The Golem of Haven

Dagny pedaled past an orbiter that was moored in the landing lagoon, surrounded almost protectively by the stone jetty. Although there was no visible damage, Dagny doubted that the craft would ever fly again. It was over two centuries old. Although the landing craft had remained dormant for the first century of its life as it piggy backed on Endeavor during its epic voyage, the orbiter had been used extensively during the founding of the colony.

It had been over a decade since Dagny had dared to pilot the craft. She'd noticed that many systems were on the verge of failure. After disembarking the hundred ton ore processor that has been fabricated in orbit, she'd decreeed that the craft should be grounded. The colony, with assistance from The Oracle, retained the technology to fabricate the needed replacement parts. However; they hadn't yet developed the large scale, sophisticated industrial infrastructure that was needed to actually manufacture the components. Three of the orbiter's sister ships remained in orbit where the vacuum of space might prolong their useful lives for centuries. Two other orbiters had continued on to make the forty Astronomical Unit crossing to Beta as Endeavor decelerated into the binary system.

A power umbilical was connected to the orbiter so that its still operational fusion reactor could be utilized as a backup generator. That precaution had saved the colony's butt after a three-hundred ton Bronto, that had been merely rambunctious rather than rampaging, had trashed the colony's rectenna array. Life on an alien planet was interesting when the native fauna all had evolved with inherently stronger bones and muscles than terrestrial life. Animals could grow much larger as a result. It had taken weeks to rebuild the half kilometer diameter antenna farm so that it could once again receive power from the Powersat in planetary synchronous orbit.

Dagny turned left to pedal across the causeway. The drawbridge was of course down as usual. It was raised only in emergencies. She could feel her breasts bouncing as she rode across the rough, corrugated surface of the decking then between the battlements that flanked it. The perimeter wall that had been built around Dodge Island was a legacy of the aftermath of those first traumatic years. The first and second generations of colonists had cowered within the massive, concrete wall. They'd ventured outside only during the daytime to tend their fields and construct more defenses. Only later generations had been confident enough to live outside the citadel.

As Dagny rode on towards the Tower of Babel, she passed a ground crew who were preparing a Plimp for travel. The hybrid airship utilized aerodynamic lift to augment its buoyancy. The docking pylon was nestled between the twin hemispheres of the bow suggestively. The twin hemispheres of the bow even had protrusions that looked like nipples. The men who were tending the airship noticed Dagny's bouncing breasts. This of course elicited several suggestive comments and jokes related to the obvious resemblance between her and the bow of the Plimp. Dagny had heard them all before, but she didn't get angry. She knew all of the men. She'd trained all of them.

Dagny parked her bicycle by the Tower of Babel. Entering the redoubt never failed to evoke a sense of dread. The first generation of colonists would not have survived if the Crazy Colonel hadn't insisted on constructing the fortress as a precaution even before they encountered the local Megafauna. The Colonel had been an anachronism long before the colony set out on its voyage. The founders hadn't even revived him from over a century of cryogenic hibernation to recruit him. The women, whose skills were even more irreplaceable than their wombs, had huddled inside the tower as the more expendable men fought from the ramparts to repel the monsters. Only later were they able to overcome The Oracle's objections to modifying and adapting Endeavor's primary laser array so that they could be employed as defensive weaponry.

Dagny climbed stairs to the top floor. Looking up from this vantage point at the beanstalk that soared all the way to then beyond planetary synchronous orbit never failed to take her breath away. Near sea level, the planetary synchronous skyhook was tapered down to a sextet of thin ribbons with stiffener rings spaced a few meters apart. The seemingly fragile ribbons were fabricated from Carbon double bond fibers that were orders of magnitude stronger than steel.

Dagny was finally able to meet her crew for this voyage. The Oracle always picked her crews for her. Genetics were almost always more important than skill sets. It was also inadvisable to allow her prejudices to affect the selection process. As usual, there were half a dozen women, all about her age, and half a dozen men, all about half her age. All of the men had the uncivilized and predatory visages of convicts from Botany Bay. The open air prison had been established on one of Haven's four continents. Separated from the colony by thousands of kilometers of ocean, there had been no need to build walls to contain the convicts. There had been no desire to build fences to protect the convicts from the local predators. The first and generations had been amazed that many of their outcasts had somehow survived.

