Okay, some of you have been pestering me for a zero-gravity chapter, so here it is.
Now, ironically, as I was planning this one, I actually saw a documentary in relation to having sex in space, and it turns out the mechanics behind the whole thing are more complicated than we might think. It has to do with Newton's laws of physics (action results in reaction, and whatnot), which means that the very act of thrusting during sex could actually prove to be a problem. (No, I am not kidding)
So, I decided to really consider about how John and Cortana might be able to work their way through this. I'm not sure if my solution is probable, but I'm no physicist or anything like that, so bear with me here.
Among the Stars
"Okay, Pelican 234, you are cleared to continue."
The male voice crackled over the com channel on the Pelican and Cortana let out a sigh of relief. They had been holding position for over an hour now, and she had been getting decidedly frustrated. The former AI may have possessed many amazing qualities, such as intelligence, memory and the like, but patience had not been one of them. Boredom had always been a vice for her, but as an AI, she had alleviated this by occasionally breaking into systems – many of which were meant to be secure – and making a few minor adjustments to them; nothing serious or dangerous, just a little bit disruptive.
But now she was a human, and her skills in that area were limited. Added to the fact that she was now a passenger on board a Pelican dropship, and her options were severely reduced, so it was inevitable that boredom would set in and start to drive her crazy.
Flicking her gaze to her right, Cortana spotted the only other occupant of the vessel, who was currently acting as the pilot. Even out of his armour, Master Chief John-117 still cut an imposing figure, but unlike the former AI, he had many years of experience in dealing with long waits. On the battlefield, he had been in many occasions where he – and frequently his squad mates as well – would have hunkered down and waited for hours or even days just for one target to present itself for attack. To him, being forced to wait in line for an hour in a Pelican dropship orbiting a planet was not that big a deal.
"See, I told you that we wouldn't have to wait too long," he said. Though his tone was mostly matter-of-fact, Cortana could not help but pick up the faint trace of teasing underlying it.
"One hour may not seem that long for you, John," she told him pointedly, "but for someone who used to be able to perform over a dozen tasks in the space of just one second, an hour might as well be an eternity."
"Well, you should have brought along a book or something," John teased. Cortana simply huffed and crossed her arms.
The UNSC was still very much in the process of rebuilding their colonies, and unfortunately, not enough personnel had been assigned to the necessary tasks, like flying the ships carrying supplies between the damaged worlds. John and the other Spartans had been approached with the offer to assist, and they had all jumped at the chance. Right now, their usual jobs were in something of a break period, and they needed something to keep themselves occupied. Granted, John did not get bored as easily as Cortana did, but even he had his limits. Plus, as a Spartan, he would be ideally suited to help keep the peace, and his strength would be an added benefit.
Right now, they were flying the Pelican to a UNSC warship stationed in orbit over Earth, which they would dock with and then ride to the colony that they had been assigned to. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, things had gotten a little jammed up, and their ship, along with at least a dozen others, had been forced to wait in orbit for an hour before finally being given the chance to move on. They both wondered if that little incident would simply be the first of many.
Ignoring the view of the warship in the distance ahead of them, Cortana looked off to the side part of her window; out to the black vista of space that was speckled with tiny pinpoints of light from stars that were millions or even billions of kilometres away. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of views like this," she remarked.
"I think I got tired of it a long time ago," John said gruffly. "I don't like it as much as having a solid ground beneath your feet."
"What if you were to get up and walk around for a while?" Cortana shot back at her lover. "Would that count as solid ground and make you feel better?" Her piercing blue eyes narrowed in defiance, as if she was just daring him to make a verbal comeback.
"That's not what I meant, Cortana?" John said defensively.
"Oh? So what did you mean?"
He did his best to explain. "Being a Spartan, I am not exactly keen on anything that would put me at a disadvantage during a fight. Being forced to stay inside a floating piece of metal with no real chance to take a shot at the enemy; I consider that a disadvantage. That's why I prefer to be on the ground when it comes to fighting; I can do more things, and do them more effectively."
Cortana mused over what the Spartan just said. "Well, I suppose that does make sense, John. I mean, you are a soldier, and have been your whole life. Still, that does not mean that you should write off the beautiful view of space simply because of a purely tactical reason."
