Space Crisis

Chapter One

Every generation looks towards a nebulous “future” with hopes and dreams. Even the term “future” holds a certain kind of romantic undertone that strikes many in a particular way. The future is where things will be better, society will have figured itself out, politics and wars will be easy and smooth. Everything will be washed in a fresh coat of glimmering white paint. Depending on the era one was born in, the nebulous future looked very different.

In the early parts of the twentieth century the future showed the average citizen wearing ostentatious clothes and boarding air-cars and flying to work where electronics typewriters would generate their reports for them. Time marched on, and those air cars and typewriters became something different entirely.

The concept of a vehicle for transport was replaced by dreams of personal jetpacks to fly to the office where conveyor belts would courier you to your desk where you could write your reports in peace. Food was in pill form and swallowed for efficiency sake. Glass domes capped soaring towers and people looked to the stars, thinking that out there among the inky dark and the shimmering stars was humanity's future.

As the twenty-first century rolled into place, the stars were still in our eyes. It was slow at first, the crawl towards space, but humanity never stopped. Slowly, for certain, at times when short sighted politicians and the meddling wealth of billionaires yanked our heads down to earth, but it was always there, always a goal to leave this planet and see what was out there.

Future generations would never be quite sure what finally did it. Some would speculate that we, as a species, finally did it. Finally brought our planet to its knees and could only look upward as a means of escape. Others would claim that it was all a misunderstanding, yes things got bad but that's when we united, buried the hatchet, and started to fly. In reality, it was somewhere in the middle. Earth, as a planet, was drying up. Ages of abuse and uncaring had left it crippled and if we stayed then the whole ecosystem would collapse, and the human race with it.

The human race had done damage to the planet, and the ecology was harmed to the point that it would never recover to the state it was in before. But that isn’t how environments work, and as time marched forward, plants evolved. Soil that was toxic became the perfect home for new and changing plants. By then, though, humanity had realized what they had done and the race was on.

The mentality of “scatter” was on everyone’s mind. Get off of this planet as soon as we can, because time is officially up!

It wasn’t though. People fled the planet in droves, those with money first and then those who could realistically be of use for the future of mankind, and anyone without deep enough pockets were left behind. Which, as it turned out, wasn’t so bad.

Earth recovered, in time. It was hard, and harsh, but it happened. New flowers bloomed where others would have died. Life swelled and humanity continued onward as it always did. Other planets had opened up with the advent of new technologies. Near light speed travel was looming on the horizon, but until we got there, high performance engines were fitted to starships. Artificial intelligence grew and matured into an ever faithful companion rather than the harbinger of doomsday. The coat of white paint was there, dingey in places, and showing signs of wear and tear, but it was there.

New planets offered hope as well. New resources and minerals ripe for extraction and use. Their unearthly properties may very well hold the keys to a brighter future for everyone. Centuries passed along and the discovery of new resources was always the driving factor. There was and always would be, a need for more. Along with it, came the need for someone to do the work to harvest it.

The wealthy need not dirty their unworked hands with such labors. Their hands were trained only to flick dollar bills at those who had the sturdy constitution to do an honest day's work. The conundrum was that none of those kinds of people lived on the shining planet spanning cities of far flung planets. They lived on Earth, or Dorma, or Curtis3, or any number of other planets that the human race had begun to settle on.

The cycle was always the same. Astronomers would sight a planet that could sustain life, and probes were sent out to confirm those suspicions. Was there an atmosphere? Was the gravity earth like? How was the soil? If everything looked to be within the habitable zone, then expedition teams were sent to confirm what the data indicated.

Expeditions were the job of a lifetime, if you qualified to be on a team. It wasn’t as simple as passing a few job interviews and flashing a bright smile. The future was placed squarely on the shoulders of expedition teams. They needed to be strong, self reliant, smart, and resourceful. They needed to know what to look for, how to find it, how to recognize and analyze it. Even then, they would drop onto the planet with practically nothing and survive there until it could be either confirmed or denied that the planet was viable.

Teams were made up of a few dozen members, the best and the brightest, and then they were loaded into a ship and sent off. Leaving behind human civilization in favor of a planet where they would inevitably be at the bottom of the food chain.

It had worked though. So many planets were discovered and colonized by cells of humans, led by a handful of people who landed and conquered the land. Nature itself bent to the will and the hands of accomplished explorers. Once a planet was marked safe, then the industrial complex would arrive. Great ships loaded with machines and tools and experts. Cities were built and seemed to rise out of the ground like some undead thing clawing its way out of the ground. They were something wholly alien to the planet and they clung to the ground they were nestled on like a leech.

Once a human city was there, it was never going away. Then the drills came out and dug even deeper into the ground. Sapping the planet for resources and building more. Human’s were the ultimate self replicating organism on any planet.

Bleak though the practice seemed in a vacuum, it was how life happened. A flower's entire purpose is to grow, produce its fruit, and spread its seed far afield. Fruit looked bright and succulent so that animals would eat it and transport the seeds away, letting them grow in a new place where the parent plant wouldn’t be deprived of the resources. Likewise, viruses swept into the body, not with a mission to destroy the host, but rather to simply continue its own existence. The host was merely a vessel, chalked full of resources.

Human expansion was every bit as natural as the blooming flowers or the sailing virus, riding on a mote of fluid in the air.

Trent and Monica’s home on Curtis3 was in a state of elated chaos. There was a roil of joy and delight in the air. The kind of raw happiness that comes with a once in a lifetime event that will invariably change someone’s life, forever.

Trent’s hands were shaking as if he were chilled to his very core, but his body felt hot all at once. He had only read the first line of the letter from the Inter Galactic Coalition of Human Exploration. The Coalition, as it was more colloquially known, was the governing organization that had oversight into vetting and organizing a team of deep space explorers. When a new planet was found, The Coalition was the body that investigated and analyzed it.

They were the organization that Trent had served, faithfully, for ages. He had passed his preliminary examinations, performed well in his physical and mental evaluations, and with the final submission of his psychological evaluation, all he had been doing was waiting. Waiting for the test results, waiting for a planet to be discovered, waiting for his life to finally fly into the stars. He was waiting on his future, and here it was, in his hands.

“Trenton Almay.” He read to his wife, beaming at him from their kitchen table. “It is our great pleasure to extend to you the honor of joining surveillance team three three seven nine bound for the planetary body blah blah blah.”

He looked up, the grin on his face was unmistakable. This was it, they had made it. The somewhat small house they had lived in for the last two years would be sold back to The Coalition and they would be off of the planet. His eyes drifted back down to the page.

“Due to the nature of the planetoid we will require you…make this expedition..without your family…”

He looked up from the page and met Monica’s eyes. She looked just as shocked as he felt.

“We- You don’t have to take this assignment..” She trailed off. She knew. They did need it, and he would take it.

“I’d be out there for almost five years without you and the kids.” He said.

“Yeah..”

“But-”

“But it’s worth it.” She finished his thought for him. He wasn’t going to be able to say it out loud anyway.

Five years. Jeff would be out of schooling, depending on the timing Aria would be too, though only barely. Melody would be in her early twenties. It was a long time, but..it was worth it. Monica looked up at her husband and nodded.

“We’ll make it work. Don’t worry, we’ll get out to you once things are settled.” Monica said, and stood from the table and stepped into a hug with her husband.

They had been through so much already, and this would just be one more thing. Not that there was any regret there, it was just another notch in the belt. Trent had been there for her, when she was sick, through the doctors appointments, through the remission, through the resurfacing and treatments. The very least she could do is sit and wait patiently until she could rejoin him. The kids would understand too, maybe not like it, but it would be alright. Interstellar communications were getting more and more reliable, so they could send messages and hear back from him in a shorter time.

They held one another for a long time, neither wanted to be the first to separate. It was Monica though that gently squeezed into her husband and separated. Her mouth pressed into a hard line. She looked at him, nodded once and turned back to the kitchen table. Her purse was there, ready and waiting for her. She was only a minute or two away from leaving when the mail had arrived, and now it was time to go.

Melody, her eldest daughter, appeared by the front door. She was dressed fairly blandly. A pair of simple jeans, shin high boots and a somewhat elegant looking button up blouse. Her fiery red hair still holding strong at her shoulders. She seemed to like it trimmed and held there. She argued that it looked nice and framed her face, but Monica suspected it was to emphasize the black choker she had started wearing around her throat.

Despite the all-knowing teenager act that she normally put forth, she was clearly nervous today. Her hands fidgeted a bit and then eventually thrust themselves into her pockets while she waited for her mother. Monica strode towards her, a smile that attempted to exude some measure of comfort and confidence on her face.

Melody was only sixteen, the same age Monica was when she went to the doctor for similar symptoms. She prayed to whatever was out there in the cosmos that whatever Melody was experiencing was just a fluke illness, or allergies to the strange plant life on Curtis3, or anything..anything else…

Trent and Monica lay in bed. Trent wore a pair of boxers and nothing else. Monica opted for a silky night gown that left nothing to imagination. Nothing would be happening tonight, neither would be in the mood.

“The same genetic markers?” Trent confirmed. Monica nodded as she lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.

“It will manifest more and more as she goes on. The doctors suspect by the time she’s in her early twenties that it will be inoperable.” Monica closed her eyes, pressing them together hard, as if that might squeeze the genetic anomaly out of Melody. “With my history, they are recommending the same treatment.”

“Isn’t she a little..young..for that?” Trents concern was unmistakable. No, it wasn’t concern, it was terror.

“She is too young, she can’t consent to it yet, and the doctors said there might be a small chance that it could clear itself up.”

“But you just said-”

“I know-” Monica interrupted. “But she was reacting a little differently than I did to the medication. It’s come a long way in the years since I had my treatment.”

Trent nodded. His eyes turned to look at his wife. She still looked so young and vibrant. Her treatment had worked well for her, he couldn’t imagine having to put little Melody through it.

“Maybe she’ll get through it.” Monica commented, opening her eyes and turning to meet Trent’s gaze.

“Maybe.” He said, nodding. “Maybe.”

Trent hated that he wouldn’t be there for Monica, or Melody, as they worked through the medications and treatments. She would be a different person by the time he got to see her again. All of them would be. He slung his pack over his shoulder and looked at the family he was leaving behind. Melody and Monica, looking more and more like one another every single day. His son, Jeff, just barely fourteen, now the man of the house. Scruffy looking hair and a body that was gangly and still growing. He would be fully a man in five years when Trent got to see him again. Little Aria too, thirteen and starting to grow into that rebellious streak that Melody was just leaving. She looked cute, and bored. She didn’t want her daddy to leave, but understood why he had to. She thought that maybe not looking at him would make it easier, or maybe it was because she didn’t want him to see her crying.

He kissed Monica one last time, hugged his children, and then he was gone. Out the door and towards the waiting transport there. It glimmered in the sun, smeared in white paint. There wasn’t even a layer of dust on it. It was either new or unused. Trent could have rambled about its construction for ages. He always did have a good mind for machines and electronics, it had served him well. It was his technical skills that had won him a ticket onto the exploration team in the end. There was enough technology and on the fly repairs that needed to be done on a fresh planet that every team needed as much technical know-how as possible.

The family of five split into a family of one, and a family of four that day. Trent raised a single hand to wave, and then the transport was off. Whining as the propulsion engines whisked him away from the little house he had called home. Leaving Monica to manage everything until they too got their letter that it was time to board their own star ship and rejoin him.

There was a definitive emptiness in the house. It started when Trent had left, and it lingered. It was in the air, in the walls. It could easily be felt at all times. Monica seemed to be the most capable of shoving it from her mind, and stepped up to be the pillar her children clung to. Particularly Melody.

She was so young, but acting so mature. There were more and more visits to the clinic that the pair went through, at least for another year. On Melody’s eighteenth birthday she was eligible for the same treatment regimen that her mother had been forced to undergo. A choice she was assured she still had plenty of time to decide on, though for a still young woman it weighed heavily on her shoulders. Still, even she put on a brave face for the sake of her younger siblings.

Jeff and Aria, a few years younger than Melody, seemed to be taking the absence of their father in stride. Aria, the youngest, soon began the same kind of haughty rebellious streak that resulted in so many self-expressive ways. Monica squashed the ones that might morph into anything destructive, and let slide those that seemed like a simple act to try and thumb her nose at her one remaining parent. The result was a short bob style haircut, much like Melody had worn when their father left, though she insisted on dying it a wild lavender color.

Monica could only smirk to herself. If that was the worst that Aria could muster to try and get under her mother’s skin, then everything would be perfectly fine.

Jeff, like most boys hurtling into the end of their teenage years, secluded himself most of the time. Choosing to spend his time in his room, tinkering idly with the small amount of technology his father had left for him. He was no savant, but he managed to disassemble and successfully reassemble some of the old equipment that had been left behind. Moreover, he managed to get it working again..after a few failed attempts.

Jeff was old enough to know what was coming though. Aria might still live in a small amount of blissful ignorance, but Jeff was well aware that once the communication came through that the new planet had been bent to humanity's will, that they would be packing up their small home here and moving. Not just to a new neighborhood or even a new land mass, but leaving the planet. Friends, familiar faces, the comfort of the place he had grown up, all of it would be gone in the flames of a rocket taking their ship to orbit.

“But you get to go to space!” His friends said in vain attempts to cheer him up. Their small holographic avatars pacing around or sitting on a non-existent floor.

Jeff lay on his bed, his own camera mounted to a computer and pointed at him while a flurry of light beams recreated his friend's avatars.

“And we can still send one another vid-coms.” another one said.

“Cool, I can't wait to get a vid-com of my friends six days after they sent it.” Jeff lamented.

Despite wild advancements in communications technology, there was little science could do to overcome the sheer distance between planets. Light only traveled so fast and so far in a single measurement of time. Jeff knew as much, and he knew his friends also knew it. They were every bit as disappointed as Jeff was, but his father was going to be on the team that colonized a new planet and that was something worth bragging about.

Jeff didn’t feel like bragging. He felt like sulking. He remained on the vid-com for a little while longer, idly chatting with his friends, but it soon became clear that he had disengaged from the conversation. Within half an hour he had bid them farewell and lay on his bed.

It was quiet now, the day already mostly over, and his sisters were in their rooms, his mother in hers. Jeff was certain that he was the only soul in the house who was awake at the moment, a revelation that only hammered home how lonely he was. With a sigh he grabbed his blanket and pulled it tighter around him and drifted slowly off to sleep.

Five and a half years had passed. Monica’s little family had grown into a healthy and beautiful collection of adults. Monica had changed little in that time, looking youthful as always and keeping a perpetual smile on her face. It was that same smile that had helped keep the family together in both good times and bad. Darkness seemed to shy away from that radiant display.

Jeff, now nineteen and Melody, into her early twenties, sat side by side in the uncomfortable chairs in the amphitheater. They were made from wood, a rare commodity in an era where plastics and synthetics made up every little thing. If it didn’t have some scrap of technology or polymer in it, then it was considered “classic” or “retro”. So the wooden creak of all natural material below Jeff sounded, somehow, out of place.

Aria’s school graduation was a small affair. Her private school accepted only a few members of society, generally those who had parents that did something for the betterment of the community, or who had enough money. Trent’s acceptance into the exploration league had landed Aria in a great school, an offer that neither Jeff nor Melody had been able to benefit from.

Two dozen or so parents and families were arrayed around the small stage, also constructed of wood, and waited as names were called one after the other. Aria wasn’t difficult to pick out of the crowd. She had decided to keep her bright lavender hair and every time it grew out enough to show her roots it was immediately re-colored to match. It was more than fitting, her bright hair matched her equally bright personality. The joke among family and friends was that Aria’s favorite activity was smiling.

Jeff had had his time to be dour and depressed. Into his early adulthood now though, he seemed to be dragging himself out of that. There were still those times when darkness would swirl up and consume his mind, but they were less often and lasted a day or two instead of weeks or months. Likewise, it had been almost two years since Melody had begun her treatment, and the happy news that it was working well was more than enough to help Jeff in those times.

The thought of losing another family member had been a real concern to Jeff. Melody and Monica had both assured him that the treatment she would undergo had improved by leaps and bounds since Monica had undergone it. Medical reports were promising, and her body was taking to the treatment well. The genetic scourge that was in her seemed to be shrinking away and disappearing piece by piece. Only a few months ago Melody had been given a clean bill of health and she had been deemed free of the disease. Though, all eyes now turned to Aria.

Regular check ups had, thus far, turned up nothing at all. By Monica and Melody’s eighteenth birthday they had already been showing more than enough genetic markers to be diagnosed, and Aria, now eighteen as well, was showing none. Perhaps there was some hope yet.

The ceremony ended, Aria smiled as always and accepted her graduation papers. The groaning of a sea of wooden chairs filled the air and a round of applause for the newly graduated class filled the outdoor amphitheater. Aria made her way towards her family, wading through a sea of other families and their graduates. No one noticed the two men standing at the edge of the ceremony, just waiting, silently. Dressed formally, they fit into the crowd of onlookers.

Once the ceremony had ended though, and families clumped together, hugged, and congratulated one another, the two men made their move. Walking casually down the grassy hill that led to the rounded amphitheater. Soon they stood before Monica and her family. There didn’t need to be any words passed between them, the manilla envelope they held was enough.

It was an odd thing. In an age of incredible technological advancements, paper was a rarity. Real paper, made from soaked and pressed wood fibers. It was a luxurious item. It was the kind of thing that only something important was printed on. Vid-com’s were cheap and as soon as the message was heard, it was gone a day or two later, lost to the automated processes that cleansed the stored messages from servers and infrastructure.

