by Tom Harem
"That's weird, yeah. What do we do with her then?" Jessy asked.
"I have no idea. I've already done my job. The best thing now is for us to hope that Amelia gets better. She'll know what to do, she always does." Matilda replied, "I've already set the course for Dembi's spaceport. It's the closest to us. Three days and we will be there."
"What do we do these three days?" I asked. The most I'd ever spent on a ship was a few hours and, truth be told, it sounded boring. There was nothing to do but look through the glass or sleep.
"You are now going to fetch the boxes from the other ship, which is why we hired you," Jessy said, "then we'll see. I usually do experiments; Matilda builds objects and Amelia spends her days training and showering. Also, don’t take anything from the ship that it’s not the boxes, okay? They have a list with everyone that should be on the ship. We can’t be caught stealing. Our reputation is already in the mud,"
"There's plenty of places on this ship where we can have fun," Matilda said and giggled.
I was going to answer but Jessy slightly elbowed her on the shoulder.
"Matilda! Someday you're going to burn yourself to the ground with the joke. Amelia already warned you." Jessy told her.
"You're such a buzzkill," Matilda answered her, and without Jessy noticing, she winked at me.
The conversation died there. They kept talking and I went to pick up the boxes. Some had fragile equipment, the glass wobbling around against the boxes' sides, and others contained metal jars with two red lines around them and a few numbers at the top. I didn't open any of them even if they sparked my interest. I probably didn't even know what they were and didn't want to risk releasing any viruses. I transported two at a time, if they were fragile, and three when they were boxes similar to urns. On the corner of the small room that had the ladder, there was a machine that transported the boxes automatically, one by one, to the ship above. It must have taken me two hours to finish it up. Finally, I warned Matilda, and, at the press of a button, the ship decoupled from the other and we went back to wandering across space.
"I already told the company that hired us. We should get paid soon. I can already imagine all the good shrimp we'll eat when we land. I can't wait."
"Shrimp?"
"Haven't you ever had any?" She asked me.
"One time only. When I was younger. My father brought one for me and my two brothers. Since I'm the youngest, they ended up eating most of it." I replied, "I always heard it was one of the best things to eat in the four corners of space."
"And it is! You're coming with us. It's settled. No one will deprive anyone around me of experiencing the happiness of eating shrimp."
"I don't think Amelia's going to be a big fan of that idea."
"I'll talk to her. She'll understand." Matilda said and smiled, "Well, let's take advantage that there's no one here."
"Now? In the chair?"
"You're not going to tell me you never wanted to do it with space in the background, lights blinking in the distance and surrounded by several machines that you have no idea how they work," She said and took off her shirt, "Unless you're too tired..." She added with a teasing smirk.
I looked back only to confirm that we were alone, and after seeing the long corridor without anyone, I also took off my shirt. I had my veins sticking out and my fingers red and swollen from carrying the boxes. She had strands of her dark red hair falling on her green eyes and a contagious smile. She took a claw clip out of her pocket and tied her hair, also checking that the ring on her nose was still there.
"Sometimes it leaps out." She said, "Come on, before somebody wakes up."
We undressed and I sat on one of the arm-free chairs overlooking space. She sat on me and slid down. We hadn't even started yet and she was already wet. Her muffled moans, trying to keep her mouth shut, filled the whole room. She was bouncing faster, our bodies were chapping, sweat was running down on both chests, and her breasts were being squashed against mine. She had perfumed her body with a scent of honey and her skin was soft and clean. No doubt she'd taken a quick shower since we last met. My fingers slid down her round tits and she tilted her head back.
"Harder." She asked me to.
I placed my hands on her back, pulled her close to me until our bodies were close to each other and let one hand slip into her ass. I never had such wonderful sex before. I had never been with anyone so crazy and, at the same time, sexy. The way she moaned with her lips half open, her breathing warm and how she gripped one of the table corners. She even looked up toward space as we were about to cum, her eyes wide open in ecstasy.
