Chapter 12: Training

-- Phil - 2056 --

A lot has happened in the world in the three years since Ant, and I had started school at the Academy.

UNSEC, the United Nations Space Exploration Collaboration, had been established for five years and they were starting to get some teeth. They were asking Governments for more people to be included in their programmes.

Ant and I knew we had an excellent chance of being able to transfer to them once we had completed our training. It was a good opportunity if we wanted to do deep space exploration in the future.

The development of better Space Shuttles with the new Rih drivers was making space travel a going concern. UNSEC were already putting together teams to design living quarters on the Moon. There was a rumour that a new metal was being developed in Australia that would if it were true, revolutionise space travel as we knew it.

UNSEC planned to have full working colonies on the Moon in the next ten years. The Governments of the world were already bickering about who owned what on the Moon. The first jointly owned International Bases would be used for scientific research and small mining exploration camps.

UNSEC had already picked out where they wanted to put their first base and were even in the design stages of an orbital space station for the Moon and a new one for Earth. It was an exciting time to live.

We were surprised when we got our new stations. We had covered all of the related theoretical training at the Academy and now had to do our practical placement to qualify for as Shuttle crew.

Our lives were about to change again. I was placed in a special program that included trade based time. I’d spend a year working in a Mechanical Section, learning about how Space Drives and other mechanical systems on the shuttles worked.

The next year was in a Fitting, Welding and Machining Section learning how to fix and repair the Shuttles. Then I’d spend a year as an Electrician to learn how to wire them up and maintain the power systems of the shuttles.

To achieve this, I was moved to a manufacturing plant back in New Zealand where they built the shuttles. I was surprised to learn that a new factory had been constructed on the outskirts of my own home town of Tauranga.

While doing the practical, I also intended to keep studying and to complete my Masters for my Electrical and Mechanical Degrees, online. I already had a lot of credits, so I believed it was very doable.

For the first year, I stayed in the barracks and only visited home or went out on the odd weekend. I loved learning the mechanics of how the shuttles were built and how all of their systems worked together. I couldn’t wait to go to space in one of them.

I got to see Marika’s kid one day when I was visiting my old mate Ralph. She had married Jay and hadn’t had any more kids. My daughter, Anneke, was nearly two and a half, and she was utterly gorgeous.

Marika told me that Jay loved Anneke and he was a good father. He had settled down a lot since the accident and wasn’t such a hot head. He was even studying Law so he could go work with his father. Marika was happy with him, and he now treated her well.

I was happy for her and sad for myself. I know understood how Ant felt the day Robert had given him the picture of Eddie. I now had three pictures in my phone of kids that I had fathered but didn’t know.

Ray had sent us, pictures of our daughters when she and Mouse had attended a party for their first birthday. They were still in contact with Kitty and Patty.

Natali had sent me a picture of my first son, who was now over eight months old. She also told him me the other two girls from my dorm had a son and a daughter to me. I learnt that Ant had also fathered two boys and three girls.

I really missed Ant over the next three years. I did make new friends, and I found a girl called Moya with whom I was reasonably happy. She also worked at the Plant but was in the accounting section. I moved in with her the second year I was home, and we got on well enough.

I worked a lot of hours at the plant, and if I wasn’t working, I was studying. If it weren’t for the sex and the convenience, I probably wouldn’t have stayed with Moya. She was, however, useful, and while she liked the extra money I had coming in with the extra hours that I worked, and she did look after me.

My parents threw a party for me when I turned twenty-two since I was almost finished my training. Ant was able to make it, so I was happy. We had good fun catching up on the past three years. I think we were both a little surprised at how fast they had gone by.

We had kept in contact, but we hadn’t managed to visit each other due to our different schedules. We happily discussed the news that the new metal called Ozlium for the shuttle manufacturing had been released. I told Ant that they already had a Plant in NZ producing the new sheeting for the shuttles.

We had been running a pilot project in conjunction with the Australian University that had developing it. One of the Universities here had been playing with the metal, and they had used it to develop a type of glass they had called Oznglass.

I explained that Oznglass was suitable for making better viewing ports for the shuttles and even the domes for the Moon habitats. It had a lot of potential for making highrises that required stronger glass partitions, so the market for it was huge. NZ and Oz were going to make a shit load of money just from these two products.

Over a couple of Steinlagers, we both agreed that we would apply for UNSEC together. We would both complete our training in a couple of months and now was the time to do it. We both still desired to go into space and explore the unknown.

Moya wasn’t happy when she heard this bit of news. We ended up having an argument over it, and Moya soon realised that I had every intention of going into space with my brother, Ant.

I guess that she was starting to wonder if I was worth it as she had been trying hard for the last year and a half to fall pregnant but hadn’t done so. What she didn’t know was that I had been keeping up my replacements for the contraceptive inserts. I didn’t want any more little Carpenters running around.

I already had five kids that I knew of, and I wanted to marry the next woman that I had a kid with. I just hadn’t bothered to inform Moya of this decision. I knew that I intended to leave, which was why I had also avoided the hints that we should get married. To be honest, I was probably a bit of bastard about my relationship with her.

