Hermes

Pyra was looking at me, a confused and surprised look on her face.

"You FOUND a station?" She asked, "Just floating in space? That's unbelievable, even for you."

"Well, it had nothing to do with my talent to find stuff or my connections," I responded, "It was an accident."

"I find this hard to believe," she said.

I told her the short version of what happened after I got the power core, the accident, and how it led to me literally stumbling on the station. Her look changed from surprise to excitement as I told her about the speed I achieved with the new core, then to terror as I explained the damage my ship had received. While we were talking, the station came into view, and Pyras chin hit the floor as I showed it to her.

I looked at my friend as she stood there, watching the Hermes getting closer. Her light brown skin and long black hair perfectly contrast the bright, silver piercings in her ear. Her dark green tank top, which spanned over her ample D-cup breasts, and the cargo shorts made her look like a car mechanic in some old earth movies. The slight contour of her muscles made her even more attractive. But something in my mind tried to get my attention. It was not that I wanted to be with her. I somehow wanted to be her. "Ok, that's weird; Stop that!" I thought and focused on the station in front of the window.

"Ok, now I get why you are so cautious about trackers." She said, nearly pressing her face on the window to get a better view of the growing station. "What was it used for? Is it still functional? What have you found in it? And... "

I interrupted the flood of questions with a finger and spoke to Max:

"Max, dock at Hermes and resume the energy transfer."

" Affirmative, sir," was his response.

Pyra's face was now even more curious than before. I told her that the internal reactor of Hermes was nearly out of Fuel and I needed to supply it with power. I also told her I explored some parts and found a room for myself, not telling her about the MedHands and LiveDream. All the while, Max maneuvered the ship to the dock.

"So you have only seen two decks? Did they at least have something interesting in them?" she asked.

"Aside from the bars and the orgy rooms, I found some interesting devices." I responded, "But first, let's find you a room, then I can show you something cool."

In that second, Max announced that docking was completed. Pyra still looked puzzled, so I told her more on the way to the elevator.

"This is what I call the garden," I said as we interred the round room. "It used to house plants, but they all died long ago. The doors lead to recreation rooms; some are like bars. Others are like big bedrooms with many sex toys, so I call them orgy rooms," I said with a grin. "We can look into one if you want."

Pyra looked slightly embarrassed, but then a slight grin formed on her face, and she responded with, "Why not?"

I led her into one of the rooms, and she immediately looked around it. Finding the drawers with the toys took her only a minute, and she again looked embarrassed. As I walked closer, I saw her looking at various dildos and vibrators.

"You know," she said, "I have seen some of them before. I even own 2 of them."

"Really? I would have never assumed," I said, half joking.

"Com'on," she responded with a joking undertone, "you know that I'm a lesbian, and since I don't have the natural means to satisfy some of my partners, I need silicone support."

I burst out laughing. "Silicon support! Hahaha, I never heard that one before. I need to remember that."

Pyra looked at me, amused but then couldn't hold it back herself and started to laugh.

After we had gathered ourselves, I pointed in the general direction of the drawers and said, "If you want, you can take them. It's not like we don't have enough."

"I'm good, thanks," she responded, "I don't want any used hardware. It feels unhygienic."

We looked into more drawers and found many accessories, from simple dildos to hardcore BDSM wear. It seemed they had everything they would ever need here. In one of the last drawers, we found a collection of complex mechanical devices clearly intended for automatic penetration.

I was about to ask Pyra why anyone would use one of those, but she spoke first.

"Do you remember the head of security at the mars cargo dock?" she asked.

"Yes, why?" I responded, wondering how the devices made her think about her. "The one with both robot arms?"

"Yes, exactly. Well turns out she had been fired because she said the wrong thing to the entitled child of some c-suit or some shit like that."

"Ow, that's bad. I liked her." I said.

"Me too. After getting my records cleared, I accidentally met her in a bar. Turns out she had an eye on me since I started working on Mars but couldn't ask me out because of regulations or stuff, I don't remember."

"Ok, but how is that relevant?" I asked, still trying to understand how the whole thing fits together.

