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From: "Leviticus" <leviticusthebard@cableone.net>
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Subject: {ASSM} Her New World,  section 1.  (MM/f  Sci-Fi  Setup)
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 19:10:02 -0400
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Her New World



by Leviticus







LAUNCHING:



1.



   He traced his finger along her spine, drawing a line in the slight sheen
of sweat that coated her body.  He felt her shiver next to him, her body
rubbing against his in a rather delightful manner.  It made him smile.

   "Hey," he said softly, looking into her round and pretty face, "Staci,
it's about time we got up.  Shift starts in an hour."

   Major Staci Mann, United States Air Force, opened one blue eye and stared
at her bed companion.  "I've just come off a thirty-six hour shift, and I
know I've only had a couple of hours sleep," she said slowly.

   Major Barry Lynn, United States Marine Corp, grinned.  "Well," he said,
letting his hands roam over his companion, "you could have gotten a lot more
sleep if you hadn't have invited me over!"

   Staci smiled and chuckled, "Hun, if I hadn't had invited you, I wouldn't
have been able to sleep at all!  Nothing relaxes me more than some good,
hard sex!"

   Barry frowned, "What am I, a tranquilizer?"

   Staci chuckled again, letting her hand do a little roaming of its own,
"No Barry, but you're what the doctor ordered alright.  These last days
getting the Mayflower ready for launch have been really tough."

   "Oh yeah...Hmmmmmm, don't stop, baby."

   "You like that, huh?" she asked, grinning.

   Barry nodded and tried to hold her in both arms, but she pushed away from
him and drifted naked across her small cabin, laughing quietly.

   Barry drifted backwards a foot and hit the wall softly, watching his new
lover as she touched against the opposite wall a few feet away.  She looked
lovely to him in the soft light, her figure fuller due to the absence of
gravity aboard the station, her breasts not needing any support to appear
tight and presentable.  He was still trying to get over how different a
woman looked nude in zero g; gravity did horrible things to the human form.
He smiled.

   "What are you thinking?"  Staci asked him, seeing the smile.

   "Oh, I was just thinking how beautiful you look, and how I still don't
think I've quite mastered the art of making love in zero g."

   "Uh huh?  And I suppose you want another lesson?" she questioned with a
knowing expression.

   Barry grinned and kicked off against the wall, closing quickly on his
lover.  But Staci was faster having spent a lot more time on the station
than he had.  She was a master of maneuvering in a null gravity environment
and she slipped easily out of his way.  This was a game to them, and while
there were few places to go, Staci could usually keep out of his grip for a
few minutes, before letting him pin her down in her sleep sack.  She didn't
resist as he pulled the covers over them and quickly velcroed them down, the
sleep sack pressing them together and making sure their energetic coupling
didn't push them apart.  His hands found her breasts and he began playing
with her nipples while planting kisses on her face and neck.

   Staci, for her part, wrapped her legs around his and reached down to
guide him into her, breathing heavily as she usually did when aroused.  This
Marine had come along at just the right time for her, and she knew that
their relationship was nothing more than baseless sex.  She didn't feel
guilty about it at all; she didn't have time for anything else.

   She moaned as he entered her, piercing her sex with his own.

   Then her com started buzzing.

   "Shit!" exclaimed Barry, pausing in mid-stroke.

   Staci moaned again, this time in frustration, and gripped Barry tightly
to her, in her.  "Hang on," she said, pulling open the sleep sack.

   The com buzzed again and Staci pulled the both of them over to it, not
willing to let him go just yet.  Barry smiled, amused, and he tucked his
head down and began slowly pumping her again.

   Staci hit the com answer button.  "Hi, what's up?" she said breathlessly.

   "Staci, this is Gordo.  I just got a call from the Director.  You're
wanted in his office ASAP!"

   "Can't...it wait?" Staci replied, feeling Barry moving within her.

   "No way, Staci.  We're holding a shuttle for you.  Dock four.  Get
moving!"

   "Shit.  Okay, thanks Gordo!"  She closed the connection and opened her
legs, shoving hard to push Barry from her.

   "Hey!" he said, "it can't be that important!"

   "When they hold a shuttle, it is that important," she said, trying to
catch her breath and calm the fires inside herself.  She reached for a
flight suit and started to pull it on.

   Barry went back to the bunk and floated against it, watching her.  "Well,
I guess when the boss calls you have to go running.  But I hope we get to
pick this up again soon."

   Staci zipped up the front of her suit and looked at him.  "Me too,
lover."  She moved closer and kissed him, before grabbing a pair of boots
and leaving her quarters.

   "Damn," Barry said, shaking his head.





2.



   It all started with a car accident.

   Actually, it really started five years earlier, when news of a discovery
by an unmanned space probe finally reached Earth after years of traveling
through space; an Earth-like planet orbiting the star L53-1824, a star only
about eight light years way.  But Major Staci Mann, was about to find out
that a car accident could change her life.  Not that she was involved in the
accident, she wasn't.  But there were times later on when she wished she had
been.

   It was L-minus 3 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, or roughly three days before
the launch of the highly publicized colony ship Mayflower.  The Mayflower
filled the public eye for basically two reasons.  It was the first and only
one of its kind, and it was completely paid for with private funds.  No
government agency except for I.S.A., the International Space Agency, had
been involved in its construction.  And I.S.A. had been heavily paid for its
much needed inclusion in the project.  So much so that not since it used to
be called NASA, a hundred years before, and was involved in Apollo did it
have so much money at its disposal.

