Starship Isabella - The Rescue

The Rescue

The Starship Isabella settled gently down on the landing pad inside the hanger of the Stellardyne Mining facility headquarters on the cold dark planet of Kento. As soon as they landed, the overhead hanger doors of the pad began rumbling closed. It would take about 15 minutes for the excess heat from the facilities fusion reactor to raise the temperature inside the hangar to the minimum of 5 degrees centigrade, so the fifty miners the Isabella carried would be able to enter the hangar without freezing. Kento had an average surface temperature of negative 100 degrees centigrade. If exposed to this extreme cold temperature, a person would freeze to death in a matter of minutes. Even a temperature of 5 degrees would be uncomfortable for any length of time without proper gear, so the miners always wore their cold weather flimsy underneath their work coverall.

The flimsy, verbalization for the acronym FL.E.H.M.S.E., was a fluid nanofiber bodysuit that when activated by a microswitch on the collar, flowed over the body to cover every square centimeter of the wearer's skin. The Fluid Enhanced Homeostatic Maintenance System Environment had been designed for people working in cold or hot environments. In cold conditions, down to 5 degrees, the cold weather flimsy helped conserve body heat while allowing moisture from perspiration to wick away from the body, keeping the wearer warm and dry.

The temperatures on interstellar spaceships, could be as high as 40 degrees centigrade near the fusion reactor. The standard flimsy enhanced the body's ability to dump heat and perspiration from the body to the environment very efficiently. Because of its ability to keep the wearer comfortable and dry in many different Terrestrial environments, the flimsy had been adopted on many planets and worn as an undergarment, keeping the wearer cool and dry in a warm environment. The flimsy, when worn, resembled very thin body paint and hid absolutely nothing of the wearer's body shape, leaving nothing to the imagination of what a person looked like underneath. On most planets, people usually wore clothing over the flimsy for modesty's sake. Crews on Interstellar freighters, like Rob and Brad, along with the sex workers that sometimes stayed in their cabins wore the flimsy alone, having gotten used to the form of each other's bodies but on working family starships like the Isabella, however, it was usually the complete uniform. When either Brad or Rob left the ship, they slipped in lightweight coveralls for modesty sake. The form fitting qualities of the flimsy had probably been one of the reasons that nudity had become the norm inside of many people's homes.

"I guess it's about time to say goodbye," the flimsy clad sex worker seated in the seat to the left of Rob Maxwell told the owner and Captain of the small crew transport vessel. "Thank you again for letting us hitch a ride," Emily, the thirty year old sex worker sitting on Rob's left told him. "Unless I see you on the trip back home, this will be Fred's and my last trip. We're both retiring after this contract expires," she told Rob, giving him a quick peck on the lips. On the dozens of trips she'd served as Rob's sexual playmate, she had never kissed Rob before, not even a quick peck. Sex workers never kissed their clients, deeming the act to be too personal. Rob supposed that this last kiss was just a friendly way to say goodbye to a friend.

"You and Fred deserve it," Rob told the woman. "Fred works all day in the mine and you are ready for a well deserved rest too. It can't be easy wrestling naked with a dozen horny miners a day."

Emily just shrugged. "I don't mind so much, I really like sex. I just wish the miners wouldn't get so rough with me," Emily said. "Fred and I are swingers. We believe in free love," Emily told Rob. Emily didn't want to let Rob know that they were Utopians. Utopianism was so misunderstood by those not living the lifestyle.

"Where do you want to retire?" Rob asked while making preparations for landing.

"New California," Emily replied. "We've saved enough money to buy a nice vineyard there and try our hand at making wine and babies," Emily smiled. "I want at least three children, maybe more," Emily said enthusiastically. "I hope the embryos are ready for shipment by the time we retire."

Everybody throughout the Interplanetary Confederation was wondering when the next round of embryos would finally be released. Currently, only Breeders were allowed to produce children. Everyone else was dependent on the embryos the Breeders produced being implanted into the womb of the qualified women, so that couples could have families of their own.

"Good luck to you both," Rob said.