"Well, we hooked up, aaand..." Pyra started to blush a bit. "Well, her arms are detachable, and because she has some fancy addon, she can control them remotely. And we experimented a bit, so to speak."

"Ah, now I understand. These things reminded you of her," I said with a grin.

"Yes," Pyra said, now profoundly blushing.

"So what did you do?" I asked, "Did you use one of her arms to finger her while she was eating you out or something like that?" I asked.

"Well... yes," she said, "but also some other stuff."

"Oh, come on, tell me," I said, now widely grinning.

"Another time," Pyra said, also grinning. "If I think too long about that night now, I might need to kick you out of this room."

"Alright, let's talk later," I said, and we walked back into the garden.

"So what's this room for?" she asked as we walked out of the garden.

"Well, the map calls it 'consumer testing'. I think they used to invite some people to test their creations. That is also where I found the first device. But before I tell you what it is, I must ask about your robo-foot. Do you like it?"

"Not really, it's annoying and requires maintenance. I don't have any sense in it, at least with the basic model, and the premium stuff is even more expensive," She responded with a sad expression. "Why do you ask?"

"The device I found should be able to get your foot back," I said, now with a devious smile.

"You are fucking with me!" she exclaimed as we reached the elevator. The doors opened, and I gestured for her to get inside.

"Not in the slightest," I said as I pressed the button for deck 20, "but it takes a long time. I used it to heal the scar on my hand, see" I showed her my left hand, and she gasped.

"That is remarkable," She took my hand and looked at where my scar used to be. "But this can't be real; even the rich families don't have this tech. The best they have is an autodoc that can reattach limbs with a 98% success rate. But you are also foolish for using an unknown medical device without supervision. For all you know, it could have killed you."

"Yes, I know," I said, feeling guilty. "But it worked, and I think it can help with your foot."

"I guess you are right. Let's try it," Pyra said.

"Great, but first, let's get you situated, and then we can talk about getting your foot back," I said as the elevator doors opened.

Pyra seemed to be amazed at every part of the station. She had visited many stations with and without me, but Hermes was different from most other stations. Most stations were cramped, had narrow corridors, and were dirty. Hermes was more like a luxury station, and even they were usually more cramped.

After Pyra had chosen a room, I instructed Max to clean it up and bring the second MedHands device into her room.

"How long would it take to repair my foot?" she asked.

"I don't know. My hand and some extra preparation time took more than four hours. I guess it will take longer to regrow a whole foot, though," I responded.

"How about we get something to eat while Max prepares our room and then start the preparation process" I suggested.

"Sounds good to me. Lead the way," Pyra said.

—

A bit later, after we had eaten and Max had prepared Pyras room, I instructed her to lie on the bed. I powered the MedHands on and positioned the device under her foot. After they did the same scanning routine as they did with my hand, Max got us the result.

"The device reports that it cannot repair a missing limb, sir," Max responded.

Pyra let out a disappointed sigh. "It was worth a try," she said while leaving the bed.

"I guess that's fair. Max told me that it can repair small to medium damage. I somehow thought a foot would be in that range." I disappointedly said.

"So, what should we do now?" She added.

"I also found this other device called LiveDream, and it's a... actually, it's hard to describe. From what I gathered, it can record and playback the POV of a person, with all sensations and everything." I said.

"What?" Pyra looked at me, puzzled. "That sounds like you made it up."

"I didn't!" I responded. "I tried it, and it's really astonishing. Think of it like a really advanced VR game."

"You know that I don't like these," Pyra said. "They always make me feel sick."

"Yes, I know. But this one is different. It feels more like a dream. You don't have to interact with anything. It's like a movie directly in your brain. Or more like POV porn because that's the only recording."

"Oh, great. First, you show me a room full of sex toys, and now you want me to watch POV porn in my brain." Pyra said, her expression disapproving, but her tone suggested she was interested. "But I guess I can check it out as long as you leave the room."

"Of course. I just quickly grab it." I said, walking to the door.

