The Empty Ship

But there were no children here now, just like there were no stars. In fact, if not for the dim hot glow of the lights, she might not be able to see anything. The street lights hadn't come on. There was no electricity she could find save for that robot. Now that she thought about it, it would be nice if she could get the thing to follower her.

The realization of what was going to happen to her was slowly dawning. She was alone on this ship. She didn't know how it worked and all of the controls and things were built by people who didn't speak her language. They had abandoned ship and left her there alone. She had no food and no water. That meant she would die.

But it wasn't time to panic yet. She had to stay calm. This was a huge ship. There were lots of places for all those people to be. That one robot was fucked but there might be others in a better state of repair. And she knew she hadn't sleep walked from the sleep chamber to the hospital so that had to mean that someone was out there. It had to. Right? Right?

She didn't know why but she got the idea to get up and try the water fountain. If it was like everything else around here, then it wasn't going to work. Even as her hand was reaching out to push the nozzle button she expected it not to work. She figured she'd be drinking river water, if she could even find the river. She had no idea of exactly how big this place was but it was so big that there was no way you could walk from one end of the ship to the other and even just walking the circle all the way around would take you days, maybe weeks. If the lights weren't working then that probably meant the trains weren't working either.

What about the horses? If the people were all gone, did that mean the cows and horses and all were gone too? Even if there was no food in the town, if she could find the remains of a farm there might be something to eat there. Waiting for crops to grow would take too long but if there were any sorts of farm animals left then she could maybe kill one and eat it. Was it ok to make a fire in here? She knew in the restaurants they had some open air fires for cooking but if she made one to cook a chicken would angry firefighter robots show up?

She had to admit to herself, she had not been prepared to live on this kind of ship. She had been taught what she'd need to know to survive helping her parents on Ajo. That's what she'd been expecting to be doing. She remembered the layout of the homestead her father had drawn up. They were going to ...

pssssss

The sound of the water spraying out of the fountain startled Marsha.

Water? WATER!!

Without even thinking of what she was doing she put her mouth down to the stream and drank. Yes! This was so good. Oh yes. And even though it wasn't ice water or anything, it was a bit cool and that was enough.

She heaved air in and out and then took a step back. She looked at the fountain and saw the faucet thing on the side. It was low to the ground and right above a drain. Kids used to use it to wash their feet after playing in the sand pit. She turned the handle and water started to flow out.

Yes! She was in business. She was going to make it. Without even thinking of anything she pulled that damned hospital thing off, squatted down and filled her hands with water to splash over her body.

Ah. AH! It was cold. She grit her teeth and endured it. She reached back to her gown and fetched out her soap. It didn't lather up very well but with some effort she got it going and then she diligently cleaned every part of herself that she could reach.

And that was when she first noticed it. Maybe it had been there before and maybe it hadn't but it was definitely there now. As she washed her privates she discovered that they wanted attention. They begged for her to put her fingers back there. She'd never felt anything like that in her life.

Ok, washing herself potentially in public was one thing but masturbating was completely different. She couldn't do that. No. No way.

But ... It was dark. No one was around. Even just a gentle brush against her pubic hair was just about to send her body into convulsions. She needed it. She needed something. He felt heat on her face and almost against her will she found herself going all the way down onto her back, putting her crotch under the flowing water.

She closed her eyes and internally berated herself for doing such a thing. But then her first orgasm rolled through her and she almost lost control of her jaw. Her mind might be objecting but her body just didn't care that it was naked on the ground. It didn't care that her ass was in contact with a drain. Her pussy demanded something to take care of its needs right now and her brain had become simply a passenger.

A second orgasm, less powerful but extremely pleasurable in its own way, gave her the feeling of being squeezed and let go over and over again.

Ok. Was it over? The muscles in her face felt droopy and she tried to get to her feet.

Great, her hands and her back were dirty now. She looked back over at the sex water but as much as she was conflicted about whether what had just happened was a good thing or a bad thing, she knew she needed to wash up just a bit more.

There was more washing and more use of the soap but this time she told herself it would just be all business. Of course. All business with the cute little water faucet that was probably so happy to have someone to come and use it again. Oh, don't worry, she thought, she would be back to see this little guy again. He looked like a George. But look, just because she was naming him did not mean anything. She was going to need water if she was going to survive and find a way off this ship and on to Ajo and she'd need to remember this place and how to get to it. So it needed a name. Maybe "water park" or "drink fountain" would be good enough names but what was wrong with George? Nothing. So his name was George.

That reminded her. She needed a plan. How far away from Ajo were they? Where was the airlock? Where was the bridge? How was this ship controlled?

She was thinking of what she should do as she washed her hospital gown thing. Sure, it wasn't really a proper dress but so far it was all the clothing she had. What had the damned colonists done with her stuff?

She tried not to rip the dinky little gown to shreds as she wrung it out and then she put it on the stone bench to dry. She sat on the bench next to the gown and just thought. She had water. She needed food. There had to be something to eat. In the past the shop had been selling apples, tangerines, and other kinds of fruit. Did that mean there were apple trees on the ship? She hadn't really thought about it before. Were the shops selling things that had been imported when the travelers arrived or were they home grown? Then again, if they were going to have trees at all on a ship, trees that made food would be a better choice than those that didn't. Or maybe the trees were just for putting oxygen in the air.

