Fantasy Making of a Starship Captain

The next day, Taylor and Sophie Astor took a tour of the Chinese Concession. Taylor brought with him a pet project by the name of Ensign Miles Redding.

Taylor saw a lot of himself in Ensign Miles Redding. Actually, strictly speaking, his title was Acting Ensign. Miles had just graduated the Academy and was on his training cruise. He was very smart, very determined, but lacked confidence, and was shy around women. What did that remind Taylor of?

Taylor was resolved to make a man of him, one way or another. He didn't want Miles to suffer as he did under the hands of some sadistic Captain who would take advantage of his weakness as Captain Hauslohner did on the Charleston. Sophie had raised a disapproving eyebrow when Taylor brought Redding with them, but said nothing.

And so Miles and Sophie was there when they were welcomed by their Chinese hosts.

"So nice to see you-"

"-After all these years."

The twins still completed each other's sentences. And Taylor still couldn't tell them apart. He wondered how the Survey Service did. The twins were not in charge of the Chinese project, but they were senior technicians, and given their known association with Taylor, had been selected to give him the grand tour. They were accompanied by a young woman who was introduced as Chew Mi, a pretty Chinese girl with long straight hair and pert breasts.

"We have been so impressed-" said Ming Wa Ching. Or was it Ming Wa Chang? Much to his shame, Taylor realized that there may have been some merit in simply calling them Ping and Pong.

"-with everything you have done," said the other brother.

"You have saved the galaxy-"

"-at least once-"

"-and perhaps more times than we know-"

"-and you saved all those passengers when you-

"-crash landed on that primitive planet-"

"-against all odds-"

"-and you fought the Ramadhans-"

"-and the Manophobes-"

"-and served with great, great-"

"-distinction."

Taylor turned to Sophie, who seemed totally unmoved. Taylor turned back to the twins. "Thank you. May I ask, how do you do that?"

"How do we-"

"-do what?"

"Complete each other's sentences?" Taylor asked.

The twins looked at each other.

"We have always-"

"-done that."

"Always."

The brothers gave them a tour of the facility. The Chinese were building a Fabricator plant. Fabricators were still in their early stages. One could not turn a cup of coffee into a circuit panel, for example. But elements could be transmuted; soil could be turned into iron, or air into water. That could be useful. The twins explained how it all worked, and even gave them a sample, a piece of wood that used to be... something else. Taylor wasn't paying much attention. He was looking at Chew Mi. He didn't exactly know what her role was here, but by her young age she was probably some kind of assistant or minder. The thing that interested Taylor was the way she looked at Ensign Redding. A curious pattern was emerging. She would smile at Miles, and when he noticed, he would smile back, and look away. When he got up the courage to look at her again, she would smile again, and then he would turn away, yet again.

"Very impressive," Sophie was telling the brothers. "It is a pity you were removed from the Academy. The Survey Service could have used technical skill such as yours."

The twins gave each other wayward glances.

"We were unjustly removed."

"We were accused of cheating-

"-of taking each others' examinations-"

"-But we didn't-"

"-we never would-"

"-that is not-"

"-the Survey Service way."

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "I did not mean to make an accusation."

"We are not-"

"-offended."

Taylor cleared his throat. "Ah, yes, this is all very interesting, but where do the raw materials go into it? You need raw materials in order to fabricate, do you not?"

"Yes," said one of them. "They enter the facility-"

"-on the bottom level."

"Would you mind if your lovely assistant takes my Ensign down there so he can inspect it?"

"Not-"

"-at all. Chew Mi?"

One of the brothers spoke rapidly in Chinese to Chew Mi.

Taylor called Ensign Redding over with a finger and held a hushed conversation.

"What do you think, Ensign?" he said.

"I'm not sure," said Redding. "I've never seen an industrial fabricator before, sir."

"No, I mean the girl," said Taylor, looking annoyed.

"The girl, sir?"

"Do you think she's cute?"

"I wouldn't know, sir," said Redding, starting to stammer.

