Chapter 12: Test Flight

Four hours later...

Basel drifted up slowly from a deep and restful sleep. He shuddered briefly when he was almost awake, sensing a human presence next to him. Then his eyes blinked open and he turned his head.

Eliana was lying silently on her side, her head propped in her hand, her elbow on the mattress. She had bare shoulders, and the blanket over them fell across her breasts, covering her breasts from just above her nipples. She seemed totally at ease with her nakedness beneath the blanket, and as Basel looked at her she gave him a shy smile.

"Hi!" she squeaked.

Basel nodded and smiled back. "Well, now that you've just committed to me, have you discovered to your horror that I snore?"

Eliana laughed. "You don't snore! And I do enjoy watching you sleep. You looked so peaceful and contented. Did you have a nice dream?"

"I had a most wonderful dream." His hand came and touched her cheek. "And now I realize it wasn't a dream at all. Eli, we have so much to discuss."

She nodded and quickly scooted her body to press against his. Basel was delighted to feel the long length of her silky nakedness. His hand came across to caress her, starting low on the side of her hip and then petting across her pelvis, pressing down briefly on her womb and feeling the coarse stiff hairs of her pubis. Then the hand slid up, across the trim waist, lingering for a moment at her ribcage, and then completing the arc by cupping the underside of her breast. His forefinger formed a circle with his thumb around her areole, and he gently squeezed her breast, forcing it out from the blanket. He blinked at the fat nipple, erect and dark pink. Eliana gasped and then arched her back, offering her breast for suckling.

Her lips quivered as he leaned over and kissed her sweet nipple and caressed it with his lips. Her hand came up to hold his head to her breast. "I want you Basel, so fiercely my desire overwhelms me."

He nodded. His tongue found the nipple between his lips. He started to trace it lightly with the tip of his tongue until he felt Eliana shiver, then gave one quick parting kiss before he pulled back to smile at her. "Eli, we have so much to discuss."

She suddenly looked a little worried. "I know. Basel, I want you, but I know I moved in awfully fast on you. If you're having second thoughts, I'll understand."

Basel shook his head. "No, it's not that. Eli, if we're going to commit to each other, I want us to be equal partners."

"Oh of course. I agree. I will never treat you otherwise."

"Eli, do you understand what I'm talking about? I want to own you, fully and completely, as fully as you own me." His hand left her breast and dropped to press against her womb. "Your body will belong to me, one-hundred percent."

Eliana stared at him and considered. She finally said with a bit of hesitancy. "I want to give you what you're asking for. You deserve it. Okay, my body will belong to you, just as your body will belong to me."

Basel kissed her cheek. "You sound a tiny bit uncertain."

"Well... I'm just trying to think how this will work if someday we accept another woman into our union."

"Exactly Eli! That's just it. It would be impossible for us to fully own each other if there was another person involved. As soon as there's a third, everything becomes group negotiation. One-on-one ownership is completely different."

Eliana was still for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, I know. Three or more people together are a group, and they interact as a group. Being with a single other person is something else entirely. The intimacy is profoundly different. I've seen this as a Priestess, again and again." She returned his kiss. "Basel, you're asking me to commit to being monogamous, aren't you?"

He nodded and gave her a hopeful smile.

"Are you sure you want this Basel? What are the chances sometime in the next three hundred years that we'll find another woman we'll want to marry? I've done marriage counseling. Most men enjoy having two to four wives, especially for the sexuality. They find the diversity pleasing."

Basel shook his head. "No, I'm sure. One wife is what I want."

Eliana lay flat on her back and stared at the ceiling. "I think it'll be okay with me. I've never desired a sister-wife for sex. But if we make our desire public, we may become social outcasts. Committed monogamists are almost unheard of."

"Well, would we have to tell anybody? Isn't this our private business?"

"I guess so. But if we don't announce, sooner or later unattached women are going to be asking me and especially you for dates. What should we tell them?"

"Oh..." Basel sighed. "I haven't thought of that. I'm certain I want monogamy though."

Eliana gazed at him. "I understand." They spent a few minutes kissing each other, expressing their new affection with their bodies. "Basel, may I have a few days to think about this?"

"Sure. Take more time if you need it." Eliana nodded and a moment later left his bed and headed to her own bedroom to start the day. Basel soon heard her preparing breakfast.

One day later...

Time: January 24, 9570 4:40 AM UCT

It was three minutes before sunrise, and Basel and Eliana were waiting until the break of dawn to begin their first test flight. Daylight would last three hours and ten minutes today, with the sun making a forty-four degree arc along the horizon. Maximum light would occur at 6:07 AM, with the sun's azimuth at due south and its altitude at 1.4 degrees.

Eliana revved the core engine one last time while closely monitoring the performance displays. Basel thought she looked totally relaxed, a sizable contrast to his own feelings.

"What's the air temperature?" she asked.

"Right now, -41C, a typical dawn temperature for this time of year."

Eliana gave a small laugh as she continued her engine test. "Sure is different than living in Cuba! And I thought Bandar Arenas was cold..."

"Well, the gulf stream is expected to start up again within the next decade. Once that happens, the climate here should warm considerably. And the summers here are quite nice, you'll see."

"Uh huh," she muttered, concentrating on her tests and not paying much attention to what he was saying.

After she finished, he asked, "Are you sure we have enough power?"

Eliana gave a small laugh. "Two megawatts! Are you joking?! It's too much power Basel. This boat would start to tumble if I ever tried to drive the turbines with full throttle. We can hover with either wing engine alone. They're 850 kW each."

Basel nodded and looked out over the short wings of their crab-shaped CAT. The compact auxiliary wing engines that Eliana had installed were barely visible under the turbines. "Hard to believe something so small can generate so much punch."

Eliana nodded. "Yeah. But the high performance comes at a price. Unlike the CAT's core engine, the wing engines need to be turned off completely when they're not under load, and they're also not as reliable."

"What? What would happen if they both fail?"

"We'd still be okay. With just the 300 kW from the core engine, we would be able to glide for a very long time." She paused for a moment and then added, "But we would have to pick one of the frozen lakes to land on."

At 4:44 AM, the CAT exited the station, the airlock doors closing immediately behind them and the station performing a plasma sterilization cycle on the empty chamber.

Their exit ramp faced due southeast, in the general directions of their tracks from their previous outing. As soon as they cleared the shallow ramp, Eliana turned and headed west southwest, parking at the center of a large pond about 600 meters from the station.

Basel turned to Eliana. "Do you have any sensation that you're being watched?"

Eliana scanned around the pond for a moment. "Not particularly. It's not a magic gift Basel. I could be wrong, but I think we're alone right now." She then grinned at him. "Ready for takeoff?"

Basel gave her a slight nod. "Proceed."

Eliana tilted the turbines straight down and engaged the powerful wing engines. There was a rising whine of power, and the craft lifted about one meter off the ground. The snow underneath them blasted away in all directions, revealing the solid ice underneath.