Crowned Mate: Stargazer Alien Space Cruise Brides #1 - Tasha Black Page 0,1
of a mountain, with rings of floors going up, around and around its perimeter.
But nothing on the surface of the ship could have prepared her for what she now saw behind the glass walls at its center.
A forest.
This wasn’t some garden with a few scraggly trees, like the one at the center of Juno’s home prefecture on Terra-4.
This was an honest-to-goodness forest, twenty stories tall and bristling with verdant green leaves. The trees were so large that their gnarled branches almost blocked out the light source above.
Flower studded bushes grew right up against the glass, their tendrils climbing the panes.
A mist hung among the foliage, as if it rained heavily and often inside the glass. The fog gave the woods the effect of the illustrations in the children’s books about old Earth back at the museum on Terra-4.
“It’s incredible, isn’t it?” Anna said softly.
“I-I’ve never seen anything like it,” Juno agreed.
“This was the first thing I saw when I broke into the ship,” Anna said, her voice dreamy. “The ivy was bursting through the glass.”
“Life will find a way,” Juno said thoughtfully.
Anna nodded.
They walked slowly past the entry to the forest and into one of the glassy storefronts on the first level.
Anna tapped her wrist and Juno watched in fascination as her bracelet unfurled from her arm and fluttered into the air.
It was a real origami droid. Juno had read about them, but no one back home had any tech as advanced as that.
She tried not to stare.
“BFF-19, would you please measure our honored guest?” Anna asked.
“On it,” the little drone chirped in a friendly, female voice. “Arms out at your sides, feet shoulder width apart, please.”
Juno only marveled at the little robot as she flitted through the air.
“Like this,” Anna said, demonstrating by lifting her own arms.
Juno copied Anna’s posture and the droid let out a chirp of approval, then whirred around her, twin webs of laser light emanating from her wings and encompassing every inch of Juno.
She hoped her measurements weren’t about to be sung out.
“Excellent,” BFF-19 said simply.
She flitted over to a framed white panel on the wall and projected a series of images.
Each one showed a lavish outfit, complete with accessories, and perfectly tailored to suit Juno’s body type.
There was a gown with colors like oil on water, and a sleeping array in soft fur. A hunting costume in fawn colored suede was followed by a crystalline ball gown with a low bodice encrusted in what looked like real Cerulean dust.
Juno was unsure how she could ever choose.
“Yes,” Anna said. “All of those. But I’d also like a few choices that are similar to the clothing of her home planet. Terra-4, is that right?”
“Yes,” Juno managed.
BFF-19 clicked and whirred.
“We all like to feel at home,” Anna said to Juno with a smile.
Another set of images scrolled past. These were the flexible multi-pocket trousers and willowy blouses Juno was used to, but in lovely colors and soft, durable fabrics. Belts and accessories of suede were dyed in wine and berry tones.
“Exactly,” Anna said with satisfaction. “How long until Saca can complete them?”
“Saca is already at work,” BFF-19 said. “The wardrobe will be prepared by the time our guest finishes her bath.”
“I’ll bring her to the spa,” Anna said. “But first we’ll need her chipped.”
“Chipped?” Juno echoed worriedly.
“Oh, it’s nothing to worry about,” Anna said immediately. “It’s just a special bracelet. All our VIP guests have them. It allows us to locate you for security purposes and it acts as a redundancy for the platforms and room sensors. It’s sort of like a backstage pass, so you can have access to all the good stuff.”
Juno shrugged. It sounded like overkill, but she had no problem being tracked. It wasn’t like she could leave the ship, and it certainly wasn’t like she wanted to - at least not until she had done what she came here to do.
She followed Anna out into the main corridor again. A few paces later they turned into another glassy storefront.
A dark-haired woman was entering code into a dimensional printer.
“Hi Angel,” Anna said. “This is Princess Juno.”
“Hello, your majesty,” Angel said, bowing deeply.
They were really going all in on the whole princess package.
“Angel is another one of our founders,” Anna explained.
Once the woman had stepped out from behind the counter, Juno could see a little boy on the floor playing with some sort of wooden puzzle. He seemed to be making quick work of it, taking it apart and reassembling it into various geometric