   Staci Mann's position in all of this was due to her being one of the
brighter flight engineers in I.S.A.  Her job had been to help train the crew
that would be piloting this amazing ship to L53-1824, or 'Elvira' as some in
the press called it.  Staci had been with the project since its creation,
and a part of her was in the ship's design.

   Now, three days before the ship was to be launched from its orbital
assembly point, she was on her way to the I.S.A. Director's office, a call
which was out of the norm for her.

   She arrived, curious and concerned, still dressed in her flight suit
after her shuttle trip down from the International Space Station.  She was
therefore expecting the strange looks she got when she entered the office of
her Boss of bosses.  She was surprised, though, to see so many people in the
room.  There was Anthony Cripelli, Director of I.S.A. of course, and beside
him stood his deputy, Shannon Isly.  The flight director for the Mayflower
launch, Saul Fannon was there, and Staci recognized a few other faces of
importance in the group.  She also recognized the non-I.S.A. people in the
room, including the English trillionaire, Alan Kent, the man who many said
had the final say in the project, the man paying for most of it.

   She stopped and blinked.

   "Major Mann," said Cripelli, "please come in and sit down.  I expect you
know everyone here."

   Staci nodded, "Yes Sir.  Am I interrupting something?  I was told that
you needed to see me right away, and I just came down from the station."

   "We, Major Mann, are all here to see you," replied her boss.

   Staci looked around again at the firepower in the room.  By her count, a
full third of the planet's resources were controlled by the men in this
room, for Kent wasn't the only rich man involved in the project.  "I'm not
sure I exactly fit in here," she said with a smile, "not on a Major's pay!"

   There were a few strained smiles and Staci hadn't expected her attempt at
levity to fall so flat.  But then she could see that no one in the room
looked that happy anyway.  "What is it that you need, Sir?" she asked,
finding a seat.

   Cripelli looked over at Kent, who stood up and began slowly pacing.  Kent
didn't look old enough to be as rich as he was said to be.  In his early
thirties, much Staci's own age, he seemed full of life and vigor, and hardly
seemed like the type of man who would be messing around with computers.  But
Alan Kent had single handedly revolutionized communications by inventing and
developing what he called 'Ultra Band', a communications format that made
prior broad band internet connections look like tin cans and string.  The
discovery and patent had taken his earnings off the chart.  He was so rich
that he could do what few celebrities could, and buy his own privacy.  Few
knew much of the man himself.  He was married, and the identity of his wife
was well-known.  But apparently she was very publicity shy and rarely
accompanied her famous husband on any engagements.  Alan Kent was more a
corporate image than a real person to the average layman.  That was, until
he announced his intention to build a ship capable of taking himself and
three hundred other people to this new planet around Elvira to start life
anew.

   Shock waves from that announcement were still being felt four years
later, now that the launch was almost upon them.  But at that moment, Kent
paced back and forth, his handsome face deep with worry.  The look didn't
suit him as he usually exuded a confidence like no other.

   He stopped and turned to face Staci.  "Major," he said, "about two hours
ago, Maxine Staffer and Leslie Pap were both killed in a car accident at the
Cape."

   Staci stopped breathing for a moment.  "Both of them?" she asked in a
whisper.

   Kent nodded; his attention fully on her.

   Staci glanced at the rest of the people in the room, and she understood
their worry.  Staffer and Pap were both members of the Mayflower crew.
Staffer was primary, while Pap was her back up.  If for some reason Staffer
couldn't make the trip, Pap was trained to step right in and do it for her.
That they had both been killed at the same time was tragic in many ways.  It
was a crippling blow to the project because no one else was trained to do
their job.  No one that is but...

   Staci knew what they wanted; her quick mind had grasped the implications
immediately.  "Why me?" she asked, getting to the point.

   Kent sighed, as did a few others.  "I see that you have realized what
this means, Major," he said.  "With Staffer and Pap gone, we need a
replacement or the trip is scrubbed.  And you know why we can't stop now!"

   Staci nodded.  "We're at the tail end of the launch window.  If we wait
much longer we'll have to wait thirty years to try again!"

   "You got it in one," Kent said, nodding.

   "So, why me?" Staci asked again.

   "It's true that there are others just as qualified," he said, "but all of
them are married.  You, Major, are single, have no close family, and few
ties to any place on Earth.  You practically live on the station, don't
you?"

   "Deter Komb is also single," Staci countered, speaking of one of her
fellow astronauts.

   "True, but he lacks vital training in some areas.  It would take too long
to bring him up to speed and we don't have the time.  The thing is, Major,
you know that this is a one way trip.  There is no coming back unless
someone here builds another ship to come visit us.  We could take one of
your married colleagues, but we would be unable to take his family.  Every
spot on the passenger list is accounted for; there is no room for extra
people.  So, if you say no, I will be forced to either use Deter, whose
skills I don't trust for this mission, or break up someone's family for my
own selfish needs.  I can't go without a flight engineer and co-pilot, and
you, Major, are our only real hope!"

   Staci listened to this and felt her heart beating.  There had been times
during the construction of the Mayflower, during the training she gave, that
she did think it unfair that Kent wasn't taking any I.S.A. people along.
She had often thought of herself going on this trip, a dream for sure.  But
now, faced with the reality of those fantasies, she saw what it would
actually mean to make the trip.

