She stood and walked over to me. Setting her coffee down, she knelt then curled her legs under as she leant on my knee.
"Choi," she said softly.
"What?" I asked, leaning forwards.
"Oh, nothing," she replied."
"What?" I said more softly.
"It's just that I feel a little bit afraid. Will you hold me?"
I reached down and pulled her up onto my lap, holding her to me as she wrapped her arms around me. She lay naked, pressed between my legs, her head resting on my shoulder with her breasts squashed against me.
"There's nothing to be afraid of. Our chances of getting home are better than good, and believe me, I intend to take care while I explore."
I began to rub lightly on her back.
"But I feel so helpless up here on my own, watching and waiting for you to come back."
"That's something we're just going to have to live with. I'd need a mile and a half of cable to reach the end of the tunnel."
"I just wish there was some other way," she said quietly, sounding as if she were about to burst into tears.
"Diggie," I said, bringing my hand up to smooth her hair. "Hush now, it'll all be alright. It'll only be a few days more till it's explored and we know where we stand."
"I know, it's silly of me, but I couldn't face life alone, stuck here for the rest of my life with not a single soul to talk to."
"You could always get Beth to wake up the other sleepers."
"Would she obey me?"
"That's easy. Beth!"
"Yes, Choi," she answered.
"Brendigan has full authority in my permanent absence, acknowledge."
"Acknowledged," she answered.
"There, that's done."
"I just want you safe. I can't marry you if you're dead."
I gave a little laugh.
"I'm serious, it's no laughing matter," she said, lifting her head.
"I'm sorry, I can't imagine me married. I joined up to explore new worlds. I'll be eligible for the survey teams when I pass my next promotion board."
"Life doesn't always let us do what we want. I'm proof of that."
"Life's not going to be the same for either of us when we get out of this. We'll both be famous for fifteen minutes, you'll have hundreds of eligible admirers sending you proposals."
She leant back. "And so will you."
"But I hope I'll be leading a survey team back, or at least be part of one."
"And I can come with you; we can make it a honeymoon trip."
"Oh, that I'd like to see. My captain would have a fit at the idea."
I started chuckling at the thought.
"Choi," she complained.
"I'm sorry. I just had the vision of Beefhart turning purple."
She turned on me and sat on one leg and laid back down, head on my shoulder.
"We could use my father's yacht, or even one of the warships if you wanted to lead your own team."
"That's a tempting thought," I said, as I felt her hand trail down across my ribs.
I sat up, taking her with me. "Are you hungry now? I'm ready for some dinner."
Her hand took my cock. "If I can have some man milk for afters," she replied
I laughed again as we stood. "Come on, let's eat. We've hours before the suit is recharged."
She clung onto my arm as we crossed to the galley. We dialled up our food and ate. I contemplated my next journey into the waiting world, hoping that the end rooms were the lifts I thought them to be.
When we'd finished she took my hand and turned to me. "Now for my helping of cream."
She led me to the tube and took possession of my cock as we rode up. She led me to the bed and backed me up to sit on it. She knelt as I opened my legs out and then bent her head in to press my swollen head slowly through her lips.
She brushed her hair back and looked up at me as she started to play her tongue along the underside. The thrill warmed me inside and I dropped back onto my elbows, a small groan rumbling in my throat.
She sucked and licked and then started bobbing her head, building the sexual excitement in me till I was ready to explode.
"Ah, I'm cumming," I groaned out, my hips starting a thrust.
She sucked and swallowed as my seed filled her, sucking till I was empty and collapsed back onto the bed. She gave it a final lick and climbed up next to me.
"There, that's the one I owe you from earlier," she whispered, snuggling into me.
I brought my arm around her. "I don't remember."
"It doesn't matter. Call it a thank you, then."
She reached a hand across and started playing with my nipple. "Does this bother you?"
"Do you like to do it?"
"Yes."
"Then carry on. It's nice having you touch me."
She gave a little laugh. "Let's just lie here a while. It feels nice in your arms."
I wondered what would happen when we got back. We had enough now for it to be the discovery of the century; anything else I turned up in my search for our lithium would be a bonus. The trouble was our discovery was serendipitous; fate had put me here and need had led me to the door.
We woke at around five ship time and spent the first few minutes in a kiss that was passionate enough to stir my cock back to life, growing unseen till it was standing proud. She saw it when she broke our kiss and reached down to take it.
