"Excuse me."

  The Captain rubbed his sore eyes; when his vision cleared, Mac Fleetwood was standing in front of him. He was patting his rotund stomach with a sweaty ham hand.

  "Um, what about me?"

  "I'm sorry Mr. Fleetwood..."

  "Please, call me Mac."

  "No, I'm going to call you Mr. Fleetwood. It's my ship and I have that luxury."

  "Uh, ok." The cargo pilot grimaced.

  "We will refuel your ship and inspect it if you'd like. Then you can be on your way."

  "Actually, it was getting pretty late. I was hoping if you could put me up for the night. Maybe show me some of the ship?"

  This is exactly what I need. The Captain sighed and looked down. He walked over to the wall and punched the button to the AI interface.

  "Alyssa could you please get me Sandra?"

  "Yes sir. Coming through now Captain." The speaker crackled with it's bothersome static.

  "This is Sandra, what's up sir?"

  The Captain looked at Mac and knelt close to the intercom as he talked in a hushed tone.

  "Sandra, do you remember how you asked me to help you be more social on board?"

  "Uh, vaguely."

  "Well, I'm giving you the chance. Get down to Medical and bring some ...," he looked back at Mr. Fleetwood, "patience." He turned and started walking back towards the center of the room. Mr. Fleetwood approached and was about to say something when the Captain held up a finger and gave a faint smile. "I'll be with you in a minute."

  Vanessa looked up at him as he came to her table. She ran a medical scanner once more over Heather and wrote the last of her notes down on her pad.

  "What's the good news?"

  "Physically she's okay; a few bumps and bruises but nothing serious. As far as I can tell she's as healthy as she can be."

  Heather smiled and kicked her legs that dangled over the edge of the bio-bed.

  "Anything out of the ordinary?"

  "Slightly high T-cell count. But that's normal under the circumstances."

  Heather frowned.

  "I seem to be taking a lot of deep breaths. Is that weird?"

  Vanessa put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

  "Your body is just trying to recover from the amount of endorphins in your bloodstream. It should go away in a few hours; at most, a day. Heather, you're free to go."

  She hopped down and hugged Vanessa.

  "Thank you."

  "You're welcome cutie. Just try to stay off your feet for a while and rest alright?"

  The Captain nodded.

  "She's right, you can also shirk your duties until you feel ready to return to your post."

  "Okay sir. I guess I'll go back to my quarters. I'm kind of tired anyway. Good night."

  "Good night Heather."

  As she walked out of the room she thanked Mac who just smiled. The doors to Medical opened and she exchanged a few words with Sandra as they passed each other. The Captain turned away from Vanessa who was working with Kim to put all the instruments away. Sandra pushed her thin-rimmed glasses up her nose and looked up from the small vial that she was shaking in her hand.

  "What do you need Captain?" He slipped a warm arm around her shoulders and she immediately adopted a suspicious expression.

  "Mr. Fleetwood." The freighter pilot turned his bulbous body and smiled with stained teeth. "I'd like you to meet our Science Officer. Sandra, this is Mac Fleetwood."

  "Good evening my dear."

  "Uh ... hello."

  The Captain giggled to himself as they shook hands.

  "Sandra here will give you a tour of the ship before she shows you to your guest quarters."

  "I am?" Her commanding officer looked at her with his serious gaze. "I mean, I am!"

  "Delightful!"

  "Mr. Fleetwood..."

  "Please, it's Mac."

  Sandra smiled.

  "Mac, let's be on our way. I don't want to keep you up too long."

  "Whatever you can show me will be greatly appreciated miss."

  "I'm sure it will be." He began to walk out, excited about seeing the ship. Sandra turned to the Captain. "Gee, thanks."

  "He's all yours. Enjoy."

  She shook the vial in her hand one more time and handed it to him.

  "Here, you get to play with this now. It's something I've been working on; just be careful with it."

