5 comments/ 12626 views/ 23 favorites Personal Space Ch. 01 By: kitty_bitch On my back on the floor, I felt the vibrations spring back to life. A few hours after embarking on your first flight, you get so used to the low hum of the engines that your mind filters it out... until it stops. In this cramped maintenance shaft, it seemed louder than ever. I finished mounting the panel and let my arms fall to the side, relaxing into the mechanical massage. Newer ships don't have this noise anymore, the dampeners are now tuned well enough to pick up the slightest vibration. But I liked it. It told me that things were going to be okay, even with the systems as badly damaged as they were. Artificial gravity cut out just as I turned over to move. You never realize how heavy your head is until suddenly, you don't have to support it anymore and bang it against the cover plates, which were luckily thin enough to give a little. "Sorry, James!" came Lisa's voice from upstairs, which I could no longer tell from downstairs. I hoped she would hear my grumble, even though I was happy I wouldn't have to crawl the whole way back out of the tube. Upon grabbing hold, I noticed my own eyes staring back at me in the distorted reflection of the panel. In the side light, my eyes looked even darker than usual, and I needed a shave. I decided that I liked it. Could be worse. Upon launching myself gently down the tube, I pulled my bandana over my head, keeping wild hair from drifting into my face. Zero-g is an unsettling feeling at first, but once you get used to it, it makes navigating through the ship a smooth and effortless thing. It wasn't much of a ship, but it was mine and I was proud of it. Maybe one day I would join the front line of exploration, but for now I was saving money by hauling things between solar systems. Things like the prototype machine in the cargo hold. I remembered to check the load straps, hopefully the loss of gravity didn't bang the device around too much. I tried to remember if I had left any tools that might now be floating around the room. While I was there, I could have another look at the package, I had a few guesses as to what it actually did. I grabbed a handlebar and made a sharp turn towards the cockpit, but as I passed the central hallways, I stopped myself. Lisa had crawled up the ladder -now sideways for me- and had stopped halfway to check the cables for damage. Her feet were towards me and the very sight pulled me right out of my thoughts. I decided to take a small detour and pushed myself off ever so lightly. Gliding through the tube, I brushed my fingers along the walls to make slight adjustments to the flight path. The implants in my bones made them quite heavy, but when gliding this slowly, the softest touch could change a course. Her feet passed my field of vision. I briefly wondered why she bothered with socks in those sneakers, poking out between the comfortable seal of her pants. The parts of her clothing were meant to compliment each other, but she threw that right out the window with socks. I couldn't imagine why she bothered with the expensive one-piece suits in the first place, though I wasn't complaining. Lisa was a hard worker and her legs showed it, even when they weren't supporting her. A feeling of guilt crept into my stomach as I admired my employee's body drifting by, as if that was what I had hired her for. Her age was honestly the only reason why she worked for me; Competent as she was, if she had been a few years older, I would have been working for her instead. I was happy to have found someone as driven and smart as Lisa, before she had a chance to pilot her own ship and make a career. My dilemma faded quickly when her rump came into view. Suppressing a sigh, I traced her curves as they passed in front of me. Lisa was intelligent and competent, yes. Her suit was better quality than most things on this ship, yes. But right now, all I saw was her gorgeous ass and the fabric hugging it tightly. The only thing that could beat my love for her backside, was my admiration for her work. I let that thought linger as I followed the swell of her hips and curves of her back. She had broad shoulders, I noticed, but at this point my view was cut off by her brown ponytail, drifting in all directions and tickling my face. I had hoped to pass her stealthily, but I was afraid she would back up enough to notice my presence. "Hi," I said matter-of-factly in her ear, and launched myself away from her startled flailing with a wide grin. Skillfully, I maneuvered myself towards the cockpit, deaf to the swearing behind me. We would be ready to resume course soon. -- Lisa plopped down heavily in the co-pilot chair beside me, nearly spilling her tea. Booting the data screens, she set her cup down on the nearest horizontal surface, hidden right behind the tilt indicator. But I did notice, and reached through the hologram to set the cup down in a safer spot, giving her a stern look. She didn't seem to catch on. "Life support is back online," she said, stating the obvious. She knew I liked that, redundancy makes a dangerous job a whole lot less dangerous. -"So we may live another day," I grumbled, flipping through the menus of the starboard screen. "And return the favor to those damn Belgians who upgraded our battery grid." I literally punched the throttle. Lisa looked at me with some concern. "There's no way they could have known, James. If anyone, it was my fault..." She said more, but I wasn't listening. Instead, I wondered what it was about Lisa that sailed her right past my guard. When she spoke, I listened. And when she spoke the truth, I hated her for it. I flicked the player and the music abruptly resumed where it had stopped when Lisa's "intelligent" tea cooker decided it didn't like the battery modifications and started a resonance feedback loop. -- "Two hours," I shouted after Lisa as she walked away with a wave. This station was known for its shopping floors and though we were in a rush, Lisa's help saved me plenty of time to give some of it back to her, in the form of shore leave. I had to pick up a few things of my own, which gave me a convenient excuse not to go with her. I treated myself with a few more seconds of ogling before turning on my heels. I looked around as I strolled through the station, and hopped from one transport beam to the other. Very few people actually lived here, most were tourists who considered shopping at a space station a status symbol. This was actually a science station once, a robotic guide had told me, repurposed into District S as we know it today. Quite well, I had to admit. The oversized clothing stores weren't my style but any place like this had its own back alleys, where the interesting little shops were, fixing, modifying and selling electronic and bionic trinkets, tolerated by the law. It takes a special type to do my line of work. Facing agoraphobia is difficult, and anyone maintaining a ship has to get over it. Space suits have improved a lot over the years but they still feel claustrophobic, while at the same time, the space around you seems to want to suck you in. Without thrusters on your suit, all you had to do was let go, and before you knew it your ship would be just out of reach, and you would drift off, ever so slowly, into the void. I stopped to look through a window, at the dozens of hand-held devices. While we are space grunts and proud of it, we are also nerds. All the bravery in the world couldn't compensate for technical knowledge, when it comes to difficult descents or slingshot maneuvers, where numbers are your friends and equations your tools. This was the part that Lisa excelled in more than anything, though she didn't mind doing some heavy lifting, either. I caught myself daydreaming of her doing exactly that, and snapped back to a stubby man looking at me from inside the shop. I entered, but took my time. What was it about Lisa that was getting under my skin? She looked pretty, but so did my last assistant and long story short, that one taught me not to judge a book by its cover. Not in this line of work. But Lisa... "What do you want?" To the point, I like that. I looked into his beady eyes and gave a curt nod. -"An RF scanner, going below 118 megahertz." He stared a moment longer before mimicking my nod and turning his sweaty self away from me. -- I was preparing for launch when Lisa walked in. "What do you think?" I turned my chair around. She was wearing pretty much the same skin-tight suit as before, but it seemed a thicker material. It hid the curve of her smallish breasts somewhat, while the black and gray pattern accentuated her waist in all the right ways. The color clashed a little with her chestnut hair, which I noticed wasn't tied back in a ponytail as usual. She looked like a pixie, if a pixie lifted weights on a daily basis. She struck me as gorgeous and I was about to tell her, but I caught myself and nodded approvingly, as if to compliment her on a choice of clothing that didn't snag in maintenance tunnels. It stayed quiet for a moment as I went back to my checklist, and secretly I hoped I hadn't insulted her. "Don't you like it?" It seemed like I had. -"It looks good on you," I admitted, after looking a second time. -"I should hope so." She grinned, obviously pleased with my lukewarm reaction. "I went a little over my budget." I gestured at her. "I don't see why..." She looked good in anything, but I couldn't bring myself to say it. If we wanted to make this work, I had to act professional. Being in a space ship together for weeks tends to have a desert island-effect on people, and by the time the job is finished they're stuck in a very complicated situation. I had had to repeat that mantra a few times that month. "It's hardly different from the other two that you have." She frowned. Great. "You spent a small fortune on those seats. They're hardly-" I stopped her with a raised hand. -"I'll have you know, these are vintage CroTex covers, from earthen-" -"Horses. Yes, I know." She didn't usually cut me off like that. "And if it wasn't bad enough that the company uses sentient animals in their products, they are also responsible for a small genocide on a developing planet." -"They made the best seats in the history of seats, though," I finished my own story with a mumble. I shrugged and looked to my side, suddenly distracted by the last few items on the checklist. We flew in silence for a good hour. I didn't mind, there's nothing like the passing of planets when exiting a system and I like to enjoy it in peace. Once we escaped the heliosphere however, I activated the autopilot and leaned forward to put on some music. "What did you name your ship?" Lisa spoke up and my hand froze in mid-air. She spun and stood up, probably to go make herself a cup of tea. I watched her hips as she moved away, taking my sweet time. "Why do you want to know?" Her routine for making tea was well-practiced by now. She offered, but I refused. Slowly, she walked up to me. She was being unusually informal with me, nipping her cup as she entered my comfort zone. I made sure my face didn't reveal how intimidated I was as I squinted up at her. "Just disappointed that after 10 months working together, you still haven't introduced me properly." I hesitated. "Lisa, meet Theseus. Theseus, Lisa." Gesturing back and forth, I scanned her face for a reaction, but she hid herself behind her cup. -"Why Theseus?" She knew I wouldn't give my pride and joy any old name. I couldn't help but feel disappointed that she couldn't figure it out, though. -"Theseus' ship is a paradox. He left with one ship and returned with another, but he claimed it was the same one. Except, he had been repairing and upgrading it so extensively, that no part of it was the same anymore. So then, was it still the same ship?" She rolled her eyes and shook her head, but I caught her smile. "You're quite handsome for a geek," she said with a mocking tone. That surprised me. Was she flirting? "So why did I become part of the ship?" When you sit in a tin can together for days on end, without so much as a rotating sun to change the scenery, conversation tends to slow to a crawl. I like that actually, it gives me time to think. So this time, my quick response was painfully obvious. "I know a good co-pilot when I see one." She nodded and after a few more seconds, walked away, leaving me to wonder what that was all about. -- I like my day cycles nice and long, up to 20 hours followed by 10 hours of sleep, though I can halve the latter without ill effects other than a serious case of grumpiness in the morning. I had separated the sleeping quarters ever since my first female co-pilot, who I had hired as a favor to her father. I thought she at least deserved a little place to call her own in this vast emptiness, regardless if she would end up using it much. It cost me quite some effort to get rid of the built-in bunk bed on my side, and my king-sized bed was now taking up most of the floor. There's nothing like flopping down spread-eagled at the end of a long day, and fall asleep with your boots on. I always set up enough alarms so that I'm sure to get a rude awakening if so much as a photon hits the hull (figuratively of course), but until then, the universe can go screw itself. It was nothing like a sensor alarm that woke me up that night, though. It was my name, whispered in the doorway. It startled me nonetheless. "Lights ten," I grumbled, and with a smooth 4-second S-curve, the lights faded in and there in the soft glow was Lisa, beautiful as ever. I'm a stomach sleeper, and once I was sure the ship wasn't on fire, put my head back down and closed my eyes. "Where you sleeping?" She whispered as if she was afraid to wake her parents. -"No, I was skydiving." She didn't laugh. Alright. She wasn't leaving, either. "What." -"I couldn't