Chapter 4
The platform arrived in a room just like the one Zeke had departed. It had marked circles for three platforms, Zeke’s platform settled into one of them. The railing dropped away and the red globe moved to hover near one of the archways, Zeke followed.
Beyond the archway, Zeke could see what looked like a well-landscaped park. Brightly and evenly lit from an unseen source, the ceiling was a featureless white, and it was impossible to tell just how high the ceiling was. Zeke didn’t have to use his imagination much to get the feeling of being outside under a white sky.
The park was about 300 feet across and continued far into the distance on either side, the floor gradually rising and disappearing upwards, following the curvature of the mighty cylinder that was the base.
Smooth, clean white walkways meandered around a multitude of plants with green, blue, red, yellow, and even brown leaves. The brown and yellow leaves looked healthy, not dried up or wilted, so that must be their normal color. Flowers and streaming tendrils displayed a staggering number of shapes and colors. Plants from perhaps hundreds of worlds grew in this park.
Further on, the walkways merged into larger open areas with platforms three feet in diameter, a foot off the floor, arranged in small groups.
And the park was not empty of aliens either. Zeke didn’t spot any humans, but he saw some of the Shao, and a few of the furry blue legged aliens. One alien looked birdlike, with backwards knees and a thin neck supporting an elongated head. A single eye in the front below three bumps, a small mouth, and speckled orange and green skin made this alien stand out from the crowd.
Two other aliens also caught Zeke’s attention. One was like a centipede standing on its end. It was composed of a dozen flat body segments, each with about a dozen short stubby appendages distributed evenly around the circumference. The lower appendages were used as legs, the upper appendages probably functioned as arms. No separate head, but Zeke thought he saw eyes on each of the segments.
The other alien had a small round body and three slender legs ending in a double flipper arrangement. It’s body was about a foot tall and covered in bright green fur, except for three thin, pink tentacles rising about six feet into the air. Each tentacle had an eye on its tip. It looked unwieldy, but the alien moved gracefully down the path.
Engrossed in his surroundings, Zeke forgot about the red globe. Luckily the globe did not forget about Zeke, and came back to circle his head before floating away to his left, near the wall of the park where Zeke had entered. Along the park walls, the smaller walkways joined a thirty foot wide swath of clear white floor that ran continuously as far as Zeke could see.
The ceiling merged smoothly into a clean, white wall with several archways in it. A small group of archways here, and more groups of archways further down the wall of the park were the only features of the wall. Zeke could see a few groups of archways on the far wall of the park also.
The red globe hovered over an archway near the one Zeke had entered the park through. Zeke could identify that archway since it was the only one open, the rest of the archways had closed doors of various colors. The globe was hovering near a yellow door. Zeke walked over to the yellow door.
Once Zeke got within three feet of the door it vanished. It didn’t open or slide out of the way, it simply disappeared. One second it was there, the next second it was gone; no sound, no glittery flashes, just gone. Slightly more advanced than Mvek’s ship, Zeke thought.
Zeke followed the red globe into the room, a fifty foot diameter circle with a domed ceiling. Zeke was the only one in the room. Walls and floor were a spotless white, the only color was a light blue padded couch that was built into the wall and ran halfway around the perimeter of the room. The couch was interrupted in only two places, the door Zeke had used to enter, and another door ninety degrees to the left.
The red globe disappeared, and Zeke headed for the other door, it too disappeared when Zeke got within three feet. Beyond the door a five foot wide hallway with a dozen open archways leading to small rooms, but no other exit. Inside each room one of the familiar floor toilets awaited. As Zeke entered one, the archway filled in with a door, which also obligingly disappeared as Zeke exited.
Zeke went back to the couch room and considered. Perhaps he was early or late. He could always ask one of the aliens in the park. Or he could ask the computer. If the doors were more advanced than those on Mvek’s ship, perhaps the computer would be also. Heck, if the computer were anything like the sci-fi Walter liked, Zeke could probably get all the information he needed.
“Computer, am I in the right place for pilot training?”
“Yes,” replied a neutral voice.
The voice wasn’t mechanical, or even identifiable as male or female. It seemed to originate from behind Zeke’s right ear. Zeke turned but saw nothing.
“Where is everyone?”
Silence. Oh, right. The computer had to be addressed specifically each time, like on Mvek’s ship.
“Computer, where is everyone?”
“Statement not understood,” replied the computer.
“Computer, what times are pilot training sessions in this area?” Now that was pretty specific.
“Pilot training is scheduled in three sessions per day, on active days. Two in the afternoon and twenty three in the morning, each are five hour sessions.”
Zeke knew the alien’s hours were just a little longer than Earth hours, but twenty three in the morning? Maybe a bit of information on the calendar was in order. The language lessons certainly hadn’t covered twenty three in the morning.
