The two women stood by as the door opened into the waiting area of the space port. Their passengers were about to start boarding. The ship is a new luxury liner that is going to roam the stars. This trip, its maiden voyage is going for a month long trip to visit 10 different systems. It is a new holiday idea from a shipping tycoon who is expanding into a new field. The Tycoon is a man named Hal Rowback, he made his first million in the restaurant business and then got into the trading business, which lead to his first billion. Now he is mixing the two together and hopping to make his next billion. His new ship the Empress of Sol is a luxury liner that will carry 250 creatures, he had it built at his ship yard orbiting a moon of Jupiter. The Empress is about 500 meters long and is almost fully automated, it is almost unheard of that a ship of that size could be run by three shifts of 15 people in each.

The two women were not concerned about that, they had 250 passengers to make sure got to their cabins and strapped in. The first couple up the walkway was a pair of Fraal. To humans it was usually difficult to tell the sex of a Fraal but to Denise thought they were a mated pair by their body language. One of them stepped a little in front of the other and handed a ticket to Denise. It then said,

"I see you are the Purser of the ship," looking at Denise's uniform insignia

"Yes, I am, and thank you for noticing." Denise was proud of her knew position, and was thankful when someone noticed. The Fraal smiled and said,

"It is always best to know who is in charge, just incase one has to complain about something, or of course spend praise." At that moment Denise thought the smile held wickedness that some rich showed to a servant. She had seen this before a rich creature who thought they were better 22then all others. This couple of Fraal she would have to keep an eye on or it could mean trouble for someone on the staff. Carol her assistant looked at the ticket and sent the two on their way to their cabin. Then she turned to Denise and said,

"So what was all that about?"

"That my dear is what you call a pompous ass. If you are smart, you will give him a lot of room."

The number of passengers boarding was slow at first, but as they got closer to departure time the number of passengers increased. Denise and Carol were both use to this and prepared. They had gotten everyone except for two people to their cabins and were just closing the door. A voice yelled out over the hiss of the doors hydraulics,

"Wait, were right here!" Denise stopped and reopened the door to let in a couple in wedding clothes. She said,

"Well I guess I know why you two are late." They both smiled and the young woman blushed. Denise thought, 'Oh my god, they could have waited until they got on the ship.' Carol stepped forward and led the newly wedded couple to their cabin. Denise made her way to her office and checked the computer to make sure she had not made any mistakes and all the passengers were onboard. The computer confirmed what she had already known and everyone was on board and in their cabins. The staff was still helping the passengers to get settled in but they could be at their stations at a moments notice. Denise picked up the phone on her desk and pushed the button for the cockpit, a voice said,

"How is everything down there, are all our little babies in their proper places?"

"Yes they are all present and accounted for, I just have to recall the staff and you can liftoff."

"Ok you have five minutes while we do our last minute checks. Is that enough time?"

"Oh yes that will be more then enough, Lets have a smooth ride Captain I have some very finicky people down here."

"That is why you get payed the big bucks, because you can tell them what they need to hear without pissing them off. So I will do my thing as good as I can and you do yours to make me look even better. But don't worry it looks like it should be a smooth lift off. I will call you when we are in orbit."

"Yes Captain Sir," She did not hide the sarcasm in her voice. As she hung up the phone, she thought, what had she ever seen in that conceded jerk. Then the thought of the two of them in that hotel room for three days came back to her, and a big smile crossed her face. She sent out the signal for all the crew to get to their lift off stations and watched the computer as they checked in.

The count down started at five minutes and the computer told Denise that everyone was in their lift off station. Denise had never gone through a lift off, all the ships she had worked on had been non-atmospheric. She had been through the simulations a number of times but the technicians had told her it is no exactly the same. The count down came to an end and a vibration and a rumble started. It grew in intensity until Denise's teeth were chattering, but she hardly noticed as the G-Force had her pinned in her seat and she could hardly breathe. She thought her heart was going to come up through her mouth, but as soon as it had started, it was over. Denise took a deep breath and looked at her computer. It had monitored all the passengers through lift off and showed there had been no abnormalities. She then felt the artificial gravity come on and the lift off light went out. She signaled her staff that all was normal and that they should get on with their duties.

Denise got out of her lift off chair and head too sick bay, she knew that would be where all the trouble passengers would be going. She would be there before any of them, they would have to find it while she knew where she was going. It took her only a minute and she was at the door, opening it she walked and almost right into the Fraal that she had made the mental note to keep an eye on. She had checked his name and yes he was a male, his name was Pogo. Like most Fraal he just had one name and like most of those it was short and sweet. She looked at him and said,

"Pogo, you certainly got here quickly?"

"Luck favor's the prepared mind, as should well know Purser Hustless."

"Yes of course, is the doctor taking good care of you."

"So far but don't worry you will be the first to know if he is not."

"Thank you. I am sure I will be. Would you mind if I steel the doctor for a moment or two?"

"Oh are you not feeling well Purser Hustless."

"I am fine it just has to do with ship business, but if you are ill, I would not think of taking her away from you."

"Oh I am quite well. I just needed to confer with the doctor about a medical condition that my mate has."

"Oh I am sorry to hear that will she be all right?"

"Yes as long as she gets her meds. That is why I am here to make sure they got to the ship and are being properly stored and now that I have I will be on my way, Thank you Doctor." The Fraal walked out and Denise and Christine walked into her office. Christine walked behind her desk and sat down. She said,

"You are going to have your hands full with that one." Denise nodded and said,

"Yes I think you are right. It is actually he I was coming to tell you about. I think he is going to be a problem. Nothing serious just very time consuming." Christine smiled and said,

"It is not like I have any place to go. I think between the two of us we can handle Mr. Pogo."

"I don't know what I would do without you."

"Well you would have to learn a lot of medicine very quickly, but you would never have my bed side manner."

"Yah, Yah, Yah, so is there anything I should know about any of our other passengers, you know like medical conditions."

"No, everybody else is completely healthy."

"All right then I guess I had better get on with keeping the passengers happy until our first Starfall."