Chapter 4: |4| – Melbourne

The Northern Seal was a small freighter that looked just like any other from the outside. That meant it was basically just a big container, with the front side open to the vacuum of space, and a few engines strapped to the other end. It was just under 200 meters long, so a little longer than the corvette we were currently departing from, although the engine was actually smaller than that of the Fuchsbau.

Between the cargo bay and the engines was where the bridge, crew quarters, kitchen, and other amenities were located. A ship of that size would normally house a crew of ten to fifteen people, but at the moment, it was only the two of us. That was rather unusual, but not impossible to manage. Especially with the modern equipment Noma had installed onboard, but I would have preferred it if she had hired at least a few additional crew members. If something put one of us out of commission, we could be in real trouble... Also, neither of us was a talented cook.

As we were slowly approaching from the aft of the ship, I looked for the secondary airlock near the crew quarters and found it easily enough. Our ship still had the reactor running, so all the power, and consequently the lights, were turned on. Making my way along the outside of the ship, I was soon standing inside the airlock and waiting for Noma to come in after me. A few moments passed before she was floating beside me and I activated the controls.

With the small room slowly filling with air, I went over to where the EVA suits were stored. One of the transparent doors had 'Captain Noma Felonez' engraved on it. The only other one with a name was right beside that: 'Chief Engineer Melbourne Trench', though most people just called me Mel. It wasn't actually all that uncommon to be named after the planet one was born on. And with New Melbourne being only about two decades older than me, my parents had decided to name me after it. I didn't really mind the name.

When the room had filled to breathable levels, I stepped in front of one of the large screens, which automatically turned into a mirror, and started getting out of the suit. First up was the top. After opening the clamps that held the helmet in place and I turned it until I could hear the overpressure hissing out of the small slits. I opened my mouth a bit and pulled the helmet off. My now free hair got caught by the sudden updraft and flowed out all around me.

From the mirror, a tall girl with very pale skin was looking back at me. New Melbourne only had 0.6 G of surface gravity, which lead to me growing rather tall, along with a few other health concerns I had to be mindful of. Additionally, because of growing up mostly underground, my skin was very sensitive to any kind of radiation and if I ever visited a colony with breathable air, I would probably have to carry around a parasol or wear sunscreen at all times, otherwise, I would risk getting seriously sunburnt or worse. The only spots of color on my face were my greenish-blue eyes and dirty blonde hair.

Getting out of my suit was rather easy, even if I had gotten more used to the ones in the scrap yard over the years. It had a few buckles and straps above a central zipper, which slider I was now fishing out of its position around my neck. After a few seconds, I got hold of the snap hook holding it in place and was pulling my suit open.

Looking over at Noma, I saw her doing the same. Physically, she was like someone had taken any word that could describe me and applied the exact opposite to her. She was shorter than average, which meant I was more than a head taller. Her skin had a golden-caramel tone, probably from growing up in natural sunlight. She had cut her black hair to only a few centimeters short and her eyes had a similarly dark color. Her muscles were also a lot more defined than mine. Growing up in low-gravity environments usually meant poor muscle growth and bone density, and the opposite was also often true.

I could also see that Noma wore a skintight layer of some grey protective material inside the suit that she was now trying to reach the zipper for at her back. It was probably some sort of bulletproof material or such. I usually just wore normal clothes inside my suit. “Need any help with that?”

At that, she spun towards me and met my eyes. At first, I thought she would reject my offer, but after a moment, she nodded. “Okay. I honestly never understood why they couldn't build it accessible from the front.” She turned around again and presented her back to me.

I tentatively took the few steps that separated us and looked for the zipper somewhere near her nape. My eyes, however, kept drifting down towards her now very visible back muscles. I knew Noma had been in the marines, so it was obvious she would be well trained and take care of her body, but knowing something and seeing it were two very different things. Noma, clearing her throat in held back amusement, pulled my thoughts back towards the task at hand. Thankfully, she wasn’t looking back, or I was sure she would have seen my blushing face at that moment.

Finding the small slider was pretty easy, freeing it from its hook, however, took a few seconds of fiddling around, but soon enough it was free and I pulled it down to a bit below her waist. From what I could see, she only wore a sports bra under it, but I quickly turned around again once I saw it. After that, I finished getting out of my own suit in what I suspect was record time, mumbled something about taking a shower, and made my way inside the ship. Noma, thankfully, didn’t tease me about what just happened.