Here, John could not help but let out a brief chuckle. One of the things that he loved about Cortana was her sheer tenacity and stubbornness, which prevented her from accepting any kind of total defeat. Even if she opted to back off and let the other person be the victor, regardless of exactly what the battle was, she always had to do something to ensure that the win was not one hundred percent. Her little admonishment about him possibly writing off a beautiful sight was evidence of that.
"No, I'd never completely write off a view such as this, Cortana," he said. "Truth be told, I do enjoy looking up at the stars, admiring their light and their natural beauty." He gave Cortana a brief glace at the last two words, as if he was referring to her as well. The former AI noticed this, and felt her face warm slightly as a faint blush came over it.
"In fact, when I was boy, I used to lie on the ground and look up at the night sky. Even after I joined the Spartans, I still did that with some of my friends; mostly Kelly and Sam. We used to wonder what mysteries and wonders lay out there. Whether or not there were aliens, and we would hope that we might be able to meet them one day." He trailed off and glanced over at the woman in the other seat. "Of course, that did not exactly turn out as we could have hoped, did it?"
"No, I guess it did not," Cortana admitted.
John turned his gaze back out the view port. "I have seen the worst that the universe has had to offer us and it scared me." He paused. "But that does not mean that I don't find it any less beautiful." He glanced sideways at her. "Especially when I am here watching it with you."
Cortana felt her heart flutter as she heard John say this and she smiled broadly. "You always seem to know the right thing to say to make a woman feel happy."
"Well, not any woman. Just you." This caused her to giggle a little, and the two of them just enjoyed the sensation they felt, which came by simply being in each other's presence.
Unfortunately, the feeling only lasted a couple more minutes. The radio crackled back to life, and the same voice that they had heard before from the warship came back over. "Uh, attention all transport vessels. I am afraid to inform you that we are experiencing something of a backlog here, and as a result, we may need you to hold position for a while longer."
"Exactly how long do you want us to wait again?" This other voice obviously belonged to one of the captains of the other vessels, and judging from his tone, he was also not very happy with having to wait for a long time already, and the thought of waiting even longer was not an appealing prospect.
"Um, maybe an hour," the one from the main ship replied hesitantly. "Maybe two."
Not surprisingly, this caused a cacophony of disgruntled voices to break out on the airwaves, all of them voicing their disapproval over the consistently degenerating situation; some of them including colourful language in the process.
Frustrated, Cortana reached over to the radio and hit the mute button. Being stuck here was bad enough, but being forced to listen to a bunch of complaints would only exacerbate the situation.
In the seat beside her, John heaved a sigh; a sure sign that even his Spartan nerves were beginning to get frayed. "Well, it looks like this long day is going to get even longer," he grumbled. "Might as well settle back and wait. Again."
Leaning back in her chair, Cortana blew out a sigh of her own. More than anything, she hated being bored, so immediately she began running over a list of ideas in her head as to how she might make this unbearable situation a little easier on the two of them. It was not as if they were running low on time; no, thanks to the extremely slow grinding wheels of bureaucracy, they had plenty of time to kill.
Cortana had no idea why – in all likelihood, it was out of sheer boredom – but she found her gaze shifting over the controls of the Pelican, as if there might have been a switch that she could flick and make this whole fiasco either pass by quicker, or alleviate her boredom. She had no idea what could have made her think like this.
However, the doubts left her mind when her eyes came to rest on the gravity generator button.
After becoming a human, she had some experience with zero gravity, and she found the whole prospect fascinating, if only for the fact that an individual who was once bound by gravity found themselves free of it. As an AI, she had never had to worry about gravity, since she had been composed of light and photons. But then she became a physical entity and in turn had to get used to its effects. Nonetheless, she found the whole idea of weightlessness to be… liberating, somehow.
"You know what John?" Cortana said abruptly, "I think we could use this time to have a little bit of fun." After she said this, she started to undo her harness.
Confused, the Spartan looked at her. "What exactly are you talking about?" he asked.
Cortana did not answer him, but instead finished undoing her restraints, and then reached forward to hit the gravity generator buttons. Moments later, she felt her feet leave the metal floor of the deck as gravity relinquished its hold.
