A New Encounter Ch. 05

Mina stood up and kissed him gently. "Out, the doctor will be here in ten and I need to be ready."

"Yes Ma'am." Kevin mumbled, earning himself a slap on the butt.

Both were dressed and ready for breakfast when the Doctor arrived although Mina's hair was still damp. Mina had her uniform on; Kevin was dressed in a casual shirt and slacks.

"Doctor, good morning," Mina said brightly and waved her to a seat at the table that was already set with coffee, juice and pastries.

"Captain, Sergeant." The Doctor replied politely, stopping at the replicator to order something that Kevin didn't here before seating herself at the indicated place.

"Doctor," Kevin said holding a chair for Mina and then seating himself. "What was the nature of the equipment problem this morning?"

"We were unable to get the artificial penis to ejaculate properly." The Doctor said conversationally as Kevin chocked on his coffee. "The penis would not ejaculate at all so some redesign is required prior to actual..."

"Thank you Doctor, I think we get the idea." Mina interrupted as Kevin started to laugh. "What is so damn funny?"

"Well usually it is a matter of it happening too soon, rather than not at all. I think several million women will pay quite a bit for the model with the problem."

"A good idea Sergeant, I will make a note of that." The Doctor said, slamming the highball in her hand back before picking up her own coffee.

"Please don't encourage him," Mina said holding her face in her hands. "I don't want to be seen as the alien captain who brought a better dildo to your people."

"Just think about it Mina, you could use that to defuse the tension about your arrival, if nothing else women will be happy to see you." Kevin was laughing out loud now.

"Enough." Mina said sharply as even the Doctor's stoic face broke into a smile. "We have other things to discuss."

"Such as," Kevin asked as he picked up his fork and started on his plate of bacon and eggs.

"Well starting with your implant." Mina told him.

"What implant?"

"Your com implant," the Doctor said looking at him sharply. Kevin reached up and ran a hand over the space behind his ear where they had installed his communication module.

"Your implant can do much more than just communicate with the ship and allow us to find you." Mina told him. "And you need to know what and how to use it."

"The implant is also a form of memory augmentation and interface for the nanites in your system. It will..."

"What nanites?" Kevin demanded.

"The ones that were placed in your system as soon as you boarded the ship," the doctor stated as though this were common knowledge. "You would not be able to survive off planet and in the radioactive soup that space is made of without them."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kevin half shouted turning on Mina.

"Because it is standard procedure and you need them to survive." Mina said calmly. "And I wanted you to have a few days before we threw anything more at you. There have been quite a few drastic changes you have had to process recently."

Kevin sat back and said nothing as he thought about what Mina had told him. There was a lot of data for him to assimilate recently and if he really did need them to survive space, then he would just have to deal with it.

Mina stood and went to replicator and said, "Jet Fuel 1." A large mug of steaming something appeared and she handed it to him. "Drink." Kevin smelled and sipped the steaming mug. Real coffee and just how he liked it. Come to think about it, so was his breakfast, eggs bacon crisp, toast, potato scones all done just right. He looked questioningly at Mina.

"I have taken samples of everything that you eat or drink and had the replicator programed with them just for you."

Kevin could tell that she was trying to calm him down and he proceeded to relax slightly.

"Okay, I can see the nanites are necessary to survive out here, but what else have you done?"

"Your implant will allow you to access our extensive library and keep you up to date on current status of your body and mine." Mina said. "There are also several learning courses that you can input and have run in your subconscious so that you learn while you are doing something else. It works best while you are asleep, but it can run at any time."

"You will also to scan and see in various spectrums and light levels as well as control the focus of what you see." The Doctor informed him. "It will record conversations and can play back anything that you want as well as store several thousand of what you call terabytes of information."

"Several thousand," Kevin whispered in disbelief.

"Yes, our storage methods are several orders of magnitude beyond anything that you have." The Doctor said confidently. "I believe that you could store the entire library of your congress in your implant and still have space left over. In addition you can view any of the data anytime you want, it will appear as a small window in your vision."

"We can set up a class for you and the others for this afternoon when you are ready." Mina told him. "Normally, this kind of thing is done for children, but without the level of access that you have, but we can teach just you and your fellow mates privately." She had a slight smile on her face as she said this and Kevin scowled at her without any result.

"If it can do all this, why is it not doing it now?" He asked.

"Other than the com and nanite features, the implant is off line. You have to have training to access the other features and we thought if you woke up in medical and saw all these icons in your vision, you might get a little lost."

"Yes, I can see that." Kevin replied thoughtfully. "I am going to have to meet with the other guys and warn them about this."

"And your little promotion," Mina said with a devilish smile. The Doctor looked questioningly at her. "Kevin here was made American Ambassador to our people yesterday."

"Congratulations Mr. Ambassador." She said formally. Kevin nodded solemnly and continued his breakfast.

"I will arrange a meeting for you and the others at zero nine hundred this morning." Mina informed him, "and after that we can review the preparations for the dinner tonight."

"The equipment won't be ready for the inseminations until tomorrow, however I understand that the German delegate has already impregnated three other members of the crew. Copper confirmed this morning before I came in that he is taking a few days off to recover, but the pool is growing Captain and we have to be prepared."

