Delta: #2 - In System
Kris Me
Delta Series:
#2 - In System
By: Kris Me
Introduction:
Lee and Kyle are settling in on the ship. They have met some people they are beginning to care very deeply for and finding some other people are never happy.
They have reached their destination only to find that the Delta Pavonis System has many surprises for the crew of the Fortune.
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Copyright:
Copyright © 2016 Kris Me - All rights are reserved
This story is the work of Kris Me. Before you copy more than one page or ten percent of the content, you must contact me as per the Copyright Act 1968, Australia.
First Published by Storiesonline World Literature Company: 11/01/2016. Last updated: 15/9/2021.
The book cover was designed in Microsoft Paint 3D using art that is my own, copyright-free or covered by creative commons license for commercial use from https://pixabay.com/ The image of the Astronaut is by Inspired Images.
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Declarations:
~~ Adult Themes ~~
This book is part of an erotica science fiction series. It is NOT recommended for people under the legal age to access such stories, depending on the reader's country of origin.
The books may contain what some people consider vulgar language, references to religious icons, violence, coercion, murder and-or rape scenes.
Some scenes may describe intimate heterosexual, bi-sexual, gay and-or group sexual activities. If you are homophobic, you may find some scenes in this series of book distasteful. In most cases, these scenes are integral parts of the story.
Some of the books include imaginary races capable of changing their gender and/or form into other animals. Copulation, while the characters are in their alternate animal forms, may be described.
This book DOES NOT contain descriptions of bestiality or coitus between persons closely related by blood.
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Editing:
If you find any of my assumptions fabricated, I would like to remind you this is a fictional story and I have probably taken liberties with reality, as you know it. The humanoids in this story are not based on anyone I know or have read about.
Australian based dictionaries were used for reference, and Grammarly was used as part of the editing suite. The story was written in Microsoft Word.
If you find grammatical or spelling errors, they are not the fault of my editor or proofreaders who did try to fix my work. However, I do tend to fiddle around after the fact, so all errors are my own.
If my Australian colloquialisms or terms need clarification, or you just wish to correspond, I'm more than happy to answer your emails. You can send them to:
kris.me2@inorbit.com
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The Wiki:
https://keltria.fandom.com/wiki/
The Wiki contains information about the Keltrian people, wizards, the Keltrian magical items, colloquialisms and adapted words that have been created for this universe. Maps, character lists and other information that may relate to this book could be found.
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This is the second book:
The series 'Delta' was the first set of books I wrote for the Keltrian Universe that is posted on the Storiesonline website.
The books should be read in sequence, as some references to events or information about a character may not be explained in full if they were mentioned or introduced in a previous book.
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Additional Data on this book:
Best friends Lee and Kyle were signed aboard the Starship Fortune as crew, with ninety-eight other souls to go and explore the Delta Pavonis Star System.
Kyle has found Debora, but he was unsure if she actually understood his nature. She has issues with trust and her own self-worth. Lee has found Sean but wasn't sure if she had found true love, but she had no problems with the sex.
Strange events aboard the ship plagued Lee, and the anonymous emailer was still out there. Rodger Bartlett still bothers her, and she wonders if she should have taken him out like she did Dr Syd Adams, only time will tell.
At least the ship had made it to Delta Pavonis.
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Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to J. Konietzko and all of the readers who in the past have pointed out I do make mistakes and have helped me to fix them.
And thanks, Lazeez, for your patience and assistance in helping me with my weird requests and questions.
I hope you enjoy the story.
Kris Me
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List of books in the Delta Series:
Delta: #1 - To Delta
Delta: #2 - In System
Delta: #3 - Utopia
Delta: #4 - Neighbours
Delta: #5 - Harmony
Delta: #6 - Twin Problems
Delta: #7 - Family
Delta: #8 - One People
Delta: #9 - Trixy
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Chapter 1
~~ February - Week 7 ~~
For Lee Gillian and her crowd, it was an interesting week.
They all found it hard to believe they had only been gone from Earth for six weeks, as so much seemed to have happened on this voyage so far and they weren't even at their final destination yet.
The Fore Rih Space Drives (FRSDs) and the smaller Fore Ionic Drives (FIDs) that were used for manoeuvrability, were all in operation. Their spaceship was slowing as planned with minor adjustments as required, depending on what the scientists found in their way.
Lee's workload had been lighter and less stressful since she fixed the compensators. She still used Jim Hoyle as her TA, to assist her with her electrical maintenance duties if he didn't have other work to do.
Lee and Jim would often go help Jim's wife, Magda, up in the Horticultural Dome, or they would go help Terry Ore with the drive maintenance, just to keep busy.
Lee and her hunky Lieutenant, Sean Watson, were becoming more comfortable in their relationship. While they still enjoyed 'humping like rabbits' they endured Cinderella disappearing at the stroke of 23:30 hours, to go to work.
One night, their friend and dinner companion, Sandra Wills, told the group that she had heard that Rodger Bartlett was on the mend. It would still be several weeks before he could return to full duties, not that most of them really cared.
Ben Layard was also up and around with a cast on his leg. Lee hadn't seen much of him. While he was the supervisor of the Engineering crews, he only communicated with her by email.
He never came and checked that she was doing her job, and this suited Lee just fine. She didn't even do the shift hand over to him as he had always preferred, she simply reported to his assistant David Smite or her electrical counterpart, Rolo Russo.
The talk of the ship was still about Lee accidentally killing Dr Syd Adams. Some of the guys were still not sure how they felt about what she did. The rumour that she was a martial artist did at least explain how she could do it.
However, there was not a woman aboard who condemned her. As far as they were concerned, she was a heroine. To a woman, the thought of being raped or knowing that a sadistic rapist was living near them was truly horrible.
Dr Von West had linked Syd's description with some old news items, about a rapist who killed his victims after raping and torturing them for weeks. All of the dead women they had found had burns and bite marks all over their bodies; the same as she had found on Tahoora Aabdar.
Doc Von was happy to let everyone see the articles, especially when Tahoora said she didn't mind them knowing what had happened to her. She preferred they knew the truth rather than having them speculate about what he had done to her or worse, actually ask her. Telling it once had been bad enough.
Many of the crew had since been pondering as to just how Syd had been picked for this voyage if the selection process had been as rigid as the sponsors had claimed. It was a frightening thought that he had slipped through the net.
Ulani Goldsmith, their resident sociologist, had talked with Lee and Tahoora with Doc Von present. Lee also asked if Lieutenant Sean Watson as the ship's Security Officer and the ship's Captain, Nick Clark could be present as well. The other three women agreed.
The girls had a chance to get their story straight before the interview as they were given time to get cleaned up and calm down. Sean had gone to get them a change of clothes from the replicator while they showered together. The doctors had to see to the removal of Syd's body first and do their reports.
The girls decided to keep the story simple and as close to the truth as possible. They told the committee that Syd had attacked Tahoora in the lift when she refused to go with him. Lee had entered the lift when it had stopped on her floor. She saw Tahoora's distress and her torn dress.
Lee tried to get Syd to leave her alone when she realised that he would hit Tahoora. Syd had attacked Tahoora, and Lee fended him off. He then attacked Lee, and she had defended herself. She had hit him harder than she intended when he tried to strangle her.
The blow accidentally killed him when the heel of her hand punch to his sternum had sent his heart into fibrillation. She had tried to do CPR but had to stop when she realised his broken rib had punctured his lung—end of the story.
They had left out a couple of minor points. Such as Lee and Tahoora provoking Syd, so he directed his attacks at Lee. Even so, it was essentially the truth, and if Syd hadn't gone psycho, he probably would be still alive.
Lee told Ulani and Doc Von about Rodger's attempted rape of her, a couple of weeks before and showed them the vid. She said to them that Captain Clark, Sergeant Gary Carpenter and Sean already knew of the incident. She, however, had asked them to keep it to themselves.
