The Armstrong Incident

"Lieutenant Jones doesn't seem to like the bridge schedule, sir," Bull said. Alan looked at the schedule, his face frowning as he read.

"I can understand how he might feel, Number One," Alan said. "This is highly... unusual, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, sir, I would under normal circumstances," Bull said. "I just feel that Lt. Jones' expertise and experience would be best served on the second shift. And I feel this would give us an opportunity to train up some of the other weapons officers -- give them first-shift bridge experience." My bullshit detectors were pegging right about now. I couldn't believe the crap he was laying on the captain.

"Is that the only reason, Commander, or is there something else?" Alan asked. Apparently, he wasn't buying it, either.

"If I may speak freely, sir," Bull said quietly.

"Always, Number One," Alan said.

"I've never been a big fan of spouses working on the same ship. Especially in such close quarters. I don't want to see either of them distracted from their duties."

"I thought so," Alan said. "I can understand how you might feel, but I will not have their morale affected by this tour. You make sure the two of them have some quality time with each other, you hear me?"

"Yes, sir," Bull said. Alan looked at me before speaking.

"Can you make this work, Lieutenant?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," I said. He nodded his head.

"Good. Carry on, all of you," he said before walking away. Bull glared at me for a moment, then a smirk broke out on his face.

"Don't worry, Jones. I'll keep an eye on your wife for you," he said before walking away. I looked at Alice and was about to say something, but she put her finger to her lips.

"Don't say anything, Bill," she said. "We'll talk later. Go on, I'll call Lt. Robinson."

"Yes, ma'am," I said quietly. I glanced at Tabby and noticed she was trying to concentrate on a spot on her console. I could see her face was red, but I didn't know whether it was embarrassment or guilt. I turned and strode off the bridge, feeling more embarrassed and humiliated than I had ever felt on board a ship. Something about this just stunk to high heaven.

I went to the galley, hoping to grab something to eat. It was outside the normal chow time and I knew they wouldn't have much to offer, but I needed something in my stomach.

"Not much available right now, Lt.," the man behind the Plexiglas divider said. "About all we have are some fake meat burgers. Tastes like shit, but they're guaranteed to fill you up. Sorry."

"That'll do for now," I said. "I'll take one." He grabbed one and put it on my tray. He held up a small packet of flavored ketchup.

"Want some axle grease to make it a bit more palatable?" he asked with a smile.

"Sure, why not," I said, taking the packet. "Thanks."

"Any time, Lieutenant," he said. I grabbed a small bottle of chocolate milk and made my way to an empty table. I ate the burger after coating the patty with the ketchup and swallowed the milk. The crewman was right. It tasted like shit, but filled me up. And the ketchup did make it a bit more palatable. I put the tray away, tossed my garbage in the can and headed to my cabin.

I laid in my rack and tried to sleep, but was unable to. I found myself wondering what Bull was really up to. And what did he mean about keeping an eye on Tabby? I tossed and turned for about an hour, but couldn't relax. Frustrated, I finally got up and put on my workout clothes -- a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. After I donned a pair of shoes and socks, I headed to the small gym on one of the lower decks.

When I got there, I was relieved to see that I was alone. Good, I thought. That would give me the space to work off some of my frustration without having to interact with anyone, which I didn't think I could do without getting angry.

I warmed up a bit, then worked out on the treadmill and the weight machine for a while. Then I went to the gravity controller mounted on the wall and turned the gravity in the room down to .4G. I could feel the difference instantly. Then I spent the next half hour working through some Grav Tac routines I learned before leaving Earth. By then, I had worked up a good sweat and felt like I could finally sleep.

I turned the gravity back up to where it originally was, then went back to my cabin. I showered in the tiny head, set the alarm, then laid back down. I was asleep in no time.

When my alarm went off, I got up, showered, shaved, put my uniform on and went to the galley for something to eat, which was a damn sight better than the fake meat burger I had earlier. I got to the bridge just as Tabby was leaving.

"Hey stranger," I said when I saw her. She looked at me and smiled.

"Hey yourself," she said.

"Look, I didn't get a chance to tell you, but I thought you did a damn good job with the launch earlier," I said.

