The door closes behind us as we exit my quarters, turning right as we walk down the corridor to the elevators, the walk gave me the opportunity to think to myself, 'What if the captain doesn't like me?' 'Will I get along with the captain?' 'What if the captain despises humans?' 'What questions will he/she ask me?' 'What will the captain be like?' 'What if the commanding crew of the ship doesn't like me?' Many questions, but the answers that will be relayed back are a worry to me.


Lizareth takes a glance left at me, noticing my quiet demeanor, “You okay, Ryan?" she asks softly.
I turn to her, as I snap out of my little thought trance, “Yeah, just a little nervous on meeting the captain."
“No need, you will do fine, Ryan. Just be yourself." “Be myself, got it."  'Be myself that will be a piece of cake.' I thought. We made it to the elevator, the doors opening as we approached. We entered the elevator as the computers female voice greeted us, “Welcome Lieutenant Draconian, please choose a destination." The doors shut as I and Lizareth stand side-by-side in the elevator.
“Bridge, please." “Deck One requires Delta-Level security clearance, please have the proper authorization."


I watch as Lizareth scans her wrist-computer with a wave of her wrist in front of the holographic control panel.
“Delta-Level Clearance confirmed, one moment please." Responds the computer, feeling a jolt as the elevator activated and starting going up. “How come the computer detects you and not me?" I ask.
She smiles and then grins at me, “Because you don't have security clearance." “Meaning?"
“You're not in the system yet."
“Oh, that's why, how and when do I get in the system?" I ask. “When you meet the captain, the captain is the one who authorizes and gets you into the system."
I nod understanding, “Awesome, what happens once that's done?" “You can go anywhere on the ship, if you ask nicely the captain will gladly give you Delta-Level Clearance."
 I give her a smile; she returns the smile, showing off her razor sharp teeth. “That means you can enter restricted areas that require authorization."
The elevator came to a halt, “Deck One, Bridge." Announces the computers voice, the doors open, what was revealed to me is truly astonishing.
The bridge has heaps of crew, officers and personnel, doing many duties. The bridge itself was half the length of a tennis court, to put it into perspective. Three massive windows spanned the front of the bridge, they had to be at least five meters wide and seven meters in length, the windows were divided, like one was left, one was centre and one was right. Located two meters away from the windows in front of them were a line of consoles with many switches and screens. Two main chairs were positioned evenly in the middle of the row of consoles, assuming they were the pilots who fly the ship. There were other chairs located in different sections with different consoles; I guess they had their individual stations and duties.


The consoles were all lit up with many different colors; there were hundreds of screens that displayed many figures and information, assuming information about the ship and systems.
Situated above the line of computer consoles was a massive view screen, it had to be the size of a movie theatre screen it was that big.
I see there is a chair situated in the mid-centre of the room, with a few consoles and screens in front of it and on the armrests, I guess that's the captains chair, my heart started beating rapidly but to my luck the chair was empty.
I only just noticed that the bridge went dead silent, all the officers and crew had seen me arrive. I swallowed nervously; all eyes were on me, as I look around at each crew member, there were the majority of the species on the bridge that were aboard the ship. Many of the Drakes, Terim (Dragons), Swerina (Anthro Birds), Nali (Anthro Sharks), Pelenini (Anthro Dogs and Wolves), Narvian (Lizareth's race), they all were staring at me.
'I think this is going to happen wherever I go on this ship.' I thought. I saw that many of the crew members had smiles and grins on their faces, many others had looks of awe, some had looks of confusion, so I guess in a way it is a friendly fifty-fifty silent greeting.
“So this is the human male everyone is talking about?" sounds a soft male voice in the background.


