CHAPTER 5- BERTHING

Jack turned the corner and saw Elizabeth walking in his direction from the opposite end of the hallway. She didn't notice him at first as she kept her eyes focused on the door numbers, looking for her assigned quarters as she walked along.

They both got to the metal door at the same time. Their numbers EK-0951984 and DL-1041981 were posted on the wall beside the door along with two other E.C. numbers. Her brand-new Louis Vuitton bag was next to his worn service-issued duffel bag on the floor outside the door waiting for them to move in.

Elizabeth picked up her bag and gave Jack a friendly smile as the automatic door slid open revealing the small room which was already occupied by two passengers.

They had barely started to say hello to their roommates when Jack and Elizabeth both saw what they wanted.

Elizabeth used all her strength to heave her bag upwards. If Jack hadn't quickly pulled back his head out of the way as he threw his own bag, he would have been hit with her designer luggage. With a passing thought, he realized that she had more power in her arms than he would have guessed.

Both bags landed with a plop on the top empty bunk mattress which sank down slightly under the combined fifty pounds.

"I call it."

"Too late. I called it with my bag."

"Your bag almost hit me."

"You shouldn't have been in my way."

"You shouldn't be in such a hurry to take what's mine."

Elizabeth glared at him. If she hadn't gotten lost on the wrong level and gone down the east end of the corridor instead of the west end, she would have gotten to the quarters before him.

"I like to be on top," Jack said.

"Most men do", she replied derisively. "But I like to be on top myself."

"Why am I not surprised?" he remarked.

The other two men in the compartment stopped putting their stuff in their lockers and paused to watch the interaction and to introduce themselves.

Seth Thady, a geologist, had curly blond hair, a close-cropped beard that was barely noticeable it was so blond, and broad shoulders that looked like he normally bench-pressed the rocks he was paid to study.

Carl Thames, at twenty-eight, was a microbiologist with golden brown skin, a strong jaw, and wire-framed glasses that he wore to make himself look smarter, but which actually had the opposite effect; they made people wonder why he was too dumb that he simply hadn't had laser surgery to correct his vision.

Elizabeth couldn't decide which man had the more boring job.

More importantly, they had already claimed their bunks. Seth explained that he liked a top bunk because he liked the head room when he sat up in bed, and Carl explained that he liked the bottom bunk because he tended to sleepwalk.

"You might as well let me have the top one", Jack said to Elizabeth.

"Why's that?"

"Because I'm not so sure you can handle climbing up the ladder. You were a bit nervous on the lift-off. You seem like a delicate type."

"I can handle a ladder just fine."

"Also, you're shorter than me so it makes sense that you take the bottom bunk."

"Not too much shorter", she noted with a smile. Her voice inflection indicating that Jack wasn't the full six feet he liked to believe.

He ignored her slight about his height and kept his duffel bag on the top bunk. He picked up her bag and tossed it onto the bottom bunk.

"I'm the one in law enforcement and I say that whoever has possession gets it. My bag in on top. Yours isn't. Since nothing of yours is on the bunk, you lose."

"For a law enforcement man, you're not so good at your job."

"And you base that on what?"

"Your poor memory."

Jack had to admit he was puzzled by her response. "My memory? What's wrong with my memory?" he challenged.

"If you had a good memory, you'd remember that my books are in that duffel bag. So technically my stuff is still on that top bunk."

Drat! Jack thought. She's good.

Seth spoke up as he looked with interest at their conversation. "Why are her things in your bag? You two know each other already? You a couple?"

"No!" Elizabeth and Jack both exclaimed at the same time.

"Sure seems that way", Carl muttered under his breath as he gave a sideways glance to Seth before returning to unpacking.

"I am a lady," Elizabeth began. "And if you are a gentleman, it would make sense that you let me choose first. You are a gentleman, aren't you?"

"I am. Which is why I will not be sexist and let you have the top berth just because you're female. You wouldn't want me to treat you differently merely because of your gender. Would you? Because if you want me to . . say . . coddle you . . . I suppose I -"

"No, of course not", she interrupted.

"I didn't think so."

Drat! Elizabeth thought. He's good.

"We'll do this fairly. Flip a coin. Whoever wins gets the top bunk for the first two months. Loser gets it the second two months", Jack offered pleasantly.

"Fine. But we'll do it every week."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Do what every week?" he asked suggestively. He had to admit that when her ire was up, she had an attractive quality about her. She was still irritating. But darn, she was sexy.

"Switch bunks, you big oaf. That way, we don't get too comfortable with the top and refuse to give it up when it's time to switch. Who has a coin?"

