Mark Sorenson typed furiously, trying to complete the document prior to his 10:30 meeting. His subordinates kept trying to convince him that it would be faster if he simply dictated and let the computer do the work of getting it down into letters and words, but he was “old school”. While voice recognition had come a long way he still preferred to do it himself. “Old fashion” they call him. That’s okay, at least he knows that what gets written was really what he wanted to say, and not what the computer thought it heard. He was proud of being ‘old fashion’ in other areas.
At 10:29 the little red icon appeared at the bottom of his view screen. The semi-circular transparent screen wrapped half way around his desk and represented the latest in display technology, a perk of his rank. It was touch sensitive and he could do lots by simply running his fingers over the screen, moving things about, resizing windows, etc. but he preferred to use the old fashion mouse.
He pointed to the red icon and clicked, opening the online meeting. Four windows popped up, representing the four other participants. He moved them to his preference and enlarged them such that each face was roughly life sized.
“Okay, thank you all for being prompt!” Mark said. “Let’s keep this quick, I got lots to do today! Linda, start with the status report on the Hasbold incident.”
“Been handled!” Linda stated. “Turned out to be a lot to do about nothing. All involved parties are happy and the press has been redirected elsewhere.”
“Good job.” Mark said. “That’s the way to do it! No mess, no fuss, no embarrassment. Karen, what is happing on Eron?”
“Too early to tell.” Karen replied. “We don’t have sufficient intel. It doesn’t appear to be a problem yet, but it could escalate into something major.”
“Well, get on it!” Mark bellowed. “Eron may only be a third grade civilization but the mineral resources dramatic, we can’t let the situation degrade into a planet wide war! Get an agent there as quickly as possible.”
“Working on it!” Karen said. “The planet alignments are not good for sending someone from here. We could send someone in a high speed scout ship to the Nestar system and then catapult them to the Zyram system and finally on to Eron. But that would take a year, six months of which would be aboard that tiny scout ship. The agent wouldn’t be worth crap when he got there.”
“Sounds like there is a ‘but’” Mark mused.
“BUT!” Karen said, right on cue. “There is someone that just came off assignment on Kriton. As luck would have it there is an interstellar transport about to leave that could make a flyby past Eron. It would be a minimal cost to drop a pod as the ship passed by.”
Mark considered that for a moment. The commercial ships balked at having their schedules messed with and dropping the ship out of hyperspace would add days to the journey, inconveniencing all aboard. At least the ship wouldn’t need to establish orbit, a process that could take weeks. Instead, it could just eject the pod as it passed through the solar system. They would probably have to compensate the passengers with vouchers, and those drop pods weren’t cheap and were only used once. Cheaper then powering a scout ship all the way to Nestar, however.
“What sort of agent?” Mark asked, suddenly remembering that Kriton was a highly unstable planet.
“A K-Agent.” Karen said reluctantly.
“No, no, no!” Mark said. “We need intel and a stabilizing force, not a one person revolutionary force!”
“It is all we got!” Karen insisted. “What have you got against K-Agents?”
“They shouldn’t be allowed around civilized people!” Mark insisted. “Oh, they’re fine if you want to rape and plunder! They are the most deranged bipeds that have ever existed!”
“They are human!” Karen insisted.
“Genetically modified humans!” Mark countered. “Apparently, conscience and morals were bred out of them.”
“They are not all that bad!” Karen insisted. “And it isn’t just because of their genetic makeup.”
“Yes, I have heard the spiel before.” Mark said. “I just don’t buy this ‘product of their environment’ crap.”
“It’s not crap!” Linda interjected. “What is done to these people is downright inhumane! They don’t have biological parents, at least not in the same sense as we do. Just a sperm donor and a womb. They are raised in an institution instead of a family. They are taught to kill from an early age, not to love. They know weapons, not family virtue. And how can you expect anyone to have a serious relationship when they spend months getting to an assignment, years in deep undercover, and then yank them back home?”
“I am just tired of cleaning up the sex scandals! It seems like there is some mess we have to cover up after every Interstellar flight we send one on. They are the raunchiest sex addicts I have ever dealt with. Can’t they entertain themselves some other way?”
“Have you ever been on an interstellar flight?” Peter said, joining in the discussion. “Ship board romances are the norm. Not a lot else to do.”
“I am surprised that we don’t have a long string of bastards to deal with.” Mark groused.
