Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 13

She nodded, understanding. He wanted her to remember the red number.

Devon came over next. She also looked inside the pod and he got her to remember another number.

Kalyndra and Devon swapped places with Cressi and Thalassa, who were shown the pod and two more numbers to remember. Then they all swam back to the raft. When they were out of the water and drying in the sun, Ezra tried to explain it all.

"It's someone I know," he explained.

"Her name's Yumi. She's alive but asleep ... in a very deep sleep ... and has been so for the last year. She must have stowed aboard my ship and, when the alarms went off, hidden in an escape pod. She was still in the pod when the ship crash-landed and lay on its side, locking the escape pod in. Then I guess the pod must have automatically triggered the survival program and put her to sleep."

"She looked dead," Kalyndra said.

"She's barely breathing, maybe every half-hour, and her heart is beating only once every few minutes. ... Do you all remember the numbers."

They all nodded and repeated them.

"The numbers tell us her condition: how much energy the fuel cell has left, the time she'd been sedated, and other stuff." (For some reason, he kept the other stuff to himself, for now.)

"All right," he concluded. "Now we have a problem."

"What problem?" Dagma asked.

"Yumi is safe. The pod has a fuel cell which I charged before I left Capella, but it's been under water a year and I don't know how accurate the energy readings were. Besides, it's always best to revive someone from suspended animation as soon as possible. That means extracting the pod from the ship and bringing it to land."

"Is that difficult?" Devon asked.

"Yes. The ship is resting on its port side and it's the port-side pod that Yumi's in. The only way to get it out is to eject the starboard pod and then bring the port pod out through the starboard hatch."

"Is it very heavy?" Devon asked.

"No. ... I mean, it will float, but it's the release mechanism for the hatch that's my worry. It might not work after the crash. Do you all agree that we should try?"

They did, though Kalyndra also said:

"Shouldn't we tell Calliope?"

"Yes. I want the advice of all the chiefs. But, whatever they say, the best thing is to get the pod into the sun where it can charge up its fuel cells."

They agreed to paddle the raft to the beach for the night and come back tomorrow to rescue the escape pod. The divers jumped in for the last time that day to untie the rope anchors and retrieve the bamboo air-pipes, then the heavily-laden raft was steered to shore, unloaded and dragged up the beach.

Everyone helped to sort the salvage items. It was important to protect any fragile or brittle item, such as a computer pad, that may be damaged by the freezing night-rain. Ezra separated a few items as he supervised piling the baskets together, covering them for the night.

The first items he saved her his books, which he presented to Tamar as he'd promised long ago. She was ecstatic and hugged him. She showed them off to everyone (offering to lend them, of course, because she was a generous girl) and chose the only novel, Middlemarch, to start reading.

It was late afternoon: a good time to rest and enjoy the last of the warm sun before preparing for dinner. They sat in a circle, the divers drying off under blankets, relaxing at last, telling Megan everything they'd done that day. All except for Thalassa, who took her medicine box over to Kalyndra and put ointment on the bruises and scratches she'd received when she was thrown onto the raft.

Tamar described the tasks the girls and Dagma performed. Cressi said what the divers had done. Then Ezra told Megan about Yumi and the plan to rescue the emergency escape pod tomorrow.

When Megan started to talk about dinner, Ezra went and fetched some of the food-packets salvaged from his larder. He gave them out to the nine women, showing them how to pull a strip of plastic at the top to open the packet and set it to heat up the contents. He wished them a hearty appetite and sat back to look at the range of expressions on their faces. Women who'd never had processed food before tried not to hurt his feelings by concealing their disgust at the taste.

Eventually it was too painful to watch. He laughed.

"Don't worry about insulting me, Ladies. I'm afraid the manufacturers put all their effort into making the food nourishing and none into making it appetising, You don't have to eat it."

Eight packets of processed Earth food were immediately thrown into a pile in the middle of the group.

"Though I don't know how you can bear to waste wholesome food," he said in mock protest. "Personally, I find them delicious."

He was set upon by Cressi and Devon, who sat next to him. They wanted to punish him for making them eat such horrible meals.

"Now control yourselves, Ladies!" he said. "I'm enjoying my dinner here."

Carlin, Tamar and Megan didn't want to be left out of the fun. Laughing, they also leapt on him, stopping him eating any more from the packet.