sleep." No kidding, she only sleeps 6 hours a night, the freak of nature. She usually keeps herself busy in silence, though. As her words sunk in, they brought a sense of doom. This was going to be difficult. Suddenly, I became aware that I was in my underwear, on top of the sheets. Quite like how I had found her in the maintenance shaft, only without clothes on. I had little time to wonder how long she might have been standing there. "I could use some company." Quickly, she added, "I don't mind if you sleep. It just got lonely in front." I recognized the symptoms of agoraphobia. They start with a feeling of dread, and if you don't fight it, end in panic attacks. The stages in between were not much fun, either. I couldn't do that to her. Could I? "Sure." I grabbed the blanket from the foot end of the bed as she came closer, and just caught her reaching for the zip of that suit she just bought a week ago before I rolled back into the same position as before. Oh God. She was undressing. She had bothered to put on underwear even though her suit made it obsolete, telling me she had planned for it to go this way. She crawled in and I tossed the blanket over her. "Much nicer than my bunk," she noticed, and got a grunt in return. I didn't know where to put myself as she snuggled in close. It wasn't cold in the room at all but she seemed to think that it was, pressing herself against me. I put my arm over her and a small shove later, I was pretty much spooning her, my arm awkwardly over the blanket. I couldn't help but enjoy the touch. It had been so long since I had felt skin pressed against mine, and even then, it was usually paid for. I gently pressed my face into her neck, closed my eyes, and tried to sleep, strongly aware of my heartbeat in my throat. Lured into reality by her presence, I slept in short bursts. As promised, she stayed awake. I caught her looking when I opened an eye. This was not at all the Lisa I was used to seeing. I looked at her for a moment longer, hoping to find some reason why. Instead, she reached forward and brushed my hair from my face. It was the softest touch I had ever felt. My whole body reacted, I couldn't keep my eyes open and a shiver ran through me. The sensation served as a wake-up call, literally and figuratively. I was in bed with my co-pilot, doing things I would regret. "Time to get up," I whispered, well aware that it wasn't. She just nodded her head a little, and after another stroke, rolled out of bed. "Lights five," I sighed, so she could find her clothes. -- I threw the scanner aside and yawned again. What was I thinking, an unpowered device wouldn't emit radio waves. But then why is it interrupting the aft scanner? The client had specifically asked not to remove the safety brackets, but I was tempted after spending good money on trying to figure out what it was without damaging it. I walked around it again, but still found it to be little more than a life-sized gray metal box with a screen and a blunt protrusion on one side. I looked up and saw Lisa come in. I was running out of excuses to stay out of the living area anyway, so I didn't mind her joining me. I had decided to leave last night's events for what they were, and it seemed that she had done the same. Lisa picked up the RF scanner and looked at the readings. "Do you mind?" She knew I wouldn't, changing settings long before I could give her permission. "It's dead," I said, noticing that she was in the wrong menu. I didn't want to interrupt her though, she was smart enough to figure it out. "I was guessing it would emit some kind of radiation to cause the interference we saw, but there's nothing on the whole spectrum," I continued, pointing. "That could be an antenna though. Or a sensor. It's big enough for..." Lisa was not even facing the right way, as if to scan the empty space in the cargo hold. -"Mm hm." She pretended to listen, swaying from side to side strangely, fixated to the screen. "Actually, it isn't sending out radiation of its own, it's bending ours..." She took out her multitool and tossed it casually at the machine. It clanged against the protrusion and stayed there. Lisa's grin revealed her pride. "It's magnetic. The alloys of the hull are not affected, but electrons are. It's a small but incredibly powerful field." She went over to remove her tool with some difficulty. "If this thing was turned on, your precious karabiner would have ripped your clothes right off you." I glanced down confusedly. Lisa never missed an opportunity to mock my karabiner on a retractable leash, hanging from my belt. In case of a hull breach, it was to keep me from being sucked out into space. I had never needed it but you never know. I thought about what she said, and gave her a little applause. "You never cease to amaze me, partner. Can you also tell me what it's for?" We agreed that it was definitely a sensor, probably even a full array. It was far stronger than anything we had ever seen though, suggesting that it was used to monitor phenomena of epic proportions. As to the nature of those, her guess was as good as mine. After spending an hour or two coming up with crazy ideas, she came to sit next to me on a crate. I glanced over and saw her serious expression, and decided against joking about the scratch her tool left on the device. Instead, I stared in front of me. "This is my last job for you, James," came her voice. It seemed to echo into space. "I got a deal on a ship." I knew I had grown attached to her, but I had never expected to feel so devastated by the news. I swallowed my words, twice, and paused to let it sink in. "Really. What kind?" -"It's an S-class, a new type called the Narwhal." She didn't have to explain further. The Narwhal was a scout, designed for exploration and reconnaissance. I couldn't think of a better ship for her. Personal Space Ch. 01 I didn't want her to go. I wouldn't know what to do without her. A familiar feeling of panic crept over me, as I envisioned myself alone, adrift in space. I cleared my throat. "Congratulations." -- Nothing was the same after that. Her shiny new ship was waiting for her at our next destination, and although I hated nothing more, I was taking her there. I considered feigning engine trouble but even if she'd fall for it, which she never would, I wasn't prepared to stoop that low. She caught me looking a lot. Once or twice she imitated my frown theatrically, but mostly she just ignored it. "You looked so angry, so serious when I first met you," she had told me once. "But now that I got to know you, there's a sense of humor under the mask." I didn't want to admit I was flattered by that, but as the days passed, I felt like that humor had melted away. I was moody and short with her, even when I didn't mean to. It was only a matter of time before things would escalate. "Yes, Captain Moody," Lisa replied as she jerked the stick a little too briskly. -"Excuse me?" -"I can't help that there's asteroids, or that you had to get out of bed. I could have handled it, there's no reason to take it out on me." I gritted my teeth and looked forward, at the passing debris. A million answers flashed through my head as I guided us through. I opened my mouth to reprimand her, but closed it again. "I bet the AI will change vectors more smoothly when I'm gone, so you can rejoice." She was out of line but her words stung too much for me to react. Instead, after yet another awkward silence, I changed the subject. "I hope you made log entries about your modifications, in case your replacement won't be as um, clever as you." I could tell Lisa wanted to leave the room, but the job required her being there. -"I'll miss you too," she grumbled. -"Look, I..." I am capable of destroying your new ship if it meant you'd stay. "The ship won't be the same without you." -"No? Then, how will it be?" A box. A husk. "Just... Different." I glanced her way, and I could tell she was enjoying this. Trying to focus on dodging space rock, I continued digging my hole. She'd be gone in 2 weeks, anyway. "I enjoy your work. The ship is in good shape, thanks to you. And um, having you here made it a good place to be at." -"You will miss me," she interjected, sounding surprised. After plotting the next part of the course, she stared at me. Now I was the one to wish I could leave the room. I could feel her eyes on me. She was waiting for a reply, but I was drawing blank. I just shrugged. Never had I been so relieved to hear the proximity alarm. I blinked and looked again. "Miners? They're a long way from home." My screen showed a mining ship facing us, but something was off. Their drill bit was out and ready, something only possible when the vessel was clamped down on an asteroid, unless the safety mechanisms were somehow disabled. But why would... -"They're union," Lisa groaned. My penny dropped: Whatever they were unhappy about, they were about to take it out on us in the name of a better future. For them, anyway, there would be no future for us in their ideal world, where justice was served through terrorism. With a bleep, the hologram showed the ship to be powering up its thrusters. Lisa's reaction was immediate, faster than mine, even. Instantly, she was pinned in her harness and enveloped by holographic screens. It baffled me every time, how she could handle so much information at once. Even over her shoulder, there was the fuel indicator. I liked to keep it simple, with graphical representations of the things around us. I fly on a gut feeling, luckily I was usually right. "Escape vector." It sounded like a question, but Lisa was already setting the arch. -"Negative. They'll outrun us." Obediently, she deleted the settings. "With a full cargo, our center of mass is very low. We'll meet them head on, and twist out of the way last second. Balls to the wall." She understood, and followed orders. Our rust bucket picked up speed, and I realized we had just started an oversized game of chicken. The mining ship extended its drill but its crew didn't want to damage their own ship, so they approached us at a slow crawl. Our relative speed was already far beyond anything they had planned for. When they realized we were too fast and close to maneuver out of the way, they fired their reverse thrusters. There is no sound in space but my mind filled in the bang of the jets we saw firing. At the exact same moment, I threw the stick to the side and we turned upside-down relative to them, twisting the bulk of our vessel out of the collision course. With another small adjustment, we managed to graze past them. My euphoria was short-lived however, when the mining ship's automatic harpoon fired into our hull. One security measure they forgot to override, the idiots. A dry pop, like a balloon bursting, told me that we were losing air pressure. Lisa immediately isolated the leak with the doors. I cursed loudly as I imagined my baby's pain while the line drew taut, and with a sickening crunch, the hook tore Theseus' belly open. The harpoon detached on their end, and the jerk brought the backwards accelerating ship off course, into an asteroid. They were crippled, but they would survive. Good, I would hate the moral dilemma of having to save our attackers. "The hook is causing a short," Lisa informed me while I dodged asteroids at breakneck speed. "We're leaking power through gravity and climate control." -"Kill gravity, then," I ordered, and the next moment I felt myself become weightless, held in place by my harness. When I could, I took one hand off the controls to jerk my bandana in place. -- A lack of air around the ship means that a ship's momentum will carry it forward using minimal power, the autopilot (I named him Otto because I'm hilarious) keeping gravitational noise from nearby stars at bay. The process is safe enough for us to leave the bridge and assess the damage. "They're fighting for a good cause," Lisa said in the comms. -"This is not a war zone. It's a protest. One that almost cost us our lives." I was throwing a small fit in my space suit, the sight of the tear in our hull fueling my rage. Lisa was catching on, and opted to stay silent. So in silence we continued to work, until I made the mistake of gazing into the void. "I bet you'll miss this," I told the nothingness. Lisa replied, to my relief. "Holding a ship together with spit and a prayer? I won't know what to do with all my spare time." I chuckled. But looking over my property, I had to admit, it was nearing the end of its life cycle. This tear could be patched, but hull integrity would never be what it was. I sighed. "It's not so bad, James." I leaned over and looked her in the eye through the hole in my ship to make my point. She laughed, a sound that made the imminent destruction of my spaceship a trivial matter. Again, the silence lingered after she finished. I sunk into concentration, like I would when doing this job by myself. I was able to move heavy metal plates into place with one hand, and welded them in, while Lisa patched the insulation and started on the power conduits. It was near sleeping time when I finished and we got out of our sweaty vac suits, but Lisa knew better than to suggest leaving repairs for tomorrow. Some dinner and a steam bath later, we were at it again. I never found my concentration again, though. I tried not to stare above me with Lisa hanging there, but working without my mind going places was proving impossible. I felt defeated and ready to admit it. "I will miss you." -"Hmm?" Her tone told me she understood me perfectly. -"In case you were wondering. I don't know how many more runs this ship has in him, but... I'm not sure if I care." I detached my karabiner and left this part for what it was. I didn't need this patch job to outlast the rest of the ship. Looking up at my assistant, I realized I'd have to pass her by to get to the living quarters, and smiled to myself. With the lightest of touches, I pushed myself off towards her. Her socks passed my view, her one leg wrapped under the ladder steps to pin herself in place while working. And that ass, my god. I braced myself against the walls and stayed there for as long as my conscience allowed. I could kiss her, then and right there. I wanted to test if her outfit could withstand my blunt teeth, if I could hurt her if I tried. I moved on before I lost that fight. I could imagine how the curve of her sides would fit inside my hand, how I could find her ribcage through- bah, ponytail. I grasped onto the handles again, and prepared to launch. But just as I opened my mouth, she backed up, slowly, forcing me to plant myself against the tube wall. Still she came in, much further than necessary, until her back touched me and I was pinned in place. "Oh my," she cooed. She must have been able to feel my heartbeat. I didn't know what to say, or where to put my hands. And when she breathed, "Caught you looking, James," I didn't know what to think, either. -"I'm sorry, I'll-' -"Don't be." She left the tools against the wall magnet and turned her head. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't hang on to my feeling of guilt as I looked into her eyes. I now knew where her power over me came from: Those pools of green seemed to look right through me. Reaching back, she combed her fingers through my hair. "Why so moody, my captain? What's got you so riled up?" I put my hands on her in an attempt to free myself, my head swimming. Instead, she took hold of my arm and wrapped it further around her. I didn't fight it. She kept whispering little nothings in my ear as she encouraged my hand to roam over her. The impossible softness of her caused sparks behind my eyes, so I closed them and watched the fireworks, her body taking shape between them as my palms explored further over her thighs, her sides, her breasts. Her rump gyrated slowly against me as she sighed. "Do it, James. I need it." She released my hand but I kept going, as ordered. "I need it so bad..." She released the ladder, sending us adrift inside our ship. It seemed to cradle us now, shooting through the emptiness while the warmth of her mixed with my own. "Do it," She begged again, as I hesitantly brushed over the zipper. It went all the way down to her belly button, but I didn't dare go that far. I just needed to feel her skin, her nipple grazing my wrist. I pressed my lips in her neck and she encouraged me, gripping my hair as I gave her my teeth. "Yes," she murmured idly with every bit that she liked. Still, I was careful with her. "So gentle," she mocked me with a smile, biting my ear. She took the liberty of undoing her zipper all the way down and pushing my hand into the gap. "No more games, James. I need you now." I wanted nothing more, but a little voice still protested. I tried to explain. "I'm your captain..." I reached further down into her suit, soft hairs between my fingertips. -"Yes... Yes, my captain, taking advantage..." My eyes flew open, but she seemed in a place far away. "Go on, then. You bastard... Do it. See, I'm clean..." Gritting my teeth, I clutched her to me and before I knew it, cupped her pussy in my palm. Lisa grabbed on to me as I explored between her legs, grinding her backside into my crotch and talking in incoherent whimpers. I started pulling her suit off of her, pinning her arms behind her back. She bumped my erection and took hold of it, inside its painful confinement. Her slow massage drove me further into my clouded state of mind, reassuring me that no matter how much I was going to regret it, I was going to make her mine. We had to break loose briefly for her to kick her suit off, and just like that, she was naked but for her socks. I noticed that we were in the living area now, and because of our slow spin, now drifting apart. I reached out to her but she didn't take my hand, letting us part ways. She gave me a little show as I waited for a wall to push off of, playing with herself while looking me directly into the eyes. She looked like a goddess with her pale skin, rotating towards me, caressing herself, daring me to forget my rank and give in to my desire. That's exactly what I did, feeling the wall under my feet as I threw my shirt to the side. I pushed forward, slightly off target. She caught me and held me where I had landed, with my face by her stomach, arms now wrapped around her waist. I pressed my lips against her, feeling her on my cheek. I then crawled lower, pushed by her, and sensed how she wrapped her legs around my head and shoulders while bracing herself against the wall. I glanced up as she removed my bandana; she was staring, wide-eyed, trembling as she almost forced herself on me. Greedily I licked her, her ass in my hands as I put my tongue between her nether lips and lapped at her for all I was worth. Lisa writhed and mewled, calling my name and begging for more. She kept us from floating, clinging on to anything she could find. She couldn't keep her legs still, shuddering with each wave of pleasure I sent through her. I couldn't move much but I could slide my hand in, spreading her and trying her entrance. Her own hand flew from my hair to guide mine in, urgently, until two fingers were fully in and fucking her forcefully. Lisa's cries increased in volume, her words in harshness. She scolded me for taking advantage, asked me if I enjoyed abusing my authority. It fitted so perfectly, making me angry and determined to do exactly that. Her orgasm punched her as I dragged my nails down her back harshly, her words now lost on me as her thighs covered my ears. I guided her down her climax with gentle laps, until she twitched and pulled her over-sensitive self away. She laughed a little at my glistening face, as she embraced and kissed me. Grabbing on, it was my turn to pin her against the wall, my need growing as our tongues explored the other's wishes. "Fuck me, James," she told me between wanton licks, and I intended to, yanking at my belt. My arms pulled strongly as I entered her, pushing all of me inside her. She gasped and clawed at me. "Fuck me you bastard," she growled, and I shoved her forcefully into the comm panel. "Oh God." I don't know what came over me. She made me feel so powerful, in control over her. She alternated between reassuring and blaming me, clearly just as lost in this mind trip as I was. Lisa pushed my upper body away and looked down at us, where I was buried inside her. She sought me out, caressing me there while observing with eyes and fingertips how I fucked her deeply. "You like that? You like fucking me? Captain? Mmmh yes..." She arched her back a little as I took hold of her ass. "I'm so sensitive there..." My eyes must have rolled back, seeing only the mental image of the cleft of her bottom I was exploring. I wanted her to cum with me, but I knew it wasn't going to happen. She teased me too expertly, her voice was too sweet. My thrusts became erratic, needy, and she egged me on. "Touch my ass, Captain. I love the attention. Right there..." Something inside me snapped and my back locked up, as I clutched at her violently and orgasmed like never before. I know I hurt her, I must have. But she only hissed, "Yesss..." I didn't let go as I shuddered all though my descent. I had her here, I would never let go. I kissed the side of her head repeatedly, as if to apologize for being so rough, while she stroked my hair and kept me from slipping out of her. Once again, I didn't know what to tell her. My free hand continued to caress her, testing her supple skin, the curve of her ass. With my face buried in her neck, I watched our nipples touch. Eventually, after the longest time like this, I said it. "Don't go." She stopped moving. I felt her sad sigh and in response, pinned her a little more tightly again. She seemed to enjoy that. "Don't go," I repeated, feeling all pretense of authority drain from me. I was a child, afraid, alone, clinging on to some forlorn feeling of belonging. In deep space with nothing to hold on to but her. She patiently brushed my wafting hair from her face. "James." She motioned me to look her in the eye. "It's a desert island. You'll get over me when I'm gone, and fall in love hopelessly again with your next crew." My brain told me she was right, but I shook my head. -"This is different." It shocked me how strongly I felt about it. "I m-... I need you." She continued to keep my stubborn hair back, seeming occupied with that task. "More than your ship?" I couldn't imagine what Theseus had to do with it. I looked towards the bridge to my left, and the bedroom to my right, where my pillow floated in the doorway. It stung to think how much I was going to miss my ship when it inevitably ended on the scrapyard, but did not at all change how I felt. "Of course... But I don't see..." She smiled a little, warming me up. She then looked squarely at me, holding my hair taut in a pony tail. "The Narwhal needs a crew of three, James. I'll need a pilot with good gut feeling." She reached down between us and took hold of my cock as it slipped out wetly. "A good member to join the crew, if you will." Personal Space Ch. 02: Submission Taiko 7 was a desert planet. I love desert planets, the hotter and drier, the better. I made a point of exiting Theseus with the morning sun in my face, as the last little critters disappeared with the night's cold. I spat a mouthful of toothpaste on the landing platform and gazed into the wind, like a blow dryer in my face. Nothing made me feel more like a space trucker like hearing the dust sing on the metal of my ship. And I loved being a space trucker. I rinsed and went into the service building for a shower, a real shower. My jet lag had woken me up before anyone else so I had all the time and I intended to take it. I had plenty to think about with everything that I knew, about to change. There was nothing much to find on this tiny planet, which is probably why the scientists built their base of operations there. This large docking tower was part of it, with my pride and joy resting on one of the petal-shaped protrusions. From the platform, I could see Lisa's new ship on a lower floor, a crew still adjusting it to her specifications. Lisa was up when I returned, talking to someone in the shadow of my vessel. She pointed at me as I caught her eye, and gave me a lingering look. I decided to put my shirt on after all, in case this man was our next client. Like most of my clothes, it was a light fabric, a button-up shirt that I thought made me quite dapper-looking. He turned out to be our latest contract, though this was the first time we spoke. His big blotch of black curls contrasted sharply against his spotless white shirt. A tall, calm man, but with little time for small talk. I decided that I liked him. As we walked, he thanked me repeatedly for delivering the package undamaged. Apparently, my contribution to science had been of immeasurable importance. "In fact..." He stopped and turned towards me. I gave him my undivided attention. Him and the supply ship landing some distance behind him, that I knew would carry fresh food. "In fact," he repeated a little louder, "Once we are done degaussing the coils, we would like to hire your services again to transport our array to its final destination." I sighed and shook my head, gesturing at the ship and my future employer. "I'm sorry, Professor. This was my last mission. My ship is ready for the scrapyard and I already found a job on another. I'm afraid taking more jobs is not possible." He seemed to take my words into careful consideration, straightening his glasses. "I see. Well that would be a shame. You see, we could help you with the first problem- We are well equipped here to add to the repairs already made." He gestured at my patch job. In space it seemed to qualify as 'good enough', but here the randomly welded plates appeared prone to blowing off with the wind. He saw my hesitation. "I'll be frank with you, James. We would like as few people aware of this operation as possible. You have proven yourself dependable, and w-" He startled a little when I waved widely at Lisa, gesturing her closer while he was trying to be subtle. I looked him in the eye. "Lisa knows what I know, Professor. I'd like to keep it that way." -- From the way she stared at her ship, I could tell Lisa would grow to love it as much as I loved my rust bucket. It was a magnificent ship too: The Narwhal, the white edition, ready to take on the universe. It was about the size of my H-class but where my ship was mostly storage space, hers was crammed full of sensor technology, engine upgrades and weapons to match most military vessels of similar size. It was made for exploration, the dream of many. In no time, she would end up hired by some university or research station, and roam the edges of space and knowledge. And now she was telling me she was willing to put that dream on hold for this job I offered her. I had told her I wouldn't do it without her. That I would go where she would, as her captain or her pilot, I didn't care. But the truth was, we were both dying to find out what was going on. Whatever it was, it was big, and the science station wanted their sensors near it quickly enough to offer full repairs of my ship on top of a handsome fee. To be honest, I was looking forward to working for her. If for no better reason, because I thought she'd make a better captain than me, and following orders is generally easier than issuing them. But if we were going to take my ship, I would be in charge. Those are the rules, and I had no reason to break them. I wanted to ask if she was sure about her decision, but as I saw her touch the nose of her new toy, I knew she was saying goodbye. So in a few days, this was going to happen. Very well. As