“You’re very bad.” Angela waved her finger at him.
“I say we get to know each other even better.” Seth planted a kiss on Angela’s lips.
“That felt great,” she whispered to him. “May I have another?”
“Oh, absolutely.” Seth again kissed Angela with fiery passion.
“Doctor, will you examine me?” she asked in a playful tone. Angela’s deep, dark secret was that she loved doctors. From her childhood watching Night Shift, the popular spinoff from the granddaddy of all soap opera’s, General Hospital, to the present day where she was dancing around a potential relationship with an intern at a local hospital in Newburgh, N.Y.
“Let me go get my stethoscope.” Seth ran his hands all over her body. “I’ll be right back.”
Angela’s drink from dinner had gotten the best of her. But, she really didn’t give a damn. They were millions of miles from Earth, on board a spaceship headed for an alien moon. If she wasn’t going to get lucky now, then it wasn’t ever going to happen.
“I’m back,” Seth said, twirling his instrument. “And I have condoms.”
“Why bother? Aren’t we trying to propagate our species?”
“Good point,” Seth said. He threw the Trojan XL condoms to the floor and moved in closer, wrapping Angela in his embrace.
Somewhere down the hallway, Philene methodically searched out Adrian’s quarters. She was definitely blitzed from all the casual drinking during dinner, and her engines were humming.
Adrian teetered about his room attempting to regain his balance. His fingers had started to grow clammy and sweaty from his excessive drinking and health conditions. The sharp knock on the door snapped him from his wandering stupor. His slow walk over to the door would inevitably clear up his dizzying soul.
There before him, just out of his reach, was the alluring Dr. Fanchon.
“Ah, my good doctor, how may I have you?” Adrian addressed her with his usual sexist demeanor.
“May I come in for a nightcap before we embark?” Philene asked, eying the billionaire from head to toe.
“I don’t see why not,” Adrian responded. He then showed her into his room. “I’m afraid I’ve reached my liquor limit for the night.” He began to smile with a loopy grin.
“Well, that’s very cool indeed,” she said with a giggle.
“Very cool?”
“Yeah. I didn’t come here for a drink,” she said turning around to face the bewildered host.
“You didn’t?” Adrian asked. He was having problems focusing. He knew what she wanted, he just didn’t want to give away his position.
“No, silly.” Philene was currently entrenched underneath her own alcoholic spell. She crept up close to Adrian and started to unzip her jumpsuit, flashing a black bra underneath. Philene wasted no time. She led him over to the wall, and pressed herself firmly against his chest.
Adrian returned the forward advance by using his free hand to unzip the rest of Philene’s suit.
“I want you,” she whispered with a hot lusty breath into his right ear, as she worked her way down, nibbling and biting his neck. “I find you irresistible for some odd reason. I always like a man with a lot of money and power.”
“But, we just met.” Adrian started to resist, but Philene already had him on the ropes. Adrian succumbed without a fight.
Philene eventually led Adrian over to the bed and climbed on top of him, straddling his hips with her powerful legs.
“I like to play hard.” She looked down at him, as she started to prepare Adrian for the fuck of his life.
Ignoring the sharpened pain in his legs from Philen’s straddling, Adrian stared into white-hot eyes. “So do I,” Adrian responded, letting a his arm brace slide off the side of the bed and caught the flailing Philene as she threw herself over his face for Adrian to work his own magic on her sultry body.
“Game!” Ulysses beamed with delight.
“What?” Kaspar looked at the Rummikub tiles. “You can’t do that.”
“Well, I did. So, will it be another round?” Ulysses raised his eyebrow while he shifted around all the numeric tiles, gearing up for another shot at defeating Kaspar yet again. “I hear soft footsteps outside,” he said, busting his friend’s balls. “Gee, I wonder who it could be?”
Before Kaspar could answer, someone rapped on his door. “How did you know?”
Kaspar shuffled over to the metal door, looked through the window, and turned back around to Ulysses. “I will play another round with you.”
“Really?” Ulysses ceased the shuffling of the tiles, craning his neck to see if he was right about who the guest was.
