Epilogue

Sleep was a deep, black, blissful thing, a soft darkness in which there were no madmen, no burning need to cum, and no need to keep going, going, going. For a long time he drifted, savoring that dark nothingness, and when consciousness slowly returned it did so with reluctance. But finally the physical sensations began to reassert themselves as the chill of the air, the hard floor under him and the cramp in his muscles slowly filtered through the soft, comfortable darkness. He took a deep breath and, with some effort, he opened his eyes.

His erection was gone, and it felt good. After having to endure the endless rock-hard, straining pressure of his straining cock for so long, being flaccid was a welcome relaxation. Most of his muscles ached, though, and his shoulders felt stiff. He groaned softly as he slowly sat up. "I'm getting too old for this," he muttered.

Deela was sitting on one of the chairs, looking awake but tired and depressed. The others were on the floor and appeared to be asleep. Tami was lying next to him, breathing slowly.

"Welcome back," Deela said softly. She seemed to droop with a great weariness.

Roy nodded. "Thanks," he said, also keeping his voice down to avoid waking the others. "How long have I been out?"

"Not sure. I woke up about half an hour ago."

Roy sat up on his knees, then carefully stood up. His legs ached but otherwise he seemed to be fine.

"I guess we were all exhausted," he said.

She nodded. "Yeah. But not just that." She sighed. "It was the constant arousal that kept us going. Once that was switched off..."

He thought for a moment. "That makes sense," he said then. "I guess that's what made you recover from the stun bolt so quickly when Gan shot you. You should have been out for hours."

She nodded. "Yes, it probably was. It cut through everything. The first thing I realized what that I needed to cum, so badly... It's been months, Roy. You have no idea. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't think, nothing..." She sighed.

"So what kept you awake now?"

The look she gave him was one of angry frustration. "Can't you guess? I'm still horny, Roy. I'm still so horny! I must have masturbated half a dozen times while you were asleep. The nanotech is fine, that's switched off now, and thank the gods I can just cum normally again, but I guess it's been too long, and I just can't get it out of my system..."

Roy smiled. "Well, I owe you a big one... We all do, in fact."

She looked up. " I need a big one, Roy. One of those big, gut-wrenching, toe-curling orgasms. Will you give me one? Right here, right now?"

He nodded. "Several, if that's what you need. I know Tami will understand. And as I said, we owe you. You took one hell of a risk for all of us."

He held out his hand to her, and she took it as she stood up. She came into his arms and he held her against him. He looked at the day bed in the corner, but she shook her head.

"No. Not there," she whispered. "He... He used to put me on there and..." She shuddered. "Let's use the couch."

She took his hand and led him to the couch. It was large, wide, and inviting. The soft upholstery was something Roy hadn't seen anywhere since he woke up from coldsleep, confirming Gan's story about the age of this place. She put her arm around him.

"Deela..." he said, looking down at his flaccid cock. "I'm not sure that after all this..."

She smiled. 'I have a feeling you'll be fine," she said.

Her hand slid down across his chest, his stomach and down across his cock. The tips of her fingers tickled the bottom of his sac, gently lifting it to feel the weight of his balls, and he felt something stir. Then her fingers found his cock and began to caress it, lightly, gently. Her fingertips brushed the head and ran across the crown, and soon he felt himself swell and grow hard in her hand. He pulled her close and stroked her ebony skin, his hands finding their way across her back, her shoulders, the outer curve of her breasts.

"See?" she whispered softly in his ear. "I knew you'd be alright."

And sure enough, his cock was proudly standing up once again, ramrod-straight and hard as steel in her hand. but this time without the desperately straining ache that he had had to endure for so many hours.

"I wonder if those nanotech implants still work," he muttered.

"Let's find out," she said softly.

She turned around and sat down on her knees on the couch, her hands gripping the top of the back rest.

"Do it," she said.

He stood behind her and put his hands on her luscious butt, pulling her cheeks apart. The head of his cock parted her swollen pussy lips, glistening with her arousal, and with only the slightest push he slipped between them into the wet, slippery heat of her body. In one smooth stroke he slid into her all the way until he felt her wetness against his skin and she gripped him tightly with the velvety insides of her pussy.

"Oh, yes, that's it..." she crooned softly. "Nice and deep..."

