Survivors

 

 

The boys looked around the "Paxton". Their preparations were as complete as they could be. It had taken them five days to get it ready. They worked from breakfast until dinner, except for a lunch break. As much as most of them wanted to work from the early morning until late at night, Douglas and Mike convinced them that it was for the best that they take time to relax and have some fun.

 

“It will only cost us a day if we set a slower pace,” Douglas told them. “We’ve waited this long—another day won’t hurt.” It took Dr. Kallama and Dr. Roark some time to convince Douglas of the wisdom of that statement, but he finally bought into it. They let him know that taking care of the health of his followers was part of being an effective leader.

 

Quan helped them over the radio. They got the environmental, engineering, and navigation systems operational, using Quan’s verbal instructions as well as the diagrams he provided for them illustrating the instructions. The air was recycled and cleaned, the water filtered, the rockets tested, and the warp drive started. Food was unloaded from the “Survivor", enough for a month. At warp speed, Hakaan was two weeks away, so they had extra food if needed. Once again Mike was put in charge of the food, a job he relished.

 

Now that all of the systems were operational and running smoothly, it was time to start the thruster rockets. Chief Engineer Quan provided Brandon with final instructions.  Brandon was communicating with Alex on the bridge and Quan on Inferno. Scooter was available to translate if needed.

 

Alex and Brandon told Quan they were ready for the countdown to fire up the rockets. When the countdown hit zero, Alex pushed the start button on the console. Brandon smiled when the rockets started. Alex used the rockets to move the starship out of orbit for the first time in twenty-five years.

 

As the ship pulled away from the gravity of Inferno and its two moons, the boys stayed in contact with Quan. He told Brandon to start feeding the fuel to the warp engines. This was Brandon’s job as the chief engineer. Jeremy and Travis were both helping to monitor the dials. Alex and Stevie were ready to take over once the warp fuel was running smoothly. All of the young teens felt very grown up as they took control of the big starship.

 

Once they engaged the warp drive and headed into warp space that would end the communication between the starship and the planet. Quan checked his gauges, making sure everything was working smoothly.

 

The “Paxton” moved slowly away from Inferno and in the direction of Hakaan. Quan and Roobine had programmed the coordinates for the journey to the home planet onto a computer. Alex, Stevie, and Scooter downloaded the program into the ship’s computer under the supervision of the two Hakaanen. 

 

With everything ready to go, the countdown started. It was a three hour countdown that had been pre-programmed by Quan. It would reach zero when the gravity of the planet and the two moons became weak enough not to affect the ship slipping into warp space. Too much pull of gravity would prevent the starship from entering warp space. Quan was using the "Paxton's" computers to tell them the right time to start the countdown.

 

“Now!” he said in English and Brandon flicked the switch that started the countdown.

 

The rockets kept propelling the starship farther and farther away from Inferno. Brandon, Jeremy, and Travis monitored the gauges, sending information back to Inferno. Quan monitored the performance of the “Paxton” closely.

 

An hour went by. Then two hours. The countdown kept ticking. Governor Andorn came on the radio. "Good luck to you all. Inferno is a better place because you blessed us by being here." He didn’t need to tell the boys that the colonists on Inferno were dependent on the boys arriving at Hakaan for them to have a chance of prospering, or even surviving.

 

Then the doctor came on. "Thank you, men." They all heard that. He said men, not boys. "I hope the journey is safe for you and brings you boys and us Hakaanen what we all need."

 

As the countdown went below ten minutes, little Matthew came on.  "I love you all," he said. "I'll miss you." They could tell he was crying as he talked to them.

 

"We all love you, Mattoo, my little brother," Mike said back. "You aren't seeing the last of us. We'll be back someday. I know it!"

 

The countdown hit zero. Alex shouted, "Engage!" and Stevie pushed the screen in front of him. In Engineering, Brandon watched all the dials move up to maximum power, watched all the lights go green, and then they all felt the sensation of moving into warp. The "Paxton" was in warp space. If nothing went wrong they would be at Hakaan in two weeks. Starships usually flew themselves once they got into warp, Quan had told them. Yeah, they sure do fly themselves, Douglas thought, just like the "Starkeeper" did.

