Chapter 9

Intrepid - 3754 C.E.

If she were ever asked, Nadezhda Kerensky would describe herself as an essentially monogamous woman. She didn't have the desire or ambition to take on more than one lover. Surely that was all she ever needed. Nadezhda was a romantic soul. She continued to believe that one day there would be an occasion where she'd meet the one woman who'd be her partner for the rest of her life.

She once thought that her ex-wife, Veronika, was to be that one woman but she no longer believed that now.

Nor did she believe that Vashti satisfied that need. However passionate their love was for each other, it was obvious that Vashti wasn't a woman with whom Nadezhda could settle down with or marry. Vashti wasn't someone who limited herself to one lover at a time.

Or even at the same time.

Nevertheless, she was admirably open and honest about the extent of her sex-life beyond Captain Kerensky's bed. In that regard, the colonel could never be accused of deception. She had never contemplated having a love life that was any less promiscuous than it already was. Vashti enjoyed sex with men just as much as she did with women. She got so much pleasure out of sex that she saw no good reason to prefer one gender over the other or to limit her lovers to only one at a time.

However, there were practical considerations the lovers had to take into account. Nadezhda was the ship's captain and Vashti was a colonel. They had different responsibilities of duty and command. It wasn't that anyone openly disapproved of a relationship between a Martian soldier and a Saturnian space officer, but the duties of their different and overlapping spheres of command took a higher priority than their mutual pleasure. However much Nadezhda yearned after her peculiarly endowed lover, their opportunities to meet were constrained by Vashti's duty roster and Nadezhda's never-ceasing responsibilities.

Although her lover had no objections, Nadezhda wasn't inclined to take on another lover. Vashti was pretty much all the woman she needed. Although she had no doubt that she was a lesbian, Nadezhda was addicted not only to her lover but also to her lover's penis. She'd never known such a thing so intimately before. It was women and women only that attracted her, although these days the pleasure of that cock in her mouth and its thrusts in her cunt inclined her to look at men in a fresh light. But however much men might be in possession of an organ that had given her so much satisfaction she was disgusted at the notion of a rough unmannerly male body pressed against hers.

Vashti had a habit of arriving outside Nadezhda's bedroom or office at times that were unannounced but which fitted remarkably well with the captain's routines and duties. There was hardly an occasion when Vashti visited that Nadezhda was dragged away by the obligations of duty from the passionate lovemaking that filled so many nights and whose memory sweetened so many days. Even so, Vashti's visits were never as frequent as the captain might like. There were many lonely unrequited nights and days when she waited in anxious expectation and dripped in excited anticipation. But such intervals were never for so long that she felt the need to seek out other lovers to satisfy her cravings.

And, of course, it wouldn't do for the captain of the Intrepid to reciprocate Vashti's policy by arriving unannounced at the colonel's quarters. Like all soldiers on board the space ship, the colonel was housed in relatively spartan quarters that had none of the landscaping that the passengers like Paul enjoyed. Battle-readiness took priority over comfort for members of the armed forces.

It would take extraordinary temptation indeed to lure Nadezhda away from the comfortable pattern into which she'd settled in the first month of her captaincy of the Intrepid. How could anyone compete with Vashti's energetic and urgent thrusts that left her so sore but still gasping for more? When she licked her lips, Nadezhda fancied she could still taste Vashti's sour semen. When she masturbated, which she now did more frequently, she could feel the soreness on her vulva that was the penalty of so many hours of passion. When she practised in the gym, the sweat that poured off her was a reminder of their mutual perspiration.

Nevertheless, Captain Kerensky had other concerns than only her affair with her errant lover. It troubled her that although she had a good idea of exactly where the Intrepid was headed in terms of spatial coordinates she knew very little else about the destination. The literature she'd read on the Anomaly was of little help. She was convinced—as were her fellow officers when they discussed it in the mess or in the lounge—that it must be some kind of alien incursion.

"What sort of aliens might they be?" wondered Chief Petty Officer Singh, as he tugged at the single long forelock that cascaded from his otherwise shaven head. "They won't just be microbes will they? I'd hope for something more exciting than that."

"I hope it's not an invasion force," remarked Medical Officer Yoritomo, who was tall and thin and blessed with a thick bush of black hair that bounced off his bare shoulders. "I can't think of any other reason why there would be such a large military contingent on board."

"Aliens are probably weirder than we can ever imagine," speculated Assistant Chief Engineer Taalat, who was a slim girl with artificially blue skin that her captain lusted after even though the engineer was a confirmed heterosexual. "They won't be mammalian. Probably not even vertebrate. Perhaps they'll be a kind of mollusc or even a talking vegetable."

