Chapter 11

Enjoying A Cruise - Through Space

Ninety degrees spinward of the Lunar Conveyor's main reception area, was the restaurant district. It was a communal open area containing a number of internationally recognised food outlets. They ranged from Michelin star restaurants from Europe, Asia and the Americas, to the well known popular fast food chains. The Smith's and the Tyler's were in Nandos, enjoying their lunch together.

David Rockwell, the architect and designer, had joined them with his wife, Marcia, their ten year old son Sam, and daughter Lola, who was aged eight. The families had met briefly, earlier in the day, when their children had been playing in the Hub Fun Zone, a soft play area of mazes and climbing frames in a microgravity environment.

'Dave was the chief architect on the Lunar Conveyor project,' Pete explained. 'He's responsible for the interior style of the habitat ring over the top of Calatrava's structural design.'

'You've done a good job,' Jackie told him. 'It's like bein' on one of them posh cruise ships.'

'Thank you. And you're right about the cruise ship feel. We looked at various ships and incorporated their designs into the project.'

Marcia started to tell John and Rose about an adult fun area that her husband had designed in the hub.

'Oh. Me an' Pete tried that out while Tony was in . . . the fun . . . zone,' Jackie said sheepishly as her daughter and son-in-law looked at her in amazement. 'What?'

John raised his eyebrows and pulled a face. 'Blimey. I can't believe your mum and dad beat us to that one.'

Pete had a smug look on his face as he picked up his glass of beer and winked at them. 'Would you like us to childmind after lunch?'

'Would you?' Rose said with a gleam in her eyes. 'That would be lovely. Thanks Dad.'

So, after they had all finished their meal, Pete and Jackie took the children to explore some more of the habitat ring, whilst John and Rose headed for the lifts. The lift took them down (or up) to a microgravity reception area similar to the one they had seen when they first arrived. There were a number of doors in between the lighting panels, and Rose tugged John towards one that had a green "vacant" sign illuminated above the door. As they floated to the door, she touched the small panel to the side of the door and it slid open.

They floated into the spherical, velvet padded room which was tastefully lit with small LED lights that were acting as buttons in the plush velvet wall cushion. Once they closed the door, the sign changed to a red "engaged" notice. Rose wrapped her legs around John's waist and started to unbutton his shirt. He started to unbutton her blouse. When Rose finished with his shirt, she unbuttoned his trousers and pulled down the zip. John reached inside her blouse and unfastened her bra.

They were not newbies when it came to microgravity. After all, they had an anti-gravity bed in the TARDIS, although that only had a limited floatation field. Here, they had a whole room to have fun in and were aware of the laws they had to obey. Newton's laws of motion that is.

The first of Newton's laws that newbies tended to be unaware of, was his third law which stated that when one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body. This meant that when the man performed his pelvic thrust, he and his partner would be pushed away from each other.

Once acquainted with Newton's third law, newbies would then be reminded of his first law, that in an inertial reference frame, an object either remains at rest or continues to move at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a force. The couple would watch as their partner continued to drift away from them and bounce off the wall opposite.

John and Rose knew they had to hold on to each other. Once they had taken their tops off each other, John reached around Rose's waist, and rotated through one eighty degrees. They removed each other's footwear, and pulled down their trousers. Clothing floated around the room, eventually drifting to one side where the gentle centrifugal force sent them.

With an arm wrapped around John's waist, Rose pulled down John's boxer trunks, and started to play with what she found there. She could feel John removing her knickers and kissing her intimate area. It was very erotic and arousing. They carefully adjusted their hold on bits of their anatomy as they rotated in front of each other, until their lips found one another's and they shared a passionate kiss.

Rose wrapped her legs around John's, hooked her heels under his buttocks and gave a little gasp as she pulled herself onto him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he put one hand in the small of her back, one between her shoulders, and pulled her in close. Their pelvic movements started a slow rotation of their bodies as they lost themselves in the moment.

Rose reached across with her right arm and grabbed him under his right arm, leaning to her left. Using John's erection as an axle, she started a counter-clockwise rotation as he rotated clockwise. They both shuddered with pleasure as parts of their intimate anatomy brushed together at unusual angles.

John saw her feet drift past and kissed each one as he felt Rose doing the same to his. As they came back face to face, they kissed each other hungrily as they locked into a climactic embrace. Rose let out a cry as a guttural groan escaped John's throat. They continued their slow rotation for what seemed an eternity. Their bodies entwined, glistening with perspiration. A shudder ran down John's spine as she gently nibbled his ear.

'That . . . (kiss) Was . . . (kiss) Fantastic,' she whispered in his ear. 'D'ya know what I'm 'thinkin'?'

'Of course I do, we're telepathic. Remember?'