"What about you Agnes?" Brad asked his escort on this trip. Agnes had been a great fuck and simply loved his big cock up her ass. They'd never talked about Agnes' dreams and aspirations during the week they'd spent together having sex in his cabin several times a day.

"Tim and I have been saving our money. We want to complete 3 more stints on Kento before we retire. If I spend every day on my back for the next few years, we can buy a farm on New Texas and have lots of children. A woman can have up to four children there," Emily said.

On Earth and Terra Nova, adult couples were only allowed one child as long as the population inside their geographic borders didn't exceed the annual limit. Wars and plagues on Earth had wiped out a sizable part of the population, but overpopulation was still a major concern since the resulting famine and food riots had wrecked agricultural resources of the planet. Only off world colonists were allowed more than one child from Breeder embryos.

"A farmer huh?" Brad said admiringly. "That's a mighty important vocation since the food riots. Thanks to the farmers on the Colonial planets, Earth and Terra Nova finally had enough food to support the population. I'd like to thank him personally," Brad told the naked woman.

"He's coming up to get me when we're cleared to disembark," she told Brad. "I'll introduce you two," Agnes told him.

"Is Fred coming up?" Rob asked Emily.

Fred, Tim and the other miners the ship transported, usually rode in the bunk section of the ship, their fares paid by Stellardyne. The sex workers were considered private contractors and had to purchase their own transportation with the travel allowance they were given by the company. Some of these women, commonly miner's wives, frequently rode up front with the Captain and crew, exchanging sex for their transportation. That way, the sex workers were able to save the cost of their trip to their destination and pocket the credits the company gave them to travel. Fred was always happy to let his wife pay her way in trade. This was Agnes' first trip on the Isabella as she and Tim had always travelled in one of the newer Stellardyne ships that didn't allow that practice. Fortunately for Rob and Brad, they had a contract with Stellardyne to transport smaller groups of workers and their families to company owned facilities throughout the Confederation. The Stellardyne contract alone paid most of the bills and operating expenses for the starship, and even allowed the crew to make a small profit on each trip.

Emily's husband, Fred, was a mine foreman, he usually came up to the control center to check on Rob's satisfaction with his wife's performance before they disembarked. He was extremely proud of his wife's profession and her reputation as the best fuck in the mining industry. The big man made it up to the control room dressed in his flimsy and miners uniform, bringing a jacket for his wife to wear in the cold hangar on Kento.

"I trust you enjoyed Emily's company on the trip over," Fred said, shaking Rob's hand.

"She was absolutely wonderful," Rob replied. "I enjoyed our time together very much."

"She always tells me how well you treat her. You'd be surprised at how rough some of the miners get with her when she's working. I suppose if they get angry at me for making them do their job, and take it out on Emily's cunt and ass," Fred said, holding his wife close to his side. "She says that you're very gentle when you sodomize her," Fred told Rob, expressing his gratitude.

"Your cunt and ass are mine tonight," Fred told his wife, grabbing her roughly and pulling her into a close embrace. "I don't care how much money we'll lose, You're mine alone tonight and all day tomorrow as well," The big man growled, kissing his wife firmly on the lips with passion. As far as Rob knew, Fred was the only man that Emily ever let kiss her like that. Her lips and her love were for her husband, not for her clients.

"I understand that you and Emily are starting a vineyard on New California when you retire," Rob told the big mine foreman.

Fred smiled broadly. "That's right, We've already bought the land, a lot of land. We planted some vines on one of the plots during our vacation three years ago. Emily's parents are partners with us and they're looking after the vineyards. They've been renting out the farms elsewhere on our property to farmers who are interested in forming a new community. I'm not interested in getting rich, I just want us to be surrounded by like-minded families who we can start a successful community away from the major cities on the planet," Fred told Rob.

What Fred did not say was that he was only renting land to other Utopian families. By the time they retired, they would own one of the largest Utopian colonies in the Confederation. They had originally chosen New California because of their progressive views on incest. After forced sterilization had been formed to all citizens of Earth and Terra Prime, there were no more unwanted pregnancies. Incest was legal everywhere now, but the idea of incest was still taboo.

