Interstellar Sex Dreams -- Part 1
Copyright Nikki Hall
Edited by Tex Beethoven
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FOREWORD
So this is the second time I've posted this story, because I slipped up the first time. I referenced the inspiration incorrectly and in breaking what was originally a 100k word story into parts, managed to put a section of it in twice which clearly detracts from the reading experience.
This story was inspired by the movie Passenger (thanks for the pick-up dewoelfle). I loved it, but my kinky mind couldn't help but think how it could have played out differently!
Hopefully this re-post works and you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. More to come which you will hopefully also enjoy just as much!
Licks and kisses,
Nikki
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All sexually active characters in this work of fiction are 18 years or older
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Part 1
"You're staring, Doctor McAllister."
"Apologies, Captain Vander," Mike muttered just loud enough to be heard across the welcoming line. He blushed at the gentle admonishment and dragged his eyes away from the mesmerising sight of the woman in the red dress. He turned to greet the next passenger coming aboard. He didn't catch the woman's name, nor really make any attempt to make her feel welcome as he was supposed to, he was still fixated by the vision that had just paused in front of the captain before passing on. Typical that someone so gorgeous would be in the other line.
Five thousand passengers were boarding the
Stellar Reach
, all bound for a new life on the off-world colony of Entarch. The
Stellar Reach
was fresh from manufacture and represented the latest generation of colonial transport. Mike McAllister held dual medical and security ratings that had managed to secure him his berth. The ship would travel at sub-light speed with her crew, cargo and passengers held in stasis for the ninety-two-year journey. They'd be awakened from stasis two months out from Entarch to give them a chance to socialise and prepare for their new adventure.
Mike's primary role was to ensure that everyone made it into and out of stasis safely, so they could emerge at the far end healthy and no older than when they'd left, at least biologically. He would spend the first month of the journey alone on the ship, monitoring vitals and systems, before he too would drop into stasis.
He refocussed on the on-boarding passengers who were being introduced to the crew in an attempt to reassure them they would wake up safely and without incident at the end of their long journey. Mike had no concerns in that regard: ResettCom had an impeccable record, having never lost a passenger in the centuries they'd been engaged in off-world colony transport. It was a far cry from the early years, when a far less reputable company had once been found to have taken vast sums of money from prospective settlers only to load them onto a tricked up junk of a spacecraft and simply crash it into an asteroid in near-remote space with no intention of them ever making the journey. That scandal had prompted the Interstellar Government to regulate the industry to previously unthought of levels of detail.
He played his favourite mental game as the seemingly endless line of passengers came through, shaking hands. Each woman that walked through received a quick assessment from Mike as to whether he would sleep with them, given the chance. He knew it would be frowned upon if he were discovered but given that nothing ever left his own thoughts, he figured there was no harm. He estimated that they were halfway through the boarding process, and his count had reached two hundred. So many prospects! It was a shame that after the upcoming introductory party he'd only actually interact with them when they entered stasis and at the far end of their journey, and even then it would only be a small number of them since his role during those processes was primarily supervisory and being on call to handle any irregularities, which were always minor.
His prospects for liaisons weren't all bad though, especially near journey's end, when everyone was awake for the final two months. During that period there were always a few women happy to have a final fling with a crew member who wouldn't be going on-world with them; someone with whom they could share a happy little no-strings romp before they were shuttled down to their new home. It certainly enabled them to dodge potential reputational issues, as the crew returned to stasis for the return journey, and by the time they made it back to the inner colonies and Earth, the colonists would all have died of old age.
Interstellar transport was an odd business like that. By the time you completed a round journey, technology had leapt forward again, and everyone you had once known had died of old age. Mike loved it, though. He was able to update himself on the newest technology through implants, and at the end of each excursion he was witness to vast new changes in ship construction and tech. Usually he'd spend a year updating his qualifications on-world before taking on another contract. At thirty-two years of age biologically he'd been through the procecsssix times, each time only spending four months of his travel time 'living' so to speak. The rest was in stasis. It was certainly a good way to escape a bad relationship!
Two hundred and one
, he thought to himself as he watched a brunette progressing toward him down the line in a low-cut, form-fitting dress of shiny silver material. He managed to tear his gaze away from her cleavage in time to take her hand without getting busted looking. She moved on to the next crew member and glanced down to survey her tight buttocks. D
efinitely two hundred and one
, he decided.
After an age (and with a final count of three hundred and sixty-two) the final passenger had made it through to the pre-launch party. Mike stretched as the greeting line dissolved and he began wandering around the party. He wanted to find the woman in the red dress again. She reminded him of that vintage, pre-space movie starlet. Scarlett someone he seemed to recall. He tapped into the ship's computer for a moment and did a search. His ocular system pulled up a life-sized hologram that hovered before him (though only visible to himself) with a list of her movie credits and statistics. Scarlett Johansen. That was who she reminded him of. Buxom, blonde and gorgeous.
Eventually he managed to spot her and passed by her a couple of times, obsessively trying to look at her without being seen. He could have introduced himself, but nerves got the better of him and he resorted to simply monitoring her movement through the party. She wasn't drinking a lot, but still seemed very social and happy. When she smiled he found himself smiling with her, as if all by herself she were lifting the mood of the entire party.
A quick query of the passenger manifest told him her name was Amy Barden, that she was twenty five years old, single, heterosexual, had no known medical concerns and a host of other information that he continued to peruse as he watched her from the near distance. He loved having access to the full manifest. As the senior ranking med-tech with dual quals that also included security specialist it meant that only the captain had the same level of access to passenger records. It made for great reading during the time he was alone on the ship while everyone else was in stasis.
He left Amy alone long enough to go to the bar, checking the roster for stasis-inducement as he did so. He surveyed the list on his ocular display and set himself a reminder so he could be there when Amy was suspended. With a drink in hand he orbited around Amy's general area, careful to distribute his attention and engage in the occasional casual conversation so he wouldn't seem to be stalking her, even though he was.
Mike was caught by surprise when one of the women he'd had a brief chat with called him over.
"Amy, Doctor McAllister, you two really should meet," she gushed, seizing his attention. Mike had to work hard to keep his mouth shut and not stare, as he came face to face with the woman he'd been obsessing over for the last two hours.
"Karen, wasn't it?" he asked the Asian woman who had snagged them both, briefly glancing down to take in her lovely electric blue, figure-hugging cheongsam. If she weren't standing next to Amy, he probably would have stared longer.
"Yes, that's very kind of you to remember," she said happily, unaware that Mike's ocular display had pulled up her name for him.
"Amy here is a bit paranoid about the stasis process, so I thought who better to talk to her about it than you?"
"I'm only a
little
bit paranoid, Doctor McAllister was it?" Amy asked him politely. Her voice sounded like sweetened honey to him. Pitched perfectly between a rich contralto and a mellow baritone.
"Please, call me Mike," he requested of both women, but reached to clasp hands with Amy, given he was meeting her for the first time. Her hands were wonderfully soft, her grip firm without seeming to need to prove anything. "So... What is it that has you worried, Amy?"
"Oh, not much more than the thought of never waking up again, or coming out of stasis paralysed or with two heads or something," she laughed nervously.