Jason Crow

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Category: Plot Only (Page 2 of 9)

Aetheria – Chapter 4

15/02/2024 / / 0 Comments

Aetheria
by
Jason Crow

Chapter 4 – Training

When I opened my eyes, it took me a couple of seconds to realize where I was. And something was pressing on my leg that I couldn’t place.

I looked to my right, and when I saw my sister lying beside me, I remembered where I was. Nadia’s legs were spread, and her left leg was draped over my right leg. She was snoring lightly, and her arms were above her head. Because of this, her entire midsection was exposed to just below her breasts.

I tried not to look at my sister’s exposed body and let my mind drift back to our time on Earth to take the edge off it.

I was sitting in my room on my desk chair with my eyes closed. It had been a couple of days since Ethan had taught me how to use the tool between my legs. At the moment, my boxers were around my ankles, and my fist was sliding up and down over my hard dick.

I was visualizing how the sperm shot out of Ethan’s dick, but this image was replaced by Nadia in her blue bikini every now and then. We went to the swimming pool last week, and seeing her in her bikini and how she had filled out in all the right places had struck me hard.

I was trying not to think of it while jerking off, but I simply couldn’t help myself. I concentrated on Ethan’s dick again, but as I tried getting in the zone, there was a soft knock on my door.

“Ay?” Nadia said softly at the other side of the door.

“Just a sec,” I said, feeling panicked about my hard dick and frantically trying to find a way to hide it.

I pulled up my boxers and quickly grabbed a pair of sweatpants from my hamper. I could only hope this would do the trick. I made sure my dickhead was trapped in the waistband of my boxers and that the sweats were covering up everything. A quick glance in the mirror showed that it couldn’t be missed, but it wasn’t too obvious either.

I opened my door, and my dick twitched firmly when I saw Nadia. She was only covered by a towel across her torso. The twitch freed my dick from the waistband, and when I felt it slip and land in my underwear, I quickly oozed onto my desk chair.

“Sup?” I asked as casually as I could.

“I… uhm… can we talk later about, you know… the trip?”

“Of course! I’ll come to your room after my shower, okay?”

“Thanks. I wanna know what you think of it before we decide about it tonight.

“Sure!”

And with that, Nadia turned around, and I had to suck in a breath. Her towel was big enough to cover her front, but her butt was exposed this way. Either Nadia didn’t know or didn’t care, but her ass looked like a sculpted statue by Michelangelo himself.

After Nadia closed the door, I jerked myself to a quick orgasm. I didn’t care anymore that I only thought about Nadia in her bikini or showing off her bare ass. I needed to have an orgasm, and I came quicker and harder than I ever did before.

After my shower, I put on a T-shirt and baggy shorts and knocked on my sister’s door. When she opened it, I was glad I opted for the baggy shorts. She was holding a skirt in her hand and was dressed in only a little blue bra with matching hipster panties.

“I… I’ll wait a moment,” I managed to say without choking.

“Don’t be silly! Come in. I’ll be done in a sec.”

“But…”

“I’m your sister, dummy. Don’t be so overdramatic,” she chuckled as she started zipping up the plaid skirt I liked so much on her.

“I know, but…” I stammered as I walked in and sat on her bed.

“I’ve seen you in way less than this,” she giggled as she slowly put her shirt on and gave me plenty of time to gawk over her lean body.

It was good that I was sitting down because I was rock hard again, even though I shot my load minutes ago.

“That was an accident…” I mumbled.

“I know, I’m just teasing you,” Nadia said as she gave me a quick peck on my cheek and cheerfully walked over to her computer.

“Wh… what do you wanna talk about,” I said as I regained my composure.

“I did some checking, and I need you to see this. I wanna know what you think about it.”

“Okay…” I said questioningly.

“Look. I thought that EEV was a bad company. More like Neoterra evil, if you know what I mean,” she said and paused dramatically.

“Neoterra?”

“Yeah. It’s a Chinese and DRA combined company, and they kill and process a lot of alien lifeforms. They mostly use them for age regeneration and stuff for the wealthy. All very shady.”

“Didn’t know that.”

“Most people don’t. They’re not openly talking about this, obviously. But if you dig a little deeper on them in the FLiN, you find loads of articles about them.”

“But… that isn’t the case with EEV?” I asked, not entirely sure where this was going.

“No. They’re not interested in the other intelligent lifeforms on Aetheria. The biggest animals there are pig-sized, and none of the animals have anything even remotely interesting for us. The EEV only collects water from Aetheria. Well… and natural resources for building and other on-planet stuff, of course. But inside the Aetheria water are extremely useful bacteria, and that’s what they collect and how they fund the operation,” Nadia said excitedly.

“Useful how?”

“The most important use of these bacteria is that they eat our nuclear waste. That waste is turned into hydrogen and a pure form of titanium. Physicists were baffled by this because we didn’t think this was possible. These bacteria can also help with air purification, but their main task is getting rid of that waste.”

Nadia looked smug, and I had to hand it to her. She did a great job looking into this. But I wasn’t sure what she wanted to talk about.

“This doesn’t sound bad,” I said.

“No, it doesn’t sound bad at all. But the main reason I didn’t want to go was because of the idea that we were going to do a lot of shady stuff. Turns out we don’t,” she said, smiling.

“I was only thinking about how we could build our own homes over there and have loads of space and clean air,” I replied, feeling a bit dumb.

“That’s a huge plus. I agree! But the only downside I see now is the fact that there won’t be many teenagers there. I know I don’t mind, but you need to know that we’ll probably be spending a lot of time together over there.”

“Oh. That’s okay. I know there won’t be many kids our age over there, but we won’t be the only ones. Will we?”

“Dunno. According to the FLiN, not a lot of posts are made on the planet,” Nadia said as she looked thoughtfully at me, “but maybe I’m wrong. I just think we need to be on the same page, and we’ll be fine. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah. We’ll be fine, I’m sure!”

Nadia hugged me tightly and gave me another peck on my cheek. She looked at me, and the twinkle in her eyes made my stomach flutter. It was so lovely to feel her close to me, but the conflict of having feelings about my own sister made me loosen the hug and pull back a little.

Nadia thankfully didn’t notice because she said, “Let’s head downstairs. Big family meeting.”

At the start of the family meeting, it was clear everyone was up for it. So, the focus quickly shifted towards the practical aspects of the trip. For the first time in my life, I felt like my parents treated me as an equal. They listened to my concerns and ideas, and we talked about how to handle everything.

We’d have to go to an EEV facility for security and operational training. After completing all the courses successfully and the medical check-up was okay, we’d move into the facility permanently and wait for our launch date there. That would also be the moment when we had to say goodbye to friends and family.

I didn’t have many friends I’d leave behind, but Nadia had to leave her best friend. I could see she was struggling with that when this realization hit. Mom also noticed and offered to help as much as she could with that.

So, on that memorable day, it was decided that our family would become colonists at Aetheria.

“And in this room, you will learn how to use the suits. This is also where our tour ends. If there are any questions, please ask your personal trainer,” the smiling and friendly hostess said to us.

A moment later, her hologram disappeared, and I checked out my brother and sister. Ethan looked a bit bored.

But Nadia looked excitedly at the training room.

“Can’t wait to try out that one,” she said as she pointed.

“Fat chance,” Ethan said, “That’s an exoskeleton suit. You can only use these after you have completed the base course AND have fifty hours of suit time in it. With the schedule we’re supposed to meet, we won’t even be fifty hours on Earth anymore!”

“Stop whining,” Mom said, “We’ve got plenty of time to finish the training. We’ll be divided into age groups. Aidan and Nadia go together and are the only ones in their group. You’ll be with ten others, Ethan, including Rory. I’ll have to do it alone with a couple of strangers and without Dad because he’s in the commander group. So, cheer up and get to work.”

Mom playfully punched Ethan on his shoulder, causing Ethan to smile weakly. Dad grabbed him by his shoulders and said some encouraging words we couldn’t hear. But after that, Ethan smiled again, and we returned to the registration desk.

“Aidan and Nadia?” a friendly-looking young woman asked.

“That’s us,” Nadia said as she raised her hand.

“I’m Senii. Follow me, please.”

We walked behind her toward our training room, and I couldn’t help but notice how good her ass looked in her tight pants. It struck me that I saw it, though. I never looked at a woman’s ass before. Not knowingly, at least.

“Sup?” Nadia asked beside me.

“What?”

“You look… different, I guess,” she said with a bit of a worried look on her face.

“It’s… I’m just a little nervous, I guess.”

“No need. We will own this training!”

“Damn right, we will!” I replied a little too excitedly.

Senii looked over her shoulder, smiled at us, and said, “Good to see you’re both excited to get started.”

