“Ten,” comes out of my headphones.

“Oh shit, this is really happening!” I say to myself, feeling the adrenaline rush.

“Nine.”

You know when you haven’t fully acknowledged that something totally amazing is going to happen and it’s only mere seconds before it starts that you fully grasp the enormity of it. Well, that’s where I’m right now!

“Eight.”

Oh, I need to pee so much. Why do we have to get in so early? We’ve been waiting for two hours now.

“Seven.”

Is it going to hurt? Of course, it’s going to hurt. Four Gs they said...

“Six.”

Hope Mom and Dad have found a good place to watch.

“Five.”

Oh, I hope we don’t fail, that would be the day!

“Four.”

What am I saying, I’m fulfilling my biggest dream and I think about getting hurt or dying?

“Three.”

Oh, my bladder. I don’t want to piss my pants.

“Two.”

Can we pause at this point? I need to go to the bathroom.

“One.”

OH SHIT! IT’S HAPPENING!

All of a sudden, everything starts to shake and I get pushed back in my chair. Even with the helmet and headphones, I can hear the deafening roar under me.

“LIFTOFF!” is blasted in my ears.

With each passing second, I feel more and more the acceleration pressing me in my chair. Everything is shaking and making weird noises as we pick up speed. I look up at the screen in front of me; we are already two kilometers in the air and going away from Earth at an impressive speed. My brain is in overload, from the pressure exerted on me and from the sheer realization that I will be accomplishing my long-time dream, I’m heading for space!

---

Me, Alex Bouchard, as incredible as it sounds, I’m going into space. From my young age, I have always been fascinated by it. From discovering fascinating new worlds, meeting new alien species, and having lots of adventures, I looked at the night sky as the goal of my life. Fast forward ten years or so, that dream has not wavered like many of my friends, but it got beaten pretty hard during admission to University. I selected the best way for me to fulfill my goal. I had to go for the big gun, for the Astronautical Administration Bachelor and Master program. In plain English, this would have given me all I need to become a starship captain. I prepared a year in advance, watching tons of YouTube videos on how to write your motivation letter, I took many mock tests of the qualifications exam and even had my father grill me in a fake interview. I felt ready, I failed miserably. I could blame the mock test for not representing how hard the exam really is, but I have now accepted that I just wasn’t meant to become captain.

When I received my refusal and the mediocre result of my test, I was able to apply for another program that still had empty seats. I went for my second choice, Computer Science. In the end, I was able to do a major in Computer Science and a minor in Astronautical Engineering. Even though I couldn’t get into Astronautical Administration, I could still enjoy doing some classes on the subject and learn about it. Realistically, I never thought it would serve me, at least not in the near future. There are so few job possibilities for a computer engineer on a starship, the chance for me to get one is non-existent, so I thought. At least not right after Uni.

After I graduated, I started searching for a job in network administration. I must have applied to hundreds of jobs, sometimes not even looking where I was applying. I just wanted to get a paycheck, to be able to get out of my parents’ house. After a long month of waiting, I got an email from a company called PSS to pass an interview. I didn’t look at who they were or what business they were in, I just accepted.

During the first Zoom meeting, the HR lady started blabbing about how the job requires long work hours, saying that I would be away for a month each trip and to take into consideration the hazard of the whole thing. This puzzled me and I was nervous about not understanding what I was getting myself into. Finally, she told me that I passed all the basic requirements, so the next interview would be with the Executive Office to see if I would fit in the crew. She told me that the interview would be in an hour, so we dropped the call.

I immediately Googled ‘PSS’ and I was delightfully shocked that I was applying for a job at Powell Star Shipping. It was good my folks weren’t home, I shouted and danced for nearly the hour between both interviews. Fortunately, it went very, very well. The XO, Bruce, seemed to have taken a liking for me and offered me the job without discussing it with the HR lady or even the captain. I found it weird that they didn’t want to look at other candidates, but, hey, not complaining. Long story short, I accepted the job on the ‘PSS Lady of the Stars’ as the computer specialist. As this is my first time in space, they offered me a single trip contract of thirty days, renewable if I did well.

After two weeks of orientation and company training at the PSS headquarters in the UK, I’m finally blasting off from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon18 with nineteen other employees. Our ride is for low Earth orbit, where the station ‘PSS Dot in the Sky’ is located and the ‘PSS Lady of the Stars’ is waiting for me to depart.

A little about me, I’m twenty-three years old, two meters tall, brown hair, blue eyes, and a slender and lightly muscular body. If you put me in a category, I’m in the nerdy geeky type. During my childhood and most of my teenage years, I was mostly closed up on myself, playing VR video games with the few friends I had and reading Sci-Fi e-books one after the other. With University and all the like-minded people that I meet there, I opened up to socializing. Friends would probably say that I’m impulsive and sometimes a little bit naive, I just say it’s part of my charms. It was also during my time at Uni that I lost my V card to Charlotte. We had a good six months of intense fun together, but in the end… We split up… After her, came few girlfriends that didn’t last very long, not finding what I was searching for in them. I’ve been single for nine months now and, to be honest, it’s good that I am, as a long-distance relationship doesn’t seem appealing.

---

Back to the present, we seem to be throttling down, some of the elephants sitting on my chest are moving off. I rotate my head toward the side of the capsule and I look through the porthole, seeing the atmosphere thinning and moving from a bright blue sky to a dark blue, and finally to black. The beginning of my journey is surreal and I just enjoy the whole experience, leaving all my fears on Earth. As the novelty of the event wears off, my heart starts to slow down and the adrenaline is thinning in my veins.

