Brave New World

Jim's eyes fluttered open. His mind still half asleep all his senses were competing for his attention. There was the sound, piercing, insistent and for the life of him he had no idea what it was, he just knew he wanted it to stop. Lights flashed in front of his eyes, red. They were almost pretty, memories of tearing into wrapping paper danced across his mind for a moment as he watched his breath like a puff of white smoke. There was a terrible taste in his mouth and his tongue clung to his palette, toothbrush, he desperately wanted a toothbrush. He felt cold but was unable to even shiver, something was restraining him. The smell, most visceral of senses brought his mind into sharp focus, the sharp metallic smell of stasis gas. His mind snapped into full awareness. He was not restrained, he was frozen well past the sensation of cold. The siren was a warning. Something was going terribly wrong.

It took about a minute before the capsule finished it's reanimation cycle, commonly referred to among the crew as the "thaw", and opened. Jim tried to run to his station but as he stepped out of the stasis capsule his foot didn't touch the ground. No gravity. He truly hoped this was the only issue, as mission commander, it was his duty to ensure the voyage to Gaia went smoothly for his crew, the 1,500 passengers all in deep stasis, as well as the cargo which included, the passengers' belongings, building materials, seed, and even livestock, also in deep stasis. Seven years from Earth, 56 years from their final destination, if he couldn't fix what was wrong, there was certainly no help coming any time soon. He swallowed hard as he tried to adjust to the lack of gravity. He was alive and there was breathable atmosphere, this was a good start. Once his initial inertia moved him close to a wall he pushed off towards the seat at the engineering station. The Aurora had certainly stopped spinning he knew that without needing to look at the computer interface. Once he strapped himself into the seat and shut off the siren and warning lights he began to scan through a very long list of systems that could be malfunctioning.

A mile long cylinder barreling through the blackness of interstellar space at seven tenths the speed of light, the Aurora was a marvel. The computer systems were online. Computers ran the day to day tasks and every 6 months the crew would be revived from stasis to run diagnostics on every system or, as now, to deal with issues the computers could not. The Kessler Drive was online. It had not been used since the Aurora had attained her maximum speed and it would not be used again until a few years before their arrival at Gaia in order to slow the ship down without the inertia turning everyone on board into a thin paste crushed into the wall. Stasis allowed the human body to resist higher levels of G Force, but only so much. If the drive were to fail, there would be no way to stop the ship other than to hit something with enough mass and that wouldn't be pretty. Of course there were plenty of other things out there to hit. Space was not entirely a void, it was sparsely populated with the detritus of creation. The sensors were online. Early detection and course correction was an absolute necessity. Thrusters were online as well. Of course there were particles out there too small for the sensors to detect in time to move around and Newton's second law was quite firm on what happened when even very small masses were accelerated to very high speed or hit at high speed. At their current cruising speed of just over 210,000 kilometers per second, even a pea sized fragment could destroy the ship. The deflector array was online as were the reactors running it. Without their protection the Aurora's speed would be severely limited. In fact, the only thing keeping the Aurora from reaching higher speeds was the limitations of the deflectors, not the drive which theoretically had only one upper limit, Einstein. He found the issue.

The rotational thrusters had fired. The ship spun for two reasons, the first was to maintain gravity, which made the lives of the crew easier during their waking hours. The second was to generate power. When they arrived at Gaia the rotation would need to be halted to dock with the space elevator to offload passengers and cargo and because weightlessness made moving said cargo off and on the ship a lot easier. The bad news was that without the additional power created by the rotation a lot of the ship's systems would cease to function. The good news was he couldn't do it alone and meant he would need to thaw Sarah. At least she would be awoken from stasis without the lights and screaming alarms. But before he did, he took the time to brush his teeth.

She never wore her coveralls according to company regulations, not that he would ever dream of writing her up for it. Unzipped to the waist she tied the arms around her waist wearing nothing above that but a sports bra. It made Jim's heart race every time he saw her. Groggily she stepped out of the capsule and though she could hear someone saying something she couldn't quite make it out. As she floated across the deck Jim's words started to register.

"Tried to warn you, Sarah, the thrusters malfunctioned, we have no gravity."