I’d told her when we first started living together that I would be joining UNSEC and moving. I’d also told her that I didn’t intend to marry her if we did live together. I couldn’t help it if she wanted to change the rules.

When I walked out of the apartment two months later, I didn’t look back.

-- Ant --

Seriously, I can’t believe how fast the last three years went by.

I had spent the first year doing practical experiences towards my Veterinary Degree. I had fun learning how to look after the animals they planned to take to the colonies on the Moon. We did some seriously long hours.

The second year I added to that degree and my Biology Masters doing Aquaculture. I was learning about raising fish in low gravity situations. I also learnt about the best water plants to grow in tanks, to increase CO2 intakes. They were to be used as part of the systems they may employ on the Space Stations and the new planetary bases.

I spent most of my last year in nurseries and labs learning about different methods for growing plants and creating sub-ecosystems to ensure fertilisation. I also spent time learning how to genetically altering them to adapt better in the new eco-systems.

Unlike Phil, I hadn’t settled for one girl. However, like him, I had maintained my sterility. I couldn’t seem to settle with anyone for more than a couple of months. Because I moved more often to receive all of my training, I was happy to maintain casual relationships.

With the new models of Peepers, I had been studying voraciously like Phil. I had even completed my Biology Masters and my Veterinary Degree using the on-line education system. My placements had provided for my practical experience. I’d even added in some courses so that I was a registered Paramedic.

I was very proud of my brother Robert. Robert had screamed thought the Academy and ended up in some hush-hush job. He had told me on the quiet that they were looking for ancient artefacts to do with UFOs.

Robert had been pretty cut up the year before when one of their teams went missing. He believed that the team had found an Alien Spacecraft in Russia and that they had been abducted.

He had been infatuated with a woman he called Raina, who was on the team. He’d shown me a picture of her, and I had to agree that she was one hot babe. I jokingly said it was just as well he hadn’t got heavy with her as she looked like my sister.

Robert had looked strangely at me as I pointed out she had the same colour hair and eyes as I did. She was even tall and slim and had about the same completion.

I didn’t believe that the team had been abducted by Aliens. I was more inclined to think the Russians had found them first. However, I didn’t say that to Robert, as he was very upset at the time.

It was weird, though, at odd times that picture came to mind, and I even felt that she was my sister. Eca had mentioned when I went to visit Phil for his twenty-second birthday that she believed he had two half-sisters. I was damn sure I was his brother and the chick Raina sure looked a lot like us.

I didn’t go home a lot because Edith still lived next door to my parents. It hurt too much to see another man raising my son. I didn’t doubt that Wade loved the boy nor did I honestly believe that I had been ready for the responsibility of raising him.

I was proud that Eddie was a brilliant boy. He even looked like me, and he would probably end up as tall if not taller. Strangely, Wade and Edith let my parents babysit, and they were included in all of Eddie’s milestones.

I hadn’t told my parents about my other four children. I was no more proud of how they came to be than I was at knocking Edith up. At least I can honestly say that hadn’t I realised how potent my sperm was else I’d have done something about it a hell of a lot sooner.

With most blokes being lucky if they can father one or two kids in their lifetimes, my count of five kids by the time I was nineteen was a bit scary.

Like Phil, I still kept the photos of my other children on my phone and in quite reflective moments, I liked to look at them. I’d added a newer one of Eddie when I stopped using my wallet. Ray had also sent me a new one of Kitty’s daughter. All of my kids had my eyes and reddish hair.

The reason I didn’t use a wallet anymore was the new ID Chips. Paper money and coins were becoming collectors’ items. I had no issue with having the chip inserted, as they were now mandatory for all of the Armed Forces and those of us who joined UNSEC.

The only problem we had with them was that every so often they would get scrambled and need replacing. They didn’t like some of the combination metal detectors and x-ray machines at airports in particular. For the Armed Forces, it was only a problem if we flew domestic.

I hadn’t flown on a domestic flight to UNSEC’s headquarters in Cairns.

-- Phil - 2058--

I hugged Ant when he met me at the airport in January.

We went straight to the recruiting office in Cairns. We were informed we would be spending the next six months learning about living in a Shuttle. Ant had been recruited as the Science Officer and the unofficial Cook.

I had laughed and asked him if anyone was alive to contest to his cooking skills. Ant reminded me that I was. He’d done a lot of the cooking when we had worked at the fruit picking job that seemed so long ago. He’d even squeezed a culinary course or two into his busy schedule a couple of years before.

Ant told me he didn’t like eating out all of the time. Since he hadn’t maintained a regular girlfriend, it hadn’t hurt to learn how to cook. He said it had proved useful as a pickup line.

He’d found that with many women being in full-time employment, to fill the shortfall of men, they loved it when a bloke cooked for them. His cooking skills had gotten him laid more times than he could remember.

I bowed to his superior knowledge in this regard. Moya had done most of the cooking because of the hours I had worked. So I’d not bothered learning to do anything fancier than a simple meal. Steak or snags (sausages) with salad, toasted sanga’s and pancakes were my specialities.