Suddenly, the engine thrusts stops and I hear mechanical sounds coming from under us. As I’m wondering what’s happening, we restart accelerating again. Looking at the screen, I see that we just dropped the first stage of the rocket. It will fly back to Earth, preparing for another liftoff.

As we continue our progress toward the station, I wonder why we are still using the same method as a hundred years ago to blast into orbit. No shuttle or transporter like in Star Trek... Oh shoot, I’ll be missing the release of the twentieth movie... Forget it, I’m making my own adventure right now!

The trip continues like this for another thirty minutes while we race toward the station. As we get closer, the vacuum engine stops roaring and I feel for the first-time weightlessness. In wonder, I focus on the sensation while the capsule is docking with the orbital station. It’s difficult to describe how it feels.

As we unbuckle and float out of the capsule, I feel my face hurting like never in the past. I realize that I’ve been smiling since launch, an hour ago. Even finding out that I’ve pissed my adult diaper on our way up doesn’t remove the grin off my face, I’m finally in space!

After removing my spacesuit and taking five minutes to change to my normal clothes, a welcome attendant tells me that I need to head directly for docking port twelve as the ‘PSS Lady of the Stars’ is waiting for me to depart. This means no time to visit the station, unfortunately. With a little bit of disappointment, I push myself through the corridors to the docking port twelve. To be honest, this section of the station is not that impressive, it’s just a wide and curved corridor with lots of handlebars on the walls so people can guide themselves while floating around.

As I get closer to docking port twelve, I see space through the starboard portholes. I awkwardly move in front of one and marvel at the emptiness of space. As I look out, I can see part of Earth on the right, the curvature of our big blue marble. I take a mental picture in case I miss it during the trip.

Looking left, I see a ship and figure out this is the ‘PSS Lady of the Stars’. It’s not one of those sexy-looking ships from Sci-Fi like in last year’s movie Battleground Mars or Star Trek NCC-1701-I from the last movie. To be honest, it looks like a big box with a ring and multiple bells protruding at the back. Looking at it closely, I remember from my astronautical classes that the bells are for sub-light propulsion and the ring is for warp propulsion. What is even more surprising is how non-aerodynamic the ship would be if it would get in contact with an atmosphere. All of the big cargo pods are mounted on the four side faces of the cube, looking like a big plus. The ship seems to be relatively new, it’s not too scratched and the paint seems to be in good shape. I don’t know how long I stayed there, but I realize that I should get going, I don’t want my new colleagues waiting for me.

As I finally arrive at docking port twelve, I see Bruce, the XO of the ship, in conversation with a dock worker. Bruce is taller than I, close to 2.1 meters, dark brown skin, blue eyes, and short dark hair. He has a football frame with muscles showing on his somewhat tight flight suit. From our interview over Zoom, he has a slight South African accent.

As he raises his head from his tablet, he sees me approaching. With an impatient tone, he says, “Alex, we have been waiting for you! It doesn’t take long to remove a suit. On your way, have you stopped in the red-light district?”

I freeze in fright, my premonition realizing. Here is my first day on what should be the best job I could hope for and I’m already late. As I search for apologies explaining my lateness, I don’t realize that I’m not stopping, floating past docking port twelve. Finally, figuring out that I should find a handlebar to stop drifting, I panic and start making lots of quick gestures in trying to stop me. Not only this didn’t help me in any way, but now I’m rotating on all three axes while still drifting away.

Suddenly, a hand grabs and stabilizes me. As my head stops spinning, I find myself face to face with Bruce, who sports a huge grin while laughing.

“Wow, that was the funniest reaction to one of my jokes. For that, I’m already glad that we hired you,” Bruce says to me, proud of himself.

Not knowing what to answer, I blurt, “Eh, thank you?”

“Don’t worry, we have grav-plating on the ship. This shouldn’t be a problem for you,” Bruce says, trying to stifle a laugh.

“Sorry if I’m late. I stopped for ten seconds to look at the ship. Maybe I stayed too long. I was marveling at the ship—” I say quickly, trying to explain myself.

“Whoa, slow down, cowboy. It’s a joke,” Bruce says, trying very hard not to laugh.

“So, I’m not late?” I ask Bruce, hopeful that I’m not causing a delay.

“No, you’re not late. We have been waiting for you, but your luggage and our last food provisions haven’t been unloaded from the capsule you just rode. It will take another hour before we can undock,” Bruce confirms.

I feel an immediate sentiment of relief. It wouldn’t be a good start for the trip and my career in space.

“So, let’s do a tour of the ship while we wait for what’s missing,” Bruce suggests.

“I would love that, thank you,” I accept joyfully.

“Follow me,” Bruce replies. He turns around and float away, toward the docking port.

I follow him more slowly, to make sure I don’t repeat my mishap. As we exit the long docking port, we arrive in an oval room with a long bench in the middle. On the two side walls, there are ten white and gray EV suits, all strapped in compartments. It looks like to be the room where you suit up if you need to do an EVA.

Bruce stops at the airlock, on the other side of the room. “As we cross this airlock, the grav-plating takes effect. So, make sure that you have your feet on the ground when you pass the threshold. I suggest that you try to sit on the airlock rings and then pass your legs through. Blasting from the surface is hard on your body, you will be able to judge if you can support normal Earth gravity,” he says seriously. Changing his tone, he playfully tells me, winking at the same time, “Otherwise, I’ll have to carry you to your room.”

