Chapter 5

What do you do on a long, slow boat ride back to civilization?

“Close, but you missed a coefficient here, and your sixth term there, is malformed. You need to take the curl of the derivative over the resultant from the previous matrix transform,” Interface explained to Will, standing over his shoulder at one of the unused stations on the bridge, breasts pressing slightly into his side, pointing out the finer details of some of the mathematics needed for engineering efficiently in higher dimensions.

Will scratched his head as he struggled to follow Interface’s explanation but was hopeful. He was making progress, however slowly, coming to grips with topics that few, if any, in the best universities in the galaxy could match.

“I shouldn’t complain, but these make for tempting distractions from my studies,” he said with a grin as he reached back and caressed Interface’s ample bosom, pressed against him.

“As your tutor, I think it’s time for a break and start thinking with your little head for a while,” Interface said as she reached over his shoulders and ran her hands down over his chest, intentionally pressing her breasts into the back of his neck, smiling.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ben watched the two flirt on the other side of the bridge. Sitting at another unused station, he was ostensibly watching the stars stream by through the forward viewport, though he was an unintentional voyeur to the lovers.

It had been about a week since they left the nebula and pirates behind them, cruising at a relatively slow FTL speed. They were headed for the nearest inhabited world, Bourdan, only four and a half lightyears away, but with the ship’s limited power supply, it would take them about a month to get there.

As Will and Interface made out, Interface glanced over Will’s shoulder, locked eyes with Ben for a moment, and winked at him. He blushed and looked away quickly. Interface took Will’s hand and led him off the bridge for more intimate, ‘educational motivation’, as she put it.

June was down in the hangar checking out the shuttle and pods, leaving Ben alone on the Bridge. Ben thought how strange it was that they were so ready to trust him. Not that he would do anything, but how could they be so sure?

Interface said she was an excellent judge of character, which doesn’t seem likely; if they knew some of the truly awful things he’d done in the past, Ben was sure they’d have a different opinion of him.

Temporarily bored with watching the stars go by, he wandered over to the terminal where Interface was teaching Will the complex mathematics that let her work with the fundamental forces employed by this ship’s systems. They had left the terminal displaying a long series of equations and matrices intricately woven together, the last thing Will and Interface were working on.

As Ben read through it, he quickly spotted the mistakes in Will’s work that Interface had mentioned and two others in the supporting matrix transformation used in the last set of equations. Ben looked around quickly, and while no one was with him on the bridge, he sat down and studied the math.

Though he had no formal education, he had an uncanny knack for this stuff. Old Mrs. Jensen, who would occasionally feed him when he was living on the streets, said that Ben reminded her of a story from Old Earth about a poor young man who got his hands on a single mathematics book filled with theorems, figured out how to prove them all, and became a famous mathematician. She encouraged him whenever she saw him, saying he had great potential. Ben smiled at the memory of her, which soon slipped off his face, replaced by a frown of deep sadness and regret.

Ben forced his mind away from the past and focused again on the math in front of him, and on impulse, corrected the portions that weren’t right. He heard the soft pat of bare feet in the corridor coming this way, so he jumped out of Will’s seat and returned to where he had been sitting.

Interface returned to the Bridge without Will, wearing only a large smile for the briefest of moments. Then, she sheathed herself in her customary white and blue floral sundress. Ben caught her brief nudity out of the corner of his eye and blushed.

She captivated him, and he couldn’t help but think about her when he was alone in his separate room at night. During the first few nights on board, Ben could not sleep, and since he was allowed to do so, he roamed the ship’s corridors. The walls were extremely well soundproofed, but the three lovers always left the door to their lounge open, letting the sounds of passionate lovemaking flood the hallways as he passed.

Ben’s embarrassment would drive him back to his room, only for his thoughts to linger on the goings on just down the hall. He would lay in bed rubbing out his own relief, imagining holding Interface in his arms, kissing her lightly, caressing her soft form.

Interface came in and sat down at a station next to where Ben was sitting, then asked, “So Ben, How are you doing?” Her tone was of genuine concern and warmth.