"No, later," I said reluctantly. "Let's get back to business. I need to get a look at the other chambers if there are any, see if there are any manufacturing facilities, see what's under that dome at the other end."
She let go and rolled aside as I sat up. I turned and offered my hand to her when I stood. She took it and stood facing me.
"You will take care."
"Yes, of course I will," I answered as I went for a fresh slipsuit.
I walked straight to the lift. Entering it I looked again at the lighted buttons and the legend next to them. Metaphorically crossing my fingers I put my gloved finger on the bottom one. Half a dozen rows of frames sprung up as the doors closed.
I grabbed the nearest one as the lift started to drop and forced my magnetic soles to the floor. The drop took five minutes at least as I gradually felt my weight returning. When we stopped the doors opened up to a much brighter room. Three sides were solid with the other lift in the opposite wall and a glassed wall showing a panorama of fields and trees.
I took out my tricorder and did an analysis of the air. At 800 mB it was thin but with 25% oxygen it was breathable and it gave the green light for me to crack my helmet and take a lungful. Gravity was about 0.8 and I felt like I was half flying, like running downhill as I bounded across the landscape.
I was headed directly across, following a straight road to the sheer side some two or three miles distant. The countryside I was running through was uncultivated, short grasses for the most part with trees dotted singly and in small copses.
As I neared my objective the countryside gave way to a cluster of dwellings, single storied with small doors and big windows. There was a wider road running around the rim angling up an impossible slope as it disappeared with distance.
I was tempted to explore one of the houses but carried on to the entrance into the wall before me. In the cavern inside there were dozens of little bubble cars lined up. I walked to the nearest and realised that I'd have to unsuit to fit in it, and even then it would be a tight squeeze.
I stood and pondered. As far as I could see the place was deserted but leaving my suit here would leave me vulnerable if there were any residents. It was too big a risk. The houses I passed would do for today then perhaps I'd have a closer look at the workshops on the concourse and maybe see where the other buttons on the lift took me.
I turned back and walked to the door of the first house. Inside the first surprise was the lack of wall coverings. The walls were a plain, pale mud brown. There was no furniture to give me clues about their size and shape.
All that I found were bare rooms. There was no obvious kitchen or bathroom which only deepened the mystery. The aliens were getting more enigmatic. The only real clue was the doorways. They were low but wide enough for me to duck through.
I glanced into the other houses before setting off back at a slow walk, taking a more careful look at the surrounding countryside. When I got back to the lift shafts I hoped that my remaining time would be more productive with only the levels left.
I resealed my helmet and pressed the fourth button. Holding onto the bar that appeared again I rode up into the lessening gravity. Our technology was probably more advanced than theirs; at least we had artificial gravity. In their favour, their power plant looked like it had outlasted anything we could build.
I guessed we were very near the axis by the near zero g I found as the lift stopped. It was the familiar concourse but the end was stoppered with a single glass window. The other way looked to have only a door at the end, one of the large dilating ones.
My approach triggered it open, revealing a vast laboratory complex with a high ceiling; predominantly near me were large blocks with hydraulics and several large pipes running in and out. I walked to the workstation of the nearest. There was a keypad set into the desk with a display set at the back.
I counted thirty seven symbols on the keys, and took the larger orange double symboled one to be an on/off master. What it did I had no idea. If form followed function then it might be a press of some kind. I took a walk around to capture things on my head cam and then made my way out.
What I was hoping for was a storage facility for raw materials; if they used electronics then they'd want pure lithium along with several other elements like gallium and silicon. As I got back to the lift I had reclassified this level as manufacturing of some kind, specialised near zero work.
Level three was a short stop. It revealed the same concourse and view and another dilating door at the other end. It looked like another factory. The machines were different, there were groups of spheres and cylinders with pipes and conduits snaking from them.
I was willing to bet that level two would be the same. It was an odd place to find them unless they were something to do with its construction. I filmed everything and finished my exploration then walked back to the lift to select the last level.
When the door dilated this time I was surprised to find a much smaller proper lab with benches and strange quarter moon stools that came to my upper thigh. I was disappointed to find it bare but filmed the signs that peppered the walls for Beth to analyse.
From the axis I made my way back out, calling up Diggie as soon as I exited. Beth answered.
"Brendigan is sleeping. Give her a moment to wake."