   Flying to Elvira would be a major commitment.  As Kent said it was a
one-way journey; almost a fifteen-year flight at the Mayflower's top speed.
Staci would be spending all but four weeks of the flight in hibernation.  If
they arrived alive, which was no guarantee, then the planet they were aiming
for would have to be able to support life before they could even give a
thought of setting down.  The Mayflower itself was designed to break apart
in orbit, with most of it making a landing on the planet, its components
forming the nucleus of the new community.  Like this, it would never be able
to leave orbit and return to Earth.

   What Kent was asking of her was a lifetime commitment to a place and
people she knew little about!  Yet it was certainly true that without her,
the project had a very small chance of succeeding, if it went on at all!

   "I need to think about this," she said eventually, also thinking of the
man she had just left behind, his smell still on her.

   There was a general sigh around the room, a release of tension.  Kent
however, didn't look like he had relaxed.  He walked silently over to where
Staci sat and crouched down in front of her, putting one hand on her knee.
He looked her in the face, and Staci once again remarked to herself how
handsome he was.

   "Major...Staci...I know this is a big decision, the biggest one you may
ever have to make in your life.  But I have to tell you something.  We have
no time to wait for you to make a lengthy decision.  We launch in three days
and there is still so much to do.  We need your answer right now, but let me
tell you this.  We need you.  I need you."

   Staci found herself looking into Kent's eyes, and she saw a glimmer of
the power the man was rumored to have.  Said to be amazingly charismatic, he
had charmed Presidents and Kings.  And while little was known of his private
life, he was said to be popular with women too.

   Staci found it hard to resist his plea, but she was made of stern stuff.
"Half an hour, let me have half an hour," she said.

   Kent kept his dark blue eyes on her for a moment before standing.  He
looked her over, noting her short blonde military haircut, her bright blue
eyes and round face.  She was a lovely woman, a fact that was not lost on
the richest man on the planet.  He had read her file, even getting a look at
her medical records, and knew things about this woman that even she probably
didn't know.  He had found many interesting things in her records, items
that had influenced his choice of her as a replacement for the two dead crew
members.  He wanted her to make the trip, but he knew to back off when it
was appropriate.  So he nodded.  "Thirty minutes, but not a minute more,
Major.  We have work to do."

   Staci stood.  "You'll have your answer."  She turned to her boss,
"Permission to be excused, Sir?  I could use a shower and a private place to
think."

   "Of course, Major," replied the head of I.S.A.

   The people in the room all watched the Major leave and then started
talking about what her decision might be.  But Kent watched the door for a
minute, sure that she would say yes.  He smiled and keyed his phone.  "I
want a shuttle ready to go up to the station in half an hour," he ordered,
before turning to speak with his partners.







3.



   Staci Mann sat knees up in her shower in a women's locker room.  After
three days in the same flight suit working to ready the Mayflower for
launch, not to mention several rather energetic hours with Barry the
handsome Marine, she was glad for the chance to clean up and meditate.  She
found the falling water, the mist, the steam, the heat, to be soothing at
times and a shower like this was the only thing she really missed when
living on the station.  It cleared her head when she needed to think, and if
ever there was a time she needed a clear head it was now.  She had to make a
decision that would affect her future no matter what she chose to do.  If
she said yes, then it would be an uncertain future on a far away planet
where man had never been before.  It was a choice that could even lead to
her death, for there were so many unknowns about the trip.

   Would the new drive system push them to the speeds as it was designed?
Would it blow up first, or break down beyond their ability to fix it?  Would
she survive fifteen years in hibernation?  Would the planet be as advertised
or would the scanty information from the thirty year old space probe be
wrong?  Could they land successfully?  Could they find the resources to live
beyond their supplies?  Could they build a community that would last until
the next ship from Earth decided to make the trip?  What contribution could
she make to this community?  What would her life turn out to be?  Would she
find someone to share the rest of her life with among the people on the
ship?

   So many variables!

   Staying, however, had its own problems.

   Would Kent and his people make the trip anyway and would her refusal
cause their failure?  If they didn't go, how would she feel having killed a
project that so many had worked so hard to bring off?  What would people say
once it became known that she was responsible for the closing of the project
for thirty years?  What would happen to her career, her personal life?
Surely no one on Earth would fail to hear about her.  Could she live with
the accusing looks?

   Staci put her head back and stretched out, letting the shower soak her
naked body.  She felt caught, damned if she did and damned if she didn't.
But she knew in her heart that there was really only one choice she could
make.  She was duty bound to see the project through to the end.  Until now,
that had been the moment the Mayflower undocked from the station and fired
its engines for the first time.  Now her duty extended way past that point.
What else could she do?

   With a sigh, she consulted her watch and then went in search of a towel
and a clean uniform.







4.



   Apart from Alan Kent and Staci Mann, there was only one other passenger
aboard the Houston shuttle to the International Space Station, Doctor Don
Kelly.  Kelly was a part of Kent's crew, a surgeon with a wealth of
associated degrees in medicine and biology.  He was the oldest of the group
heading to the stars, being the ripe old age of forty.  He had been married,
but had lost his wife and daughter in a boating accident not long after news
of the new world was revealed to the public.  In public, Doctor Kelly never
seemed that enthusiastic about space travel in general, never mind making
the longest flight in the history of the human race, and some people
wondered why he had been chosen to go on the trip when there were other even
better qualified doctors around willing to go.  No one had ever found any
prior connection between him and Alan Kent before his announcement that he
was going, so there was a little mystery around the man.