Paper, though. Paper lasted. Paper couldn’t just be deleted from a server somewhere. You could hold it in your hand and look at it tomorrow, or next week, or next year, or next decade.

“Congratulations.” One of the two men said. He knew what was in the envelope. He nodded to Monica, turned and left.

“Mom?” Aria asked.

Monica had opened the envelope and her eyes were rapidly scanning over the words. She wasn’t crying or letting a solemn tear roll down her cheek. That was enough to help put her children’s fears at ease. Their father wasn’t dead, and this wasn’t some condolences letter from the Coalition. It was something else.

With a sigh Monica folded up the paper, carefully sliding it back into the envelope and smiling. Not the kind of smile she had been wearing. It didn’t speak of a need to be strong, or encouragement to persevere. This was a genuine smile, it was joyful and pleasant. It radiated the kind of contained sunshine that Aria had.

“It’s from your father.” Monica said. “The colony is ready for the first wave of settlers.”

Despite the peals of joy from around the amphitheater a small bubble of silence settled over the family. It was time. They were going to space.

Chapter Two

In the past, selling your house would have been a hassle. You had to have some place to go once an offer was made, and timing became a shuffle of one family leaving and another moving in. There was paperwork, on actual paper, and stress. Monica and her family had only to box up their possessions, point the moving drones at their crated possessions, and walk away. The government handled the rest of the transactions from there.

Jeff wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of leaving his home planet for another one. Though, the idea that this would be the last time he needed to move was an encouragement. He was young still, and friendships came easier. Particularly in the smaller community they would settle in. The romanticized idea of a frontier town flitted through his mind, conjuring up images of ancient cowboys on beasts, fighting off natives and living a hard but satisfying life under the stars.

In reality, Jeff had a city to look forward to. The automated construction drones and machines that had been brought to the new planet made for a much faster, much easier, construction project. Human oversight was needed, certainly, but the robots would do the hardest of the labors. Stomping mechanically around, tirelessly welding structured framework in place and erecting buildings with the kind of speed and precision a human could only barely comprehend.

That was why Jeff’s father had been there. The machines needed someone competent there to keep them running. When a drone broke down or finally blew out some critical component, Trent would be there to activate a new one and drag the old one back to his shop for repair or disposal.

Jeff slid a pile of his own books into a box, recalling evenings with his father in their home work shop. Both of their faces illuminated by the gentle glow of a tablet computer as Trent tried desperately to impart some of his knowledge into his son. Jeff had paid attention, at least as much attention that a child could have. Some of it had stuck in his brain, somewhere. He could at very least identify most of the basic components on a circuit board, read wiring schematics, and even understand some of them. Not that he knew what to do with any of it, but he at least was familiar with them.

Jeff had, almost intentionally, procrastinated deciding on a firm field of study. Why bother, he knew they would be rocketing off of the planet for a new home and the small amount of specialized education he could have learned would surely not mature into anything on the ‘frontier’. He shoved another book into the box.

“Not too many books in one box.” Monica chided from where she leaned against his door jamb. “The pickup drone won't be able to lift it.”

Jeff sighed and pulled out one of the heavier textbooks he was packing and tossed it up onto the bed. Monica’s eyes scanned over the book, it was an old but still relevant databook on the basics of mechanical engineering and repair. It was Trent’s.

“Do you want any help sweetheart?” she asked.

“No, I’m fine.” Jeff said, trying in vain to hide the sadness in his voice.

Monica lingered, stoic as always, in the door jamb for a moment before slipping away, maybe Melody needed some help.

Jeff sat still, he heard his mom leave, even with her trying to soften her retreating footsteps. He didn’t so much sigh as simply let the lungful of air seep out from between his teeth. He hated everything that was happening here. He didn’t want to leave, but he was too young to simply stay. Maybe if he had a nice, cushy job working for The Coalition, or in some work share that offered supplementary housing. But he was only nineteen, barely out of his schooling and just beginning to pad out his resume with smaller jobs.

Even if he could sustain himself alone here on Curtis3, would he want to? His friends were here, but how long until they too left. There were other continents here, or more advanced schooling. They would leave, and Jeff would stay. Then what? No friends and no family. He would be more alone than if he boarded that star ship with his family. He blew a small puff of exhaled air out of his nose. ‘Somehow’ he realized, ‘the dark void of space is less lonely than being alone in a house on his home planet.’

The realization didn’t soften the blow of having to leave, but it surely made the idea of a voyage across the stars a little more palpable.

Packing came much easier to him after that. It wasn’t quite enjoyable, but it didn’t hurt him as much any more. When Aria appeared in the hall outside his door, bright as the early morning, he even tossed her a smirk.

“Don’t worry too much about it.” She said, “packing sucks, but unpacking is going to be like Christmas with your own stuff. It’ll be pretty great.”

Jeff never could figure out if she was trying to cheer him up or convince herself that it would be ok. The subtle, slight streak in her makeup just below the eye told him that Aria had been crying, recently. Regardless of that, her perpetual sunshine was always welcome.

It was truly shocking how quickly a whole house could be packed up and made ready when you really devoted time to it. What had taken years to accumulate was boxed up, labeled, and ready for transport within four or five days. Their instructions were to simply place the boxes on the massive pad that had been delivered to their house, once all their belongings were on it, they would be weighed, scanned, and pickup drones would arrive to courier them to the star port, and from there, to their ship.

A strange feeling settled on the house on their last night in it. The house was empty and had a certain feeling of finality to it. Like the last sentence in the chapter of a book. There was something new on the next page, your eyes could see it coming, but you still needed to read through the words you had in front of you.

Large empty spaces dominated the house now. Jeff, Melody, and Aria had reserved a single premeasured box for personal belongings to have delivered to their quarters on the ship. They could pack into it whatever they wanted. Jeff’s packed with books, his personal computer, some small knick knacks, and things to do. The challenge was putting in belongings that you would want to access for the next six months, and nothing else. How much entertainment could you consume in a six month space flight?

Melody and Monica packed similarly. Ongoing treatment for their condition meant that they required machines to help them. Administering and infusing ongoing medical treatment was what they kept telling Jeff and Aria when asked why they weren’t packing their crate with books or movies or other things. Aria, on the other hand, packed lightly. Sketchbooks, art supplies, a few books, and little else.

“We’re going to be in space! What more could I possibly want?”

Jeff had smirked and snorted once at the response, even as he slid another book into his crate, wedging it between a few other things. His was packed to the brim and even though he got the lid to snap onto it, he still wondered if he could empty it and rearrange things to allow for just a little more space.

The beds they slept on, the linens they used, and the morning’s dishes were the last to be placed on the pad. Everyone in the house seemed to wake up early enough, their bodies declaring in unison that there was no more use in delaying. It was time.

Breakfast was rushed and the house was suddenly thrust into some flurried chaos. Jeff and Aria managed to eat quickly, feeling guilty that Melody and Monica had turned down the food in favor of hauling beds and boxes to the transport pad. There would be plenty of time for food later, for now though they needed to get things packed up.

By the time breakfast was done, the two older women had moved most of the remaining goods in the house to the pad, leaving very little for Jeff and Aria to take care of. Still, there were a few things left, and with those last few things placed, it was done. Their house was empty, the only home they had now was on a planet across the galaxy, and it was occupied only by one man. And he was there alone, waiting for his family. The thought put a bit of rush into everyone’s steps.

Every one of them took a few minutes to take off their pajamas and stuff them into their personal crates. Flight suits had been provided for them and were required when undergoing interstellar travel. They were specially crafted from a very form fitting material that would keep blood from pooling in any one area should a g-force crisis occur. The reactive material was laced with electronics as well, each and every part of it would monitor the wearer's pulse and vitals, reacting as needed.

They were stark white with light blue streaks on it, and a Coalition logo plastered across the left breast. They weren’t comfortable by any stretch of the imagination, but they were required. Had Jeff not just spent a day packing his personal belongings, clothes included, into his crate he would have at least put a pair of cargo pants on over it. At least the rest of his family looked the same. Tight white fabrics stretched over the bare skin, and hiding very little. The cluster of white made it obvious where they were heading.

People of all walks of life bustled around the star port. It was a vast change from the somewhat small town feel that Jeff was used to. Their home had been nestled in something of a suburb, and even then it was on the fringes of the settlement. A short walk would land you on the edges of an open field with forests waiting to be logged beyond.

This, though, was wildly different. Every white wall was splashed with strategically placed colors and advertisements. There were video feeds on most walls soothing travelers and giving directions to the launch gates. Others welcomed newcomers to Curtis3 and bid them platitudes about their visit. Monica led her family through the port, seemingly knowing where she was going without too much issue, and eventually presented their launch schedule to a ticket counter. From there, they were directed to stand in line for a health and security scan.

The outbound line was, mercifully, shorter than the line of inbound passengers who would also need to be scanned. The very real danger of transporting diseases, invasive species, or simple plant life that was not native to the environment was very real. The Coalition did everything in its power to quash those kinds of incidents.

As they approached the line of scanners and staff Jeff noticed that there was a separation. Passengers would scan the data card they had been handed as a boarding pass, and would then be directed to another line. Some passengers would be directed to another line, even though there were clearly other empty queues available. It was a mystery that he hoped might be cleared up once he and his family reached the terminal.

Monica went first, modelling exactly what needed to be done so her children could have a ready example to follow. She placed her data card on the flatbed scanner, little more than a plastic coated short range wireless detector that read the card. A small tone sounded from the machine and Jeff could see the handheld tablet light up in the attendant's hand. He couldn’t quite see the information listed on it, but he could see a picture of his mother, and a lot of information. One of the fields seemed to be highlighted in red and blinking.

“Lane four.” The attendant directed, and Monica complied, walking to the place she was directed to.

Aria was next, scanning her card and hearing the tone. Jeff glanced at the tablet again, no blinking red was present.

“Lane two, just down there.” The attendant said and pointed in the opposite direction of where Monica had been sent.

Aria simply walked along to one of the full body scanners. The kind that you stepped into and a heavy mechanism rotated around you. Just beyond that was another attendant with a small case of medical supplies. Swabs, a handheld scanner and some test strips to check for common diseases or bacteria.

The small chime brought Jeff back. Melody had scanned her card and was being directed to lane four, right behind her mother. The attendant looked to Jeff, and somewhat impatiently called ‘next’. They clearly thought Jeff wasn’t paying attention, they were right, but that's besides the point. Jeff had wanted to look at the display in the attendant's hand when Melody scanned her card, but he had missed his opportunity. His card chimed, and he glanced at the screen, nothing blinked.

“Lane one.”

Jeff walked along, past Aria who had just made it out of the body scanner and was presenting her arm for a swab, presumably followed up by a blood sample. Jeff was instructed to step into the scanner and face the small blinking light on the wall. As he did, he lost sight of his family, it was just him and the scanner now. The machine rotated around him, emitting a heavy hum and a strange sensation, like the air around his head just got twice as heavy for a moment. Then it was done, the machine spun down and everything seemed to return to normal, save for a small wobbling sensation inside of Jeff’s head.

As he suspected, they drew blood and applied small droplets of the sample onto a number of test strips. While the chemicals on them worked, the medical attendant ran a number of very standard tests. Shining a light in his eyes, having him open his mouth to check down his throat, recording his pulse, and taking his blood pressure. Once done, they checked the test strip and compared them to some form of information on their hand held scanner.

“All clear, have a good trip.”

The medical attendant said it with the same tone as someone who had repeated the same line over and over again for hours on end, day after day. Cheerful but empty.

He rejoined his family, all of which were waiting for him. Aria hadn’t bothered to pull the sleeves of her long white shirt down over the gauze padding on her arm. The crook of her elbow still showed the pastel blue tape that was put in place to hold it firmly against her skin. Jeff was already shoving the cuff of his shirt over it. Out of sight, out of mind. He glanced at Melody and Monica, who clearly agreed with him as their sleeves were back down to their wrists again.

All that was left was to make their way to their jump gate and board a star ship.

The gate was more of a challenge to find than anything else. It was a smaller, private gate that was owned by The Coalition. Unsurprisingly, they would not be travelling by a commercial craft, rather a private government owned craft. They only managed to find the gate after asking one of the many wandering information drones where it was. The little hovering drone was little more than a ticket scanner and a touch screen display. Monica tapped her data card to it and a small map appeared, showing where they were and where the gate was. She looked at it for barely a moment and then nodded, turned, and pointed further into the bustling starport.

Once they reached the small boarding gate, there were only a few people there, and all of them wore very official looking uniforms. Pressed white pants and jackets over a light blue shirt. They should have been buttoned up and smoothed out, but judging by the way they were leaning against a counter, chatting, laughing, and even flirting with the attendant there, it was clear that this was a far more casual flight.

“Hey, there they are.” One of them, the only one wearing an officer's cap, proclaimed as the family approached.

“Captain Marcus Liber, at your service.” He said, removing his hat and bowing ever so slightly. “This is my co-pilot Ruber, and our android engineer Six Six Three.”

Jeff looked at the engineer. An android. She didn’t look like an android. Though as he looked closer the faint sheen of plastic on the skin stretched across her face and down her throat did seem to catch the light and reflect it a little too brightly. He didn’t want to stare, but he did see a faint line zipping across her neck as well and wondered if that was some kind of detachment point or opening to an access panel. He didn’t have long to contemplate it.

“Nice to meet you all, if you’ll scan your datapasses here, we can get underway. Your cargo has already been loaded and your quarters have been set up.” Captain Liber said in a jovial tone.

Monica nodded and turned to the attendant there and scanned her data card. The woman behind the counter smiled placidly while the data flowed and then seemed to jump just a little and then turned to Monica. All set, welcome aboard. She held out her hand and took the card from Monica. Jeff watched as this woman repeated the same words again and again, in the same tone, with the same infection, for each member. When it was his turn he handed over his card, but his eyes trailed over her. Shining skin, more plastic looking than Six Six Three, and her movements were stiff too.

Jeff nodded once he was confirmed and found Captain Liber looking at him. The crew and his family were already half way down the boarding tunnel to their craft. His smile was infectiously positive, but it did wonders for Jeff, who felt himself calmed by the almost smug confidence Captain Liber had.

“First time in space?” He asked as Jeff walked past him.

Jeff nodded.

“It’s not so bad. More boring than anything.”

There was a bit of silence and Jeff found himself looking over his shoulder at the attendant.

“First time seeing an android?” Liber asked.

“Yeah.” Jeff said.

“That one’s a little more, ehh, primitive. Sixes up there is basically human. She’ll make sure we’re all good.”

Jeff nodded, his face burning just a little. He wasn’t used to being chatted up by an adult who wasn’t his mother. But his mind continued to slide back to the look of that plastic skin, wondering what it would feel like. If the rest of her body was coated in that same plastic, or if she was all metal and hard bits below the neckline. He wondered if Six Six Three, who looked less artificial, was the same way.

Jeff’s mind danced with youthful glee. He was mentally undressing her, even as Six Six Three came into view, he could see the gentle sway of her hips. It looked so natural, so human, but his mind painted a mental picture of the soft plastic sheen on it. Her back, coated in the same plastic. He imagined her in his bed, topless, her plastic breasts in his-

“Alright, a quick tour!” Captain Liber was saying. Jeff hadn’t even realized that they had fully walked up the boarding tunnel and were now on board the star ship.

It felt more like a small common room than a passenger craft. There was a small arrangement of couches that were all arranged to face outwards. All of them were settled neatly in front of a large, triple thick pane of some kind of clear material. Currently all that lay beyond those windows was the star port. Heavy machines and equipment, soon though, it would be stars and galaxies.

“Through this door here, that’s the engine room, obviously it’s locked.” He pointed to a sealed door on the left of the huddled family, then pointed to the right. “Down there are the crew quarters, also locked, but the ones with a little blue light above the doors, those are for you folks. Names are on the little piccard-”

“Placard” Six Six Three quietly corrected.

“Right yep, on the placard outside. Your stuff should be inside already. Further down the hall on the right is the cafeteria. We’ll be rationing food, not that there’s a shortage, but don’t go gorging yourself.”

Liber stepped up behind Ruber and slapped his hands onto the somewhat younger man’s shoulders.

“Ruber here is quite the chef. It’s all pre-packaged stuff, but you’d be amazed what a little salt and some butter will do.”

Ruber nodded and presented a small smile.

“Across from the cafeteria is the engineering bay, that’s where Six is gonna be most of the time.”

The robotic woman smiled warmly and nodded. “It’s going to be locked when I’m not in there, but feel free to pop in and say hi if I’m in there.”

“Cockpit at the end of the hall. That’s about it. So, welcome aboard the Mirum’iter”

He smiled, nodded, and waited just long enough to let anyone ask any questions they may have had, and when no one spoke up, he nodded once more and strode casually off towards the front of the ship. Ruber and Six Six Three fell into step behind him, giving Jeff one last lingering view of the robot’s rear end and dragging his thoughts back to the lewd place they had been in before.

Melody was the first to move, taking up a position on one of the couches and soon after, Aria joined her. Melody’s brilliant red hair clashing with Aria’s lavender. Aria leaned her head onto Melody’s shoulder and the two sisters looked out the windows, the vibrant colors swirling and mixing together as they waited.

Monica patted Jeff on the shoulder and stepped past him, moving to the hell and towards her room and left Jeff alone with his thoughts. The ship was already beginning to subtly shift and vibrate as pre-take off checks were run and mechanisms began to move.