A minute later, I returned with the LiveDream and showed it to her. She still seemed hesitant to use it, but I just started to explain it to her, and she warmed up.

"I haven't tried recording anything yet, but playback seems to work well," I said.

She turned the headpiece in her hands and asked, "So you said there is only one recording, and it is porn? What porn? I don't really feel like experiencing hetero sex."

"Ah, no, it's nothing like that. It's a solo female experience. From what I gathered, I think it's from the station manager." I said. "But I don't want to spoil anything," I added with a wink.

"Ok, so that's not so bad. So do I need to take my clothes off or something?" Pyra asked.

"No, just lay down and play the recording," I said, returning to the door. "Just page me when you are done" With that, I left.

Back at the deck entrance, I decided to explore the other quarter decks while Pyra was busy. Deciding that it would be best to use work my way up, I took the elevator to deck 19.

Deck 19 was marked as recreation and quartes and again differed from the decks I had visited. The entrance area was split in half, east recreation and west quarters. I figured that the recreation area could be more interesting than the quarters. To my surprise, a sign on one of the walls told me that the recreation area had a gym, cinema, pool, clubs, multi-purpose rooms, and an infirmary.

I took my time exploring each part. The gym looked like you would expect, with anti-gravity weights and standard training equipment. The cinema could comfortably seat about 20 people. The pool was only one meter deep and empty but could be a great leisure activity.

The infirmary was actually relatively small and had multiple MedHands devices. And also some big tanks stacked on the wall. They probably contained the materials the MedHands used. At least I now knew where to get more if I needed them. If you have something like the MedHands, you only need a little extra space for an operating room.

After finishing the recreation area, I walked to the quarters. On my way, I thought about Pyra and that it had been more than one hour, and she should be finished with the recording. I decided against pinging her and instead let her have all the time she needed.

As I finished inspecting the second room, Pyra pinged me. "Hey Chris, I'm done with the LiveDream. Where are you?"

"I'm on deck 19, exploring some quarters. Should I come down to you?" I replied.

"No, I come to you. Can you meet me at the elevator?" She said.

"Sure," I said and walked back.

A minute later, Pyra walked out of the elevator. I noticed that she was wearing other clothes as before. I had some speculations about why. This time she had a crop top on, perfectly showing her abs and tight leggings that left little to the imagination.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

"Sure, since I'm cooled down now," she replied, knowingly grinning.

"And?" I asked after she just stood there.

"You have seen it, so I don't need to tell you what happens. But it was fascinating. It felt so real, but also different from what it feels to me." She said. "It was similar in some points but also completely different in others. For example, I never liked water pressure much, so the recording showed me some things I had never experienced before. But I guess it's because she liked it. By the way, do you know her name?"

"Her name is Alina, but I don't know her last name," I replied. "And I get the experience part. I don't have any reference to any of it. So it was something totally new for me."

"Hmm, Alina. It suits her," Pyra said. "And yes, that's my point. As far as I know, everyone experiences arousal and orgasm differently, and it was really eye-opening to feel it from someone else."

While we talked, we continued exploring the rooms.

"Also, before you ask, yes, I did cum, multiple times." She added with a wink. "But I'm also curious how it was for you. What effect did it have on you?"

"Well, since we are already at this, I came twice. But the sensation was completely different from how it normally feels. But somehow, it was better? I don't know how to describe it, I really enjoyed the sexual part, but I also enjoyed being her. Does that make sense?" I said. "I'm not sure what to make of this, but it was also one point I wanted to talk with you about."

"So you envied her?" Pyra said. "I understand that, on a logical level, but for me, it was more like watching a movie. I enjoyed it but did not want to become her."

"Yes, that's the point. I don't have any better way to describe it, but after the recording ended, I felt like I had lost something," I said. "I have given this quite a bit of thought, and while I have not reached a final conclusion that I'm happy with, I think somehow I go into the gender fluid or even transgender direction with this."

"Hmm, yes, that does seem to fit," Pyra said. "I have not met many trans persons, but the one trans girl I dated a long time ago said something similar when we talked about this topic."

