Cargo
Chapter 2
They both made it to the airlock and grabbed hold of something. Rick saw a handle and a panel. First, he pressed the button and then turned the handle. It only moved 45 degrees, but it seemed to work as the airlock opened just a little. He opened it all the way and shined a light inside off his wrist.
"It's an airlock, alright." Rick went inside and waited for Kate to join him before manually closing the outer door by moving the handle 45 degrees. Then he moved to the inner door and opened it. He checked his wrist. "There's gravity but not enough oxygen to keep anyone alive."
He went through the door; Kate followed him as he closed the door and moved the handle 45 degrees. Then he shined his light down the hallway. There were no lights. All there were was his and Kate's lights.
He found another door. Rick moved that handle 45 degrees and opened the door. "Interesting, another airlock," he muttered. He went through the door, closed it behind him, and he opened the other door.
Suddenly, he felt a rush of air hit his visor. He checked his wrist. "There's gravity and oxygen, Kate. It's within limits."
"Leave your helmet on and visor closed for now," Kate told him. He would have to put his weapon down anyway and use both hands to remove his helmet anyway.
He walked through the door. "You have to go see this," Rick told Kate, who stepped through and stopped dead in her tracks.
"WOW!" She was amazed.
"I didn't see any bay doors on the outside," Rick commented. In front of him was a bay filled with shuttles. At least they looked like shuttles.
Kate kept her weapon ready and moved closer to the first shuttle. "I don't see anyone." She went around the shuttle while Rick walked toward the rear of it. It looked to him like it had a rear ramp.
"I still don't see anyone," Kate told him.
Rick pressed a panel and watched as the rear ramp came down. "There's power," he reported. Either that or it came down due to gravity, but his money was on power.
Rick walked inside and went to the front. It had two seats side by side. Kate stayed outside and looked in. She knew what it was. "It's a cargo shuttle, Rick."
"The controls are dark," he mentioned. "I'm going to see if I can turn them on." Rick put his weapon down, sat down, and studied the layout. "If I was a power button, where would I be?" he asked no one. He took a stab at it, and everything lit up. "I got it to work!" Rick looked it over. "I can't read a word of it. It's just meaningless symbols. Rats!" Instead of pressing other panels, he touched the power button and watched when it all went dark again. He got up, picked up his weapon, and returned to Kate.
"They all look the same," Rick announced. There were four of them in the bay.
"Come on, let's look around." Kate looked at her watch. "We have one and a half hours before turning back."
They walked toward the back wall, where they found a door. There was a panel next to it. "The bay has lights, I just now noticed," Kate told him.
"Yeah, emergency lighting, by the looks of it." Rick pressed the panel and watched the door slide open. He looked inside before stepping in. "Interesting," he told Kate and stepped inside.
Kate followed him. "Interesting, indeed," she agreed.
There were windows on this side that they couldn't see on the other side. There were seats and screens and controls all over the place.
"Why couldn't we see these windows from the other side, and why can't we see out the windows?" Kate asked him.
"Blast doors," Rick suggested. "Think about it. Why would you have glass between you and an open bay without blast doors?"
"Makes sense, I guess." Kate frowned. "Did you close the door behind us? Because it's closed now."
Rick shook his head. "No, I didn't. It must be on a timer with a motion sensor. The door opens onto an open bay; you don't want it to stay open."
"I suppose," Kate murmured. "So, how do you get out of this room?" She looked around and spotted another door. She saw yet another one and went over to it. It looked just like the doors at the airlock. Kate opened it, shined her light inside, and at the end of it, she saw a hallway with another door.
She went inside while Rick followed her and closed the door. Kate went to the other door, opened it, and got hit by a stream of light instantly. She immediately lowered her shield to keep from being blinded.
She walked into the room and looked out the windows at what she saw. Rick followed her and lowered his visor to keep from being blinded.
"WOW!" Rick was amazed at what he saw.
"It's incredible, right?" Kate said as she looked around.
"That and a half," Rick agreed.
"Where is everyone?" Kate asked him since she saw no one moving. Rick could only shake his head.
"There's both gravity and oxygen here," Rick told her.
Kate opened the door, just an average door with a window – and stepped outside and looked around. She looked at her wrist and saw the same thing Rick did. She put her weapon down, removed her helmet, and sniffed the air.
Rick followed her lead. Their hour and a half just became limitless. Kate picked her weapon back up and kept it ready just in case.
"Where to?" Kate inquired.
