The Zone

by Barbara Karmazin

  His pace increased into a rocking, shaking ride. He threw his head back with a roar of satisfaction that filled her heart with joy, along with the sensation of more hot cum spilling into her.

  He stopped and kissed her. Then caught his breath before he pulled out. “Next time I’ll do better.”

  She grabbed his arms. “You did damn good. I love how your cock feels inside me.”

  He gave her another swift kiss and grinned. “Gotta go now, Jer. Marcus needs his turn with you.”

  Marcus walked in slow and easy. He stopped and looked her over from head to crotch and back up again. “Your mouth is soft and red from kissing. Your skin is flushed. You look pretty with your hair in tangled curls. Your pussy is swollen with good loving.” He slid his fingers across her swollen clit. She yelped and rubbed greedily against his hand. He smiled and dragged the juices up to her breasts. “Your nipples need a little more loving first.”

  He leaned down to her breasts and moved his head back and forth between them, sucking and nipping. No matter how many times it happened, that lovely suction sent a special zing straight through her into her clit. She arched herself into his mouth and looked over his shoulder. Three happy naked men stroked their cocks, getting themselves ready for round two. The only way she could tell that Axel had artificial legs from the knee down was the slight difference in color at that spot.

  Cum spilled from her pussy with each sharp bite at her nipples. Marcus lifted his head. “Did they get you all ready for me, darling?”

  She tucked her heels behind his legs. “Oh yes, Marcus. They got me good and ready for you.”

  He slipped inside her drenched pussy with one smooth, easy thrust. “That’s great. ’Cause I’m more than ready to give you everything I have in me.”

  There was no boredom, nothing mechanical about his desperate thrusts. The long, slow orgasm that had been building in her under the incredible delight of four men loving her exploded into a tidal wave with this last ride on Marcus and his eager cock. The bridge rang with her delirious cries. He dug his fingers into her skin and shot his cum with long, gasping groans.

  Then he sagged against her for a few moments of gasping vulnerability before he could pull out. He leaned in, cupped her chin and gave her a swift, bruising kiss. “Jer.” His voice went all thick and greedy. “I can’t wait ’til I eat your pussy. I bet it tastes sweeter than honey.” Then he stepped away.

  The image of him kneeling between her legs shot through her in a dizzy whirl of carnal anticipation.

  Axel, Garian and Derek moved in beside Marcus. All four men helped her climb down and stand between them on shaky legs.

  She glanced at the time blinking away on the bridge clock. Four and a half hours to go until lift-off. “Round two is my choice, right?”

  Axel said, “Of course.”

  “Take me to a real bed, a full-sized one. I want all of you to fuck me again.” She studied the four erect cocks with their swollen heads pointed at her and licked her lips. “Except I want to see if I can handle two of you at a time for our second round.”

  “Yes!” they shouted.

  Axel scooped her up into his arms and led them off the bridge into his quarters.

  Chapter Eight

  Seven days later, Jeresa pressed her fingers into Axel’s right leg stump and moved them in small circles, maintaining a steady, strong pressure. She paused to manipulate a knot in the muscle.

  He groaned with ecstatic relief. “Yes! You always know exactly what to do to me, Jer.”

  The round balls of his testicles rested full and tight between his legs. His cock reared up in a long, thick column, eager for her to grasp and stroke the taut skin. The fat vein that ran the length of his cock pulsed with the slow and steady beat of his heart. Pre-cum dribbled from the small opening in the swollen head.

  Not yet. She pressed harder on the tendon and felt the tight knot loosen under her fingertips. A glance at the sickbay’s diagnostic monitor screen confirmed her instincts. The readouts showed a sixty-five percent increase in nerve activity and muscle tone as a direct result of the daily massages.

  Axel reached for the front of her shipsuit and opened it from neck to waist. Strong warm hands cupped her breasts. He tweaked her nipples with an expert twist of his fingers that sent a jolt of hot anticipation straight to her pussy.

  She gasped, sucked in a breath, lifted her head and managed a credible glare. “Stop that. You know I can’t concentrate when you do that.”

