Starting Over: Nerites
Copyright© 2025 by Quantum Mechanic
Chapter 2
Science Fiction Sex Story: Chapter 2 - Cheyenne is a plains world dedicated to production of livestock for sale to other human-occupied planets. Jean has a great job there, but he's offered a better job on a watery planet, and an opportunity to develop his own homestead. In order to take the new job, he has to uproot and transplant his young family. It's not easy going, and once there, the troubles have just begun.
Caution: This Science Fiction Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Romantic Heterosexual Fiction Science Fiction Cheating Massage Oral Sex Pregnancy Slow
A home isn’t necessarily house.
Jean awoke to find himself alone. He pulled on some clothes and stumbled through the tent to the outside, where he found Beth already preparing the morning meal. He crept up behind her, slid his hands under her arms and up, to cup her breasts, and kissed her on the neck.
“OK Romeo,” she said, shrugging him off. “How do you want your breakfast?”
“Oh, I think I’d like steak and eggs, over easy, a glass of orange, and a muffin,” he teased.
She stuck her tongue out and said “What I meant was, do you want your dry cereal dry, or with milk? There’s coffee too.”
“With milk, I guess,” he groaned. “And please tell me Nessa made the coffee...” whereupon she threw a rag at him (and missed, of course).
“I hope you’ll be setting up the power today,” she said. “The dry ice is going fast, and when it’s gone, the perishables won’t be far behind.”
“That’s the plan,” he responded. “At least the first part of it. I also need to install the water system and build the privy. If there’s time, I’d also like to get the satellite uplink installed.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a full plate in front of you. Do you think you’ll get it all done?”
“Maybe not all of it today, but I’ve got twelve more days of leave that I can use. The boss knows I have to make this place livable before I can go back to work, and he’s OK with it.”
They finished their repast making small talk, and teasing the children, and afterward Jean threw himself into the business of creating a homestead. His first task, as he intended, was configuring and connecting the power plant he had previously had delivered and installed. He headed for the far side of the island, where the plant was located. It consisted of a thermoelectric generator, which produced a hefty amount of direct current, and a heavy-duty inverter to turn the direct current into alternating current, and its purchase, delivery and installation had cost him a bundle.
The generator device itself, he didn’t pretend to fully understand, but he knew it was powered by the heat from some sort of nuclear reaction, which meant radiation, which meant it weighed a lot, because of shielding. It was a sealed cylinder, and the only control was a large double circuit breaker, housed in a panel affixed to the outer sheilding. It sat on the bottom of a sunken, pre-cast concrete vault, and the only access was through a heavy manhole cover. Atop the vault at ground level, a prefabricated structure made of glass-reinforced plastic that housed the inverter and sheltered the manhole. The plant was not yet fully configured, nor was the distribution system installed, but he needed power right away, so there were going to be some concessions to necessity.
He had intended to bury the power supply cables connecting the power plant to the distribution panel, but the enforced shortening of his timetable for moving didn’t permit either procuring automated ditching equipment, or doing the job by hand. He would have to temporarily lay the exposed cables on the ground surface. On his way to the plant, he blazed a rough trail about five meters to one side of the shortest path between the plant and the campsite. Once he arrived, he freed the spool of triplex cable from its chains, and positioned it near the power plant. Unrolling several meters of the cable, he staked the free end of the cable to the ground, and began the work of rolling the spool back toward the campsite, unwinding, straightening, and staking the cable as he went back along the trail. Once he reached the camp, he unrolled another several meters of cable, cut the spool free, and it was time for lunch.
“Isn’t all that exposed power cable going to be dangerous?” Beth asked, setting a plate of sandwiches before him.
“Only if something happens to the insulation,” he responded as he began to eat. “There’s no one on the island but us. All we need to do is prevent the kids from playing near the cable, and avoid doing silly things ourselves. As soon as we get the comm system up and running, I’ll call in for delivery of some rental equipment, and we’ll get it buried.”
“Won’t the cable be in your way when you start ditching?”
“Not if I stay on the shortest path,” he said. “Look at how the cable is laid.”
“Oh,” she said, “I see. But how will you dig with all that vegetation in the way?”
“The equipment I plan to rent will do the job,” he said. “I don’t need to build a road between here and there, just break through the roots and dig a ditch. That done, I’ll lay the cable in the ditch, and then backfill.”
After he finished his lunch he took a short nap, under the watchful (if disapproving) eyes of his beloved wife. On awakening, he undertook installation of the power distribution panel. He began by searching for a suitable tree, and finding it, he then cut it down and turned it into a smooth log of appropriate length. For good luck, he applied a wood preservative to the green log, although he knew it was probably wasted effort (and chemicals). While the preservative soaked in, he dug a posthole in which to set his new service pole. That done, he wrestled the pole into position and dropped it into its new home. He backfilled the hole and tamped the loose soil, fastened a piece of weatherproof plyboard to the pole, and mounted a weatherproof distribution panel to the plyboard. Since he was planning a buried cable installation, he needed no weatherhead.
By this time, it was getting pretty late, and he really wanted to have the power online before dark, so he quickly stripped a couple of centimeters of insulation from the ends of the conductors, fed them through the entry bushing in the distribution panel, and fastened them to the appropriate buses.
To Beth and the girls he said “Stay away from the cable and the distribution panel until I get back.” He grabbed a hand torch and struck out for the power plant. Arriving there, he connected the generator to the inverter, and the inverter to the cable leading to the distribution panel. This was a messy and disorganized business, involving cutting, trimming, and stripping cable, climbing in and out of the vault multiple times, and flipping circuit breakers in the proper sequence. When he finally energized the inverter, he felt the surge as the system came alive, but there were no explosions or screams.
Satisfied that the task had been accomplished, he ambled back to camp to begin the task of assembling and connecting essential power equipment. He had a two-burner stove, a refrigerator kit (cleverly designed for transport and setup in the wilderness), and several light sources, as well as a broadcast receiver for entertainment. Each of these items was strategically positioned in the family tent, and their power cords were all led to the power distribution panel. Each time he connected and powered up an appliance, Jean had the pleasure of seeing attitudes brighten and smiles grow on the faces of his wife and daughters.
Beth wasted no time trying out the new appliances. She quickly moved the remaining perishables from the insulated crate to the new refrigerator, and then set about preparing a meal on the stove. Likewise, the children wasted no time locating all of the kid-shows using the broadcast receiver.
Observing that daylight was fading rapidly, and Beth was making significant progress toward the evening meal, Jean decided to take a well-deserved rest. As he made himself comfortable (well, sort of) in a folding chaise, Beth approached and said “There’s still a lot more to do before we can call this place ready to live in. When do you plan to deal with water supply and waste disposal?”
“We have plenty of bottled water for awhile” he responded “but we’re going to need the privy pretty soon. I’ll start on the it first thing tomorrow, and when it’s ready to use, I’ll work on the water system.” Beth was only minimally satisfied with that answer, and not at all enthused with the idea of using camping equipment for sanitation another day. There seemed to be no alternative though, so she returned to the business of preparing dinner, and made the best of the situation. When everything was ready, she called her family to the table, and they all talked about the day’s events.
“Daddy?” Nessa ventured,” Are we going to live in the tent always?”
When he glanced at her, he saw his entire family looking at him in askance. Beth knew better, of course, but he knew that she wasn’t entirely confident in his ability to follow through on their plans. Riva, of course, hadn’t said much. She could speak very well, for a three-year old, but usually did so only when someone directly addressed her. The concern on her face, however, spoke volumes.
“No, baby,” he replied, “we’re going to have to build a house here. I plan to build a log house, like the ones in the pictures we’ve been showing you.”
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