Dear Readers, I am feeling especially happy today because it's my birthday and it's snowing! Just enough snow to be beautiful and not stick to the roads - the best kind.

CHAPTER 28 – EVALUATING

"It's pretty easy to figure out who wrote each evaluation," the first officer remarked as he looked through the pile of papers in his hand.

He had been doing long-distance space trips for three years and this was his ninth, and worst, voyage ever. They would be landing tomorrow on Planet Assaymark and it couldn't come quick enough for him. "Do we really need to turn these into Thatcher Industries?"

The transporter's captain set down his cup of coffee on the metal desk in front of him and glanced curiously at the other man. "That bad?"

"It didn't help that there was a corporate saboteur onboard."

"Thatcher Industries wants a survey after every flight. We've always done it. They can't blame us for the stuff that crazy woman Abayomi did."

"It wasn't just her antics. Or should I say her crimes," he noted with a scowl as he thought of the damage. "Although there were lots of complaints about the power outages and gravity fluctuations and trouble she caused, there were also the usual complaints of a lack of a variety of leisure activities, the small size of the living quarters, the thin mattresses on the berths –"

"We are not a cruise ship around the Atlantic Ocean," the Captain interrupted with a comical shake of his head. "Do passengers understand that in order for this thing to fly, energy, electrical systems, and computers are more important than their comfort? We're just lucky the ship didn't explode or run out of energy before we reached the planet. Now that would have been a catastrophe."

"One person wrote that running out of alcohol so early in the voyage was a catastrophe. Although that could have been my wife," he added with a pensive look. "Hmm. Maybe she's getting tired of these flights."

The captain took another sip of coffee and nodded to the paperwork before continuing. "What did you mean that you can tell who wrote each evaluation? They're anonymous."

"Listen to this one. In the additional remarks section after the standard questions, the person wrote, 'I was assaulted by a jealous highly influential person during the first month onboard and no adverse action was taken against her because of her family and other relationships.'"

The captain snickered. "I'm guessing it's Ally who wrote it. Still holding a grudge against Elizabeth for that drunken bed fiasco."

"I agree. How about this next one?" The first officer flipped to another piece of paper. "I was brutally assaulted by law enforcement for no reason and then bribed into not taking action against him."

"Bribed? Hmm. I did hear something about that. It must be Wayne. Still holding a grudge against Elizabeth and Jack," the captain answered. "You know, he's a darn good magician. I still can't figure out some of his tricks."

The first officer nodded in agreement and then turned to another piece of paper. "This person said the facilities were good, but on the question of how were you treated by the crew, regardless of whether or not you were acting in the capacity of a crewmember for this voyage, the person wrote 'The cleanliness and safety of my food preparation was unnecessarily questioned by the medical officer'."

"Abigail Stanton from the cafeteria", the captain responded immediately. "She was pretty insulted when someone got sick and the medical officer made her serve packaged prepared food. I see what you mean – these aren't exactly anonymous."

"You're on a roll. Can you guess this one? It's on the question asking whether you were able to conduct experiments on board, did you lose any data. and how were the facilities. The person responded 'my facilities were good but I lost several small seedlings due to an accident'."

"That would be Lori or her husband from horticulture. How'd she lose her plants?"

"Apparently, Elizabeth knocked over a tray."

The captain chuckled. "Why am I not surprised. That Thatcher woman has a knack for trouble."

"Well then I think this next one will be obvious. 'Our parenting skills were questioned which was highly insulting'."

"Thatcher again?! It has to be her that the person is complaining about. Who else would be talking about parenting skills? Since she only has three students, I'm guessing it's the Quarrleseons. They have that boy that hid in one of the sub-levels. And Elizabeth's right. Those parents need to spend more time with their kid. Speaking of Elizabeth, can you figure out which evaluation is hers?"

"Yeah, it was pretty easy." The first officer shuffled the papers and pulled out one from the stack.

"I'm guessing she had quite a few complaints. Including almost being murdered. Twice," the Captain noted as he braced himself for a scathing evaluation by the daughter of the owner of the company that helped keep him employed.

"Actually, she gave the voyage rave reviews."

"You're kidding?"

"Nope. She loved the entire four months."

"What could she possible love about it?!" the Captain asked in surprise. "It was the worst voyage we've ever had. It was one big f-upped mess."

"Listen to this," the man responded as he began reading off the paper. "How do you feel about the size of living quarters?' The person wrote 'Perfect. Could have been even smaller and I would have been fine.' I'm guessing that's because she was sharing with Officer Thornton. For the question 'how did you feel about living with the opposite gender?' , the person wrote 'No problem, Worked out perfectly. Better than I ever could have imagined.' Again, I'm guessing that's because she was sharing with Officer Thornton."

"It could have been someone other than her. We actually had good match-ups of roommates. And most people don't mind sharing rooms with the opposite gender. Although, the rooms are tiny. I can't imagine going smaller. What else did the person write?"

"For how would you rate the food, she wrote 'delicious. The croissants were excellent and Abigail is a sweetheart."

