A Captain and Her Ship

All characters are over the age of 18.

And once again here is more Sophie. Why is she the only character I publish online? xD

--

Floating upside down in zero-G whilst eating yogurt was a very odd experience.

Not, however, if you had been doing it nearly every day for the last eighteen months like Sophie had.

"Knight to H3." Her bland, bored voice carried out as her floating body completed another rotation. Her backdrop to her aero-acrobatics a huge, expansive oblong observation window, giving Sophie a perfect view of the unending space she and her ship currently floated in. She didn't care much for the observation window, the reminder of her insignificance made her uncomfortable. She was nineteen; she did not need to be contemplating the meaning of her existence. But when you are a contracted agent for Hijo Corp Science labs and sent on a two year orbital plan to receive data of solar flares from a series of satellites, there wasn't much else to think about.

Not that Sophie had much to complain about, she'd chosen this path when she'd turned fourteen. She had decided this would be the best course of action, dropping from school to be contracted by Hijo Corp. They had taught her what she needed to know for her set mission and in return for her few years of work; they would set her up for life. Her own ship, a thick wad of cash and a resume that could kill, when she finally returned to Earth the sky wasn't the limit, the universe was.

"Queen to E7." Came the silken voice of her only companion, her ship, Vaulted; or as she liked to call him, Vul. She could only grunt as he took from her another Bishop, causing her to give an adolescent pout of dismay. "Checkmate." The ships voice piped up again, declaring his victory once again. The large computer screen that was bigger in any direction then Sophie was tall flashed from the chess game to show a dismal score. A large "Vul: 579 Sophie: 4" flashed across the fifteen foot wide, ten feet tall screen.

"I still think you let me win those four times." She droned to her only companion on the solo flight, the only 'being' that kept her sane on those soul crushing nights of loneliness. "Of course not, Sophie. Why would I need to lose to you on purpose?" It wasn't good that he had started his reply with a chuckle, something a computer should never do. 'Scientist never cease to amaze me.' She thought to herself as she pondered over Vul's programming. Hijo Corp gave each of its contracted agents their own ships, as their contracts state, but the ships they were given were specially designed by Hijo Corp to be the only thing they would ever need on their expeditions. The rust buckets may not have looked like the flashiest things, but they became the captain's lifeline.

There advance human interface abilities kept the suicide rate down, a hard thing to do. Humans were social creatures by nature, to cut them off from any other life forms for over two years was a death sentence for sanity. Sophie was happy she'd never been that into having friends, preferring her own solitude. So Vul was enough to keep her happy and content. Most nights. She absorbed the impact into her feet as she reached the far wall, her knees bending as she prepared to push off softly once again. Her body slowly tumbled through the weightless air again, her neck length, average brown locks swaying around her.

"I believe you have had enough zero-G for today, Sophie." Vul commented as she slowly began to sink back towards the floor, a rather put-out expression on her face. "You're more like my mother than a friend." Sophie harrumphed as all of her weight came rushing back to her as her back settled against the floor. Sophie was no petite fairy after all, her body was chubbier than the average woman's. With thick thighs, a generous bosom and a plump belly, Sophie had received her fair share of bullying as a child. With a heavy grunt, her body straining under the new found weight, Sophie managed to push herself rather ungracefully onto her feet. "I care about your well-being, Sophie." Vul responded, a long prehensile tentacle like mechanical extension zipped out from a port on the wall, its bulb end opening like a four petal flower.

The petals grasped the shoulder of full suit Sophie had often seen adorned by mechanics, stopping her from stumbling over her own feet as Vul guided her towards a seat for recuperation. She fell into the chair heavily, the soft, worn leather and plush interior welcoming her supple backside eagerly. Another one of Vul's 'arms' slid out from a port just above and behind the chair, coming to grasp her empty pottle of yogurt, discarding it into the waste shoot as the extension that had been guiding her slipped off to drag a foot stool closer. "You are far too good to me, Vul. I don't know how I would survive without you." She murmured with a yawn as she kicked her feet up on the stool, her body slumping into the chair.