“Okay, I guess,” Ben responded, focused on not staring at her cleavage or thinking about what she had been up to just a few minutes before with Will.

“It’s part of my job to make sure everyone on board is healthy and happy,” Interface began. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been listless and haven’t slept well this past week; anything bothering you?” She asked.

At the mention of Interface knowing his sleeping habits, Ben blushed, and he hoped that she was unaware of how he had been spending his evenings. “It’s just a little much to get used to, you know?” Ben hadn’t intended to unburden himself to Interface, but she had this subtle way of putting him at ease. “Everyone on board has been very kind to me, and considering how we met, I can’t understand why you haven’t spaced me out an airlock already,” He hung his head in shame at the life he had lived until now.

“I told you that I’m an excellent judge of character,” Interface explained, “I can feel the ‘texture’ of the core of people. It helps me do my job. I know that there’s a lot more to you than maybe even you understand. You’re special, Ben. You carry a Light, and in a dark and lonely universe, it’s important to nurture Light wherever we find it.”

“I don’t know about that,” Ben said with a slight, self-deprecating smirk.

“But I do,” Interface affirmed. “It was once my people’s sacred duty to protect and nurture it wherever we found it. I’ve found it in you.”

Ben shifted in his seat uncomfortably, but Interface continued. “For instance, the intuitive way that you grasp the complex math I’ve been teaching Will is a testament to how special you are.”

Ben suddenly realized Interface was aware that he had been poking at the equations on Will’s screen.

Seeing the expression on his face, she said, “Yeah, I know what you’ve been up to,” She continued. “It might help to explain my nature. I am more than what you see in front of you. This form,” she said, gesturing to her body, “facilitates my interactions with the crew and their guests. But I am a whole lot more; a part of what I am is the control system for this ship. I run all the subsystems, and when I’m stronger, the entire ship. I am the crew’s interface to the ship. We are bound together, crew, interface, and the ship as one.”

“Like a hive mind?” Ben asked.

“Sort of, but more like a hippy commune that actually works,” she said with a chuckle. “A very handsy commune,” She said as she touched Ben’s arm. “If you’re willing, that is,” The unspoken question in her eyes, but allowing him to decline her advance.

“Ye-Yeah, it’s okay,” He stammered, not having very much experience with this sort of thing. “I think I like this, err you, ah I mean...” Interface softly put a finger to his lips. “Shh. It’s okay. I know what you mean. I also know what you do in bed when you’re alone at night,” She said in a low, seductive tone. He blushed bright red, and Interface said, “It’s perfectly normal. And kinda hot. Like I said, it’s part of my job to take care of the crew and guests.” she said, sliding closer, stroking his arm. “Would you like me to take care of you, too?” Unable to form words, Ben nodded his head. “Good, because I really want to take care of you,” Interface said, then leaned forward and gently kissed him.

As they kissed, a warmth filled Ben, more than just a physical sensation, but something more profound, almost spiritual. He relaxed, and she pulled him into a tight embrace. Her soft breasts pressed into his chest as the chaste kiss grew passionate, Ben allowing Interface to explore his mouth with her tongue, wrestling with his own.

Ben’s hands began exploring her body, feeling her softness underneath her sundress, the curves of her hips, and her firm but soft ass. She reached down and rubbed his already hard cock through his pants, and she moaned with a soft “Mmmm” through their pressed lips.

With one hand, Interface expertly undid the button and fly of his pants, reached into the waistband of his boxers, and freed his aching cock. She held it firmly, stroking it slowly. Ben groaned as she slipped from their kiss, still stroking his rock-hard member, and knelt on the floor in front of him.

She looked up through her lashes at him; wanton desire poured off her, washing over Ben. Without thinking, he grabbed a hold of both sides of her face and brought her head down to his needy cock. She smiled up at him as she licked his balls, then up his length, causing him to hitch his breath as she swirled her tongue around the soft mushroom-shaped head of his cock, licking off the small bead of pre-cum, before swallowing it.

Ben groaned as Interface took the tip of his cock in her mouth, hands on his thighs, and swirled her tongue along the sensitive underside of his shaft. She then sucked more of his length into her warm mouth and began bobbing her head up and down slowly, leaving a trail of saliva on his cock.

