Chapter 388

Ann and Arlene sat nestled in their seats on the bridge of a scout, Ann piloting on manual as she guided the small ship toward the hatch. A moment later, outside and invisible, the scout’s nose turned toward space and accelerated as only a ship under inertialess drive can.

Moments later, they were clear of atmosphere and the little vessel’s speed increased dramatically. Well away from the planet, she completed a short jump to the fringes of the solar system where the two began checking pickets.

Later, after many micro jumps to download data from the pickets – which proved to be nothing of consequence – Ann doubled-checked the course laid in by Arlene, had it confirmed by the AI, and initiated the jump that would take them to the aliens.

“Whew. I’m glad that’s over,” Arlene said as the gray nothingness surrounded them. “But even with as many pickets as there are, we would still be lucky if any of them registered the alien ship’s approach.”

“Yeah,” Ann agreed. “The pickets are positioned in the most direct corridor between the Aliens and Earth, but they could jump a little closer to Earth than we expect, and totally miss all our pickets, not to mention coming in from another angle or direction. Like Jeff said as he briefed us, the volume of space that encompasses our solar system is almost unimaginable when you get right down to it.”

“So, we shadow them, and when they jump, we assume they’re headed for Earth and jump back at high warp. Those are Daddy’s orders.”

“I know,” Ann sighed, “But there should be a way to know at least which direction a ship is headed when it jumps.”

“But there isn’t,” Arlene said with a sigh. “Oh, we can assume a direction by the ship’s heading before it jumped, but other than that...” she finished, leaving the sentence hanging. “In any case, should the aliens warp out, we leave for Earth at high warp to warn Ship and Daddy. Then we get in our interceptors and wait for them.”

“And we hope we’re good enough to take those attack ships on.”

“We will be. Just another couple of hours our time in the simulator will do it. We’re pretty darn good right now, anyway.”

“Yeah, but is ‘pretty darn good, ‘ good enough?” Ann whispered. “If we’re relieved before those guys decide to head toward Earth, I’m gonna live in that simulator until I know I’m good enough.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Arlene said, reaching over to grasp her sister-wife’s hand for a moment.

They came out of warp several light minutes from the alien ship’s last position, and, under maximum stealth, crept closer.

The Retreat

Helen awakened to lie there thinking as she listened to the deep breathing of her sister-wives and husband. A smile touched her lips when she remembered their lovemaking earlier in the night. As she moved, she felt the wetness seeping out of her well-used pussy. While she had been out, one of her sister-wives had apparently decided to leave a hand towel tucked between Helen’s legs, but it had slipped while she slept and wasn’t doing a lot of good just now. It didn’t make any real difference who Jeff pumped his sperm into; each felt as if she had been the one to receive it. But the aftereffects are different, she thought with a grin as she felt the wet stickiness easing past her nether lips.

As she carefully moved to slide out of bed while holding the hand towel in position, Jeff reached across Kayla to touch Helen.

“Just can’t sleep,” she whispered. “I’m probably going to take advantage of the time to get in another session at Ship’s academy.”

“Babe?” he whispered, his voice showing concern.

From the foot of the bed, she carefully crawled onto his body so their conversation wouldn’t wake the others.

“You feel good on me, my little genius wife,” he quietly said before kissing her for a long time, but the kiss was a gentle blending of their souls, not an all comprising, lust-filled invitation for sex. Finally, “I love you,” he whispered, their mouths still only inches apart. “But, what’s wrong? Why can’t you sleep?”

Helen squirmed her breasts against him, enjoying the feel of her nipples raking through the hair of his chest while she continued to stare into her husband’s eyes in the dim light. She almost didn’t tell him, but changed her mind at the last instant. Then with a sigh, “Baby, I don’t want this to sound arrogant, but ... for the first time in my life, I ... am worried that something is beyond my comprehension.”

Frustrated, she could feel Jeff’s chest shaking as he tried to hold back his laughter. “It is not funny,” she whined. “Not only do I have to learn a whole new system of mathematics that describes the dimensions, but I have to learn new physics – new laws – that govern those dimensions. Things, too many things, energies, physical properties, other ... oddities that do not even exist in this dimension and for which there aren’t even terms to describe. They simply can not be related to our dimension in any meaningful way. Yet I have to understand them and be able to work with them.”

“Slide back,” he whispered as he encouraged her to stand. When he was on his feet, he picked her up as if she weighed nothing, and took her to the other side of the big room, seating himself on a couch with her on his lap.

“I can’t believe my genius is worried about her intellect being insufficient,” he teased as he cupped her chin to shake it a tiny bit, then leaned to kiss her gently for a few seconds.

“Jeff, I...”

“Ship says you can. I have managed to get the general concepts down.” There was a slight hesitation, then, “Well, let me rephrase that. I vaguely understand them – I think. Oh, with Ship’s help I could, perhaps, function in the engine room enough to be of some help, but you, my Lady, will fully understand before Ship is through with you.”

“But...”

“Ship’s words; not mine. She says you’re capable, and I believe her.”

“Jeff, dammit, have you even looked in that ... that... engine room?“

“Yeah,” he said with a grin.

