11 comments/ 1265 views/ 2 favorites F6: The Marlborough Man in the Moon By: sheablue This story is a submission to the sixth Friendly Anonymous Writing Challenge (FAWC) and a tribute to the founder of FAWC, slyc_willie, who we lost unexpectedly in October 2015. The true author of this story is kept anonymous until the end of the competition. Authors base their story on a list of four items. Their choices included the following letters: S L Y C. Each item was used in the story. There are no prizes given in this challenge; this is simply a friendly competition. The list for this story includes: Yodeler, Yarn, Yacht, Yearn * * * * Cassie sighed and rolled over onto her back. Brock moved with her, over her. His muscular thigh parted her legs and pressed into her throbbing, wet hot sex. She moaned, ran her hands down his strong back, arched herself up towards him. The wash of stars visible over his shoulder boggled her mind. Living in the city, it was easy to forget how vast the universe really was. How small they were in comparison. But out here, everything was different. She was different. Brock propped himself onto his elbow, let his large hand range down her body. His calloused thumb teased her nipple in little circles. flicked the pink nub until it was hard, until she was gasping and loose limbed, just a little wet puddle of hot desire. The wind picked up in a sudden gust, blew sparks from their bright burning fire, sent her long curling locks over her face, obscuring her view of her handsome lover. A coyote yipped in the distance, sending the horses to stamp and blow with unease. It might be a chilly night, but Cassie wouldn't have known it. The crackling, warm campfire, the unzipped sleeping bags that protected her and Brock from the damp earth of the valley where they camped, were all pale companions to the heat she and Brock created together. She had never felt such passion for someone she hardly knew, but the moment she had met him, two short weeks ago at Uncle Ned's ranch, she had wanted him. He had rode up on his midnight horse, tipped his weather-worn cowboy hat, and called her "Ma'am". But even then, there was something in his bright blue eyes that told her much of him was not so polite. Brock's hand left hot trails down her side, slow inch by slow agonizing inch. The wind gusted a second time, carrying bit of grit that stuck to her sweat-streaked skin. The coyote called again, and was answered by a another, closer. "Are we safe out here, Brock?" Cassie gasped out, not really sure if she cared. Brock's hand had replaced his thigh between her legs, and he was stroking her engorged pussy lips slowly with one long finger. "You're always safe with me, Cassie. Nothing can touch you." "Well, not nothing, I hope." She wriggled her hips in search of his hand, but the cowboy would not be rushed. He dragged his finger slowly up her damp slit, then back down again, not penetrating, avoiding her clit, just a delicious moving pressure that drove her mad with desire. "Please, Brock, please, you're killing me!" Cassie gasped. He just laughed softly,in her ear and kept on with the teasing torture. Cassie resigned herself to her fate and tried to lose herself in his slow touch. The stars again commanded her brief attention. "The stars, God, Brock, they're so many. I could get lost just looking at them." "It's a different view from than the universe you call home, but just as splendid, isn't it?" Brock murmured as he slow-kissed his way down her neck, his finger now working tantalizingly slow circles around her clit. Cassie was so lost in the building wave of her impending orgasm, she almost didn't catch it. "Mmmmm ... what now?" "I said, Not as lost as I get looking into your eyes, Cassie." Brock pressed him warm lips to hers and she melted into his kiss. She had a moment to think, yes, that's what Brock is supposed to say before his talented fingers worked their magic on her throbbing clit, parted her to slip inside, stroked that hot button that sent her over the edge and into then blissful orgasmic abyss. "Oh my god, Brock, oh god," she panted as every muscle tightened. Her hips thrust up against his his hand, she dug her nails into his back. "Cassie ..." "Brock ..." Every nerve was on fire. Every muscle singing with unbearable arousal. "Cassie ..." "Oh, Brock ..." "Cassie, I need you." "Brock, I need you inside me, all of you, every inch ..." "Cassie! I need you! Cassie, dammit ..." "Brock?" "Cassie! For fuck's sake!" Avery's voice cut across everything. The coyote yelps, the horses whinny, the crackling of the fire, the blowing wind. Brock's voice in her ear. "Earth to Cassie. Hello." Cassie sighed and reached out her hand for the remote. With a press of her finger, it was all gone. The Relaxation Dome's screens faded to black and Cassie was alone with the disembodied voice of Captain Avery. "Jesus, Roz, you have terrible timing." "Oh? Are you in the Dome again?" "You know damn well where I am. I swear you wait until I'm in here before deciding there is some kind of emergency." "Did I interrupt a hot session with your smoking cowboy?" Cassie smirked at Avery's voice. She pulled on her jumpsuit and turned up the lights in the Dome. "He's not a smoking cowboy. Not anymore. I didn't program that in." I don't know why you programmed him at all. He's a bit ... vintage, isn't he? Riding the open plains on a horse, Carrying rope, all sweat and dirt and stubble. I don't see the appeal." "I think he's sexy. I'm not into the androgyny scene like you are. I can just imagine how he would smell: his sweat, the dirt, the horse." "My point exactly." Though Cassie couldn't see Roz, she could just imagine the look on her face. "I've had enough cold, clean, plastic and metal sterilization to last me a life time. I just want to get dirty." Cassie laughed. She pressed the button to open the door and and it slid open silently. It was a short stride down the hallway to the working section of the habitat. "He's manly. He's sexy." "I don't know where you even dreamed him up. Men don't look like that anymore. And there haven't been any cowboys in ... who knows how long. In fact, after you said the word I had to ask the computer to look it up." Now Avery was laughing at her, but she was telling the truth. "My mother collected vintage magazine ads, from when the the mags were made out of paper. I guess cowboys smoked a lot of cigarettes." "When the cigarettes were made out of paper," Avery joked. "Yeah, when anything was made out of paper." "Still, you've got quite a scenario programmed into the Dome's computer. I mean, usually when people use the Relaxation Dome for sex, they're not so ... thorough." Cassie laughed. She sat down at the habitat's main computer and logged in. "I have a large imagination." "You're a scientist, you're not supposed to have an imagination." Avery had that tone in her voice. Cassie knew what was coming next, and she loved to egg her partner on. "I'm a woman, I'm not supposed to be a scientist." She was teasing, she knew how to press Roz's buttons. "Oh, do not get me started. Do you remember when we were chosen for this mission, and that jealous bastard Romonov wondered in his press interview how we would perform under the extreme pressure of the mission objectives when our menstrual cycles matched up?" Cassie groaned. And that hadn't even been the worst of it. "Yeah, and when he bloody well knew we use chemical suppressors so we don't even get periods. We've been doing it for decades. Jackass." "He couldn't stand the fact that both of us scored better in the simulations than he did. Much better. Not to mention the psych eval. Face it, women are much more suited to this kind of mission than men are. Especially when they are able to ... imaginatively configure the Relaxation Dome." Avery's voice was back to friendly teasing. "Hold on a second, Roz. what about the psych evals? You aren't supposed to know the results of those. None of us are." Avery put on a low sexy voice. "Well, Dr. Portman. That thing you've been pretending to do with your Cowboy —" "— his name is Brock, thank you very much." Avery laughed. "Brock, yes, excuse me. That thing you pretend to do with Brock, well, I've been doing that for real with Dr. Shapiro for going on four years now." "You what? Rosalind Avery, you slut!" "That's Captain Rosalind Avery to you, Doctor." Avery sounded smug. "Yes, ma'am. But ma'am, even taking into account