“Yeah, but I’m bringing some reinforcements.” He opened the door and welcomed in Gillian.
“Do you mind?” Gillian asked politely. “I don’t want to intrude on your night’s festivities.
“No. Not at all, Jilly,” Kaspar said. “But, you must help me beat my friend at Rummikub. Deal?” He scanned her body with a subtle gentlemanly stare.
“I’ll bite, yeah. I haven’t played in years, but I always welcome a good fresh mental challenge.” Gillian followed the commander over to the table.
“Okay, deal her in,” Kaspar ordered.
Ulysses gathered up another blue tile rack and smirked. “I’ll beat both of you.”
“We’ll see.” Gillian was starting to like the way she felt when she was with Kaspar. He treated her like one of the boys and in a respectful fashion. Unlike that Adrian fuck, who probably was banging one of the other women on the ship, to preserve the fragility of his ego.
Gillian managed to pull a twelve, Kaspar culled an eight, and Ulysses picked up a one.
“I guess the fiery red head goes first.” Kaspar chuckled. He began to pick up his set of fourteen tiles for his rack.
“What’s so funny?” Ulysses asked, gathering his fourteen tiles.
“She’s going to kick your ass. I can feel it.” Kaspar looked over at Gillian who was arranging her tile rack.
“I need thirty to start the round, right?” she asked Kaspar.
“Indeed.”
Gillian worked her lucky magic as she placed down half of her tiles, leading Ulysses to give off a grumpy huff.
“What’s his problem?” Gillian asked Kaspar.
Kaspar leaned over. “He’s won a ridiculously long number of these games,” Kaspar whispered.
“Two-hundred and eight straight victories at Rummikub. Thirty straight wins at Scrabble, and fourteen straight at Clue.” Ulysses worked one of his quirky grins.
“Is that all he plays?” Gillian asked.
Kaspar laid down his own arrangement of tiles before answering her question. “Actually, yes. Rummikub was the one game that he and his wife---” Kaspar stopped
“I understand.” Gillian looked over at Ulysses who stared at the tile rack. But as she looked closer, she saw that he had a locket firmly in his hand. Ulysses was looking at a picture of his wife, drawing inspiration from her absence.
“Okay, my turn?” Ulysses brought his eyes back to the table.
“Yeah. Let’s hurry up,” Kaspar said to his friend.
“Okay. Okay.” Ulysses surveyed the field and laid down ten out of fourteen tiles. “Still feeling lucky?”
“Yes, I am.” Gillian ran the table with the rest of her tiles, matching them between the commander’s and Ulysses’s.
“Oh, she’s a keeper, Thaddeus. Good game. It’s great to find a challenger worthy of my mental design. Scrabble?” he begged her.
“Load it up.” Gillian laughed a bit. She was having fun.
“I’ll let the two of you bond, I’m going to lay down for a few and shake off the Vodka’s cobwebs.” Kaspar headed over to his bed and laid down, hands stretched out across his face. He started to massage his forehead attempting to minimize the growing headache’s pounding hammer of pain.
Ulysses and Gillian had both came down to their last tile. Their eyes met. They prepared for the kill.
Ulysses tapped his fingers against the metal table, anticipating Gillian’s next move. He also tapped his feet on the floor in nervous repetition, wondering if his streak would come crashing to a screeching halt.
“Your move,” he said gritting his teeth. She had offered him an intense game, a worthy challenger.
“I’m looking,” she countered as she surveyed the board. Her eyes passed over such words as ‘contagion’, ‘quiver’, ‘wolf’, ‘colony’, and ‘carny’. She ran her tongue over her lips as she placed her last tile which was an ‘e’ on the tail end of the word ‘ax’.
Ulysses just stared at the board in disgust. “You beat me. You actually beat me.”
“I broke both of your records. In one night.” Gillian offered her hand.
“The only other woman to beat me was my wife.” Ulysses just stared at the board. “I hereby declare a rematch of both games once we get to Europa.”