"You dated a trans girl?" I asked, surprised because she had never told me that.

"Yes, she was really nice. But we broke up after a couple months because she had some insecurities I could not cope with." Pyra said with a sad face.

"Well, thanks for talking with me about this. I have a lot more to think about now." I said as we finished with the last room. "I guess we are done here; this deck does not hold anything useful."

"Have you already looked into the other half?" Pyra asked.

"Yes, it has nice facilities if you want to train or watch a movie, also refueling for the MedHands, but nothing," I said.

"Alright, so now what?" Pyra asked

"Maybe we can find something on the other decks? But currently, we can only access a small part of the station." I said as I walked out of the room and back to the elevator with her. "I already explored some decks. If you want, we can explore the rest together?"

"I guess," she said, "but why can't we access all decks?"

"The elevator won't let me, and I don't want to hack it. It might break, and then I'm stuck here." I said while showing her the deck plan on the elevator screen.

"Why are some decks grouped together?" she asked after she studied the plan.

"I actually don't know," I said, "I think it might be because of the access restrictions, as all decks we can access are not grouped."

"Max, why are the decks grouped?" Pyra asked Max directly.

After Max did not respond within a few seconds, Pyra looked at me with a puzzled look.

"Didn't you authorize me some time ago?" she asked.

"I did," I responded, "and I haven't changed it since then."

"Max?" I asked.

"At your service, sir," Max responded.

I exchanged a confused look with Pyra and asked, "Max, is Pyra still an authorized user?"

"Affirmative, sir. Pyra is authorized for non-system commands from within the unnamed," he responded.

"Aha," Pyra exclaimed, smiling, "you only gave me access while on your stupidly named ship."

"Hey, I like that people get confused when I tell them my ship is named 'unnamed,'" I jokingly said.

"Max, increase access limits for Pyra to inquiries from the Hermes," I said.

"Affirmative, sir," Max responded.

Pyra tried her Question again, and this time, Max responded as he should.

"The decks are grouped because they are currently not accessible, ma'am," he explained.

"How about we try another way to access the decks?" Pyra asked, "There must be at least some service access to the other decks if the elevator is out of service."

"How about we check that AFTER we explored the decks we already have access to?" I responded, "I don't want to risk activating a security system that locks us out even more."

Pyra thought about it for a few seconds and then shifted her focus back to the display.

"You are probably right... Let's go to the storage on deck 41," she said, "I'm curious how they managed to only have 2 and a half decks of storage for a station this big."

"Hmm, yes, I never thought about that. Let's go there," I said.

Pyra pressed on deck 41, and the elevator started to move. While the elevator moved down, she asked me why I did not activate the main system.

"All stations I visited had a central controlling AI. I think this one has one as well. And since this station is old and AI laws were not as strict when it was built, it could decide I was an intruder and do who knows what to get me out."

"We both are intruders now," Pyra said, "but yes, I understand that. Better leave it off for now until we know more."

With a mechanical swoosh, the doors opened, and we both walked onto the storage deck. It had a much more industrial look than the other decks. While still adequately lit, it had a green-brown anti-corrosion painting instead of the white and pastel from the other decks we have seen. The floor was sprinkled with marks and lines in different colors, some showing routes to different parts of the deck, others just marking areas.

While some parts of the deck had rooms, most of it was walkways and big glass windows. Curiously I walked to a window and looked into the darkness beyond. I couldn't see much, but after a few seconds, some lights turned on and illuminated giant rows of storage pods.

I walked over to the display near me, where Pyra had already found the power button, and started it up. After the startup, an inventory management screen appeared. We clicked through it a bit and quickly found out that the storage pod rows expanded a substantial distance down. Items could be stored and retrieved with an automated system.

We Studied the list of items in storage for a bit, but it was primarily standard household stuff and spare parts. A significant section was assigned as 'research supplies,' but all storage pods in that category had only numbers as their names. Out of curiosity, we retrieved one of them and opened it up.

"They are just a bunch of fluid and gas containers in here," Pyra said disappointedly.