He closed his eyes, entirely absorbed by Interface’s lavish attention on his cock, moaning loudly. She took longer strokes, pulling more and more of his cock into her mouth with every bob of her head, and then with one effortless drop of her head, she buried his entire length into her tight throat, pressing her nose into his pubic hair.

She held him in her throat for a long minute, swallowing and humming, delivering sensations he’d never experienced before. She pulled off his shaft with a ‘shlurp’ and said, “That’s right, My Sweet, cum down my throat,” as she swallowed all of him and again, lips wrapped around the base of his shaft.

It was more than he could stand, and he let go with a wild cry of abandon as he held her head tight to his crotch, blasting rope after rope of cum into her needy throat. She swallowed it all, then pulled her head off his softening cock.

“Mmm, tasty. Thank you, darling,” Interface said, licking her lips.

“That was incredible,” Ben finally said, still panting. She got up off her knees, then sat in his lap and put her head on his shoulders.

“This is what I live for, darling,” She said, stroking his chest and smiling at him playfully. “Making the universe better, one blow job at a time.”

He held her in his arms for a long while, drinking in her presence. The gentle contact and warm intimacy were something he never knew he was missing but now felt he couldn’t live without. This amazing silver girl in his arms changed his entire outlook on life in a single week. Whatever came next, he would never be the same.

They sat there for a while, enjoying each other’s warmth, cuddling while the stars sailed by the front viewport. Interface stroked his arm as she sat in Ben’s lap; he couldn’t remember ever being so content. She shifted in his lap slightly as they sat there, grinding against his crotch just a little bit. Ben knew that she had done it intentionally because when his member started to stiffen again, she gave him a sly smile.

“Ready for round two?” Interface purred in his ear.

“Yeah, I think I’m ready for more of you,” he said, sliding his hand up along her inner thigh under her sundress. He found that she was not wearing underwear, and as his hand grazed her bare pussy, she moaned low and needy. His fingers traced the line of her wet slit, from bottom to top, and then he paused, confused, when he found her dick protruding from where a clit would have been on another woman.

“Is that...” Ben began to ask.

“Yup. Both sets of plumbing, twice the fun,” She replied in a breathy whisper. “I can have you any way I want,” Interface leaned in and gave him a deep kiss on the lips.

Breaking the kiss momentarily, Ben asked, “Can I ... can I touch it?” His trepidation told Interface his hidden story better than if he had explained it himself.

“Oh, please, please touch it. I need you to touch me,” Interface said tenderly, full of want.

Ben shifted Interface on his lap so that his now rock-hard erection was squeezed into the crack of her ass, letting him reach around her slim waist with both hands. His right hand traveled up the inside of her thigh and rubbed her pussy while his left hand firmly grabbed the base of her dick, stroking it up and down in time with the rubbing of her pussy.

Interface leaned her head back on his shoulder, silver hair cascading over his face. “Ooh, yes! Just like that. Mmmm, more, give me more!” She moaned excitedly, pushing the top of her dress down to expose her breasts, mauling them with her hands while she pinched both nipples.

Ben stroked her shaft faster and began pumping two fingers in and out of her wet cunt. She bit her lower lip and mumbled something incoherent as she was overcome with need. He lifted her slightly and spun her around to face him. She bent down and kissed him deeply as she straddled his lap in the chair, then she reached down with one hand to line his cock up to her sopping wet entrance.

“Is this what you want?” Interface asked playfully, her eyes twinkling.

“More than anything,” Ben quickly replied, then grabbed her hips and pulled her down on him, impaling her balls deep with a single thrust. Her dress vanished, and she practically tore his shirt off him, pulling it up and over his head, crushing her breasts against his bare chest, her cock pressed in between their bellies.

She rocked her hips and bounced up and down slowly, grinding his cock in her pussy and rubbing her cock between the two of their stomachs. “Oh, Ben, that’s so good!” She cried out, picking up the pace, his hands on her hips, driving her with force on her downward thrusts into his lap.