His hands moved forward, across her waist and on, on, until they found the curves of her heavy breasts. Bending forward, he lifted them until they filled his hands to overflowing, and he felt her nipples swell as they grew hard under his caresses. He gently pulled his cock out of her an inch or two, then slid back in again.

"Harder," she whispered.

He let go of her breasts, put his hands back on her hips and pulled his cock out of her almost all the way, until the lips of her pussy clasped his crown. Then, with a quick, deliberate stroke, he pushed himself back in, until once more he was buried to the hilt inside her.

"Hmmm..." she crooned. "Yes... Like that..."

He began to fuck her with long, steady strokes, pulling out slowly, then a quick, powerful thrust back into the depths of her body. The hot, slippery friction around the head of his cock as her insides parted before him was a wonderful feeling, and he savored it with each stroke. But this was for her, not for him. Fortunately his nanotech mods were apparently still on the job. His cock, in spite of what it had been through recently, was hard as steel, the head and shaft as sensitive as ever. But even though the delicious friction filled his cock with the wonderful sensations of being on the verge of orgasm, he had no problems holding back his climax.

She reached back between her thighs and moaned softly as her fingers found her clit. Soon her breathing quickened, and she buried her face in the soft upholstery to stifle another moan, louder this time. Her hand moved back and forth as she rubbed her clit while he pounded her from behind, harder now, his cock making liquid sounds as it pistoned in and out of the sopping wetness of her most intimate spot. Then her body grew tense and suddenly her pussy clasped him tightly. With some effort he completed his last outward stroke, then he literally rammed his cock into her as deep as he could.

That proved her undoing, and she pressed her face deep into the soft back rest of the couch to stifle her cries as she came. Feeling her insides contract around his hard cock, he continued to pump in and out of her, trying to keep in sync with her contractions, all the way through her climax, until she rode out her orgasm and he felt her relax. Then he held himself there, deep inside her hot, liquid core, his hands on her hips to steady them both, until her breathing slowed and she looked back at him.

"That was a good one," she whispered, a smile on her face. "But I need more. Give me more, Roy."

"With pleasure," he said, returning her smile.

"So far the pleasure has been all mine, Roy. So... If you need to cum, just let it happen, okay? Don't hold back."

"You've got it," he whispered. "Ready?"

She nodded and put her face back against the couch, pressing it deep into the upholstery. Before long his steady strokes had her moaning again, and soon thereafter he felt the onset of her next climax. This time he allowed the amazing feelings in his cock to rise with it. When she shuddered and gripped him with her inner muscles, the sound of her voice smothered by the cushion, he felt his pleasure soar, then peak. He closed his eyes and let go, exploding inside her with a burst of sexual energy that seemed to rush outward from the head of his cock and into her body. It went on and on, and he fought not to cry out in his ecstasy as the first thick, powerful stream jetted out of him and into her hot core, followed by the next one, and the next, coating her insides and filling her to overflowing.

The first thing he noticed when he came down from those wonderful heights was a feeling of complete and utter exhaustion. His softening cock slipped out of her as she collapsed before him on the couch, panting, and his own legs gave way as well. He sat down on the floor, spots dancing before his eyes.

The second thing was the sounds coming from behind him. As his breath slowed and his vision cleared, a rhythmic creaking told him that Deela had not been the only one who needed to deal with some residual arousal. He smiled, then slowly turned his head and looked.

Kyo was nowhere to be seen. Tami was on her stomach on the day bed, facing the couch where he had been busy giving Deela what she needed so badly. Jorg straddled her butt, his cock angled down to enter her pussy from behind, his thick length pistoning in and out of her. She had her eyes closed tightly, an expression of utter bliss on his face.

Then she moaned, a long, soft groan, and her face contorted into a display of utter ecstasy. Her hands dug into the upholstery of the day bed as if she was trying to rip it off. Her body tensed, then froze, and then she shuddered and let out a long, loud "Ooooooohhhhhhhhh" as she climaxed around Jorg's generously proportioned cock. He grunted as he let go along with her, blasting off into her, filling her. They rode the wave of orgasmic bliss together, on and on, until they both collapsed on the bed, panting, his body on top of hers.