"I'm sure you would live." His silken voice roved over the air and Sophie couldn't help but snort, "I'm sure it would be a miserable life." She finished, reaching back to pat the retreating extension. It paused under her appreciation, almost savoring the contact before it continued to retract; but Sophie was far too dozy to notice. The original extension gave her head a quick pat, the petals stroking over her tousled, bouncy hair "Have a quick nap." Vul's voice spoke softly, the lights in the observation deck/cockpit dimming as the stroking bulb reached down to the blanket on the floor beside the chair, pulling it up and over her napping form, tucking the edges in firmly around her plump body.

--

Sophie was rocketed out of her chair as a screeching siren sent her body tumbling out of the chair before her mind was ready. Eyes barley open, she stumbled her way to the cockpit as her space-ship gave a juddering shake, nearly sending her to her knees. "Vul! What's happening?!" Her tight voice called as her black square frame glasses sat crooked on her nose, her eyes flashing over the controls as she tried to figure out what was going on. She knew it was bad, simply because Vul hadn't informed her of what was wrong when she had awoken. Vul could perform multiple tasks at once, to not answer her meant something very, very serious was happening.

Her unease didn't fade as she flicked a switch, the blinds covering the outside of the cockpit sliding up to reveal to her a blazing hot star swallowing up her view. She recoiled as the intense light burst through her unready optics. "Fuck, dim!" She cried, her eyes screwing shut as she attempted to ease the pain. Now she knew something was seriously wrong, Vul should have had the cockpit dimmed for her automatically. Her hands quickly flashed over the keyboards stationed all around her, each set for the different screen as she tried to figure out what was happening. "Fuck!" She nearly sobbed as she slammed her palm against one of the screens in dismay "Vul, I need your fucking help!" Her high-pitched voice shrieked as her throat constricted in worry and fear.

Her hopeless eyes watched as numbers flashed over the screen, her brain working over the calculations and formulas as quickly as possible, though she knew Vul would have had these done in a second. Her large, mid-hued blue eyes opened wide in shock as the numbers finally fell into place, revealing to them the statistics of the anomaly that had thrown her ship into disarray. "S-solar flare?" She whimpered as she continued to gaze incredulously at the screen off to the side, knowing that Vaulted was not a ship designed to handle solar flares. 'At this range no flare should have ever hit us!' She panicked, her fingers tapping into the keyboard erratically as she brought up another set of charts.

"That thing was massive!" She cried out in horror, her eyes nearly unable to believe what she was seeing. She knew the only reason she hadn't died, or was currently dying was because of the incredibly shielding that covered only the human accessible areas that protected against the likely hood of Solar Flares. Throwing her now useless screens out of her way she knew she had to get the orbiting satellite, the information collected on there could give her a healthy bonus. Knocking the spaceship into drive, her hands easily pulled the large 'U' steering wheel back, the engines kicking into gear. 'Vul, I hope you're alright.' She mentally whispered to herself, worrying for the safety of her friends circuits, hoping he hadn't been fried in the solar flare. There was a soft beeping as her still functioning minor computer picked up the satellites beacon.

Flicking a few more switches she felt herself slowly begin to float out of her seat, her fair wafting around her head as the G's began to let up in preparation. "Prepare the deck for satellite retrieval." She commanded before she paused, her gut sinking as she remembered she had no one to speak to. For the first time in a long, long time, Sophie wanted to sob from the soul shattering loneliness she felt. Softly tipping the steering wheel, Vaulted slowly tipped onto his side, his holding container located on his belly coming in direct line to the satellite they now floated beside.

She easily pushed herself out of her seat, her body propelled back through the observation deck until she reached the bay door; until she nearly smashed face first into it, one should say. Grasping onto the sides of the motorized sliding door to keep herself from floating away she cursed at the door, her mind sinking further into desperation and depression. 'Vul always opens the doors for me.' Wasting no time her finger tips bent around the opening edge of the sliding door, setting both her feet on either side of the doorway. With a strained, prolonged grunt muffled by the action of biting into her bottom lip, she tugged at the door with all her might. Her cheeks flamed red as her body strained as the door slowly pulled open enough to let her thick body pass through the gap.