Okay... Is there a hidden message? Oh well, I may as well do as he says, the prospect of having him carry me to my room is not really the way I want to make my entrance on the ship.

Bruce passes the threshold and invites me to follow. Using the handlebars to guide me, I get close to the airlock rings and slowly swing my legs on the other side. As they cross the border, I feel their weight again, making my body move down on the ring, my feet attracted to the floor. The sensation is weird, having one half of your body in weightlessness and the other on normal Earth’s gravity. I test my legs and finally raise myself from the airlock rings, using the handlebars on the side. The transition is not too bad, but I understand what he means by the fatigue of the trip. Nonetheless, I steady myself and offer a brave smile to Bruce.

“Good job. Let start this tour then,” Bruce says. He points to the door on the left, “This is the bridge.” He points to the door on the right, “This is the captain’s stateroom.” Looking back, he points to another airlock directly in front of us, “This is the starboard airlock.” He finishes with the middle of the hallway, “Here we have the stairs and the elevator that connect all decks. The ship has five of them, we should have the time to visit everything.” With that explained, he heads for the bridge.

I follow slowly after him, taking in what would be my home for the next month. The interior of the ship is composed of brushed metal panels for the wall and ceiling and textured plates for the floor. All are coated with gray paints of different shades and few lines of black to delimit doors and wall-mounted equipment. I wouldn’t say it’s dull, but it definitely hasn’t won any prizes for its interior design. It shows that the ship has been in use for some time, as there are some marks here and there, some pucks or dings in few places.

As I enter the bridge, my heart speeds up, my brain going in overdrive. I look around with wide eyes and a bright smile, I finally made it. I marvel at every detail: the viewscreen, the stations, the chairs, the little locker on the wall, the lighting on the ceiling… I hear Bruce clear his throat, to gain my attention.

He is beside a very beautiful woman. I would say 1.8 meters tall, slightly curled blond hair that goes a little bit past her shoulders, very bright green eyes, and a smile that is going to make you fall in love with her instantly. I try not to stare too much, but man, she has big tits, bigger than any of my previous girlfriends. With her very slim shape and curved ass, my attraction for her is so intense that I have to force myself to look her in the eyes.

Trying to sound competent and not that distracted by her beauty, I say, “Alex Bouchard, reporting for duty, captain.” Thinking that I’ve made a proper introduction, I breathe easy. I wasn’t expecting the reaction I got from her.

With annoyance and her British accent, she tells me, “Bloody hell! You know, Alex, this isn’t a military ship. I don’t want you to be all tensed up, calling me captain. You call me Angela. No captain, no madam, and especially, no Miss Powell.”

Oh, that wasn’t what I was expecting of her, captains are usually very distant and formal. Her last name also concerns me, is she in the family of the founder and CEO of PSS, Matt Powell? Even though she just told me that she wants me to use her first name, I don’t feel comfortable doing so… It’s too informal.

“If I may ask capt...” I start to say, but stop as I see her look of annoyance, back on her face. I quickly decide that she is very serious about it. “Angela, are you related to M. Powell, the CEO of PSS?” I ask her, getting anxious about my poor performance with the captain so far.

She seems to agree with my revised use of her name. “Yes, I’m his daughter,” she tells me with a smile.

OH SHIT! I’m on the ship captained by the daughter of the CEO of the company? I’ll have to be very careful if I want to keep my job.

Angela lightly laughs at my disconcert and says, “Don’t worry, it’s not because I’m the CEO’s daughter that I’ll be bossing your ass off. I prefer leaving that to Bruce.”

I look at the XO, he has a huge grin on his face. “Oh yeah, I’ll be bossing your ass alright!” he says with confidence.

This is a weird thing to say? Oh well, he seems to joke a lot. It still makes me uncomfortable.

Angela rolls her eyes and says, “Anyway... Welcome on the Lady of the Stars. I hope you like our crew. Let’s see, maybe this will not be your only trip with us,” she says with a comforting smile. “As you can imagine, we are currently preparing to depart from the station, so I have to get back to it. We can catch-up later for a proper introduction?” she asks me.

“Thank you, Angela. Yes, I would love that,” I tell her.

She turns to Bruce and asks him, “Are you going to do the tour with him? Introducing everyone?”

He replies, “Of course. I was to show him all the dark corners of the ship.”

Angela sighs heavily. “Don’t be too hard on him, please. I don’t want a repeat of last time; too much paperwork,” she pleads to him.

“Okay, okay, I’ll be gentle,” he replies to her, but winking at me.

What a weird dude! This can’t be just joking around…

With that settled, Angela turns her chair toward the viewscreen and looks at some of the screens she has in front of her.

Bruce swings his arm to show the bridge and say, “So, here is the bridge, the central control center of the ship.”

As he speaks, I fully take on the room. In the form of a half-cylinder, the bridge contains six stations. Two are located in the back, for the captain and XO, and four in front of the curved wall for the different departments. In front of those stations, the main viewscreen occupies most of the wall, currently displaying part of the orbital station on the left and space everywhere else. It also superimposes some text and graphs of the ship statistics for everyone to see. Each station is composed of multiple screens directly in front of the operator and a flat desk where you have a keyboard and mouse, a ton of buttons to trigger actions and other gadgets specific for the function of the station.

