Chimera Ch. 01: The Forgotten Spaceship

This is my first attempt at a sci-fi story. I'm on this site to try and hone my writing skills, so please leave a comment if you like it, or want to suggest ways I can improve.

As always, all characters are over 18.

*****

It took a few moments to register what was happening. Like coming out of a deep dream.

There was a woman's voice.

Someone was touching my arm.

My skin felt wet, almost slimy.

My eyes began to adjust to the bright light in the room.

I was lying on the floor, but it was soft. And warm.

I...I was naked.

The woman was still trying to talk to me. I focused on her voice.

"Hello?" "Can you hear me?" "Can you tell me your name?"

I looked at her. Attractive, a little small in stature and wearing some sort of grey uniform. Her brown hair framed her smily face. Breasts pushing out the front of her uniform.

"Hello?" she continued. "Are you awake?"

"Um...." I finally tried to speak. My throat felt like it hadn't been used in days. Weeks even.

"That's it" she said coaching me. "Take it slowly. Do you remember your name?"

I thought.

And thought.

And thought.

No!

"No! Why don't I know my name! Where am I? What's going on?!"

The woman helped me stand up carefully. She was rubbing my arm, trying to keep me calm.

"Don't worry. This is completely normal. Many people don't remember their names at first. It will come back to you. It does for most people."

"What do you mean?" I asked, still dazed and confused by what was going on. "What's happening? And why am I naked?"

The woman smiled reassuringly. She'd been professional the whole time, keeping her eyes up, not down, but I still felt self-conscious.

"My name is Annette, and I am here to help you adjust. At least, I think I am. It's complicated."

She let go of my arm and walked to a nearby wall. She took two grey things out of a cupboard and threw them at me. I caught them both in one hand.

"Clothes. I'll explain a little bit while you put them on."

They felt like pyjamas, but I put them on, preferring them to being naked. As I pulled up the trousers and buttoned up the top, she explained as best she could.

"OK. Basic sum-up. You don't have your memories. Neither do I. Nor does anyone else. We seem to be on a space-ship, and we're the crew. But something has gone wrong with the sleep system, or something like that. We're all waking up without most of our memories."

"Spaceship?" I looked around the room. It looked scientific, it looked sleek and professional.

As if to answer my question, Annette pressed something on the wall and revealed a window, allowing me to gaze into the darkness of space, and the stars that seemed to be flying past our spaceship. After about a minute, she hid the window again.

"OK. Spaceship." I replied, happy with her explanation so far.

"Great! You were in cryogenic sleep, or something like that. You've been woken because the ship thinks it needs you. Or we need you. Something like that."

Again, to prove a point, the young lady pointed upwards.

I turned my eyes up, and was shocked.

Far above us, were hundreds, even thousands of humans, all floating in mid-air, in little balloons of liquid. No cables or wires were visible. I looked more closely at the nearest faces. They seemed calm and relaxed, in their little floating bubbles.

Something blinking green light caught my attention. There was a green line of arrows on the floor, blinking rapidly. The line pointed towards the closed door.

"OK," said Annette, seeing I'd seen the lights. "The ship thinks we're in a hurry. Can we walk and talk?"

I nodded dumbly, following her as she opened the door and started walking the line of the lights.

"So," she continued "There are thirty seven of us now, including you. Most of us have remembered our names, but little else. We've either guessed at our jobs, or it's become pretty obvious. For example, the ship calls me to this room whenever it wakes someone, so I'm clearly in charge of helping new people. Do you get me?"

We turned a corner, still following the green lights. "Uh huh. I think so. Who's the captain?"

"We don't know" she said, smiling her same smile. "Either they haven't been woken up yet, or they don't remember they are the captain." She turned to me suddenly. "Do you think you are the captain??"

I thought for a second. "No. I don't think I am."

"Pity" she replied, before continuing her explanations. "We will follow the lights for the moment. This means the ship needs you for something. And by the way the lights are blinking, it seems pretty urgent. Later, I'll explain about finding your apartment."

"Why do I feel so tired?" I asked her, realising I was yawning as we quick-walked down the long spaceship corridors.

"It's normal. Most people feel tired when they wake from those sleep bubbles. I slept for almost two days after I woke up. Try and stay focused for the moment. I don't think now is the time to rest."