She opened an unmarked door and gestured for us to go in. We were in a small hallway with three doors. One straight ahead and one to each side. Only the door in front of us had a mark, and it read, “Training. Authorized people only beyond this point.” The other two doors were unmarked.

“You can change in those rooms. The HB-ICS you’ll be wearing under the space suits are in there. When you’re done, enter the training room, and we’ll start with a warming up and a light cardio session to see where we’re at.”

Senii opened the door to the training room and left. Nadia and I looked at each other and went into a different room without saying anything.

I entered a small dressing room. On the bench lay a tiny piece of cloth. When I picked it up and pressed it, it grew a little in my hands, and it was clear it was the suit I was supposed to wear. A sign on the wall read, “Suits need to be worn without underwear because of the vital sign readings.”

It was odd to fully undress in a strange environment, but it made sense. So as I stood there naked as the day I was born and flopping my dick from left to right with my hips, which made me giggle, I picked up the suit again. I squeezed it three times, and it grew way bigger in my hands. After this, I could easily fit into it, but it was too big. But autofit would fix that problem.

After I stepped into the HB-ICS, and after autofit kicked in, the suit kept shrinking and was extremely tight around my body. It had short sleeves and short legs. The legs were almost as long as the legs of my boxers, and the arms were just over my shoulders.

As I checked myself in the mirror, I saw how the suit showed it all. You could clearly see my penis pointing toward my left hip. You had to look closely, but even the rim of my dickhead was showing. But it also accentuated my abs and pecs nicely, which made me decide to ignore the visibility of my crotch and just go for it.

Nadia and I opened the door simultaneously. It was immediately apparent that Nadia felt uncomfortable in her outfit. She looked at me and said, “This is a bit… awkward.”

But as she said this, her eyes roamed over my body. And I just had to look, too. Her small breasts were unmistakable and looked magnificent on her. As my eyes went down, I noticed she had a little hint of a six-pack. It wasn’t like Ethan’s or mine, but it looked sexy on her.

But the real prize was between her legs. The HB-ICS was so tight that the two globes of her pussy were showing, accentuating the slit between her legs where a hard dick was supposed to enter her. When the image of my hard penis close to her pussy entered my mind, I felt a stirring in my groin. I checked out Nadia, and her eyes were focused on my crotch.

A suffocating panic washed over me. I was getting a boner, and my sister would watch me grow! I started doing math in my head while I kept looking Nadia in her eyes. She looked a bit puzzled at my crotch, and when our eyes met, she blushed.

“I’m… it’s a bit…” she cleared her throat and smiled weakly.

The math was working, and I guess the panic in my stomach was enough for me to steer clear of a boner. I didn’t want to make this any more awkward than it already was, so I said, “After you,” and opened the door to the training room.

But as Nadia walked into the room in front of me, I noticed how tight the suit was around the back. The fabric was wrapped tight around her ass and pulled between her cheeks enough to give me an excellent view of her fine ass.

This would also mean that my ass was on display, just like hers. But since everything was already pretty much out in the open, I didn’t mind too much. And according to some girls at school that I accidentally overheard, I had a cute butt.

I closed the door behind me and checked the room. There was a cardio device that could turn into several different shapes for different workout types. In another corner were a couple of space suits and a training course that was adjustable into various sorts of terrain and with changeable obstacles.

“Good! The suits fit fine and seem to work,” Senii said as she checked the tablet in her hand.

“Yeah… but aren’t they a bit… revealing?” Nadia asked softly.

“What do you… oh! Don’t worry. There won’t be any more people besides the three of us here. You are brother and sister, so it shouldn’t matter, right? And I’ve seen it all already, and I’ve also signed a confidentiality disclosure.”

“But when we’re out there on Aetheria, there will be more people,” I said, helping my twin sister.

“Oh no! You’ll only wear these under your space suit. And you change into your normal clothes after you go through the airlock cycle.”

“Uhm…” Nadia said.

“Then I guess this is lesson one,” Senii smiled, “From inside the base, you enter a small changing booth. You undress, and from that booth, you enter the decontamination chamber. Behind that chamber, there’s another changing booth where you change into your HB-ICS and the space suit. Then, you’ll enter the airlock, and you’re outside.”

Nadia looked questioningly at Senii and said, “That’s a bit elaborate, isn’t it?”

“The decontamination works both ways. We don’t contaminate the planet yet, and no unknown bacteria can enter the compound. And as a big plus, the inside air stays clean.”

“Naked?” was all I asked.

I couldn’t stop thinking about that bit of her explanation. Maybe I heard it wrong, but I wanted to be sure.

“Naked, yes. That’s the only way we’re sure nothing gets in or out. But don’t worry. Only AI computers check if everything goes well. There are no cameras or humans there. We had to manufacture it this way because in our early design, the inside air was slowly getting contaminated by Aetheria’s molecules, and our equipment couldn’t keep up.”

Senii saw our stunned expressions and smiled warmly at us. She put a hand on Nadia’s shoulder and said, “I promise you’ll get used to it quickly. Before you know it, it’s the most normal thing in the world.”

“In what world?” I snickered

“Touché,” Senii giggled, “let’s just get started with the training, and we’ll talk about this later if you want to, okay?”

“I guess…” Nadia said, still looking a bit weirded out.

“First, the functions of the HB-ICS. It’s short for Human Body Interface Connectivity Suit. It forms the link between you and your suit, so you can make full use of the space suit and will make you feel like you’re not wearing a bulky and hard-to-maneuver suit.”

“So… it tells the suit what I want or something?” I asked, intrigued by the how and what.

“More or less. Your body sends out all kinds of signals. The HB-ICS picks them up, and the CPU in the suit processes them. We just need to tweak the HB-ICS now so it works flawlessly.”

“Cool!” Nadia said.

“Look,” Senii said as she showed us her tablet, “I can see almost everything about you. Heartbeat, blood pressure, muscle tension. I can even see you… uhm… need to pee.”

Senii looked at me with a funny expression on her face and a slight blush on her cheeks, but she didn’t say anything else. I glanced at Nadia, who had a massive grin on her face, and said, “You can’t hide anything from that thing, can you?”

“Nope!” Senii said cheerfully, “Let’s start that workout.”

We did several jumping jacks, burpees, push-ups, and air-ups. After a while, I started sweating, but way later and less than usual during this kind of workout. Senii explained that this had everything to do with the suit’s tech. It kept me cool and changed some of the blood flow.

“Look,” Senii said as we looked at our outlined images on her tablet, “here’s your heart rate, and this shows how you manage to stay cooler.”

“Cool!” Nadia said, clearly impressed.

I was thinking about how this would help you on a foreign planet, so I asked, “Can anyone see this info?”

“No. Just your partner when you’re outside. Or you can explicitly grant access. It’s all a bit personal. I can even see when you need to go to the bathroom and stuff, you know?”

“Can you also change stuff?” Nadia asked.

“Sure! I can make your brother feel hot, for example.”

Senii pressed some buttons on the tablet, and suddenly, I felt like I was on fire.”

“Whoa!” I exclaimed, “Turn that down!”

“Bisque!” Nadia said excitedly. She pointed at another control, “What does this do?”

“It’s a massage function to help with muscle aches. By using this, you can continue for longer when needed. See?”

Senii pressed something again, and a buzz around my shoulder felt nice and comforting.

“Nice!” I said softly.

“And what if I do… this?” Nadia said with a bratty tone.

Before Senii could react, Nadia pressed an icon somewhere near my crotch. A moment later, a buzzing sensation started around my dick.

“Don’t do that!” Senii said sternly, slapped Nadia’s hand away, and quickly switched the setting off.

The buzzing sensation stopped immediately, and I looked questioningly at Senii. She was blushing furiously and stammered, “That’s for… it’s not for you.”

“Sorry,” was Nadia’s guilty-sounding reply as she looked at the floor.

“This isn’t a toy,” Senii said seriously, “you can save your partner’s life when you’re out in the wilderness of a foreign planet. Treat it like that, okay?”

“Yes, of course! I’m sorry,” Nadia replied and glanced at me with a face as if she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

The rest of the day was spent tweaking the HB-ICS for both of us. Senii was happy with our progress and said we would start working with the space suit tomorrow.

As we walked back, Nadia was uncommonly quiet. I looked at her and asked, “What’s up? Didn’t you like the training? Was it Senii?”

“Never mind,” Nadia said and looked at the floor.

“Come on! Spit it out,” I pressed.

Nadia stopped and looked at me with an expression that was so serious it almost scared me. She grabbed her ear, something she always did when she was nervous, and said, “I’m sorry about the massage thing…”

After all the other things we did, I honestly forgot about the incident, but apparently, it was still on top of Nadia’s thoughts.

“It’s okay. Really!”

“I shouldn’t have done it without asking you. But I thought maybe something was wrong with your… thingy,” she said, blushing as she looked at my groin.

