Fleet Academy

by M. Scott Cottrell

“Petty Officer, would you supervise the offload into the storage area?” Matt called through the tube to Jenks, who was standing in the lock waiting for her directions.

  “Aye sir.”

  “How long do you think Petty Officer?”

  “I think about an hour or so in this gravity level sir.”

  “Very well. Let me know if there are any problems.”

  “Aye sir!” Jenkins said before disappearing back into the container.

  “Now sir, where to next.” Matt said, turning back toward the doctor.

  “If you follow me, I will take you down to the research lab.” The doctor said, pushing off the wall he was standing by and bouncing across the building and into an airlock. Matt, Cynthia and Sparks followed, but not with the grace of Doctor Zweldan. “If you would be so kind as to cycle the lock closed please, Lieutenant.”

  “Of course sir.” Matt said, turning and hitting the control to close the lock door. As soon as the door was closed Matt could feel artificial gravity building, bringing them to what felt like about a half g. Matt had just turned to face the doctor when the other lock door began to slide open revealing a room on the other side that was small, but plush. The furniture arrangement was certainly not the stark research facility Matt had expected. All around the small room were small, but comfortable looking acceleration couches, similar to the ones on the shuttle. The doctor led them into the small room. “If you would all take a seat please?” He said while heading to one of the couches and settling in. “The system is fairly safe, but does on occasion hiccup, so if you wouldn’t mind fastening the safety harnesses. I really wouldn’t want to spoil the beauty of either of the ladies by bouncing them off the ceiling.”

  “I’m a bit confused doctor,” Cynthia said, “I thought this was the research facility.”

  “My goodness no,” the doctor said with a chuckle. “This is simply the front door.” He said hitting a control on the wall once he saw everyone was settled. “The trip down is a bit long, and we will drop nearly thirty five kilometers in the next few minutes, which of course is the reason for the couches. If the artificial gravity were to fail, we would all be plastered to the ceiling.”

  “Why so deep doctor?” Sparks asked.

  “Well, I’ll tell you my dear. Europa is a rock core planet, covered with water. The problem is that there is so little atmosphere and gravity that the water would turn to ice and fly off into space. But somewhere in history, the outer layer froze, and froze and froze, getting deeper all the time, until we have what you see today. The thick layer of ice insulates the water from the cold of space, and acts as a lid to keep the liquid from vaporizing away. Now the creatures… The creatures in the water don’t care that there isn’t much gravity, in fact, they can’t tell, because floating in water at less than one fifth of Earth’s gravity, and floating in water at several times Earth’s gravity, are the same.”

  “So you go swim under the ice to study them?” Cynthia asked.

  “Oh, certainly not. The weight of all the ice above us causes the water pressure here to be several hundred kilograms per square centimeter. It would be like trying to go out and walk on the ocean floor. But we manage. Submersibles and hard suits compensate fairly well.”

  “That’s fascinating. How long did it take you to build the facility?”

  “The naval engineers spent three years drilling this shaft. The actual facility started small and grew over time. In the last ten years we have made it into a very nice little facility.” He said as the airlock door slid open to expose a simple gray hallway. “Ah, we’re here.” He said while undoing his harness and standing up. “Please come…we get visitors so seldom.” The three of them followed the doctor out into the corridor and around a curved wall, not unlike a small space station. He paused at a door and pressed a button, causing it to slide open, revealing a room similar to the Saint Claire’s officers’ mess. As the trio followed the doctor into the room several people stood up at a table across the room and came to meet them.

  “Welcome to Europa!” a tall energetic lady leading the group said. She stood easily two full meters tall, had a slender build with wide hips and a very full bust, hidden only by a thin mesh shirt. “My name is Doctor Regina Thomas. This is Doctor Patricia Franks.” She continued motioning to a woman following her that was her total opposite. Where Dr. Thomas was tall, this woman was short, easily half a meter shorter than Dr Thomas. Her short cropped dark hair a stark contrast to the long straight blond hair Dr Thomas sported. She was also thin, but her body had little shape from her shoulders past her hips. Matt was almost afraid he would break her if he shook her offered hand too hard. “And this is Doctor Marcus Folter.” She said waving to a rotund man on her other side. “And of course you met Doctor Zweldan.”

  “Thank you. I’m Lieutenant Molter, and these are my flight crew, Lieutenant Cowens and Ensign Sparks.” Matt said as he introduced the women to the group.

  “Well, now that the introductions are done, how would you like to see our little facility?” Dr. Thomas asked, looking Matt straight in the eye suggestively.

  “That would be interesting.” Matt replied.

  “Great! Come with me then!” She said, linking her arm around one of Matt’s and leading him off toward a door on the far side of the room.

  Cynthia raised her eyebrows at Sparks as they followed, clearly wondering if the tall doctor was really all there.

  They exited the dining area and walked down a long corridor that had a number of doors on it. “These are all the individual lab areas, chemistry, biology, that kind of thing. But the one that is most important is the last one on the end. That’s where we can really see the work done here. At this depth it is simply too dark to really see anything outside, so to tell what’s going on you have to really see the specimens when they come inside.”

