Founders Ch 71

71: Solis, Makara 15, 231 2130 hours OST: 'Tis Breakfast Pirate Season

Zach woke up in the darkness and weightlessness of the bubble. It was relaxing to sleep here! He remembered being zipped, half asleep, into Colette's sleeping bag. She was probably cuddled up with Alexis. He unzipped and felt around to orient himself. He found Colette and Alexis first and whispered to Colette, "You can have your sleeping bag back." He felt around more and found an empty sleeping bag. He knew he hadn't backtracked, so he suspected this was Ayana's bag. She was probably snuggled up with Colleen, if last night was any indication. He wandered toward the probable location of Colleen's bag. That was the last known location of his clothes and his phone. He found a bag full of women and got his hand gently smacked. It must be Ayana. He hunted around that area gingerly for his clothes for half an hour, but couldn't find them.

Naked and without a phone, Zach extruded himself out the opening of the bubble. He knew the approximate location of radial arm A1 from the mouth of the bubble. He crawled over there. He found it. There were some small indicator lights glowing on the bay door 100 meters down the radial arm.

Zach climbed down the ladder to Radial Arm Bay A1. He went through the antispinward door into Exercise B. From there, he stopped to shower in Head B2. Now sporting a towel around his middle, he walked across Recreation B to his quarters. Colby was still snoring gently and peacefully in their bed. Her phone said it was 4 AM. They were supposed to be on Martian time, but they could figure that out in the morning. Exhausted and depleted, he joined his chocolate wife in bed. She was his heart, his life. He fell into a deep sleep.

Hours later, Colby gently shook him awake. "Oh baby, it looks like I just about killed you last night."

"No, you were wonderful," Zach declared groggily.

"I feel really guilty now," said Colby. "All those poor women in the bubble got nothing because I hoarded you last night. I just couldn't stop myself. But ooh, I'm paying for it. I can barely stand up! I hope they haven't all killed each other."

"You know, after you fell asleep, I did make it back there, or up there?" said Zach. "But I got lost. It was pitch dark. I lost my phone and my clothes."

"You lost your clothes?" said Colby. "Just what did you get up to, you nasty, nasty bad boy?"

"I fell asleep," said Zach. "When I woke up, my clothes were gone. I was strapped by my ankle to the wall of the bubble. I think it was Colleen."

Colby grinned, "Did she use you for her pleasure?"

It seemed like a good-natured question from Colby. For gosh sakes, they'd shared Zach in the same room before. They were dedicated to sharing him as wives. Maybe he shouldn't be so concerned when Colby asked about other women. Maybe it was healthy. Certainly the situation and his still-fuzzy brain, suggested honesty. "Thoroughly," he said. "Clearly she had encountered zero-gee situations like this before. She had... equipment."

"Sounds ominous," Colby grinned.

"You know, I never know whether to mention my experiences or not," said Zach. "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt us. I know it's a sensitive topic for you."

"It's simple, baby," Colby replied. "If I ask, I want to know, or I think I want to know. That's a Pandora's Box I open and I am responsible for. Otherwise, I basically know what you get up to for the good of the crew. You know and you can trust that I approve of what you do. Generally, I'd rather be spared the details. But if something really important happens, baby, important to you, I want to hear you. I want to help you work through it if it needs working through. That whole thing about whipping Colette, for example. You shouldn't have faced such a difficult situation without my help."

"Be careful, because I should never lie to you, tell you an untruth," said Zach. "I'll answer your exact question to the best of my ability. I will lie to you by omission, I suppose. I won't offer more than I have to unless you ask for more."

"That's perfect, baby," replied Colby. "Now, do you love me the best?" She had a devilish grin.

The question put Zach in a serious mood. He had thought about this carefully. "Here's what I'm going to tell my children. I love all their mothers all equally and passionately, and I will until the day I die. All the moms, including you, are going to have to settle for that answer too. And it's the truth, as far as abstract things like love and truth can ever be described."

"Good answer," Colby said. "Let me rephrase the question. Who do you bring the right amount of chocolate to every single day?"

"Only you, my darling! Only you," answered Zach. "Ohmygosh! I lost my only chocolate bar! I had it in my pocket. It'll probably be days before we dig out the box we brought."

Colby's eyes widened in mock horror. "We need to get up there right away and get back my chocolate!" Zach threw on his scrubs. Colby said, "Skirts are impractical for zero-gee." She put on some tan yoga pants, a purple pullover, and flats.

