Beyond Gravity's Pull

Dr. Wells lay in her improvised seat aboard the Soyuz capsule grinning from ear to ear. It had taken her years to get to this: the college work, application to the space program, the astronaut training. And now here she was, strapped into position aboard the Soyuz which had just docked with the International Space Station.

As the hatch opened, the three other cosmonauts unlatched their belts and floated freely about the cabin. Wells had to wait. She was in a special fourth seat configuration, which she was told, had never been used before. It was so exciting to be making history! To accommodate the extra seat, the spacecraft carried no cargo - just her and the crew. She made the trip strapped into what looked like a medical stretcher, suspended via straps to the center of the cabin. Although the time from launch to docking was only eight hours, the engineering team took no chances. They placed her on a liquid diet for several days in advance of the flight. She wore a catheter and, embarrassingly, a large anal plug. For a chance to go into space, she wasn't about to argue. Nor did she question the titanium bands on her wrists and ankles. They said it was all necessary for her and the crew's safety. All would be removed once aboard the ISS they said.

The crew Commander stayed behind once the two other cosmonauts cleared the cabin. "Welcome to the ISS," he said with a smile. "Let me help get you out of this and start your on-orbit orientation." Grasping various handles he floated around the cabin unsnapping the straps that held the seat in place. "Please accept my apologies but to completely release you we have to take you to one of the crew modules and get some tools."

And with that, he grabbed a handle on the end of the seat and launched them both through the docking bay. Inside the ISS the crew was already busy at work. As she passed by one of her crew mates from the Soyuz and an onboard crew member, they smiled and nodded. She wanted to at least wave at them but about all she could manage was to turn her head slightly and nod back. It will be a relief to get out of this thing, she thought.

Eventually they found their way to one of the storage modules. They were surrounded on all sides with compartments, cargo netting and equipment strapped down in various ways. The Commander opened a bag that was attached to the wall with velcro and pulled out a couple of straps. One was fastened to the handle at the bottom end of her stretcher and another to the top. Then the Commander secured the straps to opposite sides of the walls to stabilize it and prevent it from drifting away. "We're almost ready," he said to her looking her in the eyes, "just a few more minutes."

The Commander then went back to the another bag on the wall and pulled out a long cord and a comb. "This is your first time in space so I ask you to trust me on this. The first thing we need to do is get that hair of your's under control." Wells knew what he was talking about. Normally astronauts are encouraged to cut their hair short but she was determined to keep hers. It was long and straight and went nearly to her waist. But even in the brief time that they have been weightless she could see that it had been floating everywhere. "For your safety, I'm going to secure it with this tie first. There's a lot of fans and such up here and we don't want any accidents." So she floated secured to the stretcher while the Commander combed out her hair and wove it into a long ponytail from the top of her head.

He took his time and it was soothing for her. After all, she had been strapped to that stretcher for many hours. Not that it wasn't entirely unpleasant. She had been enjoying every bit of her confinement. If they had been back on Earth, she might have been embarrassed. But she had been training with the entire crew for a couple of years. They had no secrets and they must have known. She found the training sessions in tight quarters calming and a bit of a turn-on.

Eventually the Commander finished the hair project. Then he started unbuckling the straps on the stretcher. At long last she had her chance to experience total weightlessness. In looking down at her clothes, she realized that everybody else must have known how exciting the confinement had been. The crotch of her jumpsuit was soaked and smelled pretty strongly of sex. There would definitely be no secrets with this crew.

Wells looked up and saw that the Commander also knew. He smiled slightly and said "Come on, let's get you out of that jumpsuit so we can pull that catheter." For a moment she became embarrassed and was going to protest. Then she remembered where they were and who he was. There were no modesty between crew members. Without further thought she unsnapped the button at her neck, unzipped the front of the suit and pulled her arms and legs out. In an instant she was naked, with the exception of the catheter extending down her leg, the bag strapped to the outside of her calf, and the security bands on her wrists and ankles.

She floated freely in center of the cabin. The Commander unlatched the stretcher from the straps and secured it to the wall behind a cargo net. As she drifted around for a few moments of fun, the Commander went to another bag on the wall and pulled out a shiny metal tool that appeared to match her cuffs. Hooking his leg to a cargo net, he reached out enough to grab Wells by a foot. "Shall we work on these?" he asked.

