The Empty Ship

"That'll be a change for us."

"I know but actually, I'm the older one now. Just like you said before ..."

"Oh, you're going to bring that up?"

"Yeah, I am. Now you have to listen to me. You have to respect me. Ha ha."

"We'll have to see about that."

"Anyway, just relax. I have to go get some things done but if you're hungry or thirsty, help yourself to anything in the kitchen."

"Can I use the computer?"

"Sure. Go ahead. But take it easy. There's no reason to exert yourself. And if you need me just ask the computer to ring the chime and I'll come running."

Once her brother was out of the tower, Marsha went to the computer and had a very specific question.

"How do I wake someone up from the sleep chamber?"

[Accessing sleep chamber mainframe ... requesting procedures.]

What followed was a long list of things to do but Marsha didn't understand any of it because it was all written in that damned language the colonists used.

"Show me who's asleep right now."

The computer displayed a list of names with age, gender, education level, occupation, marital status, dependents and other things.

"Show me just the males."

The computer replied and Marsha was looking at a nice long list of potential guys who could come and take care of her the way she really wanted to be taken care of. She looked at the first name on the list and looked at his marital status. Single. Perfect.

Oh, but wait. He was only nine years old. Never mind. Next.

The next name on the list was a boy of only eleven.

"Show me just the men."

[Processing ... please restate the question]

"Ugh. Show me the men over 18."

[There are no males in the sleep chamber over 18.]

"Why not?"

[please wait ... please restate the question.]

"Show me the list of males but sort from oldest to youngest."

The list came back up and Marsha saw that the oldest boys were only 14 and the youngest were 8, which was the youngest they would allow a child to enter sleep for the voyage.

She asked the computer to show her all the names again, and she saw that women were many different ages from 8 all the way up to 60, which was the oldest they would allow in the sleep chamber. There were only a handful of women over 40 left. Most of them had already passed away.

Marsha was scratching her head. As she scrolled through the names, she grabbed a pencil and some paper and started making notes. The picture was becoming clear. All the men were gone. There were only 1701 boys left and most of them were about ten years old. All the rest were women. It was a mystery and the computer didn't seem to be smart enough to give Marsha the answer she wanted when she just flat out asked what had happened.

Marsha's initial hypothesis was that men just didn't last very long in sleep. When she asked for the names of all the men that had died before being woken up, she got a very short list and they were all over 50 years old. She asked for the names of the men who'd awoken from sleep and a new list started to scroll up. The reason for coming out of sleep was also stated next to each name.

Drafted for military service.

She scrolled down to her father's name. Right there in front of her the computer displayed the information without care for how it would make her feel. Her father had been awoken, sent to fight some stupid war the damned colonists were having with themselves, and only three years later had died at the battle of something something.

Almost that same story repeated over and over again with almost every name on the list. Narranese and Imperials from Shikju, it was the same. All the men were gone.

Marsha sat there at it was strange but she could almost feel the ship around her as it moved in space. They were all going to die. Everyone would either die in the sleep chamber or live out a sad and lonely life as a subsistence farmer. And even if they could wake everyone up, there would be a lot of orphans to take care of. It was a logistics nightmare. She couldn't see a way for them to make a sustainable population. Not for the ship or for a planet if they could eventually escape.

The ship was doomed.

...

Tom was cheery as he served dinner to Marsha but she was quiet. She looked at the meal of rice, meat from some animal, carrots, and broccoli. It was sort of basic but not that bad.

"I have some pepper if you want some." he mentioned as he sat across from her to start eating.

Even as hungry as she was, she took in very small bites and chewed slowly as her mind was still taking in the realization that there was no hope. Ok, not zero hope. It wasn't like they were the absolute last humans in the galaxy. There were whole worlds out there teeming with mankind. Some places even had a problem with over population. But here, this population of people were all going to die to the last man with no one to replace them. Then it really would be a ghost ship. It might take centuries but eventually all the plants and animals would die as well and then the ship would become a cold, dead shell just aimlessly floating in the void.