Lee explained that she could have done something similar to Rodger, but she hadn't. She really didn't mean to wallop Syd as hard as she did. She just wanted to stop him from hurting them anymore. The bruises on her neck and on Tahoora's arms gave her story credibility.
Ulani, Doc Von and the Captain had to agree with Sean when he said they were all better off without Syd anyway. It wasn't as if the ship was suitable for keeping a prisoner on.
Sean doubted that the other women and many of the men would have been happy with him being on the ship once they had learnt of his treatment of Tahoora. Syd had not been that popular as it was.
If Lee hadn't dealt with him, Sean said that someone would have ended up pushing him out of an airlock or locking him in a storeroom to be found later. They all had to agree with Sean as they too had heard the opinions being expressed in the dining room.
The four officials all wrote up their reports. They concluded that Lee had reacted to a life and death situation and accidentally killed her attacker while defending herself and protecting Tahoora. As far as they were concerned, that was the end of it.
Lee also found that her friends had reacted positively. They all said it was a shame he had died, but not one of them condemned her or treated her any differently than before. They all treated the incident as one of those things that happen in life and moved on.
The fact that none of them had liked Syd or what he had done to Tahoora also helped with their attitude. While Lee felt bad that she had killed Syd, she was also relieved that he was no longer a threat to the women on the ship.
The Army team surprised Lee the most. They all hugged and kissed her for getting rid of the creep. Penny told her of how Syd had tried to pick her up, and Juanita and the guys wouldn't leave her or any of the other Army girls alone with him around.
Sean was probably the most amazing. He had simply kissed Lee and told her she was a bloody amazing woman and that he loved her.
He had gently held her before taking her to bed and making gentle love to her.
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The ship was now heading in-system.
There had been many meetings regarding Professor William Essco's confinement. However, a decision still hadn't been reached. Essco was incensed that Lee could kill his friend and she wasn't punished, while all he had done was make a little booze.
He wasn't happy when it was pointed out to him that if the alcohol had caught fire during the jump, it would have endangered the whole crew and not just the one person who was already doing the wrong thing.
However, the science contingent did decide to elect Professor Philip Goldsmith, an Archaeologist, as the new team leader for the Scientists. Philip was chosen mostly because the science team found that he was about the only person no one could find a reason to reject.
It did help that he was also well respected. Most of the crew considered him astute, a good judge of a situation and character, and fair in his judgements. They also thought his wife Ulani was a plus and that they made a good team.
Philip stood around 179cm (5'10") and Ulani about 2cm shorter. Both had dark blonde hair, trim figures and they hailed from Wales. The Goldsmiths were in their late thirties and childless.
It didn't hurt that they were a handsome, charismatic couple. They also elected to wear the jumpsuits assigned to the science division as their workwear, unlike many of the scientists who wore whatever they wanted.
Philip was a personable man who listened to others and didn't tend to belittle them. Those closest to him all agreed that he was a decisive man, once presented with the facts. He did like to ferret out the facts before making a decision and didn't jump to conclusions.
The Captain considered the Goldsmiths team players. He and Philip had a running chess game in the dome lounge area that no one was game to touch. As far as Lee and Sean were concerned, Miss Piggy liked the Goldsmiths, so that was good enough.
Sandra and Kyle had swapped rooms a couple of weeks before, and it hadn't surprised anyone. Kyle being shacked up with his girlfriend, Debora Smith, delighted Lee. She was also sure that at least half the crew had switched rooms at least once, if not twice, so far.
Dave Rose, their favourite Vet and good friend, and Sandra had become inseparable as well. Lee often heard Sandra's voice coming from the animal area. Sandra was an animal lover and enjoyed working with Dave and the animals, when not doing her other work.
Lee was amused that Dave and Sandra loved to discuss/argue good-naturedly, the most entertaining topics. They spent one evening discussing the effects on the environment caused by carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide that was emitted by the chickens, pigs and goats.
On the ship, they had special circulating vents that sucked the air out of the animal hold and directed it back to the recycler where the gases were easily broken back into carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, remixed as normal air and then released back in the ship.
Everyone had an opinion on the topic of flatulence. Much vulgarity and many jokes were told as the discussion ranged from the scientific to the ridiculous. It had ended up a lively and amusing evening.
It had left the friends in a very good mood afterwards.
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Chapter 2
~~ February - Week 7 ~~
Towards the end of the week, an interesting development occurred for Sean and Lee.
They had been in Sean's room, recovering from their most recent bout of lovemaking when Sean asked, "Hey, Lee?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Hmm, what do you think of moving in with me?" Sean asked her tentatively.
"Do I get to read your books?" she countered.
"Of course, you can read them any time you wish," he immediately answered.
"While not opposed, the problem is Miss Piggy," Lee reminded him.
Sean looked at the pig. She was in her favourite spot under the desk. She was not quite so small anymore, as she was nearly five months old. They had come back to his room after being in the observatory lounge, so Miss Piggy was with them.
Getting the pig reassigned back to the cargo hold would solve the issue. However, Sean knew that wasn't a solution that Lee or the pig would agree to. Lee had become attached to the pig, and the pig was obviously tied to her.
Plus, he liked the damn pig himself. He had always had a dog when he was a kid. Dave had said pigs were just as smart as if not smarter than dogs. They could be good company and lots of fun, as Sean had found Miss Piggy was.
There was also the fact that Miss Piggy appeared to have adopted him as well. He was the only other person, other than Kyle and Lee, that the pig obeyed without question.
"Crap," Sean said.
"Exactly," said Lee giggling. "She can't get back to the cargo hold to do her business from here. It is one thing to get there from my current room, but from here, she would have to navigate the halls and the lifts."
"And while she is smart, I think her physical limitations like reaching the lift buttons, would be difficult for her to overcome."
Lee smiled at Sean and kissed him for good measure.
"The problem is," she continued. "I don't think that moving to my place is an option. The room is too small for the three of us, and we can't put a double bed in that room because it's not as wide as the other bunk rooms are for some reason."
Sean nodded in full agreement with her assessment as thing stood. "Hmm, we will have to think about it some more."
Lee very much liked the idea of moving in with Sean, but she just couldn't see an option that worked. Sean suddenly gave a big yawn, and Lee realised it was time to go to work. She hugged Sean and gave him a long, searing kiss.
"You don't need to see me home. I have my guard pig tonight, and you look beat. It must be all those meetings you've been to this week. Go to sleep, and I will see you later."
As much as Sean wanted to argue, he could see the sense of her argument. "You're sure?" he asked.
"Silly, bloody man," she said and kissed him again.
She whistled up the pig, and they headed out the door.
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Lee and Miss Piggy went to walk through the diner.
Because she was checking on where Miss Piggy was, Lee almost ran into Rodger. She stopped and looked at him. He was still a sad sight, yet she felt no remorse for the injuries she had inflicted upon him.
"Happy, bitch?" Rodger snarled through his wired-together teeth.
Lee stepped into his personal space.
She smiled coldly and with malice said, "Be thankful that you are still alive arsehole. I didn't have to leave you with your life. The other two numpties weren't as lucky as you were."
"Ask Kyle about what happened, the last time someone tried to rape me. The first one choked to death on his own cock, after I ripped it off and shoved it down his throat. And, you know what happened to Syd."
Rodger blanched and shivered in dread. She had taken him down so fast that he barely had time to register what she was doing. He still couldn't believe how fast Lee had moved.
It wasn't until he heard the stories about her being a Jujitsu expert that he understood. Then what she did to Syd, one punch to the chest. That made him shudder.
He knew in his heart that she could have easily done the same to him. He only had to try and move his jaw to be reminded of her hitting power. He dropped his eyes and shuffled off, as quickly as his damaged genitals would allow him.
His mind worked furiously. He could only surmise that his arsehole uncle, who had paid him to take care of her, must not have known about her background.
