The control column jittered and jerked in her hands, just like the rest of the cockpit did around her. Stray knick-knacks collected from around the universe rattled, holding their positions thanks to primitive suction cups. Sophie glanced down as she flipped a switch to engage her breaking flaps, her gaze momentarily catching on her jiggling bosom as her true age shone through her space captain visage; a quick smirk and a gentle 'heh' the product of her own amusement.
A red flash and a deep beep brought her back to attention as her head shot up once again, eyes focusing on the holographic wasteland laid out before her thanks to Vul's built in navigator streamed through her projector. The sand filled atmosphere of Guric Nine was hopeless to traverse with eyesight alone, without even a rudimentary guidance system you would break through the sand clouds and die on a swift impact with the dirt or sand surface. That's if you were lucky not to end up in a sulphuric lake of some kind.
"Gently now, Captain, Guric Nine's atmosphere is a difficult one to traverse even for a-"
"Shut up, Vul, this isn't my first pony show!" Sophie bit out, her hand reaching up above her to engage a few more flaps to help even Vul out. Vul fell quiet once again, though he could not hold his captain's outburst against her (in fact, he completely lacked that ability to begin with) due to his earlier...hiccup just a week prior, Sophie had to burn through most of her food and was barely scraping through on emergency rations, let alone the meager amount of water left. Directly after she had woken last she had to contact Hijo Corp to report the upset in her schedule; they had quickly purchased supplies for her to pick up at the nearest friendly territory planet. That planet happened to be the inhospitable land of Guric Nine.
"Open visors!" Came Sophie's order as she approached the last few kilometres of the sandy atmosphere. Vul easily complied, sliding open the protective layer. What met Sophie was a flurry of faun, broken by a few scant glitters of pearlescent, glowing lights of tiny glass like structures held within the sand. For such an overwhelming coverage of her vision she found it a beautiful sight. Like a magpie's gaze caught by a shiny coin, it was only Vul's voice that broke her out of her stupor.
"Concentrate, Sophie!" It was enough of a warning that she managed to successfully glide out from under the sands stronghold and into the clear, pristine air of Gitar, a small trading village located along the hemisphere of the dessert planet.
"Well done, Sophie; though perhaps next time I should guide us down."
"Vul, flying is the little fun I get on this job and you are not about to take it away from me because of a little thing like safety. I am perfectly capable of flying us in like I have just demonstrated." She quickly switched Vul into auto-pilot, the spacecraft easing into a far more smooth and elegant ride now that it was fully in control of its descent. Detaching the control column and sliding it back in to place she undid her safety straps and removed herself from her piloting seat.
"Besides, I doubt anything could go wrong as long as I have you looking over my shoulder." She finished on a softer note, her fingers gliding over the smooth span of control panel as she walked back into the observation deck; her eyes missing an electric spark spit from a socket near where her fingers trailed off. Her feet heavily plodded down the set of stairs, her head giving a curious perk as she heard a panel slide open only to be met by a protruding appendage extending from the wall. It easily slipped under her arm, guiding her elegantly down the staircase; she could only giggle as it perfectly mirrored a picture from a fairy book.
'A Prince guiding a princess down the sweeping staircase and into the ball below. Save for the prince part, of course.'
"I really wish you'd remain seated until we land, Sophie. You could easily fall and injure yourself if something was to go wrong." Vul's voice seeped from any available speaker littering the area as a second appendage pressed into his captain's lower back, guiding her to where a seat sat in the observation deck.
"Vul, I have complete trust in your abilities." Sophie quipped back, her hand coming to rest on the extension kneading at her back, giving it a comforting pat. Vul fell silent and Sophie simply assumed he had turned his attention to the more important part of finding them a bay to dock at and the subsequent landing. The continual prodding at her back, however, let her know she had still not escaped his attention. With a playful giggle she resigned herself to the nagging and took a seat, though the smile that it was delivered with seemed to lose its exuberance as the tentacle guiding her by the arm slipped free, the petal unfurling to brush a lock of her out from her face and tuck it behind her ear; the second following suit by dragging the tip of its closed pod along her jaw line.
Both retreated with a quick zip as if they only dared to touch her so intimately for so long.
Needless to say their relationship had seemed to change, something Sophie did not think possible from a pre-programmed system like Vul. Not being a programmer Sophie had simply chalked this down his AI; he took in information and changed to suite. However, even she knew it shouldn't have changed the base his personality was built on. There were certain actions that gave this subtle change away; Vul had been more, well, affectionate. Though it was something she would have expected from a human companion, it was still glaringly different from Vul's usual composure.