I watch as a male dragon comes into view, walking towards me slowly, he stood like four inches taller than me, his appearance is soft and friendly, his scales are white, they are a shade of white all over his body, his arms and legs, well I couldn't see his legs as he was wearing dress pants as part of his uniform. Taking note of some of the color visible on his chest, that is showing above his collar, I would say the color resembled cream, but a shade lighter. He had large scales on his stomach, as I could see the contours of them just above his collar, making a checkered pattern on his stomach; I guess it runs all the way to the base of his tail, running underneath it, through to his genitals and to the tip of his tail.
His ears are the same color as his scales, but his inner ear is the same color as his chest scales, having that cream color to them. His ears were long and slightly pointed and he had them flattened on his head but each one to the side slightly.
His two wings were slightly folded behind his back almost looking akin to bats wings, the membrane the same color as his scales whilst the main feature of his wings was the same color as his stomach scales.


His face and muzzle has that soft elegant look, his nostrils were at the tip of his muzzle, and two canines were visible on either side of his mouth. He has long light red hued hair that is styled to look like a Mohawk, which runs down to the bottom of his neck. His tail is long, with triangle ridges spaced evenly along the spine of his tail, his tail ending with a heart shaped tip and his eyes were golden with a black slit pupil.
'I hate to admit but he did look… ah what's the word I'm looking for? It starts with an A, oh that's right attractive, why am I thinking such thoughts?' He eyes me with curiosity; I wish I knew what he was thinking.
I swallow nervously as I clear my throat, “Yes, I am that human." I say moderately and calmly. His attention turns to Lizareth.
“Ah, Lieutenant Draconian, good to have you back aboard. I assume your mission was a success?" I watch her stiffen as she salutes him, “Yes sir, it went considerably well. Thank you, Captain, I'm glad to be back."


He returns her salute. “At ease, Lieutenant." She relaxes some. He walks up to me, looking me directly in the eye, I stare into his golden eyes.
I feel a bit uneasy, I don't know if he is trying to intimidate me or feel threatening. But something that I wasn't expecting happens; he brings up his right hand in a salute. I follow suit, by raising my right hand to my forehead and saluting him, a sign of respect.
“I don't know the full story on how you got here and the reason for you being here, but I will find out about that later, but it's a pleasure to meet you…" he holds out his hand, his three fingers and a thumb gesturing at me, “Ryan, Ryan Mendoza."
“Pleasure to meet you, Ryan; you're the first human I have ever met, I'm Captain Fizren Threx, the commanding officer of the MSC Laywest." “I'm honored to be the first human you have met and it is a pleasure to meet you too, Fizren."
He smiles, “He's such a nice human, Lizareth, how did you find him? He has a great personality." I blushed a tad and I think he notices. Lizareth looks to me for clarification, Fizren notices our uneasy looks. “Has something happened?" he asks in a serious tone. I give Lizareth a nod indicating its okay for her to tell him the full story on as to why I am here to live on this ship forever.


“I studied Ryan, watching him for a year and a half, he had suffered a serious case of loss, his wife died from cancer, and they were married for ten years." I watched as Fizren flinch hearing those words, “he loved her with his life. I couldn't watch him suffer anymore, he was spiraling out of control, if I hadn't of done something…" she looks to me with a soft look, I try my best to hold back the tears, but a few let loose, I sniffle as I look away to not show my emotions, “…he wouldn't be here today. So I offered a new life for him, a new future, a fresh start so I brought him here, his new home."
Fizren looks at me with sympathy, “Ryan… I am so sorry for your loss, this is your new home, you're here to stay forever as long as you want. From the deepest point of my heart, I give you my condolences."
I give a deep shaky breath, as a few more tears let loose, “Thank you, Fizren, it means a lot to hear you say that."
He takes both of my hands in his and cradles it, “No, I seriously mean it honestly if you need anything, anything at all, you let me know, okay?"
I nod understanding, “Thanks." I say trying to cheer up, but to no avail, I wasn't able to.
Fizren and Lizareth take notice of this and start to worry, all the crew on the bridge was silent and watching the events unfold in front of them. “Lieutenant, let's have Ryan head to my ready-room." He says pointing to one of the doors on the farther side of the bridge.
She nods, “Yes, sir. Good idea. This way, Ryan, we're heading to the captains office, we'll talk there."