She got herself more or less under control and tried moving to her station. Her coordination was still a little off from the thaw and she ended up bumping into the back of Jim's head, breasts first. Which would not have been so terribly awkward had the surprise not made him turn his head around so that he ended up face first in her breasts. And had that not been bad enough, in the struggle to get her back on track his hand ended up firmly on both her breast and her ass. A few awkward apologies and a great deal of blushing later, she had gotten herself strapped to the seat at her station and checked over the systems chewing a stick of gum to take that awful taste out of her mouth. Jim had been right to wake her, this was going to require one person at a terminal and one person outside and neither Craig nor Darren, the other members of the crew, had the training required. There had been more than just a misfire, there had also been a jam in the actuator when the computer tried to override the thruster controls, she would need to get out there and deal with it herself. She unbuckled herself and pushed off towards the EVA suits.

"I guess it's time to stretch my legs."

Jim unbuckled and pushed himself after her to give her a hand. He miscalculated his push and ended up bumping into her. She latched onto him as they drifted from their goal and ricocheted gently off another wall. As they bounced, their arms clinging to each other, their eyes met. The mutual attraction had been there since day one and now it reignited and burned hot and bright. Neither had succumbed to it as it could easily cost them their contracts and they had only ever been awake in the company of Craig and Darren. But nonetheless their eyes softened as they managed to extricate themselves from each other and got to the suits.

Many people felt intense vertigo during an EVA, the immensity of it all could be very daunting. This far from the sun, the light of the Universe was all around her. Though the sun was still the brightest of the trillions upon trillions of bright pin points around her. The beauty of it made her heart race, almost as much as it had five minutes earlier when she had been in Jim's arms for that fleeting moment. She turned on the lights on her suit and turned towards her task. The jam wasn't that bad, really. A few minutes work and it was fixed.

"I think I got it, give it a whirl, Jim."

From his station Jim initiated the start up protocols. And then everything went to Hell. An undetectable microfracture in the thruster housing caused a blow out. Sarah had been caught unprepared and the blast had thrown her to the end of her tether. She bounced back but the tether broke, she was very slowly drifting away from the ship and as Jim's voice screamed over her headset, she slowly lost consciousness. Jim allowed his training to take over, he was in his suit and out the airlock in seconds. She would be fine, inertia would make sure she stayed close to the ship, but if she got outside the protection of the deflectors even a grain of sand would pierce her suit and kill her. Ultimately getting to her was not terribly dramatic, he had her inside within a few minutes and the life sign monitors within her suit let him know she was not in any danger. Nonetheless he had never felt such fear.

He got her out of the suit and, floating next to her, he managed to rouse her. She looked up at him and smiled. She could see the concern in his eyes and could feel his heart beating as he held her.

"You scared the shit out of me, Sarah."

Her fingers brushed his cheek. He blushed deeply and then she did as well. Awkwardness overwhelmed them and she spoke to break the tension.

"I've done better repair jobs."

Then quieter.

"Thank you."

Ten minutes later Jim was exiting his EVA suit having repaired the thruster, Sarah talking him through it step by step. She then began to initiate the firing sequence nursing the bump on her head. She pushed herself over to where Jim was securing his suit.

"Thrusters are online and the re-initialization sequence will begin in about five minutes."

She looked at him sheepishly for a minute as he kept trying to avoid looking at her. She reached out and touched his hand.

"I'm sorry about earlier, Jim. I wasn't thinking."

He sighed deeply then looked up into her eyes as his hand closed around hers.

"I'm sorry too, Sarah, I was thinking way too much."

His hand moved to her cheek as he pulled her gently into his arms. They floated away across the cabin as their lips met. The kiss was passionate and deep. They bounced off Sarah's capsule and slowly began to spin off towards the ceiling. There was no up or down but there was also no surface to lie on or push up against. Sarah wrapped her leg around him hooking her heels behind his legs. The passion of their kisses intensified and Sarah could tell that Jim was getting aroused. She unzipped his coveralls and slipped her hand inside.

"I never figured you as the commando type."