Jeff took up position on one of the couches that faced out of the other side of the ship. He criss-crossed his legs and tried to make himself comfortable, but the twisting knot of nervous energy coiled in his belly. He closed his eyes and tried to force his mind to think of anything else, anything to distract him from the idea that in a few minutes he would be blasting off into the atmosphere, then into space and from there a course that would lead him some place all new.

Chapter Three

Some things never changed. Despite a few centuries or more of development into rocketry and physics, chemical based launch rockets were still en vogue. The raw thrust they could produce was unparalleled. The method of using them to launch craft, on the other hand, had evolved greatly.

A system of gantries were affixed to the craft, and the chemical boosters connected to the framework. From there, the entire assembly would be launched out of the atmosphere, once there though, the ionic thrusters on the craft could take over. The gantry would detach and the ship would be on its way, while the chemical rockets would be recovered, refueled, and brought back to the planet for reuse.

Jeff, Melody, and Aria could sit comfortably as they watched their home planet disappear below them. Of course, they needed to wait for the plumes of smoke and debris to clear out of their vision first. As they were launching, the beautifully curved windows were filled with nothing but white smoke and little else. Once they had breached the atmospheric limits of the planet, though, it became a different sight.

A sea of stars, all twinkling and shimmering before them, appeared in the view ports. It stretched out, literally, into infinity. Melody could only smile at that, leaning forward a little and releasing Aria. Jeff sat where he was, simply staring into the vastness of space, knowing that each and every glimmering star before him was its own galaxy, stuffed full of planets. A vast array of the universe spread out before him.

It wasn’t madness that gripped his brain at that moment, but a sense of awe and scale. The universe was vast and he was just a small speck in it, likewise his concerns, his worries and fears, the sadness of losing friends and leaving his home, were equally insignificant. When faced with the unimaginable beauty that the vast array of space had to offer, what could humans conjure to compare to it?

It was quiet in the little common room. The subtle hum of the ion engines provided some small measure of white noise to help distract the mind. Aria and Jeff let their minds wander off into those vast stars, letting the unimaginable size of it all fill them with wonder, joy, and awe. Melody simply sat where she was, leaning forward and letting her eyes bounce from star system to start system. She was content to simply let her eyes wander across the vastness of it all.

Monica joined them at some point, though she never sat down on one of the chairs or couches there. She simply stood, looking out at the stars and letting her children enjoy the view. She had been given many gifts, children whom she loved and who loved her in return, a husband willing to do anything for them, and a chance at living on despite her illness. Her eyes flicked to Melody, a warm compassion for her welling up inside of her. Her eldest daughter had been given the same second chance at life as she had.

Aria was the next to fall in her scope of vision. The wild and bright haired young woman, only barely cresting into adulthood, her whole life laid out before her. Monica could only hope that there was a chance that Aria would never have to go through what Monica and Melody had.

Jeff had heard his mother return to the space and had glanced around at her. The previous bland jumpsuit had been replaced now with a comfortable pair of jeans and a loose fitting turtleneck style sweater. Her hair, as always, was still loosely braided and draped over her shoulder. Small strands of hair jutting out here and there. The change of clothing alone lent her a cute and cozy look, instead of the motherly authority figure she had projected before.

Jeff looked down at his government issue flight suit as well. White and blues on a comfortable, but form fitting single piece. Black boots and little else. He hated how it rode up on his rear end as well. The comfort his mother was radiating was envious. Jeff was loathed to move from his post, looking out at space for something as petty as comfort, but he had to remind himself that sometimes in life, it was the small comforts that mattered. Sometimes you needed to just act instead of thinking.

So he uncoiled himself from the couch, stood up and stretched before wordlessly wandering off to the dorms.

It was clear that the rooms were built with utility in mind, and then touched up by a corporate designer who wanted to add a comforting touch. There was a nook for a bed. It was little more than a notch carved into the wall of the room, but instead of being simply scooped out, the curved wall extended upwards, allowing for more space. He could easily stand on the bed and not hit his head on anything. Much like the common space, there was a viewing window built into the wall, though it was far smaller than the ones in the common room. Perhaps two hand heights tall and running the full length of the bed, with a curtain mounted over it.

Why anyone would want to close off such a gorgeous view was beyond Jeff.

Similar to the bed, a few shelves had been cut into the wall and made for a handy place to store any number of things. Jeff would use it to store his books and a few little baubles. His personal crate was centered in the room, still full of his own belongings, including his clothes. Sliding open the door in the wall to reveal a closet with a small set of drawers in it would have to do for storing and organizing his clothes.

It took the better part of an hour to dig out his clothes from the crate. In the process he had pulled out his personal computer, a few pictured in plastic frames of him and his friends, and his holo emitter. He wouldn’t want to miss a vid-com from back home simply for not having his equipment in order.

Clothes populated the closet and soon enough he had changed. Now sporting a comfortable pair of cargo pants and a simple olive drab shirt. He mussed his hair a little after pulling on the shirt to try and straighten the somewhat shaggy mop of hair he had been blessed with. He gave up a few minutes later and put his boots back on.

On the wall opposite the closet was another door set into the wall. Stepping up to it and letting it slide open, he found himself in a small bathroom. A stainless steel toilet was on one side, a sink in the middle, and a small space that barely resembled a shower on the other. He tilted his head slightly at the sink, and then ventured a look at the shower as well. There were no hot and cold knobs, or any sort of flow control, there was only a button, on or off.

He tapped the button on the sink and it immediately began emitting a deep, almost inhumanly low tone, but nothing else. Tapping the button turned it off. He looked just past the sink to the mirror on the wall and found that it was not only a mirror, displaying his face, but a display of sorts. Showing the date, the name of their ship, and a small hieroglyph just above the sink. Push button, place hands under faucet.

He pressed the button again, the humming resumed, and he pushed his hands under the faucet. The sensation was odd. There was something there, something pushing against his palms. He felt it more acutely as well. The thrumming sound was in sync with the pressure against his palms. He also noticed small flecks of dirt being shoved off of him into the bowl. He blinked at that before realizing what it was. A sonic sink. High speed soundwaves dislodged dirt and then blasted it off of his hands. He turned and looked at the shower and to the button there.

With an equally deep hum the shower came to life. The sounds coming from the, admittedly, conventional looking shower head. The wonder of it wore off as Jeff realized he would be spending the next six months having his body blasted by sound instead of real water. Conservation of resources and rationing of necessities. Sound was free and everywhere. It made sense, but Jeff felt like a luxurious hot shower might be his first indulgence when he landed.

Thrusting his hands into his pockets, he stepped up to the door and let it slide open in front of him. He heard the small hushed voices of his mother and Melody up the hall from him. Their rooms must have been somewhere near the end of the hall. Melody’s whispered voice was hard to hear, especially as the lingering sound of the door’s hiss still rang in his ear.

“Mel, just do it, it won't take long.” Monica hissed at her.

“But It feels weird!” Melody replied.

“You’ll get used to it, but with all the changes-”

Both stopped as Jeff casually stepped into the hall. He intentionally turned in the opposite direction of the source of the hushed voices and stepped lightly back towards the common room. He knew that they were arguing about something, and from the sounds of it, they were related to Melody’s recent treatments. A fact that Jeff found more than a little odd. Melody was usually very cautious, and, as she said, a little weirdness was worth it to keep her heart beating. Or so Jeff thought.

He was being polite, he knew that the pair would settle down and whatever the issue was it was likely due, simply, to the strain of the day's events. It was only around noon, maybe a little after, it was hard to tell. There were no sunsets in space, and time had a weird habit of not meaning much. Still, Jeff knew the day was only half over, at best.

The somewhat silent hiss of a door sliding open drew Jeff’s attention as he settled back down onto the couch he had occupied previously. He glanced to the side in time to see Monica walking towards the common room, her face stoic, and behind her Melody disappeared into her own room. The door slipped closed behind her. Monica settled down onto one of the comfortable chairs to one side of her son. As she came to rest it looked like she had settled into place, proper posture, and then something just changed. She slumped into the chair and let out a breath. Her eyes moved to meet Jeff’s.

She clearly wanted to say something. The appropriateness or timing of it was up for debate though. She was well aware that Jeff had heard her and his sister’s little tiff, the question was how much?

“Jeff, there’s something-”

The sound of a happy sigh broke her statement. Both looked in the direction of the guest quarters in time to see Aria appear. She had taken the hint and had gone to her room to change as well and had reappeared with a simple gray strapless halter top that carved a line across the top of her chest. It was just enough to reveal the small amount of cleavage she could produce, without showing off too much. It did little to cover her belly, and just barely kissed the top of her bellybutton.

Jeff couldn’t really help himself. Her whole form was on display as she walked along. HIs eyes naturally traveled to her hips and thighs, wrapped tightly in a pair of form fitting black leggings. The drab color of her clothes clashing with her hair color and the silvery bangles and bracelets that she had taken time to put on while changing.

She looked stunning, and if she looked like that when they landed then Jeff had no doubt that there would be a line of off world men, and probably some women, who would flock to her.

Jeff looked away as soon as his brain registered what he was doing and instead forced his gaze back to the floor. He couldn’t have been staring at her for more than a moment or two, surely it wasn’t enough time to cause any kind of concern, though it was more than enough time for him to take in her beauty. He gently shook his head, trying to shake the thought free, it needn’t be there.

She walked back to her spot on the couch, flopped into place and pulled out one of her sketchbooks. The soothing sound of charcoal scratching on rough paper reached Jeff’s ears a moment later. Aria would be there for a while. Her presence in the commons seemed to chase away whatever it was that Monica was about to talk with Jeff about, a fact that he clearly recognized. That was alright though, there was no shortage of time during the trip to talk.

The quietness settled in around the family. Monica staring out at space with Jeff. The engines provided a steady hum like the low bass of a melody that was just beginning to rise. Aria’s movements, swiping charcoal across a page provided the punctuating notes. Aria’s movements were so swift yet consistent that they could have easily merged into a musical rhythm with the deep engines. Jeff lost count of how long that song played. It was an easy thing to do, the soothing sounds with the smooth passage of stars robbed the human mind of the actual passage of time.

The soft sound of a distant automated door sliding open shattered the song. Melody’s footfalls, while rhythmic, were out of tune with the quiet song in the commons. She strode into the room, fully ignoring Monica as she did so. The sound of the fabric on her loose fitting black pants carved their own rhythm into the air. Jeff only caught a glance of the rest of her, a shock of black across her chest, some kind of tube top maybe, and a denim jacket over the top. Her red hair, normally loose and flowing behind her had been bundled up into a tight, but messy, bun.

Her mother was facing the opposite wall, looking out at a wholly different sea of stars. The redheaded woman made a move to sit next to Aria, but the soft sounds of her sketching reached Melody’s ears. She had planned to flop into place, cross her arms over her chest and pout. Letting Aria see her upset, but hiding it from Monica. Seeing Aria though, she seemed to release something. A long held breath seemed to seep harshly out her nostrils and Melody lowered herself gently to the couch next to Aria.

Jeff could hear the murmuring conversation begin behind him, though none of the words made any sense to him. They were sounds and little else. Even as he glanced over his shoulder at his two sisters, all he could see were the occasional turn of the head or small, fleeting gesture. Even when Melody turned her head to look at Aria, or rather her sketchbook, Jeff could only see her lips moving and nothing else.

Monica was the first to leave. Jeff rightly assumed that the tension between her and Melody had finally reached the breaking point. She sighed, once and only once, then smoothly got to her feet and walked out of the room. A moment later the distant whoosh of her door opening and then closing let Jeff know where she had gone. Leaving him, once again, alone to look out at the stars.

The human mind struggled to comprehend the vastness of the stars. Infinite space was a concept, and only a concept, and facing it in reality with one's own eyes set a strange tingling sensation though Jeff’s brain. He felt like his mind was both empty and full at the same time. So great was the distraction that he didn’t hear Melody get up and move to sit next to him. It was only when the weight of her body sent the couch rocking a little that he was brought back.

He was almost startled, certainly the sudden appearance of his sister was enough to jolt him back to reality. He looked over at Melody, her messy bun was clearly poorly done, as it was already falling out, or perhaps it had only been hastily put up and Melody was just letting it fall. Jeff admitted that the look gave her a very cute, not caring, just being, quality. As if she was what she was and it didn’t much matter the work she put into her appearance.

“Sorry you had to hear mom and I.” She began, Jeff only shrugged and waved it off.

“What..How much did you hear?”

The apprehension in her voice was real and it was brushing up against fear, or was it embarrassment? Whatever it was, Jeff realized that she clearly wanted to keep it a secret.

“Nothing. Just that mom was making you do something uncomfortable.” Jeff muttered, “I assume some part of your treatment.”

“Yeah.” Melody quietly confirmed. “It was just treatment stuff.”

Jeff nodded, letting silence fall again, though only for a moment or two, he had to say something lest he lose himself to the stars again.

“I thought all your treatment was done though. Like, they got all of it out of you.” Jeff said.

“Yeah they did, but there’s a lot of maintenance..you know, upkeep on things at the very beginning.”

Jeff nodded at that, already feeling uncomfortable. He didn’t like to think about anyone’s medical treatments, those were private matters. Much less his sister’s.

“I guess that’s why mom doesn’t need to go to the doctor much any more. Right? She had her treatment done years ago and just has to go in for checkups every now and again.”

Melody only nodded at that and the quietness of space settled on them again. Jeff’s mind wanted so badly to slip back out among the passing star systems. But the void’s calling was stopped by a question.

“Are- Is there a doctor on the new planet? Like. Are you and mom going to be-”

“We’ll be fine.” Melody interrupted. “The maintenance part of all of this is a lot easier to do. Heck I can do it myself if I have my- If I have the right equipment.”

Jeff didn’t miss it. There was something that Melody and his mother needed to keep up on their treatment. His mind flashed back to the heavy looking steel case that dominated Melody’s personal cargo crate. Visions of vials of subtly bubbling green fluids and spare needles flashed through his mind. The case must be filled with all the additional medications and equipment she would need for the journey. Clearly it was easy enough to stock up on those necessities once they landed too. Maybe the first few supply drops would carry those refills.

Even the line of questioning seemed absurd to Jeff in retrospect. Of course the new planet would have doctors and medical staff. What kind of backwater, second rate exploration crew wouldn’t have medical personnel with them? Sometimes he kicked himself for asking stupid questions. Even telling himself that he was still young and couldn’t have known was little comfort.

Then he looked out the window again. The Universe didn’t care if he asked a stupid question, or an absolutely brilliant one for that matter. Everything was so small in comparison, and that did comfort him. With a burden lifted, Jeff’s mind spun back to the present, to his sister, his family, and the absolute magnificence of the ship they were on.

“Hey.” He said, causing Melody to look over at him. “Pretty cool that the engineer is a robot, huh?”

Melody smirked at him. “That is pretty slick.”

“I think I’m gonna pick her brain..or CPU…or whatever it is. When we get to dad I want to see if I can stump him with some kind of obscure robot knowledge.”

Melody’s smirk grew to a full smile and raised her eyebrows.

“Good luck. You know dad, like, builds androids, right? From just pieces.”

“Well yeah, but then he sends them off, he doesn’t sit around and chat them up and stuff.”

“Are you sure you don’t just have a crush on her?”

“What? No. I don’t think robots even have..programming..for romance or anything. Like..They’re just machines.”

Melody nodded, “Very modern take you have there.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Jeff said “just that there’s a huge difference between a robot and a person…And I don’t have a crush on her.”

Melody broke out into a small burst of laughter and playfully punched Jeff in the arm while covering her mouth with her other hand.

“Sure you don’t. I’m sure you only want to hang out with the pretty robot for academic reasons.”

The pair shared a small chuckle, but the thought lodged itself in his mind. Did he have a crush on her? Could androids even experience things like a crush? His hormonal mind took it a step further.

Could androids have sex? Were they programmed for it? Did they have the right hardware for it? He found himself mentally undressing Six Six Three again. That plastic skin on display, reflecting the star light. Her chest accentuated by deep shadows in the dim light, her body under his own. They were in his quarters, she was splayed out on the bed, panting in lustful jubilation. He mentally looked her up and down. Everything was there, shimmering in all its plastic and silicone glory.

Her breasts, he could practically feel them in his hands. Or what he thought they felt like. Jeff had an absolutely nonexistent history with sex, but his imagination was on point. He could see the way her plastic breasts squished and molded in his hands. He could feel her icy skin, truly artificial in every way, pressed against his. He saw her equally plastic sex between her spread legs. Those small seam lines he had seen on her throat etched into an outline around it.

In his mind's eye, Six Six Three was a sensual goddess. He felt a little flushed, and the heat had risen enough on his cheeks to bring him back to the moment he was living in. The images of the naked robotic woman below him dissipated into nothingness. He sincerely hoped that Melody hadn’t seen the redness creeping across his cheeks while he indulged. He ventured a glance in her direction and saw that she too was quiet and simply looking out at space. The reflection of the starlight was barely visible in her unfocused eyes. ‘Good’ he thought, he had gotten away with it. But it was likely time to go somewhere else to..cool off.

His room was so boring compared to the passage of literal stars and galaxies out in the commons. Static white walls, some of his own flare on the shelves, but little else. As his finger slid down the light panel on the wall next to the door though, the mood became a little more sexy. Dim lights, the open port hole out to space, and Jeff found himself relaxing a bit.

