Man Shortage on a New World

Sci Fi story of what happens when colonists of a new world suffer a shortage of men and have to resort to desperate measures to ensure the survival of their community.

PART 1

Our ancestors had migrated from Earth four generations ago in a fleet of massive interstellar spacecraft. We were about 12 lightyears away on a planet we named Nova Terra in the Tau Ceti System. The journey from earth had taken over 100 years requiring the colonists to be in stasis for the entire voyage. We had come in two groups from different countries on Earth and had established separate colonies on Nova Terra in the northern and southern lands. All up there were around 100,000 of us Southerners and 500,000 Northerners.

Marriage and relationships for us was a bit different than back on Earth. We had a conservative culture and sex before 18 was highly frowned upon. You can imagine how horny we were by the time we reached 18. In our community, 21 was the youngest age to get married. Up to then you were expected to concentrate on study and learn a skill useful to the colony.

Due to our relatively small population you could not marry whomever you chose as we needed to ensure sufficient genetic diversity in the population. So on turning 18, each person was given a list of about 200 to 300 people selected genetically from which you could take a partner. For the next three years we dated those we were attracted to, then from age 21 onwards we could make our choice, become engaged and marry. Our list of potential partners would change with new entrants reaching age 18 and those who married coming off the list.

Due to our limited population and marriage restrictions we had another unusual custom. To maintain community content, everyone who wanted a partner could have one. Sometimes due to limited partner choice it was hard to find someone on your list that you liked. Also, since there were three percent more females born than males, there was a small imbalance in numbers between the sexes. To solve this problem, by age 25 if someone could genuinely not find a suitable partner from their list, a dual marriage was permitted. The custom was that the woman or man would approach a suitable couple they knew and ask to join in their marriage. It was considered impolite to refuse.

My name is Rick and I am married to a woman named Liz. At 30, she was a year older than me.

When Liz turned 18 she had found it hard to find the right man for her. I had also started to despair at finding someone but one day, when I was 23, we were introduced by a mutual friend at a party. She was a drop-dead gorgeous tall blond with a voluptuous curvy figure and fantastic 32D boobs. We clicked together immediately, and moreover, she was on my list.

We ended up in bed together that first night and I was surprised to find out she was still relatively sexually inexperienced. We spent the whole weekend in bed making passionate love where I taught her, among other things, the delights of oral sex. To cut a long story short, we were married 6 months later. We had been married now for almost 6 years and have two adorable children, a girl aged four and a boy aged two.

For a few generations after arrival on Nova Terra, the Northern and Southern communities had been on reasonably good terms despite differences in our cultures. On the whole we in the South were a peaceful community where women and men were equal. We enjoyed more intellectual pursuits and valued education. The Northerners were a more aggressive male dominated community and disagreements among them were common. Despite our differences, there had been a healthy trade and interchange of people between us for many generations. More recently, however, the relationship was souring.

It had become obvious we had been fortunate with a land more abundant in resources than the Northlands and they eyed us jealously. The leadership and culture in the Northlands was also becoming more aggressive and demanding that we give them more and more access to our resources. Even though we placated them to keep the peace, the threats were increasing in intensity and it was obvious there was going to be big trouble ahead. With our relative smaller size there could be only one outcome.

When there started to be muttering of invasion by the Northerners, our leaders made the hard decision that we would abandoned our home in Nova Terra leaving the whole planet to them and travel to a new home far away. It was a bitter decision after all the hard work our ancestors had put into our colony, but we had little choice.

Luckily our ancestors' starships were a marvel of technology with a life expectancy of well beyond a millennium. The possibility we may need to use the starships again was always close to the minds of our leaders through the generations, though it was thought the most likely need for them would be a natural disaster on Nova Terra such as a large meteor strike or mega volcano. Thus the ships had been maintained and could be relatively easily brought back into operation. The same could not be said of our northern neighbours.

