Chapter 76: 76. Accommodations

"What do you think cutie?" Sarah asked with a grin. "This seems like a nice place, though I'm glad the boss is taking care of the cost."

I looked around in quiet amazement before responding, "Nice doesn't begin to cover it. This is... This is probably the nicest place I've ever stayed at?"

We didn't get away from the Demeter as quickly as we'd expected, Rebecca decided to stay while Mel's people were doing their preliminary inspection of the damage. Same with Sarah, she was practically looking over their shoulders while the two men were in her engine room inspecting the ship's power plant and jump drive.

That all took a few hours, and it ended up being late afternoon by the time we arrived at the hotel Rebecca picked. She handled all the arrangements and money, we all got key-cards and took the lift up to the top floor where our rooms were located. Her room was right next to ours, except calling it a 'room' wasn't accurate. It was more like an apartment suite.

The door opened onto a lounge or living-room area, complete with a large sofa, a couple big comfortable chairs, a small table a couple more chairs around it, and a balcony with a view overlooking that big park me and Sarah visited last time we were here. The wall opposite the sofa was one huge vidscreen, with local news, information channels, plus a few thousand enterntainment vids available in the library.

The bedroom was a separate room, almost as big as the first. The bed in there was bigger and nicer than the bed in our new cabin on the Demeter, it felt like you could fit four people comfortably. And the washroom was just as extravagant, with a big shower and an actual bathtub. Both tub and shower were big enough to share.

My girlfriend put her bag down on the sofa then picked up the controller for the massive vidscreen. The wall came to life with a menu of various options, and Sarah spent a few minutes exploring them while I watched.

I already knew the hotel had a restaurant in it, we figured out it had room service around the clock so you could get food and drinks right to your room any time you wanted. The hotel's other amenities were listed on the screen as my girlfriend continued to explore the system.

After watching a bit more I went back into the bedroom and left my bag on the foot of the bed. When I noticed how soft the bed was I couldn't help myself. I pounced and landed in the middle of it, then rolled around and spread out and enjoyed the luxury of having the big soft bed all to myself for the moment.

"You look comfy," Sarah commented when she came to the bedroom door to check on me.

I was on my back, with arms and legs stretched out. My tail was stretched out too, down between my legs. And the lower half of it was happily swishing back and forth.

"Comfy, but also lonely." I replied with a little pout. "I don't think I could sleep all by myself in a bed this big. I'd feel lost."

She grinned as she climbed onto the bed, then lay down next to me and pulled me into a cuddle. "How's that? Better?"

I curled up against her, my legs and tail wrapping around her legs while a quiet purr started rumbling in my chest.

"Much better," I smiled happily.

We spent the next fifteen or twenty minutes cuddling and kissing, before we were interrupted by someone at the door. Rather than knocking there was an intercom, and it sounded a gentle tone in the suite when it was activated.

Sarah rolled over and pressed a button on a little panel next to the bed, "Yes, who is it?"

"It's me," Rebecca answered. "Wondering if you two are interested in doing something for dinner."

We both got up out of bed and quickly straightened our outfits, then we let the captain into our room. The three of us sat down in the little living-room part, with me and Sarah on the sofa and Rebecca in one of the chairs.

The boss asked, "How are you two liking the room?"

"It's huge," I replied with a grin. "I've never stayed anywhere this luxurious before."

Sarah smiled, "It's nice boss. Me and Amanda really appreciate it. I hope you're not going to be lonely having so much space all to yourself next-door?"

She shifted to teasing-mode as she added, "I can't help think this suite could fit three people and still wouldn't feel crowded."

Rebecca grinned, "Why am I not surprised? Anyways, I was wondering if you two want to head out for dinner? We could go out to another nice restaurant, or try the one here in the hotel. Or if you wanted to be lazy we could take advantage of the room service."

Sarah replied, "I don't mind going out. We can save the room service for another time."

"I was wondering if we could stop by that FTL place again, so I could check for any messages from my sister?" I asked.

Rebecca nodded, "Sure, we'll stop there first then we can get dinner after."

With that decided the three of us headed back out and into the grav-sled. It only took a few minutes to get from the hotel to the Vesfar Urox building, and like before I went in to take care of things by myself while the others waited at the grav-sled.

After a brief wait in line I was greeted by one of the staff. I gave her my account card and she checked, then responded "Yes there is one message here for you. It's a data-package, it looks like it arrived eight days ago."

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"Can you transfer it here please?" I asked as I pulled out my little datapad. I also had my money token ready, since I knew there'd be a small fee.

That only took a few seconds, then I headed back outside to join my ship-mates.

"How'd it go?" Sarah asked. "Did they have anything for you?"

I nodded, "Yeah. I haven't read it yet, but there was a message waiting."

She asked, "From your sister?"

"I assume so," I replied as I climbed into the vehicle and sat down next to her. "Nobody else knows me, no-one else has the routing for my account here."

Once I was seated I had a look at the new file on my datapad. Sure enough it was from Nyssa, and it contained two messages and a couple images. The first message was addressed to me, but I was surprised to see the second one had Sarah's name on it.

I had no idea why my sister would be writing Sarah, but I figured there'd be an explanation in the text, so I opened up the one with my name on it to check it out.