Their pace picked up urgency as their climaxes approached. The sound of slapping flesh and needful moaning echoed down the corridor from the bridge for anyone to hear. Ben didn’t care. His whole world at this moment was the silver angel riding him hard for all she could. She was giving him everything, all of herself, and Ben had never felt so loved.

As that brief thought flashed through his mind, his grip on Interface’s hips tightened as he pulled her down over him hard, driving his cock in as deep as he could go, then came hard in her depths.

Ben, shooting his hot load into her, pushed Interface over the edge, and her climax crashed over her. Her vaginal walls trembled and clutched his cock tightly as she came, and her cock thrashed, pressed in between them, pulsing as she shot one enormous load after another, covering them both with her emissions, painting their bellies silver.

Interface slumped forward, panting, and rested her head on Ben’s shoulder. He reached around her and held her tight, silently thanking the universe for bringing him to her. They stayed there, locked together for a long time, basking in the afterglow, enjoying the feeling of the other’s body pressed close.

Ben slowly came back to his senses and smiled at the silver girl still impaled on his cock. Reaching between them, he swiped his fingers through the cum she had covered them in and said, “I think I look good in silver,” he chuckled.

Ben brought his fingers up to his lips to taste his lover when she blocked his hand with her own, then held it tenderly. “I can’t let you do that, my Sweet,” she said. “Maybe in time, but not yet.”

A slight look of puzzlement crossed his face, but he was unconcerned and let it drop without a question. He had found something he never imagined in a million years that would be his, and it was enough.

Interface swiped her hand across his chest, gathered up all the silver, and reabsorbed it into her body. She smiled warmly, gave him a long, deep kiss, and then settled back into his embrace.

Ben and Interface cuddled on the bridge, simply watching the stars sail by. After some time, June wandered onto the bridge and spotted the two. She walked over and gave Interface a peck on the cheek, then looked Ben in the eyes, smiled, and gave him a peck on his cheek as well. “Looks like someone has officially joined the ‘I Heart Interface’ fan club,” June said jokingly.

“Yeah, I guess I did,” Ben said with a dopey grin, spreading ear to ear.

A few hours later, Interface and Will were back to pouring over the mathematics Will had been wrestling with earlier. June was at the navigational console, checking their course and scanning for the traffic of other ships, which could be a particular danger because the Nestia didn’t have a transponder of its own and wouldn’t be visible to other ships until it was too late.

Ben watched the others with a growing fondness, partly because he knew Interface loved them but mostly because they were kind and fascinating people.

June could be warm and bubbly, with almost a schoolgirl charm at times, but at other times, she was a cool, efficient operator who knew the precise move or action for a given scenario.

Will could be an affable goofball, joking mainly at his own expense, then, the next moment, a hard and strong bulwark, ready and able to shield those closest to him.

Then there was Interface, the beating heart of the Nestia. She was soft, kind, compassionate, and a sexy minx to boot. But Ben had seen firsthand the vicious efficiency with which she dispatched anyone or anything that threatened her family.

“So, how do I fit in with all of this?” Ben thought to himself. He didn’t have an answer to that question, so he returned to the material he was reading, Will’s so-called ‘4-D engineering for dummies’.

“Looks all clear for now,” June announced, spinning in her seat and addressing the rest of the room. “But I’m not sure what our course of action should be once we arrive at Bourdan. We can probably find someplace to get a message to Peirault Shipping and let them know the details of the ‘Saturn’s Heart’ loss. I’m pretty sure we’re still employed, but they’re probably ready to chalk us up as ‘lost’. We also need to arrange terms for the return of the transponder for the customary salvage reward, but after that, I’m at a loss. We are currently so slow that it will take us a very long time to get out of this backwater corner of space. We would need to catch a ride on the next commercial ferry transport, but there’s no way I’d leave Interface and the Nestia behind.”

“What if we ferried the Nestia as well? Those interstellar ferries are as large as small cities; they take ships of all sizes all the time,” Will offered.

“Even if we had money to begin with, the fare for a ship the size of Nestia would be well out of our price range,” June said, shaking her head.

Ben looked up from the engineering manual, unsure of himself and his place in this discussion, but spoke up anyway. “What if the Nestia were smaller?”

