Inside the Freya

            The interior of the plane was cramped in the way she had imagined it being. Behind the hatch door was a narrow hallway leading forward into a tight compartment housing several rows of narrow bunks. There were eight in all four per side- stack 2x2, stretching along the fuselage. Each one had a few mementos and nick-knacks taped to the inside wall. Each one had its own curtain to give the sleeper some privacy. Vanessa wondered which one was hers; Michelle shot her a smile and shook her head. She pointed to the sign over the door. It was a crude hand painted sign that read “Man Cave.”

            Through the next hatch she found herself in a room lined with narrow lockers and foot lockers. There were also hanging racks with flight suits and something that looked like wings you would see on a superhero like Hawkwoman. Michelle identified this compartment as the armory Vanessa peered at the inscriptions on the lockers but they were impossible to understand being picto-glyphic in nature.

            The next compartment was what Michelle called the auxiliary hold and contained to enshrouded shapes that were clearly not boxes. Each one was a little over 8 feet in length. Michelle glanced at them, paused to tighten a strap that held them down and winked conspiratorially at Vanessa. Vanessa winked back having no clue what they could be and apparently the Captain was not going to let on anyway

            The following compartment was identified as the hold by Michelle and contained many boxes, crates and her luggage. Severin was there with a rather short stocky man who was too short to be a short human, but too tall to be a “little person.” The short man looked over at Vanessa, then his mouth proceeded to fall open and a cigar thing drop out down through the open doors in the center of the floor onto the Hangar floor. He absently wiped the sweat away from his eyes, brow and thick curly red beard. Severin noticed, gave his companion a jab to the ribs. The short man howled in surprise, glared at Severin then turned back to Vanessa and swept off the cap he was wearing and bowed so low that his beard touch the deck.

            “This is Stonegrim, our flight engineer.” Michelle said pausing long enough to get Vanessa’s attention before touching her arm signaling her to continue on. The moment the two of them exited the hold, Severin and Stonegrim began speaking in excited but hushed tones. “There will be time for introductions at dinner.”

            The next room turned out to be fairly long and open with windows along it outer edge. Michelle smiled in pride at it.

            “This is the galley and stateroom.” She said with a sweep of her hands. “Well that is the galley.” She pointed to a small staircase going up into the ceiling of the room. From the hole where the steps disappeared came sounds of pots clanging and machines grinding. The stateroom as Michelle had was grand like one found in a Pirate movie on a ship. It was oval and very nice piece together. The floor was this parquet type wood very tightly wedged together in intricate patterns with a very high polish to it. Around the walls were seats that slid in grooves about halfway across the floor. At the center of the floor was a large flat and smooth surface. Michelle tapped a panel on the wall and this large surface rose out of the floor to become the table as each of the ten chairs slid into place along the sides of the table.

            Vanessa let out a whistle, clearly impressed which drew a smile of pride on Michelle’s face. She pressed the panel again and the chairs retreated back to the walls as the table descended again into the floor. Michelle led the way forward. The walls were decorated with weapons, and pieces of armor, photographs most of which were black and white. It all looked like a museum of collectibles and booty.

            At the other end of the room there was a stair case. In the center the step rose steeply upward to a hatch door and then on either side there were stairs going down. Michelle pointed to the one on the right as said.

            “Those go down to what was the bombardier’s deck but has since been converted into my quarters.” Then she pointed to the other one. “Those go to another set of quarters that are behind mine- Quest uses them when he’s with us. Kat usually gets them when he’s not on board and sometime they bunk together.”

            “Where am I bunking?” Vanessa asked.

            “You can bunk with me- if you like?” Michelle said grinning. “I got a lot more room than it looks like outside.”

            “Whew.” Vanessa made a show of relief. I was afraid I would have to sleep with luggage.”

            Michelle laughed. She had a great musical laugh.

            “I would love to share your Quarters, Captain.”

            “Let’s head up to the flight deck.” She pointed at the central staircase.

            They went up the short flight side by side.