Chapter 11: The First Jump

-- February - Week 5 --

Lee woke up approximately four hours later.

The crushing effects of the jump forced the breath out of her. The tunnel had been created, and they were short-cutting across space. She never could get her head around the science of why it was possible. It was a simple fact of her life.

After the jump, Lee had stayed pinned to the mattress for a minute due to several gees of pressure, as the compensators tried to reassert the artificial gravity. She then floated and fell several times as they fluctuated.

She waited for another three minutes and then braced for the slam and shake-up that she knew was coming when the ship exited the jump on the other side. “Shit... , “ she grumbled when it happened.

Lee wished someone would fix that. Surely there had to be a way to get the compensators to work better. She knew that she or Kyle would have to look into it at some time. This hulking boat seemed worse than the last few ships she had been on.

They had assured her on the test flights that they would make some adjustments, but if anything, it seemed worse. This ship was such a rush job that Lee was surprised more hadn’t gone wrong. It was the little things that were missed that could kill you.

Lee lay there for several minutes as her body tried to relax after the effects of the jump. She got her breath back to normal, and everything had finally stopped rattling around her. She couldn’t hear any alarms, so she assumed the jump went as planned.

Lee released the grav-net and crawled out of bed. She lifted Miss Piggy down onto the floor and went and opened the door so the pig could go out. After a quick pee, Lee crawled back into bed and once again allowed sleep to overtake her tired and abused body.

Lee awoke to her alarm. She had set it for 17:00 hours so she could get up and shower before meeting Sean for dinner. Getting up she refilled the pig’s water dispenser and her dinner bowl with fresh piggy pellets and a couple of carrots.

She rolled up the grav-net properly and secured it back in its holder and made her bed before going for a long, hot shower. She needed to wash her hair and shave. She was glad this ship didn’t have water restrictions, and she loved the extra-large shower cubical she had.

At last, she made her way up to dinner. The dining hall was packed as most of the crew were in it. It was also loud with all the excited talking going on. Lee grabbed a plate of steak and salad. Beefsteaks were only offered once a week as they had a limited supply.

Lee headed to the table where Kyle, Debora, Sandra and Dave were sitting. They had moved to a bigger table. She couldn’t see Sean anywhere and assumed that he would find her when he came in.

“Hi, guys, enjoy the first jump?” she asked the table in general as she claimed a seat.

“Oh, my goodness,” gushed Sandra. “That was brutal.”

Lee smiled at Kyle; this wasn’t their first jump. However, they knew it could be a bit hard to take when experienced for the first time out of a simulator. The first one was always the roughest.

Debora rubbed her behind and lower back, “I didn’t hook the stupid net on my bed properly and got tossed onto the floor from the top bunk.” Debora often worked odd hours to fit in with Ram’s weird schedule, so an after-lunch nap had become common for her.

Lee looked at her friend with concern, “You could have broken something falling from that height, especially with the gravity fluctuations.”

Debora grimaced she straightened up and stretched. “I think I have bruises on my bruises. At least I was luckier than Ben Layard,” she added.

“Why what happened to Ben?” Lee asked, worried. While she didn’t for the most part like the guy, she didn’t wish him harm.

“The idiot got into a lift just before they were locked down for the jump,” contributed Dave.

“Yeah, he got really pissed when the Captain told him, ‘tough shit’ and to ‘hold on tight’ because they couldn’t let him out until after the jump,” added Kyle with a laugh.

“He deserved more than a broken leg,” contributed Debora. “I mean, how stupid can you be? The comm had been telling everyone to be strapped down for fifteen minutes. Helm even warned everyone not to use the lifts because they got locked down two minutes before the jump,” she finished in disgust again rubbing her back.

Kyle smiled and offered to rub her back for her. Debora gave him a sly look back “I bet that isn’t all you want to rub?” Kyle just shrugged and gave her an injured look. Everyone else laughed.

“It’s not as if he hasn’t rubbed it all before,” Sandra grinned. Lee raised an eyebrow.

“Sandra, shush,” Debora said and blushed.

Lee now raised both eyebrows and looked at Kyle. Hmm... , it was very unusual for Kyle to keep quiet about his latest conquest. “So how long has this been going on?” she asked.