I was trained from an early age to be a pilot. I could fly all manner of aircraft as well as orbital shuttles, interplanetary craft and the starships. At age 29 I was sufficiently experienced and senior to be the commander of our largest starship, the Hyperion.

My deputy commander of the starship was Carrie, a twenty five year old pilot. We had been paired together as a crew for the last 5 years since she graduated from flight school. She married a guy named Mike 3 years ago, but had no children yet.

Carrie and I had spent a lot of time working together and become good friends, but no more than that, even though she was really hot. She was very different to my wife, a petite brunette with a dancers figure. Because we spent so much time together at work we didn't socialise too often outside of work. When we did get together as couples, Liz and Mike seemed to get along very well, but they both seemed a little jealous that Carrie and I spent so much time together and were obviously quite comfortable in each other's company. I'm sure they wondered what could happen on those long lonely nights in space. I often reassured Liz that there was nothing going on between Carrie and me.

Liz and I still had continued a great sex life, despite two children, but in the past year it had dropped off considerably. Partly, this was because I had been spending a lot of time in orbit on board the Hyperion with Carrie prepping it for our long voyage. But even when I was at home she didn't seem as eager as before. I hoped that our sex would improve when we arrived at our new home.

Our new home planet was about seven light years away. Our entire population was to be transported in five gigantic starships. The total journey would still take us about 85 years.

The passengers and crew would spend the voyage in stasis. During this time the artificial intelligence units in the ship's computer system would run the ship, monitoring all the systems, navigate the ship and repair faults utilising repair robots. Only if there was a major problem would the ship's crew be brought out of stasis. As commander and deputy commander of the starship, myself and Carrie would be last crew members into stasis. We would stay awake for the first 12 months of the voyage monitoring the ship systems and fixing any last minute problems, as well as navigating the tricky slingshot manoeuvres past the gas giants which was essential to get right. We would also be woken up first, about 12 months before planet-fall, to check all the ships systems, monitor the deceleration engine burns, and to navigate the final course to orbit our new home planet. In a funny quirk this meant that while I was now a year younger than Liz, when we arrived I would be a year older than her as she would spend the whole voyage in stasis.

My ship, The Hyperion, was by far the largest starship. It held the majority of the equipment we would need to establish our new colony and could also carry almost a third of our population. As the Northerners were becoming increasingly belligerent and resentful, our leadership had decided to send the two larger ships off first with the key skilled people in our society, and the majority of the younger women and children. We also carried the deputy leader of our community. All together I would carry about 20,000 women, 4,000 men and 6,000, children.

The next ship scheduled to depart, the Juno, would carry most of the remainder of the young women and children and another 3,000 of the younger men. All up about 25,000 passenger.

The next two ships scheduled to depart, The Enceladus and The Europa, would carry the remainder of the younger population, mostly younger men, about 17,000 passengers each.

The last ship to depart, The Titan, would carry the older members of our society who had volunteered to defend us in a rear guard action if the Northerners attacked, so the rest could get away.

My wife would be on my ship and Carrie's husband would be on the Enceladus. Liz was trained as a planetary biologist. Her main job on arrival would be to check for biological hazards in our new home planet and help select the best site for our new colony.

We had spent the last three years in intense preparation preparing the five starships, transporting cargo needed and fuelling the ships. The journey to our new home was due to commence shortly. We were well underway transporting the population to the ships where they were placed immediately into stasis, as crew sleeping quarters were small.

A week before departure Carrie and I went home for the last time to pack. It was great to see my wife and children again for a solid week as my visits had become increasingly fleeting over the last 12 months and I hadn't been home at all for eight weeks. That night we made love. Liz seemed shy, like we were making love for the first time again. I made love with very slowly and tenderly, while, due to my enforced celibacy for the last month, I really needed to give her a good hard fucking. We made love every night during our last week on Terra Nova.