“I accept.” Gillian smiled a gorgeous grin as they shook hands.
“I’m proud of you, Gillian,” Ulysses said in a fatherly tone.
“Me?”
“Yeah. You stared down a tough opponent and gave it your all. Now, I see why you were one of the one’s chosen for this mission. You will make a difference, I can feel it.” Ulysses continued to gather up all the pieces and stuffed them back into their boxes.
1 hour later
“Okay gang,” Adrian addressed his team. “Now comes the fun part.”
Gillian leaned over to Kaspar. “Does he look giddy to you?”
“He must’ve gotten some,” Kaspar replied with a hearty chortle.
“Yeah. The pig.”
“You will each have your own pod for frozen stasis.” Adrian walked over and opened the rectangular panel. He pressed a button, which caused several doors to raise, unveiling the pods inside the walls.
“And will we be okay?” Angela asked.
“Jeez, she looks giddy too,” Gillian said as she poked Kaspar with her elbow.
“So does the doctor. Look at that stupid grin on his face,” Ulysses said
“Like the cat that ate the canary,” Gillian responded sarcastically. “Did everybody score last night?”
“We didn’t, but we could tell them we had a threesome,” Kaspar said with a playful laugh. “That would be funny as hell.”
Gillian simply shrugged.
“Everyone will have their vitals stabilized through the stasis. Upon our landing at the space station, we will all return back to our normal selves. We will just endure one lengthy R.E.M. sleep. So pick something you want to dream about over and over again, and program it into this keypad here.” Adrian showed the crew. “And, that’s what you will dream about for the next four years of your life.”
“Bitchin’” Seth said.
“Yeah, sounds great,” Philene replied. “Whose idea was that?”
“His probably,” Gillian muttered.
“Mine, of course,” Adrian replied with his usual cocky flair. “This whole ship was designed by me. Everything is a product of my imagination. Let’s get started.” Adrian motioned for the crew to step forward. “Who will be first?”
Seth stepped forward. “Me.”
“Me too,” Angela, following suit.
Philene, Ulysses, and Commander Kaspar fell in line, until only Gillian and Adrian were left.
“It’s like being picked at the bottom of gym class,” Gillian said as she walked over to Adrian.
“Doesn’t everyone look happy?” Adrian asked Gillian.
“I guess so.”
“Your next, sunshine.” Adrian walked her over to her pod.
“I get to dream about anything I want?” Gillian asked.
“Anything.” Adrian pulled down the keypad and hit enter. “Just type in what you want your dream about, attach these small nodules to your temples, and away you go.”
“You’ll probably be dreaming about world domination,” Gillian shot back at Adrian.
Adrian became agitated. “As much as a pig you think I might be...or, even a louse...I must say I respect you and your profession. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here on my ship.”
Gillian stammered for an answer.
“In case you care,” Adrian continued, “I will probably dream about the last time I was healthy and didn’t feel the pain of this genetic disease that God so recklessly blessed me with. Back to a time where I didn’t know what the definition of pain was.” Adrian slid Gillian’s pod shut, leaving her to ponder that last thought.
Abraham Lincoln
International Space Station
FOUR YEARS LATER
December 25, 2049
It was the prized jewel in the United States’ treasure chest. Many of the previous Presidents dreamed of its completion. However, only one of those mighty leaders, President Jackson Forsythe, saw the completion of the massive space station. Not only that, but President Forsythe had the inclination to send a team to the space station, which was built directly over Jupiter’s moon Europa, in order to start the infant stages of colonization.
The state-of-the-art space station blended the amenities of home, such as water gathered from Europa’s frozen oceans, a water filtration system, food, lodging, weapons, science labs, electricity powered by three gigantic magnetic turbines, and countless other features. (All this was funded by the wealthy billionaire, Adrian Blakely.)
The Abagail was rapidly approaching her intended destination.
Adrian, of course, had set his own pod to release him minutes before the rest of the team. Adrian walked over and set free the commander and Ulysses so they could maneuver the ship into the space station’s dock. He then rounded up the rest of the team, saving Gillian for last, and led them towards the cockpit. One by one, Adrian had helped each of them buckle in for the landing.