“Computer, summarize the calendar and divisions of the day.”
“In this habitat,” began the computer, “the calendar is divided into weeks of six days each. The first three days are resting days, the last three days are active days. A day is divided into four parts: afternoon, evening, night, and morning. Each part of the day is seven hours long, for a total of twenty eight hours per day. The day begins in the afternoon, from 0 to 6 hours. Evening is from 7 to 13 hours. Night is from 14 to 20 hours. Morning is from 21 to 27 hours.”
The day started at noon? Training was before noon in the morning, and in the afternoon, leaving the evening free and the night for sleeping. Oh, so the hours just started at noon. Different, but not so great a leap.
“Computer, what day and time is it now?”
“Day two,” said the computer, “hour five.”
“Computer, which days does training take place?”
“Days three through five,” said the computer.
So this was the weekend, no classes today. And a three day weekend at that. Definitely better than the old five and two system Zeke was familiar with. Well, Zeke understood why no one was here, but now what? Perhaps he could hang out with Walter for the rest of the day. Maybe the computer could place a call.
“Computer, let me talk with Walter. He came in with me on Mvek’s ship.”
“Connected,” said the computer after a few seconds.
“Zeke?” came Walter’s voice.
“Hey Walter, it’s the weekend. No classes today, want to get together and check out the base?”
“Weekend?” Walter sounded puzzled. “Oh, we’re in different habitat rings. I guess the habitats have different schedules. Over here, my first leadership training class is starting in a few minutes. I’ve got to run.”
“That’s cool,” replied Zeke, “I’ll catch you later. Computer, end connection.”
“Disconnected,” said the computer.
“Computer, does pilot training include practicing on a simulator?”
“Yes,” said the computer.
“Computer, where are the nearest simulators?”
“Flight training simulators are located in this room,” said the computer.
In this room? Zeke sat on the nearest section of couch. All he saw was the couch, no video screen, no controls. Maybe the computer could get it going.
“Computer, begin flight simulation.”
A section of the floor opened and a set of controls extended towards Zeke. Two joysticks on free-floating arms and a small touch panel, also on a free-floating arm settled in front of Zeke. The joysticks felt solid in his hands, each had four buttons in easy reach of Zeke’s fingers.
Zeke found he could easily position the floating arms to get the joysticks and panel in a comfortable position. Touch buttons on the panel locked the free-floating arms in position. The touch buttons controlled ships speed, energy distribution, shielding, and docking mechanisms. A section was labeled “preset maneuvers,” whatever that meant.
Zeke also noticed a button to start and stop the simulation. He pressed it.
A starfield appeared before Zeke, and a large gas giant with dozens of moons dominated the foreground. The hologram was solid, a square about three feet across, the planets looked real.
Zeke moved the left joystick slightly and the view shifted. The right joystick started him careening towards a moon. After a few close calls, Zeke quickly got the hang of the controls. The left stick set a direction, but did not actually move the virtual ship. The right stick moved the ship in respect to the direction.
Speed was controlled by tilting the joystick further, larger increments of speed were possible with buttons on the joystick or touch panel. Moving the joystick to the side started the ship tilting in that direction.
The joysticks were responsive to Zeke’s every move and the ship handled beautifully. Before long Zeke had explored the gas giant’s moon system, diving down and skimming the surfaces of the moons, mere inches from the surface.
One of the larger moons had a ring system and Zeke tried dodging the asteroids, but they were far apart and not much of a challenge.
“Computer, move the asteroids closer together. About twenty ship lengths apart. And have them move in random directions.”
Now this was more exciting! Zeke spent some time dodging the asteroids, the random motion making it a challenge. Zeke brought up some additional views showing object proximity and predicted direction to avoid getting hit from behind. After a while, Zeke was moving at a good clip through the asteroid belt, and dodging rocks instinctively; he just had to watch the screens and focus.
Finally tiring of the asteroids, Zeke headed out to explore the inner planetary system. At top speed, he was quickly there. The three inner planets were of equal size, about five times the diameter of Earth according to the readout. All of them were desolate and lifeless.
They were still interesting, and the images were top quality, so Zeke took a leisurely tour of the second planet. It had jagged geological formations, which made for some interesting skimming, but nothing difficult. Zeke’s mind had time to wander.
“Computer, what time is it?”
“Eight in the evening,” said the computer.
Eight. That was early evening, night and bedtime wouldn’t come until fourteen in the evening. But there was dinner to see about and Zeke still needed to find his quarters.
“Computer, where are my quarters?”
“Quarters are not currently assigned,” said the computer.
“Computer, how do I get assigned quarters?”
“You request quarters, and are assigned the nearest matching your request,” said the computer.
“Computer, assign me the nearest quarters to this location, and give me a guide globe to take me there.”