  He tweaked her nipples again and wrung a second delighted gasp from her. “No problemo, darling. I’m ready for us to move into the final phase of this massage.” His lazy smile broadened into an eager grin. “The modified doggie style phase.”

  The ship comlink beeped. They turned. Garian’s face appeared on the wall screen, his brow creased with worry. “Captain, I’ve received an automated broad beam SOS from Quadrant Eleven.”

  Axel sighed. “I’ll be right up.” He pulled Jeresa close and managed one swift and greedy kiss before releasing her. “We’ll finish this later.”

  Jeresa nodded, pushed her exposed breasts inside the open front of her shipsuit and pulled the seal closed. She turned to the auxiliary diagnostic bed, unclipped Axel’s prosthetic legs from the unit and gave them to him.

  Garian tilted his head sideways on the screen. He listened intently to the input from the silver button at his ear. “Should I page Marcus’s cabin? He’s in the middle of a fantastic suck and fuck session with Derek.”

  Jeresa shook her head and grinned. No surprises there. Just like Garian and Axel, Marcus and Derek were always randy. Of course, if she just happened to walk in on them, they’d simply turn, hold out their arms and invite her to join them in fun and games with their cocks.

  Axel slid his stumps into the prosthetic limbs. Nerve and muscle sensor links snapped on in a rapid series of soft snicks and clicks. He flexed his knees and wiggled the toes on both legs. Full connection achieved. Jeresa handed him his shipsuit.

  He studied Garian’s worried face on the comlink. “Scuttlebutt at the last station mentioned three independent merchant freighters missing under suspicious circumstances in Quadrant Eleven. Put me through on audio only.”

  The screen split in half. One side blacked out, the other side showed Garian’s face. He nodded. “Link established.”

  Axel said, “Marcus and Derek!”

  “Sir?”

  “We have a possible code red situation. Everyone suit up in full armor and report to the bridge immediately. Grab hand stunners for everyone from the weapons locker.”

  Axel would rather suffer the discomfort of full armor than risk the consequences of not wearing it. Space gave you only two choices, life or death, nothing in-between. He’d learned that lesson on his maiden journey. He’d made the right choice back then and survived. Minus his legs, but nevertheless, he’d survived when everyone else died.

  The four screens imbedded in the arms of Axel’s command chair provided continuous updating data streams and scan images from his crew’s boards. Derek sat at the weapons and main engine control boards. Marcus waited beside him at the secondary weapons board. Tall and lean with the gray liberally sprinkled through his blond hair, he radiated a deceptive air of complete ease.

  Garian sat at the communications and scan board. Jeresa knelt beside Gem and Star and checked both dogs over one last time. Derek had spent two weeks modifying two standard armor units into protective suits for the two gene-engineered pit bulls.

  Star banged her armored tail on the floor. Gem panted. “We ready, Mommy.”

  Jeresa walked to the other side of the bridge with Gem and Star trotting at her heels. She took her station beside Garian and activated her screen with the full med scan details for everyone on the spaceship. Gem and Star stretched out on the padded floor plates on either side of her chair. Safety webbing snapped into place around her and the dogs.

  The SOS repeated itself in a continuous automated cry for help over the hyperspace radi
o link.

  Garian’s mellow voice directed them to the next piece of data. “Comp has analyzed the location coordinates.”

  A star map flowed up with a blinking red arrow superimposed in the center of a blur of multicolored lights. Garian punched in another command on his board and locked in on the reference star. The figures came up congruent.

  Axel nodded and sent the data to every board.

  “Got them.” Derek inputted them into his weapons data grid.

  The main vid screen showed nothing but stars and that blinking red arrow. Axel told scan to zoom in on the location. The image shifted to the dull heat of an almost-star swirling within a vast field of hydrogen gas. A huge asteroid belt swarmed between two gas giants within the Oort cloud of comets around the quadrant. The arrow blinked over one mid-sized asteroid.

  “Are we going in?” Marcus asked.

