Chapter 13: Intrepid - 3755 C.E.

Heads turned as Beatrice strode along corridors in the space ship Intrepid that were normally reserved for military personnel. It was unusual enough for a passenger to be seen in this part of the ship although there was no security restriction as such, but Beatrice in motion was an unusually compelling sight even in a Solar System where everyone's body was artificially beautified as a matter of routine. There was a very literal sense that she was attractive: her affect on the libido was positively magnetic. Her body exuded a sexual charisma enhanced by the skimpiness of her attire, which on this occasion was a very loose gauze dress through which the lack of underwear was clearly evident.

Beatrice was a relatively frequent visitor to this part of the space ship. The military personnel knew about her sexual promiscuity and several had enjoyed it at close quarter. She wasn't the only woman or man on the ship to be so open with her body. The diversity of the Solar System was great enough to encompass a wide spectrum of sexual mores but Beatrice was the one who attracted the most comment. No one could agree as to the cause for her sexual licentiousness. Those who knew Venus assumed it was a result of having lived on Ecstasy. Those more familiar with Ecstasy assumed that it must be the way of life on Venus. And those who knew both assumed that it was just her personal choice.

It suited Beatrice to have such a reputation. There was always a ready explanation for everywhere she went and an explanation also as to why she was reluctant to talk about it. The complex sexual ethics that humans practised throughout the Solar System allowed a great deal to be left unsaid and excused. She could wander freely on any level of the ship in any section and in the company of anyone and it would be assumed that there was a sexual liaison of some kind involved and not necessarily one which the other partner would wish to have widely advertised. Beatrice only knew the emotions of shame, guilt and jealousy from what she'd observed in her many lovers, but she understood how useful such human emotions could be when she needed an alibi.

Even so, there was no subterfuge associated with her current encounter. She had an appointment to keep with Colonel Vashti and one that as usual she kept to the second. Unlike her husband, there was no likelihood that she would be late or simply forget her appointment. Beatrice found Paul's failings useful but she could never emulate them without making an extraordinary effort.

Beatrice was fascinated by Vashti even though the colonel wasn't her first lover to be so unusually endowed. There were many people in the expanse of the Solar System who by means of surgery, genetic modification or accident of birth had a body somewhat like Vashti's. Was she even a woman? She didn't have a vagina and there was no evidence of a womb or other internal organs related to reproduction that a woman should have. Her penis and testicles were very much those of a man and it was even possible that she could father a child. Every other aspect of her was undeniably female, although she was such a trim and muscular woman. That wasn't especially unusual either. Beatrice enjoyed sex with both genders and appreciated the aesthetic qualities of both. To have a combination in just one woman was quite a treat.

As was the case with anyone with whom Beatrice had extensive interaction, it was routine for her to retrieve all the information she could. Vashti's recorded history was entirely from Mars and quite inconveniently from the city of Beagle in Isidis Planitia. There weren't very many other survivors of the nuclear devastation that had wiped the city off the map. The records relating to Vashti from before that incident were sketchy and unverifiable, but her career in the Mariner armed forces began not long after. She'd been an exemplary soldier who'd have risen rather faster through the ranks had the war vacated many more senior postings. There were several accounts of her plentiful sexual relationships and these were divided quite evenly between men and women. Such records were necessarily incomplete as there was no requirement to maintain them, but Proxima Centauri had the data mining skills to piece together as complete a picture of any individual as was possible as a result of its unfettered access to the Solar System's databases.

Beatrice's purpose for seeing Vashti was entirely for the pleasure which the colonel could provide with great facility, skill and attention. There was not one inch of her brown skin that Beatrice didn't relish, especially the shaft of her penis as it plunged inside her and stimulated her to repeated orgasm. She admired Vashti's ability to delay ejaculation until Beatrice was truly ready and then release copious volumes of sperm over her face and bosom when required. Beatrice had an appetite for semen not only for its taste but for analysis of DNA and chromosomes. In this regard Beatrice wasn't at all surprised to identify that Vashti's biological inheritance was from Earth's Indian subcontinent.

Surrounding the two women and their lovemaking were the scents and images generated by ambient software to supplement the nature and intensity of their passion. At their mutual climax this was torrid, pungent and primarily red-hued, but now it was floral and calm. Beatrice lay across Vashti's bed. The two women's arms were around one another, their legs entwined and the perspiration from one woman dripped onto the bare flesh of the other.

"How do you think Nadezhda is?" Beatrice asked. "Is she all right?"

"Are you referring to the occasion when you saw me carry her to the medical centre?" Vashti asked.

"Of course," said Beatrice. "She is my lover as well after all. We make love most days. It's only natural that I should be concerned."

"I understand," said Vashti. "I was also concerned, of course. It was very strange. I'm not a doctor, but I don't think her fainting was quite what I'd expect from a woman like the captain. She exercises often, she eats well and there's no history of similar events in her past that I'm aware of."

"It wasn't like her at all. You don't think that the pressure on her is getting too much do you? It was me who suggested that she have sex with you again. I know how much she enjoys it when you fuck her. I hoped that it would make her feel better."

"Make her feel better than what?" asked Vashti. "Has she been unhappy recently?"

"Perhaps," said Beatrice guardedly. "The attack on the Intrepid by the Holy Coalition was quite a shock you must admit. Captain Kerensky isn't a military officer like you. She's not accustomed to being captain of a space ship that's been breached by thousands of religious fanatics."

"As far as I recall," said Vashti, "the captain had very little to do with regards to repelling the attack. That was done almost entirely by the space ship's automatic defence systems. Our forces were principally in place to prevent those hostiles who'd penetrated the hull from spilling out onto the other levels. Were you with her on the occasion of the assault?"

Beatrice functioned too efficiently to hesitate. "I'd remember if I was," she lied. "I was visiting a friend on the fourth level at the time. The whole thing was very alarming. I know where you were, of course. It's thanks to you that my husband was rescued."

"I guessed that he'd be the last one on the ship who'd respond to a crisis with the necessary haste," said Vashti. "I often wonder about you and Paul. Does he know that you're fucking me at the moment? Does he know, for instance, about your relationship with the captain?"

"I haven't troubled to tell him and he hasn't troubled to find out."

"Doesn't he ever wonder what you're doing when you're not with him?"

"I make love with him most nights," said Beatrice. "And he seems fully occupied during the day. I don't think our marriage is one where we feel the need to be together all the time."

"I suppose not," said Vashti. "But what about Nadezhda? She's not a woman who feels the need for one other person's company all the time, but she's not a recluse either. She does seem to have retreated into herself recently. Why's that?"

"I don't know," said Beatrice disingenuously. "The attack by the Holy Coalition must have upset her more than you would have thought."

"Talking of which, Beatrice," said Vashti with a slightly conspiratorial smile. "Would you like to see how things are in the outermost level? It's not something passengers can normally see, of course, to protect the prisoners' privacy from idle curiosity, but it's a facility that's available to military personnel."