The Spider Queen

"What are you staring at!" the mirror image of Sophie yelled in annoyance.

It took a few moments for Sophie to snap out of her daze when faced with this unexpected situation.

Quafes were the only race with the ability to exist in a liquid state within the Earth Federation and often mimicked the shape of others in order to communicate as their natural form had no orifices.

"I'm sorry…. I did not see you there when I was unpacking," Sophie gave a short apologetic smile.

Sophie figured she would also be pretty upset if someone randomly woke her up from a nap.

Her new roommate just gave a sigh of exasperation and walked towards the container on the bed.

She then casually put one of her feet inside the bowl and began to melt away. It was a strange process to see from a spectator's viewpoint.

The body of the Quafes would turn a greenish colour from head to toe and the outer features of the shapeshifter would start to distort followed by the rest of the body until the image was fully melted.

Before the body finished melting into a liquid state, Sophie heard a faint whisper echo through the room,

"My name is Rachel."

Sophie quickly returned the greeting with an introduction of her own, but Rachel gave no response and just quietly resumed shifting from side to side in the container.

Qiana had left the room earlier and did not seem to be coming back anytime soon so Sophie just picked another random bed and placed down her luggage.

The other roommate was also nowhere to be found.

The egg was lovingly placed on the side of her bed and Sophie placed her finger inside the scanner to open up the vessel.

For safety purposes, she avoided taking the egg out of the holder but would gently place her hand on the blood mark to inject qi.

Sophie could feel the warm stream of qi exiting her palm and greedily being absorbed by the little Frostwing hatchling.

She still hadn't decided on what name to give her combat pet and was going to hold off on the decision until the gender of the bat was revealed.

It was only necessary to perform this ritual once every month or so, but Sophie thought that it would make her closer to the bat if she injected qi on a regular basis.

She reached inside her first luggage bag and brought out a helmet which she then placed on her head to connect to the virtual hub.

Buzz! Buzz!

There was an incoming call from Cleo, so Sophie clicked accept and the surroundings instantly changed.

Sophie looked at her surroundings and was still blown away over how technologically advanced the virtual technology was.

She was standing in a rose garden with the backdrop of a magnificent golden palace that stretched as far as the eye could see.

"Sophie over here!" came a cheerful voice.

Cleo was waving furiously at her from a small table in the center of the garden.

Sophie could not smell or feel any sensation of touch as she was wearing a helmet and not a full body capsule, but the visual experience of peace and tranquility made her smile with joy.

"So how are your roommates?" Cleo asked curiously

"Well…. I met two of them but let's just say that it has not been off to a good start," Sophie replied.

She began to tell Cleo the tale of how she almost threw her Quafes roommate off the bed and the princess could not help but laugh.

"Don't forget to keep with your daily training. I'm trying to at least reach the third stage of the qi spirit realm," Cleo warned.

"How are you going to cope without a mech?" Sophie said in a puzzled tone.

"Mech controllers have strong mental energy so we are pretty well versed in psychic attacks," Cleo explained.

Talking to Cleo seemed to make time fly and Sophie was struck by how unguarded the girl made her feel.

Cleo's three roommates were all girls from noble families that had close ties to her mother so there was much less drama on her side.

Sophie and Cleo spent an hour talking to each other, but the call was cut short when Sophie could feel her stomach rumbling with hunger.

"I'm sorry Cleo it looks like I need to grab some food," Sophie said in a sad tone.

"Okay see you tomorrow," Cleo gave her a short hug and they both ended the call.

Sophie removed her helmet and placed a casual hand on her stomach before hopping up and getting ready to head to the mess hall.

She had nutrient solution vials, but she should at least check out the food that was provided for those with premium accommodation.

Sophie's second favourite thing in the world was food.

The number one was obviously sleep.

"Are you heading out?" came a surprised voice from the other bed.

Sophie turned to see Rachel lounging on the bed as a naked version of herself and stretching around lazily.

"Yeah I'm heading to the cafeteria. Do you want to come along?" Sophie thought that it couldn't hurt to be friendly.

"But…can you stop mimicking me or at the very least put on some clothes?"

Rachel gave a mischievous smile before cupping both of her breasts and commenting,

"I have to say…. you are certainly blessed!"

She gave a short laugh at Sophie's unamused expression and shifted into another form before putting on some clothes.

Rachel's new form was a dark-skinned beauty of African descent with lovely curly hair that swayed gently from side to side.

Her eyes were an enchanting shade of chocolate brown with pearly white teeth that formed a beautiful smile.

"Who is that?" Sophie asked curiously

"Do you like? I designed this image myself using a human creator app and modifying some details," Rachel said with pride.

"It's a 100 percent original."

Quafes could mimic the appearance of any species but many enjoyed creating their own custom avatars to be set as their default human form.

This led to a boom of apps on the virtual hub where one could create an image of popular races.

Rachel showed no trace of hostility from the events that happened earlier and cheerfully looped her arm around Sophie's as they headed to the dining room.

(Meanwhile)

"Why is my sense of direction so awful?! Where on this god forsaken ship is room 105!" a frustrated howl echoed through an empty hall.