The green lights led to a doorway. Another blue line of lights were also pointing towards the same door. "Oh, that's strange!" Annette remarked. I've not seen that before. And I don't think I've been in this room before either."

She pushed her hand up to a rectangle near the door. It scanned her hand for a moment, but nothing happened.

"You try."

I cautiously put my right hand to the door scanner. Immediately the door opened, and lights came on in the new room. A blue light flashed gently inside above the doorway.

There were a couple of long metal tables, and shelves of all kinds, filled with strange items and pieces of equipment. But it felt natural to be in the room -- like it was where I was meant to be.

My tour-guide realised it moments before I did.

"This is a medical room! That must mean you're a..."

"GANGWAY!"

The peaceful moment was shocked into action by two men and a woman carrying a man into the room. The man was calling out in agony, blood dripping rapidly from his leg.

I didn't know my name, but I knew what to do.

"ON THE TABLE" I called out. Instantly my hands went to draws I'd never seen before, and pulled out a syringe like object, moving at lightning fast speed to inject the injured man. Within a second he seemed to fall into unconsciousness.

"What happened?" I asked the strangers. Annette took herself to the back of the room, an observer in the chaos.

"We were working on trying to restore access to one of the closed off areas. A metal security grating we thought we had bypassed suddenly shot down, back into place, but Roger's leg was in the way. Then the blue lights lit up and...and..."

"OK." That told me everything I needed to know for now. "Help me remove his trousers. We need to stop the bleeding, and then set the leg. He's probably got a fracture. But if we don't stop the bleed, he'll be dead in five."

Over the next ten minutes, the men and woman helped me stabilize the man. Somehow I knew every piece of machinery or tool in the room without thinking. And in the process, small moments of memory came back to me.

"I'm Jordan, by the way" I told them as we worked. "At least I think I am."

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I left the hospital room with Annette, leaving the other group behind to stay with the injured Roger. He'd regained consciousness, and they all thanked me for saving him. Two more hours in the room, hooked up to a machine that replaced lost blood, then they could take him back to his room to rest.

I was yawning madly as we left the room. Most of my strength had been used up in the adrenaline fuelled push to save Roger.

I almost tripped over some moving things on the floor was we walked. Small, insect-like robots were busy cleaning the floor where Roger's blood had been.

"Oh, don't worry about them!" she said. "We call them the clean-up crew."

A couple of the clean up crew followed us as we walked. Some of Roger's blood was on my clothes, and occasional drops were falling on the white floor.

There was no pathway, but Annette seemed to know where she was walking us. As we walked along corridors, we twice saw other people walking around the corridors. Annette was already introducing me as "Jordan the ship's doctor". She also pointed to small markings on the celling, explaining how they indicate where they were on the spaceship. To be honest, I was feeling too tired to take it all in.

Eventually we came to a very long corridor, full of doorways on both sides. The corridor stretched on for so long, it was impossible to see the end.

"These are some of the dormitories. There are two more corridors just like this."

As we walked along, I saw most of the doors were just white, but a couple had markings on them.

"So we can tell who lives there." Annette explained. "There's no way to tell otherwise. Tomorrow, you'll have to walk up and down the corridor, trying to find one that opens to your hand. But for now..."

She stopped us at one of the marked doors. Someone had drawn an A on it, along with a couple of love hearts and a small rose. "You can use mine. I'm sure you want a shower and clean set of clothes."

She pressed her hand against the rectangle, and the door opened.

It was a very simple little area. There was a small hallway with mirrors and makeup. There were wardrobes with various official uniforms hanging up. There was an open doorway that lead to a bathroom with a toilet, a sink and a shower. And there was a double bed.

"Go and have a shower" Annette instructed me. "There's a chute near the doorway. If you drop your dirty clothes down it, the ship will send some new ones."

I quickly stripped off and put my dirty clothes down the chute. Moments later I heard a soft something land on the bed where Annette still was.

I stepped into the shower cubicle, and a gentle stream of warm water seemed to remove all my stress away. It also woke me up a little.

As I showered, I could hear Annette's voice. "You know, you really saved the day. I don't know what Steve would have done if Roger had died. They've been a couple for months, ever since Roger woke up."

