Flying out to the Stars

The officer leads the girls inside and into a small heating room. The girls are dried off quickly before following her. The officer leads them down a series of hallways and rooms, up elevators and sets of stairs as they get further and further up the spire. The elevator chimes and the screen inside gives them the floor number, 208. The doors open and inside the girls can see a large room. Black polished floors that appear to be made of marble or a reflective metal. Large banners cover some of the walls with different symbols and patterns, one contains a logo of their world and the silhouette of a long haired girl in front. A large wide glass window wraps around the room and ceiling. The room has a few desks at the edges by the other doors and hallways, but in the center at the back sits a large and wide desk with a single chair behind it. The back of it turned to face the girls.

"Welcome to our home" the girl in the chair says as she spins around to face them. "How did you find us?"

"We were looking for a new world to visit" Rika tells her. "I saw a blank space in our maps and decided to go to it."

"Well we didn't really consider anyone coming here that way, though we do have precautions for when it does happen" she says. "Thank you Reika for bringing them here safely, you may return to your duties."

Reika gives a bow to her and leaves the room back to the elevator, the doors closing with a thud. The girl at the desk returns her attention to Athena and Rika.

"Reika is my second in command, the best officer I have here. You'll be in her care while you're on our world. With saying that, I welcome you to Akwamaryn. My name is Hana, and I'm the ruler of this planet" she says.

"It's nice to meet you your majesty" Athena says and bows, Rika quickly follows Athena's lead and bows too.

"Would you like to see our world? I can show you around if you'd like" Hana says.

"Thank you, we'd appreciate that a lot" Athena answers.

"Very well, please follow me" Hana says.

Hana walks beside the girls and leads them down a hallway. At the end of it there's a long tunnel with the floors, walls, and ceiling made entirely of glass. Athena and Rika can see the rain pouring down onto it and dripping down the sides.

"I'll first tell you about our world as a whole. Akwamaryn is a world entirely of water, with little land that's often covered by the sea. The only time to see the land is in a drought, but that is a rare event here. The atmosphere here is always stormy, and the dangerous waves constantly crash against our cities. Each city we have is quite tall, it stretches down deep under the surface and onto the floor of our oceans. And it stretches into the skies, with my office being the highest up here" Hana explains.

"That's pretty cool, so do the civilians live under the surface too, or only above it?" Athena asks.

"Both actually. The underwater areas of our cities are mostly made of thick metals with some secure windows and walls of glass for viewing. Our cities are scattered along our world, but most of them are in this region close to mine. Every city has tunnels such as this one" Hana says as they get half way down it. "These connect the many buildings we have, connecting at many different levels both under and above the surface of the ocean."

"It's pretty amazing what you've done here, I haven't seen anything like this before" Athena tells her.

"What's that in your belt there?" Hana asks as she looks down.

"Oh I carry some kirmal metal with me. I got it on Carvona from someone we met, though it doesn't originate there" Athena says.

"Carvona, that's the desert planet you mentioned in your log earlier yes?" Hana asks.