“My th… why?”

“Because… it looked a lot smaller and softer than when you… when I saw you, you know.”

Now, it was my turn to blush. That short moment in the bathroom made more impact on us than I initially expected.

“It’s, uhm. It’s usually soft, like today,” I said after clearing my throat.

Nadia looked puzzled at me. After a few moments, she asked, “But why was your thingy so… big after your shower?”

“Stop calling it thingy. Makes me feel like a little kid. It’s… uhm. I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell you this.”

“Tell me what?”

“It’s a grownup thing. I heard about it from E… Erik in school,” I said as I realized just in time I was about to expose my brother.

“I won’t tell a soul!” Nadia said as she looked around to see if nobody was around.

I also looked around and saw we were all alone. I ignored my growing dick and said in a conspiratorial tone, “Boys dicks get hard and big in order to make babies.”

Nadia looked like she didn’t believe me and said, “Yeah, right. You were making babies in the shower. Don’t lie to me, Ay!”

“I wasn’t making babies in the shower, dummy!” I said, a little agitated, “As boys grow up, their body prepares them for making babies by getting boners every now and then.”

“Boners?”

“That’s when my… dick… gets all swollen and stiff.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“Why does ‘it’ get stiff?” she asked, emphasizing the word it.

As I tried to ignore my massive hardon, I said, “So it can slide into a girl’s… slit.”

Nadia’s eyes widened, and she covered her O-shaped mouth with her hand. I paused dramatically and said, “And when it’s inside, I shoot my sperm. That’s how babies are made.”

My face must’ve looked pretty smug because she asked, “You sure about this?”

“Definitely! Erik’s older brother told him all this, and he made me swear not to rat him out. So, please, keep this to yourself, okay?”

Nadia nodded and was quiet for a moment. Then, her face lit up, and she asked, “But I had my shot moments after I was born, just like every other girl. Will I still get pregnant when you, you know, stick it in?”

This reminded me of the lessons we had in school about this. The pregnancy shot became mandatory after the UN decided it was the only solution for overpopulation. This shot was given to girls right after they were born and ensured they couldn’t get pregnant until they got the shot to reverse the effect. Before this, girls apparently had to take some sort of hormone-based medicine to regulate this. But this was far from watertight, bad for their health, and expensive. So they invented this shot, and the results were almost perfect.  

“I think you need to get your pregnancy shot first. And… I’m your brother, so it’ll be weird if I’d stick it in, don’t you think?”

“You’re right,” she said and blushed brightly again, “I meant it more in a general way, you know? Like.. when a BOY sticks it in.”

“Of course,” I said casually, and we started walking again.

It took a while for my boner to go down, and Nadia was unusually quiet again. Over the next couple of days, she kept stealing glances at my crotch and touched me even more than she usually did. These were simple touches, like when I made her laugh and stuff, and nothing sexual. But to me, they felt electric.

End of chapter 4

Copyright 2024 – Jason Crow
All rights reserved

Cogitare de cantes quaelibet dicere, non est facile

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4

Aetheria – Chapter 3

15/02/2024 / / 0 Comments

Aetheria
by
Jason Crow

Chapter 3 – Settling in

“Thom!” a man in his fifties shouted at Dad as he approached us with his arms spread.

“Jovii!!” my father said enthusiastically, and they gave each other a firm hug and powerful pats on their backs.

“Welcome to Aetheria!” Jovii said, looked at the rest of us, and said, “And a big welcome to you too! You’re the first complete family to live on this amazing planet.”

We mumbled a thank you and felt a little awkward being put on the spot like that. Dad and Jovii talked a little as I checked out the central hub.

It was a big, open space that doubled as an auditorium. There were doors to all the different sections of the compound, and people were constantly walking around. The whole building had a greyish color that looked a bit depressing. They tried cheering it up by showing colorful old oil paintings on the screens, but the vibe of the compound didn’t change much.

I checked out my sister as she scanned the building, and when our eyes met, we shrugged simultaneously and giggled softly about our silly twin connection.

I didn’t pay much attention to what Dad was talking about. I just wanted to see our new home. But when Dad loudly said, “What do you mean it isn’t finished yet?” I paid close attention to what they were saying.

“After the asteroid storm had hit us, we needed to focus on rebuilding the control units. So, the building droids focused on that. And we first need to delve more resources to continue building the living quarters.”

“Well… shit,” Dad mumbled, but when he realized we could hear him, he looked apologetic at us and softly said, “Sorry..”

It turned out that the house-like portion of the living compound they planned for us wasn’t finished and would probably take a couple of months to finish. We couldn’t do anything about this and had to find a solution.

They had two rooms for us that were relatively close to each other. One was a “commander room,” as they called it, with a king-size bed, kitchenette, and a small meeting table. Mom and Dad would take this room, and the meeting table would be our dinner and breakfast table.

The second room was more like a regular room. It had a queen-sized bed, and everything else was cramped and only there for functionality. There was some debate over the sleeping arrangements. Mom proposed to set up a cot in their room for Nadia so Ethan and I would sleep together.

I wouldn’t mind because Ethan might be able to show me some new ways to shoot my sperm. But Ethan was immediately clear about this. He’d sleep with his mates from maintenance in the other part of the building. He was going to work there, so why not fit in quickly this way and be one of the guys from the start?

Did this mean I’d have to sleep with my sister? But… I couldn’t… that would be… awkward! But I’d be close to her. I could smell her, see her wake up every morning, and…

Mom snapped me out of my thoughts when she said as she looked at Dad, “I’ll sleep with Nadia, and Aidan will bunk with you in the big room. I don’t see any other way!”

“That would… I think you’re right,” Dad said, the disappointment dripping from his face.

It was as if a choir of angels began to sing when Nadia cheerfully said, “I don’t mind sleeping with Aidan!”

“Really?” Mom asked, surprised.

“Sure! As long as he doesn’t steal the covers,” she said, smiling broadly.

“What about you?” Mom asked as she looked at me.

“I don’t mind, I guess. She can be annoying sometimes, but she’s my twin. And us Wilsons have to stick together, right? So, yeah. It’s okay.”

“Well… then it’s decided, I guess…” Mom said.

“If, for any reason, this doesn’t work, just say so, and we’ll find a solution,” Dad said, and a moment later, when Mom walked away, “Thanks, guys!”

We were still in the central hall, and Jovii looked questioningly at Dad. Dad talked to him and said we figured it out. Jovii showed us to our new homes. As we walked through the hallway, I asked Nadia, “I didn’t think you’d wanna sleep with me.”

“Why not?”

“Because you need your, I don’t know… privacy?”

“Oh! And you don’t?” she said, a bit snarky.

I could only shrug at that as we walked along. Nadia must’ve realized she didn’t mean it the way she said it. It just came out wrong. So she playfully punched me against my shoulder and said, “We’ll make it work. We’ll just have to set some ground rules.”

“Guess you’re right,” I said as we rounded another corner, “But you don’t snore, do you? Otherwise, I’ll have to kick you out!”

“Kick me out… yeah, right…” she smiled as we stopped at the door with number A-2-198 beside it.

“This is you,” Jovii said, “You both just need to scan your IID, and you’re registered.”

Nadia held her wrist against the pad at the door. After a bleep, it was my turn.

“Get settled in, and we’ll see you in an hour in the restaurant,” Mom said as she hugged us.

“Your parents will be around that corner in room B-2-023. Inside your room, you can download the nav addon for your coms, so you won’t get lost,” Jovii said as he smiled friendly at us.

“Later!” Nadia said and opened the door.

“Come find us if there’s anything. Promise?” Mom said with a concerned look on her face.

“Of course, Mom,” Nadia said, rolling her eyes as she looked at me.

I had to stifle a giggle but smiled at Mom and nodded. Dad winked at me as he walked on toward their room.

I pressed the button, and the door closed with a soft ‘whoosh’ sound. I turned around and saw the bots that had delivered our luggage exit our room through a small hatch in the corner. As the hatch closed, I picked up my bag, and as I unzipped it, I said, “it’s still weird that we share a room.”

“Why? We’re twins, so no big deal, right?”

“Yeah… well… since we… you’ve started puberty and such. I mean… you’ve got boobs and stuff. So I figured you might want to have some privacy.”

“Yeah, right. Privacy… with Mom in the same room?” she chuckled.

I giggled at that and said, “Guess you’re right. I’m glad I don’t have to bunk with Dad. Thanks for that!”

We bumped fists, and Nadia also started unpacking. As she pulled out a couple of tiny shirts, I said, “Good thing those auto-fit clothes come with a travel option these days.”

Nadia smiled broadly and said as she held up a tiny piece of underwear, “I just hope it gets back to its original size. This won’t fit!”