He was fucked, if he was going near her again, not physically anyway. He would have to think of a covert way to get rid of her. So far, his ideas hadn't panned out. She was one tricky bitch.
Lee watched him go. She still didn't trust Rodger. He might be cowed at that moment, but she was sure that he had another agenda. The emails had indicated he wanted to make her his, but that was only part of the shit he had spouted.
She would still keep an eye on him.
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When Lee got to her room, she found the door to the animal hold was open.
Miss Piggy headed straight in, and Lee followed. Just inside the entrance to her right was a set of sinks, and Lee found Dave washing his hands.
"You're down here late, Dave," she commented.
"Miss Piggy just got some new cousins, six girls and four boys," he said happily.
"So, lots of pork for us to eat," said Lee.
Dave looked at her with disbelief. "And when was the last time you ate pork?" he inquired.
Lee looked sheepish and sighed, "I used to love pork too, especially bacon."
Dave had to laugh, "Don't worry too much about it. Your head will reconcile with your stomach eventually. So how are you finding living with a pig of a roommate?"
"Ha, ha, Dave, Miss Piggy is a sweetie. She hasn't even had one accident in the room. She also seems to anticipate where I am in relation to her, so I haven't tripped over her even once. She loves showers and my strawberry shampoo, so she doesn't smell bad either," Lee informed him.
"The room must be a bit cramped with her in it, now that she is getting bigger?" Dave asked.
"It can be a bit tight when Sean is there too. There is more room at Sean's, but Miss Piggy can't get to the hold to do her business. So, it's a bit of a pain," Lee sighed.
"You know you can remove that wall if you need more room," Dave informed her off-handedly as he pulled a paper towel to dry his hand.
"What?" Lee squawked in surprise.
Dave gestured for Lee to follow him as he wiped his hands on the paper towel. He opened the door to a small storeroom that backed onto Lee's room. They went over to another door in the side wall.
Dave showed her another room that was about 5m wide and 4m deep. It was about the size of most of the small double cabins. The king-sized bed and its headboard and side tables took up most of the width beside the door, as they were against the wall beside them.
A bare steel wall and boxes jammed the base of the bed in so you couldn't move it. The boxes of odd stuff had been dumped in the spare spaces around the bed and between the bed and the door. Even Dave wasn't sure what was in half the boxes. He told Lee that he'd need to go through them at some stage.
Dave informed Lee, "The reason the room you are in is supposed to be assigned to the Vet is that it has this back entrance to the animal hold. When Robby got married, Tina didn't want to be stuck near the animals."
"Robby had gotten permission to use one of the storerooms and to design this room for her, but then she refused to be down here. Tina is a very sociable woman, and she demanded a double-bed room up with the other married people."
"The contractor couldn't be bothered unbolting the bed, so he just slapped up the wall your bed is hung on. The new room was to look like the other double bunkrooms. I was then assigned to be in here, but then you replaced Armid."
"That meant there was a mixed-gender bunkroom. The prudes didn't like that, even though it would happen with so many single people aboard. So, you were shifted in here, as the odd female out, so to speak."
"Apparently, you hadn't indicated a preference on whom to share a room with, so they had assumed you wanted to be alone. And your room is tight for two people even though it had the two bunks put in it."
"Wow! I had wondered why I had been shifted down here," Lee said as she looked at the lovely big bed and could easily see her and Sean in it. She couldn't believe all this space had been let go to waste.
"Do I have to get permission from the Captain to get the wall removed?"
"Nope. On the plans, this is part of your room. To my knowledge, the fake wall was never drawn in. No one can kick up a stink if you have a bigger room. Actually, with the wall removed, this is the biggest cabin on this boat because you require access to the extra door."
"See the panels that make up that wall, they are cupboards. The other third is in your cabin, but you can't open them, because of the fake wall and your other cupboard blocks access. It's a bloody big cupboard space going to waste too."
"How do you know so much about this room?" Lee asked.
"This was actually my room for about three weeks when I was first settling in the animals. The contractor told me about the alterations he was told to put in. They shifted me down the hall while they made the alterations for you," explained Dave.
"Damn, and I was bitching about being shifted just once," smiled Lee. "Dave, I think you may have solved Sean's and my living arrangements."
"You gunna shack up with him?" he inquired with a grin.
Lee looked around the other half of her room, "Yeah, I think I am."
"Good," said Dave. "Miss Piggy has already adopted him as Daddy, so she will be happy too."
Lee kissed Dave on the cheek, "Thanks, Dave, I knew it was a smart idea to make friends with you."
Dave chuckled as he liked being her friend too.
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Chapter 3
~~ February - Week 7 ~~
Lee hurried off to get ready for work.
She turned up to the team meeting to find out the plans for their evening's entertainment. The news about her room was still fresh on her mind, so she told Jim and Terry and her team about the fake wall and that she would have to look into getting it removed.
Lee sorted through the jobs, assigned them to the appropriate people, and the crew went on with other business. Lee found that she didn't have a lot on now that she had finally gotten all of her spare PLC cards fixed.
She planned to get the last of the maintenance and cleaning robots fixed and do the monthly services. They were a bit behind and did need doing. It was amazing how much the crew depended on them.
Lee also had a couple of other fiddly jobs that Mik the afternoon shift electrician, had left for her to do. Mik hated fixing anything with complicated electronic controls. So, she spent most of the shift in the workshop.
She thought it strange when Terry or Jim didn't turn up for smoko. She stopped worrying when Jim commed that the boys were a bit busy helping Anita with a messy job and would catch up with her later.
08:00 hours came around faster than Lee expected, and she headed off to bed once the team had checked in and checked out for the night. When she entered her cabin, she stood stock-still inside the door. Her jaw dropped.
It was not the same room as she had left it eight hours before. The wall was gone, and a new brown and cream speckled carpet covered the entire floor. The bottom panel on the walls was a soothing pale green, with the top half egg-shell white.
The queen-sized bed was now on the back wall of the room and in the left corner, with the side tables and lamps set up on each side. A grav-net holder suitable for the bed was attached over the bedhead.
Miss Piggy's bed was in an alcove in the other back corner with the back door between it and Lee's new bed. Lee could see that the sliding cupboard door that had been over that space had been removed for her. The shelves in the top half of the space now had two narrow cupboard doors protecting them.
The back door opened into the room like a standard door. It now supported a doggy, eh, piggy flap. Miss Piggy could now come and go through that door to the hold at her leisure.
Lee smiled when she realised that if the door were open, it would block Miss Piggy's bed, but the Piggy door still let her get in and out of it. When Lee checked the empty storeroom, she noticed it had a simple sensor to open the other door into it.
The pig simply had to walk up to the door, and it opened for her. Lee could also lock and bolt her new back door. No one could enter unannounced from that direction unless trying to squeeze through the piggy-flap.
Back in her room, she tried the cupboards that Dave had told her existed. She found the shelved spaces, clothes-rails and sets of drawers provided a heap of storage space. The new mirror-panelled sliding doors were also great and made the bedroom look huge.
In the last section nearest her bathroom door, she discovered that a kitchenette had been set up in it. It was evident that the kitchenette had been there all along, just hidden from her by the old wall and her old clothes cupboard that was now missing.
On the left, a nice sized fridge was under the pale green benchtop, and it even had an ice dispenser on it. Beside the fridge was a small sink with a side dish drainer in the corner. It had the standard hot/cold water tap and a second two-levered spigot.
In front, and under the drainer, was a drawer that held cutlery. When Lee looked inside the white cupboards under the sink, she found the instant hot-and-cold filtered-water dispenser had been installed. Lee smiled at seeing the cleaning products on the bottom shelf.
Above the fridge, A combo-oven was attached to the top shelves' bottom, and it left room on the benchtop for her toaster and a cappuccino coffee maker. The top cupboards had a set of dishes, cups and glasses on one side, and the other side was her pantry.
