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Chapter 9

Lydia

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Lydia awakened to the gentle snore of her husband beside her. She turned to her side and snuggled her back and firm bottom against him, delighting in the warmth of his naked body.

Carter stirred, then turned into Lydia and, spooning her, he cupped a small bare breast and pulled her closer.

“Good morning pretty girl,” he whispered into her wonderfully scented hair.

She stretched and turned in his arms to face him.

She kissed him on the tip of his nose and murmured sleepily, “Good morning lover. Do we have to get up?”

“That’s what they add credits to our accounts for,” he said sleepily.

She ran her hand along his rippled belly, and her fingers combed through his pubic hair.

“Is this a morning thing or are you glad to see me, mister?” she asked dreamily.

“I’m always glad to see my girl,” he said smiling at her pretty face.

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He rolled over her and positioned himself above her. She smiled up and parted her slim legs for him. After they made love, they showered together and had the molecular assembler make perfectly fitting uniforms for their daily wear.

Carter called from the kitchen asking how she would like her eggs this morning.

“Scrambled please,” she called from the bathroom, “with toast and strawberry jam!”

Carter was sitting at the small bar munching on toast and reading the headlines on his heads-up display when she came into the room and sat across from him.

“What’s on your agenda today?” she asked him.

“Well,” he said taking a sip of coffee. “I’m going to have my crew in the A/F drive ring testing the negative energy generators this morning. And you are going to be tits deep in alligators in Astronomy, so I doubt if I’ll get to see you for lunch.”

“I suspected as much,” said Lydia. “Don’t be late for our couples night with Padma and Eric.”

“Umph,” he grunted nodding his head in reply as he took another bite of toast.

She brought up the news headlines on her HUD and finished her eggs and toast then washed down the last bite of eggs with the dregs of her coffee. She walked around the bar and pecked him on the cheek. “Gotta run sweetie,” she said and started toward the door.

“I’m right behind you.” He put down his coffee cup and followed her out the door.

In the hallway, they embraced again, then turned in opposite directions as the door to their apartment hissed shut.

Inside, a maidbot emerged from an alcove in the wall and began cleaning up the breakfast clutter.

Lydia had planned to be the first one to arrive in the Astronomy Section and was surprised when the door hissed open, and she found Kei there speaking with a maintenance robot.

Kei was immaculate. Not a hair was out of place. Lydia wondered how long it took her to look so good. The MA that produced that uniform must have had Kei’s figure precisely measured. The wide belt she wore accentuated the hourglass shape of her body and fit her firm pear shaped bottom like a glove. “No panty lines showing,” thought Lydia. “Maybe she goes commando.”

When she approached, Kei turned to her and smiled. There were enough buttons open to expose a hint of the cleavage between her perfect C cup breast.

“Ah, Dr. Jess,” she said delightedly. I was hoping to speak to you after you landed yesterday but your eager young husband whisked you off before we could talk.”

“I’m sorry about that,” said Lydia. “I didn’t know. Did I miss anything important?”
“No, no, of course not,” said Kei. “I just wanted to know if you would allow me to help today. I find that people treat me differently once they know I’m a hybrid human, and if I can spend some time with each of my crew members, it tends to alleviate their initial fear. Since you have six of your staff arriving, that don’t know me personally, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to get to know them and also lend a hand with setting up your new equipment, if you’ll allow me.”

“Of course, we need all the help we can get,” said Lydia.

Lydia found herself a bit chagrined that she was jealous of this beautiful young woman. Kei’s innocent charm soon had her feeling at ease with the young AI representative. They continued to chat while waiting for her workforce to arrive and Lydia knew she had made an instant friend.

Kei’s apparent naivety and straightforward approach regarding social situations could be humorous and at the same time enlightening. She seemed utterly immune to embarrassment and delighted when her mistakes where pointed out. She was always the first to joke about any social faux pas she made.

Lydia’s people loved her immediately.

She divided her staff into pairs and set them doing different tasks.