   This was just one of the very few things known about the Mayflower's
passengers.  Apart from a few notables, like Kent himself, and the flight
crew which Staci had first helped to train, and was now a part of, the
passenger list for the flight was as secret as those with a lot of money
could make it.

   No one knew the reason for the secrecy and it was an honest concern of
many being left behind.  Some thought that there was some criminal reason
behind it, although representatives from Interpol assured the world that no
one making the trip was wanted anywhere for anything!  Yet the secrecy
remained.  Staci knew, working aboard the station that most of the
passengers were already aboard the ship.  For the past five days they had
been coming up by shuttle, straight to the docking port on the Mayflower
itself.  Without setting foot on the station these people were immediately
placed in their individual hibernation stations and put to sleep.  The
majority of them would not be awakened until after planet fall.  The secrecy
however, extended until only until launch, after that, it didn't matter.
The press was eagerly awaiting the list of who was going.  They did know
that Doctor Kelly was going but had never been able to nab him for an
interview.  He was just too busy.

   As the shuttle left the atmosphere he was going over Staci's medical
records, asking her questions about her history and nodding at her replies.
Ahead of them in the next row of seats, Alan Kent talked on his personal
phone, coordinating the replacement of Maxine Staffer by Staci Mann.  He was
busy too.

   In fact, they all nearly missed the last chance any of them would get to
see the outside of the Mayflower for the next fifteen years, but the shuttle
pilot called their attention to it as they began their final approach.  All
three passengers moved to a window.

   "I'll say this," said Kent with a smile, "you people certainly built me a
lovely ship!"

   "Worth the one hundred and eighty billion dollar investment?" Staci asked
him.

   He looked at her for a moment.  "We'll have to see, won't we."

   Staci didn't answer.  Instead she looked at what was to be her only link
to Earth for a long time.  The Mayflower was huge.  Almost as long as the
eighty year old station it was attached to, it featured the latest design
features that mankind had to offer.  Roughly cigar shaped, it was oddly
streamlined.  Not for cutting through an atmosphere, but for balance during
its acceleration and deceleration phases.  Its nose was the crew module,
which included the flight deck, environmental systems, computers, etc.  This
was where the three crew members would live for the flight when they weren't
in hibernation like the passengers.  Tucked in behind this section were the
pods.  Shaped like Quonset huts and about the size of large barns, the pods
contained all the supplies the new community would need, not to mention the
people themselves.  Spread out through twenty one pods were three hundred
people, all in hibernation units.  The pods were attached to the Mayflower's
spine and would separate from the ship once the decision had been made to
land, leaving behind the skeleton of the Mayflower to orbit forever.  The
pods would then land and become the first buildings on the planet.

   Behind the pods was a space garage with a shuttle, planetary probes and
communication satellites in it, and behind that was the massive star drive
that would accelerate the ship towards its intended target.

   It was four years in the building, constantly pushed towards a deadline
that if missed would mean waiting thirty years to try again.  Kent spared no
expense in getting the job done.  Unlike the station it was docked against,
the Mayflower wasn't built by the lowest bidder.  The best minds on the
planet had contributed to its design.  The deepest pockets had made it real.

   Staci found herself eager to fly in it.  Up until this point she had been
worried about making the trip, but seeing the Mayflower floating in space
had brought on her excitement.  She was now a part of a great human
endeavor, a member of the first group of people to seriously leave their
earthly bonds behind and take to the stars.  Sure there were people living
on the moon now, and the second mission to go explore Mars was scheduled to
leave next year.  But this was the big one.  She would be going where no
human had ever gone...beyond her solar system.  Staci felt flushed with
excitement.

   Beside her, Kent glanced her way and smiled.  He thought her new
complexion suited her.

   The shuttle didn't go near the space station, instead it docked directly
with the Mayflower.  They were met by Bob McKinley and Dick Janis, the other
two flight crew members.  Staci assumed that they had both just learned
about the death of their crew mate for both men didn't look happy.  They had
also probably just learned about Staci replacing her, for they both stared
at her as she exited the shuttle.

   "Gentlemen," said Alan Kent, shaking their hands, "I'm sorry, I truly am.
Maxine meant a lot to all of us, I know she'll be missed."

   McKinly nodded and it was obvious that he did feel the loss of Maxine
Staffer, while Janis simply looked inconvenienced.  It made Staci suddenly
aware that she hadn't really spared a thought for the dead women.  She had
known both Staffer and Pap, having worked closely with them for the last
year.  Yet, despite all that time together, Staci could hardly have called
them friends.  Neither woman really opened up, and Staci knew almost nothing
about their personal lives.  Staci thought she just didn't have the empathic
link with the two women to seriously morn their loss.

   Doctor Kelly exited last with several bags in tow.  "Staci, I want to see
you today for a work up.  I need to calibrate your hibernation unit
tonight," he told her, before glancing nervously at the men.

   "Sure, Doc.  But I have work on the launch sequence to finish up."

   Kent turned from his men, "No, you don't.  Bob will give you your
schedule, and you'll find time for the Doctor.  You have to come up to speed
with the latest updates to the Mayflower's systems."

   Staci nodded, knowing that there was going to be a lot of work left to
do, no more time for Barry.  "Sure thing, Mr. Kent."

   "But first, go over to the station and retrieve whatever personal items
you want to bring along and say your goodbyes.  I'm restricting everyone to
the ship until launch."