She noticed that someone had added a container of her favourite coffee, a box of tea bags and a container of raw sugar in her pantry. They had also put some fresh goats' milk and some soft drinks in the fridge for her.
Lee immediately made a cuppa coffee. She was one of those weird people who found caffeine actually had the opposite effect on her to most people. She used it to de-stress and wind down before bed.
In front of her bed was a three-person dark turquoise, crushed velvet sofa. It had white, wooden arms, and three silk-covered cushions. In front of it was a sturdy, white, wood-framed coffee table with a smoky-green glass top.
Against the wall with her front door in it, an extended desktop had the same speckled green top as the bench in her kitchenette and the one in her bathroom. The desk could be latched up to make more room. Down, it could also act as a dinner table.
The two wheelie chairs under it could be turned to face the sofa if she had guests. The boys had even found a huge 2D/3D monitor to put on the wall, so vids could be watched in comfort from the sofa or even the bed.
The room was bloody awesome as far as Lee was concerned. The vase on the coffee table had a spray of orchids in it. Lee then spied a note pinned to the vase. It simply read, "It was the least we could do, your loving crew. XXX + OOO."
Lee felt tears trickle down her face. She was going to kill her crew for making her cry. Lee wasn't used to people doing nice things for her, and the changes to her room were beyond nice, they were fantastic.
Lee took her coffee, put it on her new coffee table and flopped down to enjoy lounging on her new sofa. She heard a 'click-clack' and turned to the noise to see her pig wandered in.
Miss Piggy wagged her tail excitedly and proceeded to climb up on the low sofa with Lee for a pat and a cuddle. Lee decided that since jumping wasn't such a hair-raising experience anymore, Miss Piggy could go back to her own bed.
Plus, Lee really wasn't really sure that Sean would enjoy having a pig in the bed with them, once he moved in. Piggy did tend to be a bed hog. At least she didn't stink since she got shampooed regularly.
Lee then wondered if Sean would mind moving in with her, rather than the other way around. Some guys can be weird about the status-quo of who moved in with whom. She didn't think Miss Piggy was an issue.
'Oh well, I'll find out tonight,' she thought as she reluctantly got up, then went and rinsed out her coffee cup. Lee grinned at the sheer luxury of having her own kitchenette.
Lee didn't understand why the contractor had blocked off the built-in cupboards with the ugly grey-steel clothes cupboard that he had put in front of them. To her, it seemed both petty and wasteful.
She reasoned that if he had turned the bed around in the other space and put the wall back a bit more, she would have had both the kitchenette and a full-length cupboard; that would have been heaps of space and left her more room in her cabin.
She did question if he had been instructed to make the room as unappealing as possible? After all, he knew that she was to be in the room by herself. She knew she had been a last-minute and an unpopular addition by someone, but still, it was petty?
Lee turned on the new bedside lamp and turned down the freshly made bed. Heading to the bathroom, she then stripped off her clothes, tossed them into the hamper and went for a quick shower. Once dry, she headed to bed, turning off the lights as she went.
Miss Piggy took that to mean it was time for bed and happily got into her big new basket. Lee smiled at her miniature pig. 'She sure was one smart critter,' she thought as she crawled into her own, new and very comfortable bed.
Lee was asleep in less than a minute, and the smile was still on her face.
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Lee woke at 15:30 hours.
She stretched, yawned and looked around her new room again. 'Yes,' she thought, gleefully. 'I could definitely get used to this.'
Just then, the door slid open, and Sean walked in. "Lee when did you..." His voice trailed off as he stood stock-still several paces inside the door, just as she had, and he looked around.
"Well, fuck me, blind! Bloody hell, girl, when you're given a problem, you come up with the most amazing solutions. Buggar me dead, this is fucking awesome."
Sean turned, locked the door and then ripped off his boots. He had the jumpsuit off before he hit the bed. Fortunately, Lee had pulled back the top sheet in preparation for him.
Sean gathered Lee into his arms and proceeded to kiss her stupid. "You wonderful, amazing woman," he said between kisses.
Lee giggled, enjoying the attention, "You like it, huh?"
Sean rolled off her and sat up against the headboard. He gently pulled Lee up between his legs, with her back to his front. Looking around, he asked, "Buggar me, just how big is this room?"
"According to Dave, the half that was behind the fake wall was an extra 4m long," Lee replied happily.
Sean idly played with her breasts as he looked around. He had one tit in each hand. He was happily kneading them while occasionally flicking his thumbs across each very erect and firm nipple.
"Dave?" he questioned, wondering what he had to do with the new room.
"Interesting story. Apparently, Dave stayed in this room when he first came aboard. Robby and his wife Tina were supposed to move in here. She didn't want to be down here, so they went upstairs."
"The contractor had told him that he was to make it into a bunk-room. So, he stuck up the new wall and bunk beds," she explained while Sean kept playing with her tits.
"When did you see Dave?" he asked.
"Dave was down here delivering piglets when I came down to get ready for work last night, and we got talking." Lee then groaned as Sean pinched both nipples and pulled on them.
"So, when did the room get changed?" he was still perplexed by the sudden alterations.
"In my excitement, I happened to mention the conversation to my crew when I got to work. When I came home this morning, this is what I found. The bastards must have gotten Kyle or Sung to let them in."
"Look!" she said with glee as she pointed to the back door. "I even have a piggy door."
"Ah. That explains why the room let me in. That is what I was trying to ask you when I entered, and before I was totally flummoxed. I do love the piggy door," Sean said as he was laying little kisses down Lee's neck as she shivered beneath his attentions.
"It's gorgeous, isn't it?" Lee happily asked for his confirmation.
"I agree. Although some people might not be so happy with us having the biggest room." Sean's fingers were now playing below Lee's waist.
Suddenly the 'us' in his sentence penetrated Lee's lust-fogged brain. She twisted her head back to look at her lover.
"So, does this mean you want to move in with me, instead of the other way around?" she asked. It was something that had bothered her.
"In a bloody heart-beat, darling," he said. He squeezed the nipple he was still playing with and laid a soft kiss on her lips.
"I don't care what level we live on or whose room as long as I can be with you."
"Fuck-em," Lee said and settle back against Sean. "I don't give a shit if other people bitch about us being in here. If Robby and Tina were in here, nothing would be said. Plus, there will be three of us sharing this room."
"This is true, and due to the special needs of our child, it does make perfect sense," Sean added as she sped up his ministrations to Lee.
Lee giggled at his reference of Miss Piggy being 'their kid'.
"Hey!" she said. "As much as I'd hate to interrupt your play, look at this."
Lee wiggled off the bed. She went over to the wall and slid open one of the mirrored doors.
"Do you think there is enough room for your stuff in here?"
Sean was amazed by the storage space they had. He also loved the mirrored doors as he could watch Lee when they were on the bed together.
"More than enough," he agreed.
Lee smiled and slid open the last door. "And how is this for seriously cool?" She stepped aside to reveal the kitchenette.
"Well, buggar me, blind!" Sean responded. "This place is set up like a single room apartment. It has everything we need in it."
"I have to do one more thing before I come back," Lee said and ran into the bathroom.
Sean chuckled as he sat back in comfort.
------------------------------------------
Chapter 4
~~ February - Week 7 ~~
Lee was back a couple of minutes later.
She commented, "I had wondered why my bathroom was bigger than the ones in the other cabins on this level, now I know. Robby had apparently designed it for him and Tina. It seems we aren't the only ones who like shower sports."
She tossed a towel on the bottom of the bed and then crawled back onto the bed between Sean's knees. She looked down at what Sean had waiting in front of her face and decided she had some plans for it.
"And just what do you think you are doing, ma'am?" asked Sean. Reading her intentions, his heart and cock jumped in anticipation.
