Chapter 1
THIN WALLS: erotic sci-fi
PART ONE: A Mystery Man — A Flashlight — A Sabotage
Row after row of thick canvas tents. A thoroughfare cuts down the center. Tight alleys jut off the main street. Each named after a deceased admiral of the fleet.
Suspensor lamps, tuned to early morning, cast shadows down the alley.
One would think this was one of the old refugee transports, instead of a massive colony heighliner.
Sophia lays in bed listening. Ben has already departed for “the pipes.” The massive waste water processing plant in the bowels of the ship. Where gray water becomes potable water.
Then she hears it. The flap on the tent next door opens. Someone enters the tent. Low whispers followed by the gentle sound of clothes falling to the floor. Low Whisperers lead to rhythmic movement. At first slow.
Sophia reaches for the flashlight next to her bed. She places it against her naked thigh. She feels the cold metal on her flesh.
Next door, the rhythmic movement increases in speed.
Her left hand moves to the space between her legs. Warm. Wet. Her fingers match the speed of her neighbors movement.
Moaning. First quiet. Now increasing in volume. She slips the flashlight inside herself with her right hand all the while working her special place with her left.
The moaning has reached a fever pitch next door. She now uses both hands on the flashlight. In and out. Deeper. Harder.
The moans next door become muffled screams of pleasure. And then. Silence. Followed by heavy breathing.
The sound of zippers. Sophia Leaves the flashlight on her warm bed and tiptoes, naked, to the flap on her tent. The cold bites her bare nipples.
She peeks out, yearning to see the mystery guest who so often does for her neighbor what her husband cannot do for her.
But she can only see his back. Full Navy regalia. His epaulets tell her he is a captain. His tight pants tell Sophia he is in incredible shape.
Lights from the control panel flicker. Staff efficiently move around Habitat Three’s Control Station.
The Station is more crowded than normal as extra crew has been assigned to repair the damage from the ion storm.
Sophia does a quick Sign of the Cross, the traditional Salute, to the huge crucifix that occupies the center of the control room.
The Colony Heighliner is filled with crucifixes. The Church of Colonization demands their presence be known and acknowledged at every moment.
She settles into her chair. The control panel casts blue light on her face. Giving Sophia a full understanding of the status of the various repairs.
The ion storm had caused a hull breach. Leaving many dead and many more, Sophia included, homeless.
Team Leader Ester Ford steps out of her office. Coffee in hand — Sophia suspected spiked Coffee — and performs a lazy sign of the cross.
“Mechanical. Report,” Esters barks with a smile.
Sophia relays the night shifts reports, filled with technical jargon Ester doesn’t care about, before getting to the point.
Repairs forty-percent complete,” Sophia finishes, smiling back at Ester.
Ester isn’t just Sophia’s Team Leader in the Civilian Corps, she is also her best friend.
“Okay,” Ester continues, “Flux will lead team one. Johnston, team two, and Reid,” she turns to Sophia, “you will lead team three.”
“Also, for the duration of repairs we will be joined by Captain Paul of the Navy High Command as liaison for the Navy.”
“Speak of the devil,” Ester says as Captain Jean Paul, the most beautiful man Sophia has ever seen, steps off the lift.
The ensign accompanying him hands Jean a pad which he barely glaces at before handing it back to her.
Sophia was vaguely aware he was speaking as the Captain introduced himself.
Dark black hair. Sharp blue eyes. A chin sculpted from stone. And a perfectly tailored uniform.
Navy officers aren’t assigned spouses, as they are allowed to fraternize among themselves. No marriages and no pregnancies. This is insured by the Navy code and the plethora of contraceptives available to sailors.
Civilian colonists, “Civis,” like Sophia are not allowed contraceptives. Marital aids and masturbation are strictly prohibited by the church.
Civi spouses are assigned by genetic tests designed to ensure a couple makes perfect colony babies.