"What pool?" Kevin asked.

"The pool to see who gets pregnant first," Mina said conversationally. "We can't have an entire ships' crew running around pregnant at the same time. Think of the overload on the toilets if we all get morning sickness at once. No one will be at their stations."

"When will it be your turn Doctor?"

"Not until after we get home I'm afraid." She replied with some remorse. "The ship's doctor must be available and all that."

"Well, I don't see the need for a delay," Kevin said. "If the Captain is pregnant then after a suitable delay why not you Doctor? In fact, I offer my genes for the insemination if you wish Doctor." Mina stopped in the middle of a bite and stared at him.

"Thank you Mr. Ambassador, I would consider it an honor." The Doctor replied formally. "But I still need to wait, one of the other pregnancies that Copper confirmed is my associate and we can't both be pregnant at the same time, however, I think a delay of three months will be sufficient." The Doctor pushed back from the table and stood. "I will have the relevant data for your meeting ready by zero eight thirty for your review so that you can cover it with the other men of your group. I will need to see all of you in the medical center at ten hundred for implant activation and then you will be returned to your quarters for five hours of sleep."

"Why do we need to sleep?" Kevin questioned.

"Your brain and the implant need to learn to work together." Mina said simply. "We have found that sleep is the best way for the two to assimilate each other and come together."

"Your brain needs the time to learn to communicate with the implant." The Doctor confirmed. "After the five hours you will be alert and ready to use your implant. The training modules will run while you sleep and you will have full access as soon as you awaken, then an hour or so of training and you will be ready to use your implant. Excuse me Captain, Mr. Ambassador." The Doctor left after dropping her plate into the recycler.

Kevin sat at the table and pondered the changes after the Doctor and Mina left. Things were gaining momentum and he was being swept up along with events. At eight thirty, the table top beeped and the information that the Doctor promised appeared and Kevin reviewed it quickly before he set off to the meeting.

The rest of the men were seated when he arrived and he quickly outlined the implant functions and the necessity in the using of the implants and the nanites. Each station at the table showed the data and displays that the Doctor had prepared. The men went through them quickly and despite a few early reservations the men all agreed that the implants would be a wonderful addition to their bodies. The recording and retrieval aspect alone was noted and commented on repeatedly.

At ten they all trooped into the medical center and the Doctor had them lay down and she activated the complete set of functions in their implants and each man's mate led him back to their quarters. Kevin had the girl from security escort him as Mina was in a meeting and could not attend. As she led Kevin back to his quarters, she held his arm to support him as he fought with the visual distraction of windows popping up and then turning off in his line of sight, everything and everyone he saw activated another window. When he looked down at his escort her picture appeared on a window just on the side of his vision and he could see her name, not that he recognized the flowing script that it was in, her rank, age in earth years, and several lines from her service record.

"I know it is difficult Mr. Ambassador," she said as she led him into his quarters and into the bedroom. "But if you just lie down and close your eyes you will sleep and when you wake up the class you have will help you."

Kevin tried to talk but she put a soft finger against his lips.

"No, don't try to talk; it will only make it worse. Just relax. When you wake up go to the table in the other room and as soon as you sit down the computer will start your lesson."

Kevin closed his eyes and then opened his eyes and she was gone. His vision was clear and he felt a lot better, not dizzy no nausea and his sense of balance had come back. He wondered out loud what the time was and a set of red led numbers appeared before his eyes. The five hours had passed and he felt like it was only a second. He slipped out of bed and the numbers cleared as he moved to the table. He sat down and the screen lit up with a set of instructions.

Kevin followed the directions on screen and found that he could access the computer from his implant and quickly learned how to navigate the levels of control that he had as well as adjust when a screen would pop up with information. After forty five minutes he was complete the entire course and was down to practicing sub vocalizing so he could talk on his implant without anyone knowing when Mina walked in.

"I got the message that you were done your training. You did it brilliantly." She sat herself in his lap and kissed him. "I missed you. I'm sorry that I couldn't make it to medical in time for your activation, but I couldn't get out of the meeting with the astro-climatologists. Did security show up in time?"

"Yes, that cute little corporal and I made it back here in time for her to put me to bed and tuck me in." Kevin said with a wistful smile.

"That better be all she did, or I'll space the little slut." Mina threatened.

"But I thought you wanted me to impregnate your crew." Kevin said grinning.

"Not like that." Mina said with a dark expression.

"But darling..."

"Don't you 'but darling' me," Mina said grabbing him by the ears. "I told you already, they can have your genes, but the body and soul belong to me." She kissed him soundly and Kevin pulled her tight to his body, his hand slowly working lower and around to her stomach.

"You are having our children." Kevin said breaking the kiss. "Right now they are growing inside here."

Mina laid her cheek on top of his head.

"I know, every so often I stop and it sinks in and I have to sit down and collect myself." Mina said softly. "After so long wanting this I now have the chance to be a mother and it is all because of you." She kissed him again. "Come on, we have time to shower before the President arrives."