   "What?" Staci asked, surprised, although the other men didn't look as
shocked.

   "I don't want any more accidents," Kent replied.  "Get moving!"

   "Yes, Sir!" replied Major Staci Mann, and she resisted giving him a
salute before crossing over to the station.  She thought he was being a bit
of an ass about her safety, but then he was the boss...her boss, now.
Still, she was glad for the chance to go, for she had a Marine to go let
down, and she was glad that she hadn't gotten emotionally involved with the
guy; well, at least not too much.

   Kent and the two men watched her go, the Doctor having gone aft to check
on other things.  They waited until she vanished before speaking again.

   "You sure we can depend on her?" Bob McKinly asked.

   Kent folded his arms.  "Well, you guys have worked with her.  Can she do
the job?"

   "Sure, she's qualified," Janis said with a scowl "more than either of
those other two broads you saddled us with.  She's cuter, too.  But that's
not the problem."

   "I know," replied Kent.

   "So...what's the plan, Kent?"  Dick Janis asked, clenching a fist.

   Kent looked at the wall for a moment.  "Same as training for now, she's
the expert and you listen to her.  But once we go through the escape burn
and are on our way, then you're free to act."

   Dick grinned while Bob just nodded.

   "Be warned, gentlemen," continued Kent, "We will still need her expertise
until we land, and no doubt she has skills we can use on the surface; so woe
to either one of you who jeopardizes the safety of our mission because you
played too hard!"

   Dick chuckled.  "Don't worry, Kent.  By the time we get to Elvira, she'll
be properly trained to do whatever we ask!"

   Kent stared at Dick until the younger man's grin faded.  Kent could do
that to people.  "No damage, no fucking with her brain.  She's to be intact
when I wake up.  Understood?"

   Dick nodded, no longer smiling.

   "Dick," said Bob McKinly, "go on back and finish up those pre-ignition
coolant readings you were taking."

   "Sure thing, Bob," answered Janis, and he ducked through a hatch and
headed aft, leaving the two men alone.

   "Is something on your mind, Bob?" Kent asked.

   "The girl," Bob said quietly.

   "I told you, she'll do fine."

   "It's not that.  It's just...you shouldn't have done it, shouldn't have
recruited her to come along.  We could have brought up Elias.  He's been
training as my back up, he could have switched seats."

   Kent was shaking his head.  "You know that isn't possible.  We need every
woman on this flight we can get our hands on if we're to succeed in
populating the planet."

   "We have the stores, eggs and sperm!  One woman isn't going to make a
whole lot of difference."

   "One woman...can make a whole lot of difference!" yelled Kent.  He took a
breath and lowered his voice.  "Look Bob, those first years are going to be
critical.  Hell, if we get past the landing without losing anyone it will be
a miracle.  Sure, we have the stores, but only real women can get pregnant
and unfortunately for Elias he doesn't have the right bloody equipment!"

   Bob flinched, but held his ground.  "She doesn't know what's going on.
She has no idea what she's getting into, does she?"  He looked Kent in the
eye.  "That's why we're doing your dirty work for you, jumping her after the
burn, when it's too late to turn back."

   "Don't start acting so high and mighty, Bob.  It's not like you haven't
done it before!" Alan Kent said with a confident smile.

   Bob closed his mouth and looked away.

   "Bob," said Kent, moving close and taking the man by the lapel, "we need
Staci Mann on the flight deck for this flight, and on the planet we need her
body to get our population up.  As for you, well, as you said, Elias is
fully trained to take your place.  He let the comment hang in the air for a
moment, before pushing himself away.  "You've got a job to do, an important
job.  I know you have your doubts and like you, I wish there was another
way.  But I have to think of the survival of our new community, I can't
focus on the rights of just one person right now.   I know I can trust you
to do the same.  Right?"

   Still not looking at him, Bob nodded slowly.

   Kent smiled. "Good man."

   Kent dismissed him and floated in thought for a moment.  "Elvira...what a
bloody stupid name for a star!" he finally said before heading of to work of
his own.







5.



   Staci Mann, unlike her fellow crew mates, was a Veteran Astronaut.  She
didn't get that title because of her Earth orbital flights.  Coming to the
International Space Station was routine now that there were several shuttle
flights a day.  Tourism provided almost half of the I.S.A's operating
budget, and no tourist could ever be considered an Astronaut.  Staci Mann's
astronaut status was because of her work beyond Earth.  She had been on the
design and flight crew for the first manned mission to Mars.  She flew the
Mars Orbiter "H.G. Wells" on its maiden flight around the Moon and back, and
had been on back-up for the actual crew that took the ship to Mars itself.
She had also completed two tours of duty at the Luna base in Tycho, and was
unique among her peers for one rather amusing historical first.

   It happened during her first tour at the Luna base.  A habitation dome
had just been built next to the base, right on the surface of the Moon
itself.  Without the standard floor, this dome was to provide direct access
to the Luna surface for the geologists in a shirt sleeve environment.  They
had about an acre to work in, and the project still yielded amazing results
even now.  But back when it first started, Staci had been on the base
working as an engineer, and one day she got called to the dome to fix
something for the geologists.

   It was actually an easy task for the skilled young woman, basically a
heater repair, necessary because of the cold ground upon which they worked.
Once she was done she decided to look around at the work the scientists were
doing, and one thing struck her.  Everywhere in the Luna dust were
footprints made by the people working in the dome, but they all had one
thing in common, they were of shod feet.  Strictly out of curiosity, she
asked out loud if anyone had ever taken the time to walk barefoot in the
Luna dirt.