"The big building in the center, where else," Rick replied and started walking in that direction.
They walked for an hour and were in the city. "Still no one," Kate remarked.
"There isn't any trash in the streets, moving cars, or any transport. I think I see a train track." Rick pointed toward it, and Kate looked that direction.
"Maglev train, no less. Just where is everyone?" Kate didn't get it. "I'm going to look inside this building." Kate walked that way it with Rick right behind her.
She looked inside first and saw clothing and shoes, all women's stuff. She went inside and finally found something. She ran her finger through it. "Dust."
"Whatever happened, it didn't happen fast," Rick noted. "I guess that rules out a contagion."
"I hadn't thought of that. But you're right. Whatever happened didn't happen overnight," Kate agreed, and she went outside again.
"I can't read any of the signs," Kate grumbled.
Rick added his two cents. "Me, neither."
They finally made it to the largest building in the city. "I know it says something, but I can't read it," Kate complained.
"Well, we're here, so do we go inside?" Rick asked her.
"Might as well, maybe we'll find something that tells us what happened here." Kate took the lead with her weapon still at the ready.
They walked in where they saw a receptionist station, but no one was there. They went past it and were amazed at what they saw.
There was row after row of pods. It went as high as the building was tall. Kate walked up to the first one and looked inside. She was stunned at what she saw and stepped back.
"Kate, what is it?" He looked for himself. "It's just a dead body," Rick told her. "So what has you so spooked?"
"I'm not spooked," Kate insisted. "Much."
"Right." Rick smiled at her. "Since you're not spooked, let's look around a little more."
Kate took one side, and Rick took the other. Both saw dead people in each of the pods. Some were long dead, meaning they were skeletons, while others were more zombie-looking.
Kate came upon an empty one. She looked it over and didn't see what was so special. She put her weapon down and stepped into it.
"Kate, so far, it's all just dead people," Rick called out. "Kate?" He saw her weapon, so he hurried over to it and saw her inside the pod. He yelled at her. "KATE!"
She didn't move an inch. Her eyes were open, but that was all Rick saw. So he dropped his weapon and pounded on the glass. "KATE!" He tried to open it but failed. Determined to get her out, he picked up his rifle and shot at the edge of the pod until he got it open. Then he dropped it when Kate all but fell out of it. "I've got you, Kate, I've got you."
Kate looked at him, or maybe more accurately, through him. She thought she recognized him. "Castle?"
"I've got you. You're fine, Kate." Rick slung his rifle over one shoulder and her rifle over the other. He all but carried her back to the airlock, where he put her helmet on her and his and took her back across to the ship.
He got them both out of the spaceship. Then he went to find the bottle of vodka, the only one they had. He poured a glass and got Kate to drink it.
"Feeling better?" Rick asked her. He put the glass down and helped her into bed still clothed. "Sleep, Kate, just sleep."
Rick retreated to the Bridge, where he stayed for six hours, waiting for Kate to wake up.
Then he heard her. "Take it easy, Kate, you're safe now." He pulled up the covers for her and suddenly found himself being kissed. It wasn't just a kiss. No, it was a passionate, need-filled kiss. He kissed her back because he couldn't help himself. But he broke from the kiss.
"Kate?" He left off, "Where the hell did that come from?"
"Castle?" Kate was barely there. When she was more herself, she apologized for the kiss. "I'm sorry, Castle, I thought… Never mind," she told him and lay back down.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Rick asked.
She gave her head a slight shake. "Not really, no."
"Let me know if you change your mind." Rick strode to the Bridge.
He sat there for about an hour before Kate showed up. "I had tits. Really big tits." Kate put her hands on her chest to show him. "I was fucked in my pussy, my ass, and my mouth, all at the same time. I loved it. I was a whore, and I loved it. I really loved it."
"It had to have messed with your head somehow," Rick insisted.
"You don't understand, Rick. I was a whore, and I loved it. I had people fucking me again and again. I had more climaxes than I can remember ever having."
"You were barely in that pod, no more than two minutes," Rick said.
"Really?" Kate was astonished. It seemed so much longer to her. She left the Bridge and sat down. "I was a whore, and I loved it."
Rick followed her. "Kate, you're not a whore."
"What if I secretly wish I was a whore? Maybe I want to be a whore." She looked up at him with a sad face. "What if I secretly want to be a whore?"
Rick had never seen someone so lost in his life. He sat down next to her. "You're not a whore, Kate. You know how I know you're not? Because I haven't made love to you."