The door was locked, and he lay on the bed, getting comfortable. His hands already unbuttoning his cargo pants and unzipping them. A hand found its way to his manhood and began to stroke it. His mind turned back to Six Six Three.

She was on top of him this time. In this very room, on this very bed. Jeff imagined her weight pressing into his hips as he grew harder. He could see her smile as she reached down for the hem of the shirt portion of her flight suit. He watched as she peeled it up and off of her body, her breasts jiggling in a not quite perfect manner. The artificial gel packs he assumed gave them their shape swayed and jiggled. His hands were on her body once again.

He started at her hips, miraculously already unclothed. His imagination told him what they felt like. Soft artificial skin, with a plastic sheen to them. There was some give, like there was a layer of padding just below the surface to make her feel real. Her hips were moving, grinding, into him. He felt himself grow fully erect now and he truly got to work.

His mind imagined his hands sliding up her body, dipping in on her torso and then coming to cup her breasts. She moaned, sweet and delightful, practically begging him to keep going. So he did.

He felt his climax rising, boiling inside of his belly and rising up his shaft. The bone deep pressure was quickly reaching a breaking point. Jeff had to make a choice now if this fantasy was about simple relief or if it was for his enjoyment. A choice that was tough to make as a climactic release was slamming its fists against his mind.

His eyes remained closed and he sucked in a deep breath. He needed it.

His mind returned its focus to Six Six Three’s naked body on top of him. The fake skin coating her robotic body, and what it would feel like. He imagined her moving those perfectly shaped legs, the hydraulics, he assumed, inside of her pushing her up and adjusting her with precision. She lowered herself onto his erect and waiting member. The very touch of the plastic coating her sex was divine, or so Jeff imagined at least.

This was about relief, his mind decided.

THe fantasy was gone then, lost in a swirl of panting and gulping for air as Jeff felt his whole body react. The pressure building inside of him burst outward, coating his hands in a warm, sticky mess. His body was hot and yet cold all at once. He was breathing heavy and deep and held onto himself. Six Six Three’s face still dancing in his vision, her smile, the shape of her mouth as her lips parted in a lewd moan. All of it was etched deep into his brain.

It took a few moments for Jeff to gather himself and slide off the bed, attempting to not make too much of a mess. The sonic sink humming and cleaning his hands was a good start. There were no towels to speak of, after all there was no water to dry off. There was, however, some form of toilet paper that did well enough to help clean up Jeff’s softening member.

Sucking in one more deep breath, he stood up straight, adjusted himself and zipped his pants back up. He definitely didn’t have a crush on Six Six Three. It was purely academic, he decided.

Chapter Four

Wanting to make damn sure that every bit of flush had drained from his face, Jeff remained in his room for another twenty or so minutes. Or so he estimated, it was gauged more on how he felt than any marker of time.

While there, he unpacked a bit more. Storing books and clothes and personal effects on shelves. Once his heart settled down into an imperceptible thump inside of his chest he was ready to leave. Stepping into the hall, he looked up and down the expanse. The commons appeared, from where he stood at least, to be empty. A mere comfortable space with no life in it. Aria must have finished her sketch and returned to her room. Or maybe she was still on the couch, Jeff couldn’t exactly see from his vantage point, but the sound of charcoal on paper was gone at least.

Likewise, Melody seemed to be missing. Jeff crept up the hall softly and peeked into the commons. Confirming it was empty. His family separating and heading to their own spaces. Time and distance, perfect for diffusing tension.

The ship seemed quiet then, the background hum of the engines had already become just another noise his brain could ignore. That suited him just fine, the deep rumble didn’t need a constant validation in his mind. Slipping back up the hall and turning to the little alcove on the left, about half way along, Jeff found the door. A placard proclaimed it as simply ‘Engineering’ and the sign was illuminated in a pale blue. The same temperature of light that bathed his own door.

Jeff wondered if Six Six Three was in there. He leaned out of the small alcove to peer back up the hall again. The lights over Melody, Monica, and Aria’s doors had changed from the gentle blue to a very clear red. Locked doors.

The blue light seemed welcoming then. She was in there, for certain. Did he just walk in? Was it polite to knock before walking into a robots domain? He raised a loosely clutched fist, readying it to knock before looking around. Maybe there was a doorbell of some kind.

A small crackle startled him, the speaker assembly built into the signage had flared to life and now produced Six Six Three’s voice.

“Can I help you with something?”

It was polite. Crisp. The kind of no nonsense tone that you might expect from a service provider. Jeff thought it sounded heavenly, and mentally added the sound of her voice to a vault in his head. It would surely be used next time he-

“Uh, n-no. Well, maybe yes. I was just going to chat a bit.”

Jeff scrunched his eyes closed. He was so painfully aware of how un-casual he sounded.

“Sure thing. Come on in. Door’s unlocked.”

Jeff wasn’t sure he wanted to go in and see her now that he had fumbled around his first impression. But she was expecting him now. He pushed a hand onto the door and it disappeared into the wall with a hiss.

Jeff stepped into a place that was familiar. Not this place in particular, but the look and feel were familiar. The smell too, it was the scent of a garage with exposed oils, long soaked into discarded rags. The tang of metal shavings immediately found their way to the back of his tongue. While lit well, there still seemed to be pools of light that were just a little brighter.

The whole room appeared to be made of workbenches and shelves. Even the floor served as storage for something. Metal crates packed with parts, big and small, all trailing wires and severed tubing littered the space. The shelves housed containers of varying shapes and sizes. At one time they might have had a label printed on them, but years of use had worn most of them down to colored smears.

The counter space in front of the woman sitting on a stool was about the only clear space. Every other surface was marred with a project in progress. Half finished mechanical components with circuit boards affixed to them, with a myriad of wires bursting out of it and plugging into something else.

Six Six Three was sitting on the stool, her back turned to Jeff as he entered. She was still wearing the flight suit he had seen her in earlier. White fabric stretched too tightly over her features confirmed for Jeff that in his imagination he had gotten, at least somewhat, some of her proportions correct. Her rear end at least, was on point.

She spun around on her stool to face Jeff. He tried, very diligently, to not let his eyes simply drift down to her chest and hips. It was instinctual though, just a brief flick of the eyes to take in the shape, the roundness and smooth curves. That was all he needed, and all he got.

Six Six Three was wearing a heavy vest of some kind. Buckled tightly around her neck and clipped into waiting ports on the hips of her suit. It masked her figure from Jeff’s eyes, but was also pock marked by a number of small burns. The smell of burnt metal reached Jeff’s nose and the sight of something just vaguely smoldering on the bench indicated what she had been working on.

“Sorry, I’m not interrupting, am I?” Jeff asked.

“Nah, I was just resoldering some very intricate components on the forward shield generator. Nothing important.” The light sarcasm in her voice reminded him very much of any number of quips that Aria might have made.

“Uhm. That seems kinda important.”

“Eventually, sure. Captain isn’t likely to let us crash into an asteroid while he’s in his chair. We’ll be fine.” She said with a small smile and a wink. “You wanted to chat though?”

Jeff stepped fully into the room at that point, feeling the door slide into place behind him, leaving him alone in the room with the android. As the light from the hall was cut off, he realized how shadowy the room was. The overhead lights in the space were concentrated over the workbenches and little else. All of them cast Six Six Three into a weird space of light and shadow.

The light from the hall had provided enough light to see her smooth and plainly pretty face, all framed in the short cropping of hair on her head. There was a small undershave to it, but the pixie cut hair still swept over one side. Her eyes, now cast into the shadow of her own eye sockets, were some kind of bright color, maybe a blue? It was hard to tell when Jeff’s eyes had been travelling elsewhere when the light had been present.

Still visible was the plastic sheen to her skin. Somehow more pronounced now that there was no subtle, diffused light. Only harsh whiteness from the overhead lighting contrasted with the shadows. What light it could catch was reflected brightly.

“Yeah, I- Uh- My dad does this kind of stuff.” Jeff swept his hand over the broad spectrum of electronics, wires, cables, dangling bits and pieces, tools, and tubing in the room.

“Starship maintenance?” Six Six Three asked.

“Well, no, machines and robots and stuff.”

She nodded, seeming to understand. The movement catching more of the light and reflecting it to Jeff.

“Are you interested in doing the same thing?” Six Six Three asked.

“More or less.” Jeff replied.

“And you came here to steal my secret tricks of the trade.” She said, squinting at Jeff.

He was stunned for a moment. “Wh- N- No I just wanted to-”

Six Six Three burst into laughter. It was a strange digital sound. It was tinny and clearly synthetic, though Jeff had no clue how the sound was produced. If it was just a pre-recorded sound, then it must have sounded clearer, even playing from a speaker set. This sounded like an actual sound that would be made by a person, though there was just something to it that was uncanny and artificial. Once she began speaking again, Jeff couldn't help but notice that same quality in her voice, if he listened hard for it.

“I’m kidding. Don’t take anyone on this crew seriously.” She warned.

Awash after the sarcasm, Jeff found himself chuckling along with her. It went a long way to settling his nervous energy. Feeling more at ease, he stepped in a little more and leaned against one of the counters, making sure he didn’t lean into some kind of stain or unfinished project.

“What did you really want to talk about Jeff?” Six Six Three asked.

Lies and misdirections would be no use against a robot. She was clearly either too logical or had some kind of speech pattern recognition that linked to a database of psychological tells. She’d see right through him.

“Captain said I was the first android you had ever met, I can only assume it has to do with that.”

Oh. The captain had told her…

“Yeah, I just…I’m curious. My dad knows all about your kind and if I have to be confined to a spaceship with one, I might as well learn a bit. You know?”

Six Six Three’s smirk was a little condescending. It wasn’t the concept, far from it. Continued education was always important, it was more the way Jeff had referred to her. Terms were important, especially to robots.

“First, you should know, most modern robots find it pretty offensive when you point out that we are different from humans. I’m fully sentient and sapient. I know what I am, and I could choose to act very mechanical, but I’m choosing to act like a human. Mostly because humans have a hard time accepting something that doesn’t look and sound like they do. That’s what led to all kinds of suffering in the past. Choose someone who doesn’t look or sound like you, convince everyone they are less than human, subjugate.”

Jeff felt a new kind of blush spreading over his face.

“Don’t worry about it though. I’m not offended, but I wanted to point it out to you so that you knew how to treat other androids.” She slipped off of her stool and stood up. She was slightly smaller than Jeff, but still managed to seem on equal footing with him. She thrust out her hand and smiled, warm and welcoming.

“So, Jeff, Nice to meet you. I’m SIx Six Three. Most people just call me Six.” She looked to the side for a moment, “except Ruber. He calls me egg.”

“Egg?”

She laughed and returned to her stool. “Apparently if you rotate Six Six Three, it looks like it spells the word egg.”

Jeff stopped for a second, mentally conjured up an image of the three numbers and then rotated them. Sure enough…

“Do..you like that name?” He asked.

Six Six Three smiled at Jeff. “No one ever asked me before. So I hadn’t really thought it through. But you know what, yeah I think I do.”

“Alright, then, egg. What else should I know about androids?”

“Well, androids are boy robots, gynoids are female.”

The next hour and a half was filled with some legitimately enjoyable conversation. At some point, Six Six Three returned to her work on the shield generating computer she had been working on when Jeff had entered, but she let him know that she was delighted to keep chatting. Jeff found it easier and easier to keep his eyes off of her, which may have been a result of him getting to know her on a more personal level, and seeing her less as an object of lust, or perhaps it was because he had gotten plenty of glances at her body.

She managed to explain the very basics of how a robot's mind worked though. How processes linked to an operating system and how those processes in turn worked together to make her have a real personality and make her a real person. She explained that there was no practical difference between a human mind that generated thoughts on its own, since those thoughts were ultimately based on all the knowledge a person had acquired. Just replace the word ‘knowledge’ with ‘programmed database’.

Philosophical implications aside, Jeff had a truly delightful time listening to Egg ramble on about how her mind worked. She had a full comprehension of how it would operate and how specifically to manage it, and she could manage it. Jeff commented that he often didn’t know why his brain did what it did.

The conversation turned after that. Egg asked if he knew anything about the actual operation and maintenance of the physical parts of a robot. How to recognize one in distress and how to perform even basic maintenance. He didn’t but he also recalled what his father had taught him about machines. How many of the obvious problems were actually caused by something small and usually insignificant.

Egg confirmed that and actually turned back to him with a smile.

“You want a practical example?” She asked.

“Sure!” Jeff replied.

Egg rolled up the sleeve on her right arm. Below it the plastic coating that served as her skin shone all the brighter as she laid her arm on the workbench, palm up. Jeff stepped closer, his heart pounding as he came closer to the gynoid. He could see her forearm, and the small seam lines that were set into it.

“Ok, so, my hand here. I can move my fingers and everything.” As she spoke, she moved each finger individually.

“Pretty normal movement, but-” She barely shivered as a command was formulated in her operating system. The command opened a small panel just below her wrist. Inside were tangles of wires all pinned back, but just inside of the panel were a number of thin metal cables. As Egg moved her fingers, those cables clicked and moved.

“See those?” Jeff nodded and looked up at her face from her exposed electronics. “Those are tension strands. They move my fingers. But, if one wasn’t working.”

She hooked her finger under one of the cables and wiggled it up and off of the small mechanism that the end of it was looped around. The cable went slack, so did the other cables that she had not touched.

“Now I can’t move any of my fingers, try as I might.”

The sound of the control mechanism inside of her arm clicked and clattered, but there was no movement. Just one cable wasn’t connected, but none of the other ones were working either.

“They’re all connected. Because moving them without all of them working might cause a cable to get caught in the mechanisms, then it would get tangled, and possibly tear my whole arm completely apart.”

“Whoa.”

“Whoa indeed.” Egg replied. “It’s happened too. Older generations of my exact model had all kinds of problems. So they redesigned everything so that when one little thing goes wrong, the whole system shuts down. It sucks, but it's safer that way.”

Jeff nodded along. He had gotten his first glance into how a robot actually operated. It was on a small scale, and in a very controlled environment, but as he watched Egg reattach the tension cable to the control mechanism in her arm, utilizing a screwdriver to wiggle it back into place, he couldn’t help but wonder what other parts of her internal working were like. Moreover, he felt a weird shock of arousal at that thought.

He thanked her, a platitude that she waved off. It was clear that she was always happy to help and more than that, happy to impart information on something she was clearly passionate about. Jeff made a move to stand and make for the door, and Egg stretched her arms above her head.

“I suppose it is about quitting time.” She said as she set down the thing she was working on. “You should see about getting Ruber to make dinner.”

The dawning realization that he hadn’t eaten since a hastily consumed breakfast hit Jeff hard once Egg mentioned it. His stomach grumbled at him.

“I guess so. Will you be joining us?” A hopeful tone laced Jeff’s question.

“Nah. I’ll just head to my bunk and plug in. Us robot types don't actually need to eat.”

Something about the way she said that gave Jeff pause.

“You don’t need to but-”

“But I can, sure. I just don’t. There’s a whole substance storage thing in me, and cleaning it out is a hassle without water. So, you know.”

Sonic sinks and showers would certainly make it hard to clean out..whatever was in her..Still he pressed his lips together into a small, but disappointed smile and nodded before leaving the engineering room.

The hall smelled of something edible. Heavily seasoned foods of some kind filled his nose and only made his stomach growl more greedily. He had to agree, it might not have smelled of moms home cooking, but given the circumstances it smelled delightful.

The word cafeteria did some heavy lifting to describe the actual space. There was a kitchenette, cold storage, and two tables. THey were polished and clean, wearing that same coat of white paint. The room's only color came from the blue in Ruber’s flight uniform and Aria’s lavender hair. She was sitting at one of the tables, her cheek resting against her fist and looking at nothing in particular. Ruber was over at the stove, shaking a pan of some kind and jostling the contents of it.

Aria looked up as Jeff came in, a quick flash or recognition and a smile grew across her face. Ruber also turned and waved once at Jeff as he took up a position across from Aria.

“Where have you been?” She asked.

“I was hanging out with Egg”

“Egg!” Ruber shouted over the sizzle of whatever he was cooking, Aria looked over at him and then back to Jeff in confusion.

“I’ll explain later.” Jeff commented. “She was teaching me about robots and gynoids and stuff.”

“Oh, cool.” Aria commented dryly.

“Where’s mom and Mel?” Jeff asked.

Aria shook her head slightly and twisted her hand into a claw and made a mock swipe at Jeff once.

“More for us I guess.” Jeff said and Aria agreed.

Two plates of some kind of food appeared in front of them. White rice, some kind of spiced orange sauce, small green vegetables of some kind, and something else.

“Rice, curry, and chicken flavored protein dense meat substitute.” Ruber said “bon appetit”

It could have been chicken flavored mush for all Jeff’s stomach cared. He dug in and didn’t stop until his plate was scraped clean. Likewise Aria made short work of her plate as well. It was spicy, buttery, and the chicken flavored whatever-it-was wasn’t nearly as terrible as the name sounded. All in all, it was a delight. The first meal in space had turned out surprisingly well.

Captain Liber had been right, Ruber was something of a savant when it came to spicing up the food in the ration packages.

It was a shame there were precious few of those meals Ruber would be able to prepare for Jeff.

Chapter Five

The least Jeff could do was offer to do the dishes. Ruber wasn’t about to argue with that proposal, even if it was part of his job. The captain wasn’t likely to shove him out an airlock and accuse him of mutiny for letting one of the passengers clean up the kitchen. For Jeff’s part it was a nice little distraction. With his hands gently vibrating from the sonic sink he didn’t have to think about Melody and his mom’s argument. Not that he thought they would be anything but perfectly fine after a good night’s sleep, but no one wanted to think of their parents and siblings fighting.

