Chapter 5

Ten minutes later, Elizabeth strode into the monitoring room. "How's it going?" She demanded to know.

One of the technicians sitting at a monitor shrugged. "She's unpacking."

"Miss Grace," another member of her team called, intentionally leaving off her title as an insult.

She turned towards the aging, pompous, man in a white lab coat with a cool expression.

"I would like to renew my objections to this test. It is clearly a waste of valuable time and money."

"And why do you said that Doctor Marsh?"

"Because this girl, whom you say is going to prove the test can be passed is clearly unsuitable. In the past ten minutes she's unpacked a teddy bear and a security blanket. If she's in this bad a shape already, she clearly won't pass the test," Dr. Marsh stated smugly. Several others murmured their agreement.

"Oh?" Elizabeth said. Then she turned and leaned over the technician's shoulder to look at the monitor. On the screen Samantha was shaking out a quilt. On the bed was another and her stuffed moose. Elizabeth smiled and turned.

Seeing her smile, Dr. Marsh's expression lost some of its smugness.

"On the contrary, Doctor Marsh. In the last ten minutes Samantha has already surpassed all our other candidates"

"Preposterous!" Dr. Marsh sputtered.

"Not at all, doctor. That quilt she's shaking out, was made by her grandmother, the afghan on the bed by her mother. The stuffed moose was a gift from her father"

Dr. Marsh opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when Elizabeth held her hand up. "Every other candidate has come prepared to stay as if they were checking into a hotel. Samantha here, "she said with a nod to the monitor, "is making the place into a home."

Dr. Marsh's mouth dropped open, as the rest of the team began to murmur about the implications of that statement.

One of the younger members of the team spoke up saying, "By making it her home her morale will be higher," with wonder in her voice.

"and she's less likely to feel the stress of homesickness..." a second added.

"as she's home already" another finished.

"That's brilliant!" someone else exclaimed.

"Why didn't we think of that?" the first one asked.

"Do you really think she can pass?" yet another asked.

Elizabeth turned to him and stated firmly, "I know she will."

"That's ... that's absurd!" Dr. Marsh thundered.

"You really think so?" Elizabeth asked, watching Samantha roll out a throw rug, "Looks to me like she's moving in to stay."

Before he could reply, a sound came over the speakers. "What's that?" he demanded.

Elizabeth's smile widened. "She's humming."

They spent the rest of the day watching Samantha unpack. When she had her clothes and most of her belonging packed away she started to change clothes. She unbuttoned her skirt and unzipped it. She'd started to let it drop when she froze. Her audience watched breathlessly to see what she was going to do. Samantha refastened her skirt and began to look around frowning. Finally she knelt down and dug around in her backpack. Pulling out a large notepad she scribbled a note and then stood up waving the note in front of her. Elizabeth and several of the others laughed out loud when they read the note. It said, "No Peeking!"

None of the others to take the test bothered with privacy. They took the fact that they would be monitored for granted and were used to it. Samantha, however, was not going to be so open with her privacy. Samantha continued to wave the sign for a few more moments and then put it on the bed, picked up a change of clothes and headed for the bathroom to change.

Ten minutes earlier;

Samantha opened her backpack and pulled out her stuffed moose. She pressed her face against his and moaned, "What are we going to do now, Murry?"

She continued to hold him a few moments and then gave him a big squeeze, followed by a kiss on the nose. Then she set him on the bed and began unpacking. As she was putting things away she was surprised to find exercise equipment consisting of several pair of rubber bands attached to hooks at various heights. She spent a few minutes thinking of how they would work and then stuffed the bands back into their cubby and closed the door.

That wasn't her most surprising find, however. That title went to the space suit and helmet she found in one of the cabinets. It wasn't the bulky white space suit she was familiar with. This one was made of a shiny reflective material and resembled those suits worn by early astronauts. She very carefully put it back exactly as she found it and closed the door, praying she'd never need to wear it.

The other thing she found was emergency supplies consisting of a first aid kit, flashlight with extra batteries, several tubes of sealant and patches, and rope. She wasn't quite sure what the sealant and patches were for, but she hoped she never needed to find out.

When most of her things had been put away, except for some extra emergency supplies and things to do, she decided to slip into something more comfortable and relax for a while before putting her bags away. She started to take off her skirt when the hair at the back of her neck began to stand on end. She felt like she was being watched. As she refastened her skirt she thought, 'D'uh! Of course I'm being watched. I am in their fishbowl, after all. How else are they supposed to know when I crack up?'

Frowning, she looked around for the camera but not seeing it, turned and dug a large notepad out of her backpack and wrote, "No Peeking!" in large letters with a marker. Then she held it out towards where she hoped the camera would be. After a few moments, she put the notepad down and picked up a change of clothes and then headed for the bathroom to change. She rightly figured that even NSAA wouldn't install a camera there. Just to be safe though, she looked around for anything that might be a lens. Not finding one she began to undress.

As she did, her mind wandered back to the arousal she'd felt earlier. She couldn't deny it had happened, but she was confused by it. She hadn't had any medical fetishes before but she had been undeniably aroused down in the stasis chamber. As she slipped off her panties, she prayed Elizabeth hadn't noticed. She'd be mortified if she had. Now nude, she began to look at herself in the mirror built into the back of the door. As she ran her hands over her breasts to her tummy, she thought, 'I don't think I look too bad. I wonder what that man in stasis would think?' She blushed in response to that thought, and then sighed, 'As if he'd even look twice at me. Still he was a hunk though, and he did have nice equipment.' She blushed again as her hands continued to caress her bare flesh.

Samantha jumped when she heard a moan, then she blushed bright red when she realized it had come from her. Snatching her hands away from herself, she unfolded the sink and splashed some cold water on her face, then dried herself off and hurriedly dressed. She put her dirty things into the small hamper next to the washer and began to explore her new home.

When Samantha came out of the bathroom, they saw that she was wearing pink sweatpants, an oversize green sweater, and an old pair of sneakers.

One of the team said, "I can't say much for her fashion sense, but she does seem to be making herself comfortable."

"Yes, she does," Elizabeth agreed. "Let's find out how she's doing." She reached down and flipped a switch opening the communication circuit.

They saw Samantha start at the incoming communication signal and then started looking around. Tentatively she approached the cockpit area and looked down at the blinking light. She looked around a bit more and then flipped a switch. She nervously ran her fingers through her hair tucking it behind her ear as she leaned forward towards the microphone and cautiously said, "Uh, hello?"

"Hi Sam, this is Liz in the control center. How are you getting settled in?"

"Um ... ok I guess."

"That's good. Did you have any trouble with the toilet?"

Samantha turned bright red. "No. No, why do you ask?"

"I just thought I'd ask since you were in there a while. I know the toilet's different from anything you might have used before, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time"

"Uh ... sure," Samantha replied wondering what was going to happen when she unfolded the toilet from its stowed position.

After talking a while longer, they each signed off, and Samantha began putting her luggage away. She left her backpack by the bed, but everything else was placed into storage. She took the smaller bags down and stuffed them into the larger. The trunk gave her some trouble, though. She didn't want to have to empty it completely, but she didn't think she could carry it down the ladder either. Finally, she came to a decision and began looking around. Everyone in the control room wondered what she was looking for when Samantha sighed and gave a little shrug. Then she opened the trunk and a moment later pulled out a rope.

"What's she going to do with that?" One of the scientists asked.

"Lower the trunk down obviously," Another replied.

"Yeah, but why did she bring rope?" A third asked.