Rose giggled. 'Oh yeah. Well . . . what d'ya think?'

'I think the next time we come in here, we should have a tablet with a downloaded copy of the Kama Sutra on it.'

Rose kissed him on the lips. 'Mmmm. But until then, I think we can wing it.'

John growled with pleasure, and they began to add their own revisions to that ancient text.

'This reminds me of that Caribbean cruise we went on a few years ago,' Jackie said as they entered the upper floor of the opulent dining room.

The ceiling was made of the four layer, micrometeorite proof, laminated glass with art deco styling. The habitat ring could be seen arching away from them to the left and right. The hub could be seen four hundred feet above them, with two of the support struts leading to it. The starfield could be seen slowly drifting by with the rotation of the ship. The room was all white marble and glass with gleaming brass fittings. The broad staircase curved around a fibre optic light sculpture which grew up from the lower deck and spread out like the branches of a tree.

'Ooh this is beautiful,' Rose said as she took John's arm and started to descend the stairs. She was wearing a metallic gold, off the shoulder ball gown, which complemented her fit physique. Jackie was wearing an off the shoulder sparkly black dress. John and Pete were wearing their dinner suits with black tie, whilst the boys wore jacket and ties, and Juleshka wore a pale blue version of her mother's dress.

'They've certainly gone to town on this section,' John agreed. 'Reminds me of the heyday of steamships.'

Rose picked up his thoughts on his previous encounters with luxury ships in the old universe. 'Er, no. This is nothin' like those ships,' she told him. He just smiled and nodded his head in agreement.

They made their way to the large "captain's table", where captain Archer, in his dress uniform, was sitting with Mackay, Pecile, and a number of celebrity families. Henry van Statten saw them approaching and left his seat to greet them.

'John, Rose. I saw the mission report on that village in Hampshire. Did you get a resolution to that incident?'

John and Rose accepted his handshake. 'Hi Henry,' Rose said. 'Not yet. We're waiting to hear back from the Shadow Proclamation.'

'Let's hope they can come up with something. We don't want aliens thinking they can just turn up and put whole communities to sleep when they feel like it,' van Statten said. 'It was bad enough when they came and abducted people.'

He turned to Pete. 'And Pete and Jackie. It's good to see you again. I think it was your sixty fifth birthday party in New York when we last met.'

Pete shook his hand. 'That's right. How's the consumer electronics market these days?'

'Pretty good thanks. It helps when you have some talented kids fresh out of college producing tech that people want to buy,' van Statten said with a lopsided smile. 'And one of those kids was sponsored by your foundation.'

'Who was that?' Pete asked.

'A young man called Adam Knight.'

'Oh Adam,' Rose said. 'How's he doin'?' Adam Knight was a young alien who hadn't known he was an alien until he saved the life of Torchwood agent André Coulthard.

'You know him?' van Statten asked. 'Why does that not surprise me? He's a genius with micro electronics. He can literally create a new microprocessor in his sleep. We took him on as an apprentice, and he worked with the team that produced the A.I housekeeping robots on this very ship.'

Pete laughed. 'That's ironic. You won the contract with the help of an apprentice which we sponsored.'

Henry laughed with him. 'Yeah. But Cybus Industries got the lucrative automated maintenance systems contract. So I think we can call it a draw.'

They joined the other diners at the table, where Alan Bond was chatting to Archer about his career.

'Well, it was the usual route really,' Archer said. 'I was an air force pilot when I applied to NASA for astronaut training. I made the grade and eventually did a three month tour of duty on the ISS. When I heard about the Space Plane project and the Lunar Conveyor, I put my name forward. And here I am.'

'So what's your tour of duty on the Conveyor?' Richard Branson asked.

'One month on the Conveyor with the option of a month at Peary Base,' Archer said with a smile. 'Of course, I'm going to take the option. I just love it out here.'

'I know exactly what you mean,' Rose said with a big smile of her own and a knowing glance at John.

John, in a black tracksuit with white stripes, and Rose, in a pink tracksuit with white stripes, were jogging around the half mile circumference of the habitat ring, trying to burn off some of the calories from the slap up meal they had enjoyed the night before. Pete and Jackie had taken the kids to a cyber cafe for breakfast, where they were now enjoying playing a networked kart racing game in virtual reality.

Various people they jogged past would say "good morning", and a few people were jogging themselves. After four laps of the "wheel", they finished at the glass fronted cafe and stepped inside where they flopped down in chairs at a table next to Pete and Jackie.

'Enjoy yer run did ya?' Jackie asked.

Rose smiled at her. 'Yeah. It's interestin', because if ya run that way . . .' She pointed in John's direction. 'With the rotation of the ship, it's like runnin' downhill.'

