e-Ghosts of Rogue Planet

Chapter 4

The engines continued to fire for twenty-four hours before they shut down. By that time, Earth appeared as a tiny blue ball in a vast universe of stars. The sun seemed brighter than ever as the ship barreled toward it at 93,000 miles per hour and was accelerating because of the sun’s gravitation. In order for Delta-2B to swing around the sun to the opposite side, it must thread a needle in space approximately forty million miles from the sun’s surface. At this distance the vessel would be subjected to intense radiation and extreme heating.

But, we’ll cross that bridge, so to speak, when we get to it.

We were beginning to settle down to the boring daily routine. Marie and I were used to it, but James and Alisha were having trouble adjusting. I reminded them that their main task was to stay in shape for the rigorous trip down to the planet. That meant exercising on a regular basis.

As expected, James and I ran together around the wheel in the morning while Marie and Alisha did it in the afternoon.

“This is wild,” James said as he jogged along side me. “I can see the wheel all the way around. The girls are standing upside down.”

“They think that we’re upside down,” I replied. “It’s the result of the wheel spinning to provide artificial gravity.”

“What’s all that banging and whistling noise at night?” he asked. “It woke me up.”

I smiled. “You’ll eventually get used to it. That’s the collision avoidance system making sure that meteors don’t impact us. The banging is caused by a laser system that blasts larger meteors and the whistling is the magnetic force field deflecting smaller particles. Sometimes the engines fire to avoid a collision with a larger object.”

“You have to wonder how the system can react so quickly.”

“Fortunately, COMA has been enhanced with faster processors and better scanning instruments. Without it, we would surely be toast.”

James’ expression became more amused. “Ah . . . you were going to show us . . . Alisha and I how to do it in . . .”

I smiled to myself. “I was thinking about that. It’ll take time to learn how to maneuver in zero gravity. In the meantime, we could install a mattress on the floor somewhere between our bunks and the command center and take turns using it at night.”

“That’s a great idea. Alisha is getting . . . well, you know . . . she’s anxious.”

I gave him a knowing smile. “Believe me, I fully understand your situation.”

That evening, James and I dragged a spare mattress down the wheel to a location between the shower unit and the food dispenser.

“What are you guys doing?” Marie asked with her fists propped onto her hips.

“We’re setting up a love station,” I said, grinning. “We can take turns using it.”

“James told me that you were going to train us in how to do it in zero gravity,” Alisha said, batting her long lashes.

“We could still do that, but it’ll take time. This is a temporary solution.”

“Sex is all you guys think about,” Marie said, sounding as if she were lecturing us.

“You gals think about it too,” I said. “Don’t deny it.”

They giggled.

“We’ll set up a schedule,” I said. “You get it on every other night starting with Monday and we get it starting on Tuesday. Okay?”

“That’s fine with us,” James said after getting an affirmative nod from Alisha.

“After we get past the solar insertion, Marie and I will demonstrate how to do it in zero gravity.”

“When will that occur?” James asked. “The solar insertion, that is?”

“COMA, when will the solar insertion begin?”

“Insertion will commence in twenty two days, fourteen hours and twelve minutes, Ryan.”

“We have plenty of time to train them,” Marie said.

“They’ll have to learn the Bronco position,” I said.

Both James and Alisha looked at us with confused expressions.

“What’s the Bronco position?” James asked.

I gave him an ornery grin. “Did you ever ride on your father as if he were a horse when you were a kid?”

“Ah . . . yes, but I don’t . . . “

“Think about it if he were turned around and you were a female riding on him.”

James’s eyes rolled around several times before he got it. “You’re kidding.”

“Marie and I perfected the position in zero gravity using the grab bars in the axis tunnels.” I smiled. “We had plenty of time to waste on our previous mission.”

“This I’ve got to see,” James said, grinning.

We laughed.

That night as I lay on my bunk, I saw James and Alisha go to the mattress and watched and heard them making love. After a lot of grunting, Alisha screeched when she experienced orgasm. I smiled and realized that it would be my turn with Marie the next night. My goal would be to extend the time before climax because I knew that James would be listening, and I had to outdo him. It’s a male thing.

During the day, it was the usual routine of running or exercising with weights. We also had a COM scheduled with Earth. We gathered at the command station and waited for a COM request from Earth Control, and as expected, a bubble headed bleach blond greeted us.

“I trust that you love birds are doing well,” she sung with a plastic smile. “Everything is fine here. Over.”

“We’re well,” I reported. Everything is running smoothly and we’re completing our prescribed exercises. We are preparing to enter the radiation-shielded chamber when the radiation reaches the safety threshold level. Over.”

“We should get a response back in fifteen minutes, unless she’s doing her nails.”

They laughed.

The reply came back in twenty minutes. “We’re pleased to hear that everything is okay. We are continuously monitoring the sun, and you may have to enter radiation shielding earlier than expected because of the presence of a very large sunspot that should turn towards you in a few days. We aren’t expecting a coronal mass ejection but the flares from this disturbance could be as severe as class-X10. We will inform you if this situation worsens. Over.”

The screen went blank.

“COMA, monitor the radiation and report any increase at once.”

“I will, Ryan.”

I turned to the others. “We should be prepared to get into the chamber on a moment’s notice. You never know when the radiation will get too high for us to stay in this crew compartment.”

They didn’t like my dire prognostication.