"Well, thank you," she told me.

"Uh, look, how about if I come by on my lunch break so we can spend some time together," I said. I saw the wheels turning in her head and thought she would give me an excuse why it wouldn't work. Fortunately that didn't happen.

"Sure, I'll set my alarm," she said. "Maybe you can eat me instead of one of those fake burgers."

"Works for me," I said. "See you in six hours."

"I'll be there," she said, giving me a quick kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too," I told her. I watched her walk away and thought that maybe we could make this work after all. I turned and found myself looking at Bull's snarling face.

"About damn time you showed up, Jones," he said. I looked at my watch.

"My shift doesn't officially start for 15 minutes, Commander," I said. "I just wanted a word with my wife before I went on. If that's okay with you, sir." For a moment, I thought he was going to take a swing, but he calmed down.

"Yeah, that's okay," he said before walking on down the corridor. I went into the bridge and relieved Lt. Robinson. He gave me his shift turnover and headed out. Alice came to me as I started my calibration routine.

"How are you holding up?" she asked.

"I'll be fine, ma'am," I said.

"Drop the 'ma'am' crap, Bill," she said. "We've worked together before. Seriously, how are you holding up?"

"It's not easy, but I'll manage, Alice. Thanks for asking."

"You're welcome. Listen, I know you have a lot on your mind, but I think you need to keep an eye on your wife and Commander Travers." I looked at her, shocked.

"You think there's something going on between them?" I asked.

"Possibly. Call it a woman's intuition if you want, Bill. I just sense there may be something happening there. I've seen it before. Little looks here and there, that sort of thing. Nothing blatant, but there's definitely a spark between those two," she said.

"Got it, Alice. Thanks for letting me know. I plan to see her on my lunch break. Hopefully that will help," I said.

"I hope so too, Bill," she said.

"Think we should tell the captain?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"Not unless you have hard evidence against them. An accusation like that against a senior officer could backfire and really screw up your career," she said. "Just keep an eye out and try to keep your wife on her toes. I'll keep an eye on things during first shift."

"Okay, Alice," I said. "Thanks for the heads-up." She nodded her head and left the bridge. I checked the calibration routine and left to inventory the cruise missiles and inspect the weapons stations. When I got back, Alan was waiting for me.

"Feel like doing some target practice?" he asked. Hell, I'm always up to shooting something, I thought to myself.

"Yes sir," I told him.

"Good," he said. "Fire off some drones and let's see what you got." I set the station to launch a series of five drones, then activated the short-range mini lasers. These operated very much like the old mini-guns did. A series of six high-powered and very hot lasers were mounted just like the old Gatling guns. The laser fire from these weapons was intense and could burn through several inches of armor plating in no time whatsoever. I had seen them cut an old armored battleship in two once. The belt armor on the old thing was over 12 inches thick, but the lasers sliced it like a hot knife through butter.

Once the drones were fired, I turned the mini-lasers loose on them. The system was designed to track and fire on up to ten targets at once. It only took a second or two for the lasers to take out the drones. I looked at my console and saw the message: "All Targets Destroyed."

"Nicely done, Lieutenant," Alan said with a smile.

"Thank you, sir," I replied. He got out of his chair and came to my station.

"I'm going to go hit the rack for a bit, Lieutenant. Looks like you'll be the senior officer on watch so why don't you take the center chair. I'll be back in time for your lunch break," he said with a knowing smile.

Having served with Alan before, I knew him to be the "king of the power nap." He was one of those people who could go for nearly 24 hours on just three or four hours of sleep. I figured it was something that came with years of command experience.

"Yes sir, thank you," I said in response. He left the bridge and I took his station. It felt good to sit in the command chair. From here, I could keep track of everything on the ship. That's when it hit me.

Every crew member wore a device on their wrist that not only kept track of time and acted as an alarm, it also worked as a communicator, a tracking device and monitored our vital signs. All crew members were required to wear the device at all times. The only time we were allowed to remove it was when we took a shower.