Kei’s AI ability to decipher complex schematics made her the obvious choice to work alongside Lydia connecting the server racks into the ship’s systems. They had to pull output leads through bulkheads and match them to the labeled cables lying on wire racks in the tight crawlspace behind the partitions.

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At times the work was very strenuous, but she noted with admiration that her young partner never complained and tackled each new task with enthusiasm.

As the day progressed she and Kei chatted more and more about themselves. She found that Kei seemed to be very interested in her early dating experiences and anytime the conversation strayed from that topic she awkwardly attempted to bring it back on point. Finally, Lydia asked her, “Kei, do you want to know about my dating experiences because you have none of your own?”

“Is it so obvious? Perhaps I failed to apply the Carnegie method subtly enough.”

“I’m sorry? “ asked Lydia looking confused.

“Oh, well you see, Mr. Carnegie, in his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, implied that one could learn much about life if you keep the conversation focused on the interest of others. My interest at the moment is the human practice of courtship. I have an engagement with Captain Finley tonight that I think is a date. I was trying to learn as much as I can from you without focusing on myself as the topic of conversation.”

“I see,” said Lydia with amusement. “Perhaps we can put Mr. Carnegie’s method aside for now and talk girl to girl. What do you think?"

“I think that is an excellent idea,” said Kei and proceeded to ask blunt, direct questions and receive, for the most part, candid, straightforward replies from Lydia.

Lydia was amused when Kei told her about the interaction with Captain Finley yesterday when she suggested the two have sex. Her opinion of the Captain, however, was raised when she learned how he had handled the situation.

“It seemed the appropriate thing to do because I detected that my human side desires it and by interpreting the body language of the human male his desire for the same seemed obvious. The reaction to vocalizing the possibility from my human side, and his obvious discomfort, was most confusing.”

“So, are you attracted to Captain Finley?” asked Lydia.

“Exclusively so. I have never experienced such a feeling before. It is a distraction but an enjoyable one, not only from the part of me that is human but the AI part of me too.”

She told Lydia of her dream and the desire that it sparked in her.

Lydia was somewhat embarrassed by Kei’s childlike innocence and the way she disclosed personal information without a thought. She tried to explain why suppressing these primal urges was necessary during the courtship ritual and in social situations as well.

Of course, suppressing apparent desires seemed like irrational behavior to Kei.

“Kei,” said Lydia. “I think that, for a man to love and respect a girl he must first win her heart. A man must earn her confidence, and then when she knows she can trust him, to keep her safe from emotional harm, then she can consent to sex. Before that time, the act of sex is simply a physical release for him, and he will miss the emotional connection that characterizes a loving relationship. It is the girl’s responsibility to demand more from a man than to become his sperm receptacle. Physical needs drive a man, and he will overlook the emotional part of sex if the female doesn't guide him. If he truly returns your love, then he will respect the waiting period.”

Nobody ever explained this to Kei before, and she was glad she had Lydia as a new friend.

“Carter told me, before we were together, that his sexual experiences were all about physical release and he was left feeling bad about himself. He felt terrible about the unfortunate girls he had no intention of forming a meaningful relationship with, but his youth and primal desire to have sex caused him to make those mistakes.”

Lydia put her hand over Kei's and looked her in the eye.

“When humans make love, there should be an emotional connection that transcends the physical. Otherwise, it would simply be an act of procreation not an act of love. Can you understand that?”

“I think my problem is understanding the emotional part,” said Kei.

“Kei, is the human part of you aware enough to guide you in this?” asked Lydia with concern.

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“I think that it may be. Julie certainly made her presence known during my conversation with the Captain.”

“Well,” said Lydia with a big smile. “Then I suggest that when you have your date with the Captain let her come forward and guide you. I’m thinking, by her reaction, her mother taught her a thing or two before the accident.”

“Thank you, Lydia, if I had a mother I would hope for her to be like you!” said Kei.

Lydia pulled her close and hugged her.

They continued pulling wires through bulkheads and wiring trays. By noon the newly installed projection table was ready for testing. Projected test patterns succeeded but they needed to access the telescope and antenna arrays before they finished.