that ... conflict of interest ... you still shouldn't know about the psych eval!" Cassie was shocked and aghast. And intrigued. Dr. Shapiro was pretty hot, if you like that androgynous look. "Ok, drop the ma'am, that's just weird. And anyway, it was just pillow talk. And he only told me far after the fact of our appointment to the mission. And it wasn't really his fault, I sort of had him in a ... compromising position." Cassie fetched herself some water from the reclamation unit and sipped at it. One of the worst things about the habitat was the dry air. The process that kept the air breathable also took too much moisture out of it. The water went into the reclamation unit, which Cassie had to constantly drink from to keep enough moisture in her own body. "While it's certainly nice chatting with you, Captain Avery, ma'am, I have to wonder. Is there a reason you pulled me from my ... mandatory relaxation time ... so brusquely? Was there some kind of emergency? Or are you just bored circling all the way up there while I'm having all of the fun down here." Cassie sat back down at her work station. She pulled up the stats of her various running experiments: the soil samples, the atmosphere analysis, the equipment diagnostics for the upcoming core samples she would be taking next week. Everything seemed to be running smoothly. "Ah, yes. Well, perhaps it's not quite the emergency I made it out to be ..." "Uh-huh. Big surprise," Cassie muttered under her breath. "But there was a discrepancy on the outside scanners." "The atmosphere analytics?" Cassie zoomed in on that data on one of her several screens. Double, triple checked the incoming data stream. "No, not the atmosphere. I mean literally outside. The external cameras picked up something ... an anomaly." "What kind of anomaly?" Cassie clicked over to the view from the external cameras. They were placed at regular intervals all along the outside of the habitat. The habitat was made up of five domes. A larger dome in the center served as her lab and work station. The four attached smaller domes were her sleeping quarters, her kitchen/eating area, the loo, and storage. She was alone on this mission, and so these domes were not big. Three of the four smaller domes were each about the size of a nice walk-in closet back on earth. Enough room for her to move around in a little, but not much more than that. The storage dome was about twice that size, and her lab, the large center dome, was about 1,000 square feet,with at least a third of that taken up by her life support and lab equipment. "Well, if I knew what kind of anomaly it was, I wouldn't have had to call you out of your sexy time to check it out for me, would I." "Ok, ok. I'm scrolling through the cameras now and I don't see anything. Where was it?" "Outside of Door A, cameras 1 and 2, about 30 yards out." Cassie peered at the live footage from cameras 1 and 2. She saw the same thing she saw every day. Orange sky, gray, brown and black rock and dirt, mountains in the distance. There was nothing else to see. She was the only living thing on exploratory planet EP-247. "I don't see anything. What did you see?" "More like what do I see? It's still there. Like a several areas of heat shimmer in a semi-circle array. You aren't see this?" Cassie stared at her screens until her eyes began to water. "No, I've got nothing." "That's odd, seeing as I'm synced in to your feed. We should be seeing the same thing. Maybe there's a glitch on my end. Just to be 100%, why don't you get actual eyes on the area." "Sure, hang on." Cassie pushed back from her work station and dug her binoculars out of her tool bag. The habitat's structure did not allow for much in the way of windows, and there wasn't much to look at anyway, but there was light from a distant sun that filtered in through the small porthole windows that circled the dome at regular intervals. She peered through the clear plastic material nearest Door A, what she considered the front door to her home so far away from home. The distant sun was still high, and there was as much light as there was going to be. Cassie scanned the area around the Habitat, all the way to the horizon. There was no heat shimmer. In fact, there wouldn't be, it was cold on EP-247, generally about 50 degrees Fahrenheit mosts days. and 20 degrees cooler at night. There was literally no cloud cover in the atmosphere, nothing to trap the heat on the surface of the planet, except what was held and reflected back by the rocks and soil. "Nope, I don't see anything out here, Roz. Check things out on your end, maybe there's a problem with your receiver, or the feed. Solar flare, maybe, I don't know." "Copy that, Cassie. I'll let you know what I find. But you keep an eye out there for me anyway. Just in case." "Sure thing, Cap." "Ok, I'm checking out, Cassie. You need anything, just buzz, I'll keep my ears on." "Copy, Roz. Cassie out." Cassie heard the click that meant Captain Avery was no longer in direct communication with the habitat. She thought about heading back to the Relaxation Dome and resuming her rendezvous with Brock, she didn't feel like she had completely ... finished things there, but she dismissed the idea. Brock would be there waiting for her anytime. Captain Avery had her curious with this glitch in the system, so she set to work running every diagnostic she could think of. She decided she would even check the physical wiring of the mounted cameras on all of the domes. It was going to be a long night. She logged in her conversation with Captain Avery, at least the pertinent parts of it, and got started. Hours later, she had finished running diagnostics on her diagnostics and everything was 5x5. Her eyes felt gritty from staring at her computers screens for so long and there was a crick in her back. She stumbled into her sleeping quarters and zipped herself inside, turned down all the systems in the main area of the habitat to conserve air and energy. Her quarters served as her emergency safe room in case anything happened to the rest of the Habitat, or it was breached in some way, and it had its own small life support systems, water reclamation, and enough food to keep her alive for the week it would take Captain Avery to come get her from any point in her orbit around this small planet. She checked in before she went to sleep, as protocol dictated. Captain Avery, this is Dr. Portman signing off for the night. Come in, Captain Avery. A moment of crackling silence on the com, and then Rosalind's voice piped in. "Avery here. How did your systems check go? Mine all checked out." "All clear here. Must have been some interference from the sun, or maybe errant radiation. Are you still seeing the heat shimmers on the surface of this chilly, chilly planet, Captain?" "Watch your tone there, Doctor. I am your commanding officer." "Apologies, ma'am." Cassie smiled and zipped herself into her sleeping cushion. Her sleep suit and her sleeping bag were designed to use the heat from her body to keep her warn at night, but it still took a few minutes to get comfortable. "I said cut it out with the 'ma'am' crap." Avery complained. "It's too damn weird. After all we went through to get here, on earth and on ship." That last part was said with a tease her in voice. Cassie blushed. She and Rosalind had been the only crew on a spacecraft meant for four. It was a long trip. To keep themselves occupied they had gotten ... creative. "I'm signing off and hitting the sack. You enjoy your night ... or ... where are you in orbit? Is it day? Anyway, enjoy yourself up there on your luxurious space yacht." "You know mission states I sleep when you sleep. I've been waiting for you to go to bed for hours. And yes, I am the Captain of the space cruiser Prodigy, Luxury yacht among the stars. Fully stocked with reclaimed water, protein bars and vitamin capsules. Only the finest for crew and rich clients of this vessel." "Now, don't try to act like you're so deprived up there. Yo've got real food 3x a week. And heat! I've got freeze dried fruits and vegetables to go along with my vitamin capsules. And I'm freezing." "Alright, no more bitching. Captain Avery of the luxury yacht Prodigy signing out. Good night, Cassie." "Good night, Roz. Over and out." Cassie sent the conversation to the log and turned off her reading light. In moments, she was asleep. She drifted, then, remembering what it was like back on the Prodigy with