Bruce brings me to the first one on the right, where the communication specialist is seated. From the back, she seems to be shorter than me, close to 1.7 meters, but with long and straight dark hair that goes to her hip. Bruce tells her, “Akari, I would like you to meet Alex, our new computer specialist.”

As she turns, I’m dumbstruck by her Japanese traits. Her petite figure is so beautiful, with her brown eyes, small nose, and narrow, but reddish, lips. Her breasts aren’t nearly as big as Angela's, but her C cup tits are just enough for her flight suit to be stretched in front. As she rises from her chair, her slim body is well molded by her suit, showing all her curves.

As she sees how shy I’m, she smiles widely and says in Japanese, “あなたはすてきな受けから、ブルースはあなたを愛します。” My surprise must show on my face, as she starts laughing. “Don’t worry, I also speak English. It’s nice to meet you, Alex. I’m Akari,” she tells me with a bright smile.

I regain my composure and reply, “It’s nice to meet you too, Akari. Could I ask, what did you just say in Japanese?”

She replies with a devilish smile, “Sorry, it doesn’t translate well in English. It’s a sort of greeting.”

I have the feeling that she is deceiving me, that it wasn’t a greeting.

Before I can reply, she listens to her headphones. I assume she is receiving some instructions over the comm. “I have to get back to my comm line, but I hope to see you later to know you better?” she asks me, returning to a bright smile.

“I would love that," I tell her, returning her smile. I feel my cheeks reddening a little bit, she is very attractive and I would really love to know her better.

“後で, which means later,” she tells me with a warm smile.

I try to reply with the same word, but it blurts out like ‘Hatobe’.

She laughs softly and pronounces each syllable individually, “It’s a-to-de.” As I was to try again, I hear a voice coming from her headphone. She mouths ‘Sorry’ and turns around to answer the request she just received over the comm line.

I turn to Bruce, who is laughing his ass off. “Let’s go meet our navigator before you embarrass yourself even more,” he tells me.

We move to the next station and as the person sitting on the chair starts to swing around, something catches my eyes. Not only do I see purple hair, but it looks like their skin is also a shade of purple-blue. As their face comes into view, I suddenly realize that I have a Volnec in front of me.

As humans invented warp drive around thirty years ago, we started exploring our neighboring stars and we discovered the Volnecs in the solar system of Wolf 359. Since then, we have discovered many other alien species, but the Volnecs have been our closest allies. I have seen many through VR content and some in the distance, but never one up-close.

As they rise, I can fully register the differences between our two species. Their skin is not like humans, it looks like a sort of soft shell, closer to leather but more, much more durable and harder. Their frame is pretty similar to humans, two legs, two arms, flat chest, and a bigger head on a smaller neck than most humans. Looking at their face, I see their deep purple eyes, a little bit bigger in comparison with humans. The nose is only a small protrusion with nostrils completely visible. Their mouth is wider, making their smile so big, showing all of their teeth. Speaking of, I see that they have a dentition similar to humans. One clear difference, though, they have more pronounced canine teeth, finishing in fine points that would easily pierce my skin if they bit my arm. Those teeth give their smile a ferocious effect, which is kind of attractive.

Bruce introduces me to the Volnec, “Alex, this is Blistas, our navigator.”

I only blurt a small ‘Hi’ as I’m feeling intimidated in the presence of a Volnec. I always wanted to meet one, but even though I have seen many in VR, it’s nothing compared to seeing one in person.

They just start laughing, which is a kind of a high pitch sound. “Am I the first Volnec you have met?” they ask.

“I’m so sorry, it is no disrespect. Yes, you are the first Volnec that I have seen in person,” I try to explain to them, feeling shy.

“Don’t worry, your reaction is very common. I wish for us to have time over the trip to know each other, maybe become friends?” they tell me with an even wider smile.

This is making me even more attracted to them. It’s a weird sentiment to be allured by a non-human, but they are so arousing right now. Maybe it’s just the fact that I have a Volnec in front of me, rather than sexual attraction, but there is definitely something there. Although, thinking of the urban legends, could they be true?

“I would love that!” I shyly reply, really hoping I can get closer to them and to learn more about their kind.

“And, before you ask, you can use feminine pronouns with me, that’s what I prefer and what the rest of the crew use with me,” they suggest. At first, I don’t get what they are saying, but I soon realize that because they are an alien, our customs of using pronouns based on our sexual identity doesn’t really work with the Volnecs. Because of this, most Volnecs choose between the different groups of pronouns that humans are using, for ease of communication.

“Okay, I didn’t even think about it. Thank you for sharing, Blistas,” I confess to her.

“You are welcome,” she replies. “Let’s have a chat later. I’m eager to know you better.”

“Okay,” I say cheerfully.

She gives me a small wave using her purple hand and turns around to her station.

As we move to the third station, I see that it is empty.

“It looks like our tactical specialist is not at her post...” says Bruce.

I approach the station and take a look at all the consoles and buttons.

“Ah, here she is!”

I don’t pay attention to what Bruce just said as I familiarize myself with the displays, making sure not to touch anything. Suddenly, I feel a presence behind me. Not only do I have the feeling of being watched, but the presence is creating a shadow all around me. Thinking that it might be Bruce, I turn around and come face to face with the most badass woman... No, badass isn’t even strong enough for her! Her arms are as big as her legs. Her flight suit accentuating the fact that she has a six-pack. Her breasts are not only big, it looks like they could kill me if I put my head between them. Finally, her head is so muscled that I see some of them twitch through her skin.