'And if you run against the rotation,' John said, pointing towards Rose. 'It's like running uphill.'

'Why's that then?' Jackie asked.

'Inertia,' Rose explained. 'We are all travellin' at about thirty miles an hour with the rotation. If you run against it, you're runnin' against your own inertia.'

'Oh. Right,' Jackie said.

'What do you want for breakfast?' John asked Rose.

'Er. I'll have a bowl of muesli and a skinny latte please.'

'So how do yer know all this science stuff then?' Jackie asked her daughter as John went to the counter. 'I mean, yer never paid any attention to it at school.'

'Over the years I've just sort of picked things up from John through our telepathic link. I kinda know stuff without knowin' I know it. John reckons I could get a doctorate without really tryin'.' Rose told her.

'Well. Who'd have thought it. My daughter, a genius.'

'Me for one,' Pete said with his proud "dad" smile.

John returned with a tray of breakfasts, and put the bowls, milk, and cups of coffee on the table, before putting the tray on the receptacle over the waste bin.

'What did you have?' Rose asked as she looked into his bowl.

'Porridge . . . and this,' he replied as he took a banana out of his pocket. He proceeded to slice the banana into the porridge and stir it in. He ate a spoonful and grinned. 'Ooh. That's top banana!'

Rose rolled her eyes and laughed as she poured the milk over her mixed fruit muesli and had a mouthful. She looked over to the children and saw that they had finished their game and were now looking out of the window at the large waxing moon which was rolling around like a ball in a slow washing machine. Tony and Eyulf were trying to identify individual craters from a spotters guide on a tablet PC.

'Don't forget we're doing the tour this morning you two,' Pete said as he sipped his mocha.

'Oh yeah,' Rose said. 'We haven't forgotten. We'll finish up here, go and grab a quick shower, and then we'll meet you at reception, yeah?'

'Okay. But if yer late, we'll go without ya,' Jackie told them.

John gave a little laugh at her joke, before he saw her raise an eyebrow and give him THAT look. She wasn't joking.

'Er, eat up Rose. We don't want to be late,' John said, scooping up the last of his banana porridge. They slurped down their drinks and headed for the door.

'See you later kids,' Rose called out as they jogged out of the cafe.

In their apartment, they stripped off and got in the shower together. John used the "time sense" he'd inherited from his twin in the other universe and his time management skills to assure Rose that by performing two tasks at the same time, they could have a shower and a shag and still be in time. Rose reminded him of his time keeping after their first trip in the old universe and what her mother would do to him, but was willing to risk it for a shower shag.

After their recreational shower, John got dressed in jeans and a black T shirt which had a logo saying "E=MC2", with a question underneath which simply said, "Seriously?". Rose came out of the bedroom wearing a denim skirt with boots, a red T shirt and denim jacket. She had plaited her hair into two pigtails.

'Ooh, that look brings back memories,' he said, remembering their stop over in Cardiff where Captain Jack and Mickey met for the first time.

Rose looked down at her clothes and smoothed down her skirt. 'Oh yeah. Margaret the Slitheen and the Rift. Come on then, let's go find the family.' Hand in hand they made their way to the main reception where they had first entered the habitat ring.

John held his arms out as they approached the reception desk. 'Here we are. I told you we'd make it in time.'

Jackie looked at her wristwatch. 'Only just . . . Mind you, anythin' under twelve months is good for you.'

Rose and Pete snorted laughs, and the kids had a fit of the giggles at the look of indignation on John's face. Rose stroked his face and gave him a peck on the cheek. Her mum would never forgive him for that.

A woman approached wearing a dark blue trouser suit, the uniform of the Space Tours Consortium, a shoulder bag, whilst carrying a clipboard. 'Hello. I'm Helen, and you must be the ten o'clock tour of the Bridge. Mister and Misses Tyler, it's lovely to have the opportunity to meet you. And Doctor and Misses Smith, can I just say I'm such a fan of the show.'

John and Rose smiled. 'Thank you,' Rose said. 'It's nice to know that people appreciate the work we do at the institute.'

When Rose first came to Pete's World, she hated the public interest in her life and the way the paparazzi followed her around, intruding in her private life. Were she and Mickey Smith an item, or was it that she was just gay? What perfume did she wear? What colour was her underwear? Over the years however, that interest had become less intrusive and more appreciative of who she and John were, and of their knowledge, skill and experience.

'And these are your children,' Helen continued. 'You have lovely families. So, are you ready to start the tour?'

John gave her an enthusiastic grin. 'Oh yeah!' he said with childlike enthusiasm.

'Shall we then?' Helen said, extending her arm towards the elevators.