Roz, when they would indulge in their once a month cookie dough binge. While the freeze dried astronaut version of cookie dough paled in comparison to the real thing back home, it was sort of sweet and had actual mini chocolate chips in it. One night they had sat cross-legged, knee-to-knee, on the floor of the ship's kitchen in their sleep suits, each using her fingers to dig the powdery chunks of cookie dough out of its slivery foil package. "Mmm ... this is so gross and so good at the same time." Roz licked the residue of the crumbly, powdery treat off her fingers. As Cassie watched, she felt a warmth bloom in her belly and spread downwards. A tingle sparked between her legs and made her squirm. Rosalind shot her a glance and smiled mischievously. Caramel highlights in her razor short dark hair glinted in the overhead lights. They had both shaved their hair before the mission, as personal hygiene was tricky aboard a small ship like the Prodigy, and would be even harder for Cassie on the surface of EP-274. Keeping long hair clean and neat was not only a PITA, but a waste of precious water. Cassie thought the haircut only improved Roz's dark good looks, while with her own light blonde hair and light eyebrows, she just looked bald. "Looks like you ate yours too fast, Doctor. Would you like some of mine?" The Captain held a lump of cookie dough between her fingers and held it out to Cassie. Cassie hesitated. She and Roz had grown close over the month's long trip, and the flirtatious nature of their friendship had developed more out of boredom and loneliness than anything else. But here the line was right in front of her. Should she cross it? Rosalind was her commanding officer. If things went sour, it could get damn awkward on this ship with just the two of them. She stared for a moment as Roz licked her dark rose lips. She measured the look in her Captain's deep brown eyes. A selfish, irresponsible little voice inside her head said, damn, wouldn't it be nice to feel someone's warm touch, instead of the cold false love in the Relaxation Room? Ah, fuck it, Cassie thought to herself. She needed this. They were both going a little stir crazy, a little fun couldn't hurt, could it? She leaned forward, grasped Roz's delicate wrist in her hand, and drew Roz's two fingers into her mouth. Using her tongue and lips she lathed Roz's fingers, licked the cookie dough completely. Even when there was no more trace of that sticky sweetness, she kept her mouth on Roz's fingers, sucked them deep into her mouth, darted her tongue between them. She kept her eyes on Roz's as she moved her tongue, watched as Roz's black pupils dilated. When Cassie released her hand, Rosalind moved in to kiss her, pressed her sweet mouth to Cassie's in what started as a light kiss, but deepened almost immediately as need took over both of them. In moments Roz was practically in Cassie's lap, and Cassie had found Roz's nipple under her tight fitting sleep shirt. Cassie squeezed her hands around Roz's breasts, felt her nipple harden under her palms. Excitement rose, flooding her with warmth and a kind of loose-limbed pliability. Roz's tongue flicked against hers, her fingers dug into Cassie's shoulders. Finally she broke the kiss and whispered huskily in Cassie's ear. F6: The Marlborough Man in the Moon "I want see what tastes sweeter. You or the cookie dough. Let me?" Cassie faltered. They shouldn't cross this line. It was too far. Up to this point she and Rosalind had given in to a boredom fueled blissful make-out sessions, playful touching born out of camaraderie and mutual respect and admiration. Many times a touch on the arm or a lingering look had led them to an amorous rendezvous, but they had both been very conscious of what line not to cross, and had never moved past heavy petting. But now, hot, a little wet, Cassie didn't care about the line. Truthfully, what was the harm in seeing where things went? Remembering that night, drowsy and dreamy Cassie's hand went to her own hard nipples, to the wetness between her legs. The memory moved on, with Rosalind whispering, "Let me, let me, let me" until Cassie had to respond. "Yes," was the only response needed. Yes, yes, yes." Roz had pushed Cassie back onto the cool plastic kitchen floor and lay atop her. Kissed her again, hard and deep. Then, grinning, she slid the plastic side zipper of Cassie's sleep pants down to mid thigh, and pulled them down her long legs and off. "You have the most amazing legs. Like vintage photos of ballet dancers. I envy you these legs." Roz ran her hands up Cassie's calves, forced her knees to bend, and slid her fingers down the inside of Cassie's thighs. Goosebumps rose over Cassie's skin, followed by the most delicious tingling that started low in her belly and radiated all the way to her nipples, making them hard. Cassie put her head back and sighed. Closed her eyes. God, they should not be doing this but it felt so good. She felt the warm circle of Rosalind's mouth on her inner thigh and let out a shuddering breath. That warm circle of lips and tongue moved lower, inch by agonizing inch, until she could feel Roz's warm breath on her achingly engorged sex. Rosalind didn't move for what seemed like forever, just let her breath wash over Cassie, until Cassie wanted to scream in frustration. She tried to stop herself from whimpering, from moving her hips in little circles under Rosalind's face, but she was powerless in the face of Roz's overwhelming lust. Finally, after a torturous amount of time, Cassie felt the flat of Rosalind's tongue press hard against her, then move in sweet small circles. "Oh god, finally," she breathed, and clenched her hands in tight fists. She felt Roz laugh as she moved her tongue to slowly lick through Cassie's delicate folds, from her wet opening, up to her swollen clit. She swirled the tip of her tongue over Cassie's clit, flicked it a few times, and then started over. Slow lick with the flat of her tongue, swirl, flick and back again. "Mmmm, Doctor Portman, you are so sweet." Rosalind murmured. Cassie could only moan in response, and try to keep her hips from bucking into Roz's face. The rhythm she had going was amazingly intense and Cassie didn't want to ruin it. Orgasm was near and Cassie was about to let go and give into it when Rosalind changed things up, interrupted her rhythm and kept Cassie on the edge. Roz delicatly tongued Cassie's throbbing wet opening. pushed her tongue in, then out, then rapidly flicked her clit with the very tip of her tongue. "Oh, god!" Cassie exclaimed. "Ohmygod, Ohmygod ..." She control her body as she built once more toward orgasm. Her hips bucked up and she spread her legs as wide as she could to give Rosalind as much access as she could. As Roz used her tongue to keep a relentless circular motion on Cassie's clit, she pushed one finger inside her, stroked upwards in a come hither gesture. Cassie grasped, cried out, grabbed at Rosalind's upper arms, and then wildly at her own head. The expert maneuvers of Rosalind's tongue matched the stroking of her finger against Cassie's g-spot, and built an incredible pressure to Cassie's insides. "Oh god, oh fuck!" Cassie wailed, and then clamped a hand over her own mouth. The powerful wave of crushing orgasm pounded into her and shel let herself get swept away. Every muscle tightened as wave after wave moved through her, and she shouted some very bad words against the inside of her hand. The Captain sat up, ran the back of her hand over her luscious, glistening lips. Smiled broadly as Cassie rolled her legs from side to side, moaning, laughing, still coming down from the aftershocks of the incredible orgasm. "Wow. Roz, something tells me that was not your first rodeo." Cassie sighed. "What the hell is a rodeo?" Roz lightly tossed Cassie her sleep pants so she could zip them back on. Cassie laughed. "It's a cowboy thing." "What's a cowboy?" "Never mind. That was amazing. Thank you. Wow. Really." "My pleasure, completely. I know you're not into the androgyny lifestyle, Cassie, but I have to tell you, when gender doesn't matter, your horizons tend to get ... broadened." "So I see." Cassie murmured, suddenly shy. "I'll clean up in here. We should probably get some sleep. We have a full day tomorrow of busy work while we speed at the slowest pace ever towards our unknown exploratory planet." "Now, Doctor, if you've done your homework, and I know you have, you know