“Done,” said the computer.
A blue globe appeared in front of Zeke, then moved to hover above the entry door. Zeke got up and walked towards the door, which disappeared as he neared; the flightpad and joysticks automatically retracted into the floor.
Back in the park, Zeke followed the globe as it floated along the wall. In less than a minute, Zeke saw a white archway with a label, Etoona. The white archway blended in with the wall and was easy to miss from a distance, the labels were only visible once Zeke got close to the doors. Near the doors the labels were dark black standard letters; more than ten feet away the lettering faded, appearing white.
Looking closely at the walls, Zeke noticed other white archways evenly spaced about thirty feet apart. The next archway was labeled Thaymelv. These were most likely quarters, Zeke concluded. Before too long the globe hovered above a white archway, labeled Zeke.
Nice, thought Zeke; this wasn’t too far from the training room. The door vanished as Zeke got close, the inside was rectangular room about thirty feet wide, forty feet deep, and twenty feet high. The corners were rounded, Zeke couldn’t see a single sharp edge in the room. As Zeke entered, the door silently reappeared.
At the center of the far back wall, a bathtub twice as large as the one aboard Mvek’s ship dominated. To the left Zeke found a dry shower and a six foot wide shelf. Further left, in the corner, were three floor toilets. To the right of the tub, built-in white cabinets ran all the way to the other corner.
In the front corner of the room, a twelve foot circular depression contained a bed. The soft mattress was even with the floor, padding around the sides would prevent sleepers from bumping heads against the floor. A pile of pillows sat on the bed nearest the corner of the room. Pillows, mattress, and padding were all the same shade of crisp, clean, white.
The rest of the room was empty, no furniture, not even a chair.
Seeing the toilets prompted Zeke’s bladder. As Zeke relieved himself, he felt odd urinating in such a large room. For some reason the aliens built this room without an enclosure around the toilets or bath areas. Well, it was a single-occupancy room.
Maybe the aliens weren’t embarrassed about bodily functions like Earthlings. Zeke remembered the separate toilet and bathing rooms in Mvek’s ship, and suddenly realized the layout might be for the comfort of the Earthlings. The Earthlings liked walls for privacy, the aliens liked openness for convenience.
After finishing with the toilets, Zeke examined the shelf. The shelf was about waist high, and the edges curved up to hold water. It was really a sink. The lack of faucets had misled Zeke, but as soon as Zeke moved his hand over the sink, water arched into the basin from several sources on the wall. The water stopped when Zeke withdrew his hand. Zeke couldn’t find the source of the water, the wall was smooth and felt solid where the water streams had originated. Weird.
A noise to Zeke’s right drew his attention. Near the cabinets, a small robot floated beside the box Zeke had stored his belongings in. The robot was a white foot tall cylinder half a foot in diameter with three slender arms. It was storing his possessions neatly in the cabinets. Soon the robot finished and disappeared into an opening in the ceiling, which closed seamlessly.
“Computer, can I get some furniture? Will it cost me any credits?”
“Normal furniture is provided at your request,” said the computer, “specialty items require credits.”
Zeke found normal furniture covered a lot. He decided on a large green couch covered in the softest material available, two small oval tables for the sides of the couch, and a kitchen table and chairs.
The furniture arrived within a few minutes. It dropped in from the ceiling with the help of some larger robots like the first one. With the help of the computer, Zeke had the robots arrange the furniture until he was satisfied. The couch ended up in the center of the wall near the bed, the kitchen table by the cabinets.
“Computer, what time is it now, what times are meals?”
“The time is eight hours, thirty two minutes,” said the computer. “Normal mealtimes are 0 to 2 in the afternoon, 8 to 10 in the evening, and 20 to 22 in the morning. Food is also available upon request at all times.”
Well, at least he wasn’t late to dinner, Zeke thought. Perhaps he could get the computer to cough up a video game. Maybe later, Zeke decided; right now dinner seemed a good idea. Zeke left his quarters, the door reappeared behind him. Now where was dinner?
“Computer, blue globe to dinner.”
A blue globe appeared and moved to hover over the door. Zeke followed it outside. The globe went back towards the training room, stopping to hover over a green door, just two doors away from the training room. Obviously the green door was the dining room. A few aliens were in the area, including the one with multiple body segments that looked like a centipede.
“Computer,” said Zeke, deciding not to enter the dining room yet, “dismiss guide.”
The centipede alien was interesting; Zeke wanted a closer look. But he didn’t want to be rude: Hey, you’re weird looking, tell me about yourself. The alien was making slow, but reasonable, progress on his stubby lower limbs; going about half as fast as Zeke normally walked. In fact, the alien was following a red globe and coming closer to Zeke.