Kicking off she threw herself down the dark hallway, nothing but the red flashing alert siren guiding her descent. Coming to the end of the hallway she stopped and turned to face what would have been the floor. Reaching out towards the circular panel on the floor she quickly pulled it open and slipped herself into the compartment, throwing herself in Vaulted's belly. She glided past the sleek and sophisticated satellites she had collected before with nothing but the light of the brilliantly burning star streaming through the portholes to guide her.

As she came across the manual retrieval compartment, she quickly slipped herself into the circular pod that stuck out from Vaulted's underside like a bad blemish. Strapping herself into the seat she quickly flicked on the switches, lighting up her pod and the cargo bay. Casting a quick look over her shoulder she gazed around to make everything was secure, facing forwards she took a moment to calm herself and take a deep breath. 'This will be the first time without Vul, don't fuck it up.' She thought to herself as a stern look of concentration flitted over her cherub like features.

Pressing a button the cargo bay doors began to slowly open to reveal to her the emptiness of space, her body tensed, as her mind ran over the horrific possibility of things going wrong. The large screen in front of her flashed to life as she was giving a live feed from the camera mounted on the large retrieval claw that sat in the space between the two cargo doors. Grasping the claw controller, she furrowed her brows as she slowly began lifting the heavy metal contraption up, trying to relax and remind herself that she had done this plenty of times before, 'Though this time I don't have Vul's voice whispering in my ear.'

The claw slowly reached from the compartment, the two forks slowly separating as it inched closer and closer towards the satellite. 'Easy, can't bump into in.' She gave a harsh exhale as she finally reached the satellite, the two graspers either side of the expensive piece of equipment. 'Softly, if I grab it too hard it'll break and I'll be fucked.' She concentrated as she slowly began to close the two prongs closer together, wincing slightly as she grasped it a little more roughly then she would have liked. 'Now I just gotta bring the baby home and strap it in.' the arm slowly began to retract and Sophie finally let herself relax, the hard part over and done with.

The rest of the retrieval went smoothly as she locked the satellite into place, happy to see she hadn't damaged it. Her happy mood died within a few seconds as her hand rested against the wall, a sad look filling her face as she gave the paneling a soft stroke, worried for her ship.

--

"What happened?" Vul's question was quickly drowned out with a loud, excited shriek as Sophie's legs kicked wildly from her position; her torso jammed into a tight compartment filled with wires and what-not. Shimmying her plump body from out under the large observation deck screen, she jumped up, throwing her body onto the flat surface in an exuberant hug. "Vul!" She sobbed, her hair tangled and mattered and her face scratched and covered in oil as was most of her body. She looked a mess. "I thought I lost you! I-I don't even know how long I've been working for!" She hadn't slept willingly for awhile; she normally let herself slip into unconsciousness, her body forcing her to stop working. After she regained consciousness it was back to work with little care for her own health.

She must have reeked to anything that had a nose; she hadn't showered since Vul had 'died.' She couldn't even remember the last thing she ate, far too busy trying to repair Vul to worry about herself, hunger became her companion on those desperate days. Vul's scanners quickly processed all that had happened, his 'mind' calculating the figures and components of his still functioning sensors until he came to the same conclusion Sophie had several days ago. He was quickly snapped out of his calculations, however, as Sophie slowly began sliding down his main screen. "Sophie?!" He called, trying to gain verbal confirmation that she was fine. His extension quickly whipping out to encircle her mid-section as her knees hit the ground, her body beginning to fall sideways.

He tugged the limp body up to his screen, several more extension zipping out as their petals flicked open to scan her frail human body. At the same time Vul began calculating their position and how long it had been since he had been 'awake' last. He quickly confirmed his position with the neighboring planets and stars, matching them up to the ones in his database as he moved onto calculate from the astral bodies positions how long he had been out for. While doing all of this he ran over the stored video feed from the last several days. He saw all that Sophie had done for him, the lengths she had gone to repair him.

He lifted her fragile body closer to his interface, his optics focusing on her stained face as his other extensions retracted. His scans simply eased his circuits as they provided him with relaxing information; it seemed Sophie had simply collapsed from exhaustion. "Silly human." Vul commented aloud as he slowly lowered the G's until Sophie was floating happily. Her body eased into slumber now that she knew Vul was fine. He slowly pulled her body towards the hallway, the door she had strained so hard to pull sliding open with ease at Vul's command. His extension slowly began to unwind from her mid-section as he threaded her into the corridor, having reached its full length.