If I wouldn’t have pissed my diaper during liftoff, I would have just now!

Her face is the definition of danger. When she speaks, her deep voice is just the stuff of nightmares. “Bruce, is that our new recruit? I hope so for his sake because otherwise, he’ll be in a lot of pain, real fast!” she says as she sends her right fist in her open left hand, showing what she would do to me.

Even though I know I’m the new recruit, this leaves me shit-scared. My hands are getting sweaty, my face flushing, my legs slightly shaking.

For the first time, I see Bruce losing his smile as he puts himself between the muscle block and me. “Yes, yes, he’s our new recruit. Don’t punch him, it’s cool! We are cool! Ag, shame girl, calm down!” he says, his South African accent showing more as he’s nervous.

“He’d better be!” she simply replies.

As Bruce sees that she will not punch and massacre my face, he moves aside and makes the presentation. “So... Alex, this is Emma, our tactical specialist.”

As he gives her name, it softens the tough image I’ve made of her... It makes me laugh a little bit, fortunately, it passes as nervousness. “Hi, Emma... It’s nice to meet you!?”

She simple reply, “Likewise,” while fixing me intensely. Few very tense seconds pass without either talking, increasing the tension. She is looking at me with increased annoyance, her eyes closing to a slit, her breathing increasing slightly, her lips getting white as they close tighter. “You’re in my way. I need to finish checking our armament and defense system before we undock,” she finally explains.

“Oh, so sorry, I’ll leave you to your station,” I quickly say and move promptly to the right, onto the next console.

Without any thank you or acknowledgment, she sits in her chair and starts working on the controls.

I look at Bruce, he shrugs and mouths, ‘Sorry.’

“And, here is the final station on the bridge, yours,” he tells me, pointing at the console I’m sitting on.

Oh yeah, I have a station on the bridge. I quickly forget about the whole ordeal with Emma, turning around and looking intensively to where I’ll be working for the next month. I marvel at the controls, look at the graphs on the monitors and read the different buttons. I savor the moment, a smile on my face.

“The chair is yours, take it for a minute,” Bruce encourages me.

As I sit, I’m overwhelmed with the pride that I’ve finally made it, that I’ll be working on a starship for the next month, and hopefully for more. As much as I thought my dream would only be realized through space tourism, I’m now feeling more complete than ever before. If we were in a game, I little popup would appear, saying, ‘Achievement: Space, The Final Frontier!’

I must have spent a long time gazing at the console, because Bruce clears his throat before saying, “Should we visit the rest of the ship or you are good staying here with your intellectual masturbation?”

I turn around and lightly laugh at his joke, before replying, “Let’s go see the rest of the ship, I’ll have time to... get some intellectual pleasure later.”

Bruce laughs and we go for the bridge door. As we pass by the captain, she looks at me and gives me a thumbs up. Awkwardly, I nod back.

We exit the bridge and take the stairs to the second deck. “You might find the ship small for a crew of ten, but the good thing is that we are away for a month or two at a time. As we come back to Earth, we always have a week of time off for each month we are away. It’s more than what other crews have, but as Angela is the daughter’s boss, we get some perks,” Bruce explains.

As we come into the second deck, we enter the recreational area. In an open space concept, there are couches with a wall-mounted TV, a closed-off VR section for immersive simulations and a long table with ten seats.

“As you can see, we are equipped to help pass the time. As much as we are working during our shifts, you will find that we have a lot of free time after hours. So, you can come here during your evenings or day off, having coffee, playing games, or whatever you fancy,” he explains.

We continue and head for one of the two doors of the galley. “Here you can pick up any food you like at any time, but dinner is always prepared by Natasha. I’m sure she will ask what are your food preferences so she can prepare something for you from time to time. We have a finite amount of food, so don’t eat all the chips on the first day, okay?” he explains to me, smiling.

“I’ll try...” I reply jokingly.

“Good, a joke, I love you even more,” he says with another of his wink.

What is with this guy and winking at me all the time.

We exit the galley and head for the stairs, to go to the third deck. “Here are three rooms, the one right beside you is Emma’s, the one on the other side of the deck is Doctor Natasha's room, and the one in the middle...” he tells me, while he presses the door control, “… is mine.”

As the lights come on, all of the winks, sexual innuendo, and inappropriate jokes are explained. On the walls of the whole cabin, there are posters and pictures of nude men, either alone or with other men, some in crude sexual positions. As my eyes gaze over the room, I see many dildos, butt plugs, and masturbators scattered across it. To top it off, on the computer monitor, there is a gay gang bang video with a dozen or more men wanking, sucking or fucking each other.

As it registers in my mind, I suddenly understand that Bruce might have a liking for me, in more ways than just professional. As flattering it might be, I’m not gay. So… This is so awkward.

“As you can see, we can decorate our rooms as much as we want, but as you have been hired on probation for now, I would ask that you don’t do anything that would be difficult to remove,” he tells me, completely ignoring that he’s showing me the palace of gay porn on the ship. He closes the door and scrutinizes my reaction, trying to see if I would reciprocate his not-so-subtle message.

As I can’t find anything else, I just say nervously, “Okay, I’ll refrain from decorating too much my room.”

His eyes become a little bit sad that I haven’t given him any hint that I might be interested. Then, it’s not like I am, but it still saddens me, I don’t know why.

Fortunately, his control takes over again and with a playful voice, he says, “Okay, let’s go see the third deck.”

