Let’s say you book passage on the Far Trader Professor Bananas. When there’s about 15 minutes free in his schedule, the ship’s steward will either meet you in your stateroom or suggest heading to the lounge to conduct a brief interview.
He’ll smile and say it’s just a formality really, not serious at all, just to get acquainted with you and to orient you to the ship.
Even though it will sound like a casual briefing, in addition to passing necessary information to you during this chat the steward is also subtly gathering information from you. The conversation sounds like just a friendly orientation, but throughout the interview there are subtle questions about your spacing experience, where you grew up, if you’ve served, and so on.
In Summary, the main points covered in this interview are:
- Here are the rules
- Anything in cargo or on person that the crew should know about?
- Do you have any outstanding warrants? Ever been arrested? Anyone interested in you not having the system?
- Are you living with any medical conditions?
- Ever serve? Do you have any useful skills?
Any steward worth the name typically will be a very light touch in this, having conducted hundreds of such interviews in the past and he’ll be very well-versed in noting details and tell-tale signs from you. Later, you may not even recall having given such information.
It’s true that some desperate crews don’t ask too many questions… but they all do some version of the interview. And before speaking to you, the steward has certainly reviewed all your documentation the SPA forwarded, and anything that he could find in the ship’s library or the port’s network about you in preparation for this “casual chat.”
This talk establishes rapport; the steward also answers any questions you may have about the ship or space travel in general but were always afraid to ask. He’ll review the ship’s rules & schedule with you, go over where coffee is. He’ll talk about where your cargo ( if you have any any ) is stored, and how/when you can access it.
He’ll guesstimate your size for a vacc suit. Any steward worth his salt can eyeball this, and never needs to come out and ask. He’ll offer to move any of your valuables to secure storage, and make a note on anything you might need in particular during the voyage.
He’ll gently remind you that passengers need to surrender all weapons during the voyage. This will be done with a “they’re just making me say this” expression, but the he’ll be paying close attention to your body language here, on the lookout for clues of something amiss or concealing.
The thing is, every traveller knows someone who knows someone who’s ship was seized by pirates and who had a saboteur or accomplice posing as a passenger. A working starship, even just a working jump drive is a sweet target for some people, and a sharp ship’s steward is the first line of defense against such treachery.
Additionally, different sophonts have different environment preferences, so during the this interview the steward will learn your preferences for stateroom configuration. These might include temperature, humidity, gravity, and layout; different ships have different options available, the absolute minimum being a thermostat that can regulate temperature. He’ll also review these controls with you, noting any little quirks about your stateroom.
He’ll demonstrate how to access the ship’s comms – that part of the system that you have access to, that is – whether manual, by voice, or through your own personal comms. If you want a stateroom-specific persona instantiated, a sort of virtual “friend” and guide during your voyage, the steward will gather a few of your preferences ( “Female, Vilani accent, slight snark. Got it.” ) and see to this.
Lastly the steward will orient you with the all the ship and stateroom amenities the Professor Bananas has to offer its passengers: the galley, recreation options, lecture/class schedule, happy hours, available entertainment media, stateroom configuration modes ( open, lounging, sleeping, exercise ), and various safety features. “The primary rescue ball is stored in this compartment right here. The backup is behind this panel, over the entry. You probably won’t be needing those. Probably.”
During this interview he’ll also be sizing the passenger up for an estimate of how much handling they’ll require during the voyage. Are you high maintenance?
Maybe he’ll take notes on this, or just record the conversation. Either way he’ll distill the salient points in some form and forward it to the Captain to review at her leisure. Even on a tramp freighter, it’s necessary to know something about who you’ll be cooped up with in an isolated pocket universe for a week or longer.