all there is to know about EP-274. And what we do while we wait? It's not busy work." "On-ship experiments that have been done a thousand times, on every space flight ever? That we all know the results of before we even board? How is that not busy work?" "Think about it Cassie." Avery scooped up the abandoned cookie dough wrappers and tossed them into the incinerator. She padded barefoot to the door on her short, muscular legs. Paused and leaned adjacent the threshold. "You are going to be spending 18 months alone on the surface of a desolate planet, doing experiments that you probably already know the results of. With only the sound of my melodious voice for company. Getting through that and not going all batshit takes practice. For both of us. I won't even have the novelty of studying an unexplored planet to keep me occupied. I'll be stuck circling up here with nothing and no one, to do. So we're practicing how to not get crazy." "Ah. I hadn't thought of that. Good point." "Mm-hm. That's why I'm the Captain. Good night, Doctor. If you get cold or lonely, you know where to find me." She nodded her head to Cassie and left the room. So Cassie did her experiments and she and Captain Avery found one another when they got bored or cold or lonely and they kept from going batshit. But now she was six months in to an 18 month mission on this planet all by herself, with only Avery's voice for company. And she got cold. And bored. And lonely. And she learned to program the Relaxation Dome just the way she liked it, in intricate detail of a place full of life and sounds and fire and nature and she called forth a cowboy to keep her ...relaxed. He didn't keep her warm, though. Not really. Not like Rosalind had all those months on the space yacht. Cassie shifted and turned inside her sleep sack. The fantasy of her memory of that night in the kitchen with Roz had warmed her up considerably. But now she was all aroused with no where to go. Once she was zipped inside her room and the systems were in night mode, there was no leaving again for a specific eight-hour period, unless there was an emergency. And though the thought of Brock was tempting, and the throbbing between her legs called for attention, it couldn't really be called an emergency. Cassie shifted around until she could reach the zipper on the side of her pants. She slid it down, and slid her hand inside. And found the thought that no matter how well she programmed the relaxation dome, her own fingers still gave her more actual pleasure than Brock ever could, mildly depressing. The next morning after Cassie zipped out of her quarters, warmed up the habitat and got the life support systems going, she sat back at her work station and checked all of her data streams. The soil analysis was just finished with the newest samples, the atmosphere was completely unchanged, as expected, and her seedlings showed no signs of sprouting, so she made notes on how she could change the biomatter to engender a more successful result. Oxygen was the problem. Oxygen was always going to be the problem. How to grow plants in an oxygen poor environment was her main objective while here on EP-274. She had genetically altered several hardy seed samples before departing for the mission, and finding the right combination with the right biomatter additive for the soil makeup on the planet was the tricky part. It was important work, but it was tedious. Her next check was to the preparations for her three-day embarkation towards the mountains to take core samples where the soil might be of a different makeup. As protocol dictated, the moment Cassie logged into her workstation, Avery was alerted up on the Prodigy, and though she usually gave Cassie some time to get warmed up and start her day, she was required to check in first thing, and at regular intervals. "Good morning, Dr. Portman. I hope you slept well." Cassie's memory of what exactly was in her thoughts the night before made her blush, and then thank god immediately that Avery couldn't see her. She cleared her throat. "Fine, Captain. And you?" "Now that you mention it. I had some wicked bad dreams. Really weird shit." "You should stop snacking before bed time." "It's true that with you down there, and me here all by myself, I have double the snacks to choose from." "Just save some of that freeze-dried cookie dough for the way home, won't you?" Cassie laughed softly to herself and shook her head the minute the words were out of her mouth. She just couldn't help herself. Maybe those feelings that sparked up last night still lingered. Avery chuckled over the comm. "Oh, don't worry. I've got several special treats saved up just for you." "Well, aren't you sweet." Cassie teased. "If I remember correctly, you're the sweet one." Cassie blushed again. "Ok, Captain Avery, I'm setting the com to record and we can get down to business." The next hour was spent synching their systems and going through the business of the day. After that Avery logged off and went about her own business aboard the Prodigy. About midday Cassie started receiving texts messages from Roz, asking her to check the com system. She was having trouble getting through. Cassie tried from her end but got nothing. Not even static, just silence. After brainstorming over text, they signed off and each began their troubleshooting protocol. Dusk came more quickly on this planet than on Earth, and when the light began to dim they were no nearer to solving the com problem. And there seemed to be a new one. Avery typed: Hey, doc. Check your cameras again for me will you? And the window while you're at it. I'm getting those heat shimmers on my video feed again. "That's weird." Cassie muttered to herself. Six months on planet with absolutely no glitches, and now two in two days? They had to be related. She checked her own live video feed from the outside and saw nothing. But, when she checked the windows, there was something that wasn't there when she looked yesterday. "Damn." She cupped her hands around her face and peered out of her clear plastic windows. There, about thirty yards out, in a semi-circle, just like Avery and said, were several, five or six it was hard to tell in the dimming light, patches of shimmering air, for lack of a better word. Like back home when the air was so hot it lay like a blanket on the asphalt, and wavered when the light hit it in just the right way. Cassie tilted her head in back and forth to check her field of vision, dimmed the lights inside the habitat, and turned the seldom used lights outside the habitat on. None of these measures had any effect on the shimmers. They remained constant. It was the oddest thing. Perhaps it was an effect of the passing moon that hadn't been picked up by the cameras before, but other than that she had no real theories. She typed back to Captain Avery: I don't see them on the video feed, but now I see them out the windows. I could get suited up and perform an OM, get a closer look. Avery: Negative. No outside maneuvers in the near dark. That's an order. Let's check again tomorrow, maybe it's some weird trick of the light, the phase of the moon, something. It can't be a coincidence that we're experiencing these glitches all at once. Portman: My thoughts exactly. Copy. Negative on the OM. I'm breaking for dinner. Over and out. Avery: Copy that. Cassie treated herself to one of her more exotic freeze dried meals. Four cheese macaroni and cheese. In the military they called these little foil wrapped squares of deliciousness MREs, Meals Ready to Eat. Cassie was prepared to tell them from great authority that none of these meals were ready to eat. Not by a long shot. It took significant creativity, and lots of salt and pepper, to make any of these meals palatable. But, as she told herself at every mealtime, she was a fucking astronaut exploring a new planet. If she had to put up with some less than savory dinner fare, so be it. After eating she went right back to the windows, peered out at the gloomy dusk, searched for the shimmers of air in the distance. It was too dark to see clearly, even if she turned on the exterior lights. A lot of the surrounding rock and some of the soil had a significant amount of metals in them, and tended to relate the light back at her when the exteriors were on. It was best to save energy whenever she could, regardless. A visual recheck would have to wait until morning. She called up the outside