Founders Ch. 18

"But wait. We haven't counted everyone who's willing to participate in the orgy yet," Alexis argued. "Okay, who's willing to fluff?"

"Me!" said Ayana enthusiastically.

"That's another yes vote for the orgy," said Alexis. "It goes without saying that the Breeding Bitches are always ready to fluff." Assent from Charisse and Michaela. "But we need one more yes to fluffing from a previous no or maybe. Anybody?" Khushi's console beeped noticeably. She canceled it. It beeped again and she canceled it again.

"Khushi will do it," said Ayana. "She's just being shy."

"Is that right?" asked Alexis hopefully. "Will you do it, Khushi?"

Khushi responded, "I'm agreeable to being a fluffer provided I'm also inseminated by Zach. I'm still ovulating and I want a baby badly."

"Wait, he's not going to have anything left for you anyway, sweetie," Ayana said to Khushi.

"Actually," Alexis pointed out, "if Berte's a definite 'no', Khushi's first in line. And Sack here hasn't cum in hours, have you darling? Which means I'll bet anyone here $1,000 that Zach puts so much into Khushi's cunt it's a zero-g problem. That's as measured after Zach is done ejaculating and before he pulls out. $1,000. Or since we're in space, I suppose we should call it undocking. Is that enough incentive for you Ayana? Don't you want a baby girl to raise?"

"Well, since you put it that way, I suppose it would make sense for her to do it this one time," conceded Ayana.

"All right, then!" said Alexis happily, "That makes it 6-5 in favor of the orgy. Colleen. Wet-blanket. We win!"

Colleen proceeded to lay down the law. "I'm going to veto this, girls, for mission safety, if not for propriety's sake." A few murmured awws accompanied this announcement. "As you yourself pointed out, Alexis, in zero-g it's a near certainty that Zach's cum will get all over the cabin, and I don't know if most of you women know this, but semen is a pretty good electrical conductor. I will not lead the first space mission that disables its spacecraft with ejaculate. Is that clear?"

"Party pooper," said Alexis. She reluctantly resumed her trashy novel.

At 1800 hours, it was time for dinner, which consisted of peanut butter flavored nutrition bars, juice, and water. After dinnertime, it was pee time. Zach volunteered to stand guard with a towel to catch any accidents. This noble act on his part was met by some well-deserved teasing and taunting by the women. The peeing was uneventful, with only a few glimpses of female anatomy for Zach. Once bare, vulvas and streams were quickly hidden by the funnel. To keep it interesting, Alexis held the funnel aside and shot a squirt towards him. The women laughed to see him struggle in weightlessness to chase after all the wet little spheres she made. Charisse chided good naturedly, "Swim for it, piss boy!" It was good fun that passed the time. Colleen warned them that if they messed up her spacecraft, she would have their hides for hats.

At around 1930 hours, the dry run vehicle came into sight. It was massive, with a long, thick central cylinder. Around this cylinder a 200 meter in diameter wheel with four spokes rotated around the central cylinder. The speed was 43 mph at the rim, as Zach recalled, to simulate Mars gravity. The wheel made a full rotation every 33 seconds. The habitat was the rim of the wheel. It was a tube 3 meters by 3 meters square by 628 meters in circumference. It was like living inside an infinitely long submarine. Slowly and with great care, over the next half hour, Colleen and Colby maneuvered the excursion vehicle. They docked with a port at the end of the central cylinder. They had arrived at their new home for the week.

Upon arrival, the crew gathered in front of Zach's assigned quarters, B3, to get assigned to their quarters and hear a brief speech from Colleen. She pointed to a Latin inscription scrawled over the door to B3 that read, 'Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.' "During my Mars mission, these were my assigned quarters," she said. "This graffiti is from that dry run. Does anyone know what the inscription means?" Berte's hand shot up excitedly. She was utterly delightful. "Yes Berte?"

"It's from Dante's Inferno," said Berte, "Dante wrote that this inscription is written on the gates of hell. It reads, 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.' Hmm. That's not very nice. Was it some kind of joke?"

"Kind of, and kind of not," answered Colleen. "What happened was that I was in a relationship with my crewmate Mateo. To my surprise as much as anybody's, I became infatuated with my crewmate Kwame instead. I left Mateo without a word of explanation. I ghosted him to the degree you can ghost someone living on the same spacecraft with you. That was immature, but in my defense, I was only nineteen at the time. We had no means established among my crewmates to communicate about relationships. In his frustration, Mateo wrote this over my door as a kind of warning to his once friend Kwame. To tell him he was only the flavor of the month, I assume. After that, our commanding officer quickly set something up."

"Learn from my mistakes. Don't treat your crewmates like I treated Mateo. Here are some ground rules for communicating about crew relations. I expect them to be followed. Number one, treat each other with dignity and compassion. If you can't bring yourself to do it, communicate with me immediately. We'll work it out. Does everyone agree?" There was acclamation. "Number two, I need you to share the complete and honest truth with me when I ask for it. You don't have to air your dirty laundry in front of everybody. I need to know the whole story." Again, there was agreement. "Number three, don't gossip." Everyone agreed. Zach was looking at Alexis. She did it with a straight face. "Number four, if you have a problem with me, take it to Zach. He is our chief medical officer, and even has the ability to overrule me in certain matters." Everyone looked at him. He smiled and waved.

"I want to start off this set of rules by coming clean myself. Although some of you might think of it as a technicality, I need your permission to have Zach as a lover and get with child by him before the mission. It's against regulations. If you agree, you'll be breaking regulations, too. Do I have your permission?" There was a chorus of ayes. "Is anyone unwilling to join this conspiracy? Take the chance?" There was silence. "Thank you. That is all for my remarks." There was a commotion as the crew rose to go about their duties. Over the commotion, Colleen added, "See the crew roster in your PDA for your assigned quarters and shift assignments. If you have any concerns, please bring them to me. I'll be available for the next two hours, and then my sleep cycle begins. Once I'm asleep, bring your concerns to Alexis, who commands the night shift. Michaela is in command of the graveyard shift, and you can also bring any concerns to her."

Everyone unloaded their personal belongings and moved into their quarters. There was an hour for this, and then regular duty rotation began. The day watch, commanded by Colleen, with Zach, Anming, and Colby, would soon start their sleep cycle at 10 PM. The night shift, commanded by Alexis, with Charisse, Ayana, and Khushi, was on duty until 2 AM. Charisse and Khushi focused on unloading the perishable seedlings into the various hydroponics gardens throughout the ship. Ayana took charge of unloading the fresh medical supplies and stocking the two medical bays on the ship. The graveyard shift, commanded by Michaela, with Berte, Aanya, and Colette, settled down for a long nap. They would be going on duty at 2 AM.

(To be continued)