"Breakfast," Lee, replied nonchalantly. She then proceeded to lick offering from the base to the tip.
Sean's laugh at her answer soon turned to a very satisfied groan as Lee worked him over. After a while, Lee changed her attack. Sean let his hips slide down further and spread his knees to give her better access. He had no plans of interrupting Lee's breakfast at this point.
Lee placed her right hand beside his hip to balance herself while she proceeded to wolf down the lovely brown sausage she had chosen as her breakfast of choice. It was not long before Sean encouraged her to 'eat-up' all of her breakfast and lick the plate clean.
Sean was amazed that he was totally inside her mouth. He looked down as she buried her nose in his pubic hair. The erotic sight and the feelings Lee invoked had Sean approaching nirvana.
Lee was only the second woman he had known, who had been able to take him all. The other woman hadn't been his wife. Fuck his wife had been a bitch, she had refused to do oral with him, after the first time she tried.
He was amazed it had taken him so long to realise it. Sean decided Lee could suck him whenever, wherever she liked because it was bloody near as good as being in her hot little honeypot.
To his amazement and utter lust-filled joy, Lee sped up. Sean hung on for another couple of minutes, but her effective actions tipped him into the abyss of bliss.
"Shit, I have to come, Lee, I have to," he said as he grabbed her shoulders when she hit bottom.
He grunted until he had given her his all. Sean lay back trying to regain his breath as the relief of release flooded him.
Lee reluctantly pulled off and sat back. She grabbed Sean's hips and slid him down the bed until he was flat on the bed. Once happy, she proceeded to lie across his chest.
"Yummy, nothing like sausage and eggs for breakfast," she said.
Sean cracked up as he hugged Lee.
------
Once he had his breath back, Sean rolled Lee over.
Sean said, "I prefer muffins with strawberries and cream."
Lee soon found out what he meant when he slid down her to return the favour. "Yummy cream. I like licking the cream off the muffin first," he said, causing Lee to giggle.
Sean soon had Lee rocking her hips into his mouth with increasing intensity and 'oohing' appreciatively. Sean moved his upper body, so he was poised over her tits and sucked one into his mouth as his hand was busy elsewhere.
"Hmm, muffins topped with strawberries," he said before attaching himself to the other nipple.
Lee arched up at the combined sensations, and her hips rocked into his hand hard. Lee was soon panting, shouting and moaning out her pleasure as Sean worked her up to a fever pitch. He moved back down to finish the job. Lee stiffened and moaned.
"Oh fuck, that's so good," as she came on his hand and into his mouth.
Sean kept thrusting his fingers into Lee as she quaked and shivered. Once she was calmer, he removed his hand and wiped it on the towel as well as cleaning his face. He slipped over her and lay across her chest, supported on his arms.
"Yep, I love muffins and cream," he grinned at her.
Lee giggled with the occasional hic-cough at the absurdity of their sex talk.
Sean decided to push his luck with the analogies, "On second thoughts, 'pig in a blanket' is not bad either." He shifted his hips to Lee's delighted groan.
"Oh, yes," sighed Lee, "I like 'pig in a blanket' as much as 'sausage and eggs'." She then proceeded to match her hip movements to his.
Sean reflected on his newfound ability to revive so fast and be just as horny as the first time. Changing positions probably helped, but he suspected it was the object of his desire which had a lot to do with it.
Of the dozen or so sexual partners, he'd had before Lee, there were only one or two, not including his bitch wife, who had encouraged him to go for seconds.
Maybe he always had the ability, but it just hadn't been exploited before. Not that he was complaining. Making love to Lee was the highlight of his day. He would do her any way she wanted, and as often as she allowed him to do it.
He couldn't even remember being this horny at sixteen. Even then, he hadn't masturbated more than a couple of times a week. He didn't even lose his virginity until he was eighteen.
Sean's thoughts brought him back to what he was doing. He thrust harder and faster into Lee until she was panting, moaning and encouraging him to greater heights. He bent his head down and sucked in one of Lee's marvellous titties.
While one couldn't call her breasts huge, Sean was not complaining about the lovely 'C' cups that she had. As far as he was concerned, they were the prettiest titties he had ever had in his mouth and they more than filled even his big hands. They were firm and round, with the loveliest little cherries on top.
He loved Lee's titties and showed her how much, while he pumped in and out of her. He sucked her nipple harder as Lee bucked beneath him. He felt her draw up her legs, to let him pound into her as deep as he could go.
Lee moaned out her joy and stiffened as she came, triggering his own release, and he had to grunt at the amazing sensations she evoked in him. Sean looked at her face as he and she came down from their high. He loved this part, the feel of her shivering under and on him after their mutual release.
Sean was suddenly both glad and sad that she had been tagged. The thought of planting his child in her was powerful. He had always wanted kids, and the idea of Lee carrying his child caused his heart to beat faster.
Unfortunately, they were possibly out here, in a different solar system, for at least two years. Sean wondered how soon after they got back, he'd have to wait before he could get her pregnant.
After all, neither of them was getting any younger. Lee would be twenty-eight, and he thirty-two.
One day, he promised himself, one day.
------
Sean eventually rolled off Lee.
Lee snuggled into his shoulder, like a kitten with a full belly, looking for somewhere to snooze. He happily hugged her body to his.
Switching thoughts, he said to Lee, "Well, now I finally have you in the same room as me, I just need to get you onto the same shift. Then I can go to sleep with you in my arms and wake up with you."
Lee giggled, "Want, want, want. Bloody hell, you're hard to please."
Sean's shoulder shrugged under her, "I want you as my wife, barefoot and pregnant in our own home."
Lee sat up and looked down at him seriously, "Really! You want that?"
Sean looked at her gorgeous body with those delicious pert titties, and already he felt a stirring below.
'Fuckin' hell, I have become an insatiable bastard,' he thought.
"Lee, you are my soulmate. I intend to be in your life, from now until forever, in whatever position you feel comfortable having me. While my heart's desire is, that you marry me and become the mother of our children, I am willing to wait until you are ready," Sean said earnestly.
"Wow! Just fuckin' wow! You take my breath away, my hunky Lieutenant," she exclaimed. "Fuck me, you don't exactly screw around when you make up your mind, as to what you want, do you?"
Sean thought on that for a minute. "No. My mum always said I could be as stubborn as a mule once I'd made my mind up. Nothing short of a cricket bat to the back of my head changed it," he grinned at her.
"I'll have to remember that," she grinned back at him. She then turned serious, "I will think about what you have said. I know I don't have to come to a decision immediately. It will be a while before we can act on all of your desires."
"As much as it pains me, I can be patient," Sean replied solemnly.
"Thank you for your understanding, Sean. In the meantime, we can at least complete your first wish. How about we go eat before I fade away, and then we go pack your things and shift you in here?"
"Sounds like a plan, Stan," Sean grinned.
Lee looked at her minder and exclaimed, "It's nearly eighteen hundred hours, and you have just spent two hours screwing my brains out."
Sean bounded off the bed and said, "It was the least I could do, and from memory, it wasn't exactly one-sided." He grinned and helped her off the bed.
"Come, my lush little flower, let's go wash those petals," he said as he slapped her gently on the arse, before heading for the shower.
Lee groaned but followed him, "Fuck, you spout some seriously bad shit, sometimes." To which Sean just laughed and then got the shower going for them.
Finally, they headed up for dinner but not until Sean had his wicked way with her again.
------------------------------------------
Chapter 5
~~ February - Week 7 ~~
Lee was beginning to think that she had teamed up with a mechanoid soldier.
Sean always seemed ready to make love to her at the drop of a hat. Not that she was going to complain in case he stopped. She'd never had a partner like him.
Sean sauntered along, holding her hand as they made their way to the bain-maries to select their dinner. Lee smiled at him as he helped her choose her meal. They both chose the Lasagna with plenty of the leafy salad that was covered in olives and feta cheese.