She stopped wiggling and tried to hold still. However, the Commander seemed to have trouble getting the cuff released. "I'm sorry," he said, "but this appears to be more difficult than I thought. Do you mind if I do something to get more leverage?" She nodded in agreement. The Commander grabbed the clip at the end of the strap that had previously held the near end of the stretcher and snapped it onto her ankle cuff. Then he pushed off to the other side of the cabin where the other strap was connected. He grabbed that clip and snapped it on the ring that was at the end of her hair tie. That was amazing, she thought, how did he know to do that in advance? She was no longer floating but now held in a relatively motionless position by straps at both ends. The Commander pushed off again and returned to her foot. "I see the problem now," he said. "Please bring your other foot over here together with this one." When she brought her foot over, he saw her make a couple of moves with the tool and felt the cuffs snap together. "Drat!" he said.

He pulled himself upward to her side, holding himself steady with one hand on a cargo net. "Once again, I offer my apologies. It seems I have used the wrong tool. I have the wrist cuff tool here when I should have used the one for the feet. Since I have you here, may I at least get the wrist cuffs off before I go back to the ankles? It's easier when you won't float away." She felt annoyed. But nobody ever said space was easy, she thought to herself. Once again, she nodded in agreement. He took her arm and inserted the tool into a hole in the cuff. A small J-shaped piece protruded out. He then tried to reach for her other arm but, without gravity, she simply spun away. She laughed to herself and smiled. The Commander did as well. "I know what to do," he said. "We need to keep you still." He then pulled a clip from his belt and snapped the cuff from the hand he was holding to the cargo net. Then he positioned himself on her other side and took hold of her other cuff. Her Inserted the tool into a hole and turned it. A small slot opened up. Then, in a quick move, he brought the two cuffs together behind her back. They snapped tightly together.

"Oh! Look what I have done!" he said. He unsnapped the wrist clip to the cargo net and moved up to the strap connecting her hair to the wall. He pulled it until there was no slack from either the straps or her body. For a moment, Wells said nothing. Somehow she was expecting that he would unsnap something or release her. Instead, he went back to one of the bags on the wall and pulled out an large hinged titanium ring like the ones she was already wearing. Working quickly, he fastened it around her waist, snapping it together at the front. He then used her body like yet another hand support and went around behind her. She felt him grab the wrist cuffs and snap them to the waist cuff. In what seemed like seconds, she was entirely immobile. But that didn't seem to be enough for the Commander. He went back to the bags on the wall and pulled out more rings. A set was snapped on her above and below her knees. And another pair were fastened above her elbows. She saw the Commander bring a short piece of metal out of the bag. He went behind her again and felt her elbows get locked together.

Finally, the stunned feeling began to wear off a bit. "What are you doing to me?" she asked meekly. She began to cry.

The Commander watched in an amusement as a tear floated away from her face. "Please let me explain Dr. Wells. Hasn't it occurred to you that everyone aboard the station has a specific science mission? You got onboard without one. Everybody on this crew has been in their space program for at least a decade. You were admitted to our space program just two years ago. And immediately you were assigned to a flight. Why? The space program has been looking for somebody like you for years. You're a foster child and don't have any family. Nobody is going to miss you. Officially your mass at launch was accounted for as cargo. Nobody knows you're here except us.

It was quite obvious early on in training that you were quite comfortable with bondage and confinement. So you were put at the front of the line. The space program needs to know what happens to astronauts long-term in zero-gravity. On previous missions, we studied bone loss but never let it go too far because the astronaut would eventually have to go home to Earth. You're not going home Dr. Wells. You're staying right here.

We're going to keep you tethered here and there aboard the ISS so we can study what happens to your skeleton. By our estimates, after a couple of years you will have lost so much bone that you'd never survive the return trip to Earth. Maybe your bones will dissolve entirely, turning you into floating human jellyfish. For the sake of science we need to know. So we'll track your progress as you waste away. That liquid diet you were on? Get used to it. Since you're not moving anywhere from now on you're on low-calorie intake. We'll leave that catheter and butt-plug in because we like to keep things tidy up here. And if you don't cooperate, we've got feeding tubes that we can use to keep you alive. Also, we'll be including some birth control in your food as well. Like I said, we like to keep things tidy up here. And just to let you know, we might untether you now and then to make use of that wonderfully wet pussy of yours. After all, it gets awfully lonely up here in space. Since you've been so accommodating so far, please allow me to reposition you to the Observation Deck. The view is fantastic and each of the crew are anxious to experience sex in space."