 

 

Scooter and Douglas were lying on the narrow bed in their cabin. They were naked and had just finished making love. The "Paxton" was a day out from Inferno.

 

"You've been quiet since we left Inferno, Douglas."

 

"I have?"

 

"Yes. Are you still upset about Matthew?"

 

"No. I was wrong. He was happier staying behind. It wasn't up to me to decide his life for him."

 

"Then what is it?"

 

"Nothing."

 

Scooter knew Douglas's moods. He knew when Douglas said nothing was wrong it almost always meant something was bothering him. He gave Douglas a big hug and kissed him. Then he cuddled up next to the boy he loved so much.

 

"Tell me. I can read your moods, but not your mind. I come close though." Scooter laughed and snuggled up even tighter if that was possible.

 

"Scooter, what if this whole thing is wrong? What if Matthew was right about all of us? That we all should have stayed?"

 

"You were right about leaving the 'Moonduster' and you are right about leaving Inferno."

 

"Leaving the “Moonduster” was life or death. This was...I don't know, maybe this was about me thinking I know everything. Except for Matthew, we never really fit in on Inferno. I mean we were starting to, and maybe someday we might have. But now we're going to a planet where we will fit in even less, hoping maybe they can find a way to get us to our own planet. Who knows what we will find there, Scooter?"

 

“On Hakaan or on Earth?” Scooter asked him quietly.

 

“On either one…or on both.”

 

"Our families, I hope."

 

"But we don't know that. We don't know what happened to the 'Starkeeper'. Maybe it never got back. It seemed to be blowing up when we left. So what are we going back to? Where am I taking us?  I'm just being fucking stubborn again and instead of being on this starship going to maybe nowhere, we should be on Inferno, with a home, a bed, food, new friends, and safety. You were right. I'm as bad as Robert Charles."

 

"I said that when I was angry at you and to wake you up. Because what you were doing with Matthew was wrong. But this is different. None of us know what is right or wrong.  Somebody had to decide. I think we belong with humans. I think we have to find out what happened to our families if we can. I know we all want to know. I think we have to try to find out. Plus one other thing."

 

Douglas stroked Scooter's soft smooth skin. "What's that?"

 

"The Hakaanen probably can't survive on Inferno without help. They know it and they are afraid of getting the plague if they go back. They needed us. Without us going back to Hakaan their machines will wear out and they will end up dying on the planet. Brandon says at the rate they're going they need at least twenty-five more years until the planet will even have a chance of keeping the atmosphere on its own. Their machines might not last that long."

 

"So you don't think I screwed up, Scooter?"

 

"Never. We had to do this for us to survive. Every decision you’ve made has been about us surviving."

 

Douglas kissed Scooter deeply. Their tongues played in each other's mouths. They held each other close and tight, their hard dicks rubbing, and their tongues playing. Scooter rolled Douglas over on his back and rubbed his almost five inches of boy meat against Douglas’ almost five inches. The two young teen cocks, lubed by the precum leaking out, slid and rubbed as the boys kissed, hugged, and rolled on the bed until they both came within seconds of each other, their thin seed mixing on each other's bellies and cocks. Scooter rolled off of Douglas, took a scoop of the warm jizz on his finger and held it up in front of Douglas's face. Douglas licked it off and then scooped some for his love.

 

"We taste good," Scooter giggled.

 

"Yeah we do," Douglas said, and they kissed one more time.

 

"Feel better now?"

 

"Yes. Thanks for listening to me," Douglas said. "I guess we'll find out how this adventure works when we get to Hakaan. I hope it works out for all of us."

 

"I know it will. After all, you're in charge of it."

 

 

The first week of the voyage went smoothly. Everybody got used to their jobs and sleep times. The ship ran like it had been sitting for twenty-five days instead of twenty-five years.

 

The boys slept and had sex with their partners and sometimes with others. One night Scooter slept with Brandon while Brandon's partner, Stevie, slept with his brother Alex. Alex's partner Mike ended up sleeping with Douglas. It was a nice night for all six boys.

 

On another night Logan slept with his big "brother" Ryan. The ten-year-old was curious about what sex with an older boy would be like, especially oral sex. He was no stranger to oral sex since he and his twin brother Ethan engaged in the practice as often as they could.