   Her question surprised most of the men and women in the dome and there
were a few chuckles at first.  But upon reflection, no one in the dome had
ever heard of anyone actually doing it.  There was a brief discussion about
it, but one person said it had probably never been done because until this
dome had been built, there had never really been easy access to true Luna
soil in any great quantity.

   So, feeling very daring, Staci gave in to an impulse and sat down to take
her shoes and socks off.  Everyone else in the room watched in amazement as
the young blonde astronaut slowly rose to a stand, her bare feet marking the
soil in a way no human had ever done before.   She took a few steps, then a
few more, and looked back to see her footprints, her real footprints,
marking a trail away from her shoes.

   Someone started videotaping the event and Staci did a complete circuit of
the entire dome to the applause and cheers of the scientists.  Embarrassed,
Staci put her shoes back on and after a little while the excitement died
down and everyone went back to work, but that wasn't the end of the matter.

   The video was uplinked to Earth a short time later with the rest of the
Luna base daily record backup, and someone in I.S.A. publicity looking for
interesting footage to place on the internet news broadcast, asked
themselves the same question Staci had put to the group in the Dome.  Some
research was done, and it appeared to be true that no one had ever walked
barefoot on the actual Luna surface ever before!  This fact, with the video,
made the human interest portions of newscasts all over the world, and people
responded to it.  Not since Neil Armstrong's first step did someone walking
on the moon capture the world's attention, and soon Staci was in demand for
interviews as they began calling her the first person to "Truly walk on the
surface of the Moon!"

   The publicity-shy young woman refused them all, except for one she did
for I.S.A. itself in which she confessed that the walk had been a cold one,
the ground still half frozen from the Luna night.

   That was her fifteen minutes of fame and it had since been forgotten.
But once her name was revealed to the public as the replacement crew member
for Maxine Staffer, the world wanted to know her again.

   Fortunately, it was far too late to give interviews, except for a brief
fifteen minute session with an I.S.A. publicist, ironically the same one
that had interviewed her before.

   The rest of her time was spent in training and preparing for the flight.
As the flight engineer, her responsibility was the ship and its systems.
She and Dick Janis would share the burden of making sure everything worked
for the duration of the fifteen-year flight.  Bob McKinly was the flight
commander.  He was in charge of the flight itself and doubled as the main
pilot.  Staci backed him up as the second pilot.

   The three of them trained together and tried to learn to work together,
but with only three days, Staci found it hard to connect with either man.

   Bob McKinly she liked, he certainly knew his stuff and was a sponge for
information.  He was always ready to listen and learn something knew, and he
deferred to Staci's experience in many matters until he felt he had mastered
them himself.  But he was also unique among the Mayflower group, being the
only member to have logged significant flight time in space.  A former
troubleshooter for Kent's Satellite division, he had made countless trips to
the station and other orbital platforms in the course of his work.  If a
non-I.S.A. man had to be placed in command of a project such as this one,
then Bob McKinly would certainly make the list.  Staci also found the man
somewhat attractive, and she knew he was single.  During those odd moments
when she had time to think for herself, she wondered if spending the rest of
her life on a far away planet with Bob around was really that bad.  Thoughts
like that made her smile.

   Dick Janis, on the other hand, was in her opinion, a pig!  True, he
listened to her when it came to work-related comments and instruction, but
it was clear to Staci that the man resented her being placed in a position
of power over him.  Staci, due to her Veteran status, had been given second
seat by Alan Kent, and it appeared to rub the male engineer raw.  He was
brisk with her, almost to the point of rudeness, and his opinion of women in
general was a low one.

   He also had a habit of looking at Staci as if she was nothing more than
boobs and butt.  Quite often, when working with the man, Staci would catch
him looking down the front of her flight suit, or gazing up at her crotch.
He would do this openly too, never looking away when she caught him.
Instead he would eventually meet her eyes and smile, like a guy with four
dollars in his pocket coming across a two dollar whore.

   At one point she mentioned Janis' attitude to McKinly, but McKinly just
shrugged it off.  "He does his job, doesn't he?"

   Staci had to admit that the man knew his job.  When it came to the
monster drive system that was to take them to Elvira, Dick Janis was the
man.  He should have been, because he was its chief designer.  Some said
that a seat aboard the flight was the only payment he took for developing
the drive system, and the only reason he bothered to do it at all!  In that
one area it was he who instructed Staci, and he always made her feel dumber
than she was by the way he oversimplified his training as if he figured she
could never understand what he was trying to teach her.  She felt insulted
in many ways after spending a few hours with Dick Janis.  Yet she had to
admit that without him the trip couldn't have been made.  What he had
designed was an engineering marvel.  Not only did he design a drive to push
a ship faster than anyone had ever gone before, but also a system to protect
the crew from being crushed to death by the massive acceleration.  Other
engineers and scientists on Earth were salivating over the chance of getting
hold of the plans once the Mayflower left, and cursed the fact that Janis
was keeping them so secret before the launch.  Janis had his reasons, he
didn't want anyone else to build a ship before the thirty year window
closed.

   But time marched on and there was no rest for wicked or saint alike.  The
launch window, a time period determined by the position of a binary star
system they were going to slingshot around midway in their journey, was
closing fast and the pressure mounted.  At Launch minus two days, the last
of the passengers were aboard and most of them had been stowed away in their
hibernation units.  Alan Kent, Doctor Kelly and a few of his staff, and the
pod pilots who would fly the landings, were the last to be put down.  And by
Launch minus twenty-four hours, even they were fast asleep in their pods
behind the crew section, although Kent had gone reluctantly.

