Story 1: Seeds of a new season
Time's up. Able Spacer 3rd class James Tucker thought to himself as he idly noted the air indicator of his suit. 2000 kpa. The reading said, so about 3 minutes in theory, and a lot less in reality. It's more than enough time to reminiscent about a few things.
There were always the dangers, after all space is the most unnatural place for a human to be in. No one could have- wait, no. Plenty have foreseen the potential of hostiles of an artificial nature. That's why he's on a space combat vessel of the Qantica Void Forces, and had promptly fired upon the unknown anomaly as soon as it appeared on the sensors.
Little good that did. Now he's on a wrecked hull, adrift in the endless space, a painful and all too forgettable death awaits. They're a billion kilometers away from home, and the distance was the least difficult part. Qantica is still a poor country, on a poor planet still picking up the pieces from the end of days.
The most herculean efforts were made for the creation and maintenance of a space force, to fight long gone nightmares and figments of the imagination. It was galling to see his family still relying on horse drawn carts while the rockets lifted off, the fuel of each worth enough to make the eyes glaze over tenfold.
Yet it was all for naught, not because there were no dangers, but because there's no point in fighting the dangers that do in fact exist.
His eyesight was in the process of failing for the last time when he saw the nearby section of the hull gently floated away, and from the opening a handful of humanoid figures tumbled in. It was hard to tell any details, or perhaps there were no details to be found in his oxygen deprived brain...
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The first sensation he felt through the endless void of beyond darkness was that of his penis in a warm, wet, and very tight fleshy sleeve. Obviously it couldn't be that of a woman's vagina, or even a fleshlight. Not out there, so far away from home, so close to death.
And it's certainly death. Someone somewhere around said that the best erection comes from the moment of death, and he sure was feeling that. It's like all his wet dreams, where he was pounding the hottest of women with wild abandon. And unlike those dreams, this time he doesn't have to worry about cleaning up afterwards.
After what felt like a while the release came, and it was glorious, the most seed he had ever pumped out in his life. Not that he has any ways to measure that, just his instincts. A good sendoff for a life cut short...
... except it didn't end, his life that is. He's pretty sure of that. He still has his thoughts, and sensations, and even- he could feel his hearing return.
With trepidation he tried opening his eyes, and to his surprise he still has them, though whether or not they're working as intended he could not be certain.
For what possibly series of even improbable events would transport him from certain death in the void of space to a comfortably furnished hospital room, and a gorgeous woman straddling him.
"Wha-" He mumbled, still rather disorientated at the whole thing, his new setting certainly wasn't helping matters. The woman looked at him, something seemingly off about her eyes. Her everything. Just too perfect, too unmarred by the hardships of life-
That's it. It's too clearcut. A lack of details, not lived in. He turned his head around to his left and to his right, finding slight pains but nothing broken. There were a number of other women, all equally nude, as if it's a dream where the subconscious mind did not bother with imagining up clothing.
"I am sure you have many questions, espatier." One of the women, sitting to his left, spoke, while the woman who was straddling him slid off discreetly and gracefully, adding to the dreamlike feeling of the entire experience. "But I can assure you that you are physically safe at the moment."
"Um. Uh." James tried to think of something to say, but now that his concerns were actually acknowledged he felt tongue tied. He does have many questions, but where to even begin?
"But I suppose introductions are in order." The woman said, holding out a hand, which he shook gingerly and hesitantly. Her hand was soft, the skin of someone who never had to do manual labor in her life. "I'm Dr. Nue, but you can call me Rachel." She smiled, a smile with surprising warmth.
"Ah, um. I'm Tucker. James Tucker. Nice to meet you." James stammered, returning the greeting, not really sure where this is going. "Where am I?" He asked, figuring that's a safe enough question, even if not necessarily useful in the grand scheme of things.
If he should be lucky enough to get to that point, which despite the present comforts he could not completely rule out the possibility.
"Not sure if it'll help you," Rachel began, acknowledging the questionable utility of the inquiry, "but you're currently in a hospital, on a planet most agreeable to human habitation, in a star system about 48.7 lightyears away from where we picked you up. Not sure if this means anything." She shrugged at the last bit. So far the galactic decoder has been correct in its assessment of this human's particular accent and dialect among thousands so far gathered, but things are beginning to get rather technical...
"Oh." James said, as realization hit him. The astronomers, and by extension the government, was right. The Star Defense Initiative was still a flop at the end, as his present and recent past circumstances had proved. But they were right about one thing: They were things still out there, among the stars.
That they also happened to be really sexy and apparently likes to prance around naked was not mentioned by anyone, but who could have known that?
"You, your people, are aware of us?" Rachel asked, picking up the cue of his single word. A message from the orbital militia command promptly nudged her, wordlessly asking her to inquire for more information.
"Sort of." James mumbled, realizing that he probably shouldn't have revealed that tidbit of information. But then again, perhaps they already knew everything. After all, these people obviously can cross the vast distance of space casually enough to haul his ass across almost 50 light years. "Basic astronomy. Unnatural light signatures. Deviations to existing background radiation." The bare bones of basics that every spacer had to memorize in basic.