Thinking back and having an idea, she was intrigued it had been so long. She looked at Debora and wondered if Kyle had finally found that someone special. She liked Debora and felt she was good for Kyle.

Before anyone could answer, Lee felt warm lips on the back of her neck, making her shiver. She smelt Sean’s particular scent as it surrounded her. “Evenin’ gorgeous,” drawled a voice in her ear.

Lee turned to watch as Sean made himself comfortable in the empty chair beside her. He had the same meal she had again. “Evening all,” he directed at the table. Lee glanced around the table to gauge their reaction.

Kyle held his hand out to Dave. He said with a big grin, “Pay up.”

“Friggin’ crap,” said Dave shaking his head and the other girls giggled.

“What?” Lee asked.

“It looks like Kyle knew you better than the rest of us,” Debora supplied. Lee still mystified looked at Kyle for an answer.

Kyle raised his glass of soft drink in a toast, “About damn time too, Lee.” Kyle then looked at Sean and in a very big brother tone said “You had better look after her, or you will have to answer to me. She is one special lady as you will learn.”

Sean picked up Lee’s hand and kissed the back of it. He then looked back at Kyle, “You have my permission to beat the shit out of me if I ever hurt her.” Both men looked at each other for several long seconds as they reached an understanding.

Then Kyle nodded, “You can bet on it.”

“Wow!” said Debora waving a hand across in front of her face. “The testosterone.” Everyone laughed.

“So, now we have my love life out of the way,” said Lee. “Kyle?”

Kyle looked bashfully at her, “Well, hmm...”

Debora piped up, “It’s still a work in progress.”

Lee nodded at this. She doubted that Kyle would commit too fast. She knew he’d been badly burnt in the love department several years ago and was very shy of commitment. He generally liked playing the field as he had a voracious sexual appetite, and most people couldn’t cope with his needs for very long.

Debora was also gun shy after the incident with Professor Essco. Lee was intrigued that they had been together as long as they had. Lee then flicked a look at Dave and Sandra, “So, what about you two?”

Sandra looked surprised at first and then looked thoughtfully at Dave, who was blushing. “Still a work in progress,” supplied Dave.

Lee smiled at Dave’s blush and the surprised look on Sandra’s face. Dave was shy, although he seemed to be able to talk with Lee, no worries. Lee decided that Sandra hadn’t really picked up on the extent of the interest.

Although how she hadn’t, was a mystery to Lee. Dave had been joining their table for dinner for the last couple of weeks. He always tried to make sure that he sat beside Sandra and tried to engage her in conversation.

‘Good,’ decided Lee. ‘If they’re all busy worrying about their own love lives, they might leave mine alone.’ Lee turned to Sean. “Did you find that still?” she asked to change the topic. There was general laughter around the table.

“You really miss out on all the fun while you sleep the day away,” put in Kyle with a big grin at his friend.

“Oh yes,” replied Sean in a droll voice. “I enjoyed arresting the leader of the science contingency.”

“Professor Essco?” Lee asked, stunned.

She thought about some of the weird incidents over the last couple of weeks. Quite a few strange situations now made sense, even all the crap about going back to Earth. It must be a bitch running out of grog when you have a drinking problem.

“Couldn’t happen to a more deserving arsehole,” contributed Debora.

Kyle added in, “The idiot forgot to strap the still down properly. About ten minutes after the jump, Helm got an alarm. It was indicating that there were some contaminants in the air system near storage compartment L2-6.”

Sean took over the story, “I was sent to investigate and found Professor Essco cursing and swearing and trying to get the still back upright.”

“When I asked him why he was there, he said quote, ‘He had found the still while investigating the alarm. That he was just trying to get it, to stay upright and to stop the contents from spilling,’ end quote.”

“The problem was he had a small gas welding torch and a bag of tools with him. He was also covered in the contents and had a big bruise on his forehead. You could also see where he slid into one of the walls.”

Lee looked at Sean thoughtfully, “Did he indicate anyone else was involved?”

“No, why?” Sean asked.

“He shouldn’t have been able to get into any of the storage areas. I changed the passcodes before we jumped. Only Ben, Rodger Andre’, Magda, Jim, the Captain and I should have been able to enter any of storage areas,” she replied.