Eight
There were three middle-aged men waiting for us and after the briefest of introductions and the usual fussing over Vincent we were taken through to where the capsule was being 'studied'. The shell was still in one piece but the inner liner and a lot of the life support was lying on the bench next to it.
'Got to it, Vinnie,' I thought, and watched as it made its way over to the shell.
One of its arms came out with a circular attachment on the end. It floated up one side, touching at various spots and the whole side opened up.
"Wow," said one of the assembled scientists.
Vinnie did the same on the other side while the scientists crowded this side for a better view of the interior. As they did, Vinnie started removing some of the modules, a couple of rectangular ones and a largish circular one.
"Jeff,"
he said, catching me by surprise.
"Yes," I said out loud.
"The power unit is still in working order. I can restart it if you wish."
'What are the others that you've taken out?'
"One is the life support unit which has failed and the other is the shield generator."
A few of the scientists had wandered around and were beginning to examine the modules that Vinnie had removed.
'Can you open up the life support module?'
"Yes,"
he said, extending the arm again.
I walked around next to him as he flipped the box and touched it with the circular tip. The four sides fell away to reveal two mono-blocks inside.
"That's the life support," I announced. "The bit that failed. You can do your testing and probing on that. The other two are the power and shield components."
They all congregated around the bench, one of them picking up the open module and examining it closely.
"The power module still works?" one at my elbow asked.
"Yes, and the shield, though I'm not sure how you control them."
"Can he open them up as well?"
"It is not advisable to open the power module; the radiation is harmful to organic matter."
"The shield, yes, but the power module is dangerous. Vinnie says it's radioactive."
"It must have bloody good shielding then," said another.
"He can fire it up if you want."
"Yes, go on then," said the first. "What output does it give?"
'Vinnie?' I thought.
"Thirteen point eight volts at fifty amps."
I repeated his answer whilst I watched the three fingered arm emerge. He used two of the fingers to bridge two of the connectors.
"The two large sockets can be used to draw power,"
he informed me.
There were a lot more questions after that. I relayed Vincent's answers and ended up holding onto Rose's hand as the boredom threatened to send her to sleep. The session ended with me telling them everything Vincent knew about how the circuits were fabricated.
I had my pad navigate us to a nearby Korean eatery. Rose had a little moan about what a waste of time it was for her and over the meal persuaded me to let her loose on the shops while I went back for the afternoon session.
Even though I agreed the possibility of something happening was remote I was still worried as she gave me a goodbye kiss at the door as we exited. I tried to put it out of my mind as I wandered back; with another half hour before I was due back myself I did a little sightseeing along the way.
It was more questions and answers when I got back, with me keeping half an eye on Rose's location on my pad. The life support module was taken away for a more 'in depth' examination and Vincent labelled the pin-outs for the shield, warning them to use caution if they intended to experiment with it.
As soon as we were finished I contacted Rose to see how she was getting on. She was a little disappointed at the cost of everything, even though she had twenty thousand credits, the things she really liked were beyond her budget.
We picked a place to meet and I set out. I used the underground beltway that Rose had found and, with curious stares at both me and Vincent, rode it to the stop for the little restaurant Rose had suggested.
We had tea and scones with cream in an old fashioned English setting on offer. It had quaint wooden chairs and a red checkered covered table with a little posy of flowers in the centre. I was first there and ordered a refreshing soft drink while I waited.
She came in carrying a brightly adorned carrier bag.
"You didn't tell me you bought anything."
"Oh, it's just a slip cover for my mother's pad," she said, opening it up. "It's got an animated Tweety and Sylvester on it. Here."
I took it from her and saw a little panel with Tweety flying in circles around his cage while Sylvester tried to grab him. It made me smile thinking of Granny and Hector.
"That's nice," I said, giving it back to her.
"I know I should have expected it but they've nothing that fits off the rack. Anything I liked would cost twice as much to have tailored."
"Oh," I said. "I've got plenty of money if you need."
"No, I was thinking on the way here that I'd never have the chance to wear it back home, I'd be overdressed for anywhere I go."
"You could buy more of this silk underwear; I know I will if I find some off the shelf. If I can get a loose fit I'll have it altered at home."
"Yes, that should work. What size are you? Ninety seven, one oh two? It would probably work for panties, too."
"Good, I can meet up with you here for lunch tomorrow. We can do some shopping then."
"Oh, things here run twenty four hours; it's only the bureaucrats that run nine-seventeen. There's a sexy underwear shop I passed we could look in."
"Let's finish the tea first," I said with a chuckle.
Sexy underwear had triggered an image which was giving my cock cause to twitch. I signalled the waitress and ordered, noting the huddled whispering with two other waiting staff after she'd given Vincent a careful look before walking away.
The first waiter hadn't had a proper look the first time but he'd now swapped sides to let Rose sit next to me. I wondered what they were saying.
"The male thinks you are actors in costume and that I'm some FX prop. One of the females thinks we're aliens."
I suppressed a little smile while I mentally thanked him.
"Do you know there are over twenty thousand permanent residents here and usually over a thousand transients? It's only got a kilometre and a half circumference; can you imagine that sort of density back home?" Rose asked.
"It's only a half hour flight to Earth from here. There's a short supply chain and a lot of profit. They'd be eating those flowerbeds and ornamental shrubs inside a week if the flights stopped," I said, thinking of the turmoil down on the surface.
"What struck me was how close together they must live. Long corridors of doors like the hotel room, no gardens or spaces to play, everywhere windowless. I wouldn't have liked to have grown up here."
"No, this close to earth you can look down and see the wide open spaces," I said thoughtfully.
"Yes," she said, looking past me as our order came.
The waitress came close by Vinnie, putting the tray on the table and giving me the pad to sign.
"Where are you from then?" she asked me politely.
"A.B.S.H., The Asteroid Belt Science Habitat," I replied, giving the official designation.
"Ah, thanks, you've settled an argument," she said, backing away.
Rose gave a puzzled smile. "That's happened to me a few times. Some of the shop girls weren't that polite about it either."
"Yes, I'm finding my size awkward here, ducking under doorways, cramped up in the buggies. As different and exciting as it is I can see it wearing thin."
Rose gave me a wry grin. I picked up my tea and took a sip, sitting back to nibble a taste of the buttered scone. I looked over at her. She looked elegant in the dress and little bolero waistcoat. Would she tell me she loved me again soon, I wondered.
We quietly finished the snack and were off back the way I came. A hundred metres past the beltway entrance I'd emerged from she stopped me in front of a windowed entranceway. Looking in I saw dummies dressed to cater for all sorts of erotic tastes.
She led me the three steps into the door, smiling and excited. Inside she made for the female section while I turned aside to the much smaller male section. There was fetish stuff aplenty, leather, latex, rubber, and that was just the masks.
The thongs on display were designed to enhance and display in ways suited for the well-endowed and they had a small selection of more normal shorts and Y fronts. There was nothing that really interested me. My sexual propensities didn't need aids. Just having Rose was enough for me.
I wandered over, looking for Rose, but she shooed me away. I went and lent on the doorjamb to wait, feeling a tinge annoyed at being abandoned. Knowing her and the nature of the shop she was bound to be buying crotch-less panties anyway.
Rose eventually came smiling back up to me, another small carrier bag joining the first. She linked arms again as we walked out.
"Are you going to tell me?" I asked. "Or is it a surprise?"
She gave a low laugh. "I'll model them for you later."
She squeezed my arm and slipped her hand into mine. I brought it up to my lips and kissed the back. "I love you," I said, switching my eyes to hers.
"Jeff," she said, swinging around to hug me. "I love you, too."