“They are sterile, they can’t have children.” Karen reminded him. “And they are inoculated against every known communicable disease, either from their genetic modifications or from simple drugs so they don’t have a downside to wanton sex.”
“I am going to regret this, I just know it!” Mark grumbled.
“Well, if you would rather approve the launch of a scout ship . . .”
“No, I’ll approve it. Well, wait, how much is the Interstellar transport going to cost? Getting passage last minute is not cheap!”
“We were in luck, there was space available.” Karen said. “But not within the guidelines of employee travel, so it will need your specific approval for that as well.”
A document appeared on his screen, which showed the breakdown of project costs. Highlighted were the lines specific to the interstellar transport and a line for his signature. Mark grimaced, knowing that he was going to catch flak from the H.R. department over this. With a heavy sigh he gave in and used his fingertip to sign the document.
“Start the damage control now.” Mark said. “I just know this is going to go bad.”
* * *
Thorin walked the halls of the first class deck, enjoying the relative roominess. He had traveled in Interstellar ships often enough, but normally in business class. The upgrade was nice, especially because it allowed him to pursue his hobby. In fact, she should be waiting for him in his cabin now. Or at least she was supposed to be. It was okay with him if she wasn’t, in fact he actually hoped that she wasn’t. It was so much more fun to actually have a reason for punishing his slave.
She had been remarkably easy to seduce. They usually were in her situation, the interstellar ships provided a ‘target rich environment’. It was relatively easy to acquire a sex slave on most planets, trivial in the less developed societies. But those women were typically the lowest of the lower class, desperate, often on the verge of starvation and willing to do anything. Their spirits were often so broken that they weren’t any fun except to satisfy his urges.
On the ship, however, the paradigm was different. Interstellar travel was not cheap, and typically filtered out the poor and uneducated. Any woman that he found on board, excluding the crew, which were off limits anyway, was traveling by choice. She wouldn’t be desperate, she wasn’t trading her dignity for her life. Heck, he mused, some women may actually like being used this way. Most often, however, it was someone that was simply looking to upgrade their accommodations.
His target was a single female, traveling alone in ‘E’ section, the lowest fare available. The E section passengers had a sleeping berth that was basically a tube the size of a coffin. The tube slid out, you got in, it closed. Fresh air was piped in and it was temperature controlled but your entire private space was a little over two meters long and one meter in diameter. There was also a small locker that all the personal effects could be stored in.
All that was on the inner ring, which only provided half gravity. It wasn’t really ‘gravity’, but rather centrifugal force from the spinning of the ship. The outer ring generated a force that was equivalent to the gravitational force of the destination planet, but the force decreased as you moved to the centerline of the ship. There was an exercise room and lounge on the second ring where the apparent gravity was 80% of nominal. The lower classes could congregate and maintain their physical conditioning, which would be essential when they arrived at their destination. But sleeping was at half gravity for the E class, 80% for the C & D classes. Only the A or B classes experienced full gravity the entire trip.
One might think that sleeping in light gravity would be good. Indeed, the ship’s crew and frequent travelers did prefer it, once they were acclimated to it. It didn’t matter how soft or firm the mattress was if you pressed into it very hard. One could sleep their entire rest period without having to roll over.
But most people had a hard time adjusting to the half gravity. Nausea and insomnia was common. After only a few days people would tend to get sick and tired of being sick and tired. Many passengers discovered, far too late, that they were claustrophobic and couldn’t tolerate the sleeping tubes. The lounge was typically littered with people who preferred to sleep in a chair rather than subject themselves to the horror of their sleeping tube.
Thorin simply had to troll the E class lounge, letting his ‘B’ class pass card show and the women (as well as a few men) flocked to him. His first choice hadn’t worked out; she had fled the first time he tried to discipline her. But she had only been a ‘D’ passenger, they at least had a private entertainment console in their sleeping tube and had 80% gravity. But this new one was ‘E’, and her choices of places to hang out were the common room at 80% or her coffin sized berth at 50% grav.
He hadn’t tricked her, lied to her or even withheld information. He had made it clear that she could enjoy his first class accommodations as long as she obeyed him in all respects. It had also been made clear that he would discipline her if she disobeyed, and what that discipline would likely entail. She had accepted without hesitation. Then she accepted without objection that first punishment (for failing to address properly), when he established just how strict his rule would be and how severe the punishments could be.