I turned on my heels, my mind was already on course. -- "So Professor, mind sharing the purpose of the equipment we're hauling?" We hadn't even left the atmosphere, but this machine was figuratively burning a hole in the cargo bay. And since our client found it necessary to stay with it and hitch a ride with us, he was going to get all the questions that had built up on this trip. Lisa stopped what she was doing and turned her chair towards our passenger, who was trying to figure out how to get her tea maker to work, and seemed too proud to ask for assistance on such a trivial task. He felt his eyes on us and set the cup down. "I... can't tell you much more, James. It's a sensor array, but you already knew that." I didn't answer. "It was designed to identify... certain particles... that have undergone a process of supersymmetry linking." I turned back to flying. At no point had it occurred to me that I simply might not be able to understand what I was getting into. With the Professor's hackled explanation still going on, I still wasn't getting any wiser. It just made me feel like an idiot. It was a 2 week journey, taken into account a few detours to ensure the safety of our passenger and cargo. There were no hiccups but I had to admit, the Professor's presence was annoying me a little. We gave him the spare room in the belly of the ship, but he had insisted on full clearance and spent much of his time dissecting Theseus. I knew my ship inside and out, I had built and rebuilt much of it with my own hands. The more he figured out, the more I was made obsolete. Mentally, I begun preparing witty comebacks in case he ever wanted to fly the damn thing. The repair crew had only had a small window of time, but I was forever grateful for the impressive work they had put in. Not only did they fix the hull properly, but they had replaced any broken circuitry inside. The engineers even gave the thrusters a full once-over. I wasn't used to not seeing red highlights in the systems menu, and enjoyed playing with the options I had forgotten about. I found it particularly hilarious to shut down the power to any system the Professor was nosing into, making him wonder. He had even given up on the tea maker after it died randomly for the second time. I realized that this trip was bringing us close to uncharted territory. The universe was being explored in a more or less spherical shape, with extensions towards particularly interesting areas. But there was one dent in the sphere, one meaningless place that was still officially uncharted. It would never had caught my eye if we weren't headed right for it. I set the maps to rotate, and leaned back, staring into the cluster of galaxies with a resolution far beyond any holographic projector. Too many stars to count, most with planets. Our exploration of them had happened exponentially. My father, a mathematician whom I spoke a lot but only saw half a dozen times in my life, loved riddles. He told me that, as his reward, the inventor of the chess board asked for 1 grain of rice for the first square on the board. It was just a start, a base. Our Terra, our earth. He asked 2 grains for the next: Our moon. Then 4, our solar system. 8, the star cluster. Every square, double the amount of the one before. 128, our galactic neighborhood. 2,097,152, a quarter of the galaxy. Such vast distances, and it all felt so small. It had happened so fast. I couldn't shake the feeling that we were poorly prepared. There was still so much to learn that we hadn't. How it all came to exist, what kept entropy stagnant, and why the human race was alone. The story went that by the final square of the chess board, the emperor of China needed enough rice to cover the surface of planet many times over, to pay off the debt he had agreed on. So when it would be time for humanity to pay its due, there would be no way we ever could. No way in the universe. - I found Lisa in my bedroom that night. She had been waiting for me but eventually fell asleep; a chaos of sheets, underwear and pale skin in fetal position. I dimmed the lights just enough so I could still see her, and knelt down at her feet. That night, she was my universe. She was my debt, as I kissed her feet for permission and forgiveness. She stretched her legs luxuriously, my hair tickling her calves. Like the little tease that she was, she turned on her stomach and tempted me with a slow wiggle of her bum. She didn't even bother waking up fully, letting me make up for my being late with my lips on her thighs. She murmured as I made my way up her legs, ever so slowly, letting her sway in and out of sleep. When I finally planted a kiss, like a flag on the surface of her behind, she rolled her hips and lifted herself just slightly for me. She had her face buried in the pillow, afraid to watch me. She wasn't used to so much attention there, but she was so sensitive, so curious, that she didn't stop me. Not even when my fingers hooked under those black panties and pulled them to her knees. I couldn't help but smile to myself. I loved to watch her squirm. I heard a small whimper when I touched her. I was back to kissing her skin, but my hand ventured deeper between the hills of her ass, down from her tailbone, ever so slowly. She was trying so hard to keep pretending to be asleep, but when she felt her most intimate places being touched, she stirred, inviting me despite herself. I took note and moved on, fingers disappearing between her legs to search her sex. To my surprise, they met with hers there, and I realized she had been touching herself all through my playing. I couldn't wrap my mind around how sexy she looked right then. After removing her panties entirely, I forced her legs open. I could sense her embarrassment but she didn't stop, drawing small circles over her clitoris. "That's my girl", I murmured, and leaned in. She hissed my name into the pillow when she felt my tongue back there, slithering between her buttocks. I tasted her honey when I went low enough, but mostly I was interested in teasing her ass, searching what she liked. And I could tell she liked this, pushing herself up to me, her fingers quickening to a frantic pace. The pillow muffled her voice as she neared her climax. I climbed over her and with my cock in my fist, braced before penetrating her forcefully. She gripped me in spasms as she came underneath me, pushing that beautiful backside of hers up to me. I gripped her hips and keeping her pinned, fucked her through her orgasm. "One day I'll have your ass," I hissed in her ear, looking down at it as my hips slammed down. "Your soft... pretty..." Within moments, I veered over the edge. I wrapped my arms around her tightly, my body going into an overload from the contact with her soft flesh, and climaxed explosively. I had hoped to last a little longer, but the sight of her and her voice begging for it, were too much. Holding her convulsively, I filled her until she leaked on the sheets. I didn't let go and she didn't seem to mind, purring in my embrace and kissing my bicep. We continued enjoying each other like this, with soft pecks and touches. I just couldn't get enough of her. "What kept you so long?" She asked with a little smile as she turned and I laid my head on her belly. I gestured vaguely. "...I got distracted." -- We were instructed to detour the space station in a wide arc, before approaching it. They hadn't bothered with an explanation, but as we neared the site, we saw why: What had seemed like a distant sun, was actually a small point perfectly still in space, yellowish in color and with an aura that made it painful to look at. It was smack in our trajectory and a lazy pilot flying blind, might run right into it. I tried a scan but the sensors couldn't penetrate the event horizon. It almost seemed like we could crash into the field surrounding the particle if we ventured too close, even though we couldn't make out much more than a light mist. The event horizon of for example, a black hole, is the place where even light can no longer escape its gravitational pull. When moving towards it, it's the border where your imminent death transitions from "very plausible" to "certain". Not a single molecule would survive once you were inevitably pulled in. This... thing wasn't absorbing radiation though, but emitting it. For all intents and purposes, it shouldn't have a horizon at all. "We're here," the professor declared, as the space station entered sensor range and flickered into existence above the target indicator. As I straightened us from our diagonal orientation, Lisa plotted a course. While I had the chance, I learned the lay-out of the base, noting that more than half of it was off limits. After a few confirmations back and forth, traffic control gave us permission and we landed in the hangar. I noticed several other ships in the bay, many H-class like my own. Apparently, there had been more people coming than going lately, and the station seemed stretched to the limits regarding capacity. -- "You okay?" I tried to catch Lisa's gaze. While waiting for further instructions after the Professor had left, she had gotten comfortable on my lap and I was biding my time worshipping her shoulders. She nodded thoughtfully. -"I think so. This is just... weird. These guys seem so well equipped, and at the same time it shows that they don't know what they're doing." Downstairs, we heard several people enter the ship and begin work on the package. -"I was thinking the same thing. All this secrecy is making me not trust them." Lisa leaned in and pressed a soft kiss on my lips. "We'll look out for each other, hmm?" Unaware of the deep impression she left, she got up and climbed down to the cargo bay. We were stopped at the first door as we were helping the crew transport the device, and got asked, gently but urgently, to find our living quarters inside the station. The next day, while I was killing time exploring the halls, the intercom came on and repeated that request. We were allowed to go nowhere unsupervised. The staff didn't seem very willing to help us out, and the other freelancers in the cantina, frankly a lazy bunch, usually knew less than we did. I did a full sweep of the station when I was allowed to visit the Theseus, after having lied about needing some personal things. From what little information I could gather, I was able to tell that the whole place was put together in a rush. Constructional decisions boggled the mind, and it seemed like the different modules had arrived in the wrong order, but were put together anyway. If a fire were to break out in the cantina, we would most likely all die. And for most escape routes, we'd have to pass areas with doors that wouldn't open for us. I rolled my eyes and made peace with the fact that I would probably leave here without ever knowing the details of what it was all for. Frankly, my cup of care was now empty. I was ready to ditch this place at the first opportunity, and get back to Taiko 7 where Lisa's ship was literally collecting dust. With the money we made doing this, we could probably take it easy for a while as we learned the ropes of our new vessel. -- "You're not serious." Both my earlier passenger and the woman across the desk nodded. She was an elderly, bald scientist with a stereotypical white coat and a conspicuous ocular implant not unlike permanent reading glasses, and she seemed in charge here. I examined the room. I assumed I was in her office, with children grinning widely at me from a picture screen. The rest of the room was sparsely decorated, with no luxury beyond the essential. "To you, it's just one more job, James. Of course, we'll make it worth your while," the woman spoke up. I looked to my side, at the professor. "What kind of operation is this, really? You can't expect me to believe that I am the most competent for a job like this." -"James..." He straightened his glasses. "You have to understand, humanity was... poorly prepared, for a finding like this." Goose bumps ran up my arms as he spoke. "Never before have we found an object with such a sharply defined event horizon, you see. We have never had the need to install our sensors with such surgical precision, and in such short notice, we feel like your skills and heavily modified ship would be best up to the task." I looked between the both of them, checking for signs of a bad joke. I had plenty of experience with space walks, but this was a whole new ball game. If anything, at least I now knew why the professor had been so interested in my ship when he was aboard. We were over half an hour into this discussion, and the woman was starting to lose her patience. "You need to realize what's at stake, young man." I quirked an eyebrow. "So tell me. I think I have a right to know what I'm getting into." Hm. Yes. Well. Papers were moved, options considered. The scientist leaned back and put her fingers together as she thought. Everything about her was clichéd. "We've had very little success penetrating the entity's event horizon. But from what we can tell, this entity is creating matter from nothing within it, breaking Newton's laws. The cloud and the particle are actually interdimensional projections. One is... a ghost, of the other, and there is no way to tell which is which." She gesticulated wildly. "The particles inside then link up and communicate with the outside through a process of supersymmetry, and disappear again, fast enough to say they never existed at all. For all intents and purposes, this entity should not exist or, at the very least, disappear instantly after rupturing the fabric of space." She stared at me over the rim of her implant, expecting me to understand completely. "Alright," I said. "So what do these... particles link to?" Part of me wanted to know more, but mostly I was trying to be a smart-ass. She didn't catch