“Of course he does. He’s the captain.”
“I think I want to talk to him again.” He led her without further comment through the ship to the bridge. Captain Elloy looked annoyed at the intrusion. “Yes, Doctor?”
“I have a few more questions.”
“All right.”
Might as well grab the bull by the balls. “How would the scheduling be set up?”
He frowned. “The crew duty roster?”
“Uh, yeah. You know, sleeping arrangements.”
“All crew sleeps in their own quarters.” Stupid man. “Okay, the sexual arrangements.” Might as well get used to saying it.
“You’ll have duties other than that, obviously. You’ll be trained to take watches, maintenance, other duties. Cross-trained in some of the systems monitoring, light weaponry as well, I’m sure.”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“I’m sure that’s negotiable when we first set it up, but the easiest way would be to schedule you off one day a week in terms of sex, and with three male crew, that gives everyone two times a week, and then we’d work around your…monthly issue.” Apparently he wasn’t comfortable talking about that. No midnight tampon runs for this dude.
“So what happens if the mood strikes someone and it’s not their scheduled night?”
“We wouldn’t deviate from the set duty roster unless someone is ill or injured, or there are circumstances preventing us from maintaining it, such as mission duties. That’s the best way to avoid any unpleasant personal situations.”
“Okay then.” She stuck out her hand and shook with all three men. “Thank you for your time. I’ll let you know. I have two other crews to interview before I make any decisions.” She consulted the hand-held. “The Braynow Gaston and the Tamora Bight.” At the mention of the third ship, the men broke out into their version of hysterical laughter, which was amused smirks. Elloy might have snorted.
“The Tamora Bight? Really. I didn’t think they were seriously sending them out.”
Emi immediately felt defensive for the crew she hadn’t even met yet. “Why?”
Elloy’s professional mask slipped back into place. “Dr. Hypatia, I would prefer not to get into that discussion. I don’t want to be accused by other crews of trying to scuttle their chances with you. Let it suffice to say it’s not braggadocio on our part that we think you’ll find us the most qualified crew of the three you are evaluating.”
“Right. Thanks.” Without further comment, Davis led her back to the hatch.
She stepped down the gangway and sent Graymard a message from the hand-held.
Kendall Kant¯No. Fucking. Way. Not enough money in the world.
Send.
Chapter Three
On her walk to the Braynow Gaston, Emi figured out how to send a request. Within a minute they replied, welcoming her.
First Officer Alex Parisi waited for her at the hatch and greeted her with a smile.
“Permission to come aboard?” She hoped she didn’t sound too snarky, but her experience with the Kendall Kant’s crew had left a bad taste in her mouth.
He actually laughed. “Permission granted, Doctor. Please follow me.”
She relaxed a little. Parisi talked with her on the walk to the common area.
And talked.
And talked.
If she’d been paying attention, she would have known his detailed life history by the time they finished their walk through the ship. Emi, however, tuned him out after two minutes, and was relieved to see the other two men waiting. Both stood when she walked through the door.
They were all handsome, better looking in real life without the totally serious mugshot expressions they wore in their ID pictures.
Okay, that’s another plus. They’re cute and polite. While not as stacked with rock-hard muscles as the military guys, they were all in great shape.
“How formal will we be in terms of titles?” Emi asked.
The men shrugged and exchanged slightly puzzled looks. “What do you mean?” Captain John Tarrence asked.
“Any problem calling me Emi?”
“Whatever you want us to call you. You can call us by our first names, if you want,” he said.
Apparently her “physical condition” wasn’t an issue because they never brought it up. After a few minutes of pleasantries and getting acquainted, their questions started. It was obvious the three men had backgrounds in science and research, because they were the ones doing all the asking. After ten minutes, Emi held up her hands.
“Time out, boys. My turn.”
The three men actually blushed and sat back. “Sorry,” the captain apologized. “We get carried away sometimes.” They were nice, if not geeky. That wasn’t a bad thing. Maybe they were wild boys inside. At least they had more personality than the other crew. “Where’s my quarters? Well, if I choose your ship.” They exchanged a nervous look. The captain spoke. “Your quarters?”
“I’d like to see what my quarters would look like.” They didn’t respond. She’d finally managed to shut them up.
Wow.
“Um, there are only three crew cabins,” the captain eventually admitted.
“Then you’re one short, aren’t you?” Now the men were uncomfortable, shifting in their seats, their collective anxious energy almost overwhelming her.
“Well,” Captain John said, “we assumed you’d sleep with someone every night¯your choice who, of course,” he quickly added. “And not even for sex if you weren’t in the mood. We thought if you needed to be alone you could use the cabin of whoever was on watch that night.”
“No cabin of my own?” They were losing points quick.
“I can talk to the retrofit crew about it if it’s an issue, but we had another lab installed on the crew level for additional research capabilities. I’m sure we can accommodate you, if that’s what you really need.”
The way he said it made her think he thought she wouldn’t really need it. More points taken away.
“Well, let’s see the crew quarters anyway.” All three men walked with her, trying to make increasingly nervous small talk along the way. While neat and organized, each cabin looked and felt distinctive, with personal effects visible and displayed, and the beds slightly larger than those on the other ship.
Time to get this out of the way. She turned to the men. “You said it’d be my choice of where to sleep every night.” All three men nodded, but that’s all they were offering.
“What about the duty roster? Any ‘regulations?’” She used finger quotes around the word.
The men exchanged a confused look. The captain spoke. “Well, we all have normal crew duties, and so would you. Maintenance, systems checks, that kind of stuff. And of course you’d be the medical officer. But…um…the extracurricular stuff, that’s all up to you. As long as you’re…you know…fair.”
She softened her voice “Look, I’m as uncomfortable about this as you guys obviously are, so let’s just cut to the chase. Is there anything I need to know about ahead of time? Any special…predilections?” The men frowned in confusion. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m not a wild and crazy girl. None of you will want me to dress like a dominatrix or swing from the ceiling or anything?”
They quickly shook their heads, their collective blush deepening.
The captain appeared to be the group spokesman. “No, we’re all pretty boring. I mean, we’re not sex fiends or anything.” He forced a nervous smile. “I think the term is ‘vanilla.’” Let’s push the envelope. “So, like, guy on top? Blow jobs? Hand jobs?” She wasn’t excessively experienced. Daniel had been her second lover, and she considered herself an open-minded, but fairly conventional girl. She wasn’t adverse to the idea of experimenting a little if she trusted someone, although she hadn’t had any opportunity to experiment. She did want to know up front if they had any expectations she wouldn’t be able or willing to meet.