Oh, she had cried so pitifully when he had whipped her, so much so that he had stuffed a sock in her mouth to muffle her screams. She was amazingly flexible, must be some sort of dancer or gymnast the way her legs will spread that far. His suite had been intended for a family and included a set of ‘bunk’ beds in addition to the master bed. She hadn’t struggled, indeed she had assisted as much as she could, as he held her upside down and tied her legs at the ankles and thighs to the rail intended to prevent someone from rolling off the bunk. Her legs had been spread, a perfect 180, and it appeared that she could even have gone farther. That position had made her breasts, calves, inner thighs and even her crotch fully exposed to his whim. And her mouth right at his crotch level! He was getting a hard-on now just thinking about it, the way he had fucked her mouth as he tormented her. Of course, when he started whipping her in earnest he didn’t dare have his cock in her mouth, she might have bitten it off!
She had been very obedient after that. Rather disappointing, actually. Oh, he still spanked and paddled her on a regular basis, just a form of ‘maintenance’. But he was hoping that she would mess up, do something that really warranted punishment. He was hopeful now, as he was returning to his quarters an hour earlier than she would be expecting him. Perhaps he would catch her being lazy or helping herself to his private stash of snack foods. He paused briefly at his cabin door, preparing to see everything once the door slid open.
But there she was, kneeling just inside the door, forehead against the floor, ass up. Just like she was supposed to be. And naked, just like he required. The cabin was neat, nothing out of place. He wondered how she did that, if she had really been kneeling there since he left. He ignored her for the moment and went to pour himself a drink. He carefully examined the bottle, looking to see if the make shift seal had been disturbed. It hadn’t. He poured some into a glass, made careful note of the liquid level remaining, and then resealed the bottle.
He stepped back to where she was waiting, and looked her over carefully. The marks from that last whipping had already faded, which surprised him. That was just two days ago, and he had expected them to last a week or more.
“Who do you belong to? Thorin asked gruffly.
“To you Sir!” Christy answered obediently. “For the duration of my voyage.”
“That’s right!” He said triumphantly, although it annoyed him some that she always tacked on that last part. But it had been part of the agreement. She would serve him until the day of disembarking, and in return she would get to stay in his cabin, eat first class food, enjoy a limited time in the first class lounge. They were only halfway through the journey, so there was still plenty of time.
“The marks have faded.” He told her. “Can’t have that, can we?”
“No Sir.” Christy agreed.
“After all, without my marks it isn’t obvious that I own you. Someone else might try to claim you. You wouldn’t want to be taken by someone else, now would you?”
“Oh, no Sir!” Christy assured him. “I will only serve you, Sir.”
“Well, then I will just make sure everyone else knows that you are owned.” Thorin stated as he unbuckled his belt and slid it free of the belt loops. Real leather belts were a rare commodity these days, but Thorin was willing to pay the exorbitant price in return for having a suitable punishment implement at hand.
The belt slid free and he doubled it up, holding the loop by his side, slapping it lightly against his leg as he circled his victim. Christy trembled slightly, anticipating what was coming. Thorin stood next to her left leg, raised the belt and brought it down hard against her buttocks. There was a loud, double crack as first one side of the loop hit her skin, then the second part of the belt impacted against its other half. Christy squeaked and shook her ass a bit, but essentially remained still.
Thorin repeated the lash, and again Christy only gave the smallest of protests. A dozen more lashes followed. Thorin paused, noticing that it was her right butt cheek that was showing the most damage. He moved to the other side and delivered another dozen lashes that emphasized the impact on her left ass cheek.
“Owww!” Christy moaned as she slumped, sensing that the whipping was over.
Such was not the case, however. Thorin moved to a spot in front of her, then spread his legs and straddled her head, facing her upturned ass. He let loose one end of the belt, continuing to hold the buckle end.
“Spread your legs!” Thorin commanded.
“Oh!” Christy cried out, but was careful not to make it seem like an act of defiance, and she spread her legs obediently.
Thorin lashed out with this longer whip. The mid-section made contact with her back first, the tail of the belt following the curve of her body. The tip brushed the floor, losing most of it momentum. Thorin took one wrap around his wrist and swung again. This time the tip was unimpeded and struck hard, just below her waist line.
“OOWW!” Christy complained.