on. -"Supersymmetry is a process where a particle's information is copied to another, right?" I nodded slowly. "Distance is not a factor so as far as we know, the entity's influence reaches to all corners of this dimension," she said, shocked with her own words. "This entity is re-writing the universe as we speak. We don't know how or why and this new sensor array is designed to tell us." - Thomas came to join me under the belly of my ship as we were preparing. He stroked his chiseled jaw as he appraised my work, and accepted my explanation with little comment. He asked to see how I would mount the sensor array, and suggested a few small changes. After Lisa had gone inside the ship to program the computer, the professor began speaking in a lowered voice. "Is she... okay with you approaching the entity?" I stopped working and gave him, hopefully, a very cynical look. "No, she's not. She's worried sick and frankly, so am I. Thanks for telling her though, it saved me the effort of breaching contract." -"Of course, of course." He continued to watch me work, but before long, resumed talking as if to himself. "What you are about to try, no one has done before, James. Bringing this array in an orbit like this will be a tricky endeavor. And yet... I can't help but be a little jealous. This opportunity is... unique." Personal Space Ch. 02: Submission I had to admit, on a certain level I agreed. Despite all the hesitation, the one thing that pushed me over the edge was the chance to be part of something unprecedented in human history. In a sense, considering the rarity of such discoveries, I had hit the jackpot. "This entity is in the process of influencing everything we know, James. Even you and me, we are being rewritten in the image of the radiation inside that event horizon. No matter how you look at it, no one will ever come as close to God as you will be in a few days. We can only guess as to what His reaction will be when you place this huge magnet next to it." The thought hit me like a train. I sat down on the foot of a landing strut as I let it sink in. "I am not a religious man but this... there is something at work here, far beyond you and me. This single point may hold all the information we need to transcend what we are today." I stared at Thomas' feet as he spoke. I knew he was trying to emphasize how important this mission was, but my mind was preoccupied with the consequences of making contact with something that influenced our existence so strongly. I was afraid of what I might do wrong, but mostly I was afraid that those nutjobs on those countless fundamental religious planets, were right. But I needed to know. I stood. "You'll get your data, Professor," I told him. "Just make sure you don't forget to share it when you do." -- In the blasts of the steam shower, I felt Lisa's arms creep around me. "There you are," I said, looking over my shoulder. I hadn't heard the screen open. She laid her head in my neck. "Hey. You seemed so lost in thought? Why so moody, my captain?" I reached for her, happy with whatever curve I got my in palm. I had indeed been thinking, but it was hard to put into words. Then, I remembered a question I had been meaning to ask. "Why did you decide on joining my ship, Lisa? You knew I was doing mostly red runs, right?" I felt her nod. -"I needed the money. For my ship. Besides... I had little to lose." Same as me, then. But that was starting to change. "Do you ever feel like we're tempting fate, though? We wouldn't be here if we hadn't gotten lucky a few times." She laughed a little. "Tempting fate, James? I knew you were a geek, but a philosopher?" She hugged me a little tighter and we swayed in the warmth of the shower. I was content to stay like this for a few more hours, to be honest. But the scientists had asked not to waste energy. I turned down the blast to where it would just keep us warm and turned towards Lisa and kissed her. "I do. I do think we're tempting fate. On many levels." I blinked. I wasn't expecting a response. "Perhaps you"... The prodded my chest. "And I... should take it easy for a while. I know a few organizations that need planets charted. Sounds boring, I know, but I'm sure we'll find a way to keep it interesting. But that still won't stop these idiots from meddling with things they don't understand. So yes, I think we are tempting fate." I considered her words. She was right, as usual, and in all honesty, taking it easy didn't seem like such a terrible idea. Those high-risk red runs were addictive but now that I had something to lose, they didn't seem so appealing, anymore. "I know it's something you have to do James, but promise me this is the last thing we do before going back to Taiko Seven." Against my better judgment, I promised her. I knew they would keep asking, and I would not be able to refuse if I didn't promise her today that I'd be going back with her. Feeling her between my fingers, I wondered if I had run into my guardian angel when I first met her. My trust in her was absolute. She pinched my nipple and I jumped, making her laugh. "Don't forget to enjoy life a little after analyzing it, my captain." Leaning in, she kissed me again, tenderly, giving me a little room when I brought my hand up to cup her breast. "Mmm, I think you need a little distraction," she purred, and began pushing me back against the wall. I smiled. With my trust came my submission, apparently. I wasn't going to fight it. She pressed up against me, the both of us enjoying each other's naked body. I tried to cop a feel but she took me by the wrist and stopped me. She raised my arm and spun me around, setting my hands against the shower wall as if I was about to get frisked by some local officer in a place where no one could hear you scream. And as she nudged my feet apart, it was starting to feel that way. Lisa squeezed my ass harshly as she came to whisper in my ear. "Such an ass man, I've had the pleasure of noticing... But would you be willing to trade places, my captain?" She liked using that nickname, but now it had an mocking tone to it. My pride protested and I had to swallow it down. I didn't know what was going to happen but I didn't want her to stop. Her hand slid down my abs and tickled over my penis. I was rock hard, and I had no chance to deny it. She cooed in surprise and continued to tease me there. She replaced her other hand on my behind with her hips and ground against me, her voice low and sultry. "Do you like taking as much as you like giving, James? Or were you going to continue taking advantage without giving me the chance to turn the tables?" Her feet between mine, forced my legs a little wider while she continued to press her buttocks forward, as if wanting to penetrate me somehow. "Maybe next time, I might get to enjoy you like you enjoy me?" She masturbated me slowly, fingers dipping lower to caress my balls. I closed my eyes as I sank deeper into pleasure. "Or do you think should we include Thomas? That tall, handsome man? I think he wouldn't mind much..." I grinned. I hadn't given much thought to the professor's sexual orientation. I was straight as a ruler but I enjoyed the fantasy of her orchestrating my unwilling surrender. More than that, though, the idea of her fulfilling his role as the top was an incredible turn-on, to my own amazement. I swallowed heavily. "I would let you, you know." -"...Really?" She seemed surprised. -"Yes, I mean... If you had a... You know. I probably would. Only you." I bowed my head and prayed that she wouldn't be put off by the idea. Opening my eyes when she didn't answer right away, I saw her feet, on her tippy-toes, and felt her tug at my hips in an attempt to get some pleasure from her grinding. -"Mmmh. Damn you, James. I so wish I could fuck you now." She grabbed on to my cock with both hands and tugged on me. I wanted to see if she would let me return the favor and sneaked a hand behind me and between her legs. She did, welcoming the touch with a deep, wanton moan. I didn't need to do much, just keep up the pressure while she ground into my digits. Her own hands were erratically getting me off, seeming to want to feel everything, slipping down to my scrotum. I could tell she was getting lost in the fantasy of it belonging to her, and imagining that the jolts of pleasure that she felt, were her own doing, penetrating me or using her own hands on her cock. She rested her head in my neck and I could only imagine her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth half open as I hear her pant, hips in time with her jerking hands. I felt reduced to a toy, an experiment, and I loved every moment of it, my mind swimming in dark pleasure. I encouraged her with low groans, knowing that it would take her further. I was relishing in her playing with me too, getting closer to my own climax. "I'd be so rough on you," she hissed, clutching my testicles possessively. "So hard. I would hurt you." I groaned. "I would take it," I told her, and she shuddered in orgasm. She forgot about her explorations and stroked me as if she was making herself cum. Within moments I was right there with her. My semen splashed against the wall as we climaxed together, my fingers inside of her. "Oh my God," Lisa grunted in shock, as she kept going moments after I had come down. I tried to stay with her, and only slowed down when she did. She clung onto my back like a koala bear to keep from collapsing, her breath hot in my neck. I was having difficulty comprehending where I was but I didn't mind that her hands were still on my groin, wandering fingertips still fascinated as my arousal calmed down. She bit my shoulder playfully, in denial of what just happened, and I smiled. But as she was beginning to let go, I grasped onto her arm and turned my head, kissing her like we had done before. I hoped it told her that I was open to this side of her, and I felt no shame in submitting. Judging from her wink, I figured she got the message. "We'll find a way to keep things interesting," she said sassily. Personal Space Ch. 03: Contact Notice: There is sex but it plays second fiddle to the story. I hope you will enjoy both. ---- "We use lids on this ship," I told the Professor a little too sharply, who apparently had the tea maker figured out. It was unlikely to happen on a space station but if the artificial gravity should die, I didn't want badly contained tea shorting out my circuits. Client or not, the lid rule was strictly enforced. I came to lean over Lisa's shoulder. "How are we looking?" She pointed at the holographic screens. "We've got power. Lots of it, too. This thing uses up more than our boat when she's idling." Nodding, I leafed through the data. "My ship is a 'he', thankyou," I mumbled. Lisa looked unimpressed. Thomas came to join us, lid and all. He too saw that everything seemed to be in order, except that we couldn't test the array inside the hangar because of its strongly magnetic effect. Most things here were made from polymers but the area of effect was large enough to potentially disrupt electric currents nearby. It only occurred to me now that once I had activated the sensor, radio contact would be out of the question. With the interference from both the entity and this new artificial satellite, the only contact we would have was visual. "Oh," went the Professor when he saw me write the issue down for next meeting. "Is that going to be a problem?" "We've had worse," I told him smugly. "Most cargo isn't made to do the haulers a favor. If it were an easy job, we would quickly be out of work. Speaking of which, we're ready to test this thing now. That was due tomorrow, right?" He gave a nod and sipped his tea. "Indeed." ----- I pointed at the kitchen. "So if a fire starts right there, it would basically cut the station in half and if the fuel storage goes, that will send it into a spin, making it impossible to perform emergency docking." I popped out my knife and began cutting a jackfruit into my meal. Whatever they tried with the proteins to make them more appetizing, nothing beat actual food to break the cardboard flavor. Lisa looked in the direction of my gestures, but otherwise seemed quite disinterested. That was alright, I was about to explain why this was important. "You see..." I was cut off by someone joining the table sans invitation. A young looking fellow, with generous blonde locks and piercing blue eyes. "Please excuse me. Captain Lisa? I hope I'm not interrupting?" I blinked and looked across the table at Lisa, but she didn't miss a beat. "Not at all. This is James, my public relations manager. You just missed Raph the demolitions expert." I wiped my hand on my shirt and held it out to him. He shook it hesitatingly. "...Adam. Pleasure to meet you. I was contacted by the crew aboard the station, telling me about a job on your ship? From what I hear, a few others are being considered, but I thought I'd come and talk to you personally. You see, I would really like to help." -"Really, Adam? Why is that?" Lisa did the talking while turned to my food. -"Actually, I'm just really excited to do a real spacewalk. I've done plenty of simulations and I've become very good at it, my captain says. But I've never done it for real, so I was hoping to join your crew for this mission. It's supposed to be a pretty routine job, right?" The kid stared wide-eyed and hopeful at both of us. The poor bastard was all kinds of misinformed. -"Sure, why not." Lisa kicked me under the table when I interrupted. "What? Don't you remember your first walk, Lisa? We all had to learn sometime, right? Now's a good a time as any for young Adam here." I added, "Captain." I was in charge, so ultimately it was my decision and Lisa knew that all too well so she didn't protest further. In truth, I had picked up on the kid's Martian accent he was trying to hide, and figured he had it hard