We started walking across the bridge towards the door, all eyes following us, Captain Threx turns around to address his crew, “You all will have the opportunity to meet, talk and greet with Ryan, for now please attend to your duties, that is an order." I watch as all the bridge crew get back to their business and duties, as the buzzing of activity continued.
We arrived at the door, as Fizren punched in his credentials on the keypad as the door opened; I and Lizareth followed him in, the door sliding shut behind us.
I looked around the room and took it in, it was like an office. A fairly large oak desk with a computer console, a single chair placed on his side of the desk, while two chairs were positioned on the opposite side, a small table with adequate seating, a picture of his family, a picture of him when he was younger... all the things that make up an office. The wall behind him was decorated by multiple awards, medallions, certificates and achievements.
He gestures to the two seats, “Please take a seat." He said, sitting down himself.


“Ryan, even though I only just met you, I care about you a lot, as the captain of this ship I have a duty of care, I have to make sure you're okay and that you're emotionally okay."
“I understand, I will control my emotions and think positive, I will not let my emotions get the better of me."  I reply.
I look to my left at Lizareth; she smiles and gives me a nod of approval. “Anything you want to add, Lizareth?" asks Fizren raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, security clearance for Ryan." She says remembering. He nods, “Of course, I can do that for our human resident." He says tapping on the keyboard for his computer console.
I watch as his hands dance away on the keyboard, punching in commands. I then hear a hiss and a chuff, as a section of the wall to our right extends outwards in a mechanical manner. Mist flows out of it, as he gets up to the extended section of the wall, as the mist haze dissipates, I finally realize that it's housing a whole row of wrist-computers, same as the one that Lizareth has and every other crew member I have met so far.


He picks one up and walks over to me, in front of his desk, he holds out in front of me. “Here you go, Ryan, you're very first step on becoming a crew member of the MSC Laywest, your very own Quanttella."
I grasp it from his hands, as I hold it out in the palms of my hands. “I… thank you, this means a lot."
“Put it on." He says. I smile, as I take hold of it in my left hand, sliding my right hand through it letting it fit onto my wrist as if it were a large scale version of a wrist-band, albeit fully computerized and electronic.
It fitted snug onto my wrist, it felt really comfortable, perfect fit. “There's just one slight tiny-wincey side effect to it that is relatively uncomfortable but we all had to go through it…" says Fizren looking to Lizareth with a slight concerned look.
“And that is?" I say raising an eyebrow. 
“It needs access to your neurological system, blood and your DNA." I give a light laugh, “How is this thing supposed to do that?" I chuckle pointing at it.
That's when the Quanttella, clamped shut on my wrist tightly, I then feel three needles puncture my skin and feel a slight burning sensation around my wrist and hand.


I grit my teeth as it honestly did feel very uncomfortable with a bit of throbbing pain, but tolerable. “Scanning commenced." I hear the Quanttella's female voice say. “Human, male, age: twenty-nine." “Twenty-nine, eh?" counters Fizren. “I'm physically fit and in shape, benefits of having a gym membership." I reply. “Point taken." Then the pain dissipated, as the Quanttella was secured on my wrist.
“Nice." I say looking at it, it looks really cool. “Ryan," Fizren grabs my attention, I look up at him. “Keep in mind, a Quanttella is permanent, you cannot take it off, there are ways to take it off but requires high-level authorization, higher than my pay-grade."
I nod understanding, “So with this I can go anywhere on the ship?" I ask. “Yes, you now have obtained Delta-Level Security Clearance, which means you can come up here to the bridge anytime you want, or visit restricted areas."
“Sweet." I say. “I have some questions for you, Ryan, if I may?" asks Fizren.
“Shoot." “What did you do on Earth before you left?" he asks. “I was or still is a qualified mechanic." “Could you please elaborate?" “I fixed and worked on cars, in your terms I would be considered an engineer."