camera feed on her computer screen, but still saw nothing. No shimmers, nothing but the rock and the soil and the mountains in the distance. She mused on her mission, to attempt to find a biomatter additive that would allow the soil to oxygenate, so that plants, tree, eventually crops, could be grown on this planet. It was a challenge and one she enjoyed, but she couldn't help but wonder why they were bothering to send a scientist like her, with a mission like this, and not a climatologist. An atmospheric expert. It seemed pointless to figure out how to grow green things when the air wasn't breathable. Curious, she pinged Avery on the comm. She assumed the problem had been fixed when Avery answered over the comm and not through text. "Hey Avery, nice to hear your voice again." "Ditto. I got old school up here, shut down the comm system, and then turned it back on. Worked like a charm. What's up?" "So far as you know, do they have climatologists working back home to make this air breathable?" "Say what now?" "I just mean, I love my job, and this mission is my life. I am thrilled to be here, and to eat out of foil shrink wrapped foil packets for as long as it takes. Let's just be clear on that." "Is this conversation going somewhere, Doctor?" "I'm just wondering why I'm working hard to solve the soil problem when there is a pretty substantial breathing problem happening down here." "Hunh. Are you just ruminating, or are you looking for a serious answer?" "Do you have a serious answer?" "Well no, not really. I'm just the pilot, after all. What I do know is that the atmosphere of EP-274 is made up of a mixture of toxic, known gasses. And the atmosphere was detectable using our satellites and probes, so it was a known entity before they ever send us here. So I'm pretty sure they could mock up a replica atmosphere in a lab somewhere and work on at home without having to send another expensive, foil dinner eating astronaut doctor. However, the makeup of the soil, the rocks and the core, the presence of water or ice, or the lack thereof, could not be certain or studied without actual physical samples. So ... here we are." "Wow. That was pretty thorough. You've been thinking about this?" "Not really. I'm just bored, so I've been reading a lot from the Space Administration's archives, purposes of past missions, failures, successes, things like that. I believe this planet is part of the system wide group of planets being explored for terra-forming options — that hopefully will not be needed for a very long time." "Yeah, Mother Earth though, we've not been treating her right and she's getting kind of pissy with us." "So true, so true. Some of these missions though, the failed ones? Such a heartbreak when that much training, and resources and lives even, go to waste in such a spectacular fashion." Cassie scrolled through her cameras one more time, but she still didn't see anything. "Avery? Check your video feed one more time will you? I'm getting nothing here, but I never did. You see anything?" "Negative, Cassie. No strange shimmering air at the moment." Cassie pulled up the data stream for her experiments and let them roll for a few minutes. Everything looked 5x5. "How far back in the archives did you go? I read a lot about aborted missions, or technical difficulties that caused a mission to have to turn around, or scrap part of their mission objective, but I don't remember hearing about any loss of life." "This was pretty far back, Twenty years or so ago. One of the first missions to explore the possibilities of terra-forming earth-like planets reachable by ion drive. There were four members of the crew, and they by all accounts completed their mission. Explored their planet successfully. Compiled loads of data. But on the way home, something happened. One of the crew members who had been on planet snapped, and killed the rest of the crew, then himself." "Jesus, Roz, nice bedtime story." "Here's the thing though. That crew was all men. Not to pass judgement on the dead, but women are far more adaptable to this kind of work. It's a scientific fact." "Were there any records? Of that failed mission? Did they know why the guy went crazy?" "A lot of the report is redacted. But the conclusion seems to be PTSD. Or a symptom of being alone on surface for so long. His little man brain just couldn't take it." "Roz, god, you're so callous." Captain Avery chuckled over the com. "We get enough, 'oh they can't handle it, they are just women' and I can't crack a little dumb guy joke?" Cassie smiled. "It's just ... The pressure out here is immense. It's lonely. It changes you. Whatever happened on that ship ... who knows? It could have been us." "No, it can't be us. It would never be us. Women don't react to stress that way. We're internalizers. More likely to commit suicide than murder. At least, that's what Dr. Shapiro said. And you were personally hand picked by Dr. Shapiro for being most likely to withstand the duress of this kind of mission. So you know, no worries." "Well gosh, Captain Avery. Thanks for sharing. I feel so much better now." Avery laughed again. "Go to sleep, Doctor. I'm tired." Cassie smiled to herself. "Copy that, Captain. Doctor Portman, out." The next morning Cassie checked in with Avery and got to work checking her seeds and analyzing data. She was making headway on culturing a new form of soil biomatter, and became so immersed in her work that it was lunch before she thought to get eyes on the alleged outside anomaly. "Captain Avery, Cassie here." She set the conversation to record. "Copy, Cassie." "How does your video feed look? I'm going to do another eyes-on check in a minute." "My feed looks normal. What about yours?" Cassie called up the outside camera feed on her monitors. Everything looked normal. "Feed looks 5-by. I'm going to check the window." "Copy. Standing by." Cassie walked to her "front door" window and looked out to where she had seen the mysterious air shimmers before. She expected to see nothing, the same scene her cameras were showing her, but that wasn't the case. She did see the semi-circle of air shimmers about 30 yards out. She again tilted her head, changed the lights, to see if she could determine what was causing the phenomenon. But no matter what she did, the shimmers did not change. F6: The Marlborough Man in the Moon "Cassie? How are things looking down there?" "Odd, Captain. I've got a positive visual on the phenomenon down here when I look out the window. I'm going to to suit up and do an OM, see if I can figure what's going on. It could be significant. I had a thought. It might be some underground disturbance, heat being expelled from unknown pockets of air. Something like that would have bearings on my soil and rock analysis." "I don't know, Doctor. The air is very cool, how could that be possible?" "If we're dealing with unknown gasses, anything is possible. I've got to go out there." "Copy that, Doctor. Proceed with caution. Make sure to test your suit's com, so I can sync in." "Copy, Captain." Cassie got busy collecting the instruments and tools she would need to do a quick analysis of the soil and air composition in a gig bag. She suited up in her lightweight Outside Maneuver gear and entered the small chamber that separated the habitat from the front door. Once proper pressure was reached, she slid open the front door and stepped outside. Once outside Cassie click on the com to checked in with the Captain. "Captain, it's Cassie, do you read?" "Loud and clear, Cassie. I've got a visual on you, too, so as long as you stay in camera range I've got eyes on." "Clear. Any sign in the feed of the air phenomenon?" "Negative. You?" "Yes, I can see them. Heading that way now." Cassie walked towards the six air shimmers, toting her bag with her. She ticked off the possible explanations in her head, but couldn't make anything jive. Why could she see them here, but not on the cameras? And why could Captain Avery see them on her video feed once, and then not again? Equipment malfunction seemed the obvious answer, but she didn't want to rule out some foreign ions or even metal in the atmosphere having an effect, which would seriously impact her studies. After only a few minutes Cassie reached the area in question. Close up, the air shimmers looked more like mini tornadoes, swirling air of some kind, but with no source that she could see. There were no holes in the ground visible to the naked eye. Cassie reached out her heavily gloved hand, to test the pressure of the air. The moment her hand passed through one of the swirling funnels of air, everything changed. The air flickered like a glitch on a computer screen, and six images appeared before her, where the shimmers of air had been. At first her brain could not even process what she was seeing, it was so unexpected, so out of context. It was her. Six images of Cassie Portman, as if she were standing in front of a mirror. Well, that wasn't right. She was wearing her OM gear. Ok, then, six images of Cassie Portman standing completely nude in front of a full length mirror. She stared at herself while it registered in her brain. Her short cropped blonde hair that make her look bald. Light eyebrows. Blue eyes. Her familiar naked body; small, upturned breasts, slender waist, long legs. "Hunh." It was all she could think to say, she was so taken aback. What was this? Was the Captain messing with her? "What is it, Cassie, what do you see? All I've got is you standing there." Captain Avery's voiced concern. "How many of me do you see?" Cassie asked. "What the hell do you mean, how many? You! I see you standing there. What's going on?" So unless she was lying, this bizarre display was only for Cassie's eyes. Her initial shock was beginning to wear off and alarm was quickly setting in. The six images of herself stood unmoving, staring forward. She reached out her hand again and passed it right through the nearest image. The moment she did she felt pressure on her hand, and the heads of all six images whipped around to look directly at her. Six mouths in six Cassie faces dropped open and emitted an ear-splitting sound. An indescribable sound. A ululation of such high frequency it echoed in her helmet and hurt her ears. Like six yodelers from hell, these nude images of herself stood and stared at her, producing a sound that could break glass. Cassie ran. She didn't scream, she didn't think, she just dropped her gig bag and ran, without looking back. "Jesus fucking christ what the hell ..." she muttered to herself as she slid open the habitat door, fell inside and slid it closed again. It was only then, as she waited to pressurize so she could get back into the habitat, that she finally heard Captain Avery yelling into her helmet's microphone. "Goddammit Cassie! Answer me! What happened? What the hell is going on?" "I'm fine, Roz. I think. Did you see anything?" "No! It was like I said, just you in your OM gear, standing there, and then you dropped your bag and ran like a bat out of hell." "And you swear on both of our lives that you aren't messing with me? That you or someone else didn't set this up as some horrifying practical joke?" "God damn it! No! Set what up?" Cassie was breathing heavily when she stepped back into the habitat. Her hands shook as she tried to quickly extricate herself from her OM gear. "Cassie, don't make me give you a direct order, you know I outrank you." "It was me, ok? I saw myself. Six images of myself where the air shimmers were. Like I was looking into a mirror." "What? That's impossible. Was it a reflection? You said there might be metal in the atmosphere ..." "Well, no. Not unless I went out there nude." "Nude? Cassie, please. You're not making any sense." "I didn't see me in my OM suit, standing out there. I saw me totally nude. Six of me, actually. And then these images uttered this horrible sound, a ululation, like yodeling, only much higher pitched. They looked right at me. It completely freaked me out. So I ran." For a moment there was silence from Avery. Cassie imagined how she must sound. How her account would jive next to Roz's visual of her standing out there alone. But what else could she say? "Ok. Here's what we're going to do. First, download the audio and video from your helmet camera. You had that activated, yes?" "Yes," Cassie replied. "Ok, good. Then, you are going to do a full med workup on yourself. Check for something toxic related to the atmosphere. Maybe there was a minuscule leak in your suit. Maybe that phenomena was made up of an undetected toxin and it got into your suit, you got exposed somehow. Then we will talk." Cassie thought these were very good ideas. Except for the sinking feeling she had that Roz did not believe a word she said. "Yes, Captain," she replied. "Get back to me as soon as you can. I've got to check something out on my end." "Fine. Cassie out." Cassie did as she was told. Downloaded the recorded audio and video from her helmet cam. Set up an impromptu med session and drew some blood. Put it in the analyzer. Shaved a small patch of hair and set that to analyze as well. Plugged in her suit and ran diagnostics. Kept her hands and mind busy to keep away the thought that she had imagined the whole thing. That maybe she was going quietly batshit, no matter how she had guarded against it. Avery's voice cut into the silence of the humming machinery. "Cassie? How are you doing? Where are you on the med test and diagnostics?" Cassie read the results from the computer readout for the 5th time. "Everything checks out, Roz. I'm fine, the suit is fine, no leaks or contamination. The tox screen is negative, I've not been poisoned or exposed to any toxins, foreign or otherwise." "And the helmet video? Tell me you've got something on that." Cassie had watched her helmet video several times. Stared at it until her eyes teared up. There was nothing. No air shimmer. No yodeling Cassie images. Just her hand reaching out to nothing, and her mad dash back to the habitat. Nothing on audio either, except her labored breath and unprofessional cursing. She tried to think of some way not to tell Roz, but there were no other options. "I'm sending it to you now. But Roz ... there's nothing." "Copy that, Doctor Portman." The silence was deafening. "Listen Cassie. Why don't you get some rest. Maybe go visit Brock. I can tell you're unsettled by this, and I'd be lying if I said I felt any different. But let's not jump to any conclusions. Let's both brainstorm some logical explanations and talk again in a couple of hours." Cassie felt coddled. Pandered to. But would she react any different if she were Roz?" "Understood, Captain Avery." "If you start to feel unwell, in any way at all, do not hesitate to contact me." "Copy that, Captain. Dr. Portman out." The fact that she and Roz had suddenly gotten very professional with each other was not lost on Cassie. Protocols would have to be followed if a crew member was in danger ... of losing her mind. No. She and Roz would figure it out. They were adaptable, brilliant women. Astronauts. She was a Doctor, a scientist, at the top of her field. She was not crazy. She had to de-stress so she could think. She pondered Roz's suggestions and thought a visit to Brock might not be a bad idea. All of those endorphins would help her relax, clear her head, open her mind to new ideas. Once inside the relaxation dome, Cassie called up her Brock file. Just thinking of her imaginary cowboy, with his muscles and stubble and musky scent started to help her feel more herself. She would figure this out. Many minutes later, Cassie moaned and rolled over onto her stomach. Brock moved with her, over her. His muscular thigh parted her legs and pressed into her throbbing, wet hot sex. She moaned, grabbed at the slick material of the sleeping bag, balled it up in her fists. She rose up on her hands and knees, pressed her backside to Brock, desperately wanting him inside her. For one moment she let herself break from the program. She yearned for someone's warm touch, an actual living, breathing body to hold her, to tell her everything was going to be ok. The wash of stars visible above her, the vastness of the universe, made her feel insignificant. Alone, with only her impressive imagination for company. Is that what had happened this afternoon? Had her ability to imagine things that weren't real compromised her mission here on EP-274? Brock pressed himself against her ass, let his large, rough hands run down her back. He caressed the soft skin of her breasts, flicked her pink nipples until they were hard, until she was gasping and shivering, desire blooming in her with a warm glow. The wind picked up in a sudden gust, blew sparks from their bright burning fire. A coyote yipped in the distance, sending the horses to stamp and blow with unease. The valley where they camped was