On our final morning on Nova Terra, we made love again and afterwards she cuddled up to me and held my cock in her hand and gently stroked me back to hardness. She turned to me and said, "my darling husband, I am going to tell you something and I want you to hear me out completely before you say anything, OK." I looked at her quizzically and nodded.

"Firstly, know that I love you heart and soul my husband and father of my children. For our long journey ahead I am going to give you something. You and Carrie are going to be alone on the ship together for a year. I know you well and you will frustrated and lonely with your wife in stasis which makes me sad. I know that you will be very tempted to have sex with her and may not be able to resist. If this happens I don't want you to feel guilty, so I am giving you a leave pass."

I definitely wasn't expecting that. My jaw dropped and it took me a full ten seconds to regain my voice. "Liz, I am astounded you made me that offer. It is so sweet of you but I can promise you that Carrie and I are just friends and I can and will resist temptation, so I won't need a leave pass."

"My husband, I really don't want you to suffer in frustration and I definitely don't want you to feel guilty if you succumb to Carrie. So I want you to use the leave pass I am giving you. Please tell me that you will. Just don't fall too much in love with her and come back to me when we get to our new home."

I said, "I am not sure if Mike would appreciate this arrangement."

"That's a matter for Carrie and Mike."

She had been stroking my cock while talking to me and I realised the idea of fucking Carrie was getting me very excited. She climbed on top and slid down onto my cock and started sliding up and down on me. When she sensed I was getting close to coming she suddenly paused on the up and said, "promise me now on the head of your children you will use the leave pass or I will climb off and leave you hanging for 85 years."

I groaned and said, "OK, OK I promise." She resumed madly humping me and I shot another huge load into her and collapsed on the bed.

Later I tried to raise the subject again but she touched my lips and said, "shhhhhh, its agreed husband, nothing more to be said."

Later that morning while Liz and the kids went for a final medical check I caught up with Carrie at a café to go over final departure plans. After that she would say goodbye to Mike for 85 years, and She, Liz and my children would go to the shuttle port to transfer up to the starship.

I was wondering if I should say anything about the leave pass but she beat me to it. Mike had made her exactly the same offer. I said, "I don't understand, I always thought they were both a bit jealous of our friendship. To offer this to us seems too good to be true. Is it some kind of test?"

Carrie was lost in thought for a minute then she said, "it is indeed very strange. Obviously they planned this together but it is not like they are very close friends. It has been about 6 months since we have all been out together. Every time we tried to arrange it either Mike or Liz seemed to be too busy. We need to get to the bottom of this."

Carrie called Mike and asked him to meet her at the cafe. I called Carrie and asked her the same thing. About 30 minutes later they arrived close together. After parking the kids in a play area we sat down in a booth, Carrie and I on one side and Liz and Mike on the other.

Carrie took the lead and said, "so Mike and Liz, what really gives with this leave pass?" Then she just stared intently at both of them in turn, not saying a further word. My wife looked terrified and Mike went white.

Carrie said, "I thought so."

"Thought what" I said.

"Rick, for a clever man you are so stupid sometimes. They have been having an affair."

For the second time today I was left speechless.

My wife started sobbing saying sorry to me over and over. Mike was doing the same with Carrie.

After they regained self-control they told us the affair has started about 6 months ago when Carrie and I were often absent. Liz had a plumbing problem at home and had called me while in orbit to ask what to do. Carrie had been with me and actually suggested she call Mike to come over to fix it. After fixing the plumbing Liz had asked Mike to stay for dinner to say thanks. They had a lot to drink and one thing led to another.

Liz said, "I am so sorry Rick and Carrie. The first time we just got carried away because we were drunk and so horny. After that, it was more that we were just lonely without you both, scared about what has been going on here, and missing you so much. We know that is no excuse. It has been more about giving comfort to each other than the sex part, really. We have been feeling so guilty that we ended our affair a month ago, but that hasn't stopped the guilt. We never meant you to find out and be hurt by our foolishness. We both let you both down badly and thought the leave pass was a way of making it up to you both. We know from our experience that after departure, you two will be feeling the same loneliness as we did while everyone else is in stasis.