I pulled out one of my boxers, showed it, and said, “Nope! Not a chance.”

“That’s not even enough fabric to cover your, you know…” Nadia giggled and looked at my crotch.

This made me blush furiously, and I felt my dick stir inside my pants. I cleared my throat, and for lack of anything else to say, I asked, “Which side of the bed do you want?”

Nadia looked at the bed and said, “Dunno. On the left, I guess. My bed at home is about the same. The right is closer to the bathroom, but it’s a small bed, so I guess I can’t go to the bathroom without waking you either way.”

As I looked at the bed, I realized she was right. We could easily lie next to each other without touching, but the movement of the mattress would surely wake the other. Seeing this bed made me worried about popping a boner. What if she’d turn around during the night, accidentally touch it and freak out over it?

We continued settling in and made some small talk. Nadia made a point of who could hog the limited bandwidth we had here at what time. I didn’t care much because I downloaded a ton of movies and series to my pod before we left.

Our coms consisted of two small, half-globe-shaped orbs. You placed one globe at the top of your ear shell and the other right below your ear on your face.  With this in place, you could talk to anyone without having to use additional devices. You interacted with it through voice commands or by using tiny finger gestures on the lowest part.

The coms could also project AR images to assist with navigation and stuff. We would be needing this added navigation feature for the new base and if we went outdoors. Installing the nav addon for the base was pretty straightforward, and finding our way around the compound was a breeze with it.

“It’s like we moved in together,” I said as Nadia checked the pre-ordered groceries. We would eat at the central hall or with Mom and Dad, but some convenient things like chips and soda weren’t a luxury to have for ourselves.

“Yeah,” Nadia chuckled, “it’s like playing house when we were younger.”

“Right! We just need to find a baby!”

“And what’s next? Playing doctor ?” Nadia giggled.

“Uhm… let’s check out Mom and Dad, okay?” I said in an attempt to change the subject.

After we locked the door, we went over to our parent’s room. It was easy to find with the nav but a bit further away than I initially thought.

Their room was a lot bigger than Nadia’s and mine, and with a bit of imagination, we could use it as our family room. Mom contacted Ethan, and we all gathered to have dinner in the central hall and meet our fellow colonists.

It turned out that Nadia and I were right about being the only two people on the planet in the ten to fifteen age range. We had a hunch before we boarded the ship, but according to Mom, it wouldn’t be that bad. And if it was, we should consider ourselves lucky for being there at this early age. A fourteen-year-old boy was about to head our way with one of the next cargo ships, but that would take at least another couple of months.

After dinner, we had our mandatory safety briefing. We had extensive training back on Earth, but everything would be repeated here, and new or changed procedures would also be explained.

“Pfff… This will be bisque…” Nadia mumbled in a sarcastic tone.

“Tell me about it,” I grunted as we took our seats.

“Welcome to Aetheria, everyone! As y’all know, it’s the twelfth planet humans landed on. But you might not know, is that Aetheria is the first and only planet where the two Americas actually work together, without any Chinese influence. Last week, while you were in sus, China signed off on the rights.”

A bit of excited mumbling went through the room, and Dad’s eyes actually sparkled.

“So with a representative for The Democratic Republic of America and one from The American States, we are almost back to where we were before the second Civil War,” the man said as he pointed to two men on each side of him on stage.

People started applauding when the man said this, and Dad whispered something in Mom’s ear. I didn’t know what all the fuss was about, but it seemed important. As far as I knew, North America consisted of three countries: the two Americas and Canada. I did have my history lessons, of course, and back when there was just the USA, we were the most important country in the world. But when people stopped listening to each other, things went south real quick.

“Let’s just repeat the facts here for safety’s sake,” the man on stage said, “gravity is ten percent higher than on Earth. A day here is twenty-three hours and twelve minutes. We skip the remaining minutes, so configure your watches properly, people! Also, we scratched February because a year is approximately twenty-eight days shorter than it is back on the blue planet.”

Some people were adjusting their watches, something I did the moment I entered the ship. Nadia looked bored at me and faked a yawn. This caused me to giggle, and I poked her in the ribs.

“Safety!” The man continued in a loud and serious tone as he looked around the crowd, “A few simple rules will keep you and the people in here alive. First, go outside in pairs or groups only. That’s the most important part. The hills are high, the cliffs are deep, and the landscape changes constantly. If you go out together, the chances of getting help and surviving increase significantly. Especially since radio signals don’t carry very far in this atmosphere. So your coms are only useful with the people who are close. Always use a relay station for longer ranges.”

He paused dramatically and took a sip from the glass of water on his desk. So far, he didn’t say anything we hadn’t heard before, but it carried more weight by the way he said it.

“Then there’s the weather. Because of the terraforming machines, it rains constantly for about eight months a year. And it will keep raining for a couple of years. The suit you need to wear outside will shield you from the rain, but mudslides and falling rocks are a negative result of the rain. Hence the restriction to go outside alone.”

Nadia rolled her eyes at me. It was meant as a joke, but I whispered in her ear, “This IS important! I don’t want us to die out here.”

“I know, silly!” she hissed, “I was just joking.”

“Right. Just stay focused,” I whispered, turning my attention back to the man on stage.

“The airlocks are crucial! Pay close attention when you use them. The air outside is breathable for ten to fifteen minutes. But during the time you breathe the air, particles accumulate in your lungs to a point where you eventually can’t breathe anymore. After five minutes of breathing the outside air, you must find a medical pod and let it clean your lungs. But…” another dramatic pause, “after you’ve got serious breathing problems, don’t bother with the pod anymore…”

I heard a couple of gasps around me in the crowd. There was mention of this in the briefing on Earth, but the way this man said it… it couldn’t be clearer.

“So… you know why we don’t want that air inside our compounds. Don’t worry. That’s why we’ve got airlocks and decontamination chambers. You need to fully undress,” he said with the emphasis on fully, “step inside the decon chamber and hold your breath for five seconds. You can only take one item of clothing with you, which will be your mandatory Human Body Interface Connectivity Suit. And it needs to be in travel mode, obviously.”

I glanced at Nadia, who looked back at me with a wicked smile. We’ve had extensive training with this suit and knew now how to operate them properly. I still felt uncomfortable at the idea of getting naked in a public place, no matter how common it was over here. But during training back on Earth, it was explained how there were small, private cabins to undress and dress at each side. Since we also had to test this back in training, and given the fact that AI checked if you did it right without any human interaction, made me feel a little more at ease.

“You probably haven’t heard this yet, but you need to know this, and then I’ll stop talking. Lately, we had a couple of meteor storms hitting the planet. It’s the same meteor belt your ship had to navigate through. Don’t worry about that, because last week, we upgraded our shields and added more power to them. But if a storm hits us again, you’ll be notified through your coms, and you’ll have to get inside the compound ASAP.”

He looked at the guy standing next to him, who simply nodded. Then he looked around the audience again, smiled broadly, and said, “Welcome to Aetheria, everybody! And don’t worry! It isn’t as bad as you might think after hearing this. It’s a great planet with lots of awesome people! Enjoy yourself and help us build a new, brighter future. You are now officially Aetherians!”

There was applause, and everyone got to their feet. Dad went over to the men on stage to talk to them, and Mom looked worried at us.

“That was… interesting…” she said.

“Don’t worry, Mom,” Nadia said, “it’s his job to make sure we don’t mess up.”

“I know… but still.”

I couldn’t help myself and yawned. I tried to hide it behind my hand, but Mom noticed. Of course she did.

“I think it’s best if we head to bed. It’s been a long day, and we still need to sleep off the sus,” she said as she brushed through her hair.

“Good plan,” Nadia said as she checked me out.

I nodded, hugged Mom before she could give me a kiss in public, and backed away. I checked for Dad, but Mom said, “I’ll say you’ve gone to bed. He’s busy trying to work out how to fit in as the new major.”

“Night,” Nadia said after her hug with Mom.

“Night,” I said, and Nadia and I headed back to our room.

“That was… intriguing. A lot clearer than back home, though,” Nadia said as she sat on the bed.

“Yeah, he did a good job repeating everything. Good thing they’ve upgraded the shields.”

After a couple moments of silence, Nadia softly said, “I forgot about the decon. I mean, how you… you know.”

I wanted to say that I didn’t and was hoping to catch a glimpse of a boob or pussy. Any boob or pussy, but I had to admit to myself that Nadia was highest on that list.

Instead, I said, “I saw pictures of the airlocks and decon chambers, and I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you.”

“Imagine getting stuck in there, and a rescue squad has to come and save you,” Nadia giggled.

“That would be bad. Oh boy…”

I didn’t know what to do next, and there were another couple of silent moments when Nadia said, “So, uhm… how do we do this?”

“Dunno. You change in the bathroom, and I change in here?”

