C: Princess Candidate

The scout's core system did not respond to the two Eks Corp Security officers when they declared themselves as authorized inspectors. Moira and Sam both looked disoriented as they looked around the small cabin that was very crowded with the three of them aboard.

Rafaela frowned as she saw their reaction. From the exterior, the ship obviously wasn't a standard system design, but even before the interior had been repanelled, there hadn't been anything obviously foreign about the compact layout. The most obvious pieces of beyonder tech were the main display and the medical pod, which neither Moira nor Sam were focusing on.

After an extended moment of silence, Rafaela ventured to ask, "Free pass time?"

Moria almost visibly gathered her thoughts as she turned and replied, "All of the registered entrants can eat, drink, or play pretty much whatever they want until the race starts, courtesy of the station and the race sponsors."

Rafaela didn't know why, but she noticed that the list of potentially distracting amenities weren't being attributed to the prince, whose race it was. "I see," she commented neutrally.

"Did you lock your core system down completely before you came out?" Sam asked rather sharply.

"No?" The security officer gave her a look and Rafaela added a bit defensively, "It won't take orders from anyone except its registered pilot anyway."

Moira looked surprised, but Sam looked at the main display panel, and instead of asking about the ship's origins he asked, "How old is this ship anyway?"

Rafaela hesitated, but then replied honestly, "I'm not sure exactly, but at least a couple of PiCenturies."

Both security officers looked away from her, and tried to hide their pitying expressions. "Ah. It's um, it seems like it must be in decent repair for its age," Moira complimented awkwardly.

Rafaela narrowed her eyes and pointed out dryly, "Interior panels are easy to replace?" Despite the ship's origin, it had mostly been a matter of matching dimensions, since the beyonder scout ship components were designed to be simple to repair. It wasn't even the only ship of its age out in the Cinder Sector, where things were used as long as they were still functional.

Moira shrugged, and opened the compact bag that had been slung over her back, while Sam held out a small device. They proceeded to look into every storage compartment, open every access panel, and tug at every tie down within the small cabin. It did not actually take them hours to physically inspect the entire interior of the ship, but they did a very thorough job of it.

When they finished, the two officers left her with such heartfelt sounding encouragement and well wishes, that it sounded false. Rafaela felt certain that they both thought that 'Cinderella' from the Cinder Sector, and her 'ancient' ship had very little chance of actually winning.

--

When Rafaela entered the station proper, she was informed that the 'free pass' the security officers had mentioned was limited to a particular set of shops, but that the list was fairly extensive. She sort of expected the shopping district to be filled with girls around her age because of that, but the overwhelming crowds were so mixed that she couldn't even tell if they were related to the event, or if it was natural for a large city station.

Very little of her initial excitement over meeting new faces and seeing new walls persisted beyond her first few minutes in the crowded corridors. There was too much to see and there were too many people to let her focus on anything or anyone for very long. It took her awhile to realize that most people weren't really focusing on her either, because she felt like quite a few people paused to look her over.

They were just glancing at her hair, she decided after watching the reflections of the people passing her when she stopped to look at a physical display of items behind a large sheet of what seemed like simple glass. She didn't really care about the items on display, but the arrangement seemed very odd when an active display screen could show more, and change what was being shown.

The hairstyles of those around her were far more varied and colorful than her own, but she didn't see anyone else with a simple bicolor. Because she was focused on the reflections, she was quite startled when she realized that someone had walked into the display and was looking at her through the glass. The man smiled when he realized that he had her attention finally, and turned to point at the rather plain clothing that she had assumed was being used as a background for the various decorative devices with an inquiring expression.

Rafaela blinked at him, and then realized that he wanted to know if she was interested in buying it. She stepped back and looked for the entrance to the shop, and he seemed to immediately understand what she was doing, and pointed toward the transparent sliding door. Unlike most of the shops she'd passed, this one apparently kept its entrance closed.

"Interested in the vacuum rated smart fabric?" he asked cheerfully as she entered.

She hesitated in front of the doorway, as his question changed what she'd expected to say. If the material in the outfit was entirely smart fabric, it would probably cost as much as a new ship's core. "I'm interested, but I'm sure that I can't afford it."

Her quick admission caught him by surprise, but he rallied quickly. "Ah. I see, well if you often move between ship and station environments, it's an investment worth saving for."

Rafaela shrugged, and asked, "How expensive is the maintenance on a full suit?"

The figure he quoted made her wince, but he didn't give her time to politely withdraw from the conversation. He ignored the shake of her head as he pointed out cheerfully, "But unless you do exterior work, you won't need to maintain a separate suit. And unlike a standard suit, it's comfortable enough to wear at all times, and quite capable of handling most planetary weather conditions as well."

That made Rafaela shake her head and refuse again. She had no need of protection from planetary weather conditions. "It's cool, but even considering it only as a future investment I won't need all of its capabilities. And I'd hate to invest that much and then discover that I need a different size in a few years."

"It can adjust to more than half a meter difference in size without losing efficiency at either end of the adaption," he argued quickly.

Rafaela laughed. "You're awfully persistent, given that I told you I can't even afford it at the beginning," she pointed out.

"Did I remember to mention that the Queen of Eks Corp, and all of the top race candidates prefer to wear the same fabric?" he asked almost laughingly.

She shook her head again, but she was smiling. She obviously wasn't one of the top candidates.

"Where are you from?" he asked more conversationally.

"Cinder Sector," she replied wryly.

After a moment he admitted, "I'm not familiar with that station name."

Rafaela blinked at him. "It's a sector in the belt," she clarified.

His expression of surprise seemed exaggerated, and he actually took a step backwards. "Identity check?" he asked warily.

The shop's system volunteered, "Cinderella, a princess candidate registered by the SkyWater corporation."

"Princess candidate?" Rafaela repeated with amusement.

"You're registered for the race?" he asked doubtfully.

"Yes," she agreed.

"We're not offering anything on the free pass," he announced a bit stiffly.

"Okay," she acknowledged questioningly.

He seemed a little embarrassed as he added, "But if you win, I'll give you the suit you were looking at."

"So that you can tell people that the winner is wearing one too?" she asked a little dryly.

He grinned at her and agreed, "Of course!"