Thorin took a second wrap, and this time the tip snapped hard against her labia. Christy howled, and her hand shot down to protect her crotch. But she thought better of it before her hand actually reached the tender spot and she reluctantly returned it to its proper spot on the floor beside her head.
“Good girl!” Thorin praised, although he had actually been hoping that she would attempt to cover up. It always amazed him what these women were willing to do for a little creature comfort. Trade a few minutes of intense pain for hours of luxury.
Again and again the belt lashed down.
“You like this, don’t you slut?”
“Oh, no Sir!” Christy assured him.
“But you must!” Thorin insisted. “Why else would you submit to this?”
“Only to give you pleasure, Sir!” Christy replied.
Thorin smiled. It had taken the best part of a week to get that answer drilled into her. The early training was always the most fun.
“Oh, you want to give me pleasure, do you?”
“Yes Sir!” Christy panted eagerly. “Please Sir, may I suck your cock?”
“Yes, that sounds like a good idea.” Thorin agreed. “Kneel up and suck my cock!”
Christy obediently knelt up, moving in close to her master. Her fingers worked quickly, releasing the hook at the waistband, then lowering the zipper. His erection was already tenting his boxer shorts so she worked it out via the fly and took it in her mouth.
‘Oh God!’ he thought, this girl can suck cock! Thorin had found that a good whipping, and especially the threat of an even worse whipping, could make even a reluctant woman into a good cocksucker. But this slave went beyond good. Not that it would lessen her whipping any.
She instantly had his full length in her mouth, and her fingers gently massaging his balls. She was doing something with her tongue that he never completely figured out, but it was good! He had wanted to take her other ways, drive his cock into her pussy, or perhaps give it to her in the ass. But what she was doing now felt too good! Then it was too late.
Thorin groaned and relaxed. Christy continued to work on his cock until it went soft.
“Enough!” Thorin said. That’s okay, he would be ready to go again in a few hours. It never took him long to get hard again.
Christy sat back on her heels and looked up at her master. She wasn’t disappointed that she didn’t get to have an orgasm. After all, he took her at least three times a day, sometimes more, and she would generally climax during at least one of them. When he wanted to he could be gentle and caring. He was amazing, actually. She had never had a lover that could perform that often! It was just this sadistic streak that seemed to dominate his sex life.
“You need to get busy!” Thorin told her. “We have been invited to dine with the captain tonight. This is considered to be an honor and I don’t want to miss it! You do have a suitable dress, don’t you?”
“Yes Sir.” Christy replied. “It is back in my locker, on ‘E’ deck. I will have to go get it.”
“Hurry along then!” Thorin urged. “Take my pass card so you can get back onto the A/B deck. Now go!”
Christy slipped into the simple dress she kept close at hand, pulled the slippers onto her feet and hurried out of the cabin. Nothing special was required to head up to the lower class decks, it was coming back down that required the special pass cards.
* * *
Christy mused on the concept of “up”, and “down” on an interstellar ship. The ship was built like a giant bicycle wheel, spinning through space. The centrifugal force wanted to throw you to the outside, away from the hub. So “Down” was further out, and “up” was closer to the hub.
Back in the days when a ‘ship’ sailed on an ocean the first class had the high decks, with the views and open access to the open air and sun. The cheaper fares were confined to lower decks where passengers might not see the sun until they reached port. On an interstellar ship it was the opposite: first class got the outer ring where the gravity matched what they expected. The D and E passengers were two rings in. Beyond that was only used for cargo.
Christy emerged from the elevator and ran towards her assigned berth. She wasn’t in that much of a hurry, she just liked running in the low gravity. She would leap, taking long exaggerated strides, her legs extended ahead and behind her in full splits, pretending that she was a ballerina.
“Oh, excuse me!” Christy apologized as she ran into another passenger who had just stepped out of his berth. While the A/B deck had hallways wide enough for people to pass easily, the D/E deck did not. Passing was usually a turn sideways and shuffle pass movement, definitely not suitable for a ballerina Grand Jete leaping motion. He just smiled and waved her on. Embarrassed, she continued on at a more subdued pace.