"Thank you." She told me after I finished in her.
She still stood up and leaned in front of me to pick up her clothes as she swung her ass and my thick white liquid slid out. We still had three days left and I knew that we were just starting.
Chapter XIII
Three days went by amidst push-ups in the bedroom, daily marathon sex with Matilda and reading some books I had borrowed from Jessy. Most had a doctor as their main character and a sad story with a minimally happy ending. The man, who ended up telling us his name, Danus, stayed locked in his room most of the day. Sometimes I would knock on the door to make sure he was okay, and he would answer with a melancholy "yes". Matilda ended up searching his name. Not because we didn’t trust him but because we had to be sure. Better safe than sorry.
The images of what I had seen still crossed my mind and kept repeating until I was unwell. Above all, Amelia had gotten better and had made the decision, that after we stopped at the Dust spaceport, to travel to the intermittent prison of Kolarov and leave the prisoner there. I hadn't been able to set foot in the serial killer room. Not after what had happened. Matilda had also convinced Amelia to let me eat shrimp with them. Strange, she didn't hesitate to agree before she moved on with her life.
"Finally. I was expecting you," Jessy said as soon as I stepped into the infirmary.
"I'm fine," I answered, "I don't understand why I have to come here every day."
"Yeah, I don't think you're very good at understanding certain things." Jessy said while stirring a sticky black mixture with a spoon.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I'm tired of waiting. Do you think I call you here every day to see if you're okay or not, even though I know nothing's wrong with you?" Jessy said and approached me, the long blond hair stuck in a ponytail, unbuttoning the top button on the white sweater, "it's not because I'm not as young as Matilda that I don't need any fun either."
"But me?" I asked her, still baffled. Not once had it crossed my mind that she was interested in me. I genuinely thought that the body touches were just to confirm that I was really okay, even when two days ago she slipped her fingers across my crotch and I know she noticed that I had gotten aroused.
"Not at first. I thought you were just one more guy. But watching you carrying the boxes, helping me with Amelia... I have to admit I got a little wet." She told me, right next to me.
"But what about Amelia? What about Matilda?" I asked her. Damn it. I didn't want to risk being thrown overboard. Not that I hadn't done enough to get Amelia to do it. She could never find out about my moment with the serial killer.
"The captain's not the only one with secrets, and have you really met Matilda? I think if she walked in about halfway, she'd ask us if she could join us quicker than she would get upset."
"Come to think of it, you're right," I answered her. From what I'd already known about Matilda, I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to team up.
Jessy leaned over me, her tits rubbing against my chest and whispered in my ear with a soft voice, "I've always wondered if sex on these tables would be worth it. They can't just have one purpose, can they?"
"Let's try it then. We should be arriving soon, right?"
"Yes. Matilda told me we were just over an hour away."
"We have to make this hour worthwhile." I answered her by placing my hand around her hip, "They can't hear us, can they?"
"Don't worry about it. They'll think some of my experiments have failed. You need to relax, you know? And I can help you with that." She said, removing the belt from my pants and lowering them to my knees.
My dick was already hard. It was tough to resist the strawberry smell that flooded her body, the sound of her panting breath, or even her tits nearly over my face. I was hoping she'd go straight to my dick, but she didn't. First, she unbuttoned my sweater and threw it on the floor. Her fingers ran slowly through my chest, pressuring the skin, sometimes scraping it with the nail. Unlike Matilda, Jessy's nails were painted with a slight red color. As soon as she reached my navel, she leaned over and kissed all the way up to my boxers and even over them, scrolling through the silhouette of my dick.
"Fuck," I sighed, "jump on me."
"Already? You don't like wasting time, do you?"
"I don't think we have much time to waste." I told her, since she was already sliding her panties down.