"Well, she thinks you're cute," said Taylor, putting an arm around the Ensign. "When she shows you around, why don't you offer to take her out to dinner?"

"Dinner, sir?"

"The thing between lunch and bedtime," said Taylor. "Do it," he whispered. "That's an order, Ensign."

"Y-yes sir," said Redding.

Taylor saw the brothers looking expectantly at him. Suddenly, he was all smiles. "Are we ready to continue the tour? Good!"

After the tour was over, Taylor turned to Sophie. "What do you think?"

"Can you make your question any more vaguer? I think I still might have some idea what you are referring to," said Sophie.

"We are looking for someone who has sabotaged some of the demonstration projects. The Chinese project hasn't suffered any sabotage. That makes them prime suspects," said Taylor.

"Are you asking me whether students who got kicked out of the Academy for cheating would be the logical suspects in such an endeavor?"

"Yes," said Taylor.

Sophie lifted an eyebrow. "I believe the answer should be self evident."

"I thought you got larger breasts so people would listen to you more," said Taylor.

Sophie moved close, so her breasts were almost touching his uniform. "Whenever I have something truly useful to say, that's when you ignore me."

"Say something truly useful."

"The mission you sent Ensign Redding on was superfluous and not mission related."

"I'm training him."

"To ask women out for social engagements?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"And there is another example of your ignoring me," said Sophie. She looked down at her breasts doubtfully. "If I had known I was going to be serving under you, perhaps I should have made them even larger."

"Do Passive Observers make jokes?" Taylor asked.

"No," said Sophie. "We only observe them."

Taylor's next stop was the Australian concession. When Joanna Martin heard that Taylor was on Sheppard's Planet, she called him excitedly and invited him to dinner. Alone. She was very specific about that.

Taylor sent Sophie to conduct an analysis of the sample they had obtained from the Chinese replicators while he went to dinner with Joanna.

"Michael!" she said, hugging him tightly.

Taylor returned the hug, and then looked at her.

No one would ever have called Joanna Martin gorgeous. The Aussie had kind of a plain face, and big cheeks, but she was by no means fat or even chubby. She had piercing dark eyes, a slender nose, red lips, and long straight brown hair. But most of all she had a cheery personality, and it was her personality that made her pretty, if not gorgeous.

"It's so good to see yew, Mike!" she said, grinning at him.

And then Taylor sensed it. He screaned it.

She was attracted to him.

And Joanna Martin, he knew, was married.

They sat down to a candlelit dinner. Even though Joanna was no longer in the Survey Service, she seemed to know more what their classmates were doing than Andrea Farber did. Joanna had left the service a few years ago to marry... what was his name again?

"-and Allyson Harshbarger is a big muckity-muck in the Foreign Service of the World Government, did yew hear that?"

"I think I might have heard something along those lines," said Taylor.

"She's lyke the first trisexual this, or the first trigendered that, she's trading on whot she's got in her pants. That goes over well there in the World Government, so aye hear." She paused with a spoon in her mouth. "Didn't yew date her once, Mike?"

"Briefly," said Taylor, remembering with distaste.

"Yew must have been lucky to catch her in that one third of a mood when she lyked men," said Joanna, and they both laughed.

That's what Taylor liked about Joanna. Her sense of humor. It wasn't dry like Sophie's, but it was just as cutting.

"And Mohammida, aye hear she's back on Ramada, teaching men how not to beat their wimen. I wondar how that's going?"

"I just hope she manages to keep her head on her shoulders."

"I do too! A plucky girl, don't you think? Although I still remembar her yelling for Laquinta in the live fire exercises. It gave me the hives, frankly." Joanna paused. "Did you hear about Commandant Renton?"

"No, what?"

"He got his eyesight back."

Taylor dropped his spoon with a clatter. "No."

"Yes," said Joanna, grinning.

"How?"

"Wasn't nothing wrong with his eyes. Was something in his visual cortext."

"A new therapy?"

"Don't think so," said Joanna, taking a spoonful of soup in her mouth. "I just think he got bettar. It happens, sometimes."