The convicts were naked except for their animal skin loin cloths. Only one wore a shock collar. The other five convicts weren't actually guilty of any crimes except being born to inhabitants of Botany Bay. While many women who'd been born to the open air prison became refugees just like Delilah, men who were raised in such primitive conditions were seldom able to adapt to civilization even if they wanted to. There would have been a severe gender imbalance if not for the extraordinary mortality rate that afflicted the men.

The convicts were of course impressive physical specimens. All of the men were at least a head taller than Dagny. Haven's gravity was a fifth again higher than Earth's. The higher gravity combined with limited mechanization made it nearly impossible for people to become obese. However; no machines were allowed at Botany Bay. The convicts weren't even allowed domesticated draft animals from Earth stock. As a result, only the strongest could survive. The muscular physiques of the convicts were extraordinary. Daryl was fit, especially for an older man. However; he was a wimp compared to the convicts.

Dagny would normally be unconcerned that only one of the convicts was wearing a shock collar. The opportunity to earn a few primitive tools and weapons, not to mention other fringe benefits, were usually sufficient to motivate second or third generation convicts to restrain themselves. However; one of the convicts seemed to be exceptionally dangerous even though he wasn't wearing a shock collar. Aside from being even taller and more muscular than the others, his demeanor seemed predatory. Fortunately; The Oracle had other weapons aside from a shock collar at its disposal. Dagny also had her pistol holstered on her backpack.

Dagny exchanged perfunctory greetings with her crew. Everyone knew the Colony's lingua Franca of course. She knew two of the women well just from living in the colony. She knew two others only from being their leader on previous, extra planetary excursions. Only one was a stranger to her.

It was perhaps fortunate that there was no time for idle conversation. The gondola was descending. Everyone stepped well clear as the vehicle approached the platform. The toroidal passenger cabin was wrapped around the sextet of beanstalk ribbons. Tanks for liquids as well as racks for cargo that could tolerate the vacuum of space were suspended from the gondola.

The gondola stopped a few meters above the platform so that cargo could be unloaded from the racks. The nominal cargo capacity of the vehicle was twenty tons. The ground crew went to work. Unloading all of the cargo took time. The cargo consisted primarily of machine tools and sophisticated parts that had been manufactured in orbit. The colony was still struggling with the profligate excesses of the first generation that had prioritized consumer goods. However; there were many items, primarily electronics and appliances, that were for people's personal use.

Hoses were connected to the tanks. Twenty tons of liquid Deuterium was pumped into the tanks of the gondola. The Colony's primary export to orbit was Deuterium. More recently Carbon and metals from the mines as well as the Deuterium extractors had become a major, upbound cargo. Extracting Deuterium from ocean water was the colony's most energy intensive industry. The Deuterium extractors had to process sixty tons of sea water to yield only one kilogram of Deuterium. Fortunately; the salts that were extracted from the sea water during the process yielded many of the metals and other chemicals that the colony required. Lithium was by far the most important export, second only to Deuterium.

When all of the upbound cargo had been loaded, the gondola lowered until the platform on top was at the level of the platform. The twin hatches at opposite sides of the gondola opened. The passengers climbed out. The recent arrivals were half a dozen women and a dozen men. The men were obviously from Botany Bay. However; they didn't seem to be as feral as the men who were preparing to embark. They even cooperated to assist the women. The women needed assistance because each was carrying a newly incubated infant.

A congregation of husbands and sister wives were waiting to greet the women. Such reunions were always awkward. However; the families were obviously pleased to be reunited. It was equally obvious that the foster babies from the incubators were also welcome. The Oracle had decreed that every family should raise at least two beaker babies as well as their own progeny. Now that the colonists were no longer struggling to survive, most families now raised three or four beaker babies.