The way he would engage her more on a personal, physical level was the biggest give away. If he found her tucking her hair back far too many times, instead of fetching a hair tie or something similar he would simply hold her hair back for her. Mornings she had woken to find his extension wound around her body, her own arms holding him to her in an intimate way after a night of hushed conversation. There were gentle touches, slight corrections to her clothing and even assistance with her dressing; bathing was a must attend event. There had been no sexual connection since that one time, whether or not that had been because Vul did not wish to aggravate her injuries or because he was waiting for her to say so, Sophie did not know. It was an uncertainty she was not comfortable with and she'd be damned if she asked.
She gave a huff as she shifted in her seat, her jumpsuit moving against her in such a way that it rubbed against her chest wound causing a pained wince.
"Are you in pain? Have your bandages ripped? Are you in need of my assistance?" Came the nanny-cry of her ship, an extension whipping forward as its petals popped open to reveal an optic. It dipped to her chest, her jumpsuit zipper tugged down to just below her bust, revealing a standard issue white muscle shirt. Using one of his petals Vul carefully, delicately eased the jumpsuit away from the muscle shirt like he was peeling away a petal from a bud. Sophie assisted by tugging down the collar of the undershirt to reveal the bandages expertly applied by her ship.
"They are fine, Vul." Sophie drawled, rolling her eyes.
"I can offer you some more pain medication, Captain."
"That would be great." A slightly relieved sigh slipped through her nose as her body relaxed further into the chair. In all honesty Sophie adored the attention, it was something she was not used to, be it from human or mechanical. She had always been quiet, kept to herself and was not thin and attractive; she was stocky with cherub features. She, unlike a few of her classmates, was not popular with the boys.
'For heaven's sake, I haven't even held a man's hand before.' She thought, a few fingers pressed to her lips as she brooded on her lack of a love-life prior to her ship's advances. Her childhood and teenage life was a sore spot for her, and she could only hope that her adult life would be better.
"We are now landing." Flowed Vul's automated message just a few scant seconds before the whole ship gave a shudder and Sophie cursed, she simply knew that something would have fallen over in midst of all the turbulence.
"Open observation visor." She intoned, wishing to see where they had decided to stop over to gather supplies. Even performing multiple tasks Vul didn't hesitate for a second to slide back the monolithic screen protector, though the window's view was swallowed up momentarily by a wave of sand from their landing.
"Landing gears engaged." Came the next notification in a line of procedure's listed off by Vul, yet Sophie was too curious as to the new landscape unfolding before her. It was nothing overly spectacular or beautiful, though she might have been biased from her upbringing being surrounded by green foliage. All Guric Nin gave her was sand, dirt, clay dome houses and a vast array of dulled metal constructs. Gitar was certainly a village built around foreign metal trade and catered to only that; it was one giant scrap heap. The view of the observation deck was quickly encompassed by a neighbouring spacecraft as Vul slid into their assigned dock, landing with a heavy thud.
Sophie could only recoil in a look of horror as she came face to face with a Tuopi; the Tuopi following suit with a look of disgust as it laid eyes on her. It looked like a bipedal tapir that was severally overweight, coloured sewage green with more overhanging rolls and flaps than a Shar Pei. Its mating warts looked inflamed and Sophie could only gather that it would soon go into heat and those very nodules would start leaking a puss that stunk to high heaven in hopes of attracting a mate. The Tuopi looked equally appalled by her own appearance.
'Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder' She cringed "Close the observation deck window visor." As she gave a swift turn, intending to find her way to the loading bay she was met with a glass filled with a few scant inches of water and a pill, each held by opposing tentacles.
"Some relief, Captain." Came Vul's soft, oozing voice as she took the offered items, throwing the pill back and chasing it down with the little amount of water they had left all while making her way into the cavernous loading bay in the belly of the spaceship. Placing the used glass on top of a crate (that was quickly snatched up by an awaiting tentacle) she strode eagerly towards the small door beside the loading section, a feverish sense of cabin fever quickly swallowing any hint of hesitation.
"Vul-" the door slid open, a hot gush of sweltering air curling around Sophie, she swore she could feel her skin crisp up like pork belly on a spit in a fraction of a second "close the door!" And just like that is snapped back into place.
"Sophie are you alright?!" Came Vul's distressed voice as Sophie promptly began shedding layers, stripping herself of her blue over-alls to reveal white shorts to match her white muscle shirt.