“You still wear pajamas?”

I blushed and almost said that I usually sleep naked. But I managed to swallow these words just in time and said, “I sleep in my boxers.”

“Oh…”

“If you don’t mind, of course! I can wear sweats and a shirt if you want me to.”

“No, no! I don’t mind. I usually sleep without, you know… back home. But I’ve brought something to sleep in with me. It’ll just be a second.”

“I’ll brush my teeth, and then the bathroom is yours, okay?” I said, trying with everything I had in me not to picture Nadia in bed with me naked.

“Go ahead.”

As I brushed my teeth, I couldn’t shake the image of Nadia lying naked in bed with me. My dick was rock hard, and there was no way I could get it down now other than jerking it. But there was no way I could do that with Nadia in the same room. That realization hit me like a ton of bricks. How was I going to release the pressure with Nadia constantly around? I needed to find excuses to be alone. But Nadia always knew when I lied.

I spat out the toothpaste, rinsed my mouth, and stood straight. I adjusted my obvious boner and pointed it to the side. I put my hand in my pocket, and now it was still somewhat visible, but with my shirt partly covering it, you’d have to look twice to see I was sporting wood.

I took a deep breath, opened the door, and tried to hurry to the bed. I almost tripped when I looked at Nadia. Just like she did at home lately, she wasn’t acting exactly modestly around me. She had removed her sweater and stood in front of me in her little black bra and pants. Her pants were already unbuckled, and a hint of her green panties was showing.

I tried not to look at the black pads covering her breasts, but the contrast of the black pads against her pale skin looked amazing.

“Ygh,” I croaked, cleared my throat, and said, “Your turn.”

Nadia smiled and walked past me to the bathroom. I knew I needed to be quick. Otherwise, she’d see my boner tenting out my boxers. So I disrobed in record time, threw my clothes on a corner, and quickly crawled under the covers.

I was crunching up the blanket around my groin so my boner would be hidden as Nadia came out of the bathroom. She was wearing a loose-fitting, sleeveless shirt that ended about an inch above her bright green panties.

I tried not to look too obviously at her, but a lot of skin was showing under her armpits, where the sleeves used to be. And that skin was close to her boobs.

I pretended to be busy getting comfortable. But as Nadia stalled while she stood beside the bed, I couldn’t act that I was getting comfortable anymore. So, I looked at her, and she was just looking around the room. When our eyes met, she lifted the blanket and stepped into the bed.

As she laid her head on the pillow, she sighed deeply and turned to look at me. She touched my arm and said, “I kinda like this. The room isn’t awful, and I know we’ll get along together.”

I looked her in her eyes, ignored the swells on her chest, and said, “Yeah… me too. Glad you convinced Mom to do it like this.”

We were quiet for a couple of moments when Nadia said, “Your muscles really look good on you.”

I checked her out to see if she was serious, but as she openly checked out my exposed chest and when she saw me looking, she smiled warmly.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, “Let’s see if we can sleep off the sus, right?”

“Right. Computer, turn off the lights, please.”

The room went dark, and only a dim, indirect light came from under the bed.

“Night, Ay!”

“Night.”

End of chapter 3

Copyright 2024 – Jason Crow
All rights reserved

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5

Aetheria – Chapter 1

02/01/2024 / / 0 Comments

Aetheria
by
Jason Crow

Chapter 1 – Arrival

“Ground control to Major Thom… Come in, Major Thom.”

“This is Major Thom. HTS-X71JC requesting permission to enter orbit. Please confirm.”

“Request confirmed and approved. Course seven Delta eight,” After a short pause, the voice continued, “Welcome to the party, Zephyr. Ground control out.”

I listened to all of this, but it hardly registered. The sounds were muffled, and I was starting to wake up. My stomach was protesting, and I felt like I had been run over by a dump truck.

I opened my eyes and immediately squinted because of the bright lights. I felt disoriented but quickly realized I was lying inside my suspension pod. We boarded the ship four weeks ago, got in our suspension pods, and headed toward our destination, the planet Aetheria. Thanks to our MPD, four weeks of sus had gotten us almost halfway across the Milky Way.

Waking up from four weeks of hibernation felt like riding a roller coaster over and over again. I sighed deeply, pressed the red button, and with a loud hiss, the transparent door above me moved upward and out of the way. I sat up straight, and as I felt my head to make sure it was still on my shoulders since it didn’t feel that way at the moment, I saw my twin sister sit up straight next to me.

Nadia smiled weakly at me and said, “That was fun, right?”

I could only nod as I swallowed down another gag reflex, struggling not to throw up. It was close, but I managed to keep it all inside. I was trying to get myself together when my brother Ethan floated by in his boxer briefs. I was also dressed in just my underwear since it was the most comfortable way to go in suspension, but I had no intention of prancing around in just my undies.

At eighteen, my brother looked like everything I hoped to look like one day. He had a nice tan, a muscular chest, and a decent bulge in his underwear.

As I checked him out, he said, “Hey Dad, you want me to turn on the gravity? Everyone is waking up, so…”

“You’re right. Sorry, I forgot. The ship got me out of sus ahead of schedule. The approach was a bit messy due to that new asteroid belt. But yeah… go ahead.”

Ethan braced himself and pushed a button on the console. Slowly but steadily, the round portion with the passenger cabins started spinning. My stomach started calming down as my ass was pressed firmer into the sus pod, and gravity returned to normal.

Because our dad was the Major and main pilot of the ship, our cabin was the biggest because it doubled as the ship’s bridge. I saw a few of the other cabins through the windows, and lights started to switch on inside these.

“Hi, Hon. You okay?” Mom said as she walked up to us.

“Aidan looks just like how I feel,” my sister said glumly beside me.

“It’ll wear off in a few minutes. Get dressed so we can eat something before we load up the landers.”

My sister Nadia got up, and I knew I just had to look. Over the last few months, I started noticing how she was filling out in all the right places.

She was wearing a crop top, and her small boobs looked absolutely fabulous in it. She got to her feet, and as she got out, she gave me an unobstructed view of her round ass in that white with red stripes bikini-styled undies.

I felt my dick was starting to grow hard inside my underwear, which snapped me out of my trance. I shouldn’t think of her like this! She was my twin sister, damnit! I needed to look after her instead of perving over her.

Ever since we started puberty, I got more and more interested in her body. I read and saw a couple of clips online in the Flin, stating that it probably had something to do with my own hormones waking up. We were exactly thirteen-and-a-half on the day we left Earth, so this wasn’t far-fetched.

But still… I was still a bit boyish, with just a small and sparse patch of pubes above my three-and-a-half-inch soft dick. I was kind of proud of my five-and-a-half inches when I was hard. When I sprang a boner, it was rock-hard, virtually unbendable, and thicker than you’d expect. My Dad’s genes must be the cause of that because when Ethan showed me how to jack off about a year ago, I immediately noticed how thick he was, too.

My muscles were starting to show, though. I was glad about that because I had spent almost all my allowance on that new software that helped me to build muscles with that new electro-suit Ethan let me borrow. A hint of my six-pack was showing, and my pecs were now noticeably more pronounced than before I started. So yeah… I was getting there.

I needed to focus on something else before embarrassing myself in front of my entire family. So I let my eyes drift upward and checked out my sister’s hair. She was just as blonde as I was, and her hair was also just as short as mine, just styled differently. Pretty much all women who went into space wore their hair short, and Mom and Nadia were no different.

The suspension pods were against the wall on the left side of our cabin. To my right, there were the control panels that controlled the ship. Dad and Ethan were there currently checking everything, and I didn’t want to interfere with that. Ethan was still in his black boxers, whereas Dad was already in his uniform. In front of me was the living room, although calling it that was a bit of a stretch. It had a table, chairs, and a big screen. But since we would hardly use it, I didn’t mind too much.

The toilet and the door to the rest of the ship were to my left. Everything was in bright white with lots of indirect lighting, and they managed to make it feel cozy despite the minimalistic look.

By taking my mind off my sister this way, I managed to steer clear from a full-blown boner and was glad it was heading down. I was only chubbed up a little by now, but that wouldn’t hurt anyone.

As Nadia pulled down her shirt, I got to my feet. She turned around and smiled at me. For a brief moment, her eyes went down to my crotch, and she openly checked me out. She didn’t seem bothered by it, but it made me feel insecure and awkward. She was a lot more open than I was, which I blamed on my stupid feelings for her.

Nadia looked me in the eye, “Looking good, Bro,” she said as if it was the most normal thing to say.

“Uhm…” was all I could say as I quickly reached for my pants.

“That new app does what it promises.”

“Oh… that… Yeah. I’m glad it’s worth the money. Sure cost me enough.”

We both pulled up our pants, “Hungry?” she asked.

“Nah. But I know we need to eat after sus. You?”