The red globe stopped over the yellow door. Probably the alien had just arrived and was checking out the training room. The alien was probably either an instructor, or more likely a trainee. No point in letting the alien wonder where everyone was, Zeke decided, heading towards the centipede.
“Hi, I’m Zeke, one of Yzran’s new trainees. Are you a trainee too?”
The centipede’s twelve body sections were about two feet in diameter, each six inches high; the tan-colored alien stood four feet tall. On closer inspection, the dozen appendages on each section were all the same – short, thick limbs ending in three opposing, evenly spaced, stubby fingers that served as feet or hands. Standing vertically, only the appendages on the bottom segment worked as feet. The rest hung, relaxed, on the body.
“I am Etoona, also a trainee. I am surprised to find an Earthland in this section. Most Earthlands are uncomfortable around other species.”
Etoona spoke with a low, gutteral voice that reminded Zeke of a frog croaking. Etoona. The name sounded familiar. Ah, it had been on the door of the first quarters Zeke had passed. Etoona had come prepared and secured his quarters sooner than Zeke.
“I think I see what you mean,” said Zeke, “when I asked specifically for Yzran, they modified my globe’s destination. Otherwise I’d probably be in a habitat with mostly... Earthlands, and not the trainee of the best instructor available.”
“A disadvantage of those species newly joined the Hirthal,” said Etoona, continuing towards the yellow door. “The social instincts limit them to interaction with species of a similar appearance, unless overcome by a period of adjustment.”
“Social instincts?” asked Zeke.
“One of the natural behaviors,” said Etoona, “such as tending to walk towards water, or away from darkness. Some social instincts useful in the evolution of a species can be annoying once intelligence evolves.”
“Computer,” said Etoona, “red guide to eating room.”
“It’s the green door over there,” said Zeke, walking slowly beside Etoona.
The red globe hovered over the green door and disappeared as Zeke and Etoona entered. This room was a circle about twice the size of the training room. Like the training room, white was the predominant color. A large, low, circular counter enclosed what had to be an open kitchen. Small, foot high platforms were evenly spaced around the counter, most likely seating, but it looked uncomfortable.
No one else was in the room except for a single Shao behind the counter. This dining room wasn’t set up for a buffet like on Mvek’s ship; it was pretty obvious to Zeke they should pick a spot and be seated. If Zeke’s guess was right, the Shao would come over and take their order or something like that. Cool, not many people could say they had been waited on by an alien.
“At least you have overcome most of your instinctive limitations,” said Etoona. “Are you still uncomfortable around other species?”
“No,” said Zeke, “I guess I’m so overwhelmed with finding out other intelligent species even exist, that I didn’t think of being uncomfortable.”
Etoona gestured at a seating platform and it sank into the floor. Moving over the spot where the platform had been, Etoona gestured again and the platform rose up. Neat, thought Zeke.
Zeke gestured at his own platform and it rose slightly, a narrow section at the back continued to rise at a slight angle, forming the back of a seat. Really neat, thought Zeke, sitting in the newly formed chair.
“Hello Etoona,” said the Shao, noticing the pair and walking over to them. “I am Otheshiil, nutritionist. Will you accept my suggestion for tonight?”
“None of that,” said Etoona, “splekk, prepared old style, and nothing extra.”
“As you prefer,” said Otheshiil, “Computer, transfer one siplekkol here, restrained, table two.”
“Hello Zeke,” said Otheshiil, “as this is new to you, I will explain. My purpose is to provide optimal nourishment to each trainee; I have studied in detail your species’ requirements and I monitor your current condition. Correct nourishment will allow you to experience the best performance from your body and mind. However, the final decision as to your diet is your own. Will you accept my suggestion for tonight?”
Proper nutrition, Zeke mused. Back at the university, Zeke’s diet hadn’t been all that great; certainly he hadn’t bothered with nutrition. But then, no one had offered him “optimal nourishment” tailored to his specific needs. If he accepted Otheshiil’s advice, Zeke would probably get something like health food, bland and tasteless. But again, what could it hurt to try it? If it tasted too bad he could always ask Otheshiil for a burger and fries.
“That sounds... interesting,” said Zeke, “give me whatever you think is best.”
A motion overhead caught Zeke’s eye. One of the robots was lowering a small creature, about the size of a cat, to Otheshiil’s preparation table. The creature was green with blue stripes and had six legs. It was still, but Zeke could see it breathing. Zeke decided he would avoid watching Otheshiil prepare the splekk.
“Excellent,” said Otheshiil, “your meals will be completed shortly.”
“You will regret your choice,” said Etoona, “nutritional food does not mean enjoyable food. Otheshiil would have me eating leaves if he could.”
Otheshiil returned shortly with a large glass of clear liquid and a small plate for Zeke. It looked like a salad, tasted like a salad too. Not as good as a burger, but it wasn’t that bad either. Think optimal performance, Zeke told himself.