They left their quarters. Zach had crippled her a bit. Colby walked gingerly and looked goofy, like she was riding a steer. He scooped her up, threw her over his shoulder, and ran, both of them laughing, to the radial arm bay. Once they were through the hatches, he ushered her up the ladder and followed her.

The lights were on in the core. Zach's clothes were floating around outside the bubble, scattered. He checked the pockets. He retrieved his phone, but the chocolate bar was gone.

There was a meter of water damping any sound between the inside of the bubble and the outside. People inside the bubble couldn't hear outside and vice versa. Zach pushed through the bubble entrance until his head was inside. "Did anybody see a chocolate bar?" he asked.

"We ate it," answered Colleen with a smile.

"We want breakfast!" said Alexis. "Please."

"I needed that bar for Colby," said Zach.

"I know," said Colleen, smiling, "But I know something you don't."

"You know where the box of chocolate bars is," said Zach.

"Bingo!" said Colleen, "And I might be tempted to tell you, for some breakfast."

"This is..." said Zach, "you're holding those chocolate bars hostage! You're breakfast pirates!"

"And a bath! We want a bath!" said Alexis.

"You got semen all over everywhere, Zach," said Ayana, looking around with distaste.

Zach pulled himself back out of the bubble. Colby asked what happened to the chocolate. He filled her in on the situation. She seconded the notion that the bubble women were indeed breakfast pirates. They set off for Galley A.

Colby and Zach cooked breakfast for eight. That covered the six in the bubble and the two of them. They took their breakfasts into the bubble to chat with the others.

As soon as Colby's head popped through the entrance, she said, "Wow... it smells like a used condom in here."

"Exactly!" said Colleen. "We need to figure something out. Well, more than one thing."

"Berte's the designer, but she's piloting the ship," said Zach.

"I'll switch places with her," said Colby.

"Better yet," said Colleen. "Find Mateo. Have him pilot the ship and you two come back with Berte."

After breakfast, Colby and Zach went down to Radial Arm Bay A2. They went out the spinward hatch and walked spinward to Cabin A3, Mateo and Jason's cabin. Nobody was there. They walked further spinward looking for Mateo.

They found Aiden and Jason sitting and playing cards in Hydroponics Bay B2. It was an odd place to play cards, since there wasn't particularly anyplace to sit or play. Aiden was perched on a planter's stool. Jason was sitting on a wide board between two buckets. They were playing cards on the part of the board Jason was not sitting on.

"Do you know where Mateo is?" asked Zach.

"He'll be here any minute, I mean really," said Aiden, looking at the time on his phone.

"Okay," said Zach, looking at Colby. She looked back at him and shrugged.

Colby said to the guys, "We need him to run the ship."

Jason looked up at them and then stood up. "Is it urgent?"

Colby waved him down. "No, no, we can wait a few minutes. What, is he taking a shower?"

"Ahh... no," said Jason, sitting back down.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Mateo approached them from spinward. "Oh, God, guys, she still wants to keep-" He saw Zach and Colby. "Going. Oh, hi."

"You," said Jason to Aiden.

"About time," said Aiden, slapped his cards down, and brushed past Mateo heading spinward.

Charisse's place was adjacent, fifty feet spinward, Zach thought. That had to be it. Three of them! And they looked tired. "How long have you guys been...?" he asked.

"Hours," Mateo said to Zach, sitting down heavily. Colby looked around uncomfortably, getting the gist.

"I hate to pull you away from your recreation time," Colby said. "Colleen requests you pilot the ship while Berte looks into a few problems with the bubble."

"Nothing serious, I hope," said Mateo.

"No, just some minor adjustments." With that, the three went to relieve Berte. This accomplished, Zach, Colby and Berte climbed up to the core to discuss the bubble with its occupants.

Once the three had squeezed their way into the bubble, Berte said, "Here's what I propose. We take all your stuff back out of here. Then we throw three hundred liters of water in here with you along with some mild detergent. Then you can clean the inner walls of the bubble to your hearts' content. You can also have a good bath yourselves. You need it."

"Thanks to Zach," muttered Ayana.

"That's surprising," said Berte. "I thought you only nailed him to get pregnant. Now I'm confused."

"Darling sweet," said Ayana. "It doesn't mean because I partook. Merely the proximity was enough, in zero-gee, to pollute everything. Not his fault. We didn't think it through."