“Same,” she frowned, “I just hope there are more kids our age down there. Dad was pretty vague about that, and I… you know…”

“We’ll see. I think we’re fine,” I said, trying to be blasé about it, hiding my mixed feelings. I was a bit scared that we were the only teens here because it would mean we’d have no friends our age. But deep down, I also hoped we would be the only ones. If another boy were there, he might take Nadia away from me, and I couldn’t…

No! She’s my sister! She isn’t my lover, girlfriend, or anything. It’s stupid to feel this way!

But even so, I still need to protect her! I’m the one who almost killed her, and I promised myself to always look after her. Well… it wasn’t my fault I almost killed her, but still. When Mom was in the hospital, and it was time for us to be born, it turned out that my umbilical cord was around my sister’s neck. And it had been like that for a while.

Because of that, Nadia barely made it and had to stay in the hospital for months to regain her strength. And she was treated for all the complications that came with it until she was around eight years old. When I found out what had happened, I felt guilty as hell. Despite Mom and Dad repeatedly stressing that I had nothing to do with it and that it was just nature’s mistake, I couldn’t shed the thought that I should’ve taken better care of my sister.

Mom even had a talk with me after Nadia was no longer being treated and was declared completely healthy. She told me that I should stop being so protective and that I should look more after myself. She even made me promise to leave her alone for three days in a row. This helped a little. During these days, I learned that Nadia was okay and didn’t need me as her bodyguard.

After a while, things got better, and she started living her own life. But deep inside, I couldn’t get rid of the feelings that she needed my protection. Mom knew this, but she didn’t say anything about it. Nadia was oblivious and just saw me as her twin brother, who was always there for her.

“Breakfast is ready!” Mom announced cheerfully, snapping me out of my trance.

I quickly grabbed my shirt and pulled it down as I sat down at the table. Moments later, I was joined by the rest of the family. Mom looked at us and said, “Guys, I’m so glad we’re doing this as a family! I’m…”

She sniffed, and Dad squeezed her hand. He looked at us and said, “She’s right! The Wilsons stick together! Right!?”

“Right!” Nadia and I said.

“And Ethan?” Dad said, looking at my brother, “PLEASE! Put on a shirt! You make me feel old and saggy!”

We started laughing and ate breakfast just like we would back on Earth. But the view here was a lot different than on Earth.

“All one hundred and ninety-six souls on board are accounted for and came out of suspension,” Dad said through the microphone. “In sixty minutes, the transporters will start bringing people down to the planet. Be prepared, please. Major Thom out.”

Dad turned around in his chair and looked at us. He smiled broadly, looked around, and said, “Nobody needed to manually be retrieved from sus. These ships are getting better and better!”

Yeah…” Ethan responded, “I also checked the logs, and this new autopilot didn’t fall back to one of the backup systems even once.”

“Get ready, you two,” Mom said while checking out our pods.

“In about an hour, it’s just the skeleton crew left up here, and for the first time we’ll see our new home for the coming few years!” Dad said excitedly.

“Yay!” Nadia said in that typical bratty tone only teenage girls can.

“Don’t do this, honey! We’ve been over this a lot. Try to embrace this new life,” Mom replied, clearly doing her best to stay calm.

“I’m sorry…” Nadia said, “I’m just scared, I guess.”

“Scared about what?”

“That this planet sucks, that our new home sucks, that there’s nobody down there that I like, that… just everything.”

“We’re all afraid of the unknown. But sometimes great things come to those who take that leap of faith, you know?”

“I know… but still…”

Mom hugged her and said, “I know, Honey. But we’re here as a family. And the Wilsons stick together, right?”

This brought a smile to her face, and she nodded at Mom. Next, Nadia looked at me and said, “Wanna go to the docks and check out the transporters?”

“Sure!” I said, glad to see her smile again.

“Take your travel bags with you. We’ll also be there in a minute because Dad has to be in the first transporter.”

We grabbed our bags from the storage closet and entered the corridor connecting the cabins. Because of the circular build of the living quarters and the way it generated gravity, you felt like you had to walk up a hill, no matter which way you went.

But we had our safety training and extensive briefing before we boarded, so we knew how it worked. This training also helped us find our way around the ship quite well, so we reached the ladder that led to the docks quickly enough.

“Prepare for zero gravity,” Nadia smiled as she slid down the ladder.

“Bring it on!” I laughed as I got in right behind her.

Of course, we’ve both been weightless before a couple of times. But during my first time, I felt sick and had to throw up. Nadia kept teasing me about this, but it was all good fun, and I knew she was also close to hurling the first time.

As we floated through the ship toward the docks, we saw a couple of our fellow passengers, but all of them were much older than us. There were a few boys and one girl, but they were much closer to Ethan than to us. We greeted each other politely, but it still felt like we were among strangers. Dad told us this would wear off but that it would take time.

Combined with this crew, the planet’s population would be just under two thousand. That’s as big as a small village but still small enough for everybody to know each other. The transporters would take us to the main base, which had pretty much everything we’d need. It had a large mess and even a small store where you could buy all sorts of stuff, from clothes to food and from books to batteries.

About five years ago, the first crew landed on the planet. At that time, the automated building bots had built two smaller bases. But when more people were needed to keep the operation going and expand, these old bases were abandoned and only used to monitor and operate the terraforming equipment. As the new main base grew, people gradually moved to the new base. The building bots were still building and expanding every minute of every day, but it was fully operational at its core.

“There’s Rory,” Nadia said, pointing at someone loading one of the transporters.

Rory was one of Ethan’s friends and would go and work in the maintenance team with our brother.

“Hey, guys! Ready for the drop?”

“Yeah!” Nadia said excitedly.

“I guess,” I said, trying to act cool around him, but I hardly couldn’t wait to see the actual planet up close.

He continued loading up the transporters, our cue to move along. Nadia and I explored the dock, but there wasn’t anything interesting.

“Let’s check out the tanks,” I said as we passed the door to the ship’s garage for the second time. Behind the garage was the entrance to the hold.

I opened the door to the garage and almost jumped out of my shoes when I bumped into someone.

“Oh. Hey, guys!” she said in a friendly tone.

I recognized her right away. She was one of Mom’s friends, but I didn’t remember her name. I knew she was in charge of all the equipment we carried, which made sense as to why she was here.

“Hi! We wanna check out the tanks. Is that okay?”

“Sure. You know the way, right?”

“Yeah. It’s through there,” I said as I pointed toward the end of the garage.

“Later,” Nadia said as she smiled warmly.

As we floated toward the door to the hold, we passed several vehicles. There were giant excavators, a couple of big tanker trucks, a few boats, lots of human transporters, and some more we couldn’t see properly because they were too far away.

All vehicles, except for the few light, flying ones, of course, had big, tractor-like wheels and were all fuel-cell-powered. I was told that the star’s light this planet was orbiting was only mildly effective on our solar panels.

We passed two small buggies that seemed completely out of place here. “There’s the door,” Nadia said and pressed the unlock button on the panel beside it.

We looked at each other, smiled, and entered the hold. After we closed the door behind us, we floated through a small hallway. The HTS-X71JC, or Zephyr as we called her, was a huge freighter ship. When we entered the hold, it was immediately apparent why it was in the biggest class of ships.

The hold housed two rows of eight tanks. These tanks were about hundred and fifty feet high and had a diameter of roughly fifty feet. They were absolutely massive. But there were only guidance lights near the edges of the hold, and from where we were now, you could hardly make out half of the hold, and the sheer size of it was already overwhelming.

“HELLO!!!” Nadia shouted, but all we heard was the echoing of her voice.

In the dim glow of the guidance lights, we could only see the silhouette of the first two tanks. I was about to go further into the hold when Nadia floated past me and giggled, “Too slow, Bro!”

We explored the giant hold together and even played a short but silly game of tag. It was fun to act like little kids together, even in the somewhat spooky surroundings of the hold. We were just killing time, so when our coms beeped, we immediately headed back to the transporters, both hyped to go down.

“All buckled up?” the pilot asked.

Dad sat next to the pilot and looked back at Nadia and me. I wasn’t going to admit it, but my heart was beating in my throat. Dad nodded toward my belt, and I pulled at it to show him I was strapped in.

I glanced over at my sister, and as the pilot started counting down, she looked nervously at me and grabbed my hand.

“Two… One… GO!!!”

At that moment, the boosters ignited, and we were pressed hard into our seats. The nose of the transporter tilted down, and we could clearly see the planet through the front windows. Nadia had her window seat, but she only looked at the floor.

“Entering the atmosphere!” the pilot said.

Dad looked back, and he said, “Be prepared. The entrance will be bumpy. But it’ll be more like a regular flight back on Earth after about a minute.”

