Sarah tried to stretch in the cramped confines of her sleeping cubical as she slipped off her daytime coveralls. There was barely enough room in the closet-sized space to turn around, and getting changed required some dexterous acrobatics that would have been impossible in normal gravity.
Sarah had been on the Space Station for five days now, and the strain of the work was beginning to show. Designed to be operated by a crew of six astronauts, cutbacks and delays meant that there were normally only two people aboard, an American and a Russian. Right now there were five of them - Alexi and James, who would be returning to Earth tomorrow, plus herself and Grigory, who would take the next six-month shift on orbit. Pete, the millionaire space tourist made up the fifth person on board, but he didn't have the training to help them out unloading their specialised equipment and re-packing the second Soyuz for the return trip. As far as he was concerned, he was on vacation. Sarah didn't really approve of the blatant profiteering being shown by the Russian Space Agency in flying tourists, but it helped to pay the bills that allowed her to keep flying, so...
Letting out a happy sigh, Sarah released the clasp on her constraining sports bra and watch it drift away across the tiny room, letting her D-cup breasts float free. The uncomfortable garment was a pain, but given the generous size of Sarah's chest it was something of a necessity in zero-gravity, especially when working in tight quarters with four men. Sarah was 36, an attractive woman, and so was used to receiving surreptitious glances from men, especially the bunch of juvenile fighter-jocks that made up at least half of the astronaut corps. She'd spent most of her career trying to downplay her sexual characteristics in order to be taken more seriously.
Despite the sports bra, she'd received looks here too. Alexi and James both had women waiting for them back home, but they had been cooped up on the Station for six months now, and she definitely got the impression they'd missed having some female company in that time. In fact, if the hungry expressions she'd caught on their faces were anything to go by, their wives were in for a sleepless week or two upon their return.
Pete had been almost as bad, though he'd not been away from Earth for even a week, and hadn't exactly been celibate during training. Sarah remembered one night in particular in Moscow, the night before a photo-op meeting with a delegation from the Russian Duma, when she'd had the room next to Pete's. The hotel was past its prime, but the youthful millionaire most definitely wasn't if the sounds that had come through the room's thin walls were anything to go by. Sarah closed her eyes as she remembered it, her hands drifting unconsciously to her floating breasts. They'd gone on all night, and the woman's very vocal exclamations of pleasure made it clear the man was at least as skilful a lover as he was a stock broker. By the following morning, Sarah wasn't sure if she was angrier with him for preventing her from sleeping, or for leaving her turned on and frustrated.
Sarah took a sharp breath as she gently squeezed her left breast, then snapped her eyes opened as she realised what she was doing. What was wrong with her?! Ever since the launch (the launch! She felt a hot pulse in her core at the memory of that incredible launch!), she'd found herself more and more daydreaming about sex. She never used to think about it so much. Maybe it was an effect of weightlessness, screwing around with her hormonal balance? Maybe it the fact that she was doing much less exercise in zero-gee was leaving her with more pent-up energy, looking for an escape? Or maybe it was just having been without for over three years. Being confined in a small, sealed area with four fit, virile men, at least one of whom had seen her flustered after losing control on the flight up. All but one of whom had been making eyes at her all week. Sarah's eyelids half closed again and her hands moved of their own accord as she felt her pink, exposed nipples begin to stand erect...
No! She snapped herself out of it, and quickly pulled on her nightshirt and panties. She was an astronaut, a professional! She couldn't just keep losing focus like this! Angry at herself, she pulled a clipboard from its velcro pad and began going through tomorrow's schedule. But she couldn't concentrate on it. After twenty minutes she gave up, and pulled aside the fabric door of her cubical to go in search of some water.
It was late, and the station's lights had been dimmed for the evening, with most of the small viewports covered to screen the light of a new sunrise every ninety minute orbit. Sarah could hear the steady breathing of her crewmates over the ever-present hum of the air conditioning, as she pulled herself along the capsule. Leaving the Zvezda module, she entered Zarya and filled a squeezy tube from the tiny Station kitchen. As she did so, she caught a glimpse of movement from the far end of the Station. Through the length of the Destiny lab, she could make out a crouched figure in the Unity module, a figure that a year of training meant she could instantly identify as Pete. He was drifting by Unity's big porthole, the blue glow of Earthlight bathing his face. Giving up on sleep for the moment, Sarah pulled herself along and headed up to meet him.
"Hi," she said quietly, touching his upper arm as she came up beside him. Pete turned and smiled. "Hel.." he started, before his eyes dropped, the friendly smile fixing on his face. "...lo".
Sarah mentally cursed herself. She wasn't wearing the bra, and her weightless breasts were drifting free and unfettered under the loose material of her nightshirt. With obvious difficulty, Pete pulled his eyes away from her chest and looked back out of the window. "It's quite a view," he commented lightly.
Sarah felt her cheeks redden, but was determined not to let this man fluster her. "It's a view you paid a lot of money to see," she retorted. "But I suppose even a man like you can't get everything he wants by paying for it."
"True," he chuckled softly. "This was something of an expensive vacation, but I think I got my money's worth. Great accommodation, fantastic scenery." He turned and looked directly into her eyes "The only thing missing has been a holiday romance."
The memory of that Moscow hotel briefly flitted through Sarah's mind again before she regained control of herself. "Space is not a Club 18-30 venue, Pete," she reminded him. "It'd be difficult for you to get up to your normal bedroom antics when you don't have a bed."
He raised an eyebrow. "And what do you know about that?" he asked.
She blushed, but came out defiant. "Just the way you used to keep me awake with your latest conquest whenever we were in neighbouring rooms."
"You were listening?" he asked archly.
"It was hard not to!" she blurted. "All night every night. I can't imagine what you were doing to get a reaction like that!"
