Tascha had only seen pictures of paddle-wheel riverboats, so she was by no means an expert, but she was rather sure this one was not normal. There was a big paddle contraption at the rear of it that seemed pretty much like what one would expect, and there were a couple of tall smokestacks (
or were they steamstacks?
), and it clearly
was
a riverboat, but... Well, for one thing, the whole boat was bright pink -- like a plastic lawn flamingo! She was also sure that it wasn't usual for these boats to have a big deck spread out in front of the part where the floors with the cabins and such were located. While one might have expected this open area to have a pool or at least be set up for sunbathing, this one was furnished with a wide variety of couches, beds, chairs and soft, cushy rugs. The roof over the four story main "building"(?) did have a bunch of lounge chairs and chaises, but then Tascha was pretty sure more mundane riverboats didn't have sun decks on their roofs. To make things odder, after a bit of exploring, she and Don concluded that there was no actual engine or boiler room; they had no idea where the white clouds of steam were coming from or what was powering the big paddle assembly.
Aside from those things, the riverboat was about what one would expect -- at least from a riverboat on Eros. The main above-deck structure held all the passenger quarters, which amounted to bedrooms with one or two beds, of various sizes, and a bathroom, but no doors, though there were cabin numbers on the walls next to where the doors would normally go. There were three floors of those cabins, surmounted by a big open sort of ballroom, mostly open on three sides (not the rear, over the paddles). It was here, in the early evening of the day they had left the Resort, that Tascha, Don and Shelonda gathered along with what seemed to be all the rest of the passengers at the behest of an enthusiastic, smiling blonde woman in a white uniform with a very short skirt who called herself "Sally the Cruise Director!" (The exclamation point was hard to ignore.)
After the boat had left the dock and slowly turned around to head downstream, they had engaged in the aforementioned exploration, and then indulged themselves in some lazy play on the main deck. Leaving half of their merry band behind had put a bit of a damper on their libidos though, so they pretty much stuck to themselves. When they had gone looking for a bit to eat, which they found in the ballroom, or whatever it was, they found themselves greeted (or greeted!) by Sally.
"Welcome aboard!" she had grinned. "We're going to have a fun mixer game in a little bit!"
They might have asked for more information, but Sally had already hurried off to corral more passengers for the game. So, they waited as more and more people made their way up to the ballroom.
She leaned over toward Don and whispered, "Um, is it a good idea to gather everyone up here on the top deck?"
"I was just thinking that," he nodded, "but it seems like something they do regularly, so it's probably OK." He frowned a bit and repeated, "Probably."
For her part, Shelonda didn't seem worried. The pretty young woman was looking out at the river and the countryside passing by very slowly.
Naturally enough, people were starting to strip off their few garments and get acquainted with each other by the time Sally held up a big bell and struck it several times with a metal rod. The loud peals immediately got everyone's attention.
"Hello everyone!" Sally said in a voice that carried well even in the now crowded ballroom. "Welcome aboard! We hope you enjoy your trip with us! If you need anything at all while you're on board please don't hesitate to ask me or one of the other crewmembers! After we pick up a new set of passengers we like to help everyone make new friends to enjoy their voyage! To get things going, we like to play a mixer game. Tonight's is one we call Cabin Fever!"
Sally paused a moment to let the passengers' curiosity build up a bit before continuing with, "We have almost as many women as men with us, so to make sure no one is left out, the ladies will each go to a cabin on one of the decks below us! Please keep it one lady to a cabin for now, ladies!" Sally laughed. "Then, the men will each draw a cabin number, and when I ring this bell they'll go visit the cabin they've drawn! Some men might draw a duplicate number! When I ring the bell again, the men all have to come back up here and draw again! Sound like fun?!"
There was a general murmur of agreement through the crowd.
"How long will we have between bells?" Tascha asked.
"That's a surprise!" Sally grinned.
In response to the look Tascha gave him, Don just shrugged.
"If you'd rather not join in the game, please go down to the main deck or upstairs to the roof deck!" smiled Sally. Nobody seemed to be hurrying off to get out of the game, though.
"All right, ladies, if you would go claim your cabins...!"
The sun was setting and lights came on all over the boat as Tascha, Shelonda and the other women headed down the various stairways. Shelonda pointed out that, "There seem to be more cabins than women."