“So, did everyone have a good sleep?” Adrian looked at the sleepy crew.
“Oh yes,” Seth said, stretching out his arms. “I feel much better.”
“I agree.” Philene nodded and shook off the cobwebs.
“And everyone still feels the same age, even though we’ve traveled four years?” Adrian asked.
“I feel like a giddy schoolgirl,” Gillian cracked. “It was pretty amazing, I have to say.”
“We dock in under thirty minutes,” Adrian said to the crew. “Take this time to re-adjust to your surroundings, and ‘thaw’ out, if you will. I want to hit the ground running once we dock.”
Commander Kaspar walked groggily back to the cockpit, sat down and switched the Abagail from auto-pilot back to manual mode. His fingers slid over the virtual keypad, steering the ship towards the station.
“I can see the space station on the monitor.” Kaspar looked at the small dot that was approaching the screen. Behind the small dot, was a large planet looming in the background.
“Jupiter.” Gillian gazed across the cockpit out the window.
“Hold on to your safety belts.” Kaspar felt the ship pull hard to the right. “Europa’s gravity is pulling too much, Mr. Blakely,” he bellowed.
“Just land her safely. That’s what I pay you for, Commander,” Adrian barked.
Kaspar was able to right the ship’s course, until he noticed another ship idling just ahead.
“Whose ship is that?” Kaspar grumbled, attempting to avoid crashing into the phantom spacecraft.
“Most likely, the previous team’s.” Adrian glared at the writing on the back of the ship. “Amity.”
“Amity?” Seth asked.
“That’s probably the name of the ship. Like the town from the movie ‘Jaws,’” Gillian responded. She received weird looks from the other passengers.
“It’s one of my favorite movies. And, Amity means...”
“Means friendship,” Philene said.
“Showoff,” Gillian mumbled.
“Whatever,” Adrian responded.
“Hang on!” Kaspar shouted. He lost control of the craft’s steering for a brief moment, trying to avoid a significant belt of roc
ks hurtling dangerously close to the Abagail.
The side of the Abagail grazed the side of the Amity, sending the ship careening towards the other docking bay at lightning speed.
The nose of the Abagail crashed through the docking bay doors, shattering the glass into thousands of pieces and bounced across the ceiling, digging up scraps of metal from the top of the mammoth ship. Sparks flew about harmlessly on the metal floor, fizzling out on impact.
Kaspar’s hands trembled as he grabbed the stick and steered the Abagail through the rough landing. The nose of the ship slammed into the dock wall, instantly setting the control panel ablaze. Short, intense flames licked the area surrounding the commander, prohibiting his retreat from the captain’s Chair.
Gillian immediately unlatched herself and darted for the red fire extinguisher that was attached to the far wall of the cockpit. She loosened the straps, and pulled the silver pin, spraying the fire and dousing the commander with the white froth. It saved his life.
The Abagail rocked back and forth as the secondary bay doors closed behind the damaged craft, keeping the air out of the damaged docking bay, and restoring gravity back to the bay.
“Is everyone all right?” Ulysses asked. He unlatched and checked on the rest of the crew. He had suffered minor flash burns, but nothing that would deter the crusty engineer from continuing on the mission.
Gillian unbuckled the commander and let him fall into her arms. She ran her fingers over his bloodied face. “He seems to have a serious head wound.” Her voice was shaky.
Seth acted on Gillian’s urgency and ran over to help her guide the commander to a safer area of the cockpit.
“He looks like he’s banged up quite a bit.” Seth surveyed the commander’s bruised body. “You said this space station had state-of-the-art medical facilities?” he asked Adrian.
Yes, it does,” Adrian said. “Seth, stay here with the commander, and keep a watchful eye on his vitals,” he instructed. “Ulysses and I will be right back.” Adrian waved over the engineer.
“You got it.” Seth continued to monitor Kaspar’s body.
Rise of the Carnelians (Europa) Page 11