Laughing joyfully, Cortana pushed herself away from the pilot's chairs towards the doorway leading to the empty cargo area. As she reached it, she turned back to her lover, her hair floating free around her pretty face. "Come on!" she giggled happily before going through the door.
It was her playful laugh that really did John in. It was extremely rare for him to turn her down, but when she had a look of pure joy on her face and she laughed happily as she had just done, it was damn near impossible for him to do so. Seeing her enjoy herself like that was one of the things that he lived for. Shaking his head in mild disbelief, but still grinning to himself while he did so, John undid his own harness, and got out of his chair in his own way. He reached behind his head and gripped the top of his chair, and then pushed off with his feet, making him essentially flip backwards out of the chair. Manoeuvring himself around, he expertly guided himself through the doorway and into the cargo hold.
Pelican dropships had not always been known for much room on the inside, but later models like this one had been modified to allow for more space. That space was currently empty as the cargo had not been picked up yet, and so John and Cortana found they had enough space to float around in.
"What do you think of this, John?" Cortana laughed.
"Reminds me of zero g training," he replied.
She huffed out a sigh. "Seriously, does everything remind you of something you did in your military career?"
"Mostly yeah," he replied with a grin. "That doesn't mean that I don't know how to have fun." With that, he pushed off from the wall and launched himself in Cortana's direction. As he passed her he gave her just a little push. In normal gravity, it would not have had much effect, but in their current conditions, the conventional rules no longer applied, and as such the smallest action had much larger consequences. Therefore, John's little nudge sent Cortana into flying backwards into a spiral.
"John!" she cried indignantly, flailing out in response, attempting to hit him but to no avail. In fact, her movements merely served to make her twist and turn in every other direction, resulting in her tumbling around with practically no control.
Hanging back, John laughed at his lover's movements, and although she was still spinning around, she managed to place her hands on her hips and fix him with her trademark steely blue glare; one that was capable of making even the toughest of soldiers wilt.
"You think my little predicament is funny, do you?" she asked indignantly.
The usually-serious Spartan stopped laughing and addressed her with a smile. "As a matter of fact, I do. Especially when you consider that this whole zero-g thing was your idea of passing time."
Cortana heaved a frustrated sigh as she finally slowed to a stop. From John's perspective, she was now upside down. "Yes well, I'm afraid that I forgot to take into account Newton's law of physics; that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If I had known this was how it was going to turn out, I might have come up with a better idea."
"Then why suggest to do a zero gravity experience then?"
Cortana looked down at the floor. Or rather, what the floor was from her perspective, which ironically, was the ceiling. "Because I've never done it before. And people have often said that it was an exhilarating experience where they were free from the traditional bonds of gravity. I don't know John, it just sounded so… liberating."
Instead of saying anything, John floated over to her. Though Cortana was now effectively upside down to him, he nonetheless took her head in her hands and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. She responded in kind, and the upside-down kiss became more passionate with each passing moment.
When they broke apart, Cortana smiled. "Now I am really starting to enjoy myself," she said.
For the next few minutes, the two of them simply enjoyed the sensation and experience of floating around in zero gravity, twirling around each other, stealing the occasional kiss or tender touch. For Cortana, it was another chance for her to admire the strong Spartan man as he moved expertly throughout the weightlessness of the cabin. Although strength mattered very little in these circumstances, the way he manipulated his own muscled form was enough to take her breath away.
As for John, the sheer joy that Cortana exuded was more than enough to make the whole experience worthwhile. Her laughter and playful mischief struck something inside him; something that he had never known even existed until he had started his relationship with her, and seeing her happy like this was all he cared about at that moment.
More to that, the way that her body moved simply captivated him. She was as graceful as a dancer, but seeing the supple lines and curves of her form react in new ways due to the low gravity; it just made her seem all the more sensual than usual.
For most people, being in zero gravity was an amazing experience, and the same could be said for John and Cortana. However, sharing it with each other and nobody else made it all the more intimate. And the way their bodies responded to each other; matching movement with movement, seemed unbelievably… erotic.
As Cortana was floating past him, John almost instinctively reached out and pulled her close to him. She responded by wrapping her arms and legs around him, drawing him close into an embrace. They drew each other into a kiss as they continued to spin around the cabin. No words needed to be said as the two of them broke apart and gazed into each other's eyes. There was only desire there, and they knew the best way to satisfy that desire.