 

“I want to do some sex stuff with you,” he told Ryan matter-of-factly.

 

While Ryan found the young boy cute and attractive, the fifteen-year-old wanted their relationship to be free of the complications of sex. It was not the first time Logan had made the request. Ryan was horny and was finding himself wanting to mentor his little “brother” sexually—at least that was his excuse.

 

“Okay, I’ll let you jerk off with me,” Ryan said, surprising both Logan and himself with his quick answer.

 

“I want to suck you,” Logan said.

 

“What do you know about sucking?”

 

“Lots. Me and Ethan do it all the time. Watch.” The little blond scooted under the covers and placed Ryan’s six-inch cock in his hand and started licking the glans.

 

Ryan let out a long moan as Logan came out from under the blankets. “See, I told you I knew something!” the young boy grinned. The blankets were quickly pulled away. Ryan saw Logan’s hairless two inches of boy steel standing proudly in front of him and realized he wanted to suck the little boy’s cock.

 

Before the older teen could get back into position, however, Logan went back down on Ryan and went earnestly to work on him. He knew he couldn’t get all of Ryan’s cock in his mouth like he could Ethan’s, but he managed two plus inches of Ryan’s thick tool. He tasted the teen’s precum and became intoxicated by the taste and aroma and the musk of teenage boy.

 

Ryan was on edge quickly and warned Logan that he was ready to cum, but the preteen kept sucking until Ryan thrust his hips up and started shooting his thick teen cum into the young boy’s mouth. It was the first time Logan had ever had another boy’s cum in his mouth. He coughed and sputtered and let some dribble down his chin, but he swallowed most of it. Ryan told Logan he was proud of him and quickly went down on the boy’s hairless cock, bringing him off to an intense dry cum within minutes.

 

Logan cuddled up to Ryan. Ryan and Ethan, his brothers, were the only boys he wanted to have sex with. Logan was certain when they got home all the sex would end, but for now he liked it with the right people. Ethan wanted to be with somebody, but was embarrassed to ask, so he spent the night alone. What he really wanted was to be with Travis when Logan was with Ryan, but Travis was on night watch on the bridge.

 

“Ethan should get a chance to do stuff, too,” Logan said before the boys fell asleep, which was how Ethan ended up sleeping in bed with Travis two nights later. Travis felt uncomfortable having oral sex with such a young boy, but he let Ethan jerk him off. Ethan liked wrapping his hand around the teen’s big five-and-a-half inches, playing with his balls, running his fingers through his silky pubic hair, and watching him shoot his teen juice over himself and over Ethan’s hand.  Travis brought the preteen to his own dry climax as well. Ethan didn’t care whether or not he sucked Travis, he just wanted to do something with an older boy like Logan had. He fell into a satisfied sleep next to the naked fifteen-year-old.  

 

And through it all, the “Paxton” sped on its voyage to Hakaan.

 

 

It was early in the morning on the tenth day. The "Paxton" was quiet and flying itself. It was Travis and Ryan’s turn to do the overnight watch, which pretty much was sleeping on a cot on the bridge ready to act if an alarm bell went off. An alarm clock woke him up every hour so he could check the navigation, environmental, and engineering instruments. The overnights rotated to each pair of boys who slept on the bridge instead of in their cabins when they had watch.

 

It was around 3:30 when an alarm bell sounded waking the two boys up. Ryan and Travis had to untangle each other. They had had a wild night on the bridge, role playing different adventures that ended up with them having sex. Four different adventures had exhausted them and it was almost two o'clock before they even got to sleep. So when the alarm went off it took them a few minutes to figure out where they were and what the noise was.

 

They got untangled and looked to see what the cause of the alarm was. The flashing light said engineering, so they went to the engineering station. Two red lights were flashing on the console. Ryan had no idea what they meant, but Travis saw one that said fuel flow and knew that meant trouble. He remembered Quan saying whenever the fuel flow light came on the warp drive should be shut down immediately.

 

He called Brandon and Stevie's room. Brandon answered with a sleepy voice.

 

"What's going on?"

 

Travis told him about the fuel flow warning.

 

"Shit! