A couple of hours later So'Ran awoke from the most pleasant nap he had in living memory. His body was nearly numb from the soothing warmth of the chair but he could feel a slight massaging of his temples coupled with a happy hum coming from behind him. Bleary-eyed, the Atteni looked up to see the contented face of Catherine petting him. "W-what? Where am I? Miss Catherine?" he said in confusion.

Catherine giggled to herself happily and a warm smile crossed her features. She leaned towards So'Ran and whispered so as not to disturb the other two sleeping nearby, "You fell asleep in the chair silly. You guys must not have developed much for anti-grav chairs huh? Or was it the nano-weave blanket that warmed you like sitting in front of a fireplace?"

So'Ran heaved a heavy sigh, releasing years of accumulated tension. "We uhh... We just use regular chairs. We use soft cushions made from an Atteni fabric made to feel and act like an ancient native fabric that we used as something of a status symbol in our early years. It's incredibly soft and smooth, yet it is also quite durable. We just use that material for everything, clothes included."

Catherine nodded slowly as she tried to imagine the alien material. She mumbled her thoughts aloud, "Maybe it's similar to silk?" As she buried herself in her thoughts, she failed to notice the stirring of the other Atteni.

Valenthi and Valthan woke to the soft sounds of mumbling. They looked at each other in confusion as they shook off the numbness of sleep before they keyed in on the conversation behind them. Valthan immediately dialed in on the names of the tech she had listed off and his eyes went wide as he quickly tried to hook a finger under the aforementioned 'blanket'. To his surprise, his tiny thumb did indeed manage to get under and lift a fabric that was so thin it was only visible due to the light shining off of it after he had lifted it to the right angle. Upon his discovery, he began examining every single part of his chair he possibly could while ignoring everything around him.

Valenthi watched the engineer lose himself in the apparently mundane technology the Terrans could call up at a whim with some amusement. She decided to continue relaxing in her chair for a while as she listened to the hushed mumblings of the two. After a few minutes, she stretched and stood up out of the chair, immediately she felt the lack of fire-like warmth that had been a constant around her body for the last few hours and she shivered slightly. "Goddess above, these chairs would make most civilizations die out from sheer laziness..."

Catherine heard the tiny grumblings of Valenthi and burst out laughing, "Ha! Of course! If we had made these a thousand years ago we would have never left our house! Nowadays we can just use the cyberware in our heads to motivate us! I forget which chemical it is but whenever we need to get something done we just think it and bam! We are ready and raring to go!"

The three Atteni all just stared at her in shock for a moment before So'Ran's tiny voice burst out, "WHAT! You just let cyber modifications augment your minds?! Your goddess-given bodies are supposed to be perfect as is! Modifications are terrible and incredibly risky!"

Catherine tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You little guys don't modify yourselves? Like, at all? No genetic engineering? No cybernetics? Surely you at least use prosthetics?"

So'Ran stared blankly and open-mouthed as Catherine rattled off a litany of heresy. Valenthi quickly moved between the two and cleared her throat, "Ahem! So'Ran? They may not have been raised by the goddess as we were..."

With a shrug of her shoulders Catherine decided to move the conversation elsewhere, "By the way, I'm getting pretty hungry. Let's head to the cafeteria."

So'Ran puffed at Valenthi in indignation but quickly deflated as he heard his stomach growl. They moved into the hall and Catherine lead them through the corridor for a minute until she abruptly stopped and turned to the Atteni entourage behind her, "You little guys can eat bacon and pancakes right?!" she asked her question with near quivering anticipation.

The Atteni were somewhat taken aback by her sudden outburst, "I-I don't know.." Valenthi meekly replied.

Catherine rubbed her chin as she deliberated on what they would be able to eat. Before she could come up with an answer a holo-projection of a cyborg soldier popped up in front of her. Catherine snapped her fingers as her eyes lit up with recognition, "Terminatus! What can they eat?! Bacon?! Pancakes?!"

The uncontained glee as she mentioned pancakes and bacon made Terminatus groan. He gestured to the gathered Atteni with a wide wave of his hand. "The mice can eat anything we can according to my previous scans Catherine. Though they should refrain from putting too heavy a spice on their food... Also, do not bathe their pancakes in syrup as you do yours. I do not wish to disgust the ambassadors."

Upon hearing his jibe Catherine's cheeks puffed out and she let out a mocking "Hmpf!" that was quickly followed up by a giggle. "Alright, I'll have them add the syrup on their own," she said in a mock placating voice. Terminatus rolled his eyes and cut his projection off leaving the four to their walk.

A few seconds later the group made it to the cafeteria and Catherine lead them past the row of tables to a simple-looking machine, not unlike a laser printer. A screen of light appeared before the machine and she happily hummed to herself while navigating the menu. A few moments later the machine sprung to life and emitted a small flash of light. Soon a plate of food could be seen literally assembling itself from seemingly nothing before the eyes of all those gathered around.

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Valthan immediately tried climbing up higher to get a better view of the machine and its workings. Catherine noticed as he started trying to climb the counter space and she let out a small, "Awww so adorable!" as she leaned down to pick up Valthan. As he felt the hands wrap around his torso a look of pure terror crossed his features. He snapped around quickly in a panic only to see the happy expression of the blonde-haired alien grabbing him. He calmed slightly as she started gently lifting him closer to his object of interest.

With a timid and somewhat embarrassed bow, Valthan expressed his thanks to Catherine before he got to study the machine. After they got their meals Catherine took them to one of the tables. As she started to sit a chair formed beneath her and she motioned for the other three to try. As soon as they hunched their backs slightly a tiny chair formed to catch them. They sat down lightly in the tiny chair and it lurched lightly up as it brought them level with the table.

So'Ran and Valenthi's ears drooped as they sighed in unison at another random and mundane example of their technological backwardness. Valthan on the other hand had been the most energetic the two had ever seen the engineer throughout the tour of this ship. They turned their attentions away from their far more excited counterpart and brought their eyes level with a stack of steaming pancakes and bacon.

They timidly looked between each other and the plate of foreign food before taking a glance at Catherine who had already started tearing into her food as if it was the first thing she'd eaten in years. The Atteni picked up their silverware and stabbed a piece of bacon with their forks, taking a small bite. The wonderful taste of bacon burst throughout their mouth and they froze momentarily before scarfing their food down with reckless abandon.

Valenthi was the first to finish her meal, outeating even Catherine. She looked over to the other Atteni and with a contented sigh decided to just say what was on her mind. "I think we should ask if we can have permanent residence here. I don't think I could ever go back honestly. The food, the comfort, and even immortality..."

As soon as the words left Valenthi's mouth, Catherine's eyes lit up and she quickly stood up, "Of course! Of course you little guys can stay! Let's go! I'll get some neural interfaces ready and you can make yourselves a perfect room!"

Before they could even say anything Catherine had already swept up Valthan and Valenthi into her arms while motioning for So'Ran to sit on her shoulders. A couple of minutes later and a small effort in persuasion, she was happily jogging down a corridor with three alien mice in tow. Once she arrived at an empty cargo bay Catherine halted her run and set the Atteni down. Soon after she called out to Terminatus who promptly created a projection of himself at Catherine's side.

After asking her what she needed he used his previous scans of the Atteni to create a neural interface that would work well with each of the Atteni using only external equipment. Soon three small pairs of what looked like glasses formed in the air over the Atteni's heads before they slowly lowered enough for each to grab their own tailored pair.

Valthan marveled at the glasses in his hand, noting the seamless appearance and the fact that they actually seemed like a real pair of glasses rather than some alien ascendant technology that would somehow tap into his mind to create a perfect room for him. With a shrug of his shoulders, Valthan put them on. He was momentarily confused as nothing seemed to happen until he felt a tap on his shoulder and saw Catherine pointing into the empty cargo bay.

As soon as he looked inside it began changing into his old workshop from home. From the slightly off-colored wood walls to the benches loaded with all sorts of grungy, oil-covered parts from mismatched objects strewn all across them. The room was a picture-perfect recreation of the workshop that he had spent the last two decades of his life essentially living in. He felt a sudden tug of homesickness in his heart as he looked into the perfectly replicated room that was more workbench and tools than a bedroom.

The other two Atteni were stunned by the sudden creation of a room that was filled with objects that were clearly pulled from Valthans own memories. So'Ran looked somewhat torn on what he should do knowing that the device could somehow read his memories, whereas Valenthi had quickly thrown her pair of glasses on straight away.

The section of the cargo bay she was building her room in turned into a clean white-walled and open space before various pieces of equipment ranging from things such as microscopes and centrifuges to weight benches and a... a large wheel.

Catherine tilted her head as she stared at the mysterious wheel sitting in the center of the room. It was nearly as tall as she was at six feet tall and had supports keeping it off the ground. The more Catherine stared at it the more she couldn't help thinking of old hamster wheels from ancient earth. "Uhhh Valenthi? What do you use the ummm... The wheel for?"

To this seemingly simple question, Valenthi simply scrunched up her face in confusion. "Are you... Are you messing with me? Surely you have invented a runner's wheel?"

With her question answered Catherine stared open-mouthed at Valenthi, too stunned to speak. Valenthi shrugged her shoulders dismissively and then ran into her newly crafted room to admire all of the freshly made equipment. Finally, So'Ran decided to put the glasses on.

Almost as soon as he did the dimly lit cargo bay burst into life as a floor was created that resembled a brown wood native to the Atteni homeworld. Next, the walls were created with the same material. The ceiling was a bit of an outlier being made of a similar wood but with a verdant green coloration instead. His bed came next with extravagant silks and ornate embroidery complete with long silken drapes. it almost looked as if it came straight from a fairytale castle. Soon after the bedroom was made, a bathroom that contained only a toilet and a wooden bath was constructed in a separate small room.

So'Ran's heart practically stopped as the luxury room of his dreams was constructed before his very eyes. A room he hadn't had the funds to create even with being as well paid as he was. After a hundred years of working towards this room, the Terrans were able to almost literally just 'poof' it into existence on the whim of a child-like woman. This realization shook the Atteni somewhat and he felt a little bitter as he looked into the extravagant room.

Nonetheless, he felt excited to see it so he set the glasses aside and walked into the woody room, taking a deep breath of the natural scent. "The Atama wood and Gintra silks are native to my home but I can't even tell that they were fabricated... The woods looks and smells as if they were freshly cut. The Gintra fabrics feel just like the ones on display at the Museum of Atteni History..."