'That's another thing,' she thought. 'For a big tough soldier, he is very casual, and he had no qualms about kissing me, putting his arm around me or holding my hand in public.'
Lee wondered if it was his way to make sure every other male in the vicinity knew she was with him and under his protection.
'Yes,' she decided. 'He definitely had a bit of a he-man kink.' Lee glanced at him and decided that Sean wasn't overbearing with it, so she could live with it.
'Actually, it is kinda cute, even if redundant,' she chuckled to herself. As everyone knew, she was more than capable of looking after herself.
They sat down at what had become their table. Once comfortable, Lee pinned Terry and Jim with her eyes, "Okay, so which of you two numpties, was the smartarse that decided to rip apart my room, huh?"
She looked at the two stunned faces and tried to keep a straight face, "You could have knocked me down with a friggin' feather. My lumpy bed – gone! My ugly rag rug – gone! My art-deco metal floor - gone and what do I find instead?"
She continued the rant even though she could see the grins beginning to form on her friends' faces, "I find a bloody great bed, a bloody carpet that actually goes from corner to corner. And, a friggin' kitchenette! For fuck's sake! And, horror, of all horrors, a bloody piggy door!"
She threw her hands up as if in exasperation.
By now, the table was in hysterics, and Lee ended up giggling as bad as everyone else was. She got back up, went and kissed both Jim and Terry on their cheeks, to their delighted embarrassment.
"Bastards," she said. "I damn near had a coronary when I walked into my room. Mind you, I think the look on Sean's face was even better."
"So, you really hated it?" asked Terry tongue in cheek, looking between Lee and Sean.
"Every last item," she said and laughed. "Where the bloody hell did you find the sofa?"
"It was in a storeroom," said Jim happily.
"Is it a white wood and covered in a dark turquoise crushed velvet?" Debora asked. There were nods all around, and Lee noted the other conspirators who were involved, being her whole damn crew.
Debora grinned a big Cheshire cat grin. "That's Essco's," she said. "The idiot had it in his cabin, but it took up too much space, so he had it put in the hold."
Lee shrugged, "His loss, our gain."
She also walked around the table to Dave. She kissed his cheek too, "Thank you, my friend, for solving my problem."
She went back to her seat to eat her dinner. Her friends happily told her of the fun and games of rearranging her room to lots of giggles and guffs. Sean also thanked them and told the guys he was impressed with and most appreciative of, their handy work.
Jim high-fived Terry as they were just glad, they were able to do something for Lee for a change.
------
Earlier that day the crews were informed that there would be a meeting at dinner.
This meeting was to discuss what the scientists had found during the last week while the ship had been decelerating. Lee and her crowd were still sitting at their usual table, happily finishing dinner when the meeting started.
The room's attention was directed at the small stage at the back end of the dining hall when everyone heard a wooden: Bang…, bang…, bang….
On the occasional Friday or Saturday night, a couple of the guys would use the stage to play some music for them to dance to. Sporadically they would have a 'Jokes and Poems' night or a Karaoke night depending on the whims of the people present.
"Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention, please?" said the Captain. He waited for the chatter to die down. "As you all know, our next jump is dependent on what the astronomers have found. We have some pictures for you to see."
Nick waited for the cheers and 'oohs' to die down. "Dr Ezekiel Cheboi or Eze as most of us call him will explain their significance. You can access them from the sub-net under the heading of Delta Pavonis Planets."
The Captain moved to the side and pinned the microphone clip to Eze, before returning to his chair. While Eze fiddled to bring up the first slide, you could hear people shifting chairs so they could see the big window-shaped wall-screens better.
The first picture showed a rendition of the Delta Pavonis solar system laid out in a line graph. It showed the planets' approximate sizes in relation to each other and their relative distances scaled in AU (astronomical units) from Delta.
What was most interesting about the chart was the two planets plotted side by side at the same distance, and they were roughly positioned at a similar range as Earth was from her sun.
Eze turned to the crowd, smiled and then started. "Hi, everyone. This is what we have determined so far."
He turned and pointed his laser pointer at the screen. "Delta has six planetoids and an asteroid belt between the fourth and fifth planetary orbits."
"In order, the planets have been named: Baal, Futura, Tychy, Apollo, Kylee and Horus. I will give a brief run-down of what we know of each starting with the system's sun, Delta. I won't give exact sizes and distances as I don't want to bore those not interested in the minute details. I'll try to stick to the basics."
"Delta is comparable to our own sun in that it has a similar chemical make-up and is a G-V type star. It is slightly larger and a little brighter than Sol. The core is denser, but she is also older. However, we believe she is good for a few billion years yet," he grinned.
Eze pointed to the first planet. "Baal is a hot rock, very similar to our Venus in make-up. Although he is larger and generally hotter. He's closer to Delta than Venus is to our sun at about 0.61AU."
That's about halfway between where Mercury and Venus orbit at home. If there was a planet in the equivalent Mercury orbit, it's now missing or more likely it never formed."
"Now we come to an interesting phenomenon of the twin planets. Futura and Tychy are in the magic zone of possible carbon life. They both, in fact, rotate in exactly the same orbit, but they are one hundred and eighty degrees apart."
This caused a lot of excited chatter in the room, and Eze grinned as he waited until everyone settled down. He then continued his spiel and pointed to the top planet.
"Tychy is the smaller of the two, by roughly two percent of Earth's diameter. Futura is larger, but again, not by that much comparatively, only about three percent bigger than Earth. Both planets orbit a touch further out than Earth to Sol, but that's a good thing."
"Tychy has a moon, but it is about 80 percent of the size of Luna, and it orbits a little closer. We estimate that if Tychy does have oceans, the moon would cause tidal effects like our moon but, perhaps not as severe. We doubt it will be a surfer's mecca."
"Now Futura has two moons. The little moon is about thirty percent of Luna's mass, and it orbits just a bit closer and in a more elliptical path."
"It is fascinating because it has magnetic poles that oppose both the planet and the bigger moon. We believe it acts like a buffer that keeps the bigger moon far enough away from the planet so that it doesn't strip the atmosphere from it."
"The larger moon is roughly twenty-five percent wider than Luna. While it orbits further out, it has more density and exhibits a greater gravitational force than Luna. This is the planet the surfers will love if it has oceans like we think it does."
He had to smile as several people chuckled. He then turned back to the screen.
"These two planets spin a little slower than Earth, accounting for about a twenty-five-hour day. We estimate that their year is approximately three hundred and sixty plus a bit days, using Futura's rotation as a day."
"With Delta's stats, this means the probability of temperate and tropical zones very similar to Earth's on both planets is very high. I'll come back to these little gems a little later."
Ignoring the boos and discontent, he continued. "You will notice that Delta's Mars equivalent is also missing, and there is some speculation that either Tychy or Futura was in that orbit originally."
"The Veselovsky Asteroid belt is a little closer than Jupiter is for us at around 5AU from Delta. An interesting thing about the belt is that it has two main rings. The closer ring is more uniform and similar to our own."
"The outer ring has a greater collection of large asteroids in four main areas, rather than them being evenly spaced throughout the zone and a quarter of that ring is almost empty. Some of us believe they are leftovers of one of the planets exploding."
"The next planet is Apollo. He is a gas giant, which is in about the same orbit as our Saturn at about 10AU. It has a similar make-up but is only about eight times that of Earth's diameter, whereas Saturn is closer to nine times."
"It has twenty-four moons that we have identified so far. It does have an asteroid ring but not nearly as significant or as pretty as our Saturn's as we suspect that it has less ice and more rock."
"Kylee is Delta's Uranus equivalent. It is an interesting planet as it has characteristics of both ice and gas giants. It is of similar size to Uranus, but we believe it is much denser under its mantle and has more iron in the outer core."