Christy waved her pass key over the sensor at the entrance to her own berth. The door hissed open and she was able to enter a space that was roughly twice the size of one of the sleeping units. Everything on this deck was tight quarters, and only one sleeping unit in a berth could be opened at one time. Likewise, only one locker could be opened at a time. Christy entered her code into the control panel then confirmed her identity with her pass card. There was a whirling of motors as her locker was positioned and then her locker dropped from the ceiling into the limited space.
Christy didn’t have much, the D/E passengers never did. The biggest cost of interstellar travel was incurred in just getting payload from the planet’s surface into orbit. Each passenger had an allotment, with the A grade passengers having considerably more than the E passengers. To bring anything more was charged by the gram. If it wasn’t needed during the flight, it was probably far cheaper to buy it at the destination than to bring it along.
Christy’s luggage consisted of two garment bags and one duffle that had contained various clothes for daily wear. The daily wear items had been transferred to Master Thorin’s cabin and consisted of: two changes of exercise clothes, which were washed often. Three different casual outfits that she would rotate through. One cocktail dress, which had been used much more than she had expected. And one nightgown, which she hadn’t actually used since she had been claimed by Master Thorin as he required her to sleep naked.
Now the locker contained only the two garment bags and her travel documents. One of the garment bags contained a set of clothes appropriate for her destination, which she would not wear until the day she was to disembark. The other contained an evening gown, just in case she had an opportunity to use it. The bag also contained a pair of high heeled shoes, a faux pearl necklace and matching earrings. Not quite the high society dress that the captain might expect to see at his table but it wouldn’t be scandalous.
Christy pulled what she needed out of the locker, then sent it back into storage. She would dress back at Master Thorin’s cabin.
* * *
Dinner was served to the first class passengers in the main dining hall, as always. Eating and entertainment schedules were divided into three shifts which eased the load on the kitchen and dining hall, thus allowing it to be 1/3 the size. Thorin had had to make special arrangements to allow Christy to eat with him, as she was an E passenger and would normally have eaten in the cafeteria on the second ring. But such arrangements were not unusual and only amounted to a small extra payment.
Thorin had been assigned the third shift, while the captain ate on the second, which made this more like lunch than dinner. But the invitation was not to be ignored and now they were in the reception line along with the other guests who would also be dining with the captain.
“Mister Thorin Slobodin and his guest, Ms. Christy Smith.” The purser announced as they were presented to the captain.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance.” The captain said as he shook Thorin’s hand. Then, taking Christy’s hand and pulling it up to kiss the knuckles: “And such an exquisite creature as this is always welcome at my table!”
“Thank you, Sir.” Christy said politely, and waited patiently to get her hand back. The captain smiled, and held her hand much longer than was necessary, his eyes darting down to the cleavage her dress allowed to show. Christy squirmed a bit, knowing that Master Thorin was watching her. He could get terribly jealous and she had been punished severely for far less of an imagined infraction before.
“Come along!” Thorin said sternly as he tugged Christy away from the captain.
The meal was no different than the rest of the dining room was offered, but the wine was better. A selection from the captain’s private reserve. The conversation was nice, and Christy enjoyed the opportunity to converse with a different mix of people than they met at their usual dining table. But she was careful not to talk too much, as she was sure that she was already in for a session with that damn belt! No need to make it any worse.
“We will be dropping out of hyperspace tomorrow.” The captain announced. “Oh-nine-forty-Six. You may wish to have a seat at one of the viewing ports, the light show can be dazzling!”
“Out of hyperspace? Already?” the lady to Christy’s right asked. “I thought that we weren’t due for another month!”
“It seems my ship has been commandeered.” The captain groused. “Seems we need to make a drop in the Eron system. Not to worry, we don’t need to spend the week establishing orbit, it is just a flyby. No more than a day delay, tops. I might even be able to make that up with an expedited orbital approval when we do reach Kartar.”
“A drop?” a man asked. “You can do that without establishing orbit?”
“One of those high tech fast drop pods from the military.” The captain explained. “I just eject it from the hold at the right time and it takes care of the rest.”
“9:46” Christy said to her master. “Can we watch?”
“I don’t know.” Thorin said with a smirk. “You might be a bit tied up then.”
* * *
CRACK!
“OWWW!” Christy cried as the belt smacked her tender breasts for the umpteenth time.
“You liked showing them off to the captain!” Thorin scolded. “How do you like them now?”
CRACK! OWWWWW!
“Course I don’t know why he was so interested in looking at your tits, they’re so small!”
CRACK! OWWWWW!