He stroked his chin, puzzling, “Hmm, engineer. We defiantly could use someone like you with your level of expertise."
“How so?" I ask, gesturing my hand at him. “Well, if you have that type of knowledge we could use that to our advantage, say if our engines go haywire or anything mechanical or electrical goes wrong on this ship, you could fix it."
“Give me a spanner, shifter or a socket wrench any day, and I will make it work for you." I say confidently, placing my hands behind my back.
“That's the spirit," he sticks his hand out in an offered shake. I take his hand, “Welcome aboard, Ryan." He says.
I give his hand a shake, feeling his soft scales on his hand. He turns to Lizareth, “Lizareth, I have last minute duties to take care of, you and Ryan are dismissed, you both can head to your quarters now."
Lizareth salutes, “Thank you, sir." She turns to me, “Let's get you settled in, Ryan, follow me to our quarters." I nod, as I put my hand out and smile, “After you."

---

The door to my quarter's slides shut, as I walk towards the large window, a floor to ceiling window, which had an open view of space, the dazzling stars and colors of my galaxy.
I put my arm against the glass as I lean my head on it, “Ryan, are you okay?" she asks softly as she walks up beside me.
“Hm, yeah I'm good, I guess." I reply vaguely.
“I find that hard to believe. Now, tell me what's wrong." I sigh, “This," I say gesturing my hand at her and the ship. “All this." “What about it?"
“You, you're an anthropomorphic lizard; I'm on a space ship, in space. I've met walking talking dragons, lizards, dogs, birds, insects and sharks. This all feels like a science fiction movie to me, it doesn't feel real."


I feel Lizareth slowly cup my chin and turn my head towards her, “Ryan, this is real, it is not a dream or a science fiction movie. I am real," she lets go of my chin, “This is as real as it gets, we are all real. You are not imagining any of this, Ryan."
I look into her yellow slit eyes; she could tell I wasn't satisfied with her answer. She gave a sigh, then something I was clearly not expecting, she leaned in and slid her arms around me, in a comforting hug.


I was startled at first, but I slid my arms around her also, she laid her head on my shoulder, this was much… unexpected but also comforting.
I'm pretty certain she loves my body heat as she is cold blooded. After a minute or so, she broke the hug; I was left in awe, as I gaze at her with surprise.
“What was that for?" I ask. She smiled, showing off her razor sharp teeth. “You wanted proof that I was real, that was it."
I smiled, “That's all the proof I need, thank you, Lizareth." “Perfect, Ryan, that's good, because you need this up here…" she points to my temple “…clear and free from any worry or stress for what's to come."


I nod, “It has worked, to an extent." Nodding in agreement, she looks at her Quanttella, “It's getting late I better head to my quarters and call it a night."
“Goodnight Lizareth, thank you for knocking some sense into my mind, you're right I need a clear mind and to keep thinking about all of the 'what ifs' and 'truths' it's unhealthy for me."
“I'm looking after you, Ryan, no need to thank me, I'm just doing my job." She says. She smiles once last time, “Goodnight, Ryan."
I return her smile and she approaches the door, it slides open as she exits my quarters.
The door slid shut and locked itself. I give a big sigh and a light smile, as I make my way to my bed, time to call it a night. I hop into bed, and slide in under the sheets. 'Damn, these beds are very comfy.' I thought.
I tuck myself in, “Computer, turn off lights." I call out, the computer complied by turning off the lights to my quarters, but also a big shutter automatically kicked in closing the length of my window. I nod in amazement, 'Cool' I thought as I place my head on the soft pillow and drift off to sleep.

---

I open my eyes slowly, realizing I can't sleep, I give a sigh. I raise my right arm to look at my Quanttella; I give the display a tap with my finger, the brightness too harsh for my eyes as they squint for a bit as the screen illuminated with the time: 2:46AM.
I slump back on my pillow; I was only able to fit in 4 hours of sleep. 'Piss off thoughts.' I thought, 'You're keeping me awake.'
I give a big sigh, as I rise up and slide out of bed. I walk over to my luggage; I rummage through a medium sized suit case, fishing out a bottle of aged bourbon and a crystal glass.