"Ow! You girls are real heavyweights!"

Carlin and Tamar were bouncing on his chest.

"Come on, let me up," he demanded. Instead, they decided to force-feed him some of the dried beef. Not as good as freshly roasted beef, it was better than whatever was in the food-packets.

The fight went on for ten minutes and eventually they forced Ezra to eat the beef by holding his nose and popping it in when he opened his mouth to breathe.

Victory for womankind achieved, Dagma used her authority to bring peace to the camp before they kicked over a tent or broke open a basket.

The fighters sat quietly back in their places, panting from the effort.

While they were fighting, Ezra hadn't noticed that Kalyndra ignored the food-packet and took no part in the discussion. Now that she could rest, she began to really feel the shock and panic she'd suffered when she almost died. She sat under her blanket and shivered. She couldn't stop shaking. Her teeth chattered. She put her head on her upraised knees, wrapped her arms around her legs and tried to control her breathing,

Ezra and Devon happened to look for her at the same time and saw she was suffering. They both got up and went to her. Ezra was there first. He didn't notice Devon beside him.

He sat facing Kalyndra and put his blanket around them both.

"You're shaking all over, Darling," he said. "What's wrong?"

"I'm so silly," she stammered against chattering teeth. "I can't shop shaking."

"Here, get close."

She put her arms around him and pulled her onto his lap. He held her tightly, rubbing her back. She was weeping.

"It's all right," he said. "... I know what it is. You've been surviving on adrenalin alone and now the reaction has set in. ... It'll pass."

He spoke soothingly, calmly, knowing the sound of his words were as important as their sense.

She put her head on his shoulder and tried to breathe evenly. Her teeth still chattered and her hands shook.

"I almost drowned. ... You saved me. ... You saved my life!"

"Our life," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"You belong to me, your life is mine."

"Yes," she whispered.

"And I belong to you. We have a shared life. That's what love is."

It was nice to hear but she was still shivering and weeping.

"Can you love someone so silly and scared," she sniffed.

"Kali, you went back to the ship. After nearly dying, you went back to the ship. ... You're the most courageous woman I know."

"I am?"

"How can you doubt it?"

She paused. She knew she was loved. She began to feel comforted.

"I can't doubt it, not now."

"Good. ... Are you hungry? Or do you want to rest?"

"I'm hungry."

"I'll get you some soup. It tastes of nothing but it's hot and nourishing."

"Don't leave me!"

"I'll be gone only two minutes, I promise. ... I'll get Devon to hold you. ... Devon!" he called out.

"I'm here," she said quietly, right beside him.

"Here's Devon, Darling."

Ezra got up and opened the blanket. Devon got inside and sat facing Kalyndra. They held each other close and he wrapped the blanket around them.

He chose a soup from the basket of food and pulled the plastic strip. A minute later it was piping hot. He took it over to them.

Kalyndra was calming down. Still naked from the swim, the girls sat skin-to-skin inside the blanket, gradually warming up. Devon held her tight and kept her calm while Ezra fed her the soup. She ate it all and didn't care about the taste.

Now Kalyndra began to feel tired. The shock, the panic and all the adrenalin had exhausted her. Warm and relaxed, she rested her head on Devon's shoulder and finally stopped shaking.

"Do you want to go to bed, Kali," he asked her.

"I want to stay here, with you two."

"Come on, Devon, let's put her to bed. It's almost evening anyway."

"I'll stay with her, Ezra," Devon said.

By this time, everyone was thinking about going to their tents. Wildchild wanted to play with her laser-pen. Tamar wanted to borrow a torch and read one of her books. The divers were tired from a hard day's work. Only Megan, having had little to do all day, was restless.

He helped Devon put Kalyndra to bed. They lay down together and he covered them with the blanket. Then Ezra spoke to Megan for half-an-hour.

The first thing he did was ask to see her forearm, where he'd burned her with his pen-knife. The scar was barely visible but he kissed it anyway. It was something he would never forgive himself. She put her hand on his cheek. She'd given up telling him it was her fault, not his.

Then he told her in detail how the pod was keeping Yumi alive and what he expected them all to do tomorrow.

"I also want to consult the chiefs," he said.

"When?" Megan asked.

"As soon as possible. What do you think?"

"I think it's for the best. I'll prepare the horses tomorrow and be ready to leave whenever you say."