"This is because Kylee emits a fluctuating magnetic field, which can be much stronger than Uranus's, due to its different composition. She orbits closer to Delta at approximately 16UA and has seven small moons that we have identified so far."
"The last planet, Horus, is an ice giant. It is about ten percent smaller than Kylee but much closer to Delta than Neptune is to our own sun at about 26AU. Horus has sixteen moons that we have been able to identify so far, and one of them is nearly as big as Baal."
"If there are any other planets, we haven't located them yet. We have identified the planets all seem to lie within 26AU from Delta, making it a relatively small system."
There was a general buzz around the room about Futura and Tychy. Most of the crew not caring that much about the other planets as the primary objective was to find a world that they could settle.
Eze cleared his throat, "As most of you are more interested in Futura and Tychy than the other planets I'll tell you what I can. We will know more in a few days as we have only spent a week looking at them this closely and we still have some distance to go."
"From what we can tell, the consensus is that they both have oceans and possibly breathable atmospheres."
This statement caused an increase in chatter around the room.
------------------------------------------------
Chapter 6
~~ February - Week 7 ~~
Eze waved his hands to quieten the room down.
"Professor Veselovsky and Dr Victor Potter and our two atmospheric physicists, Rai Jindal and Sandra Wills believe that Tychy has a thinner atmosphere than Futura's."
"Our thematic sensors indicate it is hotter at its equator, but other zones between the tropics and towards the poles are human-compatible. It appears to be about thirty percent landmass, and the rest is sea, making Tychy very similar to Earth."
"Tychy has four major continents in the north and three in the south, and each pole has somewhat smaller ice caps than Earth. There is a smaller crescent-shaped continent, which splits across the equator."
"Tychy has many islands, both large and small scattered across its surface. It has quite a few islands that are similar in size or larger than Greenland on both sides of the equator. Some of them are volcanic but don't seem to be particularly active at the moment."
"Some of my esteemed colleagues have put forth that Tychy had previously been in the fifth orbital position. That the planet that is now the second ring of the asteroid belt caused Tychy's orbit to shift when it blew up."
"They also believe the small moon was a chunk of the other planet pulled into its orbit. While a nice hypothesis at this point, it can't be proven."
He waited for them to settle again and continued, "Futura has the thicker atmosphere, and we think it has about five percent more landmass above sea level. Sandra Wills believes that there is a high possibility of active volcanic action on Futura."
"This is due to what she believes are large dust plumes in the atmosphere. Because Futura has two moons, the supposition is that Futura has the more severe weather and tidal patterns of the two worlds. So far, we don't think it's any worse than Earth's was in the past."
"While harder to see from here, we believe Futura has two larger polar continents with larger ice caps. The northern continent could be four landmasses, but the icecap joins them all together, and the depth of ice is making it hard to determine what land is beneath it from this distance."
"Futura also has two other, smaller continents and many islands of various sizes, some of them were about twice as large as the Island of New Guinea. On both planets, the colouration on land also suggests chlorophyll plant life, but we can't confirm this until we get there."
"We can't confirm that the atmospheres are breathable, the seas swimmable or that there is fresh water that we can drink. They could both be toxic to us. So now you know about as much as I do."
Eze waited a couple of minutes for the hubbub to settle down. He then said, "The other point of this meeting is that we have decided to jump in again. In about two days we will jump to approximately 60AU from Delta."
"We will also decrease our speeds further, so we can start doing the micro-jumps in about two or three days. Then we will slow into orbital velocities. The main thing we want to know is, is this is going to inconvenience anyone we haven't yet asked?"
A voice from the crowd said, "Eze you do as many damn jumps, whenever you want now, thanks to Lee and Kyle."
To which everyone laughed and agreed. Many people looked at Lee and Kyle and nodded. It made Lee feel a little self-conscious. Sean just held her hand and squeezed it.
Sean knew Lee had felt a little vulnerable to public opinion since the incident with Syd. He didn't think people being reminded that she was the reason the rest of them were all still alive would hurt.
Some general questions were asked, but not much new information became known. The general discussions reverted to speculation about the habitability of Tychy and Futura.
The dinner meeting was over.
-----
Sean and Lee went to collect Sean's stuff.
Kyle and Debora volunteered to help. André even gave them a couple of boxes for the books. While Lee, Kyle and Debora packed, Sean said he had better have a quick word with the Captain, telling him of the move.
As Sean went to leave, Kyle followed him out the door. Kyle came back several minutes later. Lee and Debora were packing and discussing Sean's books, so they didn't see Kyle leave or come back.
As they had been allowed to bring very little stuff, it didn't take very long to pack Sean's possessions. Sean got back and said, "Okay, everyone, it's all set up."
Sean did a quick walk around to make sure they hadn't missed anything. He even checked behind the bed and then grabbed the box allocated to him. When they got to Lee's room, Debora and Kyle were both amazed at the size of it and its amenities.
Lee proudly showed them the piggy door. Miss Piggy soon showed them that she knew how to use it, by coming in to see what all the fuss was about. She loved having visitors and was more than happy to get some extra pats.
They decided to move both Lee's and Sean's books into the new central cupboard. They put Sean's knick-knacks, where Lee's books had been. Sean elected to have the end cupboard near Miss Piggy's bed for his clothes. Lee's stayed in the closet next to the kitchenette where Anita had shifted them.
In almost less time it took to pack Sean, they had unpacked his possessions. Since the job was done, Lee offered coffee, and the four friends sat down to enjoy some quality time together.
Kyle received a com and excused himself to go to the bathroom. He came out with a big grin on his face and gave Sean the thumbs up.
"Damn shame to see a double room go to waste now yours is empty, Sean," Kyle said as he sat back on his wheelie chair and sipped his coffee.
"Oh, I bet there will be a fight over it," said Debora excitedly. "I know of at least ten couples who are making do with single beds."
"Not to mention a couple of highflyers, who thought they should have got a bigger room in the first place," chipped in Kyle.
"Oh yeah! Like Dr Tammy Bell. She constantly bitches about having to share a room. Mostly because Briana and Victor spend half the night fucking underneath her and don't ask her to join in. Gosh if she wasn't such a bitch they probably would," giggled Debora.
Lee had to smile. If you wanted the goss' on anyone or anything you just asked Debora, Sandra or Natali Imani. They didn't have a full media contingent aboard due to the length of the trip. Natali Imani was in charge of recording the journey for posterity and would send back regular news items.
"Actually, I heard a rumour that the only way you could get in a double room if it became spare was if you were engaged," contributed Sean.
"Buggar, does that mean we could get kicked out of here?" inquired a worried Lee.
"No, it was your room to start with, so it is still your room. That's why it was okay for you to move in with me upstairs," Sean reassured her.
"Thank fuck for that," Lee said. "Because I'll kick up a real stink if they try shifting us now."
"Damn," said Kyle with a big sigh. "That doesn't give me much hope then, does it? Who would be foolish enough to marry a reprobate like me?"
After a pregnant pause, Sean said, "But I thought you had turned over a new leaf, Kyle?"
"Nothing worse than a reformed sinner, no one ever believes you will stay true," Kyle said sadly. "Take Debora here, I know she wants me for my body, but I doubt she truly believes my heart is hers," said Kyle.
Debora didn't speak but looked at Kyle horrified. 'What a horrible thing for him to say,' she thought. 'I'd have him in a heart-beat if I knew he could love me as myself.'
"I've told her I love her at least a dozen times, but she just smiles at me and says, 'Yes, dear'. I mean, what has a bloke got to do, get down on bent knee or something?"
Kyle proceeded to get down on his knees in front of Debora and took her hands into his. Debora looked at him, not fully comprehending what he planned to do because she had never believed he would do it.
Kyle looked up at her uncertain face. He hoped like fuck what he was about to do, worked out as he hoped it would.
"Debora Anne Smith, when I first met you, I thought, 'What a hot babe', and 'She has the most awesome knockers'." He smiled at her because she knew this was true and went on.
"Then I got to talk to you and spend time with you. I found you had an awesome personality to go with those knockers, and I was in lust. What can I say, I'm a boob lover?"
Everyone laughed. Lee, in particular, knew that on a new ship, Kyle always wooed the chick with the biggest boobs he could find. She often wondered if it was because he hadn't been breastfed as a baby.
Kyle looked at Lee and then looked back at Debora. "The fact that Lee approves of you also put you high in my esteem. My little sister happens to be a good judge of character, except for me."
"Why the hell she has put up with all my shit over the last couple of years, I can only put down to a sister's tolerance." He knew Debora wouldn't be happy with him bringing Lee into this, but she had to understand, or it was all for nothing.
"The other week, Lee reamed me out over you. She pretty much told me to man-up or move on. I know you overheard part of the conversation. But I don't think you fully understood the significance of it."
"As you know Debora, I too have had some bad relationships. I had lost my ability to trust my heart. Lee, in that direct, honest, thump between the eyes way she has, taught me to trust again."
"If she could love me even if it's more like a brother, then hopefully someone else can love me for me too." He took in a big breath and squeezed Debora's hands.
"At first, when she started hanging out with the Lieutenant, I was very jealous. Yet I became more possessive and demanding of you Debora, which didn't make any sense to me."
"For a guy who is supposed to be crazy smart, when it comes to love, I'm a complete dunce. I was pretty confused, and that's when I spoke to Sean about my feelings with regards to you and Lee."
He looked at the surprised faces of Debora and Lee. "Yeah, contrary to popular belief, guys will talk about this shit. We just don't do it like you ladies do."
"So anyway, my buddy Sean, here," and he nodded at Sean who returned the nod. "He asked me some questions and then made me think hard about the answers."
"We determined that I wasn't jealous because I wanted Lee for myself as my partner, it was because I didn't want to lose her friendship. I clung harder to you Debora, forsaking all others because the thought of losing you damn near ripped out my heart. This could only mean one thing."
He took another a deep breath and putting one of his hands into a pocket he pulled out a little square box and opened it. He then presented it to Debora.
"I love you, Debora Anne Smith. I can't contemplate not having you in my life, so will you marry me and be my wife?"
Debora looked at him in shock and denial, "You are asking me to marry you, just because you want a bigger bed?"
She looked at Lee and Sean to see if they also shared her disbelief in this guy. In Lee's face, she found disappointment, but it was directed at her, not Kyle. When she looked at Sean, she saw sadness, but it also was directed at her and not Kyle.
Debora looked back at Kyle. She watched the tears well in his eyes and saw the worst beaten dog look, she had ever witnessed. Her own heart broke when she realised that she had just shattered this wonderful man's heart and world.
All because she didn't trust and believe in Kyle's sincerity that he could love her, as broken as she was. Debra was shocked that she had caused this much unhappiness.
"Oh shit, shit, shit," she wailed. "I am so sorry, Kyle. That was the most horrible thing I have ever said to anyone." Tears streamed down her face, and she hic-coughed.
"How could you love me? I'm a horrible, horrible person and I don't deserve someone as wonderful as you. You couldn't possibly love me. I'm all broken and bad and..." Debora cried in earnest, sobbing into her hands.
Kyle was at a loss. He had offered her his heart, and she had stomped on it, not believing that he was sincere. All because she didn't think anyone could love her for herself.
'Man,' Kyle thought. 'Someone did a real number on Debora in the past.'
Kyle didn't know how to help her.
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Chapter 7
~~ February - Week 7 ~~
"Oh, for fuck's sake!" cried Lee.
"Have I gotta fix every darn thing?" she stood up, walked over to Debora and smacked her hard across one of the hands that Debora held to her face.
Debora looked up in shock at being hit, to see a very pissed-off Lee standing beside Kyle's kneeling body. Lee put one hand on her hip and shook a finger at Debora.
"Fuck, you can be a stupid, self-centred bitch at times, Debora. It must be the blonde hair, big-tit syndrome. It's time to grow up girl and bloody stop being sorry for yourself."
"So, you have had some shitty relationships. And some arsehole tried to convince you that you were only good enough to look at and fuck. If I ever find that arsehole, I will personally fuck his face with my fist for you," Lee growled.
Sean and Kyle exchanged a look, and both silently agreed, they wouldn't like to be the poor bastard, if Lee ever did get her hands on him.
"You think you have problems? Well look at this man," Lee said as she pointed at Kyle.
"For the last three years, I have had to watch my best friend jump from one rabbit hole to the next, while he desperately tried to find someone that he could trust with his heart."
"Who didn't just want him for his big bone and the good times he could give him or her. I can't tell you how many times I have had to pick him up as the stupid bitches walked away. I've had to convince him to keep looking because his love was out there."
"Then, he met you. I have finally seen him happy with his choice because he was ready to trust you with his heart. Fuck girl, if this man wasn't in love with you, then he isn't capable of love, and I know that is not true."
Lee fixed Debora with a hard look, "Debora, do you love Kyle? It's a straightforward question, and I want a straight answer."
Debora sniffed, nodded and said, "Yes."
"Good, next question. Do you want to be married to Kyle?"
Debora looked at Kyle and smiled for the first time, "Yes, very much so."
Lee then turned to Kyle, "Kyle, do you still want to marry Debora, ditzy moments and all?"
Kyle looked at Debora with hope in his eyes, "Yes, very much so, with all my heart."
"Then for fuck's sake, give her the ring," said an exasperated Lee.
Kyle took the ring from the box and put it on the hand that Debora offered to him and then just looked at her.
"Well, kiss the silly cow," Lee said. Kyle stood and pulled Debora into his body and kissed her soundly.
Lee clapped. "Yeah, couldn't happen to a nicer couple," she said. She stepped forward and kissed them both on their cheeks.
"Thank fuck, that's over," she then turned to Sean who had been trying so hard not to laugh at Lee's solution that he had his knuckle in his mouth.
"Sean, my darling dearest, can you do me a favour?"
"Yes, my love," Sean replied, still trying not to laugh.
"Could you escort these two crazed love-birds up to your old room? Hopefully, a night spent fucking in a decent bed will help them sort out their silly little issues."
"Kyle can reprogram the door tomorrow and if anyone has any objections to them being in that room, just tell them to come and talk to me about it," said Lee.
"Yes, my love," said Sean. Even he was not game to piss her off anymore. Plus, he agreed with her solution.
Lee's minder beeped twice. "As for you two, all I can say is love makes an arse out of all of us. Now, piss off the lot of you, I have to get ready for work."
Lee shooed them all out of the door.
------
Sean came back about ten minutes later.
He found Lee coming out of the shower wearing just a towel. She was using it to finish drying her long red curly hair. One thick curly strand of which was wrapped around one of her titties, framing it.
Sean walked up to Lee and took her in his arms. He then kissed her until she melted into his body.
"Well, my 'Red Lady of the Night' it looks like you have slain another dragon," he informed her.
Lee rocked out a laugh, "I couldn't believe that silly cow was capable of fucking it up like she did. For fuck's sake, she has been mooning after Kyle since the first night he screwed her."
"Oh well, it's their problem now," Lee concluded.
------
Sean had a question that he just had to ask.
"By the way, my love," Sean said with a curious and mildly jealous look. "How do you know Kyle has a big bone in his pocket?"
Lee laughed and turned in his arms and rubbed herself up against Sean's crotch, "The same way I learnt that you had one."
"What? You let Kyle rub up against you?" he said in indignation.
Lee turned and kissed Sean softly and rubbed his erection with long slow strokes.
"Sean, Kyle and I have known each other for well over three years. Kyle actively pursued me for about three months until he got the message that I wasn't interested in him that way."