She really wished she knew more about how this ship worked. Then again, the ideal situation would be for the damned colonists to come and take care of her and do like they promised and set her down on Ajo with her parents and little brother. But it was very clear at this point that the previously negotiated arrangement was not going to take place. So what now?

She was beginning to formulate a plan on how to get more information, a proper updated map, a translation for some of the ... It was coming again. All of the sudden and unrelated to anything she was thinking about she felt the need.

She tried to resist. She clamped her thighs together and forced herself to think about her next move. Only her next move was to slide off the bench and squat down beside it. She told herself no. She tried to get a hold of herself. But she couldn't. She put her head down on the stone where her ass had previously just been and she tried to wrap her arms around the bottom part of the bench.

She had the sensation of pushing something out of her body. There was resistance at first but the more her body just got into whatever mood this was, the more she felt her wetness flow. And then, at the end, there was a big gush of fluid and she hit a climax.

She panted and felt sweat building up on her skin. What the hell was wrong with her? She felt sad and alone. She felt exposed. She wanted someone to be there with her. The light from above was almost completely gone and she was all alone in very near pitch blackness.

...

The sound was something akin to thunder. It was low and deep. The sound seemed to roll over the landscape. Marsha woke up to find herself on the ground by the bench. The lights were turning back on, but like a slow sunrise, they weren't all the way up to full power yet. It was like she remembered from before. The lights took about an hour to get to full brightness. She didn't know if that was intentional or just a consequence of whatever technology they used for those things.

One thing she did find surprising was that in the morning there was wind. She hadn't remembered wind on the ship before. The air had always been very still but as the lights were getting heated up, she felt a steady breeze blowing over her and making the nearby trees rustle.

She was just about to try and go find some breakfast or something somewhere when she remembered, oh yeah, she was naked and her gown thing had blown away. It hadn't gone far but that would teach her that she couldn't just leave things outside.

Great, so she was semi-dressed again. Not that it really mattered but she wasn't about to just go wandering around in the buff.

She walked around a bit, making sure not to go too far away from George. Ok, that was silly. Why had she started that? It was a park. Just a park. What had she been thinking? Maybe it was space sickness or something. She tried to not go too far away from the park with the ever important water fountain; which was only important, mind you, because she needed water to survive and not for that other thing, which hadn't happened. No. She had hallucinated it. She wasn't that kind of person to go and do things like that.

Anyway, she found a main road and that led to the town center which had a community center in it. Inside the community center there was a wall with a panel that used to give information. Here's hoping it worked better than the robot.

No power. Shit. How did you turn it on? The overhead lights worked and that meant there was power in the ship. So how could she get some of that power to come here? It didn't help that everything was marked in a funny language.

She looked around and saw another robot behind some receptionist counter.

"Hello."

No answer.

She tapped it and again the side panel started to flicker to life.

Oh good. She couldn't move it so she had to go back there with the thing and squeeze into this tiny space to really look at the screen.

"I need food. Where can I get something to eat?"

[Local restaurants: Please wait. ... Please wait ... ]

Then it displayed a list of names of restaurants with the tag "permanently closed" next to them.

"This is an emergency. Hello. I'm going to starve to death."

[Please wait ... In case of emergency or disaster, please calmly go to the local shelter and report in.]

"Fine. Do they have food at the shelter?"

[Please wait ... Frozen rations may be available. If you require medical assistance please notify the officer at check in.]

"Go back to frozen rations. Where can I get those?"

[Emergency rations will be made available by authorized staff in the event ... ]

"So, is the food already at the shelter or does someone have to go and get it."

[Rations for this area are stored in refrigeration unit b5.]

"Where is that?"

[Please wait ... ]

It began to display a map with a route to an elevator that would go underground. That looked like a plan but then the computer added;

[Please wait ... unit b5 is currently empty.]

"Ok, so is there any other food somewhere else?"

[Please wait ... please wait ... please wait ... ]

Marsha did wait. She waited for a good long while but the robot just stayed like that asking her to wait.

"Ok. Stop. I want to ask something else."

[Please wait ... Enter inquiry]

"How many people are on this ship?"

[Please wait ... 9047]

Only nine thousand people. What the hell? But at least it meant someone was out there.

"Where are they?"

[Please wait ... please wait ... ]

The machine displayed a map with a location listed as "sleep chamber" on it.

"They're all asleep?"

[Currently asleep - 9044]

Oh. That would be bad.

"Where are all the colonists? What happened to them?"

[Please wait ... please wait ... repeat the question.]

"Did the colonists abandon ship?"

[Negative. No order to abandon ship was issued.]

"So then, where are the colonists?"

[Please wait ... please wait ... repeat the question.]

"After leaving Narra did any colonists leave the ship?"

[Negative. There is no record of a departure.]

"Who is the current captain of the ship?"

[Please wait ... There is no current captain listed.]

"Give me the name of the last captain."

[Previous Captain - Charles Breaux-Dardar]

"Where is he?"