"So Commandant Renton can see...." Taylor knew he would have to pay his old mentor a visit, when he returned to Earth.

"Amazing, isn't et? But maybe not so much when yew compare it to the story of a man who says he went a billion years into the fuchar and saved the universe from total destruction."

"Let's not exaggerate, Joanna. I only saved the galaxy, not the universe," said Taylor sternly. Then he broke out into a smile, and they both laughed again.

"Have you seen Natasha yet?" Before Taylor could answer, Joanna answered for him. "No, you don't have that freshly fucked look," she decided.

"Joanna!"

"If that girl isn't a Russian spy then I don't know what is," said Joanna. "She'll have you naked on your back and riding up and down on your thing five minutes after you enter the Russian Concession, mark my words."

Taylor reddened, but he remembered Andrea saying something not entirely dissimilar....

"By the way, Michael, I heard you've already seen the twin cheetars." She saw the look of surprise on his face. "Don't act s'prised. The Russians aren't the only ones with spies hear. Except our spies don't spread'm like Natasha does."

Taylor raised his eyebrows and smiled again.

"But back to the cheetars. They're up to something, Michael. I can feel it. We've had nothing but trouble evar since they moved into the neighborhood."

"Trouble?"

"First there were the quakes. They come more and more frequently now, strongar and strongar."

"Is there any geological instability?"

Joanna shook her head. "This place we landed on is the Rock of Gibraltar, Michael."

"You think it's artificial in nature? You think the Chinese are causing it? How? Why?"

Joanna shrugged. "How I don't knauw. Why is obvious. Only one project is going to be awarded the concession to Sheppard's Planet. The Chinese want it to be them. They got so many people in Chinaland that everyone's just sitting on everyone else's lap. I don't blame them. But it's not just the quakes. It's the stonings."

"The stonings?"

"We've had things turn into stone, Michael," said Joanna.

"What does that mean?" Taylor asked.

"Yew knauw what we do hear, Michael. We're creating a giant ranch as our demonstration project. We have a thousand head of cattle, and sheep and goats everywhere. And then, suddenly, a tree near one of our stables turns to stone."

"To stone?" said Taylor

"Yep," said Joanna. "And then a few days later, it happened to a bush."

"Turned to stone," said Taylor.

"Yep. Then it happened to a goat, and a pig."

"Wait a minute. You're saying a goat and a pig turned to stone?"

"Yes, Michael. I'll show it to yew tomorrow."

"What could do that?

Joanna shrugged. "We don't knauw. But the staff are terrified. Some have already quit, and more are leaving. They say it's a Gorgon."

"A what?"

"Some kind of crechar which can turn flesh into stone just by looking at it."

"That doesn't exist!"

"Tell my night foreman that. He quit two days ago. Along with three boys from the third shift, and four of my milking staff," said Joanna.

"And you think the Chinese are... turning your farm animals into stone."

Joanna shrugged. "Or the Russians. Or the Manophobes."

"You have Manophobes here?" Taylor said incredulously.

Joanna gave him a sly smile. "They don't caul themselves that, o'course. They are oll followers of the She-Goddess," said Joanna, mockingly waving her hands in the air.

"Why would followers of Aura be here on a colony world? They hate the entire idea of colonizing planets!"

"Yew'd have to ask them that," said Joanna, chewing on a carrot. "Yew are going to get to the bottom of this, aren't yew, Mike?"

"I'm just here as an observer," said Taylor.

"We oll know why you're hear," said Joanna, giving a half smile. "Andrea cuts a pretty pichar in a Survey Service day uniform, but she couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the side."

"Now that's not nice," said Taylor.

"You did have the hots for that little popsie, didn't yew?" said Joanna. She looked at his expression and nodded. "I thought soah. Watching yew an Cherry an Andrea was a lot like watching a mule with two bales of hay. Never knew which one was going to get eaten furst. Or in your case, you were the mule getting eaten by one of the bales o' hay. Ha! But things have changed, haven't they? I hear you've shed your shy ways and have become quite the ladies man, haven't yew?"