Dear Amanda,
Thanks for writing back. You were right, we received the official news from the Navy the day before your message arrived.
I'm sorry to say everyone took it pretty hard. Dad worst of all I think. He's talking about building some kind of monument or something in your honour ontop of the hill in the south field. Mom took it hard too. She cried a lot, but then a few hours later I caught her replaying your vid message. I honestly don't know if she believes or accepts that it's really you, but I think maybe she's hoping it is? I think having you as her living foxgirl daughter is easier on her than accepting you died as her son.
Also, the Navy sent a death benefit payment plus all the credits in your account along with the official notice. You had a heck of a lot saved up! The death benefit was nothing compared to your savings. I know how much it was because mom and dad gave it all to the five of us? They divided it equally so we each got a share. Sis I got fourteen thousand credits that came out of your savings!!! Are you going to be ok? I hope you didn't need that money?!
Zack and Aiden are already talking about buying themselves new grav-sleds with their share. Kayla's put hers aside, she's probably going to spend it on the new home she and her husband are building. Their wedding's coming up soon by the way, less than sixty days to go now. Luke's talking about spending his share on pilot training. He's not looking to travel the stars like you, but he wants to fly shuttles between the settlements here on our homeworld.
Mom wants me to use my share to get an education as well. Maybe I could learn astronavigation, or maybe I could become a medic like you? Then in a couple years I could get work on a ship, and earn passage out to the frontier to see you in person? Or instead of waiting years, I could try and buy passage and leave right away. Fourteen thousand should get me pretty far.
Last thing, I hope you won't be upset with me but I've exchanged a couple messages with Lt. Holloway's granddaughter, Sabia Haugen. There's a file attached which is a message she sent for your friend Sarah, would you please give it to her?
That's all I can think of for now Amanda. I hope you're well, and I'm looking forward to hearing from you again soon! Take care of yourself and your girlfriend!
Love, Nyssa.

"Oh no," I gulped. My emotions had been up and down all over the place as I read my sister's message, but by the time I got to the end I felt some anxious dread as I looked to my girlfriend.

Sarah frowned, "What's wrong cutie? Bad news?"

I grimaced, "Nyssa... I'm sorry Sarah. My sister somehow tracked down your granddaughter and told her about you and me. There's a message here for you, from Sabia."

My girlfriend's eyes went wide and some of the colour drained from her face.

Meanwhile the boss face-palmed and let out a sigh. She asked, "Amanda please tell me you've been careful not to mention me or the ship? Tell me there's nothing in those messages that could be used to trace us?"

"I've been careful boss," I promised. "The Vesfar people know what ship I'm with, but I've never mentioned that in any of my messages. I haven't said anything about you or Jenny either, but I did mention Sarah's name. And I shared a picture of the two of us."

"So even if these messages found their way into the Navy's hands, they wouldn't be able to do anything right?" Sarah asked. "Didn't you say this company has a presence in the Imperium? What if the Navy demanded they hand over the account information?"

Rebecca frowned, "The account was registered here, at the Rolandan-2 office. That information wouldn't be sent to their affiliates in Imperium space. Even if they intercepted the message, the most they'd get is your routing number back to this world. And they have no jurisdiction here, they couldn't force this office to give them anything."

"That's a relief," I sighed. "I still should have told Nyssa not to contact anyone or tell anyone. It never occurred to me she might try to reach out to your family Sarah."

My girlfriend shook her head, "It's ok cutie. I guess I'd better have a look at what Sabia wrote though?"

"Of course," I replied. I switched to that message then handed her the small tablet.

Sarah thanked me, but she held the tablet so we could both read what her granddaughter had to say.

Hello.
A girl named Nyssa Voss tells me she thinks that you're my grandfather Lt. Holloway, chief engineer of the ISS Hammersmith. I don't really believe her, but she's convinced that your friend Amanda is really Lt. Voss, also of the ISS Hammersmith.
According to the Navy my grandfather and Lt. Voss survived the loss of the Hammersmith together, but both died of their injuries afterwards. That's why Nyssa is convinced you're my grandfather, because she thinks Amanda is her missing brother / sibling / sister and she's assuming since you and Amanda are friends that you two are the same Holloway and Voss who served together on the Hammersmith.
If you're really him, maybe you can answer some questions for me? To prove it's really you:
What's my birthdate? What's my mom's birthdate? What's my favourite colour? When was the last time my grandfather and I met in person? What was the big news I sent in my last message to my grandfather? And what was my grandfather's reply to that news?
Finally, assuming it really is you, I have more questions:
How did you change from a 58 year old man to a teenage girl? How old are you now exactly? Did you choose to look like that? Are you trans? If not, then why are you a girl? Can you ever change back to your original self? Why are you staying out on the frontier, why didn't you tell the Navy where you were? And why haven't you tried to contact mom or me yourself?
Sabia.

"That's definitely my granddaughter," Sarah commented with a grimace. "Skeptical but curious."

Rebecca asked, "Is she going to cause you any trouble?"

My girlfriend shook her head, "I doubt it. But I'm going to have to put some serious thought into how I should handle this. Whether or not I should reply, and if I do, what I should tell her."

After a brief pause she suggested, "Why don't we go and get dinner? This isn't something I need to take care of immediately, I'll probably need a few days to think it over."

Me and the boss both agreed with that. I'd definitely be sending my sister another message soon, but it could wait a day or two.