Tim, Agnes' husband, was next up front to collect his wife. "Everything okay Dear?" he asked his spouse as she stood to greet him. Tim also carried a jacket for his wife.

"Everything was wonderful," Agnes told her husband. "Brad is an excellent lover. He's much better than all the small dicked miners on Kento. He's almost as good as you," Agnes said, smiling back at Brad.

"Thank you for letting Agnes share your bed," Tim told Brad, shaking his hand. "Agnes loves sex, it's why she chose sex work as a career, but it's rare that she ever comments to me on how good the sex was in her professional life. I'm happy that you were able to give her such great pleasure," Tim told Brad.

"Thank you for the opportunity to share your wife's considerable charms," Brad told the man. "Thank you for wanting to be a farmer. The Confederation needs more farmers. So many farmers were killed during the food riots, it's hard to get young people interested in the career," Brad told Tim sincerely. "Time for your final goodbyes," Fred told Emily.

Emily touched the microswitch on Rob's collar, withdrawing the flimsy. Emily took the cushion off the chair and placed it on the floor at Rob"s feet. Emily took Rob's flaccid dick in her mouth and began to fellate him.

"This is our first time travelling this way," Tim told Rob. "Is this the usual way that the wives say goodbye to the crew?"

Fred nodded his head and Tim instructed Agnes to say goodbye to Brad. Agnes had watched Emily and followed her actions. Watching Emily suck his dad off, Brad was nearly hard when his flimsy was retracted and so Agnes was able to get to business immediately. The women's husbands smiled as their wives performed this intimate act for their hosts. Tim and Agnes were also swingers and Tim always enjoyed watching Agnes have sex with another person.

After Brad came in Agnes' mouth, Rob followed Brad in another minute, emptying his balls into Emily's talemted mouth. The women swallowed their loads and both women stood and deployed their flimsy and put their jackets on. They then accompanied their husbands down the gangplank and into the headquarters building.

Brad deployed his flimsy as he watched his father don a cold weather flimsy and coveralls and follow the two couples down the gangplank and into the mining office. Rob just needed to have the mine representative acknowledge the delivery of the miners and their equipment in order to complete the transfer of credits to the Isabella's company account. Then they would be off to find another job. Brad went back to the hold of the ship and oversaw the loading of used mining equipment to be delivered back to Stellardyne to be refurbished.

When the Isabella was in her prime, she would bring workers and their tools to newly discovered planets throughout the Confederation, helping Stellardyne prepare the infrastructure of the colony for the arrival of colonists. That had been over twenty years ago, before Brad had been born. The era of small groups of pioneers striking out to tame a barren planet was well past now. Larger, faster transports brought colonists and equipment to the already developed Earth Analog planets, leaving the Isabella to rely on transporting work crews and working girls to remote, desolate locations, good for nothing but producing raw materials for the Stellardyne Corporation. Their average contract consisted in bringing people to the sites and returning with worn out equipment.

Brad had urged his father to sell the aging starfreighter to one of the many collectors who had been pestering him to sell the ship so that they could convert the classically designed hull into a modern pleasure craft. Wealthy people all over the Confederation appreciated the streamlined look and the spacious interior of the old Stellardyne "Scout" Starfreighter, and would pay a premium for a high quality example like the Isabella. Even though the sale would allow his father to retire in comfort, he had always refused to sell it. The ship was named after Rob's late wife and Brad's mother, Isabella Maxwell. His father held the ship high in sentimental value. He and his wife had bought the small, work horse Scout second hand and returned to it to service after being neglected for years. Their hard work and dedication finally paid off when they got a contract from the government on New India to help them prepare the planet for millions of Indians who would migrate there in order to preserve their culture. After years of steady work from New India and other new colonies, colonial expansion finally slowed and so did their lucrative contracts. By the time Brad's mother had been murdered by pirates, the starship was delivering miners to and from distant outposts and returning worn-out equipment for remanufacture.

They were cleared for takeoff from Kento immediately after Rob returned. The roof opened after everyone had gone into the heated building, and Rob used the gravity drive to lift off of the surface of the outpost. After clearing the small constellation of commercial satellites orbiting the planet, they would engage the stardrive, falling into a wormhole created by the tiny black hole they would create with the gravity generators.