“The food’s not so bad,” said Zeke, taking a drink. As he had suspected, it was water. “Besides, I want to be at top performance for my training.”
“How much experience do you have,” asked Etoona.
“None flying,” admitted Zeke, “but I’m pretty good with simulations.” Standard didn’t have a word for video games, so that was as close as Zeke could come to explaining.
Otheshiil arrived with five plates, most of which went to Etoona. The one plate Zeke got had several wafers on it. Etoona’s food actually looked pretty good, not like in the movies where the aliens ate nasty squirming worms. Etoona had several steaks, each skewered on an individual stick, and also some long orange bars.
“What type of simulations?” asked Etoona, “You just learned about the Hirthal.”
“Well,” said Zeke, munching on a wafer, “lots of recreational simulations where I control some kind of object.”
Zeke noticed Etoona was holding multiple steaks on sticks in appendages belonging to various body segments. Each of the segments had a mouth, and each mouth was chewing the food. With all those mouths, Etoona ate fast.
“Better than nothing,” said Etoona, taking his last bite. “I’m going to organize my quarters, bye for now.”
Etoona gestured his platform down and headed out the door. Having only one mouth, Zeke tool a little longer to finish his dinner.
“Was dinner satisfactory?” asked Otheshiil.
“Not what I’m used to,” said Zeke, “but not bad.”
After talking with Otheshiil for a bit, Zeke headed back out to the park. With plenty of time before the night period, Zeke decided to look around. He started walking down one of the smaller paths; unlike the wider paths, this path was bare earth. In no time, the training plaza was out of sight and Zeke was alone, in the middle of the nicely kept park.
The plants were tall and thick enough to limit Zeke’s visibility to the immediate area. Soon Zeke came upon a small open space with two benches positioned in front of a natural looking, three foot high waterfall. The gurgling of the water masked sounds coming from other areas of the park, giving Zeke a feeling of solitude.
The benches were low white rectangles with no backs, like in the dining room. Did they adjust in the same way? Zeke made the gesture at the bench; the rectangle rose six inches while a inch thick portion of the seat rose almost vertically, forming a back. Zeke sat on the newly formed bench, watching the waterfall, reflecting on the last week, and considering his future.
Before all of this, Zeke had not believed aliens existed. Now he was going to be learning how to pilot a ship with them. Taking up the challenge of becoming a pilot was going to be fun, and Zeke could hardly wait until the training started in the morning. Back at the university, Zeke had been an average student, just doing the minimum to get passing grades. But now things were different. Zeke resolved to give the training his maximum effort; he was not going to be an average pilot, but the best pilot he could possibly be.
How long did it take to learn piloting, anyway? “Computer, how long does pilot training last?”
“Time spent training varies, average duration is 180 days,” said the computer.
Suggesting that if Zeke worked hard, he could complete training sooner. After the three hours on the simulators today, Zeke knew he could fly the ship in the simulation with more practice. But there was always more to it than that. Probably the aliens would have procedures to be memorized and who knows what else.
Kind of like the introduction to music course Zeke had taken his freshman year. It had sounded like an easy course, just listen to some music. No problem, right? Well, they had listened to music. They had also had to memorize music’s history – that had been a lot of work. Hopefully, the pilot training wouldn’t be so boring.
And there was something else Zeke really liked about the Hirthal: the attention to individuals. The training base was huge, but Zeke had come on board and been given personal attention. Zeke’s preference for being a pilot was listened to and immediately acted upon. The cook, or nutritional specialist, had recognized Zeke on sight, and had taken the time to design a diet just for him. And no one had requested Zeke to fill out any paperwork. The Hirthal really had their act together.
Zeke saw a movement out of the corner of his left eye, a yellow globe moved to hover over the waterfall; Zeke realized that could only mean someone was coming. Turning around, Zeke saw an alien walking down the narrow path towards him.
This particular alien was a species Zeke had not seen before. Obviously female, she stood over six feet tall. She wore the standard white pants, but the tank top left her narrow midriff bare. Completely hairless, her skin was an unblemished light pink over most of her body, except for a patch of pure white skin covering her belly. The white skin extended down under the pants, and ended in a semi-circle above her very humanlike breasts.
Her face was vaguely human, oval shaped with a small, rounded chin. Her eyes were large, featuring black pupils surrounded by dark red irises. An unusually wide mouth with thin lips, a flat rounded nose, and lack of ears gave her a distinct look. Not pretty in the human sense, but not ugly either, just different. Her body was another story – large breasts and hips with a narrow waist gave her a figure any human woman would be proud of.
As she came closer, Zeke noticed her feet. Each foot had four equal sized toes with black toenails; she was walking on the balls of her feet. Not surprising, Zeke considered, due to her elongated foot and almost non-existent heels.