[Deceased. Cause of death, murder.]

"Who took me from the sleep chamber?"

[Please wait ... service robot 732.]

"Why?"

[Please wait ... Vitality signs failing.]

She read the words a couple of times. She had been dying and one of these robots with only a number for a name had come to save her.

"Are there any colonists alive right now?"

[Negative]

"They're all dead?"

[All deceased.]

"Why?"

[Please wait]

It then began to show a list of names with cause of death and a date next to them. The ones near the top of the list all died of old age but going further down there were a lot of deaths from violence and near the bottom some of the deaths were listed as war casualties.

"War?"

The machine listed off the names of various conflicts and Marsha was having a hard time understanding what it all meant.

"Ok. Forget about that right now. I need food. There are no rations apparently so there's no use in going to a shelter. I need something to eat now. Where are the farms? Where are the orchids?

[Harvesting is restricted to authorized personnel]

"Yeah, no one else is alive but me so I'm now authorized personnel. Show me."

[Please wait ... You are not listed as authorized personnel.]

How does the stupid machine even know who she was? "Well add me to the list."

[Please wait ... unable to comply.]

"Ok, I'm not going to harvest anything. I promise. I just want to look at the apple trees. You do have apple trees, right?"

[Please wait ... Apple orchid 5.2 kilometers south. Follow route 4 and turn at Oklast Gelch.]

"That's great. Why don't you print me out a map."

[Please wait ... Printer out of ink. Printer out of paper. Error. Maintenance request pending.]

It figured. She asked it to display the map to the orchid again and she worked out which way she had to go. Ok. She was going to have to walk out there. 5 kilometers wasn't so far. Sure, her hospital slipper shoes were not made for walking but she could make it.

As she walked, she wondered what exactly had happened. This obviously had not gone to plan. There were nine thousand people asleep and she was only awake because one of the few functional robots had noticed she was about to die. She'd have to go back and get some more information from that receptionist robot again after she got fed.

Only nine thousand. That meant that more than half were ... not there anymore. She felt a chill come over her.

Not time to think about that right now. She needed food. Every step she took on the road lead to eventually getting something to eat. Then she'd have to take as much as she could carry and make her way back to George. Poor George, who was all alone and waiting for her to return.

Now that she was thinking about it, if she was going to carry stuff, she needed something to carry it in because she didn't want to have to use her dress and walk naked. She kept her eyes open and when she spotted a supermarket she went inside. It was devoid of food and her plan to take a plastic basket turned to dust in her hand when she tried to pick one up. But besides the plastic ones, there were a few metal baskets and those seemed to be just fine.

She followed the tree lined road south to the southern gate of the town. She actually didn't need to walk all the way to the orchid. Right outside the gate there were wild blackberry bushes, thistles, coffee trees, orange trees, and yes; apple trees. There were some other kinds of trees and plants with other things in various states of growth. She even found sugar cane. It would have been so nice to have a knife just then, cut one of those open and chow down. As it was, she had to be content with unwashed blackberries and apples.

Off in the distance she could see corn growing but she was not going to walk out all that way. Then again, maybe it wasn't corn. It could be wheat or something else. But it reminded her of what corn was supposed to look like.

While she was grabbing some other things for her basket she was imagining what a nice ear of corn would feel like in her hand. It sure would taste good.

Uh oh. She as getting that feeling again. Somehow the thought of corn, long, thick, round corn ... it was just turning her on. Why?

It was too far. Look, it was just too far. If it even was corn, and she wasn't sure that it was, but even if it was in fact corn, she was not going to walk all the way over there to get it when she had plenty to eat right here. Besides, you can't just eat corn. You have to cook it or something, right?

She was internally fighting herself as something compelled her to go and find out if that was corn or not. She took a few steps and then she stopped herself. She told herself that she'd get lost if she went all the way out there. She had enough to eat. Then her body told her that it didn't want the corn for eating. It wanted something else. No, she told herself. She was not going to do that. She was not going to put some dirty thing between her legs. No. The corn and George back in the park were fucking inanimate objects for crying out loud.

Not that they should be used for fucking. That wasn't what she meant to think. It was the opposite. They were objects and thus, of course, they were specifically not to be used for that.

She turned around to head back to George ... she meant the water fountain. He was just a water fountain. No, not he. IT. It was just a water fountain, and one that she needed to help her wash all this food before she ate any more.

"Ok, girl. Get a hold of yourself."

She was back on the road and going back to town. Maybe if she found a reliable source of water outside the town then she wouldn't have to go back but for right now she needed ... the water fountain in the park.

She was looking down at her feet as she walked but she happened to look up at the town when she was getting closer to the gate.

Buggy. There was a buggy there. It looked sort of like one of those little car things that people back home used to ride in when they played golf on the green plains. She walked up to it. It didn't look automated but for all she really knew it could be some kind of robot doing something.

"Hello?" she said.

The car didn't say anything. She tapped on it but nothing happened. She put her basket in the seat and sat down behind the wheel.

"Hello?" she said again.

There was no response. Ok. So this thing was driven here by something. A robot? Or a person? If a person, a nice person or some asshole? Did she have anything to defend herself with?