"I keep a lucky half-dollar with me." Jack reached his hand into his pants pocket and pulled out the coin.

Five minutes later, Elizabeth had finished making up the bottom bunk and unpacked her few belongings into her locker. She was surprised to find that she had three inches of extra space between her mattress and the metal bed frame to put more belongings. When Jack handed her novels down to her, she stored them there.

Now that everything was in place, she sat on her bunk, and looked around. There would be no privacy. Not for four months. Each bunk had a small curtain that could be pulled closed to conceal a sleeping person, but whoever thought it was adequate privacy was kidding themselves.

The four of them assigned to this room shared a bathroom with another set of living quarters. Eight people with only one small shower, one toilet, and one washbasin to share. Which meant she wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time in the bathroom. She imagined that she'd be doing most of her dressing and undressing while clumsily sitting on her bed with the curtains drawn.

Julie would love this, she realized as she thought of her younger sister having to share a room with three men. Viola would demand that the ship turn around and take her back home, she smiled as she thought of her older more prim and proper sister.

"Jack, you coming with us?"

Elizabeth looked up at the voice of one of her roommates. Seth and Carl were already eager to head to the gymnasium/fitness center on Level 2. While it was good, the artificial gravity on the transporter wasn't equal to that on earth, and the difference would have an impact on the passengers' bodies. Gradually making their muscles atrophy and weaken over the next four months if they didn't work out.

Elizabeth didn't mind that she wasn't going; she had gotten in shape to pass her physical exam, but she wasn't much for weightlifting or a treadmill on a regular basis.

"Yeah. I'm coming", Jack said as he jumped down from the top bunk. He gave Elizabeth a big smile. "See you around, roomie."

Two hours later, Elizabeth had prepared her first hologram to her new students in Coal Valley, found her way to the communication office, and dispatched it. It was just a short introduction but despite the speed of transmission, it would still take six to seven days for the message to reach the far away colony. As the transporter got farther and farther from Earth, transmissions to home would take longer while the time for those to Coal Valley would become shorter.

When the elevator door opened, Elizabeth stepped off on Level 3 and heard Jack's laugh from down the hall.

She berated herself when her pulse quickened at the sounds. Elizabeth unsuccessfully tried to convince herself that it was because he was so irritating. But it wasn't. Her pulse had quickened because she found him so darn attractive. He was leaning against the wall across the hall from their quarters talking to someone.

He's not that cute, she argued with herself. Okay, so maybe he is.

He's just so . . . so . . . . aggravating!

Jack gave her a simple nod as Elizabeth walked by. She pretended not to pay too much attention, but it was impossible not to notice that one of the female flight attendants from earlier was now dressed in yoga pants and a tight-fitting sports bra.

They must have met in the Fitness Center.

Elizabeth gave a lazy wave and said "Hi". She buzzed her armband over the door sensor, which immediately slid open as she heard the flight attendant mention something to Jack about a racquetball court.

Who cares. He's nothing to me. Just a roommate.

Five minutes later, the door slid open again and Seth, Carl, and Jack walked into the room. Bringing with them the smell of sweaty men.

"How was the fitness center?" Elizabeth looked up from the small computer on her lap. In the ten-foot by ten-foot room, she couldn't help but smell the men. Or see them.

"Good. They have some nice sets of weights," Seth remarked. He pulled off his shirt revealing muscles, a tattoo of a rock, and the familiar scar on the upper left arm which they now all had. The round scar was the size of a nickel; a remnant from one of their inoculations against the most virulent of possible diseases. Elizabeth looked away when Seth's hands moved to his shorts.

"Just three bikes and three treadmills", Carl added as he too began to strip. "And a rowing machine."

Elizabeth began to blush and tried to turn around but there seemed to be nowhere to look other than to awkwardly twist her body around and face the back wall. She ended up staring straight ahead at her computer screen and wishing that her peripheral vision wasn't so good. Especially when she saw the lighter colored skin of Carl's lower half which was not normally exposed to the sun.

"Guys", Jack said reprovingly.

When the other men looked at him, Jack shook his head slightly and nodded towards Elizabeth.

A naked Carl paused for a moment and then pulled his shorts back up around his waist.

"Sorry."

"Yeah, sorry. The last girl I lived with didn't mind."

Seth quickly grabbed a towel to cover himself and walked into the bathroom.

"It's okay", Elizabeth said, but her pink cheeks let them know she was embarrassed.

Elizabeth learned four things from the incident. The men had no inhibitions. Seth was obsessed with rocks as evidenced by his tattoo. Carl had a birthmark.

And the most important thing that made her heart skip a beat.

Jack was a gentleman.

Up next: Chapter 6 - Cafeteria Talk