Her brow furrowed and she swallowed hard. She felt despair creep into her thoughts. They were alone. They were all alone. No one was coming to rescue them. No one knew where they were. No one could even get here to help them. They couldn't even go back into the sleep chambers to wait for anyone to answer a distress call either. This was it. This was the rest of her life. Her plans to help her parents on a homestead and then move away to a big city were all gone. Everything was gone and she was a prisoner on this flying tomb. She would die here and no one would even remember that she had ever existed.

Tom tried repeatedly to get Marsha to chat with him during dinner but eventually he got the hint and just left her alone. She didn't know if he knew what the real situation was yet. Maybe he did and had just come to terms with it already. Or maybe he'd never thought to ask about the available male population.

After dinner, Tom set Marsha up in the living room with a film. It was in some language that Marsha didn't understand but the tv was able to show computer translated subtitles at the bottom of the screen. They weren't perfect but it was good enough for her to get the gist of the story.

Tom cleaned up and when he was done he came to sit next to her. He was sitting some distance away and Marsha just could not stop herself from going over to him so she could be in contact with his body. He smelled sweaty but instead of stinking, it was actually rather pleasurable. She wondered what he'd been doing outside. She was thankful the tower had air conditioning but even as she tried to keep that in her mind she was imagining her brother with no shirt as he perspired in the sun.

He put his arm around her and she leaned in even closer to him. She loved him because he was her brother. Of course she loved her brother. But more than that, he was a man. He was a man and she needed a man. Her desire was forcing her to accept this. She needed a man. She needed what only a man could give her and her brother was a man.

It would be ok, something in her seemed to be saying. No one would know. No one would judge. She felt heat rising from her body and her privates were almost on fire. Against her will she was formulating a plan to have her brother take her virginity. It was going to have to happen. There was no choice.

She leaned in closer to him and kissed him on the cheek. He only smiled and glanced back at her briefly. He turned his eyes to the film again and she moved in and kissed his cheek for a bit longer this time. He turned his attention to her with a puzzled look. The two siblings remained liked that for a while. He was looking at her as if he did not understand what she was getting at and she was trying to give him the hint that she was ready to throw herself at him.

And then she noticed a very wonderful thing. She put her hand on his groin and felt him start to become erect. Yes! That was exactly what she wanted. That was what she needed. Give it to me!

She moved in quick to kiss him on the lips but that startled him. He jerked away from her and stumbled off of the sofa to his feet.

"What the hell!"

"I'm sorry." she said and shame began to fill her. What had she been thinking? Had she lost her mind? But he obviously liked it because his hard on was making itself visible in his pants. "I was just spacing out for a moment." she offered as an explanation.

"Well, don't tease me like that."

"Like what?"

"You know. Like that. It's not my fault."

"What's not your fault?"

"You know. I've never ... you know."

"I don't know. Why don't you say it if you have something to say?"

"Alright, look, just don't tease me with that kind of stuff. Ok?"

"I'm not trying to tease you."

He considered what she was saying and then he figured that it must just be him. "Ok, I'm sorry for overreacting." he said. "It's just that sometimes I get all worked up inside and I know girls don't get this way so maybe you don't know what it does to me but ..."

"It's ok. It's my fault. You don't have to apologize."

"I mean, you're my sister and I don't want you to think that I'm going around thinking of you that way. I'm not. I can't help ..."

"Tom, it's ok. I understand. Really."

He hung his head and only sat down again once she gave him lots of space to be far away from her. As the movie played he wasn't really watching it. He was looking down and occasionally adjusting himself so that his erection wouldn't show through his pants.

She felt really bad. She felt like she should apologize to him. She hated that he felt like he was the one who'd done something wrong.

Look at me, she thought to herself. Please look at me.

She worked through the words she'd need to say in order to let him know he could relax without giving away the fact that she wanted to ... Ok, no. She did not want that. He was her brother. They were brother and sister. She could not want that and she was hurting him by even thinking it.

