1. Starchaser


    Date: 10/18/2014, Categories: Fantasy & Sci-Fi, Author: spectreofhell, Rating: 0, Source: LushStories

    answered the questions the computer posed. As the lids of the other capsules began to open, Captain Kensington pushed his way out of the module. The memory had left him horny. And bitter. And sad. He touched the access control next to the door leading into the command module. The door opened. A moment later, another touch had the thick protective shutters lifting away from the ship's only viewport. Sunlight bathed him. Slightly too blue to be home. And there, the shadow of a planet still distant. A new world. He wasn't sure how long he floated there, staring through the port. His mind wandered. Was this real? The metal walls felt real. The cushions of the command chair felt real. The light on his skin was real enough. So why did he still taste her? Why did he continue to smell her? Air wafted across his face from the ventilation. He smelled sandalwood. A lingering holdover, an errant memory, something he was reluctant to release into oblivion. There was a touch at his shoulder. "Marco," she said. They had ...
    warned him about this. Extended periods in hypersleep could affect memory. Certain events might become hazy, others brought into sharp definition. He had forgotten something. Knowing he had forgotten it revived the memory. "Lieutenant Sanders has developed shingles," the mission control specialist had told him, handing him the notice of last minute revision to the crew manifest. Lieutenant Sanders, male, twenty-six years old, almost irreplaceable. Marco rotated to face her. He had known who it would be. The memory of that last night on Earth, the moment of passion with her, it had floated up from the depths of his long sleep to remind him. Nothing had been lost. "Esmeralda," he said, reaching out to touch her cheek. To draw her to him. It was against the rules, and perhaps it was unwise. He was the commander, she was the replacement geologist, unranked, sacrificing so much for the mission. For him. They kissed, and the heat of an alien sun joined the heat of two lost souls colliding, joining, finally at peace.
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