Practically as one, the two of them began to pull off their clothing; both their own and each other's. Within a minute, they were both completely naked, their discarded apparel now floating around them in the weightlessness of the cabin.
Pulling back a little bit, John admired the woman that he loved with all of his heart. Her hair continued to fly in pretty much every direction around her head, but at the same time, her large breasts had been freed from the bonds of gravity and now seemed much more buoyant. He did not think he could get and more aroused or harder than he was at that moment.
Leaning his head forward, John began to lick and suck on Cortana's ample mounds; their tender skin, the sensitive nipples. The former AI leaned back and let off a loud moan as he did so, her pure ecstasy reverberating off the walls of the cabin.
John was about to move down Cortana's chest to her womanhood when an unconventional idea entered his head. Effortlessly, he rotated her body around in the weightless atmosphere, earning a squeal of surprise from her as he did so. "Relax Cortana," he chuckled. "I want to try something a little bit different."
Cortana was confused as to what he meant, but let out an involuntary gasp of pleasure as she felt him start to use his mouth on her opening. His ministrations sent waves of ecstasy through her body as he inflicted little thrills on her womanhood. Moaning softly, she saw that while they were in this current position, there was one ideal way that she could repay him in kind.
Pulling herself forward, she pressed up against John's body, with her head in his own crotch area. She reached out with one hand and grasped his hard and firm manhood and gave it a few gentle strokes before taking it into her mouth. She felt him pause with his own work on her womanhood to let out a soft groan. He continued, and his tongue hit a particularly sensitive area and forced her to let out a squeal of pleasure. Due to the fact that she had John's organ in her mouth when she did this meant that she sent a brief thrill of a vibration through it. This further excited him and inspired him to continue with his teasing of her soft parts.
I don't know why we didn't try this before, Cortana mused as she swirled her tongue around the head and shaft of John's solid man meat. And doing it in zero gravity just makes it so much better! She gave a noise that was a combination of a moan and a giggle as John's mouth once again worked over a sensitive part. Though neither of them reached their orgasm just yet, the thrills that they were inflicting on each other just made the two of them feel as though they were in an entire universe of their own; one that was just them and the sensual pleasure between them.
Eventually separating, John and Cortana brought each other around until they were face to face once again, and engaged in a deep kiss, tasting each other on their lips and their tongues. Slowly, they brought their hips close together, until their intimate parts were touching.
Cortana let herself fall backwards until her body was at a right angle to John's. Gently moving her, the Spartan positioned her body into the ideal position, and he slowly eased his manhood inside her, sheathing himself to the hilt in her soft warmth. Cortana leaned her head back and let out a long moan of sheer bliss as John slowly started to move his hips back and forth, entering her wholly and pulling back out almost all the way before easing back in. He began to speed up the process and Cortana threw her hands up to her head, her hair and breasts bouncing free, and she began to groan loudly, spurring John on.
Despite the sheer pleasure wracking their bodies, John was dimly aware that their movements were actually having an effect on how they were floating around the cabin. He remembered about the whole 'every action has an equal and opposing reaction' aspect, and so his thrusting, as well as Cortana's responses to it, were sending them into something of a tumble; one that they had practically no control over.
Cortana did not seem to even notice, though. She was someone who usually paid close attention to most details, but right now, with John thrusting his erection in and out of her soft womanhood, she was in too much of a heavenly state to care about anything else.
John slowed down his movements until he came to a stop, with his manhood still firmly enclosed to the hilt in Cortana's warmth, and he reached out to the nearest wall – actually the floor – and began gently moving them along it.
Just coming down from the intoxicating haze of their lovemaking, Cortana gave him a curious glance. "John, what exactly are you doing?" she asked with a small giggle.
"Just getting a little more control over our movements," he replied as he continued to edge along the metal surface. "I don't want us to be on the brink of having an orgasm, and then suddenly go flying into a bulkhead." He gave her a grin. "That might kill the mood."
Cortana could not stop the laugh that came out of her, and the musical sound of it bounced off the walls and bulkheads. She felt like asking him what he meant, but instead chose to see where he was going with all of this. She quickly understood his plans when he brought them into one of the areas that had previously been occupied by seats.
