"We call them Gnip Gnops," said Ambassador Sophie Astor, the following morning in the briefing room. Survey Service Captain Michael Taylor, his first officer Commander Jessica Hale, and his second officer Susan Cleary were all present.
"What do
they
call themselves?" Taylor asked.
"We don't know," said Sophie. "Communicating with them is difficult. They have taught themselves our language through trial and error, but they aren't very forthcoming." She activated a holo. "A crew from the USS
Jersey
discovered them accidentally in a survey of the star system PK-24943."
"What's in that system?"
"Not much except an asteroid belt."
"I hate asteroid belts," said Taylor.
"This one has very few meteors. It's not densely populated. The Gnip Gnops occupy a larger asteroid several miles in diameter. It's not known if they are native to the asteroid or have merely established a base there."
"How could an alien race be native to a tiny asteroid? How do they survive there without an atmosphere?" Taylor asked.
"They have one, according to the crew of the
Jersey
," said Sophie.
"How can an asteroid have an atmosphere?"
"We don't know. We suspect it is artificial in nature," said Sophie. "They may be technologically far more advanced than we are. That is why first contact is so important," said Sophie.
"What is our mission?" Taylor asked.
"It's very simple. Escort me to the asteroid, and wait while I negotiate."
"With adequate security protection," said Taylor. He glared at Sophie, daring her to object.
"Of course, Captain," said Sophie.
********
PK-24943 was on the edge of known space, a few days from Space Station Zebra. It would take nearly three weeks to get there at cruising speed. They were to go to the Station first to get briefed, and then onto the asteroid.
*******
Jessica rubbed against him when they walked.
At first Taylor didn't even notice it. Then, when he noticed it, he thought it was an accident. Then it kept happening. Jessica would casually brush her arm against his when they walked, or brush her leg against his, and smile flirtatiously when he noticed.
She was flirting with him.
And the
way
she smiled at him--early and frequent, often with no provocation at all. It was like she was trying to melt his resistance with her giant sexy smiles. She would smile at him when discussing the maintenance logs. She would smile at him when discussing a personnel matter. She would smile at him when discussing a problem with the ship's plumbing.
Soon enough, Taylor was smiling back.
Jessica sometimes smiled at the crew, it was true, but mostly her smiles were reserved for
him
. The other thing Taylor noticed was that Jessica wore short skirts. In the beginning, the Survey Service dress code required men to wear pants and women to wear skirts. Over the years with a more progressive frame of mind, women were also permitted to wear pants. Most women preferred to wear pants because they viewed wearing skirts as sexually objectifying them. Sophie Astor never wore skirts. Susan Cleary wore skirts occasionally when she was off duty.
But Commander Jessica Hale wore them every day.
She had long, lean legs which attracted the attention of nearly every man on the ship and not a few women. That, combined with the full, ripe way she filled out her dayshirt, made her the subject of constant interest for at least half the crew.
One day Taylor was having lunch with Sophie in the cafeteria. After their last abortive dinner, Sophie refused to dine in his quarters again.
"It's nice we have this time together," said Taylor.
Sophie continued to eat.
"I mean, we should make the most of the time we have together."
Sophie said nothing.
"Sophie, why are you being like this?" Taylor said.
"Being like what?" Sophie said.
At that moment all the male heads turned as Commander Jessica Hale entered the cafeteria. Her long luscious legs were gleaming, as if they had been freshly shaved and lotioned. Her breasts made very romantic hills in her Survey Service dayshirt. Her long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She scanned the crowd for what she was looking for, and found it.
"Captain," she said, smiling as she leaned over him, giving an excellent view of her breasts.
"Jessica? What is it?" Taylor said.
"Chief Stoneheld wants to meet with me at 14:00 to talk about some planned maintenance to the Jitter Drive."
"Any problems?"
"No. Purely routine." She smiled at him. "But I thought you might want to be there."
Taylor smiled back at her. "I'll be there."
"Good," she smiled back at him. "See you later, Captain." As she walked away, her ass swayed inside her short bobbing white skirt.
Taylor turned back to Sophie. He was still smiling, but she wasn't.
"Have you slept with her yet?" Sophie asked.
"What?" said Taylor.
"Do I need to repeat my question?"
Taylor looked around to see if anyone was listening and lowered his voice. "Sophie, I haven't slept with her."
"Yet," said Sophie. "Somehow, you always find a way to."
"What is this bizarre jealousy you have? First Susan and now Jessica. You left me, Sophie, remember?"
"I remember," she said calmly. Then, "She wants you, Michael. Everyone aboard knows it. And I think you want
her
. You told me what happened between you and her lookalike sister in the year one billion, remember?"
"I'm trying not to," said Taylor, suddenly regretting it.
"Try not to be a total embarrassment when you give in to your baser desires." She got up and left.
********
"Captain on the bridge!" said Jessica. Everyone snapped to attention as Taylor entered the control room for his duty shift.
"Jessica, you don't have to say that every time I arrive," said Taylor.
"I think strict discipline serves the crew well, sir," she said. Jessica Hale was such a total opposite of Sasha Runningbear, in every way. Thorough, highly efficient, competent... and
very
sexy. She was once again wearing her short white skirt, showing off her magnificent gleaming thighs. Her firm melons filled out her dayshirt very nicely and her dark straight hair was down around her shoulders.
"Mr. Galloway changed course to avoid a rogue meteor shower at 0400. We are back on course now, with only seven minutes lost," she said, as her melons proudly stuck out at him.
"Very good, Commander," said Taylor.
"Mr. Penfold did a test of the weapons systems under my supervision. The power levels on Hot Beamer number two, which was only recently repaired after the Battle of Ramada, were fluctuating a bit. I'd like to have Chief Stoneheld look into it."
"Agreed."
"Lieutenant Takorama's sensors have gathered more information about the Colco Nebula, which has added to the information already in our databanks from previous surveys. You may want to review that at your leisure."
"Very good," said Taylor. "Anything else?"
"I asked Lieutenant Commander Cleary to conduct a manual count of our food stores... but it's not done yet, is it, Commander?"
Susan looked hesitant. "Not yet. I have two crewmen working on it. We'll have the count ready for you by the end of the day, sir. Ma'am. Ma'am sir," she said nervously.
"Why are you having the food stores counted? They were checked when they were brought aboard," said Taylor.