My mind was in total turmoil of powerful conflicting emotions. I still couldn't speak. I hated what she had done but I loved her so much. She was the mother of my children. I got the loneliness and horniness bit, but what about loyalty and trust. It suddenly dawned on me why she had been so sexually distant of late. She was both getting it elsewhere and was wracked with guilt whenever she was with me. All this revealed just before one of the biggest days of my life.

Liz took me by the hand and led me to another quiet part of the café and said "Rick, please forgive me. I love you so much and I am so so sorry. Please say something."

After a while I said, "Liz, tomorrow we are to depart this world and I have to pilot us to our new home. It's going to be extremely demanding and stressful. I just can't get my head around what happened between you and Mike with all this going on as well. One question, do you love him?" She thought for a while and said, "yes, I did grow to love him a bit, but it's nothing like the deep love I have for you and still have. Please believe me. I promise it is over."

"I guess that will have to do for now. Let's talk about it properly later, say in 85 years," I said somewhat cynically.

I noticed Carrie and Mike also in deep conversation with tears on both sides. They hugged and kissed then Mike started walking out. As he passed me he stopped and said, "Rick I am so sorry, it should never have happened. Please forgive her and please do use that leave pass. It will help with my guilt too."

Liz, the kids, Carrie and I all went together to the shuttle port and caught the next one to the Hyperion. I chatted to our two children but both women were silent all the way up, avoiding each other's eyes. I took my family to the stasis processing area where I hugged and kissed the kids. I wasn't in the mood to do the same with Liz but she looked so forlorn I relented and took her in my arms and kissed her. As she broke our embrace she whispered, "I so love you, please come back to me." I whispered back "I love you too." I contemplated the thought of being angry at her for the next 85 years then said, "I forgive you." She gave me a little anguished smile, then she floated away with the children to be processed. They would be placed in individual stasis pods and stored with the thousands of others in the stasis hold to await arrival in our new home.

Then I joined Carrie on the bridge. It was time to start work.

PART 2

By the next day all passengers and crew were aboard and we were ready for departure.

We would escape Nova Terra's orbit using conventional high thrust rocket engines. We would then use lower thrust ion drive engines for about 10 years to slowly accelerate to our coast velocity, around 10% of light speed. Our course out of our solar system was plotted to slingshot around two massive gas giant planets five times size of Jupiter which would greatly increase our velocity on the way out.

The launch crew numbered about 30. Mostly engineering staff to check systems and make last minute adjustments or repairs, and medical staff to monitor everyone in stasis was adjusting properly.

My job as pilot was not as exciting as you would think. The computer told me all systems were ready and all I had to do was flick the launch switch to authorise the computer to proceed with the actual launch. It fired the main engines in sequence at the correct times. Even with all the main engines lit, acceleration was relatively slow due to our huge mass.

After two weeks everything was running smoothly and crew members who were no longer needed also entered stasis leaving 10 of us and our deputy leader who was in touch with our Nova Terra base.

We heard that The Juno had successfully departed soon after following our course.

Up to now Carrie and I had been fairly busy and had little privacy to talk. The elephant in the room now lurked in the corner, the leave pass from our spouses. Carrie raised the subject first. "Rick, I have always thought of you as a great friend and colleague but never let myself contemplate a sexual relationship. I can understand what Mike and Liz must have been feeling down on the planet and why they needed each other for comfort. I have forgiven them so I don't really need a revenge fuck for their affair. It doesn't mean I don't find you attractive by the way," she grinned.

"Carrie, I understand how it happened too and have forgiven Liz and Mike, though I am still angry with them. I didn't want it hanging over all of us when we arrive. Truthfully, I guess I have always found you very attractive but put it out of my mind because I didn't want to spoil our friendship and working relationship. It wasn't until Carrie raised the subject of a leave pass that I really thought about what you would be like in bed." I grinned back.