  Axel considered the unspoken questions. They had two choices. Go in and try for a rescue attempt or back off and forward as much information as they could for the Space Patrol. If there were survivors, by the time the Space Patrol arrived they would most likely be dead. On the other hand, if it was a trap set by pirates and they went in, by the time the Space Patrol arrived they might also be dead or captured.

  Axel sucked in a breath and released it slowly. “Make four copies of all data. Bundle them into four hyperspace message capsules and send them out.” He took a second deep breath and released it. “Maintain shields at full power. We’re going in.”

  At two hundred thousand miles, he gave the order for Derek to cut the engines back to half-power. They drifted closer.

  The asteroid wasn’t just an asteroid. Four miles in diameter, the rough hewn chunk of raw iron ore had been altered and transformed into a tiny planet of salvaged wrecks fused into the natural rock.

  Jeresa moved her hands over her board controls and shunted more data to their holographic representation of the asteroid floating in the center of the bridge. Scattered pockets of heat appeared within the 3-D image. She reported her findings in a clear, no-nonsense voice. “Temperature and size of heat pockets are indicative of living beings within this artificial structure.”

  Garian shook his head. The silver beads at the tips of his dreadlocks clicked against each other. “No change in the SOS. No response to our inquiries.”

  He moved his hands across his board and sent the latest scan results to the holographic asteroid image. Ship names appeared over fused lumps of metal. A roll call that spanned over two centuries of missing freighters, a colony ship, ore miners and antiquated unmanned robotic probes: Star Chaser, Intrepid, Enterprise, Wolfhelm, Goddess, Mars Zone, and Rim Runner. Every available space on the asteroid’s surface had a name attached.

  Axel lifted his hand. Nebula had breached the hundred thousand mile radius. “Reduce power to quarter speed.”

  Derek reduced power. His mahogany skin gleamed under the flickering lights of his control boards. The deep hum of the engines slowed to a gentle burr. “Scorch patterns appearing on the ships. Fused metal. Gaping holes. I scan no active weaponry, though.” The holographic image of the asteroid sharpened with the added details and data he transferred there through his link.

  They passed the fifty thousand mile mark rapidly, even at quarter speed. Axel sighed. “Make four copies of new data. Bundle them into four hyperspace message capsules and send them out. Now!”

  Garian gave a brisk nod and accessed his boards. “Aye, Captain. Processing copies and bundling of new data. Fifteen seconds before hyperspace capsules eject.”

  Axel counted the seconds down in his head. Four green lights appeared on the master board. He flipped the eject lever on the control panel and sent the message capsules out. The twenty-five thousand mile mark came up. “Any change in the SOS?”

  “None.”

  Jeresa leaned forward and studied her screen. She bit her lip for a few moments in deep concentration. “A discrete clump of heat patterns is moving up to the surface. Three patterns remain constant at the center. One pattern is isolated near the surface.” She transferred her data to the holograph and red blotches moved across the image.

  Nebula drifted past the ten thousand mile mark. Axel frowned. “Reduce speed to the next level.” The engine hum grew softer.

  The mark for five thousand miles inched closer.

  A huge shudder shook the ship. A slow, steady pulse of energy stabbed into Axel’s stumps from his prosthetic legs.

  Derek hunched over his screen. “Tractor beam? That’s impossible.”

  “It’s possible now,” Axel muttered. Whoever controlled this asteroid either had access to brand new technology or found ancient technology left behind by an unknown alien species. Either way, they needed to survive long enough to escape. “Engines full reverse.”

  Derek complied with the order. The sound of the engine thrust increased to a full-scaled scream. After about thirty seconds, he reported the results of their efforts to escape the tractor beam. “We’ve slowed down but it’s still pulling us to the surface.”

  Marcus waited with his hands over the auxiliary weapons board. “Lasers are armed. Stun cannon is armed and I have three missiles ready to fire.”

  “No,” Axel said. “Others tried that and failed. We have a better chance if we save our weapons for precise targeting when we need them. Shut the engines down. We might as well save our fuel for later.”

