Chapter No.5.

Surprisingly, time on the Explorer went by without any conflict or disputes. One reason for this was the fact that there were only four of them living on a spaceship that was designed to hold ten. It gave them more personal space and a modicum of privacy.

One thing that helped their situation was the fact that they had artificial gravity. That, and an ideal environmental habitat to move around and exercise in, added to their overall wellbeing.

They eventually got used to putting up with a limited wardrobe allocation. The women still complained about not having bras, but the less than full gravity helped soften that situation, no pun intended. However, all three of them were well endowed, making the kinetic effect of movement on their mammary glands more noticeable, something that Carl was beginning to think they were using to tease him.

Carl spent most of his time checking on the ship's systems and the environmental situation, both being essential for a successful mission. He was happy to note that the ship was preforming up to its designed engineering specifications.

Alice was busy trying to observe Titan using the ship's telescope, but she also had access to Earth based telescopic data, especially from the orbital Galileo telescope. As she saw more of the images of the alien object near Titan, she was beginning to think that it was not injecting oxygen into Titan's atmosphere. But it left her without a plausible explanation as to what was happening.

"I believe that you're right about the alien object," she told Carl. "I don't think it's injecting oxygen into Titan's atmosphere."

"Have NASA check to see if it's radiating cosmic rays," Carl said.

"I'm not sure they can determine that using only telescope data."

"Think about what would happen if it were blasting Titan with cosmic rays, especially if they were exotic nuclei."

"It's possible that cosmic rays could be breaking up the hydrocarbons in Titan's atmosphere, which would clear the smog. I'll see if I can get them to do more scans of the spectral energy distribution."

"Good idea."

Janet and Margaret were busy collecting the harvest from the agricultural deck and preparing it for storage in the kitchen station. Wheat and rye were turned into flour by means of a compact grinder. The result of that was used to make bread. Corn was removed from stalks. Carrots, beets, and other crops were cleaned and stored. Potatoes were washed and stored along with the veggies. They were processes that modern people were not all that familiar with but were necessary for survival in a farming society.

Carl went to the agricultural deck to check on the robots' efforts to brew beer. The equipment for that process was stashed in an area near the repair pad. He realized that their efforts were based on programming, but it appeared that they were very near to their first brewing success.

He decided to relax while he watched the beer process. He sat on a chair near where two robots were about to test their brewing operation. It was like waiting for the birth of a baby. Would its quality be good enough? He had no way to know. The robots were unable to talk.

In some ways, being down here with the robots was more relaxing then putting up with three women on the quarters deck. They were visual treats but their complaints and reluctance to learn how to keep the ship running correctly disturbed him. Living with three women in a confined situation was not necessarily as wonderful as would be expected.

He heard a noise and turned to see Margaret and Janet approach.

"Is this your hiding spot?" Janet said with a teasing smirk.

"I'm waiting for the first brewing attempt," he said. "What brings you down here?"

"We want to swim in the pool you said was down here," Janet said.

Carl pointed to location a few yards away. "It's right over there. I think its ten feet deep so be careful you don't drown. The robots are not lifeguards."

Janet gave him a smirk. "Very funny!"

Carl watched them walk into the corn stocks and undress, providing him with a teasing partial view of their bodies. He heard the splashes when they jumped into the pool. Their giggling and screeching added a sonic aspect to their interesting playtime. He assumed that this was just another way that they could tease him.

He was more interested in the wonderfully sweet odors of the beer. Surprisingly, a robot came to him with a metal cup containing fresh beer. Were they programmed to do that? He didn't know, but it was a very satisfying moment when he tasted the warm beer and heard the laughing and giggling of two women only a few yards away. Maybe a long journey to Titan wasn't as dismal as he thought.

The next day Carl sat down at the command center, which was just an indentation off the quarters-wheel's corridor. He noted a fault signal for a sensor in the hanger deck. Alice walked up and took a seat next to him, offering him a smile before she activated the main telescope.

"Before you get started, I would like you to accompany me up to the hanger deck. I need to fix a problem with a sensor. You could realign the telescope and check its main computer."

She stared at him with a confused look at first but softened it to a subtle smile. "Yes, that sounds like a great idea."

"I believe there are extra telescope parts up there, but you might want to grab a tool belt."

She stood up. "Yes, I'll do that."

Carl grabbed his own tool belt and walked to the embedded ladder on the forward wall of the quarters deck wheel. He climbed up the ladder and entered the opening. Since he was now at zero gravity, he was able to use hand grips on the walls to move up the tube to the hanger deck. Alice mimicked his movements.

The shuttle took up most of the hanger deck, but there was ample space to move around it. Carl searched for the heat sensor that had crapped out while Alice headed to the telescope which was at the peak of the rounded ceiling of the hanger deck.

It didn't take Carl all that much time to locate the failed sensor and replace it. After he finished the job, he headed up to where Alice was still busy doing an alignment of the telescope's optics.

"Yeah, it was off a little, not enough to stop it from functioning. I should be able to get better resolution now. I'm working on replacing a focusing motor. It's acting weirdly."

Realizing that they were not only alone they were separated from the other two she decided to tease him. "This would make a great place to do it, wouldn't it?"

Carl grinned. "That's for sure, although, if it were too heated, the sensors might be activated."

She chuckled. "Is that a brag?"

He smiled. "No, I'm just pointing out the possibilities; although, having sex under these circumstances might be problematic."

She tilted her head and offered him a quizzical expression. "Why?"

"A pregnancy would be dangerous. We're not set up to handle it."

"I was only teasing," she said, lowering her eyes. "There's no way that I want that." She waited for several minutes before asking the more serious question. "Have you had sex with . . . with your two friends?"

"They're my partners, not my friends, at least not in the intimate sense. No, I haven't."

"I think I'm done here," she said. "We can go back down now."

When they did get back, both Margaret and Janet decided to tease them.

"Where did you two go off to?" Janet asked. "You were gone for quite a while."

"We went up to the hanger deck. I had to replace a sensor and she had to realign the telescope."

"That would be a great place to have sex," Margaret said, adding a teasing grin.

Carl pointe to Alice. "That's what she said, but we decided that it would be too dangerous."

"Why?"

"This isn't a love boat," Carl replied. "We don't have a maternity."

"You could use birth control."

"Don't have anything like that on this ship."

"Well," she said with a mock frown. "That's a bummer!"

They laughed, but Carl wasn't certain that their little game was only a tease. He needed them to remain serious about the mission because he believed that there was more to it than some alien device terraforming Titan. He was beginning to think this was a conspiracy. What Alice found with her realigned telescope would change everything.