That got Kate to smile and then finally laugh. "No, you haven't, have you? Why is that? Is it because I'm flat-chested?"
"No, it isn't. I haven't because you're my co-owner. I didn't want to mess that up. I think you're pretty, and you're smart. You're not a whore. That thing messed with your head is all." He repeated, "Messed with your head..."
"What? What are you thinking?" Kate asked him.
"What if they died because they didn't want to leave? You didn't want to leave, and you thought you were a whore. What if the device gives them all they ever dreamed of, more orgasms than they have ever had? What if they didn't want to leave?" Rick waited, wanting to know what she thought.
Kate considered that. "Makes sense. I didn't want to leave. I loved it in there. It was all so real. They fucked my pussy, my ass, and my mouth over and over again, all at the same time, and I loved it. Maybe you've got something there." Kate didn't say anything for a moment. "But that still leaves me with thinking I secretly want to be a whore."
"So what if you do? You would never ever act on it. Besides, it messed with your head. Who's to say it didn't give you that idea," Rick told her.
"Maybe." Kate wasn't buying it. She secretly wanted to be a whore. "I'm going to bed."
"You want me to come with you?" Rick asked.
She shook her head. "No."
"There, you see? You don't want to be a whore. If you did, you would say yes."
"Maybe." Kate kissed him. "Thanks, Rick." She went back to bed alone.
~oo0oo~
Kate woke up six hours later, and Rick was in the kitchen/media room, just sitting there. He could see that Kate was awake. "How do you feel?"
Kate sat up slowly. "Embarrassed, ashamed. Better, I think."
"Do you want to go back into the pod?" Rick waited.
"God, no. …Maybe a little. You don't know what it was like, Rick. It felt real." Kate sighed. "I was really only in there for a couple of minutes?" She watched him nod his head.
"It felt like it was longer. I mean, I went through multiple men. It was so real." Kate shuddered.
"That's the trap," Rick said. "Those people did it to themselves. They got caught up in a creation of their own."
"I suppose. But I can see why no one ever left the pod. The orgasms were so intense, so real." Then Kate got an idea.
"What?" Rick could see she was thinking of something.
"How did it work on me? I'm an alien to it. You said I was only in there for a couple of minutes. How did it do it so fast?" Kate asked him. "It was so real."
"You got me there, but you were only in it a couple of minutes. I swear, Kate. Maybe we're not that different from them. Sex is sex no matter the race."
"I guess." Kate sounded noncommittal.
"The question is, do we go back inside? There could be some valuable stuff in there," Rick pointed out.
"Well, I'm not going in that building again. You can forget that," Kate replied firmly.
"But there's an entire city to search. Money, jewels, gold, you name it," Rick coaxed. "No, we don't have any spare pods, but there could be some good stuff there."
Kate thought about that. "Maybe. First, we should go where we were intending to. Deliver our cargo and get paid. Then, we can come back with empty pods and load up with all we can find. Then it hit her. "But we've only been in one city. What if there are people elsewhere," she asked. "People who would take exception to our taking their stuff."
"We worry about that when it comes. If it even does. But we've got an entire city to search, and we've got a lot of pods. Thirty-four pods, to be precise, and two of those are very big. Another four are smaller but still pretty good-sized," Rick reminded her.
Kate sat there and thought about it. "I'll buy that. Provided we get a full load of fuel. That's the one thing I see setting us back. We have just enough to get there and get back. We need fuel when we get there so we can return here."
"Agreed, fuel is our priority. But if we get it, do we come back here?" Rick asked her.
Kate sighed. "Yeah, I think so. We have an entire Dyson Sphere to search. We'll have to move to a new location and search there."
"YES!" Rick pumped his arm. "You're sure you don't want me to make love to you," he teased her.
Kate stared at him. "Just because I thought I was a whore doesn't mean I want to be one."
"Duly noted. No sex. ...Yet." Rick watched as she rolled her eyes.
~oo0oo~
They retracted their anchors and got underway, leaving the gravity well that the Dyson Sphere created. "At least we know the sun on the interior is stable," Kate mentioned.
"Yeah, but I have a question. How is the darkness made? There can't be light everywhere all the time. The plants would fry. Although we didn't see any, the animals need the night to sleep. What if the animal is nocturnal?" Rick asked her.
"Maybe we'll find out when we get back. And we're never going in that building again or any building like it," Kate said firmly. "I don't want to die in there."
"You'll die happy," Rick offered and watched Kate glare daggers at him.