An alarm Lydia set on her neural implant alerted her that it was time to break for lunch.

“Okay, guys lets take an hour for lunch. The entertainment area has a full restaurant, and it’s up and running. It’s through the skyway and left down the hall. Of course, you are welcome to spend your lunch hour wherever you’d like."

Everyone agreed to meet in the entertainment area. Darren greeted them and told them to pick any seats they liked. The starship didn't have her full crew onboard yet, and the restaurant wasn't too busy.

Lydia and Kei moved toward a table where Sofia Lynd and Roscoe Johnson sat and asked if they could join them.

“Yes, of course,” said Sofia.

Darren had the view screen focused on an asteroid mining barge in the berth next to the Cosmos. Robots and men on space platforms worked on the outer hull. There was a view of the Earth shining through the large trusses of the Space Dock. A waiter bot came around and took drink orders from the tables.

“Mr. Johnson,” said Kei smiling at Roscoe. “I understand you and Miss Lynd, here,” indicating Sofia, “were instrumental in choosing our first destination.” She studied something on her HUD and said, “Yes, you both were lead astronomers analyzing data from the Kepler II deep space telescope!”

Lydia thought that Kei probably knew more about the final planet selection from her AI ability than the scientists that first discovered Kepler 440B. She was apparently practicing her skills at social interaction and was doing a splendid job of coaxing her table-mates into a casual conversation.

Shortly the waiter bot arrived with their drinks and Lydia ordered a turkey club sandwich with dill pickles and potato chips on the side.

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“Weren’t there five possible destinations to choose from?" asked Kei.

“Yeah,” said Roscoe, “and of course we want to explore all of them, but the decision to go to 440B was mainly because of its moon.”

“Its moon?” asked Kei puzzled.

“Oh, yes!” said Sofia. “You see, the probe we sent discovered that not only was 440B, not the super-Earth​ that the original data indicated but was, in reality, a binary planet system with both bodies very close to Earth in mass and each has an atmosphere. Although, not the same as Earth, they are breathable."

"So you see,” said Roscoe laughing, “we get two for the price of one.”

The probe sent to Kepler 440B had indeed found that it was a planet with slightly more mass than Earth and a moon about three-quarters of its size that also has surface water and a breathable atmosphere. And both bodies showed signs of flora and fauna.

The AI’s and the human consultants made their decision based upon planetary conditions that were known to produce intelligent life. In other words, Earth-like planets.

Lydia listened to the conversation among her three table mates and let her mind wander to the possibility of someday colonizing an uninhabited planet. She wondered if Carter would want to raise children on an alien world or would he want to remain on Earth, close to family. She and Carter had discussed having children, but they had decided to put it off until later in their careers.

She had discussed with Padma the possibility of artificially storing her and Carter’s embryos before their departure. In case something unfortunate happened to one of them. Storing embryos would probably be an essential topic that both couples needed to consider. Perhaps she would bring it up tonight.

There was a full medical facility aboard the starship with the latest medbots technology offered. Lydia was confident the process was possible aboard the ship. She decided to ask Padma about the limitations if any, the starship sickbay had.

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Ensuring they had viable embryos so that they could have children in the event one of them died was something she was undoubtedly going to insist on before they headed off into the void of space. She didn’t exactly like the idea of someone else raising her children, but she wanted to know that she and Carter would at least be leaving a part of themselves behind. She would arrange with her sister to find a surrogate if something should happen to them.

A waiter bot arrived with their orders.

She watched the work continue on the mining barge as she exchanged pleasant conversation with Kei and Sophia. Roscoe hurried his lunch and excused himself saying he needed to check on something in his quarters.

“He’s checking on that hot little girlfriend of his that works in Robotics Maintenance,” giggled Sophia.

They all shared a smile at this then wandered back to the Astronomy Department together.

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Thanks for reading Chapter Nine
in my first attempt at
Science Fiction
Read Chapter One here

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