We continued strolling around the new mothership.
By the way, the Skizbrazunil-class mothership Black Lotus was a fairly large ship, but the number of crew required for its operation wasn’t large at all. Rather, if one so wishes, they could even operate a ship of its class solo. This is of course the result of really heavy degrees of automation, but I have no idea how or why this extreme concept of reducing human labor was born in this dimension.
SOL was a game in which players could control and play with various ships regardless of their size and class on their own, so it made some form of sense there.
However, it felt a little strange now that I found myself transported to a seemingly real world that’s uncannily similar to that game. No matter how developed the concept of automation was in this dimension, it would still be more costly to operate a ship of this size with that alone instead of hiring more crew. It seems Tina and Whisker were familiar with the reason for this though, so I’ll try asking them later.
“This is the break room.”
Sara turned toward us with a confident smile on her lips.
The break room was pretty large. It should be comparable in size to a traditional Japanese inn’s banquet hall. Kids can run around without any problems within it.
“Uwaah, it’s so big!”
“Certainly. I find Krishna’s dining room comfy enough, but this ship’s break room really has that relaxing vibe going for it huh. Ara, I see there’s a terrarium over there.”
After saying so, Elma walked toward the botanical terrarium in a corner of the break room. Apparently, a part of the wall surface was made with a large glass pane, and a section which recreated a small scale natural environment was placed behind it. Oh, this is one of those huh. Zoos had animals like iguanas and such living in such enclosures as well.
But now that I got a good look at it, it seems there’s nothing inside apart from plants. It seems it’s meant purely for enjoying plant life. I personally think it would have been more interesting if it had animals in it. I soon lost interest, but Mimi and Elma were fairly engrossed in the terrarium.
Mimi was a former colony resident, so she probably hasn’t had many opportunities to see any natural plants. As for Elma, she may be feeling an affinity for them due to her sensibilities as a nature-loving elf. I’m not too sure about that though.
There were several sets of tables and sofas littered around the break room that looked pretty comfy, as well as drink servers and massage chairs. It certainly lives up to its purpose as a break room.
“The dining room, training room, and shower rooms are all located on this block as well. There’s also some unused crew rooms, guest rooms, and a fully stocked medical bay. This is basically the living area of the Black Lotus.”
Sara continued guiding us around the facilities located in the living area. The dining room was way larger than Krishna’s, and the auto-cooker installed seemed to be a Tetsujin V as well. There’s plenty of room for three people in Krishna’s dining room, but this one may be more comfortable if we dine with five people since Tina and Whisker will be joining us as well.
Also, this ship’s training room was a lot larger than Krishna’s, so you won’t feel constrained at all. It also had training equipment that’s not available on Krishna, and because it’s wide, three people can easily train inside together. Krishna’s training room was on the narrow side, so it felt a bit cramped when the three of us trained there simultaneously.
It may be better to use this training room, bathe in the shower room, and have meals in this ship’s dining room every morning from now on. The break room was also quite large and looked very relaxing. And also, Mimi and Elma seem to like that terrarium a lot. Was it automatically maintained just like what we saw on the food production factory tour? I wonder if it is. If not, those plants will eventually wilt and dry up.
“Let’s proceed to the cockpit then, everyone.”
After having our fill looking around the living area, we finally headed for the cockpit.
“Hmm, a ship’s cockpit really is quite large as well huh.”
It wasn’t as much as the break room, but it was still fairly wide. This place could easily house ten people with some room to spare. Unlike Krishna, Black Lotus’ cockpit was not placed near the front end of the ship, but near the center instead. So it might be more appropriate to call it a bridge rather than a cockpit.
“I will basically sit in this seat and take full control of the ship during operations.”
May pointed toward a seat that had various option parts attached. There were a lot of terminals I didn’t know the use of surrounding it. It didn’t look like a regular pilot seat at all.
“That’s a very bulky-looking seat.”
“Yes. It’s a custom pilot seat that takes full advantage of the processing power of the positron brain installed inside me. I can control the ship’s propulsion systems, weaponry, power flow, and life support entirely from this seat.”
“I see. You won’t have any problems grasping the system?”
“No, it would be no problem at all, Master. I can gain complete mastery of the system in five minutes.”
“I see, I’ll leave this ship to you then, May.”
“Yes, please rest assured, Master.”
May gave me a crisp nod. I probably don’t have to worry about anything now that May’s in charge of this ship.
“With this, the guided tour is finished. Is there anything you wish to point out before we complete the handover?”
“I’m good. How about you guys?”
“I’m fine with it as well.”
“Me too.”
“There are no problems.”
It looks like we’re all in agreement.
“Well then, if you would please sign here. There we go.”
I took the tablet terminal handed by Sara and authenticated the electronic receipt. With this, the Black Lotus was officially ours. After this, the rest of the payment will be transferred to Space Dwerg’s account as well. Business complete. After confirming the payment, Sara heaved a sigh of relief. This deal seemed to have caused her a great amount of trouble after all. The main cause was those two sisters back at the hangar.
Me? I didn’t really want to cause trouble myself. Sara did get wrapped up in a mess after she got involved with me, but it’s not like I knew it would turn out like that y’know. It can’t be helped. I’m not at fault here.
“You’ve really taken good care of us, Sara. Thanks.”
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