enough already. I got lucky and got to accumulate experience early on, but it wasn't so easy for him, coming from a planet where the political system, in essence a twisted sociological experiment, had failed. He could use the boost. -"Tomorrow twenty-one hundred is when our side of the station turns towards the sun so that's when we'll be in the hangar bay. And Adam?" I could tell he could hardly contain his excitement, but managed to stay calm. A good sign. "...Yes?" -"If you're on time, you're late." -"O- of course." He left us to our breakfast, and an animated discussion about allowing newbies into our crew. ----- There are many ways to pilot a spaceship. Several of them efficient, most of them suicidal, and they weren't mutually exclusive. Every job asks for a different approach, sometimes using maneuvering thrusters to position yourself into place, sometimes to angle your main engines toward the danger and full throttle out of there. Pushing larger objects is an especially difficult endeavor: The trick is to find its center of mass; If you miss it, you might push the load into a spin, making it impossible to approach the object without denting it, yourself, or both. Latching onto things that are spinning is every pilot's last thing to learn. It was often said that the cosmos' new currency was speed, but who ever came up with that, was no pilot. The real hero was acceleration. Any leaf blower could reach the speed of light given enough time, say, a million years; but only a decent Hauling class like mine could make it economically acceptable. Especially with a full cargo bay, inertia was your biggest enemy. Most colleagues like to fly with full dampening, so that they don't get jostled around in their seats when maneuvering tight corners. I on the other hand, prefer to use all my senses, including balance so that I can feel the slightest acceleration and the hum of the engines under my ass. It did tend to make passengers motion sick, though. I had my hands on the stick when I heard the hatch open and recognized Lisa long before she made it to the Bridge. She paused a moment when she saw me in my seat with the ship fully powered down. "Mental preparation?" I nodded. "I spoke to the board," she said as she installed herself on my lap without needing an invitation. "I'll be in radio contact with you when you fly out. And there will be a shuttle on stand-by in case I need to come get you myself." It was a comforting thought to have my guardian angel nearby on this mission, without having to worry about her own safety while tinkering with a universe-wise anomaly. In a sense, it was like someone speaking for you at the gates of heaven, especially since good intentions don't always bring good results. I hugged her close, I couldn't find any other way to tell her all this. And that's when Adam came in. I heard him climb into the ship, but didn't care much. "Oh," he stammered. "I'm sorry Captain, I didn't know you were..." -"Don't worry about it," Lisa said, and stood. "Get suited up, we're taking off." Simulations or no, I could tell he wasn't used to space suits. He kept trying to turn his head, which wasn't possible with this model, so every time he bumped his face into the glass comically. "Turn your head shoulders and all," I reminded him, but he would forget instantly. These suits were the most expensive thing on the ship, but no model is much more than a glorified one-man spaceship. They are clunky and can feel like you're wrapped up in a mattress. "If you feel claustrophobic, make a fist and punch something." He didn't believe it until he tried it. -"We're approaching mission point," Lisa confirmed the screens. -"Ready for decompression and zero-g when you are." -"Decompressing." A light came on and we heard the outside noises dull until only each other's voices on the intercom remained. I bumped Adam. "Hey. Kid." He turned towards me, in slow motion as if he was supposed to do that. I nearly laughed. "In this crew, we look out for each other, understand?" -"Yes, Sir." -"This is not a relay we're about to install. We're taking a sensor array out for a test spin, before taking it to scan that anomaly out there. The scientists didn't feel like you needed to know that, but I do. You alright with that?" He nodded awkwardly inside his helmet. "I figured as much." -"Bright kid. Well then, if you're ready, I'm killing gravity." We latched our safety lines and a flick of a switch later, we were floating freely. In absolute quiet, the door began to open. If you are afraid of heights you might be familiar with the feeling of being drawn towards a depth, as if part of you wants to fall in. It's actually a panic reaction, your mind playing tricks on you, so you would back off to a safe distance. Evolution at work. Now imagine that depth all around you, open and gaping, with your own brain feeding you the illusion that you are being sucked in. The net result is usually a rollercoaster ride between blind panic and extreme euphoria. It takes practice to even that out, but agoraphobia is always there, creeping up on you as soon as you let the void draw your attention. Dreamers, like me, are usually the first to feel the effects. Adam was a first-timer and it showed. He was holding up, but he had that technique of latching on with one hook, advancing over the side of the ship, latching on with the second, and then going back to retrieve the first. Experienced space walkers have one hook in each hand, clawing their way over the surface. "Take your time," I told him, waiting for both my new crew mate and the cargo lift to eject the device. Lisa informed us that she was suited up and on her way. She actually made it simultaneously with Adam. "We've been through this," I told them both before commencing. "Let's write the book." It took a good half hour to prep the array, most of it just to unbolt it from the ship and ready the thrusters meant to push everything into place. Lisa climbed into the lift and brought up the data screen, monitoring everything closely while I secured myself onto the array and steered it, ever so slowly, away from the Theseus. He did look magnificent out here in space. The intercom clicked. "I'm having trouble triangulating your position, James. The tracking system can't see through the magnetic interference." -"Patch me through?" My HUD flicked on. The graph was chaotic, telling me that the system saw the sensor array as a constantly changing shape, screaming its presence to everything around it. It made me wonder how welcoming the entity would be to it. I minimized the window with a twitch of my finger. "Have the computer calculate an average over time and work with that, Lisa. We'll tune the algorithm later aboard the station." -"You're sure you want to work with that margin of error?" -"Now is a good time to find out." -"Understood. You're nearing target location." Pretending that our ship was the entity, we put the device in a circular orbit. I was halfway through the activation procedure, when the radio clicked on, and off again. The only speech that came through was a stammer. It was then that I realized that we hadn't heard from Adam in a while. I scolded myself for not paying more attention to him. Time by yourself to think is exactly what you want to avoid, perhaps we should have given him something to do. "So Adam. Which ship did you say you flew in on?" Silence. Another click, then silence again. I pulled my line taut with my hand so I could stand up straight and look up at my ship hovering at a distance overhead. I spotted him, clinging to the hull. I couldn't tell but I knew he was shaking. "Hey Adam. Are you hearing me buddy? If you are, I really need you to tell me something. ...Lisa?" -"On my way." I saw her tiny form make her way over, and cover his body with her own. I turned back to the job at hand while hearing her talk to him. "Adam. Hi there. It's me, Lisa. I'm here with you, Adam, but I really need you to turn your radio on, and leave it on, okay? So we can chat." I couldn't tell how he was responding to it, but I certainly felt put at ease, with her voice in my ear. Even while focusing on the wiring of the sensor's battery, I could have sworn she was right next to me, protecting me from any danger out here in the emptiness. When she asked him to tell her his name, he finally responded. "Glad to have you with us, Adam," I said. -"You and me, we're going to move to the cargo lift, okay? How's that?" -"I c-... I can't," the boy said desperately. -"Yes you can Adam, you got here from the airlock, you can make it to the lift. I'll come with you, and we'll go together. And we'll look out for each other so that we get back inside safely, alright?" He stopped responding again. I cursed in my helmet. I was ready to start up the array, but the magnetic interference would surely affect my intercom. I didn't really have time for this. A different approach, then. "Hey Adam," I interrupted impudently. "Lisa is not really a captain, you know." Silence. -"Sh- She's not?" I grinned. "Nah. I am. This ship you're hugging so tightly? It's mine. Lisa is my co-pilot. I hired her. Hey Adam. Ask me why I hired her." -"Why did you... hire her?" -"Cause she's the best in the field, Adam. The best in the universe and I should know, I've seen most of it. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her and if you still want to be here in, say..." I checked my battery. "Two hours, I suggest you trust her like I do." Lisa took it from there, and luckily he was a bit more responsive this time. He was probably clever enough to call my 'most of the universe' bluff but at least I managed to distract him. Now, it was time to concentrate on the job, lest I would end up like him. ----- I didn't slam the door, but I felt like it. I had tried to be calm, explaining why I didn't regret taking the boy along, even though I knew he could be a liability. But Lisa wasn't buying it, and pointed out to me that I wasn't the one who cleaned out his space suit afterward. The human factor in a job is one that I often forget. I feel like the job comes first, and a crew should function around it. That includes training newcomers, or having doubts about the captain's decisions. Perhaps I should have given it a few seconds of thought before telling Lisa to keep her comments to herself, though. I knew that would come around and bite me in the ass. With no other place to run to, I made my way towards my ship. I knew it was typical behavior, but I couldn't help but think about how the Theseus never questioned orders, just carried them out to the best of its capabilities. Perhaps I should just marry my ship and take off on a honeymoon. Steel and polymers were so much easier to handle than humans and their emotions. I sighed, painfully aware of the ridiculousness of the idea, and slumped down on the couch in the living area. It didn't leave much room, but I had insisted on it being there. In fact, most of the interior of the ship were things I put there. In a sense, it reflected who I was. I stared at the ceiling, wires running diagonally across it. I got the feeling that my ship breaking down slowly, was only part of a larger piece of me that was dying, leaving a lonely, bitter man behind. But, like with me, Lisa's presence was noticeable inside the ship. Her tea maker that took a while to get used to, and her part of the sleeping area, much cleaner and better organized than mine. I couldn't help but wonder what she saw in me, the space trucker who insisted on a militaristic hierarchy, even in a relationship. Perhaps that last bit was the real mistake. Letting her go seemed like the perfect solution, if I knew what I would do without her. What a joke. To even be considering this was a failure to see the humor in it. In just a few days I'd be on the front line of human evolution and here I was dreaming I could ever do it without her. Even now, I was a mess without her. I knew what I had to do, then. It had been half an hour, perhaps she would have cooled down some too, though looking back, she wasn't nearly as upset as I was to begin with. I sighed deeply and dragged my heavy limbs off the couch. To come crawling back like this, it just wasn't my style. I hadn't exactly had much practice at it. I didn't even do my usual power slide down the ladder, taking my sweet time. "Hey there, Handsome." As my foot touched the floor of the hangar bay, a voice spoke up very close to my ear. I jumped violently, banging my knee into the ladder sports. Lisa began laughing and didn't stop, while I clawed at my heart and the nearest support. She was inside our vessel long before I was, waiting for me on that same couch. I came and set next to her, and that's what we did for the next 20 minutes. After flying together for almost a year, we had gotten comfortable not talking, which I found very valuable. If nothing else, it allowed me to collect my thoughts before speaking. But now there was something in the room with us. The fact that she had come for me showed that she too was tired of us fighting. The whole thing seemed so superfluous now and we would probably need to talk it over later, but right now, it seemed like a good time to kiss and make up. I put my hand on her leg, causally, like I had done plenty of times before. She didn't respond, even when I began stroking her thigh. This was supposed to be her day off, so she had traded her one-piece outfit for something more casual, with loosely fitting pants and a tank top. Although I preferred her work gear, she did look stunning in it. "You're an ass, you know." I blinked as I was pulled from my thoughts, my hand high on her thigh already. I nodded a little. "You're stubborn," she continued, pushing her leg towards me some. "Arrogant." My hand reached her crotch and she joined in, undoing the front of her pants, revealing her black