'I need a drink.' I thought. I walk over to the bench that served as a desk, place the glass and bottle down on it.
I need ice; I look around, no ice machine to be seen or refrigerator. “Computer," I say as it chimed into action, “I need ice."
“Certainly." It responded I hear a metallic click and a whirr sound, where my quarters' computer is situated, a little door opened up; I walk over to it, to see a container full of ice cubes there ready for me.
'Not bad' I thought as I retrieve the container out of the mail slot type of hole as the door slid shut.
I place the container on the desk, throw in three to four cubes of ice into my glass as I grab the bottle of bourbon, pop the lid and fill the glass to the brim.
I screw the cap back on and place the bottle on the desk. I take a swig of the bourbon, its nice texture and flavor flowing down my throat.
I glance at the door, glass in hand as I stare down at my Quanttella. 'Hmm' I thought. I quickly got dressed in my casual attire, approached the door, and gave the control panel on the right hand side a tap and the door slid open.
What greeted me was an eerie empty dark hallway, with rows of doors, each door for an individual's quarters'.


The hallway lights were toned down, but still did their job in illuminating the hallway. It was if it's done on purpose for anyone who needed to duck out in the early hours and not get blinded by the hallway lights.
I step out as my quarters' door slides shut quietly with a soft electronic click. I start walking down the hallway, glass of bourbon in hand.
It was very quiet, save for the low hum of the ships engines. As I make my early-morning stroll down the hallway, an opened door catches my eye. 'The hell?'  I thought. I approach the opened door and peak in, I use a knuckle to knock on the door frame, “Hello, anyone here?" I call out.
No response, I shrug, 'Fair enough' I thought. 'No one here.'


As I entered, the dimmed lights slowly adjusted to a comfortable level of brightness, revealing a viewing deck of some sort, the windows were floor to ceiling high, with also hand rails mid-high curving the length of the window.
I lean on the rails, drink in hand, looking out into space, my own Milky Way Galaxy in full view, all the stars gleaming.
I take a sip of my bourbon, the ice rattling in the glass. “What are you doing up this late?" came a female voice.
I perk up, as I turn around to be greeted by Lizareth standing at the doorway, wearing what seemed to be her version of sleeping attire, the darkness of the room showing off the glowing lights of her Quanttella


“I can't sleep." I reply. “I could ask the same of you." She frowns at me, and then smiles, “I can't sleep either."
She walks up to me standing beside me, as she leans on the railing. “Watcha got there?" she asks motioning to my glass.
“Bourbon, it's a human drink, alcohol." I reply, I tilt the glass toward her, “Want some?"
She shrugs, “It wouldn't hurt." I pass the glass to her, the ice rattling against the glass, as she takes it in her hand.
I watch as she takes a mouth full of it, I grin to her reaction of the taste, expecting her to absolutely hate it.
She cringes in distaste, “Wow! Damn that's strong; it's burning my damn throat." She coughs a bit as she hands the glass back to me.


I laugh, “So you don't like it?" I ask. “Yeah, not gonna drink that again, I do not like it. And stop laughing at me." I giggle. “Fair enough." I reply going back to leaning on the railing, taking another sip.
“How the hell can you drink that stuff?" she asks. “You got to drink a lot of it to get accustomed to it, and then you get used to it."
“I see, still that's' not gonna convince me enough to drink it, you have to try better than that." She says giving me a playful punch to the shoulder. I smile, as I have another sip of my bourbon.
I see her then perk up with excitement, “I wanna show you something." She says, as she takes my hand. “Show me what?" I ask confused. “C'mon you will love it!" She exclaims, as she drags me out of the viewing deck room, to wherever she wants me to see.