After a while Tami slowly opened her eyes and her gaze met Deela's. Something seemed to pass between them, and Deela smiled. Then Tami laughed softly, and Deela's smile turned into a chuckle.

"So here we are, then," she said.

Tami grinned happily. "He's good, isn't he?"

Deela nodded. "Hm hm," was all she said.

"Would the two of you like to discuss me in private?" Roy asked good-naturedly.

"No need, my love," Tami said. "By now we've all been through enough to be comfortable with each other, I think."

Roy looked around. "Where's Kyo?"

"She said she wanted to look around a little. I'm not sure where she went. I had other things on my mind right then. Especially when I saw the two of you there." She giggled. "Fortunately Jorg was willing to help out."

"Yeah, well..." Jorg said, pushing himself up, looking slightly embarrassed. "We should not be separated like this."

Tami gasped as he pulled his now-flaccid cock out of her well-fucked pussy. Jorg sat up and swayed a little.

Roy tried to stand, but he found his legs still very weak. "Are you guys feeling alright?" he asked.

Jorg shook his head. "We've expended a lot of energy over the past few hours. We're over-tired and under-nourished. Dangerously so, in fact."

A sliding door in the back wall that Roy hadn't noticed before opened.

"Then it's a good thing I found these," Kyo said, stepping into the room. "Ration bars. It's not much, but better than nothing right now. They even taste pretty good."

She looked at the four of them, her face a study in barely-controlled excitement. "And while you guys were, ehm, busy here, you have no idea what I've found." She began handing out the ration bars. Roy stripped the foil of his and took a bite. She was right, it tasted okay. He chewed, swallowed, and took another bite.

"Better eat them slowly," Kyo advised. "The first one I had went down a little too quick and it took a while to settle."

Roy nodded, then looked at her. "So," he asked. "What's the big news?"

She grinned, then said, "You're never going to believe what I just found."

"Not of you don't tell us," Jorg said dryly around a mouthful of ration bar. "I'm just hoping it's our thermal suits and boots. Personally I'm getting a little tired of running around butt-naked in this chill. Not to mention our need for transport. We'll have to get out of here and our skimmer has been shot to scrap."

"I suppose we could get Gan out of the coldsleep capsule and ask him," Tami said.

Jorg's smile was positively nasty. "No... I don't think so," he said.

When Roy turned to Deela, he saw a similar evil grin on her face.

"What did you do with him?" he asked. "Don't tell me you killed him. He needs to answer a lot of questions."

"And he will, trust me on that," Jorg said. "Kyo manipulated the settings on the coldsleep unit that we put him in. I didn't know that was possible, but she did it. So now he's in cryo, but not completely in suspended animation. He'll be frozen but conscious, if it works the way we think it will."

Roy shivered, and not because of the chill in the air. "That is... fairly horrible."

"So is what he did," Deela said bleakly. "What I really want is to cut him into little pieces one at a time, starting with his dick and his balls. But while I wait until I can do that, this is almost as good." The look in her eyes left no doubt that she meant every word of it.

Roy sighed. He could see that, from a practical standpoint, Kyo had found a way to both satisfy their friends' vengeful urges and keep Gan alive and unharmed, at least physically, at the same time. But still... He thought of the four centuries he'd spent in the coldsleep capsule. If he'd been aware of the time passing, of the almost absolute zero cold permeating his body, his bones, his brain... Unable to move, unable to make a sound and, above all, unable to escape... He shivered again. Yet, Gan would probably be very talkative when they got him out of the capsule. Provided they didn't leave them in there too long. Although on the other hand, the man had already been completely insane to begin with. He sighed, then shrugged.

"Okay. I guess you did what you had to do," he said. He looked at Kyo. "So... What have you found?"

"You'll never believe it," Kyo gushed, "At first I didn't believe it myself. It's just amazing!"

Tami sighed. "Do we have to beat it out of you, Ki?"

Kyo made a visible effort to get hold of herself. "Okay," she said, taking a deep breath. "I've found out what this place is. Guess what?"

Roy smiled. "Fine. At the risk of making a complete fool of myself, let me go out on a limb and say what I think it is. It's an interstellar space ship."

Kyo's mouth dropped open. "How in the name of all that's unholy did you find that out?" She looked slightly crestfallen.