  “How many do you have doctor?” Cynthia asked from behind her.

  “We have cataloged over two thousand species so far, but the most exciting thing is that we have found three species that have simple intelligence levels equivalent to that of an Earth chimpanzee. They are all aquatic, but it’s just so exciting.”

  “Do you have them in here?” Cynthia asked as the doctor opened the door on the end of the corridor, revealing row after row of what looked like tubular transparent water tanks.

  “We do have one of the species that lives in here. The other two were advanced enough that we felt it would be unethical to keep them caged up,” the doctor said.

  “Most of these fish looking things have eyes. I would think in the dark they would be blind.” Matt said, looking at the animals swimming in the tanks they were walking by.

  “Good eyes.” Doctor Franks said. “We were very surprised to find out that there is a lot of light the farther down you go. It turns out that the floor of the whole ocean seems to be covered with an organism that emits light. It affects color perception, but given the extreme clarity of the water it provides similar light to what you might find a hundred or so feet down in one of earth’s oceans.”

  “Sounds like there are a lot of interesting finds.” Matt said.

  “You can say that again.” Dr Thomas said, squeezing Matt’s arm with hers as they turned the corner on a row of tanks. “Which brings us to Fred.” She said, pointing to a large tank in front of them with her free hand. “Fred is one of the three species that shows a level of intelligence. He doesn’t have enough to form a formal language, but we have seen signs of a rudimentary society, use of tools, that sort of thing.”

  “It seems a bit hypocritical to cage up an intelligent being.” Cynthia said.

  “Oh, he’s not caged.” Dr Franks said. “He’s free to come and go as he wishes. But he seems to be comfortable spending time in the tank. I like to think that he’s as interested in us as we are in him. Every once in a while he shows up with a friend.”

  “Wow.” Cynthia said. “That’s pretty wild, isn’t it?”

  “We think that he may be curious, so he stays
here to watch us. It gives us a good chance to study him more closely too. The rest of our observations are done remotely. We have a number of cameras planted in the areas they frequent. It’s all pretty exciting.” Dr Franks said, her excitement practically rolling off of her in waves.

  The three of them spent the next hour looking at the variety of life forms filling the tanks, accompanied by a constant stream of explanations by the four scientists. Dr Thomas spent much of the time clearly flirting with Matt, and frequently hanging back from the rest of the group to give herself and opportunity to rub a number of his body parts or plant wet kisses on his cheek. At one opportunity Sparks caught her trying to push one of Matt’s hands up under her mesh shirt and directly onto one of her large bare breasts, clearly wishing for some more personal attention with Matt. This continued until they were interrupted by Matt’s comm unit.

  “Load team to Lieutenant Molter.” It squawked.

  “Lieutenant Molter.” Matt replied quickly into the device.

  “Offload complete sir.” Petty officer Jenkins reported.

  “Very well. We’ll be back up shortly.” Matt replied. “I’m sorry doctor, but I believe that’s our call.” He said looking at Dr. Thomas.

  “Oh, what a shame! I was enjoying your visit.” She answered with an exaggerated pout.

  “I understand, but we really can’t stay. Were due to break orbit in just a few hours, or it will take us two extra days to get home.”

  “Well, I suppose I’ll have to let you go then.” She said, turning him by the arm and walking him toward the exit of the lab. “You don’t mind me riding up with you, do you?”

  Matt chuckled and shook his head. “No ma’am, we don’t mind at all.”

  “Wonderful!” she said, her face brightening back up with the smile that had been there most of the visit.

  The three of them, along with Dr. Thomas loaded on the elevator car and settled into couches, Dr Thomas climbing onto the same couch as Matt, taking the time to strap them both down together. Suzanne suspected it was as much to trap Matt up against her as it was to keep them safe on the ride. The ride up went reasonably quickly, with the two pilots discussing the upcoming maneuvers while Dr Thomas stroked Matt through his jump suit and drawing his hand under her shirt again so it was lying over her bare breast. When they reached the top Matt wasted little time exiting the car as diplomatically as he could.

  “Well, doctor, I think this goodbye.” Matt said as he walked toward the shuttle docking port.

  “It’s a shame for you to leave so soon.” She said, following closely to Matt.

  “Well, you know how it is, duty and all that.”

  “Well, if you must go.” She said pulling him around by the arm. She timed his swing in the light gravity so that he connected flat to her front and wrapped her arms around his neck as the two pilots stepped by. Without giving him any time to react, she pulled his face to hers and gave him her most seductive kiss. “I’ve been wanting to do that since you walked in.” she said quietly after releasing his mouth from hers.

  “Um. Ok,” was all he could say as he tried to catch his breath.

  She smiled and released his neck. “Goodbye Lieutenant. Don’t forget us now, ok?” She said as she backed away.

  “No ma’am. I,er, we won’t.” Matt said before turning and stepping out of the lock into the cargo pod.

  “Well, you certainly made an impression on the good doctor!” Cynthia said with a huge grin, as Matt dropped into his acceleration couch in the shuttles cabin.