panties, contrasting with her skin. "You never listen." She pushed my hand in place and I squeezed, her whole body jerking in response. "You're a bastard and I need you to fuck me now," she growled, looking me dead in the eye. She didn't have to tell me twice. I was on her in seconds, tearing her clothes from her. She tried to put me inside her but I was having none of it, I wanted her naked like the day she was born. My own clothes, I didn't care about so much: I tossed my shirt to the side while she opened my pants, and that sufficed. She stroked my penis, encouraging me towards her own sex. "Fuck me," she hissed. "You son of a bitch. Do it." She was so angry then, as she wrapped her legs around me and pulled me in. When I slammed in, her expression changed to one of shock, and a feeling of victory washed over me. Suddenly, she looked vulnerable, my little Lisa assaulted by her captain. By me. I pinned her down, one hand on her throat and the other holding her leg up, as I pounded into her. I was saying things that didn't register, calling her names and telling her how beautiful she looked. The pain of her nails in my shoulders egged me on, to hold her down on the sofa, my feet pushing off from the arm rest to shove into her as deeply and forcefully as I could. Her eyes were wide and she was gasping for air. I took my hand off her neck and grabbed a fistful of her hair, instead. I came to lay fully on top of her now, clawing at her while I slammed home. She didn't give me much room to move, arms and legs wrapped around me tightly. She gripped me like a vice and gasped in my ear. "Yes... yes! F- Fuck me, James. F- Ah!" Clutching on to me painfully, she orgasmed with a breathy grunt. My victory was now complete, as I shoved my body into her while she convulsed beneath me. I didn't notice her bite my shoulder until she let go and the blood resumed flowing painfully. That was going to leave a mark. "Stop- Stop!" She pushed at me, holding me in place, hips jerking to get away from the oversensitive contact. I continued teasing her. Personal Space Ch. 03: Contact "Ah, please. Stop. You and your big... Give me a moment." I arched an eyebrow. Well. If she was going to be complimenting me on my size, I guessed I could let her recover. I raised my head some and chuckled at how spent she looked. Her pretty wide eyes narrowed to a glare as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "It's not funny." I grinned and shook my head. "Nope. Apologies, Captain Lisa." She slapped me on the chest. I began moving my hips again, my cock angling inside of her. "Don't start things you can't finish," I sang. But she wasn't in the mood for another pounding now. Instead, she pulled me in and hugged me tighter than ever before, sighing as I held her close. We laid like this for the longest time. I felt a tear when I kissed her cheek, but I let it happen. Something told me she just needed this moment, so I continued planting kisses on her wet face. "It's alright," I whispered. "Please come back to me after the mission," I heard her say. I tried to look at her but she wouldn't let me move. "Promise me. Please. Please come back." Her shoulders jerked. -"Hey hey..." I patted her awkwardly. "Of course I'll come back. How could I not? No co-pilot has an ass like yours." She laughed despite herself. -"You're a bastard," she repeated, and I nodded. -"I'm your bastard. And I adore you. And if there is any reason for me to come back after any mission, it's you." Her fingers stroked through my hair and she kissed my cheek in turn. I wiggled my hips just a little, so she would feel me there. My erection had all but faded, but there was still a strong tension in my groin. She didn't have to deal with it if she didn't want to, I just... let her know it was there. She sighed deeply, as if letting the emotions escape her. Another kiss. After a little while, she spoke. "Put me on top of you." I didn't want to slip out of her as I was turning, but couldn't help it. I sat up and sat her on my lap, straddling me. She looked like a bit of a mess, as I wiped her face dry. She smiled and turned her face into my hand. Much better. I couldn't grasp how beautiful she looked, with those perky breasts and small nipples, those strong shoulders, and the curve of her waist. Only now did I notice that she still had her heavy boots on. God, that looked sexy. I stroked every part of her, and she let me. She even pushed herself up a little when I reached her behind, bringing her tits to my face. Gently, I teased her nipples with my mouth while she played with my hair. Then suddenly, she broke away from be and backed up. My hands felt strangely empty but I didn't care, as she knelt before me and pulled my pants completely off me. Like her, I was now naked. With bashful green eyes staring up at me, she leaned in and ran her tongue sweetly over the head of my flaccid penis. She did it again, surprising me with how good it felt. I was almost disappointed when I felt the blood rush back into my member. I was still wet from her, but she didn't seem to care. Quite the contrary, she worshipped me, with both hands and her mouth on me. "My God," I gasped when she lapped along the shaft and sucked the head into her mouth. Fingers explored me, teasing under my balls while she coaxed me to a full erection with her lips and tongue. I loved how sloppy she was being, licking everywhere, scratching my inner thighs, wetting my cock with her mouth. She would run the head along her cheek, nipping at it, cradling my cock in both hands and guiding it back into her greedy little mouth. She let me play with her hair and stroke her face, ever so gently. She started making little mewing sounds as she was getting into it, and I petted her while she sucked me. Fingers were gripping me now, jerking me off while her mouth followed suit. One hand cupped my balls and played with them, nails tickling my scrotum. It was quickly becoming too much. I couldn't help myself as I gripped her hair and forced her to keep going as she was. My back arched and my whole body locked up, and then my orgasm exploded from me. I heard her gasp and swallow as I gave her all my pent up seed in a violent release of energy. When I came to, I found her laying on the couch beside me, her head in my lap. My hand was on her breast, I couldn't remember who put it there. She closed her eyes and murmured her consent as I stroked my palm over her naked body, squirming slowly under my touch. Those damn boots, huge on her small feet, were almost too much. I promised myself to tell her later. But first things first. "I'm sorry," I whispered. ----- Lisa tossed the paper ball back to me while a heavily augmented man explained the political implications of having a base so close to uncharted territory. The scientists seemed to find all this interesting, but I personally wished I was still in bed. I hid the crumpling of the next piece of paper under a cough. The ensuing high-brow discussion last an hour easily, and I made sure Lisa wasn't paying too much attention. But when the details of our mission came up, both of us were all ears. The dozen scientists present had a lot of difficult questions for Adam, and it seemed that with every implied accusation, he looked a little smaller, just nodding as everyone in the room drew conclusions for him. I rapped my knuckles on the table then, and spoke up. "Since not a single one of you ever did a spacewalk, let alone their first, let me explain that your virgin mission outside is something like playing Russian roulette." I felt all eyes on me. I could tell my interruption was unwelcome, but I didn't care. "What was it, four percent?" Lisa nodded. "Four percent of the men and women out there suffer permanent psychological damage on their first spacewalk, and are from that point unfit to do work in space because of panic attacks, night terrors and such. As if that's not enough to worry about, a percentage of those people end up dead. Some from accidents, most from suicide." "On Lisa's first walk, she blacked out and had to be saved. Me, I never even made it out of the airlock. So if you're going to be playing the blame game, blame the idiot who thought him right for the job, or blame me, who had the final decision." I was raising my voice and I knew it, but couldn't bring myself to caring. "Adam carried out his work and this whole scene shows a lack of respect for the people working for you." I finally managed to shut myself up and sat back down, throwing back the glass of water they had provided so generously. I felt Lisa squeeze my hand, supporting me despite the drama I was making. The board rounded off that point on the agenda quite abruptly, and showing far less arrogance than before. I felt strangely relieved, mostly because I managed to make them tone it down a notch, but also because I finally get something off my chest that had, apparently, been bothering me for much longer. Just because we made the job look easy, didn't give them the right to pretend that it was. The different issues of the test run were brought up and discussed one by one, and with my personal thoughts out of the way, I felt like I was able to explain, and be explained, much more calmly. The overall atmosphere had changed. Even Adam dared to pitch in a few times, and surprisingly, people listened. His insight surprised even me. Then came the mission, due in 2 days. Because of the earlier explained political implications and the inherent danger of the mission, it was a one-man job, after which I would have to be quarantined. I wasn't too worried about the psychological and physical tests beforehand, they wouldn't be my first time. Not much to mind but the job itself then, good. Because the particle didn't seem affected by the gravity of nearby stars, the array would have to be installed in a very complicated orbit. But the scientists and computers did those calculations so again, I wouldn't have to concern myself with it. Next subject was my survival, something I was far more interested in. I was relieved to find that they were not uneducated concerning mission priorities. Survival first, mission objectives second. I got permission to jettison the sensor in case of emergency if it meant the difference between life or death. Not that I needed permission for that- In a past life, I might have thought differently but these days, I considered the chance to live another job my main objective. I had the advantage of being of utmost importance, which meant that I could make requests that would otherwise be out of the question. I managed to have Lisa on mission control, the voice to talk me through every step. The same job as always, basically, but with the screens forwarded to the control room on the station. I was also promised a small crew to help unload the Theseus. I wanted him as light as possible to make maneuvering easier. It would also save fuel, which meant I would have to take less with me, again saving weight. I just needed enough for an emergency getaway, a procedure where I continuously accelerated away until the halfway point, turned the ship around, and then decelerated using the main engines, hoping to stop dead right as I arrived. It was the fastest way of getting out, but the maneuver wasn't called a suicide burn for nothing. After installing the array, there was no safe way for me to return to my ship. I'd have to jump the gap. The Theseus was more than large enough to catch, but anyone who has ever taken a difficult step while risking a deep fall, might understand the implications of it. If I should miss, it would depend on a rescue team to come get me in time. My suit would probably put me in a cryogenic sleep long before they'd arrive. Another gamble with my life that I would rather avoid. And I sure as hell didn't like the hesitant looks exchanged with that hot-shot political spokesperson at the mention of a rescue team. ----- I spent the next 2 days going between short boosts of confidence, and feeling dwarfed by the enormity of what I was dealing with. In both cases, Lisa was there with me, knowing when I needed to talk, and when I needed time by myself. As usual, focusing on the work at hand helped, as I delegated the guys 'n gals emptying out the Theseus. Lisa's tea maker was last, and I had it installed in her quarters. It removed the last evidence of her on the ship, which was both a bother and a relief. If I was to pull this off, I'd have to be an astronaut and nothing else. The empty ship reminded me of when I first got it, second-hand but in tip-top shape. The dealer had no idea he was getting robbed. The Theseus stayed with me through every red run, shooting me out of harm's way every time. I had nothing else on my mind than bullshit my way through life, fuck and fire my co-pilots, and draw a pistol for all other situations. I knew I had been pushing my luck long before I met Lisa, but it wasn't until that grotesque tea machine was installed, that things actually began changing. At the time, I didn't know why, but fact remained that if they hadn't, she wouldn't be with me today and we certainly wouldn't have found ourselves in this situation. I didn't care much for fate, but some days, I had to wonder. When the day came, I felt ready. ----- "Calibrate clock frequency in slave mode, begin mission timer at... Three forty-six PM. You are cleared for departure, James." I did as ordered, and then swept the screen away. I knew Lisa would receive it, and stack it with the others. "Alright. This book ain't going to write itself." -"Mission control wishes you the best of luck, Captain." It seemed so inadequate, so futile. With a custom gesture, I cleared the cockpit of screens and exited the hangar manually. I'm sure they noticed the deviation in course but didn't mention it. Otto took over after that, setting me on a course towards