I heard some mumbling from the people behind us, but Dad had already warned us about this, so we knew what was coming. I looked at Nadia and squeezed her hand.

After about a minute of violent movement and some words between Dad and the pilot, the ship suddenly stopped shaking, and it felt like we were on a floating boat on a quiet lake. The suddenness of this was what surprised me most.

I glanced over at Nadia, and after she tore her eyes from the floor, she looked at me. I pointed outside and said, “Look! That’s Zuckerberg Mountain! The highest mountain on the planet.”

Nadia turned her head to look, and I was glad I calmed her down a little. “Twice the height of Mount Everest, right?”

“Yeah. Almost.”

“Cool. I wonder if anyone is ever going to climb that one…”

“Dunno. Maybe after there’s enough oxygen in the atmosphere…”

“Zephyr transport one approaching. Please confirm!” the pilot said.

Dad pressed some buttons on the control panel, and after a couple of seconds, the pilot said, “Roger. Docking at bay twelve.”

As Nadia and I looked out the window and checked out the main complex, Nadia said what I thought.

“It looks pretty small, don’t you think?”

That’s what I was thinking. “Yeah. I expected it to be bigger.”

“Maybe there’s a lot underground?”

“Dunno. I guess…”

The ship made a sharp turn, and we saw the base come closer and closer. A couple of moments later, we felt a small bump as we touched down. “Welcome to Aetheria, everyone!” the pilot announced.

I smiled broadly as I looked at Nadia. As the door of the transporter opened, I thought back to the moment a little over a year ago when this all started.

End of chapter 1

Copyright 2024 – Jason Crow
All rights reserved

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Boarding School Blues
Boarding School Blues

Boarding School Blues – Chapter 2

24/07/2023 / / 0 Comments

Boarding School Blues
By
Levi Holland

Chapter 2

Outside the glass office building, Cooper’s dad glanced through the scheduling and dorm papers until his bushy eyebrows wrinkled with his forehead.

“Forgot your way around here?” Cooper asked.

“Ha ha,” his dad said plainly. “One of my old teachers is now the headmaster. We didn’t have the…greatest understanding.”

“What your father means is that he liked to cause trouble,” his mom said as she plucked the scheduling sheet from his dad’s hands.

“How’d you get in trouble?” Cooper asked, but his dad was quick to raise his hands in self defense.

“Really, it was nothing. Some light pranks, innocent vandalism, that sort of thing. But maybe try to keep a low profile until you get settled in.”

“Cooper,” his mom said, “you’re in Valentia. How exciting!”

His mom pointed to the red, swirling font of Valentia where the words House of Bravery were inscribed beneath.

Cooper didn’t get the big deal. The names didn’t mean anything. They were a silly way to figure out where you were in the castle, that’s all. They didn’t mean he was special in any way.

“Well, it’s no Ehre,” his dad started to say, but a swift elbow from his mom silenced him. “Oww, I mean, Valentia is a great place to end up!”

His mom bent over with her hands on her knees. “Race you to the top?”

As they sprinted down the castle’s corridors to the dorms, they encountered all sorts of lavish furniture and architecture. Cooper had no way to put a value to it all, but it must have been easily more than a hundred times what his own house was worth. It reminded him of the field trip they took back in fourth grade to some dead guy’s fancy estate. Blue Ridge completely dwarfed that building, but its rooms had a lot of similar furniture inside.

Finally they reached the top of Valentia’s spire. Sunlight gleamed through the stained-glass windows and onto the cherry hardwood floor. There was a whole bunch of fancy furniture that looked like something you’d find in his grandma’s place, but Cooper didn’t care about any of that. His eyes were locked onto the TV setup and gaming system in the corner, way bigger and nicer than anything he had back home. At least there’d be something to cure his boredom when he wasn’t in class.

Along the gray, stone walls were towering portraits of dead old guys Cooper didn’t recognize. Most of them looked stern or angry, but the man in the final portrait looked almost bored as he stared off in the distance at something beyond the artist.

“He’s a little grayer now, but that’s definitely Headmaster Robinson,” his dad said.

“Are you gonna get me in trouble for being your son?”

“What? No, of course not. Probably not, anyway. At least, I hope.”

“Great.”

Past the main suite was the largest and shiniest bathroom Cooper had ever seen. His shoes squeaked against the shiny, black marble tiles as he poked his head inside the shower area. On either end was a separate shower head, and Cooper’s stomach squirmed at the idea that he might have to share a shower with another boy he barely knew. At least the toilet had a door for privacy.

Checking his dorm papers again, Cooper headed to the first bedroom, marked with a shiny brass 1 above its door. Giving the door a quick knock, he felt like an idiot when no one answered. Of course they wouldn’t—he was clearly the first new student to arrive in his dorms.

Cooper wondered what his roommate would be like. Hopefully someone funny like Sawyer, or maybe someone who loved to climb like him. Honestly as long as the person wasn’t a jerk, Cooper would be happy. The last thing he needed was another Buttface Johnson in his life.

Inside the bedroom, two twin beds draped in red covers faced each other on opposite ends of the room, with a separate nightstand and dresser for each, along with a small joint walk-in closet to share. Like with the suite outside the dorm rooms, sunlight bathed the room through the tall window against the wall. The bedroom was huge, big enough to squeeze two or three of his own bedrooms inside.

Cooper wondered how he might decorate his side of the room. Or would his new roommate want to do something together?

Turning around, he was startled to see his parents standing together, smiling as his mom rested her head against his dad’s shoulder.

“My little man,” his mom whispered.

“Mom,” he groaned, “It’s just 6th grade. Really, I’ll be fine.”

His words trailed off, and before Cooper could put up any more false bravado, he tackled his parents at the same time they smothered him in a hug. The perfume from his mom filled his nostrils, and he nearly cried, realizing he wouldn’t get to hold his parents for the next few months after they left.

“We’re going to miss you so much,” his mom said.

“Be sure to write us all the time,” his dad said before kissing the top of his head.

“Remember your schedule—opening ceremony at 6 o’clock.”

“Give yourself plenty of time to get there.”

“Maybe go with a buddy.”

Cooper’s head was spinning with his parents’ last minute instructions. “Guys! I love you both, but really. I think I’ll be okay. Dad, if you survived this school, I think I can manage.”

“What does that mean?” his dad asked.

“I think,” his mom said, taking her husband’s hand, “Cooper’s got a good head on his shoulders. He’s smart, brave, friendly. He’s a perfect fit.”

Cooper smiled at his mom, and in the quiet, his dad asked, “And I’m not those things?”

They all turned their heads as someone stomped up the final stairs to the top floor of the suite.

“Phew, finally! Out of the way! Coming through!”

Cooper’s parents parted like clouds on a breezy day as a tall mousy-faced boy with high, rounded cheeks reached the landing. His brown, styled hair was neatly arranged in a swoop as the ends of each strand curled up. The yellow infinity scarf sitting on the boy’s shoulders began a chain of strange, mismatched patterns, styles, and colors in all of his clothes. It was like the kid chucked a handful of darts to see which clothes he was supposed to wear that day.

Peering down at the papers in his hands, the boy looked up and seemed to finally notice Cooper standing in the doorway of Room 1. He looked back down, scanned the papers with his finger one last time, and crumpled the papers in his pocket.

“You must be my roommate,” the boy said as he strolled up to Cooper. “The name’s Anakin Adams.”

Cooper froze, staring at the boy’s outstretched hand. This was his new roommate? Definitely not what he was expecting.

“You’re supposed to shake it,” Anakin said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

When Cooper shook the kid’s hand, his arm was nearly rattled from its socket.

“Nice swag, by the way.” Anakin walked a circle around Cooper, giving his clothes an appraising glance like he was ready to auction them off. “Very street urban.”

“Uhh, thanks?” he said. “I’m Cooper. Cooper Morrow. So is your name, like, from Star Wars or something?”

He figured all kids from rich families must have had strange names.

Anakin shrugged. “I guess. It’s definitely more my parents’ thing though. I only really like the lightsaber fights. Check it out. Is this our room?”

Stepping past Cooper, Anakin inspected their bedroom, while Cooper walked back to give his parents one last hug goodbye. He wasn’t convinced Anakin would be the forever friends that his dad and Oskar were, but at least their first conversation hadn’t gone down in flames.

One of his dad’s knees cracked as he stooped down.

“Remember what I said about your Headmaster,” he said. “He’s a good man, but a strict one. Just keep that in mind.”

“I will, Dad. I love you.”

“And please try not to do anything reckless. No climbing trees!”

After embracing one last time, Cooper fought the urge to chase after his parents as they finally descended the rounding staircase to the base of Valentia’s spire. As their footsteps faded among the growing voices from other students below, Cooper prayed he wasn’t making a terrible mistake by staying at Blue Ridge.