Let him fuck you.

No. That was not going to happen.

No one would ever find out.

But it was wrong.

He'll enjoy it. He'll love you for it.

Or he'd run away screaming.

Just tell him how you feel.

No. Even if she was going to do that, and there was no way she would but even if she were going to even entertain that thought for a moment, it was too soon.

Act now.

No. It was too soon. Even if he were just some random guy, someone she could be with, she would never do anything like that after just meeting someone.

But you know him. You love him.

Only because he was her brother.

Ouch. OUCH! Pain shot through her body and her backbone tried to arch into a funny position. Her head flew back and then she wasn't able to keep any sort of balance. Her body flailed about and she ended up on the floor before Tom could even react to what was going on.

"Hey, are you ok?"

She wasn't able to respond but clearly she was not ok. Her body was shaking and Tom didn't know what else to do but hold her until the tremors stopped. When they did, he carried her up the stairs to his room and put her in bed. He was just going to leave her there but when the thought of him being two floors away from her entered her mind she called out to him.

"Stay with me. Please."

He nodded in acceptance.

...

The next morning she awoke when he started to get out of bed. He had slept next to her the night before with his body above the covers and hers underneath. When he saw that she was awake he asked her if she was ok. She said she was feeling a lot better after a good night's sleep.

He grabbed just a piece of bread for breakfast before he had to head out the door. There were things that needed to be done. Marsha found herself alone in the kitchen, and barefoot no less since she still didn't have any proper shoes. But it was ok. She went to the door to look at what her brother was doing outside. He was busying himself with feeding the animals.

She went back to the kitchen and started to familiarize herself with everything he had. She didn't want to feel like an invalid. Ok, so his house was pretty clean but there were some trouble areas. His kitchen was well stocked but she could see some room for improvement. While he was working to keep a roof over their heads she could do her part and keep the place they lived tidy so he didn't have to do that.

From the looks of things, he relied on a bread maker, a rice maker, and other automatic machines to do his cooking. She could change that. He had a stove and oven so she could really improve the quality of his meals. He was low on herbs and spices. Did the fact that he had any of them mean that they were growing on the ship somewhere or were they left over from before? Well, it didn't make sense that they would last seven thousand years, did it? So, gathering herbs was another thing she could do.

The thing he had the most of was salt. He had heaps and heaps of that. Still, it would be a good idea to ask him where he had gotten it for when they needed to get some more. Ok, so next, it looked like they needed cooking oil. That looked easy enough. They could use ...

Beep ... Beep ... Beep.

What was that? She went to the computer.

[notification of computer access. ]

What did that mean? Marsha went to the door and called out to Tom. He dropped what he was doing and headed back over to her.

"What is it?"

"The computer says someone's using ... um ... a computer somewhere."

"What? Really?"

"Don't know. Come look."

He took his muddy boots off and headed over to the screen.

"Who is it?" Marsha asked.

"How should I know?"

"Well, ask."

"The computer won't tell me that. It'll only ..."

"Why not?"

"There are rules about snooping on other people. I can only see that someone has accessed a computer, but not who they are and not what they looked at."

"Well, can you see where they are?"

"Nope, but they're probably in Gelch. That's where the robots tend to take everyone who wakes up."

"You know, you should pay more attention to what's going on in the sleep chambers."

"You do know you're the first person to wake up in something like ten years, right?"

"I better go." she said.

"What? Not in your condition."

"I'll be fine, just let me borrow some shoes."

"No. I ..."

"You're too busy."

"Well ... I do have a lot to do but it can be dangerous out there."

"All the more reason why you should be paying attention to ..."

"Look, we'll be ok. I'll just put off my chores until tomorrow. I'll go get them and ..."

"Tom, listen to me. Whoever that is out there, you'll scare her half to death if some big hairy man just shows up."

"Yeah, but I'm not going to let my sister go out there to meet some guy who might have gone psycho from sleeping too long."