We head for the stairs, giving me time to process what has just happened. Even though I’ve just embarked on a fantastic journey, this worries me. I don’t want Bruce to think that he has a chance with me... If he continues to make advances, I might have to directly tell him that it will never happen.

As we get out of the stairs, Bruce points to the room on the right, explaining, “This is the medical bay, let’s see if Natasha is in there.”

As we head for the doors, it opens and a woman gets out. Her face is delicate, with blue eyes, dark brown hair that ends a little bit before her shoulders, B or C cup breasts, and a body fit for her size. She looks to be in her fifties, gray hair appearing left and right. Even considering all this, she is still very beautiful.

“Oh, would that be Alex?” she asks, looking at Bruce and me.

“Here he is. Alex, Natasha is our doctor and cook on the ship,” Bruce explains.

“It’s nice to make your acquaintance, ma’am,” I tell her, trying to be respectful.

“Oh my, what a polite young man. I’m sure Angela has already made you aware that we aren’t very strict on our ship. Please, call me Natasha,” she requests, with a gentle smile.

“Yes, the captain has been very... persuasive about this,” I say jokingly.

“I’m sure she has been,” the doctor replies warmly. Continuing on a more serious note, “When we are underway, I would like to do a medical checkup of you, to make sure the file I have is correct and that we will not have any surprise on the road. Also, as this is your first deep space voyage, let’s meet from time to time to chat, to see how it goes. Finally, don’t be shy if you have any concerns, medical or otherwise. Reach out to me, I’m here to help everyone.”

“Thank you, I will keep that in mind. Do you need me at a specific time for my medical checkup?” I ask her.

“No, don’t worry. Just make sure to see me today or tomorrow at the latest, when your duties permit. It should take around thirty minutes to an hour,” she explains. She looks at Bruce, asking, “If you could make sure he has some time off to see me, it will be appreciated.”

“No worry, Natasha, he will have time this afternoon, I have scheduled today to be light on duty,” Bruce replies to her.

“Very thoughtful of you,” she says to Bruce with a soft smile. She turns toward me and says, “Well, in that case, we will see each other later today. Just knock on my door.”

“I will,” I reply to her.

“Well, I’m heading for the bridge, to give my preflight checklist to Angela, see you later,” Natasha says, as she heads for the stairs.

“Alright, next is the gym,” Bruce says, pointing toward the other door on the wall. “Even if we have grav-plating, it is always recommended to exercise as we are in a small space for a long time. If you need help to choose an exercise regiment, don’t hesitate to ask me, I can show you some stretching exercises,” he tells me with a grin and a wink.

Really? I thought this was over. I hope he’s going to calm down.

Before I can answer, we enter the gym and see an old man sweeping the floor with a broom.

Bruce gets an air of discomfort and tells me, “That’s Bill, he’s the… janitor of the ship. We just call him Disy.”

Before I can ask why, the old man barks with his Scottish accent, “You scabby numpty, don’t enter with your shoes. I’m not done cleaning yet, you pillock!”

And now I get it, he’s just a grumpy old fart. I look at Bruce, he shrugs.

Before we can say anything, Disy continues, “So, you got yourself a new boy toy, Bruce? Well, as long as you do it in your rooms, I don’t mind.”

What the fuck? I thought that Bruce was the worst, Bill is intense! And, does everyone know that Bruce…

“Be nice, Disy,” Bruce scold Bill. Then, he looks at me with despair and tells me, “Well, that’s Disy!”

As we slowly retreat out of the gym, I hear ‘Aye!’ coming from the room and the sound of Disy sweeping the floor again.

As we head toward the center of the ship, Bruce tries to explain what just happened, “Don’t mind him, he’s just old and… let’s just say he’s a good friend of the CEO, so what can you do. Just stay clear of him and he’s not going to bother you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I reply, with a puzzled look. Curiosity pushes me to ask the question, “How did he get the nickname?”

“Because he is just so disagreeable… and he makes everyone dizzy," he tells me, a resigned smile on his face.

I chuckle at the explanation. Bill sure wears his nickname well.

With that question answered, we continue our tour of the ship. “Here, we have the communal showers and the bathrooms are on the other side of the stairs. Only the captain has her own, the rest of us share the same facilities. The rules are simple, clean after yourself, respect the privacy of others, and no peeking,” he finishes with one of his winks.

I’m not sure what to think about the communal bathroom, but it’s not like I have a choice. As long as I don’t go while Bruce is in there, it should be fine. Although, it also means that I might run into the rest of the female crew.

“For sure,” I reply quickly, laughing nervously at the thoughts in my head, at all the possibilities this opens.

He grins as he sees my discomfort. We continue toward the wall, with what I assume are other cabins. “This is your room,” he says, pressing the door control so we can get inside.

Like his room, mine is equipped with a double bed on one wall, a desk on the adjoining wall and some storage space on the wall by the door.

“As you can see, it’s not super big, but it’s functional during our trips. When your bags are in and we are underway, I suggest you spend time storing your belonging and make yourself at home,” Bruce suggests.

I reply, “I think that’s a good idea, I’ll do that.” It will also allow me time to reflect on the day’s events.

As we get out, Bruce shows me the next two rooms. “The one beside you is Blistas’ and the last one is Akari’s,” he tells me.

So, I share the deck with two gorgeous women... well one woman and one Volnec. I don’t want to be too hopeful, but maybe...