“Hi, I’m Zeke.” Zeke stood up to greet the new arrival.
“I am Aurel. I do not remember your species.” Aurel’s voice was high-pitched, and her words seemed to have a faint echo as she spoke them.
“Oh, I’m an Earthling,” said Zeke. “Earthlings are kind of new to the Hirthal, most don’t even know about the Hirthal.”
Aurel was a few inches taller than Zeke. Up close, Zeke could see a faint outline of nipples through the fabric of Aurel’s top. How humanlike were her breasts, Zeke wondered?
“Are you looking at my breasts?” asked Aurel.
Busted! Zeke decided he had better apologize and hope Aurel was not too mad at him. But Standard was lacking a specific word for “sorry.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” said Zeke. “My eyes just sort of wandered down there.”
“Do you find me sexually interesting?” asked Aurel.
“Ah... yes,” said Zeke, feeling himself blushing.
“Computer,” said Aurel, “tell us the Earthling and Geltharv sexual profiles.”
“The Earthling profile is an estimated 80-30-100-300,” said the computer. “The Geltharv profile is 62-40-97-7. Physical compatibility is indicated.”
Mvek and Sori hadn’t mentioned sexual profiles, considered Zeke. Why was the Earth profile only estimated? Had the environmental and food profiles been estimated also? Zeke resolved to ask the computer about these things.
“Good,” said Aurel, taking off her top.
The patch of white skin included her breasts, which Zeke noticed were very humanlike indeed. Aurel wasted no time taking off her pants and dropping them on the bench with her shirt. Zeke could see her groin was hairless too, the white patch of skin extended to the tops of her legs and continued between her legs as far as he could see. Aurel’s sex looked normal to Zeke, at least from the outside.
“Why are you still dressed?” asked Aurel. “Do you need to perform an Earthling ritual before sexual activity?”
“Ah... no,” said Zeke, taking off his clothes. “I was just watching you and got distracted.”
“You are reasonably attractive,” said Aurel, standing close to Zeke. “Except for your pointy nose and strange feet.”
Zeke wrapped his arms gently around Aurel’s waist, pulling Aurel towards him. Aurel’s soft, firm, breasts pressed intrigingly against Zeke’s body. Aurel was several inches taller than Zeke so he used his left hand to carefully pull her head down. Zeke moistened his lips, tilted his head, and gave Aurel a quick kiss on her lips. Aurel didn’t pull back so Zeke decided to continue.
Kissing Aurel again, Zeke parted his lips and ran his tounge across Aurel’s closed lips. Aurel started caressing Zeke’s back and neck with her hands; Zeke returned the favor as he continued to kiss her. After a few times of Aurel not responding by opening her lips, Zeke decided to move on. He started kissing Aurel’s neck, trailing his kisses down to her breasts.
Zeke started kissing slow circles around Aurel’s breasts while liesurely massaging her back and buttocks with his hands. As Zeke’s kisses came closer to Aurel’s now erect nipples, Aurel started making soft groaning noises. Zeke began licking Aurel’s nipples, one at a time. He felt Aurel’s entire body shiver as she let out a long groan.
While continuing to lick and suck Aurel’s nipples, Zeke moved his hand downward and traced along the inside of Aurel’s thigh. Aurel squirmed and moved her legs further apart, giving Zeke better access to her moist sex.
Running his fingers along Aurel’s slit caused more shivering. Encouraged, Zeke slowly ran his fingers up and down Aurel’s slit a few more times. Then Zeke gently moved Aurel’s nether lips apart and began carefully exploring Aurel with his fingertips. When Zeke touched a large, fleshy lump near the front of Aurel’s slit, she jumped and pressed hard against him.
Inspired by Aurel’s reaction, Zeke continued sucking on her nipples while he located the fleshy lump again. Cautiously, Zeke imperceptibly probed the edges of Aurel’s hot spot. By the time Zeke’s fingertips determined the lump was a flat, rough circle, about two inches wide and firmly attached to Aurel’s body, Aurel was pressing against Zeke and shivering uncontrollably. Her moans were continuous.
Aurel’s responses had Zeke hard as a rock. Zeke stood up and started to manuver his cock between Aurel’s legs. Aurel grabbed Zeke’s erect cock, moved him inside her wet vagina, and started frantically thrusting her hips.
In moments Zeke matched her rhythm and the two became lost in the exquisite sensations of their lovemaking. Zeke made sure to grind against Aurel’s sensitive fleshy pad on each downstroke. Soon Zeke felt he was going to explode. Aurel climaxed first and Zeke could feel her vagina repeatedly clamp down hard against his cock, triggering his own orgasm.
The two stood, locked in their embrace, as they recovered and their breathing slowed. In a few minutes, Aurel pulled away from Zeke and sat on the bench. Zeke sat down beside Aurel and held her in his arms.