"I should have foreseen it," said Colleen.

"Berte, honey doll," said Ayana, "I willingly concede that Zach is a total sweetheart. I consider him a good friend, but I'm not sexually attracted. I know that disappoints you. It shouldn't. We can maybe be closer friends because of it. When sexual attraction is removed, friendships are that much better, I think. Frankly, I don't see how Khushi remains sane, being attracted to both genders."

"Really? Well, okay. I'm happy for you and Khushi. And us," said Berte. Without missing a beat she continued. "We'll take out the dirty water and put in another three hundred liters to rinse everything off with. Then we'll take out the rinse water. We'll turn down the humidity and turn up the heat on the air recycler we're using. The place will be dry half an hour after that."

Six hundred liters of water sounded like a lot. But the astronauts knew that even a quick shower used sixty-five liters of water. So, six hundred liters was not a problem from a recycling standpoint. In Mars gravity, a fifty liter canister of water weighed forty pounds at the rim of the habitat. It would not be a problem to carry a dozen such canisters back and forth.

"You mean, we'll be naked?" asked Anming, glancing at Ayana and then away.

"Yes," said Berte.

"You display your body proudly, remember?" said Zach.

"Yes, my husband," Anming replied resignedly.

"What about the other problem?" Alexis asked Berte. "Zach said you had ideas."

Berte began, "Yes, I-"

"My husband," said Anming, "Surely you have something better to do while we discuss... hmm... logistical matters."

"Yes, fuck off, get lost," Michaela seconded, waving her arms at him. "Should be surprise." Zach and Colby left to do their morning workout before they were due on duty at 10 AM.

At 2 PM there was an all-crew meeting in the bubble. Only Colby was not in attendance, since she was piloting the ship. She had an audiovisual connection into the meeting though, phone to phone with Zach. Colleen called the crowded but clean and fresh-smelling bubble of people to order. "Okay, first the time change. As you all know, ground control has been operating on Darian time since before the countdown. This was so that we don't have to switch official timekeeping methods during the mission. So officially, we're already on Darian time."

Colleen continued, "In Darian, it's Lunae, the equivalent of Monday morning. It's the 16th day of the month of Makara at almost 0730 OST, or Olympus Standard Time. It's Winter on Earth, but on Mars, it's the middle of Spring. By the time we arrive, it'll be the middle of Summer. If we're lucky, the temperature when and where we land could be as high as a balmy 70 Fahrenheit or 20 Celsius. A perfect summer day, not too hot."

Colleen said, "We all can switch our phone clocks to Darian time. Let's do that now. Okay. The way I propose we deal with the six and a half hours of difference in the time zones is this. Each of the next three watches are ten hours instead of eight hours. And you, Zach and Colby, will take the extra half hour. So, Colby and Zach will be on duty until 1400 OST today. Khushi and Charisse will serve from 1400 OST until midnight. Berte and Aanya will serve from midnight to 1000 OST tomorrow. Watches will begin at the usual times thereafter. Any objections?" There were none.

Colleen continued, "We need to figure out holidays better eventually, but we don't want to miss Christmas, do we? No we don't. So we'll celebrate Christmas Eve on Makara the 26th and Christmas Day on Makara the 27th this year. That's synced up with Earth. We'll have to start thinking about double holidays or something. Every Martian year is about two Earth years long. Should we therefore have two Christmases? Invent new holidays? We'll have to think about it."

Colleen continued, "Oh, and mining crew, plug your ears. Just kidding. Another insemination week starts for Michaela today. Let's all give the hard working couple the... space... and... the encouragement I guess... to do what wants to be done."

Mateo raised his hand. "I can speak for my crew in saying we are not scandalized, and good luck to Michaela this week. And I have another matter I'd like to discuss."

"Go ahead," said Colleen.

Mateo continued, "I'd like to request that Jason and I shift to the night watch. I further request Ethan and Aiden shift to the graveyard watch. The bubble is on the day watch with Colby and Zach. This spreads us out more on the shifts. I think it gives us better coverage for helping with this and that."

"This and that, eh?" said Colleen. "Okay." Zach believed she had picked up on what he had. Colby was the only free range woman on the day watch, and she was being monogamous to Zach. The mining crew was splitting up the other four free range women, or chances at them, at least. "And speaking of insemination, take it away Berte."