It was awkward, and Jeff wasn’t about to pick sides, though that didn’t stop him from rolling the argument around in his mind. Dramatic though it might have been, he didn’t have enough information to really take sides. But whatever it was, it had to be really off putting. Melody was usually a lot more accommodating, especially with her treatment. That clicked a lightbulb on in Jeff’s mind. Whatever it was it had to be related to some kind of ongoing treatment for Melody’s illness. Maybe space travel did something to the antibodies?

Who knew? Not Jeff that’s for sure.

The last of the dishes had the food scraps on them pulverized by sonic waves. Ruber had told Jeff that each one needed a quick spritz with a sanitizing solution and then they could be left out to “dry.” Ruber had even used his fingers to make air quotes around the word dry. That would suggest wetness, which was crazy. There was, of course, water on board. It was strictly rationed though, much like the food. On the way out of the kitchen Jeff scanned his thumbprint on the food storage locker, punched in his request for a bottle of water, and a moment later had it dispensed to him.

“Mmm, lukewarm,” Jeff muttered as he stepped out of the kitchen and began to head up the hall towards observation, and beyond that, his room. He paused for a moment outside of the engineering room, just before the archway into the observation deck. It was faint, but on the other side of the door was the smallest little crackling sound.

It was something Jeff was familiar with, he had heard it hundreds of times from the garage at home. His father would be leaning over some piece of machinery or in rare cases one of the agricultural or construction androids. Nothing nearly as elegant or..sensual..Jeff shook his head…nothing as sophisticated as Egg was, but every bit as complicated.

Jeff could see him now, big and barrel chested, his sleeves rolled up only to be covered with a heavy leather smock of some kind. His face shield stretching above his head, around the sides, and down to just about the neck. Each time he heard the sizzling crackle of the welding wand everything would light up in the presence of the small sun that flashes at the end of the wand.

Sparks flew and a whisper of smoke rose from whatever he was working on. Jeff would never forget the blinding brightness of those first few welds that he saw without proper face shielding. His father had stopped the instant Jeff’s presence was known, but it was too late, a purple and orange stain appeared in the center of Jeff’s vision and for a long while all he could do was blink and let his eyes water.

Even the smell of metal, so hot it temporarily liquified and melded into another sheet of metal, crept into the edges of Jeff’s senses. He was absolutely sure that the sealed door to the engineering room would keep out the smell, and yet it tickled the perimeter of his nose. It was there, just a fleeting moment of it, and then it was gone. Along with the memories of his father and his childhood. Replaced but the thrum of engines and the oppressively quiet field of stars they were soaring through.

He wanted to knock on the door and talk with the android inside. He wanted to learn more from her, but if he was being honest he wanted to see more of her internal workings.

There was something so oddly intimate to him about that. To his human mind it felt like she had shed her clothes and somehow still had something more to expose, something more vulnerable to show off to him. It would have been like him peeling back the skin on his own chest and letting a stranger stare at his still beating heart. The raw amount of trust it would take to be exposed like that was far beyond Jeff’s comprehension.

It wasn’t just the exposure either. Egg had shown him who she was, who she really was. Not just showed him but explained it in such easy terms. He wondered what else she could show him, what other glimpses he could catch. It was intoxicating to think about and before long his mind began to wander elsewhere. To the curves of her chest as she peeled back her flight suit and exposed her chest. To the way it would, probably, split open and reveal a whirling, blinking, pistoning, mess of circuits and electronics.

He had to focus, or he would stand there drooling all night. Worse, Egg might come out and see him lingering by her door.

With a huff he turned away from the engineering room and headed through the pale archway and into the observation room at the core of their ship. It was just as quiet and empty as the starfield beyond the floor to ceiling windows.

There was a part of Jeff that just wanted to sit and look. To see the lazy drift of infinite space swim past him as he sat in front of those massive windows. To quietly contemplate the sheer chaos of the past day. Packing up the last of his life and boarding a starship and blasting off into deep space. The people he had met, the feat of engineering that went into making a ship that was sturdy enough to resist the lurking doom of the vacuum of space while still being comfortable enough to just sit and look.

On the other hand, he could go to his room, lay on his bed and dream of what all budding adult boys dream of.

Space would always be there.

Jeff’s little room was just past the archway leading into the rear of the ship. To his right he could hear the hum of electronics, just barely behind the thin plastic wall casing. The hall was studded with doors, his was first, Aria next, then Melody and finally his mother. Ruber was currently outside of the door at the far end of the hall, it stood open as he remained half in and half out of the threshold.

Leaning against the wall Jeff could make out the mature curves of his mother. Monica was chatting, giggling, and from where Jeff stood, flirting with the second in command. Likewise he was chuckling about something that his mother had just said. It was deep and rich and genuine. Jeff’s eyes darted back and forth between the two of them, and in that time Ruber noticed Jeff’s presence at the end of the hall. More evidence that his eyes had been clinging to his mother instead of the rest of the environment.

“Well, I better get some sleep. I’m on shift in a few hours and I should really be somewhat well rested.” Ruber said. He looked up the hall at Jeff, as if he had only just noticed him for the first time. “G’night Jeff.”

With that he turned and slipped through the door and into the crew quarters beyond. Jeff pressed his lips together and looked at his mom. He wasn’t sure if she caught on to the somewhat disappointed feeling he was experiencing, but she offered back a small, tight lipped smile. Then the door to her room slipped open and she stepped through it, letting it slide closed with a hiss.

With the suddenness of the encounter out of the way Jeff stepped into his own room. He let out a small huff, and with it whatever strange emotional jealousy he might have been feeling. As moments slipped past the innocence of the situation settled into place, and Jeff realized that there was nothing to worry about. It was just the crew being friendly with their passengers. Nothing more.

Stripping out of his shirt and tossing it across the room, perhaps with more force than was strictly necessary, Jeff flopped onto the bed. It was a little tricky to angrily flop onto a bed that was more of a shelf with a mattress, but he managed.

Breath in, deep. He told himself. Then let it all out.

It was something Aria had told him in one of the many times he had been angry or frustrated about something. The actual subject of his anger had been long forgotten, but the lesson was still there. She had just told him to breathe, not just that, but to actually really focus on it. That small shift was enough to let things settle into their proper places in his mind. He knew his mother well enough, she was a good and loving person, she wasn’t flirting with anyone, it was just a conversation. Another breath. He reminded himself of who his mother really was. She wouldn’t squander her relationship with Jeff’s father for some handsome looking spacer.

That wasn’t who she was, he reminded himself.

It took a few more loops around his brain before the message started to settle into place. As he let go of the frustration it was easily replaced with other mental images. Home. Long fields of tall grains swaying in a gentle breeze. The feeling of the icy bitter cold air on his skin as he went sledding with his sisters. The feeling in the pit of his stomach as he looked at the vast space beyond the windows of the ship for the first time.

Egg..her hand on the bench in front of her..The mechanisms inside of it.

If Jeff’s mind had been standing on the precipice of a cavern, imagining home and ice and space; remembering that Egg was a machine sent him careening back into one of the more unexpectedly sensual places in his mind.

He tumbled headlong into visions of the pretty feminine robot. There was no pretext this time. He didn’t need to trick his mind into crafting a scenario where she came to his room and seduced him, or that he employed some latent hacking skills. She was just there, naked as the day she had been assembled and ready for Jeff.

She was smiling, genuine joy on her face. She wanted this, she wanted Jeff to be there with her. She was happy to move her hands up to her bare chest and push on something between her breasts. The click it produced, Jeff would have sworn he heard it in his ears. The whining of servos and motors too.

Her chest split in half, raised off of her torso an inch or so and then slid apart on some kind of rail system inside of her. Realistically it was probably impossible, but in Jeff’s aroused mind it was perfectly logical. As her chest revealed the complicated array of wires and circuit boards crammed inside of her slender torso, Jeff’s hand was already sliding down his own body.

In his mind the robotic woman mewled and moaned for him, happy to have him fondle both her internals and her breasts. In his mind he was inside of her, pumping hard in and out of the artificial slit between her legs, all while his own hand provided the physical stimulation to match.

Jeff, in his little bunk, was panting and squirming. His hips thrusts synchronized with the scene playing out in his head. Egg was moaning and squirming too, her exposed robotics spurring Jeff forward. He had never thought that the sight of a woman, exposed as a robot, would be so very erotic to him. The mere idea that right now he was on the ship, stuffed full of cables and fiber optics. Blinking LED lights and whirring servo motors. A complicated machine sculpted to look like a woman in every possible way, or so Jeff assumed.

He couldn’t ever be sure if there was a soft vaginal entry for him between her legs, or if her breasts were packed with silicone gel or if they were just hard plastic and given a feminine shape. None of it truly mattered, he knew he was unlikely to ever actually touch or see her that way. But in his fantasy, she was perfect, soft, willing, and sensual. All for him.

At a certain point the chemical cocktail created by too many lustful thoughts halted the moving images his mind created, leaving only lingering flashes of Egg’s body there. Chest split apart and a vague concept of her internals rather than a firm grasp of what they looked like. It was enough though, and soon enough Jeff gently arched his back into one final thrust and burst, making a right mess of things.

The sonic sink took care of most of what was on his hands. The rest was wiped off on his shirt and pants just moments before being tossed into the laundry compartment.

It had only been a day, just a single day, but it seemed long and wild and chaotic. Jeff didn’t realize just how much it had worn him out until he was satisfied physically and laying in bed. The Softness of the blanket on his bed against his bare skin. His arm thrust under the pillow that allowed his neck to be in alignment with his back. It was comfortable enough, not like his bed at home, but it would do. Home..somewhere out there in space.

He pulled the curtain over his little viewport window out of the way and stared off into space. From where he was laying it seemed like nothing was moving, save for a few little particles that flashed past from time to time. There was no frame of reference for him to know just how fast they were going. The sheer screaming speed of their ship didn’t register in his exhausted mind. He just looked into the darkness. So deep was the vastness of space that he barely realized his eyes were slipping closed and drifting off to sleep.

Astronomers, in ages long past, looked up at the sky and beheld its beauty. Before the world was polluted with clouds and lights that drowned out the night sky, early humans could gaze upon the heavenly lights and see them arrayed in all their splendor. Those early humans could see just how crowded the sky was with its star clusters, swirling galaxies, and unbeknownst to them, planets too.

Those far off galaxies were painted on the dark canvass of the heavens. There were so many bodies floating there in the sky overhead. The fools tried to count them, but failed. Others plotted the slow course across their field of vision. Math and science soon learned to track those movements and calculate their trajectories. Then we invented ways to look into the night sky and see what was really out there. We invented a way to zoom in on those stars and planets and floating objects.

To our horror we found that for every cluster of stars that we could see with our naked eyes, there were vast swathes of nothingness. Two close pin pricks of light from earth were actually two distant galaxies with nothing but empty void filling the space between them. For as crowded as the sky was to someone on the ground, when viewed through the lens of a telescope it was found to be jam packed with nothingness. Just an inky blackness that stretched on and on.

For all the existential dread that stirred in people’s hearts and minds, it meant that space travel was far more safe. Gliding through that nothingness soon felt like sailing on a vast open sea. A gentle cruise where we only vaguely had to watch out for icebergs. Even then, computers and technology took care of that for us. A myriad of methods arose for detecting anything that might be a danger to the hull of a starship. Larger objects could be avoided, or in extreme cases annihilated by bolts of hot plasma. Anything smaller would bounce harmlessly off of high powered energy shields encasing the craft.

Space travel, they said, was more safe than driving a hover-car across an open plane.

A mostly true statement.

The problem with mathematical calculations and predictions is that just because the math is right, does not mean you have crafted truth. A tremendous amount of time and energy went into making sure that plotting a course from one planet to the next was safe. Every little thing was taken into account. Food and water were rationed to keep costs low, high powered computer plotted courses, and the very latest galactic data was taken into account. Everything was in its place, the math had been done, then re-done, then done one last time. All the answers aligned. Everything was in place.

At the moment that the calculation was done, it was correct. Everything was fine. What wasn’t correct was the results. Changes happen. The larger the sample size of your calculation the more opportunity there is for variables. The more opportunity for chaos.

Some distance from the Mirum’iter, well out of even deep space scanning technology, something was changing the equation.

It wasn’t so much that something zigged when it should have zagged. It was a massive stone, lazily floating through the nothingness. It didn’t care about luggage, and families, and robots. It just was. It was content to just be. Unfortunately as it gently sailed along that sea of nothingness, another ship approached. The rock was right in the way. The captain of this little ship, some freighter carrying cargo from one place to another, couldn’t be bothered to go around. That would add time to the delivery schedule and they were already behind.

The guns mounted on the top weapons gimbal were hot, they were always hot, that's the way the captain liked it. It was just him out here alone in his ship, and the amount of time it would take to reroute power to the guns and get them warmed up was almost as unacceptable as going around some meteoroid.

Targeting was automatic, and once the computer had a lock on the rock all that needed to happen was a small trigger pull. The captain's hand fell from his control console to the targeting stick; he couldn’t move the guns without disabling the computer, but he could squeeze the trigger.

There were no fantastic sounds or science fiction reactions to the guns. The captain knew they had fired because of a single three round burst of light on his display and the smallest little thump from somewhere above him. He didn’t even hear it over the music blasting inside of the cabin. He did see the bright orange streaks slam into the space rock. Over and over and over until the rock was cleared out of his way. There was still debris, but his computer told him that the route was now safe. He trusted that assessment and plowed ahead.

He could hear the little stones hit his energy shields and bounce harmlessly off. They would float off into space and cause him no more trouble. As he plowed into the field of rock chunks his music slammed into a screaming loud guitar solo, the captain pulled up a mock guitar and played along. Blissfully unaware of the catastrophe he had just caused for the Mirum’iter.

As the ship plowed forward, guitar solo fading into the ringing ears of her captain, the small chunks of space rock kept their momentum. The energy shield had nudged so many of them out of the way, but the physics of movements worked differently in an environment with no gravity. There was no air resistance to slow down a chunk of molten hot space rock. They just drifted on and on until something else got in their way or they were bounced off of something else.

Unfortunately, in space, there was nothing but emptiness between a particularly fast moving cluster of space debris and the intended course that the Mirum’iter was plotted to sail through.

Chapter Six

Aria had long finished sitting in the commons and staring vaguely off into the stars beyond. It was beautiful for sure, but there was little to look at. Actually look at. Despite the grandeur of hurtling through space and being able to gaze out at it, there was actually not much to look at. Blackness, stars, swirling galaxies, but the view never changed. The scope of the universe beyond the thick glassy material was so immense that it seemed unmovable.

That hadn’t stopped her from hugging her legs tight against her chest and looking though. She had drawn a bit, journalled a bit and eventually found herself ready for bed. The dishes were still clattering in the kitchen as Jeff scrubbed at them, or whatever the sonic equivalent of scrubbing was. The co-pilot, or was it first mate? Ruber, was that his name? Aria cursed herself for being so bad with names, had come out of the kitchen and had spotted Aira, waved at her and received a polite smile and wave in return, then he had stepped into the cockpit.

When the door had opened, that’s when Aria had spotted the captain.

She had spotted him when he had greeted her family on the ship and toured them around a little, but then he had disappeared into the captain's seat for the remainder of the day. Behind a locked door. In that time he had clearly become a little more comfortable. The official cap he had worn before was gone, leaving a somewhat longer mop of hair on his head. It was pulled back into a small ponytail. His jacket was also gone, leaving just his white trousers and his light blue flight shirt.

His chest below it was covered, for sure, but even from down the hallway Aria could tell what it hid. Strong shoulders, a toned chest, and surely a body that was kept fit and ready for space travel. Maybe it was a whole day of sitting in the cockpit, or maybe it had been there before, but the hint of scruff across his face seemed to present itself as well.

Aria felt the heat spreading across her cheeks, down her throat and across her chest. The feeling of her heart thumping against her ribs was ever present as well. The frantic feeling of hot blush and coursing blood caused her to look away, back to the empty void of space. But it wasn’t long before she ventured a look back up at the captain.

He and First mate Ruber were talking about something in the doorway to the front of the ship. Ruber had his arms folded over his chest, gesturing with one hand from time to time. Liber leaned against the door jamb, one hand on his hip while the other was thrust into a pocket on his pants. The conversation wasn’t a long one, and soon the captain nodded, turned back to the cockpit, and the door slipped into place.

Aria snapped her attention back to the space beyond the ship before Ruber could see that she had been watching them. She tried to control her breathing, but it was still coming in small, shallow gasps, which did her heart rate no favors.

Ruber walked down the hall, through the observation lounge and passed behind Aria. She was unsure if he noticed her disposition or even looked at her. A moment later she heard some kind of small commotion at the end of the hall and then heard Ruber and her mother’s voice. She looked down the hall to see them chatting, and took the opportunity to move down that same hall and into her room.

She was certain that Ruber and her mother would have heard the door open and then close, so she made sure to keep her head down and her eyes locked on nothing but her feet until the door was closed. Even then she held her breath until she was fully across the room and curled up on her bed to let out the small squeak of a breath she held in her lungs.

It had been a while since she felt this way about someone, anyone, let alone a man older than her. Not by much, maybe a handful of years, but there was something searing about him that had struck Aria hard. She had been so distraught about leaving her home behind, and fearful about space travel that her brain had locked into that sweet artistic mode. The kind of sweet detachment from reality that some might misread as being a bit of an airhead.