Christy struggled, but it was to no avail as her arms were secured to the bed rail with ties at her wrists, elbows and armpits. She was naked, having been allowed to remove her evening gown and hang it properly before her punishment started. While Thorin enjoyed the dramatic flair of ripping a slave’s clothing from their body such practice wasn’t practical during an interstellar flight. After all, there might be cause to use the gown again before the voyage was over, and Thorin had to admit that he enjoyed seeing (and showing off) his slave in that gown.
CRACK!
“Who do you belong to?” Thorin demanded.
“You, Sir, for the duration of the voyage!” Christy replied.
There was that exclusion again. He responded with twenty hard lashes to her breasts, leaving her gasping and writing in her bonds. Damn, he wished that he could keep her, she was good! Obedient enough to trust, naughty enough to be fun, and damn she was a good fuck! But keeping her just wasn’t possible, he knew that. But he could enjoy her while he had her.
He tossed the belt aside and unzipped. Taking his cock in his hand he guided it inside her, thrusting it deep. Christy kicked her legs up, wrapped them around his waist and rode him, half supported by her arms tied to the bed rail, half supported by being impaled on his cock.
“Ah! AH! AHHH!” Christy moaned as her orgasm peaked, and still he thrust on. She wondered how he managed.
When at last he climaxed he untied her and helped her to his bed.
* * *
Christy awoke t 8:00 AM, carefully slipped out from Thorin’s embrace and padded quietly to the en-suite bathroom. Of all the luxuries that staying in a ‘B’ class cabin had entailed, having a private bath was her favorite. She knew that she would be parting company with Master Thorin that day and that this would be her last opportunity to enjoy the first class accommodations.
“SLAVE!” Thorin called out, a mixture of worry and displeasure in his voice.
“HERE MASTER!” Christy called back, hastily completing her ablutions.
“GET IN HER!” Thorin bellowed. “And bring that hairbrush!”
“Yes Master!” Christy called as she hurried back to where her master was waiting. She dropped to her knees, head bowed, holding the hairbrush out to her master. It was a simple modern brush made of plastic, but it had a flat back and sufficient weight that it made for a very effective paddle.
“Across my knees!” Thorin commanded as he took the hairbrush. Christy quickly draped herself over his lap as he sat on the edge of the bed.
“OW!” Christy cried out as the brush smacked her bare bottom.
“I expect you in my bed when I awake!” Thorin scolded.
“OW! YES SIR!” Christy cried.
“I might have just fucked you!” Thorin said as he rained a volley of swats upon her buttocks. “But now I am spanking you, then fucking you!”
“OW, OW, OW!”
His cock was already getting hard as he watched her ass bounce and jiggle after every swat. He liked how she cried out and thrashed about as he spanked her. Never so hard that she escaped, but enough to show that she was under some genuine distress. Not like that slave he’d had back on Kriton. She had been obedient enough, and was a good fuck, but she went all silent when he whipped her, just lying there like a rag doll. And not like of those good for nothing slaves that went all hysterical after a whipping. He could spank this ass all day long, except that now he wanted to fuck it. So he did.
“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!” Christy moaned as Thorin’s thrusts pushed her hard against the edge of the bed, his cock thrusting deep inside her from behind. There was just enough friction of the bed covers against her clit to give her an extra bit of stimulation and her orgasm was approaching fast. Then he slapped her ass, which pushed her over the edge.
“AAHHHH!” Christy cried out. She clenched down hard, adding to the involuntary contractions of her kegel muscles, gripping his cock tightly.
“Oh, FUCK!” Thorin called out. Ordinarily he didn’t care if his slaved climaxed or not, but this slave made it worth his while! He had intended to just lubricate his cock in her pussy and then give it to her in her ass, but this was feeling every bit as tight and so good!
* * *
“Please Sir.” Christy pleaded. “We will be dropping out of hyperspace soon. I would really like to see it.”
“Seen one, seen them all.” Thorin replied. He was lying on his back, half sprawled on the bed, holding Christy close to him as he played with her tits. He liked how she winced when he squeezed a spot on her breast that was especially tender from the whipping he had given her last night. He was content to stay where he was.
“E passengers don’t have access to a view port.” Christy said. “And the ports available to C and D passengers aren’t much to speak of.”
“Have you been a passenger before?” Thorin asked. It occurred to him just then that he knew very little about this woman.