“Aurel,” said Zeke. “That was wonderfull.”
“My throat is still tingling,” said Aurel. “I need to complete my living arrangements tonight, but I would like to have sex with you again soon.”
“Same here,” said Zeke. “Are you going to be on the base long?”
“Yes,” said Aurel. “What are you doing on the base?”
“I’m training to be a pilot.”
“I am also a pilot in training,” said Aurel. “Who is your instructor?”
“Yzran,” said Zeke. “Someone told me he was one of the best.”
“It,” said Aurel, resting in Zeke’s arms, “Yzran is not a reproductive member of its species. Yzran is my instructor also.”
Zeke and Aurel continued talking as they got dressed; they agreed to meet the next day.
“See you tomorrow,” said Zeke, as Aurel left, still pulling on her shirt.
Zeke was just pulling on his own shirt when he noticed a green globe move to hover over his head, then dissappear. Looking around, Zeke saw Walter standing at the entrance to the clearing.
“Zeke,” said Walter, pointing in the direction Aurel had gone. “Did you just...”
“Isn’t she cute?” asked Zeke.
“You’re crazy Zeke,” said Walter, in English. “Are you going to fuck every female alien you see?”
“Just the cute ones, man,” grinned Zeke.
“What happens if you get them pregnant?” asked Walter.
“I can’t get other species pregnant,” said Zeke, “any more than I could get a goat pregnant.”
“Well,” said Walter, rolling his eyes, “I’m sure you would know.”
“That’s a good one, dude,” laughed Zeke. “I’m going back to my quarters to get a shower, why don’t you come along and we’ll check out the base afterwards.”
Back in his quarters, Zeke stepped in the dry shower without bothering to get undressed. Zeke wasn’t sure the shower would work with his clothes on, but it seemed worth a try. If it didn’t work he could always undress and try again.
Zeke made the gesture at the shower and felt a tingling pass over his entire body. Zeke’s clothes lifted slightly away from his skin and vibrated for an instant before settling back down. Zeke felt clean; even better, the dirt from the clearing floor was gone from his pants.
“Computer,” said Zeke, “what’s the time here, and in Walter’s habitat?”
“The time here is ten hours, forty two minutes,” said the computer. “The time in Walter’s habitat is five hours, forty two minutes.”
There were still a few hours before night in this habitat. Zeke figured he would try to sleep around fourteen hours, so he would be alert in the morning. Walter had about the same amount of time before his dinner. That meant almost four hours to go sightseeing.
“This is pretty nice,” said Walter, looking around Zeke’s quarters. “Did it come with the furniture?”
“Just the bed,” said Zeke. “I got the rest by telling the computer what I wanted. We’ve got about four hours to mess around, you want to go check out the base?”
“Sure,” said Walter.
The Earthlings made their way back to the transport room and stepped on one of the blue platforms.
“So,” said Zeke, “where do you think we should start?”
“What about the docking bay where we came in?” asked Walter. “We could get a better look at all those ships.”
“OK,” said Zeke. “Computer, take us to the docking bay.”
“Destination not understood,” replied the computer.
“Computer,” said Zeke, “take us where we can look at some of the ships docked with the base.”
“Understood,” said the computer. “Nearest environmental match is 60-40-120-40. Conditions are outside Earthling comfort zone, but survivable. Do you wish to override enviromental limitations?”
Well, it was survivable. “Yes,” said Zeke, “override environmental limitations and take us there.”
“Understood,” said the computer. “Prepare for reduction in pressure.”
The platform lifted off and they were in the main transport tube once again. Zeke felt an ache in his ears and worked his jaw until his ears popped.
“I wonder what the computer meant by survivable,” muttered Walter, digging at his earhole with a finger. “Computer,” said Walter, “why isn’t there a environment within Earthling comfort zone?”
“The docking area is designed with limited space for viewing rooms,” said the computer. “Available viewing room area is insufficent for all environmental profiles to be maintained at once. Environmental profiles currently maintained are chosen based on the majority of species utilizing the viewing rooms.”
In addition to the slowly changing air pressure, Zeke noticed the temperature was getting cooler, and he felt strange, somehow... lighter. The gravity and air pressure were being reduced on the platform, Zeke realized. How did that work with an open platform? The platform must have some kind of force field around it, and the cabability to adjust its own gravity and atmosphere, Zeke concluded. That would explain the lack of wind on the platform, the faint breeze could be from the platform itself. Interesting.
“I think the platform is slowly adjusting environmental conditions,” said Zeke. “If it gets too bad before we get there, we can always call it off.”
Zeke moved closer to the edge of the platform and cautiously stuck his hand out. As he had expected, his hand encountered a resistance and shortly could go no further. The force field wasn’t hard or uncomfortable; as Zeke’s hand got closer, it just quickly built up from a mild resistance to an invisible, impenetrable barrier.