  Derek shut the engines down. Nebula continued at a headlong pace straight for the asteroid.

  “Shut down all shipboard life support except for the bridge and sickbay.”

  Marcus had that board. “Life support systems shut down as ordered.”

  “Reroute all auxiliary power to shields.”

  Derek spun his chair around and accessed that control board. “Auxiliary power rerouted as ordered.”

  “We’re at three thousand miles now. When we reach the thousand mile mark, use full reverse to cushion our impact.”

  Derek gave a thumbs up. “Gotcha.”

  “Computer!”

  “Yes, Captain Axel Dane-Niallsen.”

  All the extra voice-keyed programming and fail-safes Derek had added during their last refitting to Nebula’s computerized interlocks and hull compartments were going to be tested to their limit now. “Crash landing is imminent. Initiate emergency gel foam between ship’s hull and interior bulkhead space.”

  “Emergency gel foam initiated between hull and interior bulkhead space.”

  “Initiate section seals.”

  “Section seals initiated.” Dull thumps and shakes echoed through the ship as the reinforced steel alloy walls slammed into place.

  “Initiate full sonar mapping scan to site where crash landing is imminent. Reroute all data from sonar mapping scan to holographic recording now rotating on bridge grid.”

  “Sonar mapping initiated. Scan data reroute initiated.”

  “Initiate emergency unlock sequence. Unlock only upon authorized crew verbal command.”

  “Unlock sequence accepted.”

  “Crew!”

  They answered as one voice, “Yes, Captain.”

  “Secure helmets and switch to suit air.”

  Jeresa leaned over the right side of her chair. She secured Gem’s helmet over the dog’s head while Garian leaned over the left side of his chair and took care of Star’s helmet. The only thing left to do now was wait and hope that Nebula sustained no major damage to her hull, computer systems and engine compartment during the crash landing. If necessary, they could survive a return trip while wearing full suits. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable way to travel but they’d survive.

  Chapter Nine

  Watching, hearing and seeing Axel assume control and bark out his commands in a logical sequence had steadied Jeresa’s nerves. He was ship captain for a reason. He would do everything in his power to save his ship and crew no matter what.

  Nebula crash landed in a crescendo of roaring engines, klaxons, shifting g-forces and flashing lights. J
eresa’s throat was raw. She supposed that was because she’d screamed. Every part of her body ached. She pulled up complete medical scans from everyone’s suit recordings to her board. No broken bones. No major trauma. Heart rate, blood pressure and all body functions remained high but within normal limits. Of course, adrenaline levels had shifted to an abnormally high range also, but that was to be expected.

  Axel’s quiet voice broke the silence. “I need med status reports now.”

  Jeresa routed her results to his board and said, “Captain, med status reports now routed to your board. No injuries other than muscle strain and bruising from impact. All biological readings within normal parameters.”

  “Computer!”

  “Yes, Captain Axel Dane-Niallsen.”

  “Initiate damage control assessment and report.”

  “Damage control assessment initiated.”

  They waited. Then about thirty seconds later, the computerized voice spoke again. “Damage control completed. Exterior hull breach to aft passenger compartment. Minor stress fractures for all other compartments.”

  “Initiate full section seal to aft passenger compartment.”

  “Full section seal initiated to aft passenger compartment.”

  “Initiate third level standby alert status and continue to monitor stress fractures.”

  “Third level standby alert status initiated.”

  “Transfer all data from holographic reproduction and mapping of landing site to crew suit helmet interface.”

  “Data transfer completed.”

  Jeresa breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Axel disengage his safety webbing and climb out of his seat. One by one, they all disengaged their webbing and joined him in front of the holographic image of the asteroid still floating in the middle of the bridge. The sonar mapping grid overlaid on it by the computer showed them a hodgepodge of twisted passages and open spaces that honeycombed the asteroid’s interior. An identical smaller 3-D image floated in the right-hand corner of her helmet’s faceplate with a green arrow pointing to her location within that map.