We were ready to separate the James Cook from the living section two days after Father Ray broke the news to me that he was not landing with us. The solar panels, the liquid oxygen tanks and liquid hydrogen tanks were all in place and providing plenty of power to the living section.
I didn't know how long the James Cook's batteries would last or if Joseph could repair the one damaged solar panel. I didn't want to drain them too much, so the James Cook was also drawing power from the living section's batteries and would continue to do so until the day we would separate.
The far corner of the cafeteria was setup as a command post with the computer, telescopic camera and television all working properly. Those staying behind could watch dinosaurs all they wanted.
I was glad that Sam suggested getting the extra food and supplies from the mini-storage bins behind the cafeteria. Without it there would only be enough food to last those staying onboard about seven or eight months.
I had told William to have the cooks move the extra food into the cafeteria's food lockers. I was worried that once the food started to run low there would be fights over it. I thought that it would be easier to control the distribution of food if it was all stored in one place. He apologetically told me that the reason he was staying onboard was because once on Earth he would be out of a job; a cook would not be needed. But I knew that he said that only because he didn't want to reveal that he was afraid of getting eaten by a dinosaur.
The number of individuals who would be landing on Earth turned out to be quite close to the actual number that Joseph and I had originally figured. There were eight officers, six junior officers, two prostitutes, four ship's crew members and three laborers who would be returning to Earth.
Forty-four men and women chose to remain with the living section; almost every one of them because they feared that the James Cook would either burn up on re-entry or crash when we landed. I was heartsick. But there was nothing I could do.
I still thought about ordering them all into the James Cook, using the taser guns to back me up. But Chantelle Dawn, Joshua and Father Ray were against that. They all warned me that if I forced them into the James Cook then there might be a riot. Then the ship surely would crash land and we would all be killed. I resigned myself to the fact that I was losing most of my crew.
The afternoon before we separated Gerald called me on my cell TV-phone. He asked me -- practically begged me -- to meet him in his cabin. He sounded like he was real upset. At the time, I was in the brig's HQ office visiting with Chantelle; we were discussing some last minute details of the separation.
She gave me a look of exasperation. I just shrugged my shoulders and reminded her that "duty calls." She smiled sardonically and wished me luck.
When I got to his berth Gerald told me that he called me on my personal cell TV-phone because he couldn't find me. He complained that since I canceled most of the watches the officers had to stand, he never knew where to look for me.
I must confess that he was right. Once we parked ourselves in orbit above the Earth I informed the officers that they didn't have to stand watch any longer.
There was no need to. Besides they were all too busy working on various assignments that Joseph and I had placed them on in preparation to separating the James Cook from the living section. As for me, I was busy running around the spaceship and living section checking on the projects, making sure everything was running smoothly.
I asked Gerald what his problem was and he complained about a dinosaur that the crew had named Queerosaurus. I had seen it earlier in the day, before any of the crew members chose a name for it. It appeared to be from the family Pachycephalosauridae.
It had the dome on its head like other Pachycephalosaurs but it also had short spikes on its neck, sides and on the end of its tail. It was black and indigo blue with red bumps all over its back. Its stomach was pale yellow. The animal was biped except when it foraged for food. Then it walked on all four legs digging in the ground and poking around bushes.
Gerald demanded that I have them rename the animal. I could tell from looking at it that the crew named it because it looked so bizarre, not because of its sexual orientation. But Gerald took it personal. I really couldn't blame him.
I went to the cafeteria and ordered the crew to rename the dinosaur. They called it Weirdosaurus.
Later that evening Gerald buzzed my cabin. It was late, just past twenty-two hundred. I didn't let him in; Chantelle and I were preparing to take a shower together. We were both naked. I wrapped a towel around myself and opened the hatch; Chantelle stayed in the shower. I stood in the doorway and asked him what he wanted. He apologized for disturbing me and said that he just wanted to thank me.
I advised him that the crew didn't name the creature with him in mind. He said he knew that but he still wanted it renamed. He said he took it personal. I told him that I would have taken it personal too and in fact did because of my bisexuality.
I surprised him when I revealed that to him. He said that he always thought that I was straight. That surprised me because I thought everyone onboard knew that I was bisexual.
After he left Chantelle and I did our thing together in the shower with a strap-on dildo. Then we crawled into bed and performed cunnilingus on other before going to sleep.
The morning we were to separate I held one last general assembly in the cafeteria. I again encouraged everyone to come aboard the James Cook. I told them that if need be I would even delay the return for anyone who changed his or her mind about staying and wanted to get some of their personal supplies onboard. No one budged. It was like I was talking to marble statues.
George stood up. "Captain Antoinette, I'm in charge here now. You and your officers go burn yourselves up on re-entry. We don't . . ."
"No! You're not in charge here George," Konrad, the supply officer called out, interrupting him.
"George, there is no way that I'm living out my final days under your misguidance," Alicia also interrupted him.
Nurse Rebecca added her own comment. "Alicia, don't worry about George. Master Chef William and I already have it all figured out. We're going to slip a sedative in his food and keep him sedated . . ."
"This is mutiny!" George yelled. "I'll have you all put in the brig."
"And just who's going to help you," interjected Craig. "Not me, Adam or Tommy." The two of them nodded in agreement.
Ralph called out, "We don't want you in charge of us after the James Cook separates from us. I know I don't."
"I don't either," added Terri.
Numerous crew members and laborers then began calling out that they did not want George in charge after the separation. Indeed, except for Father Ray and Ronald -- the latter being exceptionally quiet the whole time -- everyone who was staying seemed to have an opinion about George assuming command of the spaceship. Most of them were against him.