dark beyond the light of the fire, and Cassie, despite her growing arousal, felt an uncharacteristic sense of unease. She focused herself back to the heat she and Brock created together. The passion she felt for him was real, her handsome cowboy from an Earth long past. Brock's hands left hot trails down her sides, slow inch by slow agonizing inch. The wind gusted a second time, carrying bits of grit that stuck to her sweat-streaked skin. The coyote called again, and was answered by a another, closer. "Are we safe out here, Brock?" Cassie gasped out, and this time, her question was sincere, and she wished Brock could answer truthfully, not as he was programmed to. Brock's hand traced a lazy trail down the curve of her hip, the smooth skin of her behind, and found the sweet, hot spot between her legs. With one strong finger he began stroking her engorged pussy lips. "You don't have to be afraid Cassie. I won't hurt you." "Mmmmm ... hmmm?" She must have called up an older Brock file, she didn't remember that part of their conversation. She pushed her hips harder against him, wanting more, but the cowboy would not be rushed. He dragged his finger slowly up her damp slit, then back down again, then penetrated her quickly, one finger, than two slipping easily inside her, pulling out, pushing back in, knowing exactly how to stroke her insides to spark her g-spot. "Oh ..." Cassie gasped. "That feels so good. God, I want you inside me, Brock." He laughed softly, in her ear and kept on with the teasing torture, his long strong fingers pushing into her with a delicious, insistent rhythm. Cassie pumped her hips back against his hand. Why hadn't she brought in her favorite, perfectly sized silicone phallus? She needed it right now, she needed to feel something warm and hard inside her. She threw her head up and moaned, and the stars again commanded her brief attention. They seemed cold and far away. "The stars, Brock, how many worlds are out there?" "More than you or I could ever visit, but gosh, it would be nice to try." Brock murmured as he slow-kissed his way down the back of her neck, over her shoulder blades, fingering her rhythmically until her whole body shook and she had to lower herself onto her elbows. Without slowing his fingers he worked his thumb to engage her clit, and her body started spasming as it spiraled up to orgasm. Her arousal-fevered brain barely registered his response, one that she never programmed — she was so focused on how warm and real his hands felt on her ... in her ... how much of a presence he seemed to have behind her. Brock withdrew his hand just before she could collapse into an impressive orgasm, and she cried out with frustration. His tireless fingers were quickly replaced by something she had not felt in a long time; the smooth head of a rock hard cock. Brock grasped her hips tightly in his hands and pushed himself smoothly, deeply into her throbbing pussy, all the way in, in one long stroke, then pulled out and pushed back in, more quickly, but just as deeply. "Oh my god, Brock, oh god!" Cassie cried out in ecstasy. Brock fucked her with his hard cowboy cock, and even as she knew it wasn't possible for him to feel this real, she reveled in how warm he felt throbbing inside her, and she didn't care. She wanted him. She needed him. Cassie raised herself back up on her hands so she could push back against Brock and his thrusting cock. She felt his warm calloused hand slide up her back and grasp the nape of her neck. With one hand holding to her neck and one hand on her hip, he thrust into her hard, with a relentless rhythm that left her breathless and moaning with unintelligible, animal sounds. Cassie once again was brought to the edge of orgasm. She hovered there, mindlessly lost in the intense pleasure of the first real fuck she had had in what felt like forever. Brock took his hand from her neck, reached around to tightly pinch her erect nipple, then found his way again to her aching clit. Without interrupting the rhythm of his cock he stroked and pinched her clit, sent her over the edge of orgasm, screaming out her body's climactic release. "Cassie!" "Ohmygod, ohmygod," Cassie moaned. Brock released her and she collapsed to her stomach, rolled over to face him. The orgasmic glow started to fade and fear and wonder set in. "Cassie!" Avery's voice called to her, but she sounded so far away. "Cassie, it could be like this, always, me and you. For real. Not just in your imagination." Brock stared down at her, his beautifully, amazingly real cock still semi hard jutting out from his lean, muscled body. "Who are you?" Cassie gazed at him, transfixed. "I could spin you some yarn, some ol' cowboy tale from the lonely range, and it wouldn't even begin to explain who I am. I just simply ... am." "How are you here? I created Brock. He didn't exist before I programmed him." "Cassie! Get out of the dome! Now!" Avery's alarmed voice was still distant and muddled, like Cassie was hearing it through an old tin can. The firelight glistened off of Brock's chiseled body. He ran his large calloused though his dark hair. "I'm using your program to appear to you in a form you recognize, so as not to ... alarm you. It's nothing for me to manipulate any form of electrical energy you brought with you. I am mostly energy myself." Cassie should have been afraid. She should have run screaming from the dome. But she was mesmerized by this Brock being in front of her. "Cassie, please respond! Are you alright?" Roz sounded desperate over the muted com, but Cassie had no idea what to tell her. "And those images of me, the yodelers, who are they?" Cassie realized part of her surprising calm was that, if this was a real living entity she was speaking to, it meant she wasn't crazy. Didn't it? "That was me, as well. I am all energy here, it was all me. I was trying to contact you. I ... miscalculated. It then occurred to me to come to you here. You spend a lot of time here. You are happy, here. It was a most pleasurable experience." Cassie blushed furiously. Angrily. This ... being had been watching her this whole time, and then used her passion for Brock to fuck her? That's a hell of a way to engage in a close encounter. "So, you make first contact with a cowboy's cock, was that your plan?" The conversation was becoming so ridiculous Cassie began to reassess her theory that it proved she wasn't crazy. She was sitting on a sleeping bag in a dark valley, coyotes in the distance, horses stomping on the other side of the fire, talking to her computer generated lover taken over by ... what? "I would not call it first contact, I have interacted with your kind before. Although, not exactly in this manner. I apologize if it was not pleasing to you." There was a hint of smugness in Brock's voice that she would have never programmed in. As if he knew differently. "You've made contact with people from Earth before? When? How? We've never been here." "Oh, but you have. I'm afraid I miscalculated then, too. But I've learned much from that experience, and from watching, listening to you and your Captain. Take me with you, Cassie. Think of how much we could learn from one another." Cassie's instinct turned to suspicion. She reached for the remote that controlled the dome and her Brock program and shut it down with the press of one button. If she was crazy, if this were all her imagination, he would disappear when she broke the connection. The valley, the fire, the mountain sounds went out and the bright lights of the dome came up. And there was Brock, in his jeans, tight white t-shirt and cowboy hat, standing in the middle of the white dome floor. He flickered for a moment, but then the dome lights dimmed slightly and he reappeared, looking to be as real as he had seemed when he was fucking her five minutes before. Cassie felt woefully underdressed and quickly pulled her jumpsuit back on as Brock watched, a playful smile teasing his lips. "How are you still here? I turned off the Brock file." Cassie circled him slowly. Everything was exactly as she had programmed, but absolutely real, all the way down to his creased, worn brown boots. "I'm still using the energy of your habitat to take this form. I like being Brock. You like Brock, too, don't you, Cassie? It was you who drew me out, after all, just as your people did before. You called to me. Take me with you. Nights like this one could be ours, forever." "Why do you keep