the anomaly with a computer's precision, minimizing fuel consumption. Nice and slow, this trip would take several hours. I switched on the most aggressive music I could find, and pushed the volume to the maximum, which still wasn't much without my old-school speaker system aboard. Whenever I bothered to reply to some message from mission control, I knew they would hear the chords in the background. I didn't care. I saw the anomaly dead in front of me. It got brighter as I approached, but otherwise didn't change shape at all. It stayed just as big, and when I felt the Theseus change to the proximity vector, I got the impression it was actually still quite small. The scanner screen told me I was about 100 meters away from the barely visible even horizon. The array was to be installed at a 20 meter altitude from the surface, leaving an 80 meter gap for me to jump. I knew that and I knew I could do it, but the distance had never seemed so enormous before. Once I got confirmation that my orbit was stable, I punched the clock and got up to start the next phase, the part where I would wrestle into my space suit without help. I could hear Lisa's smile as I cursed for half an hour solid. She controlled my exit from the space station. I checked my life lines for the fourth time as the door opened and I exited the safety of my ship. "Make sure Otto and Theseus play nice?" -"Copy." As the entity came into view, I became aware of a static buzz on the intercom, quite unlike any interference I had heard before. Diag showed nothing out of the ordinary with our system, just a few weird readings from "an external source". It was erratic, like a voice distorted until only a crackle remained. Mission control heard it, too. The underside of the Theseus was covered in a tight web of carbon cables, ready to catch me on my jump back from the array. It made movement very easy, and I considered having it installed permanently. Not that it mattered, I figured, with my ship ready for the scrapyard. I clawed my way to the hangar bay and on Lisa's command, the latches opened and the lift came sliding out, carrying the familiar cube of priceless sensors. I remembered how Lisa had thrown her multitool at it, and how the arc of it changed until it clung onto the front protrusion of the device. It seemed quite funny, back then. Still did. "James, we are reading a gravitational disturbance here. Could be a comet nearby. We are going to shift the ship a few degrees to compensate for the chaos effect, is that alright with you?" I grabbed on tight to the external handles, and responded. "Copy. Ship changing position. Ready when you are." I stared into the yellow glow of the particle as I felt the ship accelerate, flown remotely by Lisa. The cloud around it seemed to form tendrils, randomly and of varying size, but never bigger than the ball-shaped event horizon. Mists of unfathomable amounts of particles that supposedly didn't even exist, rewriting information on a fundamental level through supersymmetry. It dawned on me that it surely knew of my presence here, if it had any sort of intelligence to begin with. Would it lash out when I approached? Would it welcome us? Once we had the ability to listen, would it speak to us? Another small jerk told me the Theseus had come to a stop, but it wasn't until Lisa's redundant message came through, that I resumed preparing the device. I had practiced doing this by myself so I made good progress. With settings as they were, I had 4 hours of battery life on my suit. That should be about double what I needed if things went smoothly. At the moment, I was ahead of schedule. The array was now fully detached from its dampeners, held in place with one last automatic bracket. I crawled to my spot, preparing to fire up the thrusters and float this thing into position. I could see the entity from where I was sitting, still clearly hearing the snarling distortion in my radio. "Ready for separation," I said. -"Copy, go ahead and separate. Uploading updated co-ordinates now, computer should take it from there. James, the interference might make communication difficult. You might have to continue autonomously." -"Very well. Engaging thrusters." I held on as the jets fired with short, angry bursts, propelling the array and myself towards the particle. I looked back at my ship slowly getting smaller, my only indication that I was moving. I had to trust the computer at this point, which was calculating the ideal location based on questionable information and whatever margins of error the scientists had deemed "acceptable". This was going to go great. Even the screen on the device was starting to show effects from the radiation. It seemed better when I forwarded the display to my in-helmet HUD, where I continued to monitor the progress. I tried to look for the space station, but couldn't find it. If it was visible at all, it would be indistinguishable from the stars around. In my mind, I could see Lisa's wet face, and I those conflicting thoughts all came sneaking up on me. I let it happen, it kept my mind off the void. Someone in the radio was trying to tell me something, but only a stutter came through. "I can't read you through the interference," I said, knowing it was futile. -"There." Thomas' voice suddenly came through, bright and clear. "The time dilation from the particle was stretching his frequency. I compensated on our end, you can talk freely now." I had to admit, that was some creative thinking. The professor knew his stuff. "Approaching target location. Braking sequence commencing, hang tight." -"Copy." I could see every calculation of the thrusters' processor on my screen, every command scrolling by too fast to read. Kind of cool, actually. It's not often you can look into a computer's mind. And just like that, the scrolling stopped and a final message blinked near the end. CARGO READY FOR ACTIVATION I looked at the words for a few seconds, until Lisa repeated them in my ear. I nodded to myself. This was it, then. I moved from my safe "riding" position to the screen. It was awkward using the buttons on the device with the screen's image projected inside my helmet, but I managed. "Activating sensor array. You guys ready?" No answer came. Diag showed everything to be normal, but still no response, even after a third repeat. I stared at my hand on the button, next to the screen freaking out in sync with the harsh distortions in my ears. That constant, chaotic, distorted screeching. If only I knew what it came from, what it meant. Nothing changed for a full minute. "Activating." I pushed the button and instantly my radio cut out. But I could have sworn, on my life, that something came through right at the last moment. A voice. I couldn't understand, but still knew what it was saying. It was saying my name. My hands clenched tightly around the bars of the array's displacement harness, and I didn't dare move. I just stared in front of me, my own vision in the dead screen. Any moment, I expected a violent reaction, something to blow me right out of my suit, or dissolve us into atoms. But still, nothing happened. Not a sound but my heartbeat, nothing on the screen but the reflection of my wide eyes. It was indescribable how small I felt, how vulnerable. The array filled most of my vision but around it, were the stars, the emptiness, the hostile nothingness where I would disappear into insignificance if that heavy thumping in my chest should ever stop. I turned my face against the glass of my helmet, looking at the entity. It did not look any different at all. No matter how long I looked, it just wouldn't change. I was hyperventilating, I slowly realized. Closing my eyes, I tried to think of the safety of my ship, parked down on Taiko 7. The desert. Lisa's eyes and how similar they looked, I now realized, to the green stone found there. The sun on my skin. God, I missed the sun so much. Any sun. Personal Space Ch. 03: Contact Mentally, I grasped on to those thoughts. If I was to go back there with her, I had to start here and now. Breathe easy. Concentrate. It worked, eventually. I ran diagnostics on everything I could think of, to reassure myself that things were in order and I could return to my ship. I still had that jump to make. I had to get out of here. Anywhere but here. I decided to leave my safety line behind, lest it would hinder me while making the jump. The spiderweb on my ship's belly would make it obsolete, anyway. I detached it from my suit and wrapped it into the handles of the frame. I swear I didn't let go for longer than a split second. I reached, but just like that, the handle was too far away. To my horror, I realized that the array was moving away from me. No- no, I was the one moving. I was falling towards the entity. Impossible, but happening nonetheless. I reached. I reached again. Nothing. I made swimming motions, knowing it wouldn't work. Nothing. I checked myself for a solution. My karabiner! I reached for my side, grabbing nothing but space suit. A feeling of doom crept over me. I was adrift, floating away from safety, into the unknown. The only thing that kept me from screaming was the knowledge that I would die being compressed into the size of a single atom as I reached the center of the entity, and not after disappearing into darkness. Somewhere, there was a sense of relief, that I wouldn't be falling victim to the hunger of the void. Perhaps I too would be copied, embedded in our dimensional fabric? Without gravity to pull my tears down, my eye sockets began to fill with them, clinging to my eyeballs. I had to shake my head briskly to retain any kind of blurred vision. "Lisa," I said, sending a radio signal into the immense noise emanating outward, like a whisper into a waterfall. "Lisa." The battery on my suit finally died as I passed the event horizon and the screens went blank. Only emptiness remained, filled by my ship, myself, and an unknown anomaly I would soon collide with. I slowly rotated toward the entity and it came into view. I was definitely going toward it, though I couldn't tell the difference. From up close, it looked identical to any distance before. I could hear its buzz, its crackle all around me, and I felt spoken to. I was now submerged into its radiation, my vac suit the only barrier between me and its full effect. I continued turning, and I saw my ship again, looking far away yet immense. I realized that the event horizon of the entity was acting like a lens, bending light and magnifying the Theseus to immense proportions. Pitch black and tack sharp, there was a shadow on my ship... The shadow of a man. A man in a space suit. As big as the ship itself, he seemed to float freely, projected onto an object of his own making. As I twitched and the man mirrored my motion, I came to realize it was me, blocking the light coming from the entity behind me. I shook my head again as the vision blurred. There it was again, the singular point. The buzz had become almost violent as I approached it, shaking me. Still, I didn't know what it could mean, couldn't understand what I was being told. The glass in front of my face began showing hair fractures, from a stress that I was somehow unaware of. Emotionlessly, I observed how they grew with short bursts, until suddenly, the pressure from my suit blew the shards outward. The air in my suit roared out past my face, sending my bandana flying. I was exposed to the vacuum of space. I had been trained for this, and my reaction was panicked but immediate. Opening my mouth, I let all air escape from my lungs with an endless sigh, lest it would tear me open. I squeezed my eyes shut so that I wouldn't lose them, and as I felt my veins swell, I tensed every muscle in my body to keep my blood inside me. Ultimately, it would only delay the inevitable. The last physical sensation I was aware of, was the water on my tongue beginning to boil. And then I saw. With my eyes closed, I witnessed and understood everything. I understood where I was: This was the epicenter. Not physically, but originally: This was the big bang still happening, continuing the creation of the universe from its seed. This point sewed space together and sent it every which way through quantum entanglement, negating entropy and repairing its aging process. I could see what it was doing, creating stars, in turn creating planets. Ultimately, creating us, human life, to spread and multiply and eventually, infuse every corner of the universe with our presence. And we would evolve to fire, like synapses and neurons, and become entwined as a brain-like structure, life as it was meant to exist. We would become one and transcend this reality, the cradle to us humans, the cells to form a cosmic child. We were the cosmos' self-awareness. It would happen. It was mathematically written inside our DNA, our need to explore and multiply making us what we are. It couldn't not happen. And I saw that I was part of it. How could that be, with my death seconds away? I could see Lisa, feel her presence. It aroused me to no end. What I wouldn't give to embrace her again. What I wouldn't do for more of the gift I was given. Every moment with her, a free moment to cherish. There was no debt to pay. Our enjoyment of this process, our love, was a gift from this entity, meant to be experienced to the fullest. Somehow, we ungrateful many, were allowed to enjoy the completion of our collective task. Our lives, a clean slate for us to write. The universe in all its glory, ours to discover. It was now behind me again, about to touch me as I died. And then it wasn't. It disappeared without so much as a sound, and hearing people's frantic screams in the radio, I understood how time had dilated like the light, and although it had seemed an eternity, I had only been exposed for milliseconds. They had come for me. "Lisa," I said. -"Yes," she said.