How the computer picked Ben as her spouse, Sophia couldn’t guess. With his pudgy body, tiny member, and minute long lasting power. Other than that he was a swell guy.
The Priests, of course, were celibate.
Captain Jean Paul stands looking ove Habitat Three’s Control room. Watching the Civi Colonist scurry about inefficiently.
When the Admiral assigned him to an operation review rotation he was disappointed. That is until he realized how many fish were in the Civi pool.
Jean scans the room. Plenty of prospects. He sights Sophia. Hmmm. Happy Hunting.
He smiles. His assistant hands him a pad. He glances at it but the info doesn’t even register before he hands it back.
Jean’s assistant registers his smile and thinks it is for her. His smile turns to a scowl and she retreats.
Jean considers how long it will be before he can reassign her.
Her disappointment gives Jean pleasure and the smile returns to his face.
Ester approaches Jean. The three squares on her shoulder tell Jean she is a Team Leader. She’s pretty, but a bit old for Jean’s taste.
His assistant announces, “Team Leader Ester Ford.”
Jean introduces himself, “Captain Jean Paul.” How long will this rotation last, he thinks. I must find a woman to toy with.
Then he spots Sophia. “But where do I recognize her from? He thinks. “Have I already had her?” No, he didn’t think so.
“Would you like to tour the Control Center?” Ester asks.
“First I think I would like to meet the staff,” Jean replies.
“I’m almost there! I’m almost there” — Jean had finished five minutes ago — “yes, yes, yes!” the young woman collapses, panting.
Jean gets up and pulls up his pants.
“Don’t you want to stay for seconds,” she inquires.
“I’ll be late for work.”
Jean exits the tent, leaving the flap unzipped, and turns down Admiral Kaminsky lane. Now Kaminsky. That was a ladies man, Jean thinks and turns towards the main street.
Lost in thought he bumps into someone.
He looks up. It takes a moment for Jean to place her.
“Sophia?” he says, almost making the name a question.
She straightens up immediately and looks to Jean as if she almost salutes.
“Captain Paul.” she replies, surprised. “What brings you to the neighborhood?”
Sophia instantly regrets the question. The wheels turn in her head. The perfectly tailored suit she had, up to this point, seen only from behind. Leaving the tent next door on so many occasions.
Jean, “Just visiting a friend.”
“You can call me Jean,” Jean says. I”m laying my hooks in this one, he thinks.
“Are you headed to Habitat Three Control?”
“Yes.”
“Let me walk you.”
“It was only small talk, Sophia tells herself.
She adjusts her mag boots and attaches them to her space suit. She reaches for her gloves, but sees Captain Paul struggling with his suit. It is obvious he hasn’t done a space walk since the academy.
“Need some help?” she asks.
“Well I guess I do.”
Her hand brushes his as they both work to fit his suit to his body. His perfect body.
Jean smiles as their flesh touches. Yup, he thinks, he has his hooks in this one.
“So what’s the plan for today?” he asks Sophia.
“Most of the living quarters are repaired. The next step is working on the actual hull breach so we can restore life support. Before that though, we need to determine the cause of the breach.”
A complex maze of wires help space-suited workers navigate Habitat Three without drifting into the darkness of space.
Living quarters line the inside wall. Reaching ten stories high. The other wall is made up of massive windows for viewing space supported by Betasteel columns.
A massive breach in the hull. Several workers work to repair the destroyed pipes and wires which once provided electricity and potable water to the Habitat.
Sophia and Jean stand, Mag-Booted to the floor, on ground level. A common space which, before the breach, resembled a park. A giant crucifix stands in the center of the park. Anchor lines bolted to the concrete floor extend to the ceiling.
Sophia and Jean stand at one of these anchor points.
Sophia. “Never detach from your ground line before attaching to your lead line.”
“I certainly wouldn’t want to float off into space, would I?” jokes Jean.
“Of course not. I would miss you too much.” Why would I say that, Sophia thinks. Thank god her helmet covers her blushing face.
“All set, “ says Jean.