“All those rows and rows of machines all going off to... infinity for all I know. They just seem to get smaller with distance and blur into something else – some other dimension. How can I understand something when only a small part of it is even in this dimension?” she barked out, frustrated.

“Well,” Jeff said, “when you are our Chief Engineer, you will be able to truthfully say, ‘you have no idea how my day has been, ‘ and really mean it,” he joked.

An odd look crossed her face. “Uh, my towel has slipped and I’m starting to leak on your leg.”

“It’s not the first time one of my wives has leaked on me, and I suppose it won’t be the last. Now go wash that sweet pussy of yours, if it will make you feel better, and let’s get back to bed.”

But Helen was shaking her head. “I’m awake. I’m going to clean up a little, then go for a session in Ship’s academy. But I can’t say that I’m looking forward to it.”

“Ship tells me you’re doing great, so keep your head up. She also says she is anxious for you to catch up because she has some things to discuss with you.”

Helen hesitated as she came to her feet. Staring at her husband, she asked, “You’re kidding me, right?”

But he was shaking his head. “Nope. Scout’s honor.”

“But you told me you were never a Scout.”

“Nope,” he repeated, this time with a grin, “but that doesn’t change anything. She still said it.”

“Well, she has more faith in me than I have,” Helen mumbled as she started for the shower.

“You have a nice ass to go with those super tits,” he whispered, but she didn’t hear him because her mind was focused on what she had to learn.

In Ship’s training area, full of trepidation, Helen eased onto a couch. Feeling it move to snuggle against her body, she tried to relax, knowing she would shortly be immersed into a world where she would not even remember her real life. Ship waited patiently until, with a deep breath, Helen said, “I am ... ready.”

“You will excel,” Ship assured her as reality dissolved around the genius.

Landfall Space Academy

“There you are,” Xiao, the talkative roommate announced as Helen walked through the door. “What did you do during your break? Did you get laid? Looks like you picked up a little tan. Did you go to that lake we were talking about?”

Helen, on her way to her closet to put up her gear, stopped to answer each question in turn. “Rested. No. Yes.”

“Well, darn. You too, huh? I’m in a dry spell that seems to have no end. Oh, there are offers, but I’m not into one-night stands, and well, with the academy...”

As fourth year cadets, Helen and Xiao enjoyed some amenities that the plebes did not have. The former stripped off her civvies and dumped them in the refresher chute. Moments later, they returned freshly laundered. After carefully putting them away, she changed into the exercise clothing she usually wore during study time, got out her comp and settled in at her desk.

“My goodness. Aren’t you even going to tell me what happened during your break? How was the lake?” Xiao asked as she plopped down at her own desk.

“It was beautiful and very restful.”

“But you didn’t get laid?”

“What’s all the interest in my sex life? You said you didn’t get laid either and you don’t go in for one night stands? You know I don’t either? So, why all the questions?”

“Because graduation is just around the corner and I’m nervous and wondering which ship I’ll be assigned too. There’s a war going on. We might never see each other again.”

“Graduation is not just around the corner for me, as you well know. I have at least another year before I’m certified, and I’m already struggling.”

“You, struggling? No way. You’ve aced every test, and you’ve spent more time helping me study than studying for yourself, yet you have not missed a single question or point on any test you’ve had, and that includes the practical tests, too. With all those bonus points you’ve racked up, you couldn’t flunk out if you tried. So why are you stressed all of a sudden?”

Helen leaned back in her seat, repeatedly weaving her stylus through her fingers as her mind mulled over her predicament. “Things have changed. We’ve ... reached a plateau, I suppose you could say. Or, at least I have. True, I completed the regular subjects that every cadet has to take, quite a while back, but those of us who are destined to be warp engineers, well ... we’re suddenly fully enshrouded in multidimensional warp theory and ... for the first time since I started at the academy, I’m struggling.” Then with a big sigh, “If you must know, I rented a great suite overlooking that beautiful lake, but spent all but a couple of hours of my stay sitting at a desk studying – for all the good it did me,” she mumbled under her breath.

“Well, you told me you were going to specialize in warp theory, and I assumed you had set your sights on a chief engineer’s position, although you would never talk about it, but warp theory is beyond me. Now me, I like to fix things...”

“And you’re very good at it,” Helen inserted.

“So, I’ll probably wind up in maintenance or weapons. I’m good with anything that fires a beam. I just seem to feel...”

“And you outshot all of us,” Helen said with a grin.

“Maybe so, but the Chief Engineer is second only to the Captain in rank.”

Helen let out a little chuckle. “But ... you don’t start out as a Chief Engineer, rather as an engineering mate and hopefully work up – if you’re good enough and if there are openings. But first, I have to become a warp engineer, or as the academy calls it, a multidimensional warp engineer. At the moment, that doesn’t seem at all likely.”

“Oh ... that’s ridiculous,” Xiao returned huffily. “So you’ve hit a little bump in the road, to use your own words that you’ve used on me. You talked me into believing I could – many times. Now listen to yourself. What’s the expression? Medic, heal thyself.”