The captain smiled. "It still might be someone else other than Elizabeth that wrote that. I like Abigail's food too."

"This was definitely Elizabeth's survey form."

"How can you be so sure?"

"For the question 'How would you rate Safety and Security? She wrote Handsome. Then started to write he's a great k-i-s. And then crossed it all out when she obviously figured out that wasn't what we were looking for."


When Elizabeth walked into her living quarters after viewing a hologram message in the communication room, she had to step over Jack who was lying on the floor, his hands clasped behind his head, and his knees bent as he lifted his back off the floor.

"Jack, do you think we've moved too quickly in our relationship?" she asked curiously as she took a spot on the lower berth and watched him do his daily sit-ups.

"Sixty-seven. Sixty-eight. No. . . . Sixty-nine."

"Are you sure? We've only known each other four months."

Jack sat up again and paused just long enough to ask an unconcerned question. "What's this about?" he inquired before resuming his exercising.

"Julie sent a hologram and she was talking about falling in love with some pilot she met. And I know she's not really in love. She falls into a romantic infatuation every other month. With men she barely knows. But that's not us. We really know each other. And we really are in love. Aren't we? I know it's only been four months and I couldn't have imagined this before I met you. Or even when I first met you. But it happened. I love you. And I don't think it's too fast. Do you think we moved too fast?"

" . . . . Seven-four, No," he interrupted his counting to reply, but then he immediately went back to the up and down motions.

"Really? Because you once said that it was happening so fast."

Jack stopped in the upright position and looked at her. "In a normal situation, I would think four months is too short to really know you love someone. But this isn't a normal situation. We eat three meals a day together – for the most part. We sleep three feet away from each other every single night. We spend most of our free time together. We have talked late into the night about our childhoods, and lives, and hopes. We've seen each other all messy in the morning. I've picked your bras and panties off the floor several times because you seem to have an inability to hold onto them when you're carrying your laundry. We've been living in a tiny ten-foot by ten-foot room for 120 days. And yet, despite the closeness and almost constant togetherness, I find myself still wanting more. So, yes. I say it's love."

Elizabeth's nonsensical worry evaporated at his words and her mouth moved up in a smile. "You are so incredible. You must be the most romantic man in the world."

"That's not saying much," he teased. "Considering we're not on Earth."

Elizabeth laughed. "The most romantic guy in the galaxy. The universe. All of them. I don't know how I got so lucky."

"Can you please just shut up? Do I really have to listen to this stuff? Love, blah, blah blah."

Elizabeth's eyes got wide and she looked at the direction of the voice which was coming from behind the curtain on the lower berth opposite her.

"Carl!" she gasped. "Why didn't you say you were in there?!"

The curtain was swept aside and Carl poked out his head. "Why should I? It's my berth. And you're the one in the wrong."

"In the wrong?!"

"The rule is that the four of us are just friends in our living quarters. No romance. Right, Seth?", he asked as he called upwards.

"Right," came Seth's deep voice.

"Seth?! Oh my god, you're here too?"

The brawny geologist opened up his curtains and leaned out. "It's my berth. Where else would I be? I don't have someone to make out with and profess my love to because my wife, and my daughter, are thousands and thousands and thousands of miles away."

A gob-stopped Elizabeth looked to Jack who was sitting on the floor chuckling. "Did you know they were in here?"

"Of course. We were talking a few minutes before you came in."

"Why didn't you say anything?!"

Jack casually stood up from the floor, reached for a nearby bottle of water, and unscrewed the cap. Before taking a gulp of the liquid, he spoke.

"Why should I have? I think it's pretty clear to everyone on this transporter that I am hopelessly unequivocally in love with you. What's it matter if they hear me say it?"

"Enough! No more love talk!" Carl exclaimed in disgust. "I don't have anyone, and in case you forgot, the last girl I was hooking up with tried to kill me."

"I miss my family," Seth whined from his berth.

"How about we all get ready for tonight's party?" Jack suggested with a smile. He leaned over and gave Elizabeth a kiss on the cheek. "Sorry guys, I had to get in one quick kiss."


Thirty minutes later, Jack looked admiringly at Elizabeth in her green blouse as the foursome left their quarters for the ship's final night of celebration before they landed in sixteen hours. "You wore that on our first date."

"Technically we've only had one date," she reminded him with raised eyebrows. "I've got to be the cheapest girlfriend you've ever had."

Jack chuckled. "I believe you're right. And that date to the movies didn't even cost me anything. Of course . .. ."

"What?" Elizabeth asked curiously as Jack's voice trailed off.

"I did have to save your life a couple times. I mean, that cost me a few years off my life with the worry. Not to mention it cost me dates with other women when they saw that my life was monopolized with the business of rescuing you."

"Please," she scoffed. "You loved rescuing me."

"How do you know?" Jack challenged.

"Because you talk in you sleep", she answered with a smile before hurrying off to join Abigail who was walking down the corridor.