Taking a shower in zero-g was a very different experience than when under thrust. The water pressure had to be quite high, otherwise, the surface tension of the water would lead to it just forming an enormous bubble at the shower head, which meant the streams of water were hitting with quite a lot of force. I kinda liked it that way, though. Meanwhile, the drain also sucked in on the floor, releasing the air back into the room and taking the water to the purifiers. All around me, small water bubbles were floating around, often combining, before sticking to the walls and slowly being pulled towards the ground.

I honestly felt quite hot under the shower, but not just because of the water temperature. For whatever reason, the image of Noma standing in the airlock, her back turned towards me in nothing but her bra, wouldn’t leave my head. Was this really happening right now? Noma and I hadn’t even known each other for more than a few weeks, and, besides the occasional teasing, we had mostly just talked about the job she had hired me for and not much else.

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It had somehow never felt like the right time to talk about our private lives. I didn’t know if Noma was into girls that way. Heck, I wasn’t even sure if I was into girls that way. I mean, I had never really been in a romantic relationship with anyone, and while my parents would 100% support me( and one of them would probably tease me more than Noma ever could), if I ended up with a girl, I had never really ‘clicked’ with anyone in the past, and not for lack of people trying. Ahhh... why did this all have to be so confusing!

I was so lost in my own head that I hadn’t even noticed the water getting turned off. Apparently, I had wasted today’s water ration wondering if I had a crush on my new captain. Which was a shame in my book, honestly. Back home, the one thing we always had more than enough of was water. The almost entirely methane-based atmosphere of New Melbourne meant if the city ever needed more water, we could just burn a few tonnes of air and were set. On a spaceship, no such luxuries existed, which was why I normally made sure to enjoy the too brief showers to the fullest. But unless I wanted to cut into tomorrow’s portion, my shower was finished. Pressing against a specific portion of the shower door, lead to it sliding into the wall and allowing me to step out.

Next would be the foot bath, so I crouched down to open the clasps of my damp boots and floated over towards the sink, and put my feet into the machine near the ground. I could have cleaned them back in the shower, but free-floating in the small area often leads to me bonking my head against one wall or another, especially if I had to clean my feet while doing it, so I always showered with my mag-boots while in zero-g. While it was working its magic, I dried myself with a towel and started brushing my hair. It was a rather annoying thing to do in zero-g, but I liked the way my long hair looked, and if my hair ties weren’t getting loose all the time, it wouldn’t cause any problems.

After taking care of everything, I put my boots back on and grabbed some loose-fitting clothes out of my room before I decided to grab something to eat. It had been a few hours since my last meal and my body apparently wanted something to eat before I went to bed. I had been awake for almost 23 hours at that point, and in my normal 36-hour cycle, that meant I should get ready for sleep.

As I said before, neither Noma nor I were particularly skilled in the kitchen and that meant I could either reheat some leftovers from when I tried to make lasagna or look for some snacks we should have floating around somewhere. At that, I remembered the few nutri-bars that had magically made the journey from the corvette into my suit pocket and I decided I should at least take them out before I forgot about them.

Going back to the airlock was quick and soon I was standing in the little kitchen area with my bounty in hands. Plopping onto the couch area in one corner, I folded the table out and laid the 3 bars I had on it. Not that they stayed stationary for very long. I grabbed one of them out of the air and read the label... Yep, expired 45 years ago, but it should be fine. Also, a ‘new’ recipe for something called vugari-flavor. I had never heard of it, but the label said it contained animal protein, so maybe some xeno-fauna from some colony or another.

I peeled open the plastic wrapper and looked at the contents. It passed a visual inspection at least, though the bars always looked the same to me. Cautiously, I took a small whiff of the air around the bar. Olfactory test also passed, so I broke off a piece and floated it towards my face, catching it with my mouth. The texture was thankfully what I expected, a bit dry, but not inedible.

My first impression was that of tasteless dry cereal, but after a few seconds in my mouth, a horrible aftertaste spread throughout my mouth. The closest I could describe it as was puke-covered licorice. Rushing over to the water dispenser, I grabbed a mug and put it in the machine before spitting into the trash bin below the sink. After a few seconds of trying to get that horrible taste out of my mouth, I heard the ping of the water dispenser, grabbed the mug, took a big swig, and swooshed it around in my mouth before spitting it into the bin as well.

Hopefully, I wouldn't get sick from that.

Of course, it was only at that moment that I realised I wasn’t alone in the room. Noma was floating in the door leading to the crew quarters.

“Wh... How?” I wanted to ask how much of that she had seen, but for whatever reason, my body refused to cooperate. So I just stood there. I could feel my face heating up again, though the words still wouldn’t come out.

“What exactly is going on here?” she asked, amusement clearly written all over her face. A grin she fruitlessly tried to suppress plastered on her face.