"That's nice" I replied, as I finally located a liquid soap dispenser and loaded a big dollop into my hand. "Yeah. We don't have many fixed couples here. A lot of guys and girls just hook-up when they want. But those two have been together for quite a while."

"That's cool." I replied as I turned the water off the shower. "Where are the towels?"

"You don't need one. Just stay in the cubicle a second."

She was right. A moment later, and hot air began to jet over me, drying my hair and skin in no time.

Once dry, I stepped out the cubicle, looking round for my clothes, before remembering they'd gone down the chute. I couldn't see any more clothes in the bathroom, or a towel to cover myself, so in the end I stepped out naked into the bedroom. It wasn't anything Annette hadn't already seen after all!

Annette was waiting by the bed. But she wasn't holding out my new set of clothes like I'd expected.

She was naked, her happy face beaming with a cheeky smile. I couldn't help but stare at her gorgeous tits, large, firm and round. Then gaze lower, at the small tuft of hair between her smooth legs.

"I wanted to thank you, for saving Roger's life. Unless..." she paused, politely "you'd rather Steve thanked you?"

I realised what she was asking.

With a sly smile, I told her "No, I don't want Steve to thank me."

"Good" she replied with a smile. She took a step towards me. At first, I thought she was going to kiss me, but on her next step she knelt down in front of me, and put my already semi-erect cock in her mouth.

She sucked softly, cautiously at first, before becoming more bold and energetic, taking it out her mouth sometimes to lick up and down, or twirling her tongue round it. She kept making eye contact whenever she could, checking I was enjoying myself. Or maybe to check I was still awake after my earlier bout of tiredness.

"That feels so good" I told her, trying to reassure her. "You're so sexy."

She took my cock out her mouth and smiled. "Do you want to fuck me?"

What do you say to that?! What does any straight man say when a gorgeous woman asks that?

"Sure!"

She stood back up, and then moved to the bed. She got onto all fours above the covers, her head pointing at the pillows, her pussy glistening in the soft light of the room.

She licked two of her fingers, then moistened an area I didn't expect.

"Fuck my ass" she said.

I climbed onto the bed while asking, "Are you sure?"

"Uh huh" she replied, her head bent round to look at me. "No contraceptives. But I want you to have a good reward. So spit on my ass then put it in."

It's not for me to disobey a beautiful woman when it comes to sex!

I spat a big ball of spit on her waiting asshole, and used my cock to pick up more moisture from around her wet pussy. Then, hands on her hips, I slowly pushed my cock into her waiting asshole. It held me off for a moment, before relaxing, taking my cock inside her.

"Oh god you've got a thick cock!" she called out in painful pleasure.

"Thanks" I replied playfully. "You've got a great ass yourself."

"....mmm......flatterer" she moaned back. "Who knows....(a little slower please)....this might be your first time doing anal. Without your memories....(oh yeah, just like that)... you'll never know!"

"Ha ha!" I grunted back. "Very true! And you?"

She turned her head back round to look at me. "Sorry lover boy" she replied, sticking her tongue out playfully. "I've been awake about five months, and as I said....(oh god right there).... as I said, no contraceptives. A couple of girls found that out....(oh! oh yeah!!)...the hard way."

I kept thrusting, enjoying the tight feel of her asshole as she moaned. I put my hands down to squeeze her tits as they dangled under her. She moved one hand under too, and played with her pussy as my cock pulled in and out her willing ass.

"I'm gonna cum" I warned her.

"Then cum!" she replied. "We're using my ass for a reason!"

I pulled my hands away from her tits, and back onto her hips. I thrust harder a couple of times, then pushed my cock deep inside her, releasing my sperm with my final push. I felt her ass tighten as I came, her body reacting to my ejaculation.

As I felt my cock began to shrink, I pulled it out of her, grabbing a nearby tissue to wipe off my dick. My final energy reserves depleted, I practically collapsed, my head hitting the nearest pillow.

As Annette stood to clean herself up and grab a shower, she planted a small kiss on my forehead. I didn't feel it. I was already asleep.

-------------------------------------------

"Rise and shine Sleepy"

I groaned as I woke.