***

Roman climbed the seven long flights of Fuerza’s spire alone.

The only way forward was to harden his heart. That was how he would survive. Even still, he nearly cried out as his mom drove away down Blue Ridge’s long driveway. Now it was just him.

Without much to do until the opening ceremonies, Roman figured he might as well see what his home for the next ten months would look like, so he followed the student map in his hands until he reached the boys’ section of housing, and then, Fuerza’s spire.

As he climbed, Roman prayed Xavier wasn’t in his suite. Or if he was, Roman hoped he wouldn’t be seen. The rounded stairs hugged the outside wall of the spire with a small landing at the start of each suite. When he reached the floor for the 8th graders, he paused. He thought he might have heard some snickering from further inside, but after peeking around the entranceway and seeing no one there, Roman dashed up the remaining steps, wincing with each sharp, jabbing pain at his ribs.

At the top, the suite for the 6th graders was identical to the ones he’d passed along the way. Fuerza’s purple colors lined all the carpet and furniture. The silence and sunlight pouring through the window was calming. No one would bother him here. As expected, his bags hadn’t been brought up yet. He remembered something about the front office lady saying they’d be there after dinner, but it didn’t matter. There was nothing inside that Roman needed right away.

Instead, he went to the bathroom, where his shoes squeaked like a trapped mouse with every step. The counter top held two sinks beneath a wide, frameless mirror. Lifting the tail of his shirt, Roman grimaced as the purple-plum bruise appeared. He could almost see the contours of Xavier’s knuckles along his ribs. Every deep breath was another painful reminder.

Roman hated the way the boy in the mirror stared back at him—hated how much his pointed face, his blond hair, and steely blue eyes were spitting images of Xavier’s. Along the walls of his house were pictures of their father around their age—his mom always joked that if their dad could be plucked from those photos, she could pass the three of them off as brothers.

Roman buried his fingernails into his palm and slammed the top of the counter.

Leaving the bathroom behind, Roman went to Room 2 and closed the door shut before picking the bed closest to the window overlooking the campus. He wasn’t sure how long he sat huddled on the purple covers, staring blankly at the forest-covered mountains in the distance. Maybe if he didn’t move long enough, he’d be forgotten about, left alone. Maybe he’d even disappear entirely. No one would miss him.

Even as new voices and footsteps reached him from the suite, Roman didn’t move. What was the point? He began to wonder whether the window pane at the top of Fuerza’s tall spire might open up when his bedroom door barged open and thunked against the wall.

Standing in the doorway was a pale boy in clear-framed glasses. He ran a hand through his curling, strawberry-blonde hair before locking eyes with Roman on the corner bed.

“Oh,” was all the boy said, his expression a mixture of surprise and something Roman didn’t recognize. The boy’s eyes danced over Roman’s body before he stammered with a blush and backed out of the bedroom.

A flurry of voices argued outside before the boy returned, this time herded along by a woman with long hair the same orangey shade as the kid’s.

“Ahem,” the woman coughed, giving his shoulders a firm squeeze.

“I-I’m sorry I left without introducing myself,” the boy said, his eyes anywhere but on Roman. “I’m Fielding Everest.”

What an unusual name, Roman thought, glancing between the boy and his mother, although he supposed his own name wasn’t exactly common either.

“Delighted to meet you, dear,” Fielding’s mom said with a buttery smile that stirred something up inside Roman.

“Roman,” he managed, figuring he should actually get off the bed and introduce himself properly. “Roman Jacobs.”

The woman’s eyes grew wide in recognition. “I think I know your father! Well, my wife actually, but Jacobs, as in the director, Gerard Jacobs?”

“Mom,” Fielding said, “stop.”

“Oh, hush,” the woman said, conking the side of her son’s head.

Roman nodded and she came up to shake his hand. Actually, shake was putting it mildly. Both her hands gripped Roman’s, and it looked as if the woman might cry. This was never a reaction he’d gotten before. Whenever people were interested in his father, they spoke to him, not Roman.

Mrs. Everest squeezed him in a hug, and Roman’s face smushed against her pillowy breasts. They were suffocating, and he fought the urge to push the woman away as he stood stiffly with his arms at his side.

“Mom, boundaries!” Fielding shouted, and Roman caught the tail end of a southern drawl in his raised voice.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and stepped back to wipe the tears from her eyes. “You’ll never know how grateful we are to your father. He was my wife’s big break. Ahh, look at me. Such a mess. Excuse me.”

The two boys waited awkwardly as the sound of nostrils blowing into a tissue reached them from the bathroom. Fielding still refused to really look at Roman, so he tried breaking the ice instead.

“Moms, right?” Roman offered. “Always doing embarrassing stuff like that.”

Fielding offered a meek smile, finally looking up at him. “Tell me about it.”

“So, your mom’s…”

Fielding’s face flushed. “Yeah, she’s gay. That’s not a problem, is it?”

“I was going to say an actress, but no,” Roman said. “Of course not. Why would it matter?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Fielding said with enough sting to make Roman flinch. The drawl was back in his voice, but Fielding relaxed his shoulders and frowned. “Sorry, it’s just some people have issues with them. With—”

Fielding’s mom came back, her face now cleaned up, and she stretched her jaw like she was trying to wake herself up.

“Well, I guess this is it,” she said. “I’ve got to take care of a few things before I go, but try not to get into too much trouble. I love you, sunshine.”

Roman heard the muffled groan even as Mrs. Everest smothered her son in a full-bodied hug. Seeing the two of them burned something inside Roman, and he turned away. What did he care how other families were?

After she left, Roman was ready to continue quietly ignoring each other, but Fielding seemed to have other plans in mind.

“So, why were you sitting up here all alone?”

“I…uhh…” Roman paused, not sure what to say. His mind flashed to Xavier, the aching bruise on his ribs, the emptiness inside his chest, the window. “I don’t know.”

“Well, come on, let’s go outside. It’s a nice day, and I saw some kids throwing a Frisbee.”

“I don’t know,” Roman said again, worried Xavier might see him and ruin things.

“Is that all you know how to say?” Fielding asked. “Come on, let’s go.”

Before Roman could protest, Fielding grabbed his hand before running the opposite way, tugging Roman with him. It annoyed him at first, being pulled along by this kid he barely knew, but seeing the way Fielding’s smile lit his face, a different emotion fluttered through his heart as their hands clasped together too perfectly. Maybe this once, he could take a chance and see where things led.

When they reached the first of many steps at the top of the spire, Fielding shouted, “Last one there’s a rotten egg!”

“Oh, you’re on!”

They scurried past Mrs. Everest and a few other families before jumping the final steps. As they ran, Roman began to pull ahead, not far now from the large stone staircase leading down to the grassy fields. He was just about to turn back and taunt Fielding, when a figure stepped from around the corner.

“Woah, hey!” Moving too fast to stop, Roman recognized too late the navy suit of one of Blue Ridge’s professors. When they collided, a handful of papers sprang up and careened like feathers to the ground as the man fell back on his butt.

A sinking pit spread through Roman’s stomach. Not an hour into his time at Blue Ridge, and already he was done for. He scrambled to collect the papers, but the man stopped him.

“Really, it’s fine.” The man’s eyes widened with recognition as he took a good look at Roman, and he laughed. “Well, if you aren’t the spitting image of Xavier. You know, I think I remember him saying he had a brother on the way.”

Roman shook his head in confusion.

The man seemed almost disappointed as he pointed to his face. “Professor Bell? Xavier’s math tutor? Surely, he’s mentioned me.”

This was Professor Bell? Back when Xavier was happy to share about his life at Blue Ridge, the name Professor Bell popped up often. He’d always sounded like one of the cool professors, and Roman just tackled him to the ground. Great.

“He’s mentioned you before,” Roman mumbled, trying to avoid the man’s stare. God, what an idiot he was.

Professor Bell brushed any potential dirt clinging to his suit pants before waving it off. “Well, I would have preferred our hellos to be done in the classroom, but it’s a pleasure all the same. Do me a favor? Try not to plow anyone else over.”

Professor Bell walked away, but before he left their sight, a hand reached back to rub his tailbone.

Beside him, Fielding smacked a floppy hand into Roman’s chest. “Oh my god! I can’t believe you just did that!”

“Shut up,” Roman muttered.

“You were like, ‘Whoosh,’ and he was like, ‘Watch out!’ and then BAM! I thought you were gonna get expelled for sure!”

“I said, shut up!” Roman shouted. “Anyways, you wish I had gotten expelled.”

Fielding’s eyebrows furrowed. “Huh? Why’s that?”

“Because that was your only chance to beat me!”

Before Fielding could react, Roman sprinted the remaining distance outside to the fields, breaking through the threshold and into the sunlight.

End Chapter 2

Copyright 2023 – Levi Holland
All rights reserved

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