When the disembarking was complete, Dagny guided her passengers as they boarded the gondola. She noticed with amusement that none of the young convicts assisted the women as they descended the ladders into the cabin. The cabin of the gondola was a tube, about three meters in diameter and about twenty meters long, that had been formed into a ring. The gondola always reminded Dagny of the donuts that her grandmother had cooked for her when she was a little girl. It was spacious for only eighteen people.

Eighteen seats were mounted along the inner wall, facing outward. Flat floor panels could be lifted to access compartments underneath. Packs and other luggage were quickly stowed in the compartments. Although mishaps were exceedingly unlikely, Dagny instructed everyone to fasten their seat belts and shoulder straps.

Dagny sat at the control panel of course. Piloting the Gondola was incredibly complex. She needed to push the "up" button.. The gondola operated on much the same principles as the maglev trains back on Earth and Sol System. Tractor coils mounted on the gondola interacted with the track coils mounted on the beanstalk. The acceleration was smooth and not particularly intense. There was no point in gaining much velocity at low altitude where aerodynamic drag was a significant factor.

The plasteel walls of the gondola were transparent. Everyone was afforded a spectacular view. Dagny touched controls that caused the gondola to rotate about the beanstalk. This enabled everyone to see everything. As they gained altitude, the entire Island of Hawaii became visible. Aside from being large enough to be more than adequate for the founding of the colony, the roughly five-hundred kilometer diameter island was right on the equator where the beanstalk needed it to be. It was also isolated, which the first generation had hoped would limit the dangers. The other islands of the archipelago were hundreds or even over a thousand kilometers away while the nearest of the four continents was over five-thousand kilometers away. The first generation hadn't realized that the most dangerous of the megafauna would be amphibious.

Much of the island of Hawaii was spread out below them like a map when the gondola began to accelerate in earnest. One standard gee of acceleration added to Haven's one-point-two gees equaled over two times Earth's gravity. Dagny could feel her bare, unsupported breasts being pulled downward. They continued to accelerate for half an hour, reaching a velocity of eighteen kilometers per second. Given their velocity of nearly sixty-five-thousand kilometers per hour, a rough estimate suggested that they would arrive at their destination in less than an hour. Of course Haven's gravity as well as aerodynamic drag in the upper fringes of the atmosphere were already decelerating them. Their journey would take twice as long.

Dagny announced that everyone could unfasten their seat harnesses and move freely about the cabin. Everyone was eager to play in freefall. Zero gee was intoxicating. As always, Dagny savored the sensation of her bare breasts undulating in response to her movements. She removed her jacket so that her breasts would be completely unrestrained. All the other women did the same. The men were obviously enjoying the show. Dagny wasn't the first to remove her skirt, but she wasn't the last. The garments offered only a minimal concession to modesty in zero gee anyway. The loin cloths that the men were wearing were even more immodest. All of them were displaying spectacular erections.

A subtle aroma in the air was all to familiar to Dagny. However; she didn't have time to protest. She simply couldn't resist the temptation to take an anonymous penis in her mouth. As she fellated the man, one of the other young men interpreted that as an invitation to plunge his anonymous penis into her vagina. Dagny knew that she should be offended by the man being so presumptuous. However; she was delirious with lust. Glancing around the gondola, she could see that she was entangled in only one of a half dozen, similar ménage a trois clusters.

The young man who was fucking Dagny was noticeably better endowed than Daryl. She was also intensely aroused. It didn't take him long to bring her to orgasm. As he continued to thrust into her, gripping her wide hips to compensate for the apparent lack of gravity, Dagny continued to salaciously fellate the penis in her mouth. She was elated when she felt the anonymous, young stranger ejaculating inside her. In deference to The Oracle, her husband had refrained from inseminating her during the half dozen days since she'd started menstruating. The realization that hundreds of millions of anonymous sperm were now flooding her vagina where they would be unopposed by her husband's sperm provoked another orgasm.

