Authors Note: For those of you that have been reading "Lisa's Second Chance" this story is a prequel and takes place around 7 years before Lisa is recruited to the commune. We meet some of the main characters before they met Lisa.
If you have not read "Lisa's Second Chance" then this story works well on its own and I hope you enjoy it.
Kisses. Lisa XXX
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Part 1 -- My name is Luna
My story starts a week after my 45th birthday, a Monday to be exact. I was feeling the effects of a pretty heavy hangover as I stared into the mirror in my bathroom and brushed my long, black hair. Eventually satisfied that all the knots were out of it, I walked into my living room and took a long look around my apartment. I caught myself sighing, this had been my home for almost 2 years, a basic apartment on the Interstar Science Base. Even if I left the base, I was in the middle of the dessert in Arizona so there was nothing to see. I'd been stuck here on a special assignment and couldn't wait to get back to my little piece of paradise on our little island off the coast of Florida where I'd spent a pretty awesome 5 years.
I had to be at work in only an hour but my commute, or rather, walk, would only take me 10 minutes at the most. I'd been working for Interstar for around 20 years. The first 13 were pretty mundane administration work but I loved working for Interstar, they had opened the heavens to the human race and made travel through the universe affordable and reliable, everyone wanted to work for Interstar.
Slumping back in my easy chair, I let my mind wander back 7 years and thought of that day it all changed for me, mostly, it had changed for the better but I didn't necessarily realise that at the time. For me, life felt pretty settled and sorted back then, things were great and I felt contented. I'd accepted that I was bisexual from an early age but as I grew older, I seemed to favour relationships with women and I was OK with that, I'd even met someone at work and we'd been dating for a couple of years.
Jeannie was beautiful, much younger than me but we clicked straight away and soon started dating. I loved her figure with all the curves in the right places. Her blonde air was always short and spiky. The naughty side of me admired her large breasts. The great thing had been that were totally comfortable with each other and as we were both totally addicted to sex and were open to all kinds of experimentation, the relationship really worked, it had been one of my longest. Jeannie and I started talking about moving in together and making it more permanent.
I knew that Jeannie was far more ambitious than I was, she didn't want to stay working as an administrator and applied for all sorts of other roles at Interstar and completed as many training courses as she could. One night, I met Jeannie in our usual bar after work had ended and, as I walked up to her, I could see that she had an enormous grin on her face. I remember her excitement as she kissed me, hard on the lips and then became super-animated as she started to tell me her good news. She'd been accepted into the bio research and conservation division of Interstar, subject to her successfully completing a 3 month training course. I clearly remember her smile fading as she explained the the course was residential and in South America.
Although I congratulated Jeannie and hugged her, my immediate feeling of sadness gave way to a wave of unease. Interstar didn't make a secret of what that division did, they had made themselves responsible for attempting to prevent species becoming extinct on other planets in the universe. Life was common on hundreds of worlds that we knew of and Interstar sought to protect all life. More disturbingly, there were rumours that communes of women existed across the planet that managed this programme of genetic engineering that sometimes involved cross breeding with humans. Although it was a rumour, everyone kind of knew it was true but secrecy laws prevented any negative reporting of this small element of Interstars' work. While I supported protecting any species, I felt like we didn't know the whole truth and I worried about Jeannie moving there.
I spent a few days deciding whether to share my worries with Jeannie but, in the end, I didn't, she seemed so happy and excited and I didn't want to be the one to shatter her dreams. Rather, I made up my mind that we would talk about it when she came back from training. After all, she would have met people and maybe looked around so she may have more factual knowledge than I had rumours. I did my best to put it out of my mind.
The day came a few weeks later where I said goodbye to Jeannie. We held each other in the transport hub until the very last moment and I watched her walk away down the tunnel to the jet that would take her to her training course. We were not allowed to communicate electronically, but she could send me old fashioned letters, and she promised she would. For me, left with my mundane life, I was already counting the days until I saw her again. Eventually, the door at the end of the tunnel closed and I could no longer see her. I remember turning slowly and walking home feeling a little empty.
Four weeks passed and I'd not heard from Jeannie, I went through emotions from misery to anger and I seemed to be swinging from emotional loss to sexual frustration in equal measures. Four weeks turned into eight and still no word. I really felt betrayed and I didn't understand why she hadn't contacted me. So frustrated was I that I started asking around at Interstar to see if I could find out exactly where the training course was being held. My email to the bio conservation division was met with an short reply saying that they were unable to divulge training locations.
I dragged myself home for yet another lonely evening but my misery turned to excitement when I opened my front door to find a letter on the floor with familiar writing on the envelope, it was from Jeannie. Leaving my front door open and dropping my bag on the floor, I rushed through to my kitchen and sat at my table, ripping the letter open as I walked. As my eyes scanned the surprisingly short letter, my joy turned to disbelief and then pain. The one thing worse that not receiving a letter had happened, I'd received this one and Jeannie was ending our relationship out of the blue.
I stared at her letter for an hour, tears streaming down my cheeks as I sobbed. Jeannie said that she loved me but that she couldn't come back but that she hoped that we'd see each other one day. She apologised for hurting me and she hoped that one day I would understand. My heart was broken and I got up from the table and dragged myself to my bed where I stayed for the rest of the night and all of the next day.
The rest of the week was a bit of a blur, I went to work and even that felt painful because that was where we'd met but I managed to pull myself together and, after a few weeks, I had accepted that it was over. I suspected that Jeannie had met someone else. I had to move forward even though I missed her and felt like I always would.
I felt like a needed a break and took a few days away to stay with some friends in New York City. It was just what I needed and we went out to clubs, got drunk, danced and, in a drunken state, I even let a random guy fuck me in a back alley. It kind of grossed me out a bit but I was drunk and I knew that I had needed to let my hair down and so, when I went back to work at Interstar I was feeling a lot better.
As I arrived, my manager called me over and told me that while I was away, someone had come in to the office looking for me. I asked who it was and she told me that the women didn't leave her name but described her as in her 20s, slim and having shaved blonde hair. The description meant nothing to me and I had no idea who this could be but I assumed that it was someone from another division needing some help and put it out of my mind. That is, until that evening as I was walking home.
As I left the main doors of the office building, I turned left and headed up the street. I was aware of footsteps approaching me from behind but I paid no attention as I was walking quite slowly. A softly spoken voice behind me said, "Excuse me, are you Luna?"
I swung around as I was replying that I was and I found myself face to face with a young blonde women with shaved hair. This couldn't be a coincidence and had to be the women who'd been looking for me.
"I know we don't know each other but I need to talk to you." The stranger said. I had no problem talking to people and I was intrigued as to what it was that she wanted.
"Yeah, sure, what's up?" I asked with a smile.
"I need to talk to you about Jeannie." She replied.
My smile faded and I felt my mouth drop open.