Max picked Medusa up at her suite to take her to the designated school area so they could go over the plans properly.

It seemed that the Innu had a rather cool holographic tool that would let her overlay her proposed design on the existing structures, so they could get a good feel for what her vision would be like as a student or educator living within the Academy.

“I think we should start with the most traditional first. Terminus is an ancient Colony Ship, and the interior ten-meter ceilings are perfect for the traditional grandeur of a historic Academy.” She began once they reached the cargo bay where the tour would begin, at the bottom of the ship.

The fifty-meter wall of the cargo bay disappeared behind square stone blocks, with numerous small windows lining nearly every meter of the surface in five rows, marking the five interior levels that could see into this bay.

“If you like, the vertical dividers of the bays are removable so that you can have up to a full kilometer of open space vertically with only a few structural supports,” Max suggested.

Medusa shuddered at the suggestion and shook her head. “While I plan to have some higher spaces in the upper levels, the Innu are an amphibious species, not a flying one. Just the thought of looking out a hallway or bedroom window down a thousand meters to the ground is enough to give me vertigo.

It would also be hard to properly calibrate a gravity net to compensate for terminal velocity and prevent injuries in the event of an accidental fall.

I didn’t program much into this area since it will be the welcoming area for the academy, so it is only these open flagstones. The windows, the huge double doors, and the exposed bay door will remind everyone that they are, in fact, still aboard a space-faring vessel are the important parts.

There is a placard space above the main doors for the school crest and name, which I didn’t have access to during the design phase. We can add those later.”

Max followed her through the six-meter tall solid wood double doors with blackened steel banding suitable for a medieval castle and into the main floor hallway of the academy.

The interior was a mix of light-colored stone and richly oiled wood, with golden ornamentation and luxurious-looking couches set into alcoves on either side, leading back dozens of meters on either side. The ceilings were vaulted, and covered in murals, for that particular feeling of wealth and nobility that Max had seen from every Planetary Governor and high Noble he had ever met.

It had the ambiance of an old-fashioned Gentlemen’s club, the sort where business was done in luxury and the behind-the-scenes decisions that actually ruled a world were made. Max noticed that she had included replicators built into walls above carved wooden tables so that tea sets and light snacks could constantly be on offer, made fresh as someone approached.

“If this is just the entryway, I daresay you are planning on bringing the children of planetary governors here and not just any lucky student who happens to make the grade,” Max told her with a smile.

“In Innu Architecture, it is considered to be good manners to design for the highest level of guests that you feel comfortable hosting and not the average of the guests that you will have. So, since there is a good chance that a plutocrat who controls multiple star systems might send a child or the child of a close relative here, it is necessary that the whole school be built to a standard that they wouldn’t be embarrassed to show their peers when they return home.

Anything less would lose its prestige in an instant.” Medusa informed him.

“Interesting. On my homeworld, all schools are run by the military, so they are grim, uniform, and utilitarian places, not palaces with a side of education.” Max replied.

“Oh, make no mistake, educational discipline is paramount to the school experience. We have differing opinions on how best to teach subjects to improve comprehension, but the classrooms themselves are designed for maximum concentration and ergonomics so that nothing disturbs the learning experience.”

Medusa led him through the grand and opulent facilities of the common areas, study halls, and separate libraries for the differing course majors on the first five floors. Then they went up to the true core of the building, the classrooms, sports areas, and gymnasiums.

This was one of the areas where she had linked and expanded the cargo bays so that some sport which the Valkia and other flying species loved to play could be accommodated, but mostly it was classrooms like Max recalled, only much more luxurious, with high tech chairs that formed to your body.

The chairs put you into a virtual reality simulation with the teacher so that they could demonstrate everything they were teaching in real-time without the need for dozens of additional labs.

Above that, the floorplan was no longer so open, and the student accommodations were split into four towers. The plan was to have sixteen total years of schooling available here, starting at age four for the crew’s children.

That tower also included a huge daycare center for parents who wanted someone to watch their children while they worked, a standard among Innu since they custom-designed their children. No Innu-designed facility was without daycare starting from birth.

The first four years would all be in one tower, and their classrooms could be placed closest to them, with the daycare on the higher levels that were more easily accessible from the crew quarters through a secure secondary entrance.

Each of the other towers would also contain four years of students, keeping them somewhat within their age groups within the academy, but the classroom and common areas would let them mingle outside their dorm towers with ease.

It was opulent beyond Max’s commoner sensibilities, grand enough that even Mary Tarith wouldn’t find a fault with its luxuries and absolutely beautiful.

“This is incredible, and I see why you picked it first. What were the other design themes?” Max asked, poking his head into what would become a dorm room with six queen-sized beds and separate desks in one of the older age group’s dorms. This particular room had a more feminine feeling to it, with softer colors, less dark wood, and red velvet, but it lost none of its grandeur.

“After seeing your reaction, I have two more that I think would meet your standards. One is a light-colored post-modern open plan design, and the other is actually quite similar to this, but with a steampunk theme. It’s all the rage among the wealthy children these days, but I fear it might look dated too quickly if the trend changes.”

“And the rejected options?” Max asked.

“Shin forest with living spaces, where the carpets are actually a live fungus, and there are artificial Pixies as helpers floating around the area instead of automated cleaners. That one had a low chance of acceptance, but it is very beautiful, and I didn’t know what your species liked or how they decorated their own spaces when given unlimited resources.

The last ones are all the various noble themes of the major Alliance species. Greystone and frost for the Valkia, blue and gold with polished silver instead of stone and wood, which the Giants prefer, and the bioluminescent caverns of the Myceloid.”

As she spoke, she flipped through the projections so Max could see what she was talking about. None of them was terrible, but none of them suited humanity quite as well as this. If it weren’t for the clearly alien frescoes on the ceilings of the hallway, it would have fit right in on most human planets.

“Not bad designs and I might want to employ some of them for new themed spaces in the cruise ship, but the first was the best for the Academy. I will give you permission to begin, and I have already requisitioned a terraforming drone pod as well as materials to get started.

I will let you finish your work, and then you can clear any changes you had to make with me. Most materials can be recycled with enough power usage, and Terminus has plenty of power available at the moment, so do your best to get the structure complete, so we can start talking about staffing and student recruitment issues.

I will have a contract offer to stay on as the first headmistress of the Academy drawn up by evening and delivered to you.”