It sounded vaguely to him as though she'd expected this but he couldn't see how. It was night-time now, however, and time for bed.

Kalyndra stirred when Ezra entered the tent. She and Devon were resting in each others arms under the blanket. Devon was wide-awake but Kalyndra had relaxed enough to sleep for fifteen minutes.

"Sorry to wake you," he said, snuggling up next to Kalyndra. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better. I was so silly, crying and being scared."

"Nonsense!"

"But I'm over it now. I feel better, much better. Will you hold me?"

He leaned over to hold her.

"Tighter," she said.

He pulled her to him and put his arms firms around her waist. She put her hands in his beard and kissed him. Immediately, she felt the welcome stiffening of his cock against her thigh. It turned her on. She forgot her fatigue and how scared she'd been but remembered only how good it felt to be held in his arms, safe and protected. She wanted more.

She lay back and pulled him onto her. It was intimacy she wanted and it was her biological programming that was driving it, driving her feelings of sexual desire. She wrapped her legs around his waist. He loved when she did that, as if she was saying, I'm never letting you go.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too, Darling. Please don't scare me like that again."

"I won't. Please always be there to save me."

"I'll try."

She took his hand and put it on her breast, holding it there. She lifted her mouth to his, putting her tongue into his mouth, pushing the tip in and out. This was one of her signs that she wanted sex.

The emotions she felt that day - so raw, so primal - needed an equally raw and primal outlet, a sexual outlet, the way humans normally express their intimacy.

They kissed for some minutes and she grew hotter. He was worried that she was developing a fever. He put his hand on her forehead. She was normal. It was sexual heat alone; the strongest sexual heat he'd ever felt in her.

"Do you want it?" he asked. "Even after all that happened?"

"Because of all that happened. ... Please fuck me, Ezra! Please ... I really need it!"

"God, I can't resist you, Darling, but I'm going to break my promise."

"No you aren't," Devon said and fetched Kalyndra's ropes from her sack in the corner of the tent. "Give me your hands, Kali."

She put up her hands and Devon tied her wrists together, not at all tightly, and secured them to a corner pole of the tent.

Ezra massaged the tit. His hard cock pressed on her belly. She was hot and aching for it, the tension of the day literally leaking out through her pussy.

"Now, please, Darling," she begged. "Take me now! I want your cock in me. Please?"

Normally he'd spank her to warm her up. Normally he'd suck her tits to excite her. Normally he'd lick her pussy to make sure she was sopping wet and give her an orgasm or two before losing his will to resist and sticking his cock in her. But she was hot and ready now, squirming under him, begging for his cock, turned on like nothing before. It turned him on like nothing before.

He kissed her again, pulled back, positioned his cock and pushed in. Her pussy was wet and welcoming. She gasped happily and stuck her tongue in his mouth again, tightening her grip on his waist with her legs.

He began to thrust slowly, long strokes, pulling out all the way and pushing back in. She breathed in time with his thrusts. She began to moan, her head went back and she cried out "Oh, God! Ezra, Darling. Harder, please!"

He thrust harder and she moaned louder with every thrust.

"Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! ..." she held her breath. Then she came. She squirmed and shook, flushing hot with the ecstasy.

"Oh God! Darling," he said, "You're perfect. I love you!"

He carried on thrusting, speeding up a little. She rose toward another peak.

He put his mouth on a tit and licked around her big hard nipple before sucking it between his tongue and top teeth.

She gasped. He sucked the whole areole into his mouth with gentle pressure.

She loved it. She wanted to dig her nails in his back but she found her arms restrained. She'd forgotten the ropes. It was enough to send her to that special place where she gave up control and surrendered completely.

Restraints made her orgasms stronger but now wasn't about her orgasms, delicious though they were, It wasn't even really about sex. It was about intimacy and togetherness and belonging to him. She wanted to cum for him because he loved making her cum so much.

She breathed heavily and bucked her hips. He held the nipple in his teeth and rubbed his tongue sideways on it. Her pussy spasmed again. She cried out from love and ecstasy.

It was the final lap for Ezra. He pushed himself up, getting a steeper angle of penetration, hitting Kalyndra's wonder-spot firmly each thrust. Her note changed, high-pitched and louder. She was rising to another peak.