“Hey, Walter,” said Zeke. “There’s a force field around the platform.”
Walter felt the force field also, reminding Zeke of a mime doing the invisible box routine.
“Why do you think the aliens used a force field instead of having real walls?” asked Walter.
“I don’t know,” pondered Zeke. “Maybe it’s just easier to get on and off without messing with doors.”
“I’ll ask the computer.” said Walter. “Computer, why don’t the platforms have walls?”
“Please rest assured the platforms are safe and reliable.” said the computer. “No fatalities have ever been caused by a platform malfunction. The platforms are carefully maintained and possess eight redundant molivon wave and gravity repulsion elements. Do you wish to exit the platform now? Do you require assistance for emotional distress?”
“Computer,” said Walter, annoyed, “that wasn’t what I wanted to know. What design or asthetic requirement resulted in platforms instead of an enclosed transport room?”
“Unable to match query to informational model,” said the computer.
So the computer did have its limitations after all. This might mean the computer wouldn’t be able to answer Zeke’s question about the sexual profile. Zeke resolved to find this out later, rather than explain to Walter why he was asking.
In a few more minutes the air became thin, hard to breathe, and cold. If conditions got much more uncomfortable, Zeke decided, he would call this off. Just then, the platform changed direction and entered a side tube, then a smaller vertical tube with the same diameter as the platform. They quickly slowed and the wall in front of them disappeared, revealing a small room also the size of the platform. Their platform moved forward and came to a stop; the wall in front of them disappeared.
Zeke momentarily forgot the uncomfortable environmental conditions as he took in his new surroundings. The room was about a hundred feet long, twenty feet wide, and ten feet high. At first glance, it looked like they were standing on a white, railless outdoor terrace, but Zeke quickly realized they were surrounded by seamless floor to ceiling windows.
Through the windows, stacks of densely packed spaceships were everywhere. Zeke approached the nearest window and found he could not see the bottom or top of the brightly lit docking bay, the stacks of spaceships disappeared in the distance. Looking closer, Zeke saw each stack of ships clustered around a large white cylinder. One of those ships could be Mvek’s, Zeke realized.
“Damn,” said Walter, “that’s a lot of ships!”
Zeke turned to look at Walter, and for the first time noticed they were not alone in the viewing room. Three aliens were taking in the view as well. Eight feet tall, they had round orange bodies on tall, spindly legs.
“And a lot of different kinds of ships,” added Zeke, turning back to the window.
“We didn’t see all these ships when we came in,” said Walter. “There were a lot, but not stacked up like this.”
“They are pretty tightly packed,” said Zeke. “Maybe this is like, storage or something.”
Most of the ships were the standard greyish or silver disk, like Mvek’s. But some were white and teardrop-shaped, with dual fins running from the point to the rear. Zeke looked over the ships, wondering which type he would be piloting, until Walter distracted him.
“Hey, Zeke,” said Walter, shivering. “We’ve been here a while and it’s kind of cold, let’s go back.”
“OK, dude,” said Zeke, suddenly realizing he was cold too.
The pair headed back to the platform, looking forward to getting back to a warmer environment.
“Computer,” said Zeke, “Walter’s quarters.”
By the time they got to Walter’s habitat, the environmental conditions were much more comfortable. This habitat was the same shape and design as Zeke’s, but the ceiling was light blue and the plants were all Earth-type plants. Walter’s quarters looked mostly like Zeke’s, except the back wall had three doors instead of open toilet and bathing areas.
Other than the round bed, the main room was empty. Zeke hung around and talked to Walter about the day as Walter picked out furniture for his quarters.
Finally, deciding it was late enough, Zeke headed back to his own quarters to get some sleep. Upon entering his quarters, Zeke was startled by the computer’s voice.
“Attention Zeke,” said the computer, “you have one message.”
A message? “Computer,” said Zeke, “give me the message.”
A hologram of Otheshiil’s head appeared before Zeke. “Hello, Zeke. To help your body adjust to the new timezone, drink the small bottle on your table before going to sleep. Your body’s internal rhythms will be adjusted, and you will sleep easily. Also, if you get hungry between meals, instruct the computer to give you a snack at your current location. Sleep well, Zeke.” The hologram vanished.
Cool, thought Zeke. Now, despite the timezone change, he could be sure of getting some sleep and being alert for tomorrow’s training.
“Computer,” said Zeke, “wake me up by 21 hours every morning, and notify me thirty minutes before my training starts.”
“Acknowledged,” said the computer.
Zeke found the bottle Otheshiil had mentioned, it was a clear container about the size of a thimble. After getting ready for bed, Zeke drank the bottle and crawled under the covers. Sleep came quickly.