  “Not by choice.” Matt replied, shaking his head. “I know it’s got to be hard being isolated like that.”

  “I guess it all depends on who you’re isolated with Lieutenant.” Jenkins said with a little giggle. “I mean, there’s isolated and then there’s isolated together.”

  “Whatever you say Petty Officer.” Matt answered while buckling his belts. “Personally she just isn’t my type.”

  “What type is that?” Cynthia called from her pilots seat, “just so I know if I’m in the running or not.”

  “I don’t think he likes them quite as old.” Jenkins said.

  “But they seem to like him.” Sparks said with a giggle.

  “OK you three. My sex life is not open for public comment.” Matt snapped at them.

  “Ohhh. A bit testy I see. Just remember Lieutenant, were back in flight mode. This is my bird and you’re just a passenger. So sit back and enjoy the ride, even if you don’t enjoy the conversation.” Cynthia said with mock sternness.

  “Yes ma’am!” Matt shot back shaking his head. “You’re the boss.”

  “Oh I know I am. And I still owe you for the nice treatment you gave me during suit training.” She said, looking over her shoulder at him.

  Matt looked at her quizzically.

  “I see the Lieutenant hasn’t gotten the word on our next deep space shot.” Cynthia said to Sparks.

  “No ma’am. I guess he didn’t.” She said with a grin. “Twenty days at high v… should prove to be interesting.”

  “Oh God.” Matt mumbled under his breath. As the shuttle lurched slightly as the docking collar released.

  “Shuttle to Europa base.” Cynthia called on the radio.

  “Go ahead shuttle.”

  “Ready to depart.”

  “Cleared to depart. Have a good day.”

  “Thank you Europa. Shuttle three to Saint Claire.”

  “Saint Claire, go ahead shuttle three.”

  “We are cleared to depart Europa. Docking ETA in fifteen minutes.”

  “Affirmative Shuttle three. You are cleared on a drop and overtake trajectory to the shuttle bay.”

  “Thank you Saint Claire. Shuttle three out.” She said into her radio headset as she pulled back on the controls of the shuttle and lifted the small craft off the pad. Matt watched the view screen as the small pad disappeared and was replaced by the seeming endless expanse of ice. The ice view changed from flat to rounding and eventually to little more than a huge white ball as Sparks took over the controls and allowed the shuttle to slow so Saint Claire could overtake them. They coasted for nearly ten minutes, no one saying a word, Saint Claire growing ever bigger in the view screen, now that it had been switched to a reverse angle. It seemed like the Saint Claire was going to run them over as it grew in size until its bulk blotted even Venus from view. With gentle guidance from Cynthia, Sparks hit the thrusters and matched Saint Claire’s speed almost perfectly, nudging the little shuttle closer and closer to the opening in the belly of the larger ship. Shadows turned to dazzling light as the shuttle passed within the ship and was flooded with high intensity lights. Sparks gently nudged the empty cargo container toward the assigned docking bay, gently lining up the docking collars. Matt felt a slight bump as the collars clicked into place and the shuttle docking support arms extended to the attachment points located around the shuttle.

  “Very nicely done Ensign!” Cynthia said quietly before radioing the ship. “Shuttle three is docked and locked, Saint Claire.”

  “Affirmative shuttle three. Welcome home.”

  “Thank you Saint Claire. Shuttle three out.”

  “Nice job Sparks.” Matt said to her as he climbed out of his couch with the others.

  “Thanks!” was all she could say through the huge smile that threatened to break her cute face.

  Matt held back and allowed Jenkins and her team to exit the deck first through the rear air lock.

  “That was so cool!” Sparks said, jumping up out of her co-pilots seat as soon as the door had closed on the air lock. She launched herself at Matt and wrapped her arms around him giving him a huge teddy bear hug. Matt hugged her back, almost in self-defense.

  “It seems like she enjoyed that.” Cynthia said with a laugh while she sat sideways in her pilot’s seat, watching Katelyn still clinging to Matt’s neck, bouncing up and down.

  “It would seem so.” Matt said while he hugged her just to slow her down.

  After what seemed
like an hour to Matt, Katelyn stopped bouncing, gave him one last huge hug, turned her face to his, gave him a quick kiss on the lips and then dropped off his neck and stepped back. “Thanks Matt.”

  “For what?” He asked, blushing a bit at the display in front of the Lieutenant.

  “For being a sweetheart!” she said as stepped past him for the airlock.

  Cynthia stood up and stepped past him, patting him on the back. “Come on hero. You should know enough to never argue with a woman.”

  Matt turned and followed them into the airlock with a shrug, and then floated across the empty cargo container behind them. Matt hit the airlock a few seconds behind the women, and they floated inside waiting for him. As Matt floated into the airlock he oriented his feet down in preparation for the gravity to cycle up. Cynthia hit the controls and the gravity slowly built, allowing him to float gently to the deck before it ramped up at a higher rate, reaching its set point of one g within ten seconds. The outer door cycled and Matt followed the women out.