Traditionally, Pelicans would have seats on the sides of the cabins, which were divided by looped bars attached to the walls. In order to make a little extra room so as to properly transport cargo, some Pelicans, including this one, had their seats removed. But because of the sudden demand for the ships, they had not been able to remove the bars, and so they remained.
John was not complaining about that little factor, as that was exactly what he were looking for. And come to think of it, Cortana could not find any reason to complain either.
Easing their joined bodies forward, John pressed Cortana up against the wall, and the former AI let out a sharp gasp the sensitive skin of her back came into contact with the cool smooth metal of the wall. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around the Spartan's waist, drawing him in closer. John grabbed the bars protruding from the wall on either side of her, and in the low gravity, he effortlessly began pulling himself inward and pushing outward at an increasingly rapid pace, thrusting in and out of Cortana while he did so.
Their pace once again taken up, Cortana resumed her pleasurable moaning, and her eyes rolled back in her head as the bliss once more took over her. Reaching out to either side, she grabbed the bars as well, her hands touching John's and she leaned her head back slightly. In between their two bodies, her large breasts again started to bounce around in the weightlessness. John started to grunt with each of his thrusts, and Cortana began panting his name breathlessly.
As John and Cortana continued with their energetic lovemaking, their discarded clothing continued to float around in the cabin. Nobody on any of the other ships had any idea of what they were doing. No, everyone else was busy trying to deal with this little snafu about the loading dock and the backlog that had already caused more than its fair share of problems. But the Spartan and former AI could not care less about the mission at the moment; all that mattered to them was each other and the intense passion between them.
The frantic movements made by John and Cortana caused a light sheen of perspiration to form on both of their skins, and drops of it would fly off of them and float in the weightlessness of the cabin.
Their climaxes rapidly approaching, John pulled himself even closer to Cortana, increasing his fierce thrusts – made easy by the lack of gravity – and slammed home into her every time. Her ragged breathing got faster by the second, and she continued moaning his name; louder each time.
Cortana was dimly aware of being pressed hardly up against the unforgiving steel bulkhead, and in the back of her mind, she was certain that this encounter was going to leave a few bruises on her. But she did not care in the slightest. She felt the usual well of pleasure building up inside her, and she instinctively tightened the grip that her legs had around John's waist, urging him in deeper and harder. The well inside her reached its pinnacle, and she let herself go, calling out his name in pure ecstasy as she climaxed. Less than a second later, John had his own orgasm, and he grunted loudly as he emptied himself into her. Cortana moaned as she felt his hot juices splashing deeply inside her womanhood.
The heavenly haze that she was experiencing made Cortana feel dizzy and lightheaded, and she leaned her head forward to rest against John's muscular chest. He responded by letting go of the bars and allowing them to float freely in the vacuum, holding her closely while they did so. He said nothing; just simply let her enjoy the afterglow of their intense lovemaking.
It was several minutes before Cortana finally gathered back the strength to move even her head. She looked up into John's eyes and drew in a shaky breath. "That…" she started quaveringly, "was just… incredible."
"I agree," he said. "Kind of makes this whole long wait worth it, doesn't it?"
Cortana laughed again, and placed a tender and loving kiss on her man. They spent a few minutes like that, just floating together, still joined as one, with their clothing continuing to float around them.
When the whole situation was finally cleared up and the main ship got underway, there were understandably many complaints from the captains of the various ships that had to dock with it. They had been waiting for hours with nothing to do, and understandably, they had been bored out of their minds with absolutely nothing to do.
John and Cortana simply smiled and walked the other way. Though they would be unable to repeat the whole zero gravity experience while on this ship, it would still take a few days before they reached their destination.
And as long as they were together, they were highly unlikely to get bored anytime soon.
I hope you guys can appreciate the effort I put into this, because this one was actually kind of difficult to write, so I'm a bit unsure of the overall quality.
And I'm no expert on physics, so I do not know exactly what the mechanics are for having sex in space, but I hope this scenario is at least halfway feasible. If not, then who cares? It's fanfiction!
And, as usual, I hope you all liked it. I'll try to get the next one up around Valentine's Day (ironically appropriate, don't you think?)