Dagny was eager to bring the anonymous penis in her mouth to climax. However; the feral young man had other ideas. As the man who had just inseminated her pulled away, he pulled her mouth off of his penis. He then roughly pinned her to one of the chairs to mount her. Her legs eagerly embraced him. She had her third orgasm as she was feeling him ejaculating inside her.

Half of the men had obviously climaxed. They floated around with their partially erect penises on display as they watched the other half dozen men continue to mate with the women or lingered in post coital bliss. It didn't take long for the last of the men to climax.

Of course the young men had the virility of youth. However; they all regained their erections with amazing rapidity. It wasn't long before another pair of men presented themselves to Dagny. She alternately fellated their penises, savoring the aromas and flavors of their semen as well as the secretions of the women that they had just mated with. It was obvious that one of them had been with a woman who was menstruating. Dagny didn't care. She withdrew his impressive penis from her mouth then turned around to present herself to him so that he could fuck her. As he rutted with her, he continued to fellate her other partner.

Once again, Dagny climaxed as an anonymous partner inseminated her. When he withdrew, she quickly withdrew her other partner's penis from her mouth then turned around to present herself to him. He eagerly fucked her. She was amazed by his stamina. He brought her to climax twice before he to inseminated her.

Dagny soon found herself drifting around the cabin, savoring the sensation of semen oozing from between her labia. A few globules of semen drifted past her. She eagerly gobbled them up. This simple, salacious act provoked the attentions of two more partners. Dagny soon found herself eagerly responding to the sensation of one penis thrusting into her vagina as she kissed, licked and sucked on another. She climaxed as she was inseminated for the fifth time in barely an hour. As soon as the satiated man withdrew his penis, she withdrew her mouth from the other penis, pushed the possessor of that penis into a chair, then eagerly impaled herself on the beloved penis. The rhythmic flexing of her vagina soon provoked the insemination that she was yearning for.

As she pushed herself away from her latest paramour, Dagny was elated to see two more, marvelously erect penises drifting towards her. She soon found herself eagerly fellating one penis while the other fucked her. When she climaxed, the men rotated her, trading places, so that the other penis could fuck her. They must have traded places half a dozen times, bringing her to as many more orgasms before first one penis that the other had inseminated her.

Dagny was physically exhausted. All of the women and men in the gondola were also spent. Looking around, she was dismayed to see a dozen penises, but all were flaccid. Her sense of euphoria and arousal gradually faded until she could think again. She struggled to remember what she had just done. The semen that was oozing from between her labia left no doubt that she had been inseminated, copiously and repeatedly. However; she couldn't remember how many penises had inseminated her. She was almost certain that half a dozen of the young men had pumped their sperm into her womb. She suspected that it had been more.

Dagny had no time to contemplate her recent, carnal encounters. The gondola was approaching their destination. She ordered everyone to strap in. She could feel her breasts being pulled upwards rather than downwards as the gondola began to decelerate. Loose clothing fell upwards to the ceiling.

The terminus was visible directly "above" them. Endeavor was docked with the terminus, bow now pointed towards the planet rather than towards the stars so that its lasers could be brought to bear. A flotilla of powersats, oar processors, fabricators and tank farms were also docked with the terminus. The seemingly improbably slender booms that connected everything attested to the fact that they were all in freefall, circling the planet once every day.

The terminus, the starship as well as all of the other equipment were dwarfed by the telescope array. The individual elements of the telescope appeared to be little more than spherical balloons, each a hundred meters in diameter, to which a mirror finish had been applied to only one hemisphere. The one-hundred-and-twenty-seven, individual elements of the telescope were arranged in a hexagonal array. The center element surrounded by seven rings to form an array that was thirteen-hundred meters in diameter. The large aperture of the telescope enabled phenomenal light gathering capability as well as resolution. Dagny was intimately familiar with the myriad of actuators and phase shifters, wave guides and image processors that enabled the telescope to function. She'd designed the instrument with only minimal assistance from The Oracle. The telescope could resolve continents on the planets of nearby star systems.