“Okay, next is deck four,” Bruce says, going for the stairs. “Deck four is mostly for the electric panels, the server room, and some components of the warp engines. So, you will spend time there for repairs and to assist our engineer,” Bruce explains.

As we exit on the fourth deck, the door on the right opens and a woman gets out of the room. Seeing us, she smiles widely and walks toward us.

As she gets closer, I start to question my determination that she is a woman. Sure, she has breasts, she has the curves of a woman, but her face and some of the details of her body are making me doubt. When she is in front of me, two of her features tell me that she isn’t a human woman. Her skin doesn’t look natural and her iris is not round like a human, it’s in the form of a cogwheel. My suspicions are confirmed by Bruce.

“Alex, this is L-33T, our engineer. She is a sentient robot, deserving the respect of everyone, like any other crew member,” he presents her to me.

Okay, this blows my fucking mind! I know that sentient robots exist, but it’s even rarer than an alien on Earth. I thought that because they were too expensive, they would only be acquired for jobs that are too hazardous for humans.

“Alex, it is nice to meet you. I hope that we can work well together, as I’m sure we will be helping each other in the upcoming month,” she says softly to me.

I want to reply, but when I try to speak, nothing comes out.

“First time seeing one of my kind, I assume? I get that a lot. Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” she jokes at my expense.

Still under her spell, I just nod to her question.

“Well, in that case, when you have found your voice, come see me. You can find me in the engine room most of the time,” she explains with her soft voice. With that, she heads toward the door on the other side of the corridor. Just after passing us, she turns toward me and says, “By the way, you can also call me Leet if you want.” She smiles at me when I nod at her. She continues her way toward the engine room, leaving me in deep wonder.

I cannot stop admiring her ass, well-rounded, just big enough to have a smooth curve and a small bounce as she walks away. The spell only fades when she goes through the door and disappears from my view.

“Hello, the moon calls, Alex!” says Bruce, trying to get my attention. I jerk my head toward him, still dumbstruck by my recent acquaintance with the ship’s engineer. “Are you alright? you look like a gazelle on the road, watching a truck coming at it,” Bruce asks with a soft laugh.

My voice comes back and I tell him, “It’s the first time I meet a sentient robot, she is so fantastic! She seems as alive as you and I!”

“Well, I hope that you get your voice back before tomorrow, as you will be working with her most of the day,” he says. Looking at his watch, he tells me, “Okay, we need to hurry, your luggage and the last provisions should be on the ship very soon. We will need to be on the bridge for the departure, so let’s make it quick.”

“Sounds good,” I reply.

“Okay, so the three personal rooms are from right to left L-33T’s, Disy’s, and our night watch, Adriana’s. She is most likely asleep right now, to prepare for her shift tonight. You will only meet her later,” Bruce explains.

He heads for the secondary door of the mechanical room and opens it for me to take a quick look. “This is the top of the engine, the server room, and electrical systems. The two racks on the right are the servers you need to maintain and protect during the trip, so I have prepared some documentation for you to review after we leave orbit.”

“No problem, I have been reviewing the specifications using the orientation documentation, so they should be pretty familiar,” I reply, trying to show some professionalism.

“Good. Let’s proceed to the last deck,” he tells me.

We get down the stairs toward deck five and here, the background noise is much louder. “This is the main engine room. Behind this bulkhead lies the matter-antimatter chamber and the beginning of the nacelle. When we are warping, nobody except Leet can go into the room as the radiation is too harsh. If we need to, we either drop from warp or we have some suits that we can use, but they are for the worst situations only,” he explains, pointing toward the two anti-radiation suits on the wall.

“On the other side, we have the shuttle bay. We only have one shuttle, but we mostly use it to carry storage pods on destinations without tugs. It is also our emergency life raft if we need to abandon ship. It doesn’t have a warp engine, but it’s equipped with a powerful subspace radio to alert any ship nearby.”

He looks at me, asking, “Do you have any questions or is there something you would like to know?”

Before I could answer, the voice of the captain is heard over the intercom, “Bruce, Alex, we need you on the bridge. We have our last provisions and we need to be underway to leave the docking bay for another ship. Everyone, prepare for departure and get ready to provide your go-no-go report.”

“Well, Alex, questions will have to wait. Let’s get this show on the road!” Bruce says lively. “Let’s use the elevator, it should be faster.”

We head for the glass shaft and as the cabin gets down to our deck, the transparent walls allow me to see something: it’s a small elevator.

Bruce opens the door and invites me to enter first. It’s so small that only one person can be abreast and three deep. I get in the back, leaving space for Bruce. He closes the door and selects the first deck.

As the elevator starts its climb, he looks at me and says, “We usually only use the elevator to move freight from one deck to another, it’s too slow and cramped for real use... Although sometimes close spaces can be... energizing.” He raises his eyebrows.

Oh man, he just never stops. I give him a nervous laugh and look at the level indicator. Third deck, this elevator is really slow. He continues to stare at me while we are moving up, a smirk on his face. This is getting uncomfortable; I feel like I’m a piece of meat.

We arrive on the first deck, the elevator making a ding. He opens the door and gets out, keeping an eye on me. I slowly exit the elevator, making sure to keep my distance from him.

As we get on the bridge, Captain Angela turns toward us and says, “Right on time, gentlemen, we are almost ready for departure.” She looks at me, “Alex, if you could take your station and do a preflight check of the computers? I assume you have seen that procedure in your training?”