“Yes Sir.” Christy said. “I get sent around a lot, but never in first class! The hyperspace transition is such a sight, I will never get tired of it!”
“Very well!” Thorin agreed reluctantly. He would send her on alone except she wouldn’t be granted access to the viewport without him being present. She had made no other requests upon him so far, and after that epic fuck this morning, on top of the great one last night, he wouldn’t be ready to use her again for a while.
“Oh, Thank You Sir!” Christy beamed as she hopped up and donned the casual outfit for that day.
The viewports were essentially just a ‘bulge’ in the ship that had thick plastic windows. It was a short flight of stairs ‘down’ into the viewport, which technically put them at a longer radius from the center and thus at slightly higher centrifugal force, but it was only a small difference and easily adjusted to. The floor was still towards the outside of the ship. One side looked out in the direction of the ships bow, and the other towards the stern. The view now was a uniform light gray, as if the light from all the stars had been smoothed out into an even layer.
Ordinarily, the plume from the ships engines would be trailing behind them. Their contribution to the ship’s speed was minimal, intended primarily to keep the ship away from the instability point of hyperspace. But now the ship had swapped ends, the engines working hard to push them over that instability edge. Once they had dropped from hyperspace the gravitational accelerators on an outlying planet would grab hold and provide the massive forces required to make a dent in slowing from light speed.
The Gravitational Accelerators, or G.A.s, were what made interstellar travel feasible. While it was possible to accelerate a rocket into hyperspace with only its own propulsion system, the amount of fuel required made it impractical for all but the smallest ships and the G-forces involved were quite uncomfortable and required extensive physical training. At a nice, comfortable 1 G force it would take 355 days to reach light speed. Two G’s wasn’t too uncomfortable, except it would still take 178 days to reach a speed where the hyperspace jump could occur. Many people like roller coasters that provide up to 4 Gs of force, but for 89 days?
The G.A.s were a matrix of satellites that orbited a small planet or moon and could redirect and focus that planets natural gravity into a concentrated beam. The gravitational force worked equally on all aspects of a ship and it contents, and thus it could be accelerated at a tremendous rate while the passengers felt nothing, just as they felt nothing as the Sun accelerated them in a continuous arc of orbit.
Thorin and Christy entered the viewport at 9:15, a good half hour before the hyperspace transition. A steward took their drink orders; Thorin ordered a cocktail while Christy insisted that she only wanted water. Thorin chuckled, as he thought it was silly to adhere to the ‘no alcohol before noon’ policy when there was no sun to provide a ‘noon’ reference.
“Have a seat.” Thorin said, gesturing to one of the armchairs that was still available.
“I would rather stand, Sir!” Christy said with a smile, rubbing her backside lightly.
“SIT!” Thorin commanded.
“Yes Sir!” Christy replied and sat down, grimacing slightly as her tender buttocks contacted the seat.
The room slowly filled until there was standing room only, and then until it was becoming uncomfortably full. A countdown appeared on a view screen. When there was ten seconds left the ship began to shudder ever so slightly, and an occasional streak of light could be seen through the dim gray background. When the countdown reached 5 seconds the occasional streak turned into a stream. Two seconds earlier than predicted the entire galaxy burst into a dazzling Kaleidoscope of light and patterns.
There were the typical “oohs” and “ahhs”, then a modest applause a minute later when the seemingly random patterns differentiated themselves into stars and planets. One section of the viewport had automatically darkened, protecting the passengers from the intensity of the sun. After another couple of minutes people began to file out, those who had been standing typically leaving first. Thorin and Christy were the last to leave.
“Come along.” Thorin said to Christy. “I’ll address your disobedience, and then we can go get something to eat.”
“What disobedience?” Christy asked, which surprised Thorin, as she hadn’t disputed any of his disciplinary actions thus far.
“When we arrived!” Thorin said. “I had to tell you twice to sit! Remember?”
“Oh.” Christy said flatly. “Well, I am sorry, but I am not going to be able to serve you anymore.”
“The hell you say!” Thorin shot back. He reached to grab her arm, but she simply moved her arm and he grabbed nothing but air.
“Thank you very much for the accommodations.” Christy told him. “But I am leaving now.”
“You can leave when I say you can leave!” Thorin hissed. He lunged for her, but she moved so quickly that he completely missed. “Oh, you are so going to get it!”