I fired up the tracking monitor on the command console and searched for Travers. The monitor showed him to be in his quarters. Or to be more precise, it said the tracker was in his quarters. When I drilled a bit deeper, I noticed it said he was in a deep sleep and his pulse rate was normal for someone in that state. That could only happen if he was actually wearing the thing.

I searched for Jones and got two choices, William (me) and Tabitha. I selected Tabby and saw that her tracker was in our quarters. Good. Like Bull, her tracker indicated she was asleep and her vital signs were all nominal for someone in that state. I thought about accessing the history of both trackers, but knew I needed the command or medical password for that. Since I had neither, I was unable to determine if the two of them had been involved in other, more strenuous, activity.

But what I saw was good enough for the moment, I thought. It would be very difficult for the two of them to fake something like that, so I turned off the tracking monitor and went about my business. I looked around the bridge. Everyone was busy tending to their stations, and were engrossed in their jobs. It was almost like I wasn't even there.

I turned back to my console and went over the checklist. So far, everything was operating within normal parameters. We were approaching a course correction in about an hour, but I knew it was already programmed into the navigational system and would be done automatically.

The comm officer on watch was in constant communication with someone from Mission Control in Houston and I knew I wouldn't need to be involved unless there was a situation that demanded the captain's immediate attention. The engineering officer on duty was carefully monitoring the status of the engines and the ship's vital systems. The helmsman and navigation officer were carefully tending to the ship's flight, making sure the upcoming course correction would take place without a problem. I made the necessary log entries for that hour and stepped to the weapons console to do a quick check.

Everything seemed to be fine, so I headed back to the central chair and sat down. About two hours into the shift, Yeoman Marks went around to all the stations, getting everyone's drink order. We were allowed to have drinks at our stations, provided they remained covered and straws were used. She left and came back from the galley a bit later, handing out everyone's drinks.

A few minutes before I was scheduled to take lunch, Alan returned and I surrendered the big chair over to him, giving him a short brief on events so far. He nodded his head as he sat down and made his log entry.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," he said. "Why don't you go on and take your lunch break now," he added with a slight wink.

"Yes, sir," I said, checking out of my station. I headed for the cabin Tabby and I shared and stopped just before I opened the hatch. I took a deep breath and entered. She had just woke up, her alarm having gone off. She pulled the covers back and I could see her nude body on the bed.

God, she's so beautiful, I thought to myself as I walked toward her, removing my flight suit as I went. By the time I reached her, I had removed my clothes and she spread her well-toned legs wide so I could see her shaved pussy. She looked so good, her flawless skin begging to be kissed and touched.

"You ready for lunch?" she asked provocatively. I smiled and got on the bed with her.

"You know I am," I said as I began kissing her. I covered her with kisses, working my way down her body, stopping long enough to suck her erect nipples. From there, I went further south, until I had reached her pubic area. I could smell her arousal, mixed with a hint of the strawberry douche she always used. Without thinking, I began to lick her. She spread her legs wider, giving me better access.

I kept working on her until I heard the moans that always preceded her orgasm. I kissed my way back up her body and looked her in the eye.

"Fuck me, baby," she moaned, taking my now-hard cock in her hands. Using Grav Tac techniques I had learned, I anchored myself as best I could and worked my way inside her. We said very little as we coupled. Both of us needed this and I was determined to make it as good as possible for her. After a while, we experienced our climax and laid in the bed kissing each other tenderly.

"God, that was so good," she said. "I really needed this."

"I did too," I told her. "I've missed you."

"And I've missed you too. I love you so much."

"I love you, too," I answered.

"You'd better get cleaned up and get going," she said. "You haven't even eaten yet." I looked at the time and saw I had about 40 minutes left before my break was over.

"Yeah, you're right," I said. "Wanna do this again, maybe during your lunch break?"

"Sure, why not," she said with a smile. Feeling a bit better about things, I got out of bed, took a quick shower and left for the galley. Before I left the cabin, I gave her a kiss, then dimmed the lights for her and turned the gravity level in the room down a notch, to .7 G. I knew the only reason I could perform was my knowledge of Grav Tac, and I knew Bull wasn't familiar with it.