"The only way it's a guy is if it's a little boy and again a big hairy man coming to greet him will probably make him run for his life."

"What? How do you know?"

"Because according to the computer there aren't any men left in the sleep chambers."

"What?"

"Didn't you ever notice?"

"Well ... no. Wait, is that true?"

"Look, give me some food and some water. She's probably hungry and very thirsty." And Marsha added a prayer in her mind that whoever the bitch was, she hadn't found her George. Then she immediately took it back. It was silly of her to even think that.

"We should both go."

"Will you just let me handle this? I can do it. I'll be back before you know it."

He reluctantly agreed and Marsha packed up for her journey. He looked rather anxious as he waved goodbye to her and she slowly drove away in the golf cart.

Out on the road, it was a long and boring ride. She wished she had had the foresight to ask to bring some music or something along. Neither she nor Tom had thought of it but she was thinking of it now. The thing that Tom had thought of was to bring a weapon. She carried with her a really big knife do defend herself in case huge dogs tried to ambush her on the road. He had said that it likely wouldn't happen but it was just in case.

When Marsha thought of the weapon she didn't think of it as something she'd need for dogs. It was impressed on her very clearly that it was the humans on the ship who had wiped the humans out. She didn't know who she was going to find and that person could be desperate. That person could be crazy. That person might be a 14 year old boy who would see Marsha as an easy target for violence.

She tried to think of how tall a 14 year old boy would be.

She didn't have anything to keep time so she wasn't sure how many hours she was driving but it was more than one. It was more than two. It was so long in fact that Marsha had to stop on the side of the road to pee. Good thing there was no one around. Why was that turning her on? Before proceeding she gave in and just took her shorts all the way off. Even with some piss in her pubic hair, she didn't care. She put her fingers down there and started to get herself off. In and out they went while her mind imagined Tom's body on top of her and his cock inside of her. That killed more time than she would have liked and her fingers were now coated in her own juices but it let her fell almost normal so she could continue the drive.

Marsha finally made it back to the town she herself had awoken in. Why didn't Tom live closer to this place if it was where the robots took people. Then again, if she was the first person to wake up in ten years, she guessed she could understand.

She imagined how things might be different if she had awoken when he had. She'd still be eight years older than him instead of two years younger. These urges would have left her a long time ago and they'd be able to just be a normal set of siblings. Not that they weren't normal now. They hadn't crossed any kind of line of no return. It was still possible to just be regular brother and sister.

But now there was going to be some other woman. Marsha thought about that as she drove through the town looking for any signs of life. She tried to honk the horn but it made very little noise. Well, good. Maybe if she didn't find this mystery person, they wouldn't go and start fucking her brother. And she just knew that this woman would want to fuck her brother. Of course she would. Even if there weren't chemicals that were sending her mind to thoughts of sex every few minutes, her brother was a strong, handsome man. And besides that, he was the only man on the ship. The only one.

And now he was going to have two extra mouths to feed instead of one. Unconsciously, Marsha was gripping her knife's handle as she drove.

She turned a corner and she noticed that she was heading towards George. Good old George. She should stop and say hi.

There in the park, with a little picnic laid out for herself, Marsha saw a young woman eating various things that Marsha herself remembered from just outside the town gate. She was washing everything one piece at a time and then eating it. However, as soon as she saw Marsha approaching she froze and went wide eyed.

Marsha got out of the cart and approached slowly.

"Hello." she said, trying to sound friendly.

The woman bowed and said "Hello."

"I have food if you're hungry."

The woman started to gather up everything she had with her and Marsha offered to help her.

"Thank you." the woman said with an accent.

"Are you from Narra or Shikju?"

"Shikju."

Oh, that explained the straight black hair. She was an Imperial. That was ... PERFECT. She probably only spoke Imperial, not Narranese. With a language barrier, there was no way she'd be able to get at her brother. Ha ha.

"Well, I'm Marsha. May I have your name?"

"My name is Ahoji. I thank you again for your kindness."