  He glanced at it and saw a small blue-white shard tumbling around the bottom.

  "What is it?"

  "Ice-nine." He almost dropped it in a sudden attack of anxiety and frowned at her back as she walked away giggling.

  "That's not funny. You know if it were anybody else I'd know they were joking."

  The doors to Medical swooshed shut behind her. She looked Mac up and down and nodded as he grinned.

  "Shall we start Mr. Fleetwood?"

  "Lead the way. So, Necronomicon, what is that? French?"

  As she walked ahead of him, she rolled her eyes and lightly shook her head.

-     -     -

  Heather looked at herself in her washroom's mirror as she ran a brush through her long, red hair. She kept it slightly up when on duty and she always took this kind of care of it when she was alone at night. The brush hit the tiled floor with a clang as it slipped out of her hand; she just looked at it and sighed.

  As she stepped off the stool, a sudden warm sensation began to seep into her body. It was a prickly feeling, akin to that of her flesh being asleep. It crept it's way into her chest and slowly began to settle itself in her hips. She instinctively crossed her legs in an effort to stifle the urges that almost overpowered her, forcing her to double over ever so slightly. She quickly hobbled over to her bed, the soft down comforter engulfing her in it's warmth, and she struggled to keep her place as a wave of guilt washed over her.

  "Lights."

  The cabin went dim and the faint starlight did what it could to illuminate her quarters through the large window that adorned a far wall. She thought of Matthew and all that he had meant to her. He was a good friend and she respected him greatly as a colleague.

  She caught herself as her hand began to stray down towards the waistband of her lace underwear. The heat was building within her and she was starting to become moist. A tear came to her eye, feeling that she was betraying the memory of her lost friend. Her thin frame trembled. Unconsciously, she began to grind her legs together, her body doing what it could to satisfy itself without outside help.

  Heather opened her eyes. The ceiling seemed a light year away as she wiped a few drops of sweat from her forehead. Her mind began to drift. She felt her deep sexuality expand as it overtook her senses. She turned her thoughts of Matthew away and shuddered as she felt two of her fingers enter herself, curling inside of her with purpose and spiritual meaning. The raw animal need casting an impenetrable shadow over her reasoning. She slid the arch of one foot along her smooth leg while continuing to massage herself with a hungry desire.

-     -     -

  The television screen went blank as Gryphon clicked a button on his remote. He had his stations set for what they were like back home, but nothing could break through his bad mood. He tossed the remote into a pile of dirty laundry and turned off the lights. He wasn't really that tired, he just didn't want to have to deal with his thoughts anymore. Still, as the counted seconds ticked by, they continued to pour into his mind.

  "What right does he have to stick me in here?"

  No one answered his question. He thought Alexander might but the AI's were only programmed to enter the personal quarters when specifically ordered. They didn't make a habit of spying on the crewmembers during personal hours.

  "Fucking prick, fucking self-rightous prick."

  Gryphon pushed his sheets away from his body as the heat was beginning to bother him.

  "Can't believe I'm stuck in this dump; I don't know why I even listen to him anyway."

  Gryphon turned on his side. His manhood was beginning to swell into erection as it rubbed against the thin cotton of his boxer shorts. He felt the head expand heavily against his leg and he started to grind his hips against the mattress; squeezing his phallus and sending pleasurable waves through his groin.

  His face contorted in sexual craving and he rolled on to his back as he slipped down his waistband and gripped his shaft with hot fingers. He began to pump vigorously, never having felt so full and firm in his life. Blood continued to pump beneath his clenching hand as his whole body tingled with the coming release.

  He peaked, his orgasm sending streams of his warm seed onto his belly and dripping over his arm. It puddled on his chest and began to cool as he continued to spill out load after load. After countless bursts, his body collapsed back down on his mattress and he lay there panting. His thick penis still at attention as it steadily bobbed back and forth. It slowly started to settle down across his leg as he drifted off into sleep.

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