saying that? I'm not going anywhere." "Yes, you are. I've muted the com in here, but your Captain has already started the protocol to abort the mission. I should have contacted you sooner. I heard the call before you even landed, but I thought we would have more time. Your people are much more advanced technologically than the last time we met. That worries me. I hadn't expected your Captain to be able to keep such close tabs on you." Now Cassie felt alarm. He blocked Avery's com? Avery was aborting the mission? She had to get out, she had to talk to Roz. Cassie slammed her palm into the button that opened the door and fled the relaxation dome. She made sure the door closed behind her, realizing how futile it was as she did it. The minute she was out she heard Roz yelling over the com in the main room of the habitat. F6: The Marlborough Man in the Moon "— to your sleeping chamber! Lock yourself in! Cassie can you read me, mission aborted! Run, Cassie, hurry!" Cassie ran towards her sleeping chamber, but managed to grab two bottles of water as she careened past her desk. Once inside she zipped it closed, and locked it. She shut off the lights, and the water reclamation unit. Set the controls to only the very minimal life support. A sudden thought panicked her and she grabbed at the small operating computer inside the chamber. She quickly accessed the relaxation dome programming and deleted all of her Brock programs, made sure there was no trace of them in the computer. Then she shut down everything electronic she could in the habitat, without killing herself. How much energy did that thing need to manifest? She had no idea. All she had running in her little chamber was the com link and the small amount of air she needed to keep breathing until Roz could send the retrieval pod for her. "Roz?" She called. "Are you there?" "Oh my god, Cassie, are you ok? What was that thing?" "I don't know. An alien entity of some kind. I can't even begin to describe it, but it's energy based and can communicate quite well." "Dammit. Damn those bastards!" Roz was furious."Get ready for pick-up Cassie. I'm close, but it will be a few hours. Are you set in there? Are you safe?" "I have no idea. What bastards?" "I'll tell you after retrieval." "Roz, wait a minute, are we overreacting? I was startled by him ... it ... by the way he made contact." Cassie felt chagrin, thinking of her all too real tryst with "Brock. "But this is contact from an alien life form! It's unprecedented. Isn't it our job as astronauts, as scientists, to stay and maintain contact? Explore the possibilities?" "No. Not with this thing. Cassie, trust me. Just get ready for the retrieval pod. Don't bring anything with you, no drives, no discs, nothing electronic" "It's just me in here and enough air to last, I hope. It's cold, Roz, hurry." "Ok. I'm shutting down the com, just in case." Cassie zipped herself into her sleeping cushion and tried to focus on deep, steady breaths. She took small sips of water. She was tense, expecting Brock to use what meager energy was activated in the chamber, to appear, but he did not. She shivered from the cold. When the retrieval pod landed on the roof of the chamber, she activated the escape hatch and climbed inside. She held back tears as she buckled herself in, thinking of all of her hard work wasted, left behind on what was supposed to be an uninhabited planet. How had this happened? Roz had the answers once she was safely back on the Prodigy. "We were set up, Cassie. By the Space Administration. By Dr. Shapiro, probably. Hand-picked to withstand the duress of the mission, my ass." Roz was still fuming, days after leaving the orbit of EP-274, on a trajectory back to Earth. The long road home. It was through Roz's boredom-fueled reading of old mission logs, and her ace hacker skills, that she had come to find the truth. They had been lied to. This planet was not EP-274. It was EP-101. The planet the crew of four had been exploring 20 years ago when on the way home one of them went batshit and killed his crew members and himself. Cassie paced around Roz's small sleeping quarters. "Are you fucking kidding me? They knew something was down there and they just sent us in unprepared? Taking fucking soil samples like an idiot? I was just bait, wasn't I? Brock said we called to him. I bet there was something, an energy beacon, a noise frequency we can't hear, embedded somewhere on the habitat, or even the Prodigy. Fuck!" "Brock?" Roz looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but Cassie brushed her off with a wave of her hand. Cassie was furious. What had the Space Administration expected would happen? Roz continued her tale. She still couldn't get through all of the redacted information. She didn't know if the mission to explore EP-101 was to make contact, or if that happened unexpectedly. She didn't know why the crew member had murdered his shipmates. But she did know that he had likely carried the entity with him onboard his ship, downloaded somehow on a computer drive. "God, Roz, Brock kept asking me to take him with us. What did he want?" "I have no idea. But when we get home, heads are going to roll and we are going to get some answers." Two months into the trip home, and Cassie and Rosalind had rekindled their cozy arrangement of keeping each other company during the long nights, making the tedious days more interesting. They had run out of foil-wrapped cookie dough, but had discovered some dusty tasting brownie batter that held promise. One evening, when Roz was busy, Cassie decided to spend some time in the Relaxation Room onboard, just to listen to some music, get a change of scenery. She hadn't programmed the room's computer with anything more than the misty shadow of a forest. No more trysts with imaginary men for her. She just might give the androgyny scene a second chance. Roz had been very convincing these past few months. Cassie started up her forest visuals and programmed some ancient blues music. It was just what she needed. Very relaxing. "Hello, Cassie." With a gasp Cassie turned, and there was Brock, in all of his cowboy glory. Stetson hat, wrinkled black t-shirt, worn jeans and creased boots. He stood and watched her fumble towards the door, a mischievous grin on his face. "You can't be here. I deleted the Brock file. I didn't bring you here. Roz!" Cassie screamed but Roz did not reply. "Captain Avery can't hear you, Cassie. It's just you and me. I told you, your people are much more technologically advanced than you were before. I found that I didn't need you to bring me up here, I managed it on my own. I am all energy, I was there, now I am here. Though really, I am still there. I am many places, many beings." Cassie continued to press the door's open button, though she knew it useless. "What do you want?" She whispered, cold fingers of dread creeping down her spine. "Your people are so arrogant, imagining that just because they know nothing of us, that we know nothing of them. We know you, Cassie. We have since the first slug crawled out of the slime. We were startled when your meager ship found us, quite accidentally, I might add, and then alarmed when you came looking on purpose. We had to remedy that." "Did you kill those men? From the other mission?" "There is no place for you here, Cassie. Your people will learn that. I am not the only one of my kind. And my kind is not alone. We are legion. We are endless. We power the universe, every universe you have not the capacity to imagine. But you, and your people, do not belong here. You have not earned your place, and from our observations, you never will." "Just let us go, we'll scrub the data. We won't tell anyone." Cassie felt the cold door of the room through the back of her jumpsuit. She was pressed up against it, though there was nowhere to go. "I think we both know it's too late for that." Brock set his hands on his hips and smiled widely. Cassie regretted making him so goddamned handsome. "But I will let you go. There's something I need you to do for me, Cassie." Brock flickered, and then appeared right in front of her. He leaned in, kissed Cassie deeply, passionately, just as she had programmed him to do. He gave her one last smile, and then bent and whispered in her ear. The Prodigy, when eventually retrieved from its erratic orbit around Earth, was empty of living souls who could tell any tales of where it had been, or what it had seen.