"Fucking in the bubble is messy," said Berte. "Also, Zach, or whoever, can't get much leverage in the weightlessness, leading to less satisfying fucks for both participants. To alleviate these problems, I've designed the fuckspace. As you can see, it's filled with water and permanently attached to the wall. The two lovers squeeze into it from the top and put these straps over the opening to keep them in. There are slots on both sides for the woman's legs that should accommodate a wide variety of positions. There's a hard surface on the bottom for Zach, or whoever, to push against. The water pressure in the fuckspace pushes the two lovers together gently but with a force equivalent to Earth gravity." She pulled down her pants. "Zach, get undressed and help me with a demonstration-"

"No, no, no need, Berte," Colleen interrupted. "We'll try it out later and let you know if it needs any adjustments. Thanks for your dedication to workability."

Mateo raised his hand sheepishly. "It looks a little complicated. We might need a demonstration. Yes. I think it would really be good to have one."

Colleen looked at Mateo with exasperation. "Meeting adjourned."

That night, in the pitch dark, Zach used the fuckspace for the first time. First, he felt his way over to it so he could be sure to find it. A woman was enveloped in it, snoring softly. It was Michaela.

The combination of Michaela's nice, tight, yearning, expert snatch and the fuckspace was something else. Her legs were spread wide. She was taking him all the way right from the start. He rammed her hard with intense satisfaction. It was better than just Earth gravity. It was like plowing into a woman curled up on a couch. There was all this leverage and nowhere for her to go but just take it.

And take it Michaela did, with increasing noise, despite the slight muffling effects of the fuckspace on her. Zach also finished with a loud moan. He felt like everything had been shaken out of him and into Michaela. At first there were titters as Michaela had begun to moan and carry on. By the end, women were climbing over to feel what was going on. He never thought he would ever experience force and traction like this ever again. He wasn't sure he ever had before. The contraption was genius.

Colette climbed in next. Zach was a bit more depleted than usual by his extraordinary release with Michaela. Colette coaxed him expertly. Soon she was asking Alexis to orgasm almost constantly. Sometimes Alexis said no, and Colette's body violently strained against the pleasure. One time, Colette gave in under the strain. Her scream was piercing and deafening. Zach had never experienced a woman so unhinged in orgasm. Afterwards, Alexis assured Colette would be punished severely for her unauthorized climax.

By the time Zach made it out of the bubble, he had been absolutely crushed. He had experienced some of the best orgasms of his life.

Communal washing and bathing became a daily ritual in the bubble. After breakfast, it was time to clean all belongings out of the bubble temporarily, splash around together, and get clean. Colby put in the water and took it out. Zach carried water up from and back down to the rim two 50 liter containers at a time.

Ayana seemed perpetually horny in the bubble. Her favorite time was when they all had to get naked and splash around at washing time. Alexis and Michaela, deprived of men, were easy and biddable targets for her lust. Colleen was surprisingly interested. Colette was aroused by anyone who could use her, and Ayana could do that. Ayana loved it when Alexis ordered Colette to service her.

Anming was separate from this sapphic mayhem. Yet Ayana was well aware Anming had taken a lesbian lover back on Earth. She tried her best to woo Anming. She teased her and tried to tempt her. She knew Anming was into embarrassment and humiliation, so she tried that angle as well. She ogled her as they undressed to bathe. She openly and verbally admired Anming's physical attributes. During the scrum of daily bathing, she once, laughing, let go a little tinkle on Anming's breasts. Outwardly, Anming's reaction was negative. It was inconspicuous and easily explained away as an accident. That night, Anming confessed the matter in a whisper to Zach. Clearly it had affected her in some inscrutable way.

Khushi wasn't holding back either. During the nine days Ayana was confined to the bubble, Khushi seemed to Zach to be gluttonous with the men. She and Zach usually saw each other during his duty cycle. During this time Colby was busy piloting the ship and would be none the wiser. Sometimes they saw each other twice or even three times in a day.

From the abused look of her holes, Zach suspected Khushi was welcoming more than him between her legs. He was often restless during his sleep cycle, traveling between Colby and the women of the bubble. During this time, Khushi believed him asleep. He discovered that she often had movie dates during this time with the men of the mining crew. It got so that he would tiptoe over to Recreation A to see if she had anything going on. Recreation A was next to her cabin but on the opposite side of the rim from his. Berte and Aanya, who were on duty at this time, were always busy and away from there. Any other members of the mining crew were invariably in or near Charisse's cabin.