   Bob McKinly fielded the last few good luck messages from various world
leaders, but then refused to hear more once the great ship separated from
the station and drifted under her own power.  The Mayflower was afloat for
the first time and was about to prove its worth or die under the full eye of
Earth's media.







6.



   "Distance from the station?" Bob asked.

   "About forty kilometers; we're outside the no ignition zone now," replied
Staci.

   The two of them were alone on the flight deck, in space suits, strapped
into their acceleration couches.  There were only a few minutes left in the
countdown and things were tense.  Two holds had already placed them an hour
behind schedule, they couldn't afford another one, not at this stage.  The
main drive was now in pre-ignition status, and to stop it now meant
rebuilding a part of it, a job of months, not minutes.  In a sense they had
already passed the point of no return.  They could still abort, but the cost
would be a thirty year wait while two distant suns realigned themselves so
they could try again.

   "How's it look back there, Dick?"  Bob asked, knowing that the engineer
sitting in the drive section could hear him.  Dick Janis was going to ride
out the burn right next to the great engine he had designed.  It was a
dangerous decision on his part, but his choice.  Someone had to be there if
something went wrong, remote safety systems couldn't take care of everything
he often grumbled.

   "Look at your damn instruments!" Dick said over the intercom. "You can
see it as well as I can!"

   Bob's expression grew a little darker.  "Watch your language, bud, the
world is listening."

   "Screw the world!  No one is happier to get off that asshole planet more
than me!"

   Bob had already cut off Janis's reply from the main feed going out to the
I.S.A. public communications site.  He switched to internal com only and
said, "Listen asshole, you keep it together down there.  Okay?  Or do you
want me to come back there and bitch-slap you around some?"

   Staci looked over at the pilot, shocked at what she had just heard, but
Bob winked at her.

   "Sorry," said Janis after a moment. "I guess I'm a bit wound up."

   Bob smiled, "We're going back to external com."

   Staci watched Bob for a moment longer, and then went back to her own
checklist.  She had seen the two men act like this before, and wondered
about macho posturing among men.  It made no sense to her how men could act
like deadly enemies at times and then ten minutes later be having a beer
together.  Yet with these two she had a feeling that they weren't sharing a
weird sort of manly affection for each other.  The insults were too well
felt, the barbs sharp and hurtful.  Neither man liked the other, or so it
seemed.  But Staci also noticed that it was always Bob who settled things,
not Janis.  Bob was the one in charge, and it went beyond mere rank.  She
hoped she'd get a chance to ask him about it.

   There were a few moments of silence during which Staci concentrated on
her work and the voices of the controllers aboard the station, but at about
a minute before the burn she turned to look at Bob, and found him staring at
her.  She heard the click of him turning off the external com.

   "If you, for any reason, have doubts about this trip," he said, looking
directly at her, "just say the word and I'll hit the abort.  But I have to
tell you, once we're in the burn, there's no going back.  You'll have to
deal with whatever we find, whatever.we as a group.choose to do.  This is
your last chance to stop it, here and now."

   "Don't be a damn idiot!" Janis said, on the same circuit.  "I don't have
a problem with it!  We're going!"

   Bob didn't acknowledge the man though, and Staci got the impression that
what he'd said was for her ears, not for Dick Janis.  But she wasn't a
quitter either, you couldn't be and do her job.  His message, whatever it
was, got lost in her sense of duty.

   "All systems are go," she responded.  "Computers are in final countdown."

   Bob looked at her for a second longer before switching the com to
external again.  "Launch Control, we're go for ignition.  Thanks for all the
help guys!"

   "F.A.B. Mayflower," said Anthony Cripelli himself, in Launch Control for
this historic moment.  "You're taking Mankind's first steps toward the
stars, may we be worthy of them!  Godspeed!"

   Bob acknowledged and all that remained now was the wait for the final
countdown.  Four years of planning and hard labor and it would all be
decided in a matter of seconds.  Either the big engine would work, or it
wouldn't.

   It worked.

   Staci really couldn't hear anything, although there was a subtle
vibration in the ship that worried her.  She typed a few commands into one
of her computers controlling the experimental equipment that kept the crew
from being crushed to a pulp by the acceleration and the vibration ceased,
leaving just the impression of motion pushing her back into her seat.  That
was all she planned on feeling for the next six hours, the time it would
take to build up to a respectable fraction of the speed of light.  Fifteen
years was the projected fight time to Elvira, but only if they got up to
speed and made their rendezvous with the binary system on time and on
target.

   "Inertial dampers online and functioning normally," she said.

   Bob acknowledged but kept his eyes on his own panels.  The computer was
flying the ship now, but he had to be alert.  Besides, he had other things
on his mind.

   Staci took a few moments to call up the video feed from the station, and
gasped when she saw it.   A fiery plume a thousand miles long illuminated
the night sky.  It was bright enough to be seen even in full daylight, and
not one person on that side of the Earth at that moment, didn't go out and
look up.  It was history in the making, history shared by all.









7.



   Six hours later, Staci was relieved when on cue, the drive system shut
down.  It meant she could finally get out of her seat and float around the
ship in her beloved zero gravity.

