What do you do on a long, slow boat ride back to civilization?
"Close, but you missed a coefficient here, and your sixth term there, is malformed. You need to take the curl of the derivative over the resultant from the previous matrix transform," Interface explained to Will, standing over his shoulder at one of the unused stations on the bridge, breasts pressing slightly into his side, pointing out the finer details of some of the mathematics needed for engineering efficiently in higher dimensions.
Will scratched his head as he struggled to follow Interface's explanation but was hopeful. He was making progress, however slowly, coming to grips with topics that few, if any, in the best universities in the galaxy could match.
"I shouldn't complain, but these make for tempting distractions from my studies," he said with a grin as he reached back and caressed Interface's ample bosom, pressed against him.
"As your tutor, I think it's time for a break and start thinking with your little head for a while," Interface said as she reached over his shoulders and ran her hands down over his chest, intentionally pressing her breasts into the back of his neck, smiling.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ben watched the two flirt on the other side of the bridge. Sitting at another unused station, he was ostensibly watching the stars stream by through the forward viewport, though he was an unintentional voyeur to the lovers.
It had been about a week since they left the nebula and pirates behind them, cruising at a relatively slow FTL speed. They were headed for the nearest inhabited world, Bourdan, only four and a half lightyears away, but with the ship's limited power supply, it would take them about a month to get there.
As Will and Interface made out, Interface glanced over Will's shoulder, locked eyes with Ben for a moment, and winked at him. He blushed and looked away quickly. Interface took Will's hand and led him off the bridge for more intimate, 'educational motivation', as she put it.
June was down in the hangar checking out the shuttle and pods, leaving Ben alone on the Bridge. Ben thought how strange it was that they were so ready to trust him. Not that he would do anything, but how could they be so sure?
Interface said she was an excellent judge of character, which doesn't seem likely; if they knew some of the truly awful things he'd done in the past, Ben was sure they'd have a different opinion of him.
Temporarily bored with watching the stars go by, he wandered over to the terminal where Interface was teaching Will the complex mathematics that let her work with the fundamental forces employed by this ship's systems. They had left the terminal displaying a long series of equations and matrices intricately woven together, the last thing Will and Interface were working on.
As Ben read through it, he quickly spotted the mistakes in Will's work that Interface had mentioned and two others in the supporting matrix transformation used in the last set of equations. Ben looked around quickly, and while no one was with him on the bridge, he sat down and studied the math.
Though he had no formal education, he had an uncanny knack for this stuff. Old Mrs. Jensen, who would occasionally feed him when he was living on the streets, said that Ben reminded her of a story from Old Earth about a poor young man who got his hands on a single mathematics book filled with theorems, figured out how to prove them all, and became a famous mathematician. She encouraged him whenever she saw him, saying he had great potential. Ben smiled at the memory of her, which soon slipped off his face, replaced by a frown of deep sadness and regret.
Ben forced his mind away from the past and focused again on the math in front of him, and on impulse, corrected the portions that weren't right. He heard the soft pat of bare feet in the corridor coming this way, so he jumped out of Will's seat and returned to where he had been sitting.
Interface returned to the Bridge without Will, wearing only a large smile for the briefest of moments. Then, she sheathed herself in her customary white and blue floral sundress. Ben caught her brief nudity out of the corner of his eye and blushed.
She captivated him, and he couldn't help but think about her when he was alone in his separate room at night. During the first few nights on board, Ben could not sleep, and since he was allowed to do so, he roamed the ship's corridors. The walls were extremely well soundproofed, but the three lovers always left the door to their lounge open, letting the sounds of passionate lovemaking flood the hallways as he passed.
Ben's embarrassment would drive him back to his room, only for his thoughts to linger on the goings on just down the hall. He would lay in bed rubbing out his own relief, imagining holding Interface in his arms, kissing her lightly, caressing her soft form.
Interface came in and sat down at a station next to where Ben was sitting, then asked, "So Ben, How are you doing?" Her tone was of genuine concern and warmth.
"Okay, I guess," Ben responded, focused on not staring at her cleavage or thinking about what she had been up to just a few minutes before with Will.
"It's part of my job to make sure everyone on board is healthy and happy," Interface began. "I've noticed that you've been listless and haven't slept well this past week; anything bothering you?" She asked.
At the mention of Interface knowing his sleeping habits, Ben blushed, and he hoped that she was unaware of how he had been spending his evenings. "It's just a little much to get used to, you know?" Ben hadn't intended to unburden himself to Interface, but she had this subtle way of putting him at ease. "Everyone on board has been very kind to me, and considering how we met, I can't understand why you haven't spaced me out an airlock already," He hung his head in shame at the life he had lived until now.
"I told you that I'm an excellent judge of character," Interface explained, "I can feel the 'texture' of the core of people. It helps me do my job. I know that there's a lot more to you than maybe even you understand. You're special, Ben. You carry a Light, and in a dark and lonely universe, it's important to nurture Light wherever we find it."
"I don't know about that," Ben said with a slight, self-deprecating smirk.
"But I do," Interface affirmed. "It was once my people's sacred duty to protect and nurture it wherever we found it. I've found it in you."
Ben shifted in his seat uncomfortably, but Interface continued. "For instance, the intuitive way that you grasp the complex math I've been teaching Will is a testament to how special you are."