She didn't take her gown off. She let it be even when she got on top of me and guided my dick into her. Her pussy was tighter than Matilda's. Our bodies fit together perfectly. She was so wet that the fluid was running down my length. I had my hands on her butt, under her coat, and I was helping her to go up and down. We were going faster and faster. Fluids dripped to the ground as her moans grew. It was one of those moments when everything was working. I felt as if I had to be there, that my whole life had been built on the need to reach that moment; outside my planet, in a ship, travelling, with someone on top of me. She leaned over and nibbled my ear. All my senses were at their peak. Her pussy was squeezing my dick. It was all happening at the same time. Her blonde hair covered my face and all I could see was her huge cleavage as if I was peeking through the blinds of a window.
"I'm almost there," Jessy screamed, amid moaning.
She threw her head back, grabbed her breasts until she bruised them with her own fingers, keeping her mouth half open until a trail of saliva ran down her chin. She came, pussy twitching around my dick, her eyes rolling over.
I didn't stop fucking her. I, too, was close to coming. Still, she stopped.
"I have another idea," she told me. She got up and took a few steps to the left, "in my face." She added and grabbed my dick.
Her hand swung up and down, always aiming at her face. The eyes had a unique glow in them, as if she needed it more than I could understand. Soon after, her lips followed. They slipped down my dick until there was no more room in her mouth. I couldn't take it anymore. I just had time to warn her and for her to place the tip of my dick next to her right cheek. A sticky white liquid covered most of her face.
"I love this," she said, as she ran her fingers through her lips and chin and carried them to her mouth, swallowing everything, "we'll do it again."
I was going to answer her when Matilda said it wouldn't long before we landed.
"I think I'll take a bath before we get there." I told her, all sweaty, rubbing my forehead with my forearm.
"You should," she said and winked at me, "that was great. Welcome to the ship."
"Not for long," I replied, "but it doesn't matter. Glad I could help."
"You've been a big help," she said, buttoning her gown, but leaving one of the top buttons open.
I got dressed in a jiffy and left. I still noticed that she'd gone back to the black mixture. I went back to my room.
Chapter XIV
"We're approaching the spaceport. Don't get up now that we're landing." Matilda warned us by the intercom.
I laid down on the bed and placed the pillow under my head with the sides bent to cover my ears. A shrill sound stretched throughout the ship, an infernal orchestra near the climax, the engines expelling smoke and flame, until the ship finally ceased.
"We've landed. I'm waiting for you on the way out." Matilda said.
When I got there, Jessy and Amelia were already there. The man arrived seconds later. His lips were dry, and he had black bags under his eyes, his skin saturated as if death had surrounded him. He dragged his voice when he spoke and never finished his sentences.
"Do we leave the prisoner alone?" I asked them.
"Yes, of course. She's not going anywhere." Amelia answered me. There were no more swellings and the wrist marks on her face only had a yellowish spot around her right eye. The color highlighted her green eyes as well as her lips that had a brushstroke of red lipstick.
The door opened and the ramp stretched out in front of us. As soon as I stepped on the barren ground, a smooth layer of sand, I inspired the thin, heavy air and looked around. There was so much wind that we could barely breathe. A huge tent whose two pieces of white cloth that served as the entrance allowed to see between them into the endless desert. The millions of yellow-brown grains of sand and one or two naked bushes... I never had seen anything like it before. Of course, I had seen a desert before, but only in black and white photos, without ever realizing how big it was. I was the only one who had stopped there in order to marvel at everything; the dozens of ships scattered around the place, the hundreds of people who sailed through the sea of chaos that was that place, wires that crossed the entire room with lamps of different colors and the pink bright sky only seen on the outside. It was a simplistic, less modern version than the New Andreas spaceport.
"Kane, are you there?" Matilda asked me when I was just leaving the ship, still contemplating everything. I was now focused on the various stores, in the lower left corner, that were selling ship parts and even weapons. One of them stood out from the others. Like the casino in New Andreas, it had more floors than the other stores and huge letters on the sign at the entrance.