By nine o'clock, the party was in full swing. When the voyage had begun months ago, the crew, knowing that the passengers might turn to hard partying to relieve cabin fever and boredom, had secretly squirreled away several cases of alcohol, which they now brought out to celebrate the conclusion of the journey.

The crew and passengers didn't waste any time downing the surprise cache of alcohol, dancing to loud music, and being overly sentimental as they hugged their roommates and friends. Several even hugged the captain and first officer.

Elizabeth took another sip of her drink and looked around the room until she spied Jack. Dressed in clean clothes after his work-out, he had a beer in one hand as he stood with a group of guys in the corner of the room and played the usual hologram drinking game.

The atmosphere was jovial as the excited passengers thought about their upcoming adventure of living in a colony so from from their home planet.

Someone turned up the music even louder and Bud, one of Elizabeth's suitemate, grabbed her hand and pulled her into a group of men and women swaying their hips to the rhythm. Soon Elizabeth was jumping up and down with the exuberant crowd as the song changed to a fast pulsating noise.

She flipped her hair around wildly and laughed as Star, Louise, and Abigail grasped hands and circled around her in some sort of miniature hora dance.

Elizabeth didn't know why she had bothered to shower before the party. By the time the seventh song had ended, she was sweaty, had spilt beer on her clothes, and was exhilarated from dancing.

And then she saw him. From across the room. There was a break in the crowd and she could see him. Watching her. Her face broke out in a grin as he walked towards her.

"The party's going to go on for a couple more hours", Jack said in her ear above the loud noise. "Seth and Carl don't look like they're leaving anytime soon."

Elizabeth didn't bother to stop and look for her roommates. Instead, she took Jack's hand and let him lead her through the throng of people and out of the room.


"I need to stop," Jack said with ragged breath as he pulled back. He moved off of Elizabeth and sat on the edge of the berth.

After leaving the party, the couple had walked along the corridors. Holding hands. Enjoying each other's company as they had traveled the ship and visited their favorite spots together. The trees in the nursery. The large window where they had so often sat on pillows and watched the stars. Even the fitness center where weeks earlier Jack had tried to teach Elizabeth how to play racquetball but she had kept shrieking and running from the fast-moving ball until he couldn't stop laughing.

Finally, unable to keep their hands off each other any longer, they had made their way to the living quarters. Where they now found themselves totally alone with each other in the dim light.

"What's the matter?" a breathless Elizabeth asked. She lifted her head off her pillow, pushed her hair out of her face, and leaned up on her elbows.

"I can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?"

"You know what." Jack stood up from the mattress and picked up his shirt from the floor. "I'm going to take a cold shower."

Elizabeth tried to suppress her smile. "You can't."

"Why not? God knows, I need something to turn down the heat."

"I used up all your water minutes."

"You what?"

"It's the last night on the ship. I didn't think you'd need them in the morning", she explained with a carefree shrug when Jack stared at her.

"You used up all your minutes and mine?" he asked in disbelief before turning on one of the overhead lights.

"My hair needed conditioning. It's too late to argue about it now," she said simply. "The water's all gone down the drain."

"Great," he muttered. "So what do you suggest I do to handle my incredible desire for you right now?"

"I suggest we have sex."

A speechless Jack stared at her for a second before finding his voice. "Did you just say what I think you said?"

Over the past four months, the couple had shared passionate kisses. His hands had more than once - okay, quite often – found their way up her shirts and caressed her flesh. Her fingers had roamed up his bare back. They had lay in each other's embrace with the legs intertwined while they fervently tasted each other's lips. But they had never known each other completely.

"I did."

"Why are you looking so mischievous when you say that?" he challenged.

Elizabeth laughed again, pulled the pillow out from under her, and threw it at him. "I was trying to be seductive."

"You just have to breathe to do that", he said with a chuckle.

"I'm serious, Jack. Come back to my bed with me."

"It's a berth, not a bed," he reminded her with a smile as he picked the pillow of the floor at his feet where it had landed after it bounced off his shoulder. "And it's my berth. I'm on the bottom today."

"We'll see about that," she said teasingly.

Jack chuckled again. "I thought you like to be on top. That's what you said our first day on the ship."

He paused and then smiled even though his question was serious. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" she answered emphatically. "Aren't you sure?"

"I've been sure for weeks." Jack grinned as he looked at her from the doorway of the shower room.

As he saw her laying there with her tousled hair and disheveled clothing, waiting for him, he had a flashback to an earlier conversation. From the first day that they had ever met. He wondered how they had managed to get from that day at the airport to this. But frankly, he didn't care. He was just glad they had.

"You know, when we get back to Earth, I've got dibs on all those frozen eggs of yours," he informed her.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"I love you", Elizabeth softly added as he started crossing the few feet separating them.

"Define love", he demanded in a smooth voice as he crawled into the berth and on top of her.

Elizabeth shook her head slightly. "Uh uh. I'll show you," she whispered.

Jack had never heard a sexier sentence.

UP next: Chapter 29.

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