“Okay, release your mag-boots.”
Sophia and Jean float a few inches off the floor.
“After I push off, count to ten and push gently off the floor,” says Sophia.
She pushes off and floats up towards the ceiling high above. Jean waits a moment and follows.
Workers float in the space behind Jean and Sophia. Moving Betasteel beams. Spot welding. Removing mangled pieces of the hull.
Jean watches as Sophia scans parts of the breach. She even looks good in a space suit, he thinks. I have to find a way to get rid of Emma before I make a move on Sophia. No drama is Jeans only rule when it comes to women.
Emma paces the tent, crying and tossing clothes into a suitcase.
“I can’t believe there is nothing you can do about this! You are a Captain!” she screams.
“The Navy has nothing to do with spouse assignments,” Jean answers, almost whispering. “The genetic tests say you are a perfect match. And he also lost his spouse in the breach so you have something in common.”
“Something in common! How can you be so casual about this? It will be almost impossible for us to see each other once I move into a Habitat. There aren’t many private places on this ship.”
“We’ll find a way.”
Emma tosses a dress at Jean’s face.
Sophia hears screaming next door, and not the kind she enjoys.
She peaks out her tent flap. Jean emerges from the tent next door. Walking fast. Emma follows. Crying. Jean turns the corner onto the main street and out of sight.
Emma looks at Sophia. Her face is red and tear streaked. She storms back into her tent.
Sophia sits at her console. The readings from her space walk yesterday aren’t making sense.
“Ester, take a look at this.”
Ester walks over and looks at Sophia’s screen.
“Tell me what I’m looking at.”
“If the breach was caused by the ion storm these numbers would be reversed. This makes it appear the breach came from inside. What do you think?”
“I think you should double check your readings before you take them to your supervisor.”
“You are my supervisor.”
“Exactly.”
Sophia floats down a leadline. Headed away from the breach towards the living area.
“Team Leader to Sophia.” Ester says over the comlink. Her voice was a bit distorted in Sophia’s ear.
“Go ahead.”
“Have you checked your toolbag? I left you a present.”
Sophia digs through her toolbag until her hand touches something unfamiliar. She pulls it from the bag. Sophia looks at the thick long metal shaft in her hand. What the hell is this? She turns it, looking from side to side. The base appears to have a two way rocker switch.
Sophia stuffs it back into her toolbag as she comes to the realization of what Ester has placed in her toolbag.
Sophia slows as she comes to the junction point of several lead lines.
She comes to a halt.
“Where the hell did you get this?” Sophia says into her comlink.
“A collaboration between tooling and mechanical,” Ester answers with a laugh.
“The Church would shoot us all out an air lock if we were caught with one of these!”
“Then don’t get caught.”
Sophia sits at a console in the apartment she and Ben used to share. She secretly restored life support to her and Ben’s rooms first so she would have a quiet place to think and work. A place to get away from the crowded cargo bay and her and Ben’s tiny tent.
She was able to restore everything but gravity. Gravity would be too hard to hide.
Sophia stares at the screen. Trying to decipher the mysterious readings.
She is distracted by the contraband vibrator floating in her peripheral view.
She plucks the vibrator out of the air and stuffs it in a drawer. She tries to concentrate on her work, but she can’t help glancing at the drawer.
Sophia takes the vibrator from the drawer and examines it. She pushes the rocker switch and feels the vibration on her hands. She checks the room even though she knows she is alone.
Sophia moves the vibrator towards her lap.
She looks up. Switches the vibrator off and lets it float away.
Sophia types something into her console. Her face goes pale.
Sophia stands up. Floating in the zero-g environment as she hastily pulls on her spacesuit, slips on her mag-boots and straps on her helmet. She touches the button to activate her comlink.
“Sophia to Team Leader.”
“This is Team Leader. Go ahead.”
“Ester, I need to see my supervisor.”
Coming soon Part Two: Flashbangs — Vibrators — Red String
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