Taylor only smiled and said, "I've changed. We all have."

"But you have changed more than most, my friend! You are a big, dashing Survey Service Captain! I'd hardly have recognized yew as my friend Mikey from my Academy days! I got out when the goin' was good, when aye was only a lieutenant, yew knauw. Married Martin, the happiest day of my life."

"Martin?" said Taylor suddenly. "Your last name is Martin."

"Yew forgot? I know yew did!" said Joanna. "Yes, Mike, my husband's name is Martin."

"Martin Martin?"

"No, you bloody fool! His last name is Smith. My last name is Martin." She grimaced. "His name is Martin Smith. My name is Joanna Martin. Get it?"

"Oh," said Taylor.

"They said yew had become brilliant. I hope that's true," said Joanna, looking at him sideways.

"Where is... Martin now?"

"On Earth. Doing a supply run. He splits his time between hear and our dingo ranch outside of Adelaide."

"You have a dingo... ranch?"

"Um hm," said Joanna. "Once we win the World Government endorsement, we'll move everything hear. It's a pity Martin isn't here, Michael, you'd really lyke him."

But Taylor screaned that Joanna didn't really mean what she said. In fact, he was pretty sure she was secretly pleased that her husband Martin was not here.

Was Joanna Martin seriously interested in him?

It was one thing for Taylor to have sex with a married woman. He had done it more times than he could count. But Joanna was someone he knew. Joanna was a friend. Could he really do that... to her? More importantly, what did Joanna want?

Taylor wasn't sure. She had purposely arranged to meet him one on one, over a candlelit dinner. She was smiling at him flirtatiously. He clearly sensed her interest. But did she want to take things all the way?

He remembered back at the Academy how friendly she had been with him. But a lot of girls had been friendly to him, including Cherry Oteri and Andrea Farber... both of whom he knew were attracted to him.

He asked a probing question. "How do you like being married?"

"Married? You mean to Martin?"

"No, I mean to your stone goat," said Taylor.

Joanna laughed. "I remembar your sense of humor, Mike! Yes, my Martin is a dreamboat. I love him dearly. And yet... I can't say I don't have regrets. Regrets of all kinds." She looked at him with half lidded eyes. "Sometimes I miss the Service, I really do. If I had stayed in, maybe I could have been a Commander by now, like little Farby Doll with her full Commander's braid. Tell me, Michael, did you ever regret not leaving the Service?"

The question took him by surprise. "Me? The Service is my life."

Joanna's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, o'course, but what about the tradeoff? The road not taken?"

Taylor thought about Jennifer, and Pam, and for a moment his heart sank. "I've made sacrifices," he said quietly. "And yes, I have regrets too."

They locked eyes over the candlelight. Joanna's face was only inches away. Joanna's eyes were filled with admiration and interest. "Mike, yew sacrificed so we could oll be safe. So I could be married. So I and millions of other blokes could be safely married at home in bed with our men or wimen. We oll owe yew so much, Mike." And then she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

Taylor, startled, felt electricity surge through his body.

When she pulled back, she smiled, as she saw the effect she was having on him. "Tell me, did yew and stone cold Sophie evar...."

"Me? And Sophie? No," said Taylor, giving a short laugh.

"Aye didn't think so. Never hurts to ask, though," said Joanna thoughtfully. "Girl could be almost pretty, if she learned how to smile. Don't you think?"

"Yes, yes she could," said Taylor. But he wasn't thinking of Sophie when he said it. He was looking into Joanna's eyes. He still didn't think Joanna was gorgeous. Her cheeks were too large. Her face was too plain. But her salty personality, her wonderful sense of humor, and her obvious lust were turning Taylor on. As he looked into her dark eyes, he saw the reflection of himself. He found himself asking again what Joanna wanted.

He screaned that Joanna was at a tipping point. Part of her wanted to have sex with him, and part of her didn't.

"You're right," said Joanna's Lust. "She's really attracted to yew. She was at the Academy too, but didn't feel she was pretty enough to compete with Cherry Oteri and Andrea Farber."