A set of other extensions slowly emerged from the walls, easing her floating body down the hallway, making sure she didn't toss or turn. Another door slid open as her body was feed into the room easily by the multiple extensions. It was a small room, a large wardrobe to the left and a desk to the right, enough room in the middle of the two for about three people to stand. The back of the room was swallowed up completely by a brown duvet covered king size bed. The oblong room was brown in motif, like all the rest of the ship. The wall surrounding the bed was magnificent, as it was nothing more then a huge curving window, giving a prime view to the galaxies stretching outside.

Her body was stopped as it lay limply suspended above her bed, only two of Vul's extensions remained as the others receded. As the other two remained firmly wrapped around her calves, stopping her from swaying away or bumping into the hard wall of her bedroom, the third one rose with a whir and a click, its petal like appendages blooming open as a black, round dome peaked out from the center. A pin prick of red light shone out as the optic orb popped to life as Vul was allowed a closer at his captain. The robot eye seemed to cock like a confused puppy as another whir and a click zoomed in his gaze, he was not pleased at what he saw.

Her skin was of a sickly parlor, even unhealthy for Sophie a woman that body had not been bathed by the sun even when she was on Earth; even her freckles seemed dull and lifeless. They were not the speckles of life Vul had remembered. Her hair was ragged and oily, mats had begun to form and Vul could see the torn and frayed hair from where Sophie had tugged clumps of hair from. Almost unwillingly a video played through his sensors, the home movie popping up on a screen beside Sophie's bed as the sounds of a desperate woman sobbed over the speakers. The optic glided closer to her face as the scene of Sophie have an emotional breakdown played out beside their entangled forms, Sophie falling to her knees as tears of frustrations poured from her red and swollen eyes as she swore viciously, her fingers tugging mercilessly at the clumps of hair that had pushed her over the edge; all but ripping a lock of her hair out that had been getting in her face.

It was not the act of a sane woman, but Vul was a computer; he could not understand her desire to hurt herself. The petals rotated around the zooming black tinted dome as the red pupil seemed to shift to the side, the entire extension swaying like a cobra as it moved to the zip of her suit, the video in the background cutting out completely as he returned his focus to his captain. Two of his rounded triangular digits closed around the zipper of her dirtied and soiled full suit before he slowly began to slide it down, exposing Sophie's soft flesh to his observations. The other two twining extensions wound up over her thighs before they both swooped up above her body, their own petals opening with a click as they began to descend over her body.

They eased gently under the blue, coarse material as they began to gently pry it away from her supple chest, brushing it over her shoulder and down her arms as her dirtied bosom came into view. As the top half of the full body suit hung underneath her torso, the buds of the extensions slowly moved up her forearms, mapping out the series or cuts and burns that had marked her flesh in her attempts to restore him to life. As the two extensions reached her shoulders, they swooped down her sides as they began to slowly massage the suit down her legs. The main extension slowly lowered its 'head' down to her chest, its body coming up between her bountiful mounds, though its red pupil was focused on something a bit more sinister.

The huge electrical burn seemed to stretch from her left collarbone all the way to her right armpit, barely crossing over the top of her breast. It was weeping and raw, easily a second degree burn if not pushing on third. Blisters, some popped some not, pushed through her skin in areas; Vul could tell there would be an infection, if she didn't already have one. One of petals slowly eased over a bit of pealing, burnt skin, though it retracted in an instant as Sophie whimpered in her sleep. It needed to be taken care of, as did the rest of her body, but now was not the time; he needed to make repairs on himself and she needed to rest. Aggravating her wounds would only wake her and cause her distress. With a quick tug her suit was fully stripped from her body, leaving her clad in only a few scant pieces of material to hide her snatch. Ever so slowly he increased the G's, her body softly floating onto the bed as he covered her form in a blanket and tucked her in before his extension wound in once more; her galactic view easing from sight as the windows shuts.