He received a round of confused looks, so he explained. “Well, I’ve been reading through this,” he gestured to the text on the console in front of him, “about the basic dynamics of 4-D constructs, establishing, moving, and maintaining them, and I’ve noticed that all the equations use uniform gravity fields across the construct in their manipulations. I don’t think g-field manipulations actually require uniform fields,” Now, he had their rapt attention.

Ben continued. “If you used a precisely shaped gradient field across the construct, instead of pulling the object and its associated 3-D space wholly into 4-D, you could bend the space around it.”

Ben scratched the back of his head, trying to come up with a good analogy. “Think of it like this, you have a cylinder, sitting on the ground and it casts a long, rectangular shadow. If you pick up one end and turn it just right, you change the shadow from a long rectangle to a smaller circle. The same sort of thing would apply here, you end up shrinking the shadow of the ship, but the actual object stays the same. Some of the 3-D object would be in a wrinkle of 3-D space tucked up in 4-D space.”

Interface closed her eyes and ran some quick calculations, then spoke. “Yeah, I think that could work. That’s brilliant, My Sweet!” Naked as ever, she ran over and gave him a big hug, perfect silver breasts squeezed against him, causing him to blush furiously and tent his pants. “I’ll need to run some serious calculations, but I can’t see any immediate flaws in your logic. Perfect. Absolutely perfect!” She said, giving him a big kiss in appreciation.

“If the ship were smaller, about a quarter of her current size, do you think we could afford the fee for the ferry?” Ben asked.

“It would be much more reasonable, maybe two thousand dollars, give or take. Still more than what we have on hand,” June said.

“We could get three, maybe four for all the rad batteries,” Will chimed in. “We don’t need them anymore. I should be able to find a buyer on Bourdan. That would pay our way and give us some money for expenses.”

“Maybe enough that we could eat something other than banana-flavored toothpaste,” June joked.

“It makes a strawberry-flavored paste, too! I spent all day yesterday adding it to the programming for the nutritional dispenser,” Will retorted, a broad smile on his face.

“I think it makes sense before we try to shrink the ship, tuck it into a 4-D wrinkle, or whatever it is that you’re thinking, that we test it on a smaller scale,” June said, clearly uneasy with the thought of doing something drastic to the ship. “Could you use one of the one-person pods to test this idea?” She asked Interface.

“Yes, the pods and the shuttle are connected to the ship, getting their power from the core, so I could test with one of those,” Interface said.

“How long would it take you to get ready?” Will asked.

“I’m running the calculations now; I should have it in the time it takes us to walk to the hangar.”

They all got up excitedly and headed for the hangar, Interface leading with the others close behind.

The door to the lift opened, and they all crowded in, with Interface at the back. June and Will standing in front of her was too tempting a lure, so she reached down and grabbed a handful of each of their asses.

They turned in unison, smiling, then reached their arms around either side of the naked silver girl, pressing close to her from both sides, Will nibbling her neck as June kissed her full on the lips.

Ben didn’t turn around but knew what they were up to. He felt a weird combination of embarrassment and longing that he couldn’t quite sort out. He didn’t have long to try as the lift doors opened directly onto the hanger launch deck.

The hangar had room for many small crafts but was only occupied by a single shuttle close to the lift doors and three of the small one-person crafts at the far end.

The vehicles in the hanger shared a similar style to that of the Nestia itself: long, oblong spheroid bodies with three swept-back fins at the rear of each of the smaller vessels. The fins took up a larger percentage of the surface the smaller the craft, proportionally larger than the fins on the Nestia.

The one-person pods had a hatch that opened gull-wing style on the side of the small craft, just in front of the fins. Inside was a single, slightly reclined seat, with two independent control sticks with hand grips at forty-five-degree angles for ergonomic efficiency. The whole arrangement of the interior gave the pod a feel that would make a fighter pilot feel very much at home.

“I can’t wait to take one of these out for a spin,” June said excitedly. “If they’re half as nimble as the Nestia, they’ll be a hell of a ride.”