"Yeah. I've never seen anything like this before. How do you get used to this?"
"It's only a matter of time." Matilda answered me, "I remember my first trips. I'd that childish look, eyes glowing, trying to hold everything in my mind." She told me.
"And, if I remember correctly, you used to repeat everything you saw. Like I wasn't seeing the same thing as you." Amelia said, "You two get him a ride. You, Kane, come with me. We'll meet at the same restaurant as always, understand?"
"You're in charge, Amelia." Matilda said. She took a yellow lollipop out of her pocket and stuffed it in her mouth, "If you go shopping, you know. Vanilla crackers and different flavor lollipops. We can't just keep eating the same unpalatable bread."
"All right. If I remember it, I'll buy it." Amelia said, "Come on, Kane."
The three of them went in the opposite direction from us. We walked along a corridor flanked by ships and crews from all over the universe until we walked past a tapestry of red and blue threads with bells and stepped into another part of the complex.
"What's this?" I asked her when I saw dozens of aisles, empty boxes on the floor, plastic bags flying, breathing in as much popcorn flavor as lettuce, so distinct and yet noticeable.
"The market. There's everything here. Ignore the smell and try not to bump into anyone. There are people here who are very... Sensitive." She said as I followed her down a corridor whose ground was covered with a white linen and surrounded by tables with boxes of bananas, strawberries, mangoes and even purple fruits and roses that I had never seen before.
"I'll get right on it," she said, without even looking me in the eye, "thanks for helping me. I would've handled it myself anyway, but you were helpful. I owe you one."
"You owe me nothing. I did the right thing."
"It doesn't matter. You've already saved me twice. I have to make it up to you."
"There's something you could do." I told her and she stopped in the middle of the hall.
Everybody, even the muscular men whose muscles almost blew up the seams of their T-shirts, strayed away from her. A wind breeze slipped through the tent's gaps and ballooned her arched hat.
"What?" She asked, still standing, arching her eyebrow.
"Give me a place on your ship. I already know the people and I want to experience the universe and have new experiences
. You know I am trustworthy."
"I don't trust anyone," she said, "but maybe it isn't a bad idea. I'll think about it in the meantime." She answered me. She straightened her brown vest with red folds and her brown-stained black trousers.
She led me to the inner part of that corridor, an intersection between four paths, where, in the left corner, a small man with his 70 or 80s, wrinkles and scars on his face, scratched a piece of paper until it was shredded. The shadow of his hat, like Amelia’s, fell on the piece of paper that was trapped between his fingers.
"You're still the same." She told him, and it was probably the first time I saw her smile.
He lifted his face, looked at her and went back to looking at the doodles on the paper. Her expression changed instantly. She came close to him, took the paper out of his hand, and in less than five seconds, he had the tip of the pen around her neck. My eyes hadn't even processed everything that had happened.
"You have gotten slower," he told her.
"Are you sure?” She answered him and waved her right arm, holding a knife to his beer belly.
"And what are you going to do with that?" He said and pulled the pen out of her neck, "I heard what happened in New Andreas. You ran away from three men? The Amelia I knew would have killed them without hesitation."
"Some people change, Amadeus."
"Getting involved with those girls weakened you." He told her and his black eyes, as a bottomless pit, hovered over me, "I presume this is the boy who saved you."
"Don't involve them in this. Or him. They're under my protection."
The man laughed. The cigarette smell floated over us like a black cloud and the yellowish teeth turned golden under the incandescent light that was hanging above us.
"From murderer to a touchy woman. All that's left is for you to tell me that you no longer charge for missions and you do it for the pleasure of helping." The man said it and laughed. When he opened his mouth, a trail of saliva leaked into his black and gray bearded chin and his hairy nostrils widened.
Amelia grunted her teeth and stepped forward, "I grew up Amadeus, you didn't."