"Good" said Annette cheerfully. She was fully dressed again, in the grey uniform she'd been wearing earlier. "Time to get up for food. And the others want to meet you."

"This is the second time you've woken me up" I commented as I started to rise. "Is this going to be a pattern? But to be honest, I'm so tired, I'd prefer to just miss breakfast and grab an extra hour or two of sleep."

Annette giggled. "You already did! It's time for lunch."

"Oh" was the best I could do, as I threw on the grey basic pyjama set again. "OK."

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Annette lead me (pointing out that we were following the green circle with the purple square inside on the ceiling direction lights) to a large room full of tables, chairs and people eating food. All were adults, mostly in their 20s or early 30s, though there were a couple of older people too. About sixty percent were women. All seemed happy and healthy.

There was a round of applause as I entered the room. I waved it down with my hands. "Please. Everyone. I was just doing my job. I'm Jordan by the way. I guess I'm the ship's doctor!"

Annette guided me to a seat on a table with about seven others. A couple I recognised, but most I didn't. They all introduced themselves, but honestly, with so many names, I could only really remember one or two.

A big black guy passed me a bowl of soup, and a couple of bread rolls. "Angus" he said as he passed them over. "Ship's cook."

I saw Steve and Roger again, sitting at another table together. After finishing the soup, I went over to check on Roger's recovery. It looked good. The leg was already healing well. Steve thanked me for saving his boyfriend. "No problem!" I said "Just take more care of him next time!"

I saw another woman, and realised what Annette had meant about not having contraceptives. She was about five months pregnant, the pink skin of her expanding belly already bursting through the grey uniform everyone else was wearing. Her breasts too were trying desperately to escape the confining top.

"Hi!" I said as I approached her. "May I take a look?"

She nodded, and introduced herself as Melissa as I gently felt around her baby bump.

"Looks good" I told her. "Maybe come and see me in a few days for a full check-up. If I manage to find the hospital room again!"

"I can help you with that." said another voice from beside her. The young man smiled at me, and spoke in a fast flurry of words. "I'm Anthony. I'm part of the science team. Or at least, I seem to be. Anyway, if you ask the ship clearly to direct you to a room, it will usually light up a symbol on the ceiling for you. I've been awake about a month and a half, and I still need the ship to help me sometimes! Anyway, come and see me in the science lab at some point. Again, ask the ship to guide you." He finally took a breath of air, then waved at someone else leaving the room, and ran to catch up.

By this point, the room was already half empty. Annette, my guide, had gone off somewhere. So I made my apologies, left the dining room and back out into the monotonous white-walled corridor.

"Ummm...computer? Can you show me the way to the hospital room?"

A small sign lit up on the ceiling above one of the passageways. It slightly resembled a snake with two tails.

"It's the old symbol for a doctor" a woman's voice behind me said. "It was something called a stethoscope, for manually listening to heartbeats. Quite ingenious really."

I turned round to see a young black lady standing behind me. She was actually a little taller than me, and quite skinny. "I'm Brigitte, but people call me Bridge. I'm one of the botanists. Can I walk with you?"

"Sure. I'd love to have the company. I'm still getting used to all this. How long have you been awake?"

She smiled softly. "About six months. I was the eighth to be awakened. First was the team of five engineers. Then Annette and Angus. Then me. Soon after came the farmers and then the scientists, and then basically everyone else."

"Long time." I said as we turned a corner.

"Yup." She changed the subject. "As a doctor, can you think of a reason why we all don't have our memories?"

The words escaped my mouth before I even knew I was saying them. "Before hyper-sleep, the brain's memory areas are temporarily blocked, specifically the parts involving personal memories. This is due to the brain's continued functioning during hyper-sleep. The brain must be allowed to dream to avoid damage during the long hibernation. Early subjects of hyper-sleep who had previously suffered negative life experiences found themselves enduring months of never-ending nightmares. To avoid this, the practice of blocking memory areas prior to hyper-sleep became standard."

I stopped walking and stood still in shock at my own words.

"How did I know that?!" I asked Bridge.

She put her hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me. "The same way I know all the plants on this ship, their soil requirements and germination techniques, but still took over a week to remember my name. The big question is, can you reverse it? Can you give us back our memories?"