His hand started to massage her breast. Then helped her pull her bra off which drifted away. A level of ingenuity and thought was required for every movement and Sarah needed to keep her legs clamped around his hips to use both hands or they had a tendency to float away from each other. She was more than happy as it allowed her to grind into his erection and made his eyes roll into the back of his head. With her hands in his hair she arched her back as he began to kiss her breasts. She relished his mouth on her tender skin sending shivers deep within her. Their coveralls were discarded. They held each other with one hand and allowed the other to explore each other's bodies. Jim's erection was warm and throbbing in Sarah's hand she felt the pre-cum on the tip and gently rubbed the tip with it. Jim was rubbing Sarah's swollen clit between two fingers causing her to moan and squirm. He slid a finger inside her and used his thumb, drenched in her wetness to continue rubbing her clit. The thrusters fired as she screamed and a stream of fluid erupted from her creating a cascade of droplets across the cabin. Her body was still shaking as Jim held her tightly to him.

"Oh, I should probably have told you, I'm a squirter."

Droplets of her cum were drifting everywhere as he slowly licked and sucked her clit. It had been hard to find a way to pleasure her this way until she suggested to 69. This allowed them both to anchor themselves while they enjoyed giving and receiving. She took every inch of him deep into her throat and he moaned at the tightness. She couldn't let go to stroke his shaft but she managed none the less though his tongue and lips were making it very hard to concentrate. He slipped one finger into her wetness as he sucked she arched her back as much as she could and moaned deeply. He felt that moan and it caused him throb. A second finger he let drift towards her ass and he could hear her muffled assent and he let it slip inside. The speed of her sucking increased to a fever pitch bringing Jim to the point where he could no longer contain himself. She squirted again as her orgasm rocked her adding more droplets to those that floated around them.

"Oh God, Jim, I need you inside me so bad!"

But this proved to be the hardest part. It was almost impossible to thrust without the help of a solid object to push against. They found a myriad of ways for Sarah to slide down the length of his swollen shaft, but then once inside her warmth he could not thrust without them eventually drifting apart. In the end, their ingenuity prevailed in the form of the ladder that accessed the maintenance bay. Sarah held on to one rung with her hands, her legs wrapped around Jim's hips with him buried deep inside her. With his hands on the rail above hers, and his feet on another he was able to get the proper leverage. As the furry of their love increased droplets of cum flew out all around them. They kissed, moaned, writhed until she felt him throbbing and could hear his breath quicken. He exploded inside her, the feeling sending her over the brink as well while his whole body shook. They let go of the ladder and gently floated away in each others arms as their bodies continued to quiver in ecstasy.

As gravity normalized they floated to the floor along with the droplets of sweat and cum. They lay there, nestled in each other's arms until the floor became too hard and they had to shift positions. And as their positions shifted, one thing lead to another and they shared their love once more, though in a more traditional manner. They talked for over an hour after of everything and anything. Of hopes and dreams and how glad they were to have finally relieved the mounting tension between them. There was a great deal of laughter, kissing and soft touches. They eventually had to get up and clean the cabin and go back into stasis. The cleaning went quickly though there was a lot more laughter as they made sure there would be no evidence of their tryst They shared one last passionate embrace before returning to their respective capsules.

Jim entered his with a wink to Sarah, he had made up his mind, after this last run he would not renew his contract. Maybe it was time to settle down, maybe even try his hand on Gaia, there was always a need for engineers. He knew Sarah often talked about getting out of the company herself though until now he had never seen the appeal. Maybe she would even want to join him. Possibilities opened before his mind as the gas flooded the capsule and froze his smile in place.

As Sarah lay back in her capsule she smiled to herself. Of course the blown thruster had not been part of the plan but other than that she had gotten exactly what she wanted. Craig was a genius to have suggested this during the last routine maintenance. After all, that's how he got to spend some quality time with Darren without the company fretting about their repeated thaws throughout the trip. In a few weeks the computer glitch she had just manufactured would wake Jim again and necessitate her reawakening just as she had manufactured the one that caused the thruster malfunction. Craig was right that Jim had a thing for her despite her denials, and Craig had been right about one other thing, Zero G sex was amazing.