"Really?" said Taylor's Lust. "I never knew."

"Yew were thinking with the wrong head, my friend," said Joanna's Lust. Joanna's Lust had a similar sense of humor to Joanna. "She wants yew, Mike. Take her. Take her now," Joanna's Lust urged."She's gotten really good at it. Her husband Martin says she's the best fuck he ever had."

Taylor looked into his friend's face and considered. Joanna had arranged for the two of them to have an intimate, private dinner, with no one else invited. She had actually admitted she was attracted to him.

He knew he could do it. He knew he could tip the balance, and push her all over the edge. All it would need would be one kiss.... He leaned closer, and closer to Joanna. Joanna stood there, her eyes expectant. She didn't move towards him, but neither did she move back.

And then, in an instant, Taylor screaned the truth of it. Joanna didn't really want to cheat on her husband. She would, if Taylor wanted it, but that wasn't what this dinner had been all about.

What Joanna wanted to feel was intimacy with him. The feeling of being alone with him. The feeling of being close to him, as she was now. The feeling that anything could happen... but wouldn't. What Joanna wanted to do was walk right up to the edge... without crossing it.

Taylor smiled as it suddenly all made sense of it. He reached up and gently caressed her face, and her hair. He saw the adoration in her eyes. Then he kissed her gently on the cheek. "Thank you so much for dinner."

She smiled at him without a hint of regret. "The pleasure is oll mine, Mike."

"The fastening on your trousers is open," Sophie said, as she piloted the shuttle back to the Relentless.

Taylor raised an eyebrow, but didn't look down.

"You didn't look. That means you didn't sleep with her. How ever did she manage to get away?" Sophie inquired.

"Joanna is just a friend," said Taylor. "Just like you, Sophie."

Sophie gave him a surprised look. What did that mean?

Taylor smiled at her. He raised his voice. "Ensign, come forward."

Ensign Miles Redding stepped into the passenger section. "Sir?"

"Tell us all about your date with the mysterious and exotic Chew Mi," said Taylor.

"Sir?"

"Commander Astor wants to hear all about your date with her," said Taylor.

"I don't," said Sophie.

"You do," said Taylor.

"I don't," Sophie insisted.

"I order you to want to," said Taylor.

"Then I do," said Sophie.

Miles looked confused.

"So tell us everything!" said Taylor. "How was dinner?"

"I... I don't know, sir."

Taylor's eyes narrowed. "Did you even talk to the girl?"

"Yes sir!" said Redding, sounding relieved. "I did exactly as you said. While she gave a tour of the raw materials section, we talked."

"About what?" Sophie inquired. Taylor gave her a surprised look. "You ordered me to be interested, sir."

"We talked... about raw materials processing."

"It sounds exciting," said Sophie.

Taylor gave her a hard glance.

"From a technical perspective," said Sophie. "I've always wanted to know how a fabricator works."

"But I didn't send young Ensign Peepers here to find out how a Fabricator worked. I sent him to find out how a girl works," said Taylor. "Now, after sweet talking Chew Mi with questions about the technical output of their Fabricators, did you ask her out to dinner?"

"Sort of," said Redding.

"He didn't," said Sophie promptly.

"Let him tell it, please," said Taylor. "Continue, Miles."

"I... I asked what she was having for dinner."

"You asked what she was having for dinner?" said Taylor.

"I believe that is what the Ensign said," said Sophie. "Would it be clearer if he repeated everything twice, Captain?"

"She... she said she was having ramen noodles," said Miles. "And... I figured that meant she already had plans for dinner, so...."

"So you didn't ask her," Taylor cried, throwing his head in his hands.

"We should contact Admiral Chellina immediately and report that our mission here has been a failure," said Sophie.

"Miles, I told you to ask her out to dinner. Not to ask her what she was having for dinner. Do you see the difference?"

"Yes, sir," said Miles, nodding unhappily.

"You're a work in progress, Miles, do you understand that?"

"Yes sir," said Redding.

"No he doesn't," said Sophie confidently.​