"Small things," Roy replied. "The layout of the floors, the metal, the decks and ceilings, the coldsleep units, the environmental controls... It didn't feel like a building to me. And there were rumors, before the war, of an interstellar drive being developed. Weird stuff. They were talking about folding space, non-Euclidian mathematics, gravity effects and all that. What you told me about how a gravity planer works reminded me of some of the things I'd heard about. Of course back then it didn't make any sense to me at all. But now it's beginning to."

Kyo nodded. "From what I've seen of the controls, this whole thing is based on gravity effects. But then it has to, of course. Otherwise the energy required for acceleration and the relativistic effects would make the whole thing completely impossible."

"But that means..." Tami visibly struggled to control her emotions. "It means that..."

"Yes," Roy said thoughtfully. "It means we have a chance again. A future."

For a few moments, nobody spoke. Then Kyo pursed her lips.

"I see where you're going with this," she said thoughtfully. "It could be a blessing. But it could also be a curse. Things are unstable enough as it is, and if word of this gets out before we're ready...

Jorg nodded. "Yes, it could cause chaos. So we'll have to handle this carefully. Not to mention that from the looks of it, this thing is nowhere near ready to fly. I expect Gan has stripped out a lot of stuff, and I doubt it was completely finished to begin with."

"It's not," Kyo said. "I've been all the way up on what looks to be the bridge. Half the controls are missing, and there's unfinished wiring hanging out of at least a dozen junction boxes. But from what's there, I think I can see how the drive is designed to work, and that's enough. It's not the ship we need. It's the know-how."

Deela stood up. "So we've got our work cut out for us then," she said. "Let's go find some clothing and get out of here."

"There's a stairwell back there, "Kyo said, pointing at the sliding door she had come through earlier. "Above this level there are three more decks, and then the bridge. Sleeping quarters, showers... All the good things in life. I haven't gone through it all, but I guess that's where we start hunting for food and clothing. The ration bars were up there, at least."

"A shower?" Tami stood up quickly enough to make her breasts bounce. "Wonderful! I need one desperately."

"We all do," Jorg said. "And we need food and sleep as well before we even try to get back to the shelter." He stood up as well. "Let's see what we can find."

* * *

A few hours later, clean, warm and fed, Roy put his arms around Tami as they settled into the bunk together, her back against his chest, the fragrance of her hair filling his nostrils. He held her, as the rhythm of her breathing slowed under his hand that cupped her breast. The warm, soft curves of her body felt good against his skin.

His final thought before he drifted off into sleep with her was that if all went well, mankind would have a future. And so would they. A future. Together.

* * *

Epilogue

Thirty years? The blink of an eye. Yet that's how long it had taken to get here.

Roy and Tami stood in the hab's garden, the beautiful landscape spread out before them, its grassy hills interspersed with trees and shrubs. The buzzing of insects mixed with the sound of a brook running somewhere close by. Even after all these years Roy still marveled at how natural it all looked, except of course that instead of a blue sky there was a black expanse above, filled with stars.

"You know," he said to Tami, who was standing next to him, her arm around his waist. "I'm not completely sure after all this time, but I think this might be almost the exact same spot where I first saw this place."

"I think you might be right," she said. "I remember the day we first met. I liked you from the moment I saw you, over there in the pool."

She pulled him close, and his arm found its way around her. Earth floated overhead, now that the hab had been rotated prior to its departure. The sight took his breath away. It wasn't the Earth he had left behind more than four centuries ago, but it sure looked a lot better than when he had first seen it after waking up from coldsleep.

"Who'd have thought it?" she said softly, following his gaze.

Roy just nodded. Indeed, who would have thought that a four centuries old research facility held the key to restoring Man's old home to its former glory? The libraries they'd found there contained a wealth of knowledge on all sorts of things that an interstellar expedition might need, including almost every study on terraformation ever conducted. One day they might indeed terraform an alien planet and turn it into a new Earth, but for now the project of cleaning up the old one almost amounted to the same. After decades of hard work, the fuzzy ball that now floated overhead was no longer a smudgy brown and gray. Patches of green, still small but growing steadily, were now visible among the brown, and white clouds could be seen over some of the oceans already. There were many more years of work ahead, of course, but progress would be steady from now on.