“I’m sure it will be, and as soon as we arrive at Bourdan, we’ll have some free time for you to go for a joy ride,” Interface said. “But we’re here for ‘Science!’” She said over-dramatically, pointing her finger in the air.

They all chuckled, then got down to business.

“I’m taking the ship out of FTL and letting the ship coast while we test this out, for two reasons,” Interface explained. “One, we’ll need to divert power from the drive while we try this out. We don’t have enough power to do both. Also, I don’t want any unwanted effects from the gravity field to affect the test,” Interface explained.

“Okay, everyone, stand back. I’m going to apply the tailored gravity field and start the process,” She said, waving everyone back from the pod.

As they stood and watched, Interface’s brow furrowed in concentration. Then, a soft blue glow enveloped the small craft. As they watched, it slowly shrank, as if sliding off into the distance, but without moving. After a moment, the craft shrank to about a quarter of its original size, and once the opening of the gull-wing door was barely wide enough for someone to squeeze their shoulder through, the pale blue light faded, and Interface looked at them expectantly.

“Let’s see how we did, shall we?” Interface said.

They all crowded around the now tiny craft, and June stuck her head inside the door. “I think it worked!” She said excitedly, then wriggled her way into the ridiculously small craft. Once inside, she twisted and turned her body to orient her body correctly so that she could sit in the pilot’s seat correctly.

“It’s still a perfect fit!” June said, leaning out the door, resting her elbow on the door frame like she was hanging out of a window. “It feels a little weird though, when crossing the threshold. It’s like the sensation of going down a slide, but without moving,” She said, trying to explain what she was feeling.

Will peered in, looked at the outside of the tiny craft, then peered in once more, trying to make his brain make sense of what he was seeing. He understood it logically, but his perception refused to cooperate. “It’s bigger on the...” He started to say before Interface put a single finger on his lips.

“Yes, we know, that’s what we were shooting for,” Then she put her hands on her silvery hips and declared, “An unqualified success!”

Will turned to Ben and asked, “Do you think there are any limitations to how much we could shrink something like this?”

“From what I understand of the math and first principles involved, I don’t think so. The constraints are going to be processing power for the calculations and the availability of raw energy from the core,” Ben answered, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

“And we have enough of both to resize the outside of Nestia to suit our needs,” Interface said, then continuing, “It does take a little energy to maintain the 4-D wrinkle, but not much. Now, if I release the hold on its form, the wrinkle should smooth out on its own.”

Interface looked at the pod, and when she stopped providing the energy to maintain it, the pod slowly grew in size until it reverted to its original size.

“How long will it take you to run the calculations to do this for the Nestia?” June asked Interface.

“I’ve already completed them, and the ship is currently idle, so we have plenty of power at the moment, though we will lose a little bit of speed-diverting power to hold the size. Are you all ready?” Interface asked.

“I trust you. I’m ready,” Ben said quickly. Will and June promptly agreed.

“Okay, here we go!” Interface said excitedly, then closed her eyes in concentration.

They all felt the odd sensation of sliding down an incline without physically moving. Will was caught off guard by its intensity and reached out to June and Ben to steady himself. They both stepped closer to Will, holding him up and stopping his wobble. After a few moments, the feeling subsided, and Interface turned to face them.

“All done?” June asked.

“Yup. Now by all outward appearances, we are a small shuttle, about 70 meters long,” Interface answered, her voice bright, proud of herself.

“I want to check it out. Our pressure suits are still in the lounge, right?” Will asked June.

“Yup,” She said, nodding.

They returned to the lounge, and Will gathered the gear for his suit and took the lift up a deck to the airlock, with everyone following in behind. He put the suit on in the hallway and, before donning the helmet, gave June and Interface a quick kiss.

Will stepped into the airlock, which closed behind him. It only took a few minutes to vent the chamber, and then the outside door melted open. The stars twinkled motionless outside the ship, and as Will engaged the small maneuvering thrusters in his suit, he looked around.

He would never get used to the feeling of smallness he always experienced when stepping out into the bottomless black yawn of open space, stretching to infinity in every direction. It simultaneously made everything in his life seem insignificant and the most important thing in the universe. He was grateful for the reminder to covet all that he held dear.