   "I have to take a few moments, Bob," she said, undoing her seat buckles,
"this suit has to come off!"

   McKinly nodded, but he was already punching commands into the great
ship's navigational computer.  The main engine still had a lot of heat to
shed, so he needed to rotate the ship so that its cooling vanes were in
shade.

   Staci floated above her seat and struggled out of her space suit, her
feminine form catching Bob's eye for a minute, before he concentrated once
again on the shut-down procedures that were to take up their next few hours
of work.  Now that the main drive had done its job, it had to be emptied of
all its used fuel and cooling fluids so it could be refilled from stores the
ship carried, preparing it for its next burn, the one that would slow them
down once they reached Elvira.  This work had to be done immediately, or the
engine would be rendered useless by the corrosive chemicals that circulated
through it.

   But the crew of the Mayflower was up to the task, and eventually the
dangerous job was behind them.

   "Time to celebrate," Bob said with a smile, after they all finished a
final post burn interview over the radio with Mission Control on the
station, a call made increasingly harder by the ever-widening time lag.
They were going so fast that radio signals were now taking minutes to go
back and forth.  Soon it would be hours, then days, then all the way up to
years.  Casual conversation over the radio was already a thing of the past,
and with each second, the Mayflower was becoming more and more isolated.

   The three crew members had dinner in their tiny Mess.  An excellent meal
loaded aboard by the station crew was consumed with gusto by the two men and
one woman, and conversation stuck mostly with what was going to happen over
the next day or so before they too went into hibernation.

   Even Dick Janis seemed a bit more hospitable toward Staci, and she found
herself finally enjoying the company of both men.  It was obvious to her
though that she was still the outsider, for the men would exchange looks
from time to time that Staci could not fathom.  But once the meal was done,
they all relaxed with drinks in hand, and thought about the great adventure
ahead.

   "I'm excited," Staci confessed.

   Bob looked at her.  "You know, it might not be what you expected," he
said.

   "I don't care, I still feel excited," Staci replied with a smile.

   Bob however, didn't seem to be smiling, although Dick Janis had a big
grin on his face.  Bob said, "What if...what if, what you experience out
there, turns out to be nothing like anything you have ever done before?"

   Staci looked at him quizzically.  "Isn't that the point; to experience
new things, an entirely new place?"

   Bob didn't answer her, instead he looked at Janis.  "Have you given any
thought, Staci, to what you would be doing once we land; what part you would
play in our community?"

   "Well," she said, "I suppose my role would play to my strength:
Engineering.  There is an awful lot of equipment going down to the planet,
and someone has to keep it working."  She smiled, "Maybe I would take over
whatever Maxine was going to do.  Do you know what that was?"

   "Maxine...Maxine had a special part in what was to be.  I'm not sure how
well you would fit in, taking her place.  To be honest, I was rather
surprised that Alan Kent went outside our group to replace Maxine."

   "Are you saying that Kent shouldn't have hired me?" Staci asked, feeling
a little defensive.

   "What Kent did...well, we're past that now, no going back."  He looked up
at her, fixing her with his eyes.  "But I'm going to say this once, and once
only.  Kent should not have brought you along, you won't understand what is
going to happen to you as you aren't a part of this group.  I'm sorry."

   Staci had lost her good mood, and she just stared at Bob McKinly for a
few moments, trying to sort out what he had said.  Then she turned to look
at Janis.

   Dick Janis was ready for her.  He quickly pointed a tiny vial at her face
and sprayed her on her nose and mouth.  He grinned as she pushed back, but
it was already too late for the girl as her half-panicked motions quickly
stilled and she fell asleep.  "Night night, cunt!" he said, giving her
another dose just to make sure.

   "Easy on that stuff," Bob said, his expression worried.

   "She'll be fine.  What was all that shit about being sorry?" Janis asked,
grabbing the unconscious girl and looking her over.

   Bob ignored the question.  "Let's get her into her hibernation unit so we
can get on with our work."

   "Bullshit!  I want to play with her first!"

   "We don't have time to play with her.  There's still a lot to do,
especially since it's just the two of us.  We have to get the ship ready to
go along without us for a few years.

   "Yeah, yeah, but I'm not hibernating her just yet.  We were supposed to
get Maxine to play with until the cunt had her accident.  Kent promised me
that when I agreed to this trip.  Who knows, this may be the last time
either of us gets to have any fun!"  He turned to face his partner.  "Wasn't
Maxine supposed to be your woman when we arrived anyway?  Major Cunt here
said she wanted to do what Maxine was supposed to do.  Don't you even want
to audition her for the part?"  Janis smiled one of those smiles that made
you want to punch it, and Bob almost did.  But he looked at the sleeping
blonde floating in Janis's hands, and reluctantly nodded.  He knew that
Staci would have to learn her new position in the community sometime, and
Dick was right about one thing.  Maybe she would replace Maxine!

   "Okay, string her up someplace, but then we have to get back to work.  I
want this ship ready to fly to Elvira before we do anything else, or she
goes into hibernation and you'll have to wait fifteen years before you get a
chance to scratch your itch!"

   Janis continued to smile, "You're on, Bob, I'll string her up real good."

   McKinly pushed himself away from the table.  "I'll meet you on the flight
deck in ten minutes, no longer."

   Janis waited until Bob was out of sight, and then turned to face the
unconscious Staci.  He ran a hand along her body, squeezing her breasts over
her jump suit and smiled.  "Yeah, time to string you up, baby!"



-----------





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