"Did you see that?" Brad asked excitedly after a bright streak of light blazed across the sky and seemed to land on the far side of the planet.

"Looks like an asteroid struck the planet," Rob replied, nonplussed.

"Moving too slow for an asteroid," Brad argued. "It almost looked like a controlled landing gone wrong. We should go check it out," Brad told his dad.

"I'm pretty sure it was just an asteroid, but if you think it was a controlled descent, maybe I should make a call into Kento control and see what they make of it," Rob said, unconvinced that it was anything else but an asteroid strike.

The sensor operator at Kento control reported that they'd detected nothing like an asteroid in the last half hour, but admitted that they registered hundreds of asteroid strikes every month. Rob was perplexed. Surely an asteroid of the size they'd seen would've shown up on the sensors, unless it hadn't really been an asteroid.

Brad was thinking the same thing. "We need to go check it out Dad," he told his father. "It might be an escape pod from a larger ship."

"If it was an escape pod, we would've heard the distress call or at least be able to pick up a homing beacon," Rob rationalized.

"Not if it was a military vessel," Brad reminded his father. "The new cloaking technology allows an escape pod to go undetectable until the beacon is switched on manually. That way the combatant craft can't capture or destroy the pod in flight."

Rob agreed with his son's reasoning. Since pirate activity had increased tenfold over the past decade, hijacking freighters and kidnapping high ranking officers for ransom were far more common than they had been in the past. Increased pirate activity was also responsible for the shortage of embryos throughout the Confederation. The pirates had actually captured a freighter with embryos on board and sold the unborn children to the highest bidders. Most of the babies were born into criminal societies.

"Do you have the approximate coordinates of where it landed?" Rob asked.

"Just entered it into the AI," Brad replied.

The ship changed course to travel to the location of the impact. At 500 meters above the impact, it was evident that what they'd seen was no asteroid. An escape pod lay inside a shallow impact crater, the re-entry obviously rougher than intended.

"Grab the med kit and the gurney!" Rob shouted as he set the ship down within a few meters of the crash site. Rob and Brad each withdrew their regular flimsy and replaced it with a cold weather version. This flimsy was rated for fifty below, not the one-hundred below outside the ship. They would have to work quickly. Rob rushed back to the gangplank, put on an excursion helmet and gloves, grabbed an emergency rescue kit and rushed toward the escape pod. Brad pulled his helmet over his head and switched on the anti-gravity unit of the gurney before following his father out the door to join him at the crash site. Rob had already plugged an intercom unit into the receptacle outside the door that had been designed for such a purpose.

"Is anyone hurt inside?" Rob asked.

There was no answer for a moment, then a woman's voice answered weakly. I think my daughter and I are okay, just a little shaken. Dad hit his head on the console, he's unconscious," the answer came back.

"Do you know how to open the hatch?" Rob asked.

"Who are you?" came the nervous reply.

Rob looked at his son, confusion crossing his face.

I'm Rob Maxwell. My son Brad and I are here to rescue you. We're from the transport ship Isabella," Rob stated clearly. "Do you need assistance?"

"You're not from the pirate ship?" another female voice asked.

"No, we're from the transport starship Isabella, we're freezing out here. Do you need any assistance?" Rob replied, irritation clearly in his voice.

"Yes. We need assistance," the first woman spoke.

"Are you wearing cold weather gear? It's a hundred below out here," Rob asked.

After a slight delay, the woman answered again. "We're not wearing any clothes, we're Utopians," the answer came back.

"Do you have any cold weather gear?" Rob asked again.

"No. We're Utopians. We're nudists," the first woman clarified.

Rob had heard about Utopians, a cult that considered free love through sexual intercourse to be the basis for a happy and completely satisfying life. Rob had heard that incest was routinely practiced and even encouraged in Utopian societies. Rob didn't have any personal objection to incest, the practice had been legallized as most people were sterilized and male Breeders practiced birth control unless they were Breeding or making embryos. He had even often fantasized about sex with his twin sister in his early adulthood, before the practice was legalized.