The Outer Moon (A Sapphic Sci Fi Adventure)

Chapter 16

Now that the ships had arrived in the new system, they moved quickly towards the moon where they hoped to set up their new home. As much as they wanted to sightsee, there was still an element of danger in the unknown environment. It was decided that if there was a desire to see the system, and time was available, they could easily take turns bringing some of the people up to see the new planets on a tour instead. It was already a stunning view for all of the people that had grown up with the old solar system models that they'd learned about for all their lives up until now.

That didn't mean they didn't have an amazing time as they travelled though. The gas giant that they were heading towards was a gorgeous blue and green striped mass that dominated their vision as they got closer. The moon they were going to was located the furthest from it, and was roughly the size of their own Earth, perhaps a little smaller. Much like their old home, it was easy to see the blue of the water and know that the planet would support life.

"The air is very similar to Earth's," Miles broadcast to everyone. "Everything is within a percentage or two, and there was no sign of any pollution. Obviously, having the only residents of the planet subsisting at a much lower technology level than we're used to helps, but hopefully we can maintain the planet in the same condition it is."

Pepper nodded at that. She had little doubt that they wouldn't be perfect visitors, but the people that were on the journey with them were committed to keeping the planet clean, and the future inhabitants would be taught the same. She and Vanessa had spent the last month looking over the shipping manifests and deciding what order to bring everything down to the surface. Each of the larger ships could take two at a time, while the smaller ships could take one. The first items had to be solar panels, some of their food stores, and construction equipment. For the short term, people could still sleep on the ships, though getting buildings up and running would be important as well. At first, they could even use the cargo containers for a crude palisade, making a wall out of them by laying them in a giant square, until they determined if there were any predators that could harm them, but that could always change.

"Ten minutes till orbit!" Lena called out, getting a cheer in response.

Once more, Pepper and Vanessa were thrilled that these new ships had so many windows, as everyone had great views, and they were all pointing out different things that were just awe inspiring to them. For some, it was the patterns on the gas giant, for others it was a huge mountain range that was visible down on the moon, and more were looking at the visible stars, as they now had all new constellations. The other two moons were visible, though they were far away, but all of them were excited to see what the view of everything would be from the surface of their moon.

They carefully maneuvered their ships, with Pepper having Lena and Emily take the lead, and carefully placed their precious cargo into geosynchronous orbit over the island they planned to inhabit. "Okay people, we're home!" Emily yelled. Once more, cheers echoed throughout the ships, and then they got to work. Miles, Lena, Pepper, Vanessa, Nash and Tilly all donned flight suits that had been left on their larger ships for the arrival, and then got the sleds out to start maneuvering the shipping containers off of their harnesses before getting them mounted onto the ships that would be taking them to the surface. As long as it had taken them to get there, this time seemed to take the longest because they were so close, and yet still had to wait. Even still, a dozen containers would go down with them, and that would be the start of hundreds more being transported to the surface over the next few weeks.

"What do you think?" Emma asked Bree, who was currently sitting in her lap on their smaller ship. Lexi was sitting over on Viv's lap, with the older woman's arms around her waist. The three of them had grown much closer over the trip, always sleeping cuddled up together and making Bree thrilled to get so much love from her new moms. They knew they had more to do in order to say for sure they could work as a throuple, but so far, they were doing a great job in building trust and learning about each other.