly.”

He turned to Milla. “I’m afraid that I have duties to attend to, Ithan. If you’d like to stay here for a while, Stephanos can show you to your room when you wish. I’ll send for you prior to transition, if you would like.”

Milla looked across at Stephanos, who nodded. “All right, Captain. I’ll stay out of your way until we…transition.”

Weston smiled at her words; although, he did wonder about the way she seemed to almost taste the word transition. She’s in for a nasty shock if she’s planning on a smooth ride.

Weston strode out of the room, heading for the lift that would take him back to the bridge. Stephanos watched him leave before turning back to Milla.

“You interested in seeing some more of the sights?”

Milla looked around for a moment. “Certainly, Stephanos, I would be most delighted.”

Stephanos stood and motioned her out of the room toward the closest lift. “We’ll catch a lift running along the axis of the rotating habitats. There’s something in the stern of the ship I think you’d like to see.”

“Really? And what would that be?” Milla looked at Stephanos out of the corner of her eye, trying to guess his intentions.

Stephanos, apparently oblivious to her scrutiny, just stood there smiling. “It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you that, now, would it?”

They boarded a lift that sped along the central axis, reducing its rotation until it stopped and they were floating free. Stephanos slipped a pair of Magboots across the lift to Milla, and they stepped out onto the Odyssey’s observation deck.

They approached the enormous transparent steel windows that looked over both rotation drums of the Odyssey as they spun counter to each other. There were long lines of cable tracing paths through the stars as they interconnected different portions of the ship, providing guidelines for the currently collapsed sensory arrays. And just off to one side, the blue-green world hung suspended amongst the stars.