"The scientists on the ship should have some idea," said the Chief Petty Officer as he sipped from a tall glass of fruit juice. "That's what they're here for. They've probably got access to confidential information that us mere space officers would never be allowed to see. Not even the captain."

Nadezhda could see that her fellow officers' eyes were focused on her as if they were pleading for more information. She only wished she could enlighten them. "I know for a fact," she said carefully but honestly, "that you're no better briefed than me. As for the scientists..."

"What about that Godwinian?" Taalat wondered. Her slightly dimpled cheeks made Nadezhda's heart beat a little faster. "The one with the Venusian wife. It's not often you get to meet an anarchist. I've heard he's been the target of countless assassination attempts. You must have heard of the attack on the cruise ship Ulysses. And there were other attacks everywhere he went. He must know something."

"He's a weird one," remarked the Chief Medical Officer. "He doesn't socialise with the other scientists and the case he brought with him was guarded as if it contained precious metals. He probably knows more than anyone."

"He's not particularly communicative," said Captain Kerensky cautiously. "He spends almost all his time with his wife or wandering aimlessly about the outermost level where he lives. He must be the most unimpressive scientist I've ever met."

"Appearances can be very deceptive," was Taalat's opinion.

Nadezhda could see there might yet be wisdom in the cliché. After all, there was an extraordinary level of security surrounding a man whose academic discipline was at best incidental to the object of the mission. Maybe there was more to computer archaeology than Nadezhda had ever given credit.

Although Captain Kerensky had entertained many of the resident scientists in her office, she'd been reluctant to invite one as poorly accredited as Paul. He wasn't even a professor. His only apparent claim to fame was the publication of a sensational thesis that demonstrated that the Anomaly had been previously sighted at the very dawn of the space age when colonisation was more a dream than a practical reality. Otherwise what was more remarkable about his research was how extraordinarily mundane it was. Maybe there was more to the strange anarchist who was privileged to occupy a villa in the Intrepid's most spacious and sought-after level.

The captain hadn't been any more impressed by Paul in person. Compared to the witty and eloquent Professor Keane who'd entertained her for more than an hour on the subject of polydimensional fractals or Doctor Xiao Ping who'd made the subject of exobacteria more fascinating than she'd ever imagined possible, Paul Morris was a very dull specimen.

However, what did attract her and about which she felt decidedly guilty, especially in the company of Vashti, was Paul's wife. Beatrice was possibly the most beautiful woman she'd ever met. And although this was the first time the captain had met her, it wasn't to be the last.

Captain Kerensky made a point of visiting every level of the Interplanetary Space Ship. This wasn't merely to pass the time. She believed that it was only by making such visits that she could really know how things were and whether there were any necessary improvements. This was especially so on such an ancient vessel as the Intrepid.

It was while she was wandering about on the outermost level that she once again encountered Beatrice. This time the Venusian was alone. There was no sign of Paul at all. She was strolling along a path through a wooded glade towards a stream that cascaded over rocks that had been smoothed over by the centuries. It was an idyllic scene. Birds were singing in the trees and antelope were cantering over the grassy plains. But what was also strange to the captain, even after having spent so many years in deep space with such a wide variety of people, was that Beatrice was totally naked.

There were several colonies in the Solar System where nudity was the normal state of dress and there had been officers and ancillary staff who'd served under the captain that shunned clothing except where it was necessary to perform their duties. It wasn't just that Venusians were by no means known to be amongst the Solar System's most natural nudists that awakened the captain's interest in Paul's wife. It was also that the unclothed Beatrice wore her body so well that it seemed unnatural that she should ever wear clothes.

And what a body! Although the bosom was oddly large and the rest of her so curiously slim, there were aspects in her tight but smooth contours, the healthy gleam of her skin and her confident stride that accentuated her beauty far above its mere physical aspect.

There was a dreamlike quality to the moments that followed. Captain Kerensky was so mesmerised by Beatrice's beauty she hardly registered that the two women's steps were bringing them closer to one another. It was almost unexpected when Beatrice was close enough that their eyes met and they could exchange words.

"I'm delighted to see you again," said Beatrice in her soft seductive voice.

"No more than I am to see you," said Nadezhda.

"It's so beautiful here," cooed Beatrice as she advanced one more step closer. Her bosom bounced smoothly in rhythm to her stride. "I so enjoy my walks in the glades and pathways of the Intrepid."

"So I see," said the captain.

Beatrice now stood just in front of Nadezhda. Her face had beautiful green eyes and an exquisitely proportioned nose. Her fair hair brushed against her cheeks and her endearing smile was close enough to touch.