“No.” Christy said calmly. “I agreed to serve you until the day I disembarked. Today is that day.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Thorin snapped back. “We are still 20 days from our destination!
Thorin rushed her again, this time succeeding in getting ahold of her wrist. There was a blur of motion and suddenly she was behind him, holding his wrist painfully into the small of his back.
“This is my stop.” Christy insisted. “We can leave now on good terms. Don’t make me hurt you.”
“Fine!” Thorin spat. His wrist was released and Christy stepped back in front of him. Thorin looked at his wrist for a second, and then was swinging it hard, intending to backhand her across the face. Before he could react he found himself falling hard onto his butt, both his legs having been kicked out from under him. Christy turned and climbed the staircase, in a brisk but casual pace.
“Oh, we’ll see about this!” Thorin muttered to himself.
* * *
Christy made her way up to E deck, and then to her berth. She called for her locker and removed the garment bag that had not been touched thus far. Opening it, she removed the simple peasant’s dress, shift undergarment, and strap on sandals. Once she had changed she collected her documents and returned the locker.
“Sorry, Ma’am, this is a restricted area.” The crewman challenged.
“I am aware of that.” Christy said as she extended a document. The crewman took it and read it carefully.
“Give me a moment, I need to check with my superior.” The crewman touched a view screen, then after a series of wipes and touches a video window appeared with the face of someone who was obviously an officer.
“What is it?” the officer demanded, clearly annoyed.
“I have someone here who is claiming to be an agent.” The crewman said. “There is a document, something about a pod insertion?”
“Well, it is about time he showed up!” the officer complained. “I don’t understand why his identity had to be kept secret in the first place. Cutting things damn short if you ask me.”
“Uh,” the crewman stuttered. “It is a ‘she’, Sir.”
“I don’t care if it’s and ‘it’, get her moving! The sooner we get that pod pushed out, the sooner we can be on our way!”
“Yes Sir!” The crewman said as he handed the document back to Christy. He pointed down the corridor, which was totally unnecessary as there was only one way to go.
Christy followed the corridor to the elevator that took her to the inner most cargo ring. Here the artificial gravity was negligible, and moving about was a ‘push off and bounce’ motion rather than walk.
“You’re the one going in this pod?” another crewman asked.
“Yep!” Christy said.
“You got more balls then I do!” He joked. “A one way fiery decent, and hope the retro rockets actually work? No thanks!”
“Worked for me every time so far.” Christy assured him.
The pod was roughly 7 meters in length and 2 meters in diameter. Christy knew that when it reached the ground it would only be 5 meters in length and 1-1/2 meters in diameter, the rest of it will have been burned away. As long as it didn’t get to less than 4 meters long she would be okay. She climbed in, closed the hatch behind her, and powered up the systems.
“Ready” She said into the communication channel.
“Good luck” an anonymous voice said back. Christy could feel the small bumps and jars as the pod was manipulated to the air lock. It took a couple of minutes for the air lock to cycle and the outer door to open. A mechanical arm pushed the pod out, allowing it to drift slowly away.
The interstellar ship’s engines had been idled back, and the GA’s had also ceased their pull. Christy’s tiny pod drifted slowly away from the massive ship until the spacing was sufficient for the thrusters on the pod to activate. When the distance between the two had increased significantly the ship’s engines ramped up to full power and the two started separating at a much higher rate.
Soon after the GA’s that had been slowing the Interstellar ship focused instead on the tiny pod. With an even more concentrated beam the pod would slow quickly, and drop towards the planet just now becoming visible to the naked eye. Not that the pod had a window. The G.A.s would continue their pull on the tiny pod until the angle intersected the planet, at which point it could do no more and the rest would be up to basic orbital mechanics.
Meanwhile, another set of GA’s focused on the ship to accelerate it back to light speed, and on into hyperspace. Before it moved out of range Christy sent one last message to it, which would in turn be forwarded to her base.
“This is agent K-86-359. Status report: Successfully exited from interstellar travel. No travel incidents to report. Various personal belongings abandoned on the ship. They are of no significant value and have no security concerns. Please arrange to have them discarded. No expense report required: no charges were made to onboard account. I am in good health and ready for action. Next report will be from Eron planet surface once uplink has been established. Agent K-86-359 out.”
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04.12.17