Page 1 of Star Cruise Captain's Story

CHAPTER ONE

Five years ago…

The wedding had been in full swing for hours now. Captain Gil Fleming didn’t know the bride or the groom but he’d brought the groom’s sister safely here to Xcelon Four aboard his luxury cruise liner theNebula Zephyrat the request of powerful friends. There’d been a few problems along the way but he and his crew had made sure the sister made it on time and as a result he’d been invited to attend the festivities. It wasn’t his usual practice to get drawn into these things but he’d made an exception this time. As weddings and receptions went it hadn’t been a bad experience. He’d met a few famous people, which although in his role as a ship’s captain, he often met celebrities and hosted them at his table in the ship’s dining room, meeting Nick Jameson, hero of theNebula Dreamdisaster, was a rare privilege, worth going any distance to achieve. Nick was a Sectors-wide hero, revered for saving all those lives, including the groom and his sister, who’d been children at the time.

Gil was wondering at what point he could gracefully depart from the reception. He’d had a few glasses of the high endfeelgood, had resisted efforts to draw him onto the dance floor, had enjoyed a good conversation or two with interesting guests like Jameson, and now he was thoroughly done. Pulling at the high collar of his dress uniform, which chafed, he reached for his handheld, to alert the pilot of his private shuttle he was ready to return to theNebula Zephyr, high above in orbit.

“Care to dance, captain?” The voice was sultry and the hand on his shoulder was delicate, her touch bringing sparks of electricity to his nervous system. Her perfume wafted delicately past his nose, putting all his nerve endings on the alert.

It couldn’t be.

Turning in his chair, Gil caught his breath at the vision before him. She was almost as tall as he was, beautiful platinum hair caught up in an elaborate arrangement, perfect face alight with happiness and mischief lurked in her deep blue eyes.

“Maeve?” His voice cracked in sheer disbelief.How much of the damn wine had he drunk?

She extended her hand, palm up. “I don’t think we should waste this opportunity, do you? The Mellureans worked so hard to give it to us.”

He rose and swept her into his arms as her chiffon skirts swirled around his legs. They moved onto the dance floor and smoothly integrated into the flow of the dance. Gil was on autopilot, relying on lessons drilled into him decades ago at the Space Navy Academy, while he tried to absorb the fact she actually was here in his arms. The delicate floral fragrance he associated with her in his dreams tickled his nose and she pressed as close to him as she could while they danced.

“Are—are you really here or is this a dream?” he asked finally, reluctant to break the spell but not entirely sure he wasn’t in a feelgood-fueled hallucination. He was afraid to let his hopes soar.

“I’m here, I promise.” She kissed his cheek as the song ended and the guests waited for more music. “Lady V’terre thought this would be a good opportunity to test my ability to manifest as a human—well, a close approximation of one anyway—and hold the form, unlike the last time. I’ve been working with the Mellureans every chance I get.” A frown swept over her face and he wanted to kiss the troubling emotion away for her. “The ladies weren’t kidding when they said the solution to my problem wouldn’t be on a human time frame.”

“We’ve made it work,” he said, retaining his hold.

“I always wanted to dance,” she said as the next song began. “It looks so beautiful in the soap operas. There’s one historical show I watch where the most interesting things occur in ballrooms and on the dance floor. So romantic.”

“I’ll show you romantic,” Gil promised as he swept her into the proper steps. “So this is only a test run then? Not the actual transformation?”

“I’m nowhere near ready yet.” She closed her eyes and followed his lead. “We all know that.”

“Is the ship okay then?” he hated to ask but theNebula Zephyrand all the souls aboard herhadto be his first concern, above his desire for this woman in his arms.

“Lady V’terre is monitoring the situation.” Now Maeve peeked through her lashes at him and smiled. “Part of me is here on the planet dancing with you and the rest of the cortex is busy running the ship. I promise, everything is fine.”

As Gil maneuvered her through the crowded ballroom, marveling at how right she felt in his arms and how well she responded to his every move, he decided to allow himself to enjoy this experience as long as it lasted. Maeve was literally the woman of his dreams.

She was also his ship’s Artificial Intelligence.

And they were in love, mind to mind, although in all the years the two of them had sailed together, first on the battleshipGalateaand then on the cruise liner in orbit above, they’d only met face to face once, for a quick kiss before tragedy struck. Dreams were all either of them had, and long conversations, a passion for an old board game of strategy he carried in his battered rucksack and their shared experiences as captain and ship roaming the galaxy.

The Mellureans were an incredibly ancient alien race, who owed Gil and Maeve a debt stemming from an action taken years ago. Ever since the grateful aliens had been making sporadic attempts to assist Maeve in becoming a ‘real’ person, housed in a biological body, not a spaceship. Not unexpectedly there were numerous challenges and problems inherent in the effort but Gil was patient. He trusted the Mellureans to make the dream come true at some point. He selfishly hoped it would be before he died. Maeve of course was eternal in her current incarnation as an AI.

They danced and danced, talking a little, but mostly enjoying the sensations of being in each other’s arms. Gil ignored the people in their vicinity, as he was determined to squeeze every ounce of enjoyment out of this interlude and build memories to keep him going once he and the woman he loved returned to their proper places in the galaxy.

“Lady V’terre insisted I book a room in this hotel,” Gil said finally, unable to ignore his surging desires or the way Maeve fit herself against his body whenever the dances allowed such closeness. “I didn’t understand why at the time but now I can think of a very good reason for us to have a private place. Have you danced enough?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get my fill of dancing,” she replied. “It’s so much better to actually be in the midst of a ball, in your arms, than to see it on a soap opera holo.”

His heart fell at her answer but he was determined to give her whatever she wanted in this brief span of time she could spend as a human, rather than an AI embedded inside a giant starship. “Are you hungry at all? The buffet was huge and I’m sure there’s plenty of selection left. The bride’s family spared no expense for this celebration.”

Maeve gave him a look full of mischief. “Yes, I’m hungry but not for food. And there are other kinds of dancing—at least from what I’ve seen in my soap operas. Your room would be a perfect place to experience that. Lady V’terre is certainly a wise woman, suggesting you needed a private place to retreat to.”

“Say no more.” He led her off the dance floor, reveling in holding her hand after all the years of longing. The two of them were a perfect match mentally and personality-wise and he was positive they’d be equally in harmony in bed. After all, he had years of erotic dreams shared with her to go by. “How long do we have?”

“Lady V’terre said until dawn,” Maeve replied as she entered the gravlift to go to his room. “Sounds so romantic, doesn’t it? Like a fairytale.” She rubbed her arms and glanced at the silvery antigrav stream. “This tickles—I never knew what riding antigrav actually felt like before.”

Gil watched her as he ascended towards his floor next to his dream woman. Physical sensations and inputs had overwhelmed Maeve on the only other time she’d been in a corporeal form so he was a bit wary but she seemed to be coping fine with all the stimuli. It was reassuring to know the Mellurean was monitoring the situation from somewhere close at hand. He didn’t want any harm to come to Maeve, not in either form.

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