Still shaken up from the elevator ride and Bruce’s comment, I welcome a change of pace and actually do something. “Yes, I have studied the procedure and reviewed it in the last days, in preparation for today,” I tell her, feeling relieved that I did.

Angela gives me a bright smile and invites me to my station. This lightens my mood as I go sit in front of it. During my training, I have familiarized myself with the layout, but actually seeing it in person is a different experience.

Bringing up the preflight checklist on one of the monitors, I go through the different checks, making sure that our navigation systems, our deflector management solution, and many other critical systems are ready for the journey. This takes me a good fifteen minutes, as I need to remind myself where to look for the different checks.

At some point, Bruce comes around and looks at what I’m doing, most likely supervising as I’m the newbie. I only register his presence as I see his reflection in some of the panels, but I completely ignore him as I focus on actually doing a great job.

With my checklist done, I turn toward the captain and tell her, “Preflight computer checklist completed, captain.”

She looks at me like I forgot to say thank you.

“I mean, Angela,” I correct myself.

“Thank you, Alex.” She turns toward the communication specialist and asks, “Akari, please notify the tower that we are ready for departure.”

Akari nods at Angela and speaks into her microphone, “Dot in the Sky Tower, this is the Lady of the Stars, we are ready for departure.” She listens for few seconds and says to the captain, “Tower is giving us permission to depart. They ask to disengage the clamps and links on the docking port.”

Angela turns toward Bruce, asking him, “Let’s get going, please disconnect from the station.”

Bruce pushes some buttons and confirms to the captain, “Clamps retracted, the electric lines are disconnected, and the network has switched to wireless. We are free of the docking port.”

Angela turns to Akari, nodding to continue with the procedure.

“Dot in the Sky Tower, this is the Lady of the Stars. We are completely disconnected from the docking. We are ready for taxiing.” Akari listens again for the instructions and repeats for the captain, “We have our clearance for taxiing, starboard on half-thrusters for five hundred meters to clear the inner protection zone. Then, dead ahead on minimal engine thrust for ten kilometers to clear the outer protection zone. Finally, rotate toward Sirius and ask for warp clearance.”

“Perfect, the usual.” She touches some buttons on her station and says, “Everyone, we are allowed to taxi, let’s do a roll call. Natasha?”

The Doctor replies through the intercom, “We have received our last provisions and all is accounted for. I have no warning on the environmental systems. Good to go.”

“Leet?” the captain continues.

L-33T answers, “Engines are nominal, the deflector is currently charging, we are good to go.”

“Disy... still living down there?”

“Aye!” is the only answer we get from him.

“Akari?”

“Both communication systems are working and so far, the trajectory toward Sirius is clear,” she confirms.

“Emma?”

“Weapons are charged and ready on your command. Radar shows no sign of threats. We are good to go,” the woman beside me replies.

“Blistas?”

“Navigation is working, the latest star chart has been uploaded and our travel time to Sirius should be fifteen days and two hours. Good to go,” our Volnec navigator tells the captain.

“Alex?”

“Navigation computer is working as expected, no computational error found in the trajectory. All systems show green. Good to go!” I tell her with enthusiasm, looking forward to the beginning of our journey.

“Good job, Alex. Bruce?” the captain tells me with a smile, before looking at our XO.

“All departments have given their go. No issues to report on my screens. We are good to go, Angela,” he replies.

“Splendid! Everyone, secure yourself, we are beginning taxiing in thirty seconds,” Angela orders before shutting off the intercom.

I turn around and grab the three-point harness on my chair and buckle myself. I turn toward Blistas and the viewscreen to look at our departure from the station.

She sees me looking at her and tells me with her huge smile, “I’ll be gentle as it is your first time.”

What is it with everyone and sex innuendos? Although, it’s not like I mind it coming from Blistas. “Thanks...” I tell her, blushing. I can hear some soft laughter around me, but I don’t look. My eyes are on the viewscreen as we are to depart.

Blistas engages the thrusters and slowly pushes us away from the station. I start to feel the acceleration on my body as she moves the ship. As we reach our first mark of five hundred meters, she engages the sub-light engine to change our direction of movement toward the front. I let go a sound of surprise as my head is pushed back against the headrest of the seat.

“Was I too rough?” Blistas asks me, chuckling.

“I can take it,” I tell her, trying to return the joke. She quickly looks at me with a renewed smile and a little surprise from my playfulness.

We continue to head out of the protection zones of the station. When we reach the ten-kilometer radius, the outer bound of the station, the captain asks Akari, “Please notify the tower that we have cleared the protection zone and that we are requesting warp clearance.”

As Akari repeats the request, I marvel at the fact that even though space is immense, we still need to make sure we don’t collide with other ships.

“Warp clearance confirmed, Angela. We are good to jump,” Akari confirms.

“Alright. Blistas, charge the warp drive,” the captain asks our Volnec navigator.

“Starting the warp engine, our route is entered and confirmed... capacitors filled at 50%... 75%... 90%... 95%... 98%... 100%. We are ready for warp,” Blistas confirms.

“Alright, let’s go!” Angela says lively, a bright smile on her face.

With the captain’s approval, Blistas push the magic button and we are going. On the viewscreen, I see the stars shooting at us, creating long streaks of lights going past us.

And with this simple push of a button, my adventure into deep space starts and not only I’ll be able to see another solar system, it seems that I’ll be spending the trip with colorful individuals. And, who knows, I might have some fun in the process!