We were not surprised when we were put in a six-bed mixed-gender dormitory. We both grinned and felt like we had come home. It was even set up the same as our first dorm room and with the same style of ablutions block.

The main difference was that there were only two girls. We soon learned that this was common. While a lot more women were training in the Engineering Trades, the men still outnumbered the women in the Armed Forces. Half of the ten crews that had been put together were the same as ours. The others had equal numbers of males and females.

The other two men and one of the women were surprised when Ant and I group hugged the other woman. Ray giggled when I picked her up and spun her around. Then Ant claimed her, he did the same and then laid a big sloppy kiss on her.

Ray was delighted to have us boys on her team. She told us she had gone to University for a while and then got into the regular Airforce when she and Mouse split up. She was now a Ship’s Captain and our Shuttle Pilot.

I knew Ray’d had a thing for Ant and that she was delighted that she would get her turn with him. She had fancied him for a long time and had told me once that she had often found it frustrating listening to him screwing Kitty. She had loved being with Mouse, but she had learnt early in life that she was bi-sexual where Mouse wasn’t.

We soon learned that Anne Connor was our designated Navigator and computer expert. She was smashing, and I took an instant fancy to her. I also did not intend to let one of the guys have her if I had half a chance.

The other two men were our Drive Mechanic and Engineering Expert, Gan Smith, and our Plumber and Fluid Systems Officer was Abdul (Abe) Muhammad. I was designated the Electrician. However, on small crews, the more crossed trained you were, the better.

I learned that Anne was from Bundaberg. She had dark honey coloured hair that she wore cut short and raggedy looking, I thought it was cute, and it suited her face. She had lovely big gold and brown eyes and a dark cream complexion. She was close to 173cm tall and looked petite beside me.

She had all the right curves in all the right places and while not huge up top, I thought she had lovely breasts and couldn’t wait to suck on them. She was also a lot stronger than she looked. She had a nice even temperament, and in some ways, she reminded me of a little of Patty, but I never dared tell her that.

Gan was of Papua/Malay extraction. He was about 165cm tall and very slim. He liked to sport a little moustache, and he had real dark eyes that could get very intense at times. He also swore like an Aussie with a few Chinese/Malay swear words added in for good measure.

Abe had a distinctly Arabic look. He said his grandparents had emigrated to Australia from Jordan as refugee orphans when they very young. He was only a couple of centimetres taller than Anne was. He was very shy until he got to know us better, then you couldn’t shut him up.

The new half of the crew was surprised by how quickly Ant and I became the dominant males. While Ray was our Captain, she often conferred with us before making a decision. Ant, in particular, seemed to be the one who was looked up to the most.

The new members learned that this pattern had become ingrained for Ray and me, from when we had first met. Ant had been the leader then, and while he didn’t wear the Captain’s stripes, he was still the Boss.

While Ant followed Ray’s orders, he had a very subtle way of letting her know if he didn’t agree. It was rare that we saw them at odds. The others like me guessed that Ray and Ant sorted any differences they had out in bed, as they had become bed pals the first night we were in the dorm room.

Ray had crawled into Ant’s bed and staked her territory. She knew that if she kept Ant satisfied, he wouldn’t roam. He hadn’t done it when we were in school and the rumours she had heard since indicated he and I hadn’t changed in this regard.

She was correct in her thinking in that if we had bed pals, we stuck to them. So far, we had been lucky and not had any major issues with our dorm mates. While Ant and I liked our quota of sex, we didn’t feel the need to fuck every available woman.

She told us at dinner that night that when she had participated in selecting her crew, she had written Ant’s name in as the Science Officer and me in as their Electrician. She had left the other three spaces blank.

When her Commander had asked why she informed him as long as she got us two, she would fill the other positions after the other Captains had their choices. He’d told her that two of the other crews had also selected me and one had selected Ant, he was inclined to let me go to one of them to balance the numbers.

Ray said she had dug in her heels and informed the Commander that we wouldn’t be happy if he split us up. Ant and I had grinned at each other at this point in the story, as she was quite correct.

She went on to say that, she reminded the Commander that the three of us had been part of the Green Ant Unit and we had been a great team. She told him that it had been our dream since High School to serve on a shuttle crew together. She explained that we boys had a close link and we worked best when together.

She chuckled and then said that he thought that she was hinting that we were gay and he decided that if she was happy to have us, it was better to keep us together. Ant and I burst out laughing at this comment. The Commander must not have read our records to well.

We knew that most of the other men and particularly the women didn’t treat sterile gay men well if they didn’t have a partner on the crew. This was also one of the reasons that her crew had ended up with more men than women in it.

When Ray had snuggled up against Ant, she had sighed as the background noise of babble was cut off from her mind. Ant had chuckled and hugged her. “Feel better?” he asked.

She nodded into his shoulder. We both knew that Ray had found in the past that Ant was as good as Mouse in providing her with a null field so her mind could rest. She told me that she had felt me unconsciously projecting the field for her when we had hugged me earlier, and I had gotten better at doing it.