Keep in mind that sex in space is not easy. Forget what you may have seen in the movies. For starters, blood tends to travel to the head in micro-gravity, not the penis. Fortunately, the ship's default gravity was set at .8 G, barely making it possible for us to enjoy each other. But it still wasn't easy. I had no doubt that if the gravity was set lower than it was, we probably would not have been able to do what we did.

Another problem is that testosterone levels tend to go down in a micro-gravity environment, and over a long period of time, the heart can shrink, reducing the amount of blood in the circulatory system. These were just some of the reasons NASA was opposed to sending couples into space a century or so ago. Another reason involved the complications of pregnancy and childbirth.

Still, there were many stories involving couples in orbit over the years. I remember reading about a cosmonaut who spent 14 months on the Russian Mir station back in the 1990s. According to the story, he became close to a female cosmonaut, causing some to think they had done the dirty in orbit. Kremlin officials denied the claims, and the cosmonaut wrote about it later on.

"No need to say what we're longing for. Men think about those things. One can't turn away from them. But these thoughts somehow fade with time," he wrote. He also said his superiors suggested he take a sex doll with him, but he was concerned he might get too attached to the busty inflatable sex toy.

Many of the old space administration's restrictions were carried over when the Corps began sending people into orbit. But the development of artificial gravity in the early 2090s rendered many of those restrictions moot. So the Corps backed off a bit, and allowed married couples to have sexual relations in space so long as some form of birth control was used and the gravity level was set at .8 G.

I felt much better about things as I wolfed down a tuna sandwich and made my way back to the bridge. When I got there, I still had two minutes left on my break. Alan looked at me as I took my station.

"Have a good lunch, Lieutenant?" he asked.

"Yes sir, a very good lunch," I told him. He smiled and nodded his head.

"Good. Carry on," he said, turning back to his console.

The next 17 days were pretty much the same. Tabby did come to our cabin during her lunch break several times, and of course, I joined her during my lunch breaks every chance I could. Being able to see each other at least part of the time helped get me through that part of the trip.

I didn't see Bull much during that time, and that also helped. Of course, I still had some concerns, but I saw or heard nothing to suggest something fishy was going on. Alice kept me up to date on things, but she said she hadn't seen nor heard anything either. By the time we reached Mars Station, I began to think that maybe I had blown things up out of proportion.

After the Armstrong docked at Mars Station, I put on my Class C uniform in anticipation of some shore leave with Tabby. But my hopes of spending quality time with her at Huygens Base, a domed facility named after the Dutch astronomer who drew pictures of the Red Planet using a telescope of his own design, were dashed when Bull informed me there was a problem with one or more of the weapons stations.

"What?" I asked, shocked. There wasn't a problem with them the last time I checked, which was just a few hours earlier, during my shift. I looked at Lt. Robinson. "Were you aware of any problems?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"Not until just before we docked, sir," he told me. Something was really fishy about this and I was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"We're only here for 72 hours," Bull said. "And those weapons had better be on line by the time we launch. So you'd better get to it, Jones." I looked at Tabby and shook my head.

"It'll be okay, dear," she said with a sad look on her face. "We'll have other chances to visit Huygens together. I'll bring you a souvenir, alright?" Bull snickered at that.

"Don't worry, Jones, I'll keep an eye on your wife for you. Promise," he said. Yeah, I'm sure you will, you son-of-a-bitch, I thought. Just then, Alan came over to us.

"Well, are you ready for some shore leave?" he asked.

"We are," Bull said. "But Jones here needs to take a look at the weapons systems."

"Is there a problem?" Alan asked.

"The calibration is off on two of the mini-lasers, sir," Robinson said.

"When did that happen?" Alan asked.

"I noticed it just before securing the station, sir," Robinson said. Alan frowned and looked at me.

"Then you'd better take a look, Lieutenant," he said. "I'll take a look at them with you if you don't mind."

"Not at all, sir," I said, glancing at Bull. "I appreciate it."

"I'll stay and help, Lieutenant," Robinson said.

"Thanks, Robinson, I appreciate that," I said.

"Well, I guess we'd better get to the station before all the shuttles leave," Bull said. Tabby looked at me sadly but said nothing.