They stepped into the elevator, and Helen took some adjustable Velcro overshoes out of her shoulder bag. 'If you put these on over your shoes, they'll help you walk normally on the bridge,'

As the elevator ascended towards the Hub, they fitted the Velcro shoes over their own. They also felt their bodies getting lighter and lighter. As Rose fitted the shoes over her knee high boots, she looked at her short denim skirt.

'Ah . . . Your daughter isn't the genius she thought she was,' Rose said to her mum.

'Eh?' Jackie asked.

'We're gonna be weightless, and I'm wearin' a short skirt. Everyone's gonna get an eyeful of me knickers,' Rose realised.

'Your point being?' John asked with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Rose playfully slapped his arm. 'Shut it you.'

Helen was lapping it up. They were behaving just as they did on the show. It was brilliant! 'If you use the overshoes as you leave the elevator, you'll always have your feet on the ground.'

'Oh yeah. Thanks Helen.'

As the elevator doors opened, John, Pete and the kids jumped out and floated across the room. Rose stepped out, walking as though she were on thin ice, making sure one foot was stuck to the floor before lifting the other.

'I'm with you Sweetheart," Jackie said as she followed her lead.

Helen walked alongside them, leading them to a door in the left-hand wall of the atrium. She looked over to the rest of the floating family. 'If you could make your way over to the door please.'

They swam, gamboled and jumped across the room, to stick their feet on the floor by the recessed door in the corner of the room. 'The captain only has one request, and that is that you keep your feet on the floor when you are on the bridge.'

'Did you hear that kids?' Rose asked, giving John a deliberate look to tell him he was included in that.

'Yes Mum,' the kids replied.

'What?' John asked in innocence. Rose just gave him a lopsided smile.

Helen held her I.D badge against an electronic lock sensor, and the door swished open to reveal a twenty metre long cylindrical corridor, padded with white cushion blocks, and a biscuit brown carpet leading to a door at the far end. She led the way along the corridor, their footsteps making a quiet "ripping" noise as the Velcro gripped the carpet. Once again she held her badge against the lock sensor and it swished open.

John, Rose and Pete immediately recognised the familiar sounds of an operations room. There was the hum of equipment, clicking of keyboards, and the hushed conversations of people exchanging information. As they stepped through the door, they saw a room which resembled mission control at NASA. They were in the corner of the room, and to their right were rows of control desks facing a window which looked out at the slowly rotating Moon. On a raised dais at the back of the room, Jonathan Archer sat on his command chair with a microgravity mug of coffee.

He looked over to them, smiled, stood up and moved over to them. 'Hi there. Welcome to the bridge of the Lunar Conveyor.' He looked at the wide eyed children. 'Be honest, what do you think?'

'It's awesome,' Jason said. 'What are all the desks for?'

'Oh, good question,' Archer said. 'The bridge isn't just where we fly the ship, it's the operations centre. Helm and Navigation are over there. Communications there, Engineering, Environmental Control . . .' He indicated the various control desks.

'Where d'ya steer the ship?' Jackie asked. 'I don't see a wheel or anythin'.'

Tony rolled his eyes. 'Mum! It's a spaceship. And anyway, seafaring ships haven't had wheels for years. They have joysticks these days.'

Archer laughed sympathetically. 'That's right, although this ship flies itself.'

'Flies itself?' Juleshka asked.

'Yes. It's on a precisely calculated elliptical orbit where we constantly chase the Moon as it orbits the Earth. The navigational computers make any necessary adjustments to keep us on course.'

Pete frowned. 'But you said that was Helm over there. What's that for then?'

'Occasionally we have to avoid objects in orbit, so we can change our trajectory to move around them.'

Eyulf had wandered over to the far side of the bridge and was looking at a large screen. 'What's this station here?'

Archer walked over to him followed by the rest of the family. 'Ah. That's Resources. It incorporates the Hangar, Cargo Bay, Storage and Distribution.' The screen showed two Space Planes in the centre of the Hub.

'It looks like that plane's being dismantled,' Juleshka said. They could see a robotic arm taking away large, disk-like sections of the fuselage.

'That's the cargo plane Endeavour,' Archer explained. 'It took off before the Enterprise and rendezvoused as we approached Earth. We picked you up on the way out. The Enterprise has the passenger cabin module fitted, whereas the Endeavour has a cargo module. Each of those disks is a storage container full of consumables for the Conveyor. The disks left on the Endeavour are bound for the Moon.'

'Clever,' Pete said with a nod of appreciation.

'Yeah. But of course, Doctor Smith knows all about that,' Archer said with a grin.

'Eh?' John said.

'Noordwijk, twenty eighteen,' Archer said. 'I was at your symposium. You sold me the dream.'

'Oh right,' John said with an open mouthed smile. 'Brilliant!'