He rammed her a final few times. She erupted once more and, in the middle of her mind-numbing convulsions, he gripped her tits and reached his own peak, spurting his sackful into her pussy as it quivered and pulsated.

He thrust through the ebbing tide of his tension and then lay heavily on her, kissing again. It was these moments she relished, taking his weight and being held tightly while she descended from her peak. They lay there, calming down, and kissing.

Devon untied Kalyndra's wrists and lay against her as Ezra rolled off.

"Feel better, Darling?" she asked.

"Oh, God!" Kalyndra said. "Like I can't explain."

"Good for you" her bedmate said, kissing her goodnight, feeling the heat radiate of her bedmates naked body.

Devon was not the slightest bit jealous that Kalyndra turned to Ezra for that kind of sexual comfort. After all, he had been her lover first and they had a special relationship, taking each other to places no one else took them. Yet there was something to think about in all this as she settled down to sleep.

They slept soundly and it was Kalyndra who work first, just after dawn, completely recovered. She woke Devon by getting up.

"Wake him nicely," she whispered, "but don't wear him out. I think it's going to be a busy day."

With that, Kalyndra left Devon to make good use of Ezra's morning erection and walked naked down to the sea for a wash.

The freezing night-rain left a thin layer of brackish cold water on the ocean. Kalyndra waded out a distance and then dived in, swimming fast to get to deeper water. There she took a good breath and submerged, swimming in the warmer salt-water until, five minutes later, she broke the cold surface again, gasping for air.

Yes, she was fine. Kalyndra walked back to the beach and joined the women preparing breakfast.

4 Rescuing the escape pod

It was still early morning. The raft was in place and the girls ready at their pumps. The diving team took to the water and the command given to "Girl the pumps."

In the ship, Ezra, Kalyndra and Devon, armed with a hammer, a wrench and gas-pliers from his toolkit, tackled the first job, which was to release the starboard pod to make room to open the escape hatch above it.

It was hard work, by-passing the electronic mechanism to do it by hand, but they finally managed to detach the escape pod from its pins and let it roll down and lean against the port escape pod (Yumi's pod), blocking the gangway.

The next stage was a logistical nightmare.

The hatch was secured with six levers. There was a four-foot hole behind the pod but only an eight-inch gap to get through into it. Ezra got his arm into the gap but could reach only four of the levers. Both Devon and Kalyndra got further in and reached the fifth lever; but only Thalassa was thin enough (with some juggling of the pod) to get all the way in and reach the sixth lever.

Sod's law said the sixth lever would be the stiffest: Thalassa wasn't strong enough to undo it.

They pushed the pod back in so Ezra could swim to the hold to find a length of metal to use as a lever to move the smaller lever. He returned with a steel tube from a vehicle and, with Thalassa inside the gap guiding them, Kalyndra and Devon gave the recalcitrant lever a good shove. The hatch at last sprang open and fell away, sliding down the side of the hull to the sea-floor, clanging as it went, making the whole ship ring with the sound.

They pushed the escape pod out of the hatch and let it float to the surface. Then they had to release Yumi's pod and do the same.

It came out easily, they were pleased to find, maybe because they were now practised; or maybe because they had more room to work.

Yumi's pod floated gently up toward the port side of the ship and, with a gentle nudge, was lined up with the hatch. It slipped straight through and soon two pods were bobbing about on the ocean under a bright sun.

The divers followed the pods through the hatch and swam after them, pushing them toward the shallow water and the beach. When they reached the shallows, the pods could be rolled. Ezra assured them that rolling Yumi's pod wouldn't harm her: she was strapped into a seat, held securely with a harness.

Leaving the pods on the beach, the divers finished their work by releasing the raft from its moorings. Just as they did so, Ezra swam off back toward the ship.

"Where are you going?" Kalyndra shouted after him.

He stopped swimming to shout back "I've remembered something," then he dived down to the ship.

Kalyndra grabbed some airbags and dived in after him.

After filling the airbags at the surface, Kalyndra was buoyant and had to swim hard to get down to the ship.

When she got there, Ezra had already filled his lungs from the pocket of air in the bridge and swum through the ship to the hold. She found him turning off the big torch and leaving it behind the door.

He gratefully accepted an airbag from her. He had something in his hand, a wooden box, rectangular, about ten inches long. He was grinning triumphantly and held it with exaggerated care, as if it were a baby.