That was far from it. In those times Aria detached from the world around her, she was living a full life inside of her own mind. Details about the world around her mushed together into a muddy and distracting swirl until she could truly observe them. As was the case from earlier in the day. The captain was a single muddy and undefined entity. To Aria’s mind he was little more than a placeholder with a voice.

Now though, she had seen him. She had observed him and took him in. More than that, he had lodged himself in her mind and carved a distinct path to the recesses of her young adult brain. It was an easy path for someone as handsome as Liber to walk.

Aria’s mind played with him. It stripped him of his flight jacket and shirt then placed her imaginary hands on that body. It was hard as stone and perfectly warm. The heat enveloped her like sliding into a perfectly drawn bath. She could practically feel his arms on her, they were on her hips now. Moving upward, under her shirt, reaching to her bra and bunching up her shirt in the process.

As Liber’s imagined hand slinked its way up Aria’s torso to her covered breasts, Aria obliged her senses and moved her own hand along the same hot trail the imagined hand had moved. As she reached her own breast, she pushed her fingers hard against her ribs and slipped them under the wire of her bra.

The warmth and clammy presence of her own hand on her body drew a hastily breathed gasp from her throat. She wasn’t done though. Liber was groping at her and so too did she massage her breast. Those gropes became more and more aggressive as Liber’s imagined visage became more sensual. Oh how Aria wished she could feel those hands, hard from years of work, on her body. The heat of his body pressed against hers. She longed for the weight of his hand on her shoulder, pushing her into the bed as his other hand found its way to her crotch.

Her own hand did the work Liber’s imagined hand could not. She had no trouble sliding it into the waistband around her bottoms and then into the scant elastic of her panties. Just a little further…

She imagined Liber dragging those bottoms off of her hips. His passion wild and unrestrained made him toss them aside, landing across the room along with dignity and social norms, where it belonged. She wanted him, she needed him. Her body, still unspoiled, was ready to be filled by him. Her mind removed his flight suit as well, no need for imagined scenarios. He was naked and on her, penetrating her deeply.

She wanted so badly to cry out. To moan with all due lustful desires spilling from her lips. Her mind was still sharp enough to remember that her mother and the co-pilot were just outside of her room, and she held no assumptions that these walls were thick enough to stifle her passion.

So two of her own fingers toyed at the very outer edges of her feminine lips. The small amount of pressure wasn’t enough to part them and allow her deeper inside, but it was warm and delightful. It was the sip of wine to tease the palate. Her hips were not so invested in small, subtle movements and lust strung out. They wanted release, and her mind agreed.

Thrusting upwards, pushing her own fingers into her slit, Aria found herself letting out a long ragged breath. It was louder than she would have wanted, but, she was sure, not loud enough to tip off anyone lurking in the hall. Her hips bucked again as the ghostly mental image of Liber’s hard manhood drove into her again and again. She matched his imagined rhythm, or rather it adjusted the mental image to match her pace. It was wild and fast, and Liber was glad to keep up.

The hand on her breast groped hard, squeezing and moving until she had her own nipple in between her fingers and pinched it just enough. Not so hard as to cause her pain, or worse, to send a feverish tickle rippling through her, but more than enough that the imagined teeth inside of the equally unreal Liber’s mouth could add a bit of bite. She moaned softly again, ensuring her voice was low.

Soon her hips and fingers were working hard, pumping up and down. She grew wet and sticky, but it was worth it. She needed this release, she needed it more than she needed food or air or water. It was the single most important thing to her at that moment. She didn’t care about anything, just the frantic, electric feeling of something pressed against her clit.

Her head pressed hard against her pillow as the pressure mounted to a crescendo inside of her hips. Liber’s face, his hands, his body, his cock…all evaporated as if it were smoke on a cold day. Traces of it lingered longer than others, but soon there was nothing left.

In that moment the hand on her breast squeezed tightly, holding on for dear life and sending burning sensations to her brain. Equally so, her fingers stiffened and she let the motion of her hips carry out the remainder of her endeavor. Her back arched and her hips thrust up into her waiting fingers. With mouth open and the fear that she might make too much noise, she let out a long, strangled but ultimately quiet squeak.

Her climax subsided and all she felt was heat. Her face was flushed and red, her chest heaved and felt equally warm. Her hand remained on her still wet slit. She would pant and breathe deeply for another moment or two before extracting her hands from herself and planning to head into her small bathroom to clean up her hand. Each deep breath hurt her chest in just the right way.

WIth her brain still flooded with a chemical mixture of pleasure and lust, she found her legs uncooperative. So she lay on her bed for a few more moments until the tension in her muscles subsided and allowed her to move properly again.

At the same time Aria was imagining all manner of sexual desires surrounding captain Liber, the actual captain was in the cockpit of his ship. There was little for him to actually do here aside from monitor the vast array of instruments and monitor screens in front of him. The little holographic projection of the surrounding star system glowed with a somewhat septic green and splashed his face with color from it.

His jacket was dangling from the back of his flight chair and the hat he had worn before was tossed haphazardly onto the dashboard in front of him.

Liber leaned forward, reaching across the array of lights and screens to tap on one of the monitors. It had previously been on a very generic screen, displaying nothing but the Coalition logo and a small animated emblem that lazily spun round and round. As his hand came close though the screen flickered for a moment and changed back to a new view filled with data and charts.

It flickered again and returned to the lock screen, when it did, Liber furrowed his brow. It wasn’t supposed to do that. He pulled back his hand and then brought it forward to the screen again. It flickered, unlocked and displayed the data for a moment or two before flickering again and returning to the Coalition lock screen.

Liber seemed to deflate at this, pressing his lips together into a disappointed kind of look. A small huff blew out his nose and he spun in his chair. Placing his hands against the arm rests he practically threw himself out of the chair and landed on the hard soles of his boots. He marched to the door and gently opened it, peering out of the cockpit for a moment before quietly slipping into the hall.

Turning the corner and peeking up the hall he could see that there was no one in the kitchen, no one in observation, and he heard nothing but the gentle sizzle of welding coming from the engineering room halfway up the hall. No one was around to see him and the captain preferred to keep it that way.

The captain placed his hand on the small reader next to the engineering room. He expected a small beep of confirmation but it never came. That figured. He pulled his hand back and placed it on the reader again. Nothing. One more time, he pulled his hand back, shook it vigorously and affixed a mean stare at it for a moment and then slapped it against the reader. Nothing.

The sound of a gentle tapping, a simple three knock rhythm, drew Six Six Three’s attention. The robotic woman looked up from the sprawl of wires and circuitry she had been working on all day long. The job was close to being done, but not yet. She clicked off the welding wand in her hand and waited for a few moments as it cooled before setting it down. As she waited another round of knocks reverberated against her door.

“Just a sec.” She called.

The welding wand, cool enough, came to rest in a small cradle on Six Six Three’s messy but well loved workbench. She got up from her stool and walked to the door. She pressed a button above a small view screen. Her artificial intellect had anticipated a late night visit. She smirked as the little view screen came to life. Her operating system hadn’t expected the captain, and on seeing him there, outside her door, wiped the expression from her face plate.

She tapped another button and the door whooshed open. Her body rigidly stood at attention and she sharply muttered ‘captain’ before he nodded at her.

“You know you don’t have to do that outside of port. Not with me.” He said, almost amused, as he walked into her space.

“Can’t help it. It’s-”

“Yeah yeah, it’s in your programming. I know.” The captain said. “At ease.”

He knew he had to say it for her to settle down, and as she did he could see the relief sweep over her. She clearly hated it as much as Liber did.

“Well captain, to what do I owe the honor of a late night visit? Come to do another system check on me?” The smirk and wink indicated that while she hadn’t been expecting him tonight, his presence certainly was a welcome surprise.

“Not while I’m on shift Sixes, you know that.” His statement seemed to disappoint her. “Something isn’t right with my palm authenticator. It’s not consistently transmitting.”

Six Six Three returned to her stool and patted the work surface just in front of whatever it was she was working on. Liber took his cue and rolled up the sleeve on his flight shirt until it was bunched up just past his elbow. He brought his other hand up to the soft patch of flesh in the crook of his elbow and pressed his thumb hard into it.

With a gentle sigh of a hiss a small seam line appeared around his arm just below the elbow. His whole forearm was unlocked now and all he needed to do was slide it forward and set it on the workbench for Six Six Three to examine. As she leaned into her work Liber leaned against the wall and let his half missing arm dangle at his side.

The robotic engineer was already poking and prodding at something inside of the upper portion of the arm. Liber watched as his fingers twitched and curled as she manually stimulated his hand to move. He knew better than to express his impatience. Six Six Three would have much rather had Liber leave and let her work, if she wasn’t going to teach or fix she’d rather be alone, but to her credit she also knew that wouldn’t happen.

Soon enough she flipped the arm and hand over, placing it palm down on the workspace and running a razor thin blade under the joint between wrist and hand. She didn’t have to push in too far before she was able to pop open a panel on the back of the hand. It had been practically invisible to anyone who hadn’t been looking specifically for it. Inside was the same kind of tangled and messy circuitry she had inside of her.

Hidden below the control surfaces and wiring was what she was looking for. A short range burst authenticator system. It was what allowed Liber to use anything and everything in the ship. This wouldn’t be the first time the chip itself had come loose and required Six Six Three to force it back into place and manually reconnect a loose wire. It was always a frustrating and precise task, but that’s why the Coalition employed android engineers.

Liber, to his credit, remained silent as he watched his mechanic prod tools into the back of his hand, but his own operating system allowed his bubbling thoughts to stay locked inside log files. Perhaps ten minutes in total were required for the precise hands to adjust the chip and get it into place once again. Once done though, Six Six Three simply set her tools down, closed up the panel and held up the arm.

When Liber reached out for it though, she pulled it annoyingly just out of his grasp.

“Payment is due you know.” She said, her voice dark and enticing.

“Six, come on, I’m on duty. You know I can’t do that.”

Six Six Three smirked and moved Liber’s hand down to her thigh and placed it against her flight suit. She manually moved it back and forth, up and down.

“Who said you have to do anything?” She said with a wink.

Liber couldn’t help but smile at that, she had him there. But he needed to get back to work.

“Rain check? My shift is over in six hours.”

“Aww shoot, I’ll be recharging then.” Six Six Three teased and then pursed her lips. She swiveled cutely back and forth on her stool and looked pitifully up at Liber. “I know I gave you the command to stop the logging script..just a few minutes. C’mon.”

Liber huffed. She was insatiable sometimes. But it couldn’t hurt. He tried to hide the growing smile, masking it under exasperated frustrations, but the smile broke through regardless. That was when Six Six Three knew she had won.

While Liber reattached his arm Six Six Three stood and approached him. His arm had barely locked into place and his operating system connected to it before she was pushing him against the wall. Their lips met and Liber melted into it. His arms rose to embrace her and press her body hard against him. He was already running the commands Six Six Three had given him to disengage his logging, no one at the Coalition needed to know what was happening here.

Her hands were already roaming down his torso, fingertips gliding and moving over the body he had been built with. Her own mechanical fingertips finding their way down to the buckle on his pants. She would need them gone, and soon. Once undone, Liber did his part to try and step out of them and reveal the aftermarket android penis he had installed. Slightly larger than average, and ready to go at his command, Six Six Three’s hand fell to it and eagerly began stroking up and down the shaft.

Liber bent forward, just enough for his arms to scoop up Six Six Three and hoist her up. She continued to kiss him, even as he navigated through the engineering bay. He slammed his newly repaired hand against the reader at the far end of the room, the gentle ding of the reader letting him know it worked. At least that confirmed her repairs were still top notch. He kicked open the door into the engine room.

The heat produced by the engines struggled against the industrial strength cooling systems in place. Both mechanisms fighting a losing battle to dominate the temperature of the space. Not that Liber or Six Six Three cared about that. All they needed was the combination bed and charging station that was set up here. It was where Six Six Three would normally be when she wasn’t doing repairs.

Liber and Six Six Three tumbled into the bed. She was working on her own flight suit, trying to work it off of her body and expose herself to her captain. He was ready and waiting, once she was naked, he would be inside of her. There was precious little time for romance right now, and he would probably pay for it later, but for now all that mattered was passion and sex.

A small, annoying alarm was blipping on the command console inside of the cockpit. It was intentionally designed to be an irritation. It demanded attention and for good reason.

The little screen that would have normally been directly in front of Liber, was flashing red. Angry, burning words flashed on the screen too. They also demanded to be paid attention to. Both screamed into an empty cockpit.

“Collision warning. Port side.”

Another alarm, this one different but equally obnoxious joined the chorus.

“Shield generators offline.”

The shield generator controller, still sitting on Six Six Three’s workbench, could have saved them. Had Jeff not come in to interrupt her. Had Liber taken Six Six Three’s advice months ago and gotten the hand module replaced. All for the want of a horseshoe nail.

The field of space rocks, relatively small in comparison, were screaming at the Mirum’iter. They were on a collision course with one another and there was nothing to stop them. Not some other asteroid, not an energy shield, and certainly not the lightweight hull. They were coming and their target would be in sight within moments.

A whole fleet of rocks, some the size of a fist, others the size of a car, roared angrily in empty and open space. The Mirum’iter’s weapon could have stopped them, the shields would have saved them.

Deep and lustful moans, punctuated with deep grunts and equally lustful swear words were cut off in a sharp hail of sound. The first shards of the blasted rock hit the ship, striking it along the port side. A wild orchestra of sounds, each one a scream at a different pitch and timbre, filled the ship.

The crew quarters, and the sleeping first mate inside, were shredded to pieces.

The core electrical room next to the crew quarters was left a sparking, snapping, mess.

The engine room. The lifeblood of the ship was utterly destroyed.

So were the two lovers inside of it.

Chapter Seven

There were plenty of parts on the Mirum’iter that were new..or new-ish. Liber had most recently sprung for a state of the art navigation system. It was the entire reason he had needed Six Six Three to detach his arm weeks ago and install a new authentication chip. She had done a good job installing it, but the card slot inside of Liber's hand had worn down from years of continued operation without proper upgrades. Thus the card slipped and made it hard for him to properly work that navigator.

Had he spent the extra cash he and the crew were owed from the Coalition on upgrades to his ship, and perhaps even his own systems, he would have had a working shield generator as well. Instead he had Six Six Three working round the clock to try to fix, or at least jury rig, the current generator so he could get it back in place and have shielding on the sides and back of his ship instead of just the front.

She had been very close.

Liber's interruption had taken her away from that very task. Likewise the sensual programming that Six Six Three had in place was already running at a higher clip than it would have been otherwise, and the moment Liber walked into her space it had ramped up to fully control her. Jeff had no small role to play in the cataclysmic series of events either. Had he not interrupted Six Six Three earlier to simply chat her up, she could have made more progress on the generator that would have saved her life, or whatever term best applied to the continued operation of an android like her. Though it wasn't entirely his fault either. Six Six Three's database of information, and through it, how she interacted with the world around her, was an amalgamation of so many different data points. Unsurprisingly, when a handsome young man walked into her lab, asking questions about machines, about robotics..about her robotics, something in her was triggered. Jeff's face and build were taken in by her optics and stored away for later. She wasn't ashamed that she was planning on running some very salacious programming later that night just before she recharged. Her plan had been to lay herself out, legs apart and manually stimulating the equipment between her legs. The old fashioned way. Liber's presence had shunted those ideas to the side, she would let him fuck her first, as a warm up. But the long and varied string of events that had been set into motion had other plans for her. A chunk of blasted space rock, just a little larger than your average basketball, slammed into the side of the Mirum’iter. It was one of many, though this one came along with a small fleet of additional rocks as well. Most didn't have enough force to make anything more than a dent in the hull of the ship. Nor did any of the others possess the force to punch through the numerous layers of additional plating and the electronics woven into the skin of the ship. One, though, had been sent rocketing forward from the original meteoroid. It hit hard and it slammed all the way into the very delicate engine in the same room as Liber and Six Six Three were in. The instant it entered the space the hole it had punched was sealed with debris and a large plate that was forcefully torn off of the engine. The friction and violence, mixed with the raw suction of space beyond, merged the pieces together, resealing the ship in that spot. But the damage was done. The engine was hit hard and because of that the tethers and supports that held the thrumming heart of the ship in place fought hard to keep the engine itself in place. But it wouldn't be enough. The engine rocked and the support struts were torn to shreds. One in particular ran from the engine itself up to the ceiling of the engine room where it was bolted in place, firmly above Liber and Six Six Three's naked writhing bodies. About as wide as a hand, from pinky to thumb, and as thick as Liber's wrist, the support strut was torn free and swung down with a mighty violent force. Liber's operating system had just bid him to load and execute the orgasm sequence it had queue’s up for him. Six Six Three was still rolling all of the sexual data up into a neat little package for her to process and tag later tonight, but for now, she too was close to executing her orgasm as well. As Liber thrust deeply one last time, his back arched and a groan of pure delight rolled out of the audio processors in his throat, his eyes were closed and he never saw the support strut slam into his body. It caved in his face plate and completely destroyed the underlying mechanics. His head snapped weirdly forward from the force and once the strut finished tearing his jaw off of his face, it continued to fall. As it did, Liber’s head wobbled on broken servo motors and eventually flopped forward. Nothing about it was recognizable save for it’s position on top of his neck. Six Six Three fared better by some estimates. The strut, having torn apart Liber’s face, finalized its course by mashing into Six Six Three’s throat. She had no time to gurgle or even yelp, all she did was continue to moan softly until the steel crushed the speaker assembly in her throat and all the attached systems. It wasn’t a clean cut, far from it. Six Six Three’s head was severed from what remained of her neck and was sent spinning through the air. It sailed away from the body for only a moment before it hit the floor with a dull, lifeless thump. The processors and electronics inside of it already surging wildly with what remained of the data and power. One eye blinked rapidly, while the other struggled to close even once. Her glassy eyes spasmed and jittered in their sockets and then all at once, stopped. Her face still wrapped in a lewd expression. Liber and Six Six Three’s bodies, meanwhile, writhed and squirmed against one another. There was little to no control to their movements. Hands and arms twitched and subtly spasmed just as much as they occasionally flailed in wide, wild arcs as if swatting at unseen ghosts.

A robot’s construction wasn’t like what you would see in ancient science fiction films. They were not one cohesive unit. Humans were like that, but not sophisticated androids. Six Six Three’s missing head didn’t mean that she was fully offline, far from it. Her core processors were somewhere inside of her chest, along with her power supply, likewise Liber was built to be resilient and could continue operating without his head attached. The more pressing issue was the sheer volume of errors and warnings each were processing at the moment, and those were only getting worse. Each had suffered a catastrophic amount of trauma, and from that systems began to short circuit as wiring that was designed to carry data was subjected to high power electrical currents. Similarly, heavy cabling meant to only carry current in a single direction was assaulted with opposing data and power signals as every component seemed to be mashed into the next. Liber’s operating system was the first to fully lock up and give out. The raw violence done to his face and the internals hiding just below his scruffy exterior, could not carry on. So many different parts in one of the more delicate systems had been mangled and a nearly constant stream of sparks and angry snapping of electricity indicated as much. His operating system was flooded with so many errors that there was no possible way to continue on. The processor core inside of him had no additional utility to provide, and once it was pegged at one hundred percent, he was locked. At that point his body went ridgid, even the remaining motor controls, and their spastic flow of power and data, were non-operational. He was locked, stuck in one position, his manhood permanently hard and stuck in Six Six Three, and in time, even the sparks subsided, giving way to a plume of acrid black smoke rolling out of what remained of his head. Six Six Three, similarly spasmed and writhed under Liber. The weight of the male android kept her movements somewhat contained. Still her legs kicked and scrambled in a bid to move her body into a more safe and optimal position. Her hands had been on his hips at the moment her head was torn free and between the wild clawing spasms her nails dug into his artificial flesh. Like her commanding officer, her neck spewed white hot sparks that threatened to ignite the bedding that she had been laying on. It was resistant enough to the sparks, but it left a long and wide streak of charred fibers. The curling smoke from her throat joined with her lovers in a small, gathering cloud at the top of the engine room. If the feminine android hadn’t suffered the same shutdown and overload as her lover, that same smoke may have triggered some kind of fire suppression system, but as they both powered down, so too did the smoke and sparks. Lights flickered, an instant later as the engine sputtered and rattled, temporarily disrupting most of the electrical systems on the ship. Which was when the largest of the space debris slammed into the back of the ship. The crew quarters at the rear and port of the ship were hit hard. The outer shell easily pierced by a particularly excited piece of space rock. The skin and electronics were no match for the jagged shard. Ruber had barely snapped his eyes open from the sound before he found himself suctioned out into space. His fate, while grim, was over quickly. Every loose trinket and bauble, every piece of furniture that wasn’t bolted down, and even some that were, became projectiles. Every missile was aimed at the same hole that Ruber was being forced towards. He was dead long before the brutal and unforgiving vacuum of space took him. A wayward lamp struck him in the head and ended his life. The door locks slammed into place automatically. Despite the power loss, those were still fully mechanical because Liber hadn’t put forward the money to switch them over to the much more reliable computer controlled systems. Which was all that may have saved the lives of the remaining passengers. As the vacuum of space occupied what was once the crew quarters, it also pulled on the door. The more it pulled, the more the door, locked deep into extremely sturdy bindings, pressed against the heavy duty sealant. The more it pulled, the more firm the seal remained. Somewhere in the unoccupied cockpit a small warning light lit up to indicate that the crew quarters had been breached. It was a small thing. Luckily the blaring incoming impact alarm had turned off. The power was unreliable at best as indicated by the sputtering lights that struggled to remain lit for more than a minute or two before they flickered off again. Once more power built up in the system they would come online again, only to drain that buildup. The artificial gravity wasn’t coming back on without something being done though, and everything began to drift lazily through the rooms and hallways. The impacts had passed, but the ship had been hit hard, spun and rolled and knocked off course. Everything was a mess of knick knacks, shattered plates, broken electronics, shards of ruined detritus and floating cushions from the observation deck. The ship was quiet. Deathly Quiet.

Jeff wasn’t sure what happened. He had been asleep, drifting happily through dreams of golden fields of some kind of grain-like crops attended by a small army of beautiful robots that all seemed to look strikingly similar to Six Six Three. Then there had been noise. Movement. He was awake in an instant and he felt his heart slamming against his chest. It was hard to breathe, had he forgotten how, or was there just no air to speak of? In a flash his mind knew something was wrong, he couldn’t breathe, and they were in space. Not a good combination. Then there was pain, but only for a moment. His head hurt in an instant as he was flung from his bed and sent sailing across the small cabin. Thank goodness the wall was there to stop him, who knows how far he would have sailed if that wall hadn't been there to stop him. He loved the wall. It was a bastard though, because it hit him in the head hard enough to send him back into the darkness of fitful unconsciousness. Time passed. On and on and on. Jeff wasn’t around to clock it, but when his eyes fluttered open again he knew it had been a long time. Not long enough to stop his head from hurting, mind you, but long enough. His mind panicked again because he couldn’t feel the ground under him, and he knew it should be there. Something should be there. Oh god, had he broken his neck? He couldn’t feel anything! Wiggle your toes Jeff, just see if you can wiggle them. Let’s see how bad this is. He wiggled them just fine, and as soon as he did his whole body seemed to wake up. At least the pain and tingling numbness told him he was awake and in one piece. But where the hell was the ground? He almost wished he hadn’t opened his eyes, because he found the ground. It was some three or four feet below him, right where it shouldn’t be. As he looked around he figured out what was wrong. In short, everything. His belongings, his clothes, his bags and blankets and pillow. All of it was just coasting through the air with no regard for things like gravity. Of course, neither did his own body, and that was when the panic settled nice and deep into his mind. He was floating too, and he knew enough about physics and space to know that objects in motion tend to stay in motion. But he wasn’t in motion, and worse still, there was nothing nearby to grab onto. Nothing to plant his feet on and launch him forward, nothing to shove against. Nothing to get him started moving. He looked all around, his head swiveling and his body twisting weirdly to try to get any kind of movement. Nothing, there was nothing. Jeff took a deep breath and took everything in. What did he know. He was in space, and alive. Something was wrong with gravity. The lights flickered for a moment then sputtered back to life. Ok, and something was wrong with the power too. What did he have? Nothing really. And there was nothing nearby either. The light fixture above the door some two to three feet just past his arm length might have helped, if he could reach it. Which he could not. He couldn’t help but take a moment to recognize the humor of the situation. Just barely an adult, dressed in pajama pants, floating in space and unable to move. Not how he expected to die. He barked out a small, sad laugh. That brief moment of humor was more than enough to knock something free in his mind though. A small distraction from the sheer terror of the situation. To set his mind back on the moment. He didn’t have nothing. Jeff scrambled a little and managed to get out of his pajama bottoms, leaving him floating naked in space, but that was ok. He tied a quick little loop at the end of one of the pant legs and then tied the other leg around his wrist. Best not to lose his one and only asset. It would be really embarrassing to be found dead, or worse, rescued, while naked. It took a few attempts to get it, a fact that made Jeff happy for his foresight. He eventually lassoed the light fixture and gently pulled himself forward. He had been expecting to pull himself hand over hand towards the light, but even the smallest tug sent him smoothly gliding forward. Then he had a different problem, but his old friend the wall helped him with that as well. Jeff crumpled into the wall and his movements halted, but he was at the wall now, friction between his hand and the plastic wall casing would be more than enough to help him navigate. He was okay now. Everything was going to be okay now. What was next? Get dressed again, right. He untied the pant leg from his wrist and then undid the loop on the other and shimmied back into them. That was when he learned how difficult it was to get dressed in zero gravity. He was trying to use nineteen years of muscle memory to do something that required all new movements. He managed, but it was odd. Next, get out into the ship, find the crew, ask what the hell was happening. It was a good checklist. He was proud of it. Jeff shimmied along the door and down to the handle just as the lights went out. He swore once, hoping that they would come back on, and when they did he made quick work of the door. It struggled open as if it were begrudging Jeff for being asked to do its job. But it was opened, and couldn’t be bothered to be asked to close again. That was alright with Jeff, if it stayed open he could get in and out of his room easily enough. The hallway beyond his room was eerie, like something out of a horror movie. Silent and dark. Made even more dark as the lights sputtered out again and left only small pools of light around the emergency lighting. Even that seemed a little too dim for Jeff’s liking. The small running lights along the ground and the faint and flickering lights over his family's rooms seemed to be suffering as much as his door was. They didn’t want to work, they just wanted to sleep out here in the cold quiet void of space. Sorry friends, Jeff had work to do. Aria’s room was first, right next to Jeff’s. A mere ten foot float up the hall. “Hello?” Jeff shouted into the nothingness of the hallway. As if to greet Jeff, the lights flickered back on. The ship was still here, He wasn’t alone. Other than that, though, there was nothing. “Aria? Melody?..Mom?” Jeff shouted again, a panic lacing his voice. “Egg? Ruber? Captain?” Nothing. With gentle hands placed barely against the wall, Jeff half crawled, half floated along the wall towards Aria’s room. Turning his head to the right, he was looking down at the floor, and felt a wave of nausea creep up on him. His adrenaline had kept that at bay for long enough and a new horror ripped over Jeff. One did not want to vomit in zero gravity. No one wanted that floating around. Then again, it would probably be worse if the gravity kicked in and he, and the contents of his stomach, were too high up. So he scuttled towards the ground before using that to push along the hallway. With everything right way up for the time being, his stomach calmed a bit. Not entirely, but enough. He would have to face down those consequences later. “Aria!” He shouted again as he floated nearer to her door. He hated the silence, more now than he ever had before. Though, as he pounded his fist into Aria’s door he hated the empty sound of the thumps a little bit more. Then silence again. No response. That made his heart sink so hard that he thought it might just drag him down to the floor below him. The lights flickered, then he was plunged into darkness again. He knew it would pass. He hoped. So he waited. Alone. In the dark. In space. On a ship with no power. At least there wasn’t any silence, his panicked breathing took care of that little problem. Then all at once the lights were back. Jeff took this opportunity to gently shove off of the floor and float up to the handle on Aria’s door. Grabbing it stopped his movement and he steadied himself before he opened the door, fearing what might be there. He shoved the handle into position and waited for the door to open. It too was uncooperative. It slid to the side a bit, but not enough. Jeff was getting really tired of this kind of thing and took out his frustrations, his fears, his hope, on the door. There was ample room to cram his hands into the gap and he roared in defiance as he shoved open the door more and more. His muscles coiled and strained against the very ship itself, and in the end, Jeff won. Somewhat. It was enough to get into Aria’s room, and once defeated the door made no effort to retaliate and close. Aria was there, floating like Jeff was. Her head down and her lavender hair creating a strange sort of glowing halo around her head. Her eyes were closed, limbs limp and unmoving. As far as Jeff could tell though, there didn’t appear to be any kind of injury on her. Her button up pajama shirt and matching pants would have given her an extra edge on getting out of the room. Not that she needed it now. “Aria!” Jeff shouted, and struggled to resist the urge to launch himself at her. He just needed to get to her, to check her out, to make sure she was alive and well. “Aria!” He shouted again and this time it seemed like something new happened.She mewled a little. Little more than a small sound, like a mouse realizing it had been spotted and screaming in terror as it fled back to its burrow. It was enough though, dead things didn’t make sounds. It took another few seconds for her mind and body to begin communicating again. She was floating, and under any other circumstance that would have been an incredible thrill. Instead she immediately panicked and flailed around, her hands and legs and feet seeking for something, anything, to acclimate her. “Aria! Aria, look at me!” Jeff called once he saw her moving, and hoped that she would listen and calm her body rather than give in to panic. She did, her head snapped in his direction, and a moment later she figured out how to twist and manipulate her body into facing him correctly. “What the heck is going on!?” The fear in her voice was unmistakable. “I don’t know.” Jeff answered. “I woke up a few minutes ago and came out here to figure that out.” Jeff looked up the hallway just as the lights gave out and turned the hallway back into a horror film. Aria squeaked at that and Jeff took a moment to tell her what he had learned, that soon enough the power would come on, and then they would find Melody and mom and figure this out. Sure enough, a moment or two later and the lights came back on, washing the dreadful hallway in safe white light. Aria looked up at the lights, then back to Jeff and flashed a small smile. Even a little relief in a moment of terror pays dividends.

“I’m stuck though.” Aria commented, and Jeff agreed. He had all the mobility here. He could have slipped out of his pants again, but he didn’t want to strip down in front of his sister, of all people. Nor did he want to suggest she take her shirt off and use it as a lifeline. Instead Jeff held up a finger and told her he would be right back.

“No!” Aria yelped before calming her voice a little. “Don’t..Don’t leave me here.”

“I’ll be right back.” Jeff assured her.

“With what?”

Good question. Jeff had intended to float back to his room and get something. Another pair of pants or a shirt or..something..But peering into Aria’s room told him that there was every bit as much debris to use there.

“Okay okay. Uh..hang tight.” Jeff said and pushed himself gingerly into Aria’s room.

Her luggage wasn’t terribly hard to find and Jeff unzipped it and pawed through whatever came floating out of it. Bras and panties and jeans all tumbled out. Jeff ignored most of it and snatched up a long sleeved shirt that attempted to float past him. Once again he tied it around his wrist and then made a knotted ball on the other sleeve. As he looked up to Aria, he saw the recognition in her eyes mixed with joy and relief. They were going to make it!

It was a lot easier for two humans to lasso one another rather than a light fixture. Once Aria had a good grip on the knotted ball at the end of her shirt, Jeff tugged, gently, knowing that once in motion, Aria would stay in motion. She didn’t so much crash into Jeff, not like he and the wall had, but she made it to him with enough speed to send them both reeling back into the wall. That was okay though, Jeff and Aria held one another in a tight embrace. They were together now, it was alright.

“Kay.” Aria said. “Let’s go find Melody then mom.”

Jeff liked this list. It was a good list.

Chapter Eight

Aria struggled a little more than Jeff did to get her bearings and understand the concepts of zero gravity. After the second time she pushed a little too hard and began floating off into open space, Jeff decided to keep her shirt tied to his wrist to rescue her. He was starting to understand why astronauts of old had tether lines to everything. It was far too easy to simply float away.

The lights flickered off again as Aria and Jeff cruised into the hallway. Jeff was already becoming accustomed to the flickering between horror and normalcy, though he admitted only to himself that in those moments when the ship was plunged into darkness that he felt his stomach churn. There was always something in the back of his mind that wondered if this would be the time the power stayed off. If it stayed off how long would the oxygen last? How long until the freeze dried and refrigerated food gave out? Would anyone know to come and look for them?

A worse thought crept into his mind at that moment. They had lost most of their power, and with it the gravity, and something had tossed them from their beds. Were they still on their intended course? Were they drifting lifelessly through open space? And if so, how long before something else, something bigger, got in their way. His mind snapped to the wall that had stopped him and momentarily imagined the same scenario but with their ship.

All of a sudden these walls were too thin. They needed armor plating and reinforcements.

The lights returned. All the more reason to find Melody and his mother and get this situation under control.

As they floated slowly and carefully down the hall towards Melody’s room, both Jeff and Aria never stopped shouting their names. Occasionally Jeff would slip in one of the crew members names just in case any of them were still out. By the time they floated up to Melody’s door all they had been greeted with was silence. They were on a course to float past it with gentle ease, so Jeff grappled against the floor and wall to slow himself and Aria simply grabbed onto Jeff’s bare shoulders.

The handle, like the one on Aria’s door, opened the latch, but the door refused to open. With a sigh Jeff placed his feet against the small lip of the door jamb and then pressed his hands hard against the door. He was coiled up and used his whole body to strain against the door. It moved, slowly, but surely. It took a moment, and a whole cycle of darkness before he managed to awkwardly part the door enough to wedge his hands into it. Once he had that advantage though the door more readily opened.

The pair floated into Melody’s room. Like their own, all of her belongings were floating in a lazy dance around the room. Graceful but disorganized. She had been more meticulous than either of her siblings in her room arrangement though. Her luggage was still closed and tucked away in the closet, and whatever hit them and knocked out the power hadn't seen fit to fling her clothes around the room.

Pillows and blankets from the bed, on the other hand, floated through the air like wraiths. They haunted the room and paid the two young visitors no heed. They were too busy gliding around in a dance that only they knew the moves to.

There were other things in here too, things that neither Jeff nor Aria had seen before. Certainly not back at home, and not in the day since they had loaded their cargo on the ship.

The first, and most striking items, at least to Jeff, was the sheer volume of tools. He knew some of them, he had seen them in his father’s garage and workshop. Though he had little idea what they were used for. Repairing things as far as Jeff knew. There was a scattering of steel and plastic handled tools situated around Melody’s bed. Screwdrivers, pliers, and thin plastic wedges. What had his dad called them? Spudgers?

There were others too, things that were a little more specialized. A soldering iron and a spool of solder, some of which had already been used. Something that looked like a screwdriver, but instead of a sturdy shaft there was simply a needle thin length of metal. It was strong though, even as Jeff held it in his hands he found he couldn’t bend it. The tip had no head on it, rather it ended in a fairly sharp point.

Knowing that tools, no matter how rudimentary, would be useful in fixing this mess, Jeff took some time to gather them all up from their floating positions and shoved them into a fairly large, but empty nylon bag and zipped it closed. There was a small wrist strap on it, so he looped that though Aria’s spare shirt and let it float along with them.

“What is all this stuff?” Aria asked, as if Jeff knew all the answers.

“Tools of some kind. I don’t really know.”

“I didn’t think Mel knew how to use any of this stuff.” Aria commented as she tapped some kind of clamping device and nudged it in Jeff’s direction. Another one to add to the pile.

“Yeah me either. Maybe she was working on some kind of craft thing and borrowed the tools from Ruber?” Jeff offered.

Neither one of them wanted to admit to what wasn’t in the room. Melody.

This was surely her room, Jeff had seen her storm into it earlier in the night, though she clearly hadn’t remained here. All he could think of was that maybe she had made amends with their mom. Maybe she was just next door.

The two shared a look as they finished taking in the contents of the room, worry and hesitation painted across each of their faces before Aria nodded. Time to keep looking.

Monica’s door gave just as much of a fight as Aria and Melody’s room had. By now Jeff was both used to the struggle, and completely over having to do it. Still, he huffed and grunted and strained against the door until he could open in. In the split second after he got the door open he peered into the room and the lights went out. But not before he caught a glimpse of the room beyond.

Two figures were floating in there. Monica and Melody. A wave of relief swept over him, but was soon replaced with dread. Neither one was moving. Maybe, like Aria, they just needed to be jostled awake. But there were other things Jeff saw that made no sense at all. Not at first at least. He had time to mull them over while he waited for the lights to come back on though.

There was something between the pair of them. Long and stringy, maybe some kind of tether. Maybe they had seen this catastrophe coming and had taken the time to tie one another together. Other than that he would have to wait for the lights to return to examine things better.

In the meantime he looked over his shoulder, into the dark, and let Aria know that they were both in the room. The reply was a deep sigh of relief, like Aria had been holding a breath for a long long time and had finally been given permission to let it out. With his attention turned back to the door, Jeff once again wedged his hands into the opening and strained against it. Shoving and pulling and grumbling as it slowly moved open. By the time the lights came on, he had it open enough to let him slip in.

The lights returned, and Jeff peered into the room. Melody and Monica were splayed out in mid air, tumbling in zero gravity along with other items that Jeff had glanced at first. More tools. Some kind of monolithic black box. It looked like it would fit perfectly into the bag strapped to Jeff’s wrist. There were wires, parts, pieces, and electronics, all of which seemed to be hanging in a cloud in the space between Monica and Melody.

Something was wrong here. Something was very wrong. Their forms were sprawled out in midair and the limbs didn’t seem to line up right with how Jeff expected. They rolled and moved more freely than Aria’s had.

“Stay here.” Jeff said to Aria. His tone spoke more than his words ever would. Aria’s panic returned and her breath came in quick gulps.

Jeff floated into the room with caution. He maneuvered around, careful not to bump into anything. It became harder as the power soon fizzled out and plunged the room back into darkness. While it was off, he heard Aria squeak in fear, prompting a comforting “It’s okay, everything’s okay” from Jeff.

Everything wasn’t okay though.

The lights flickered back on, they seemed to be struggling a little more this time. Not a good sign as far as Jeff was concerned. In the fresh light, Jeff maneuvered around a little more. All he wanted was a better look.

He hung in the open air, staring. His older sister and his mother both had their shirts pulled up just a little, exposing their abdomens. Well, where their abdomen should have been. In both cases the skin was missing, no not missing, it was hanging in the air between them. Along with a myriad of tools and cabling.

Skin tone was the only indicator of which one belonged to whom, but there were two fleshy panels that were spinning slowly in the air. Jeff could see the glint of metal and plastics on one side, and on the other, the soft flesh absorbed the light. It looked remarkably real. His eyes darted from the panels to the bodies of the two women.

What he had thought was a tether holding them together was actually a thick bundle of cables all bound up in a mesh tube. On both ends of it the wires exploded outward and plugged into a number of ports inside of Monica and Melody. Their internal workings looked vaguely familiar to Jeff. They looked like the robotic insides he had seen when Egg had shown him what the inside of her arm held.

His eyes flicked from the exposed belly panel up to their faces. Eyes open, Monica’s expression looked vaguely surprised. His older sister looked more annoyed than anything else, as if this were the culmination of being told to do chores for all the siblings all at once. Jeff could only stare though.

Jeff’s eyes darted over the rest of their bodies and found more anomalies. Melody’s arms were near her shoulders, but they were in no way connected. Not even remotely. That would explain the strange movement of the limbs he had seen while in the hallway. One mystery solved, at least. His mother at least seemed to be fully assembled.

They were robots. They weren’t even real people. But that couldn’t be right. He was human, Aria too. Robot’s don’t give birth to humans. The lights went out again and Jeff plummeted back into darkness. He saw no little blinking lights or status indicators or glowing screens inside of the two robots. They were well and truly offline. What he did see, though, was a rapidly flashing series of red lights on something else. A dark shape that was floating somewhere between the two, though off to one side.

The lights came back on and with it a whisper of a voice from the hallway. It was Aria.

“Jeff…what’s wrong.”

He wasn’t entirely sure how to answer that. His mother and older sister were androids, and they were offline. Probably broken. He hadn’t gotten close enough to see if anything was dislodged inside of them. Not that he would know what to look for in the first place. Also they were in space and power was going out faster and faster, that was a problem. Sweet little Aria was going to discover that all the women she looked up to were just machines. She would have to, eventually.

Maybe right now wasn’t a good time for that.

The light revealed what was producing the little blinking lights. It was a monolithic black box with a number of ports on it, and even more cables already connected to it. Many of them were frayed and broken. Worse still Jeff spotted the other end of those destroyed wires. They were floating in open space, connected to both Melody and Monica’s exposed intervals. Like some kind of sea creature probing out into the ether, seeking something to wrap onto. They curled and flowed and grasped at nothing at all.

“Everything is okay Aria.” Jeff lied. “Mom and Monica are in here and they’ll be okay. I think we just need to give them some more time to wake up.”

Jeff kicked off of the floor and drifted to the door. He clearly pushed too hard because he slammed into it, his palms hitting hard against the opening and slowing him. Then he squeezed through and into the hall where he came face to face with Aria.

Her face was more than worried, and Jeff knew she had been crying. The tears were sparking in the overhead lights, just drifting droplets, freed from her face as soon as she blinked. They would drift and dance through the air until Jeff’s old nemesis, the wall, found them. Jeff took her by the shoulders and pulled her into him, the movement nudged Jeff against the wall and the two bodies were pressed together.

“Everything is alright. We’re going to be okay. Everything is okay.” He hoped…

“We need to see if we can get a hold of someone at the Coalition, or a nearby planet, or Dad, or something.” Jeff said and Aria agreed.

Aria began swimming down the hall, slowly but surely. Jeff took one last look into his mothers room. To the pair of robotic women floating in there. He was left with more questions than answers. Later, he told himself. One thing at a time.

“We should check to see if, uh, what’s her name..the engineer is around.” Aria suggested as they reached the observation room at the core of the ship, which posed a new kind of problem.

“Egg, or I guess Six Six three. She’s..uh..she’s an android you know.” Jeff gulped back the mental images of Monica and Melody and replaced them with Egg. Not that doing so made anything better.

“Oh! I didn’t know that.” Aria replied. “Cool..maybe she’s still functional or operation or..whatever they are.”

“Yeah.” Jeff whispered as he came to a gentle stop at the archway into the observation deck.

It was a massive open space. There were couches and cushions floating around the space looking more like a fabric asteroid field than a relaxing place to look out at the star field beyond. It was safer to skirt around the edge of the ship, but he hated the idea of scurrying along the walls in such a large room when the lights went out, but the idea of launching himself through the middle of the space and hoping he didn’t collide with anything was worse.

“C’mon.” Jeff sighed and began to gently paw his way along the wall and hoped he didn’t accidentally push too hard against it and send himself tumbling into the center of the room.

Jeff wasn’t sure how smart it was to start calculating time based on the cycle of power loss, but there was little else he could do to distract himself in the darkness. He and Aria remained still while the lights were off just in case. No need to go crashing into things in the dark after all. Four minutes, approximately, of light and then a minute and a half of darkness. It made for a very slow stop and go path around the outer edges of the room.

In time, the pair made their way to the archway into the forward hall. As they looked up the hall they could see the left turn in the hall ahead of them that led to the cockpit. Just at the turn was the kitchen and Jeff could easily make out cans and glasses and shards of broken plates drifting around in there. Once they restored the gravity that would be a mess to clean up.

He should also secure Mom and Melody to the ground or something before they turned that back on. Even if they weren’t his real mother and sister, he also didn’t want them to crash to the ground and break something else. They had a lot of questions to answer for him. Hopefully Egg could help get them working again.

One thing at a time.

Halfway up the first hall was the engineering room, and beyond it, hopefully, Egg. As Jeff floated towards it though his mind began to make him doubt things. If Egg was still working as expected, why hadn’t she responded when he was shouting earlier?

Because she was in the engine room keeping the lights on. Obviously.

Was she still in there? Was she the only reason the lights and power kept coming back? If so, could she be spared to help them get things stable?

Only one way to find out really.

As expected, the door to the engineering lab was jammed shut and wasn’t responding to the automatic opening mechanisms. This one was heavier too. It took Aria and Jeff both leaning hard into it before it would even begin to budge. When the power was on it moved a little bit easier, leading Jeff to believe that there was some kind of motor system that was at least attempting to help them. The door was practically immobile when the lights flickered off.

It felt like it took an eternity to get it open enough for either of them to squeeze in. Aria volunteered to go first as her lithe body easily slipped through the opening. She floated into the work space and told Jeff to keep at it while she looked around for the engineer.

Six Six Three’s engineering room was impossible to navigate without bumping into something. There were just too many tools and projects and parts floating around to avoid. Aria learned quickly to hold one hand in front of her face while using the other to help guide her along the wall.

She found the door into, what she assumed, was the engine room towards the far end of the smaller workspace. She could hear something inside there, chugging and struggling and whining. She sincerely hoped that wasn’t the engine. The woman, or android, Six Six Three, was nowhere to be seen in the workspace. A fact that Aria thought was odd, in a crisis like this the engineer was supposed to be here, fixing things.

“Jeff, there’s a door here, I think it leads into the engine room.” She called back.

“Is it closed?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.” Jeff swore and threw himself back into trying to pry open the first door.

With Aria’s help from the other side, and more than a few blackouts, they were able to grind the door open enough to allow Jeff into the workshop. What had once been a marvelous space for work and experimentation was now just a floating mess of parts. Jeff could only imagine the mess it would be once gravity was restored. He wondered if Egg was capable of emotional responses, and if so, how pissed was she going to be seeing this?

Aria nodded her head towards the door at the other end of the room. The two pushed gently against the door behind them and instinctively raised their arms, plowing through the mess of parts and pieces and tools. Though it was gentle enough to only require a small bump into the far wall, once there, Jeff slammed his fist against the door several times while shouting.

“Egg! Hey Egg! You in there? Six Six Three? We could use some help out here!..HEY!”

There was a lot of pent up frustration and fear in that voice. Desperation too. All of it came flooding out as he slammed his fists against the door and screamed for the one and only entity that could possibly help fix this mess to present herself and do just that. There was fixing to do, and Jeff and Aria weren’t able to do it on their own.

“EGG! Hey!!”

“I don’t think she-” Aria began but stopped when she saw Jeff’s gaze snap to her.

He looked wild, ferocious almost. He needed to get to her and fix this, and nothing, no hull or door or anything would stand in his way. If she wouldn’t open the door, then he would do it himself. He had done it half a dozen times already, what was one more.

With a primal scream Jeff reached down to the handle on the door and mustered all the strength, rage, frustration, anger, fear, and anxiety he had. The swirl of emotions combined into one more deep growl as he planted his feet against the lip of the doorway and in one smooth motion he lunged forward, his hands on the door handle, his legs swelling.

The door flew open easily, sliding into the trough in the wall and clanging hard against the bumpers there to prevent it from being knocked off its track. It still made an awful squeal and the sound of the impact rattled Jeff all the way to his back teeth. He lost his grip on the door the moment it started flying open and the motion sent his whole body cartwheeling through the air. The lack of gravity spinning him round and round until his adversary, the wall, stopped him. Or at least his head.

Jeff wailed in pain while Aria could only gasp. The whole process had taken less than a second and it was the only reaction she could offer. Still, Jeff had expressed his frustrations, there was little left inside of him to let out. Save for a bit of embarrassed laughter that turned into real mirth as he realized just how ridiculous that must have looked.

He turned to his sister, all smiles, and mockingly flexed his muscles.

“Ohh, yeah you like that? No match for Jeff!” He laughed again and smirked before turning to the strangely lit interior of the engine room.

He never saw the unexpected blush creep over Aria’s cheeks. Even if he had been looking at her the lights overhead sputtered and disappeared for the next ninety or so seconds. She was thankful for that, it gave her a moment to collect herself. Why had that of all things stirred something in her. A boiling heat in her gut that, regardless of how much Aria mentally pleaded, didn’t go away. Instead, the vision of her brother’s physique lingered on in her mind's eye. His shirtless body flexing for no one but her. Had he been working out when she had spent time drawing?

Delirium and stress and fear. That’s all it was. Nothing else. File it away and move on.

She didn’t.

The light returned and when it did, Jeff took the opportunity to move into the engine room. Aria floated along after him, but before she even reached the doorway she heard her brother hiss out a curse. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see what was inside.

She grabbed hold of the threshold, enough to stop her movement, then gently slipped around it to look inside.

The room was just as well lit as the rest of the ship. At least when the lights were on it was. Currently there was plenty of light flooding the space. To one side was, what she assumed, was the engine. An absolutely massive thing that was vaguely cylinder shaped. There was certainly a central piece that dominated the space. From it any number of cables and heavy tubing protruded and plugged in to other places.

Towards the far end of the room something was glowing with a sickly green light. Around it was shattered glass and more than enough steamy white vapor seemed to be pouring out of release valves. This was the thing that she had heard chugging, and the sound was all too evident now. A struggling, coughing thrum was rattling her eardrums. She felt it in the very center of her head more than she heard it.

More moving parts seemed to be churning all across the thing. It was still working, but it was a fight. Aria looked around the engine and saw that whatever had hit them had clearly dislodged the engine from the bindings that would normally hold it at the optimal position. It was not wobbling and vibrating, the rattle it produced as it lay on its side on the floor was making an awful sound. It grated against every last nerve she had. She hated it.

Jeff, on the other hand, was looking less to the engine, and more at the two figures on the bed against the opposite wall.

Six Six Three and Captain Liber, or whatever was left of them, were there. Naked and unashamed. Liber was deep inside of Egg’s robotic slit. He remained hard, probably because he was programmed to. Her head was missing, the neck severed by an overhead strut, Jeff could almost trace its trajectory as it fell. Liber’s head was caved in too, the raw internal workings of his robotic head were easily seen, as was the torn and mangled flesh around his head. No small amount of it had caught on the beam as it fell. Once caught, it was torn free of his body.

Six Six Three’s hands were curled into claw-like appendages, either from the orgasm she surely felt in the moments before…this…or perhaps because of it. Jeff was wholly unsure of what an android did when it died. If it died, you’d have to be alive for that kind of condition. His mind

snapped to his mother and sister. Were they dead? The real versions of them, that is? More questions, still no answers.

Egg’s neck ended in a twisted and ruined collection of hard metallic support struts and fragile wiring. They had all been destroyed. The support beam that had done it was lodged deep in the bed below her, soaked with some kind of fluid from inside of Egg’s neck.

Jeff let his eyes trail over the pair. He had been wrong about her proportions. Her breasts were larger than he had imagined, her body hard and lithe and perfectly crafted. Seeing her like this, destroyed and useless, was a bit of a shame. Jeff thought she would have made an excellent sexbot. Was that misogynistic? He didn’t care, he didn’t have time to.

Aria croaked out a small gasp. Jeff realized she hadn’t seen this immediately. He heard her beginning to gag. He sincerely hoped she had enough forethought to…nope, she sure didn’t.

Aria wretched and could only watch through watery eyes as her vomit drifted across open space. The lights mercifully went out and she didn’t have to watch where it landed. In the darkness Jeff whispered.

“Let’s get to the cockpit.”

Aria was already moving in a panicked and wild streak out of the room. Jeff cast one last glance back at Six Six Three’s naked form. The perfect smooth curves where her hips melted into her torso. The way her breasts spilled off of her chest, tipped with the finest pink nipples he could have imagined. Even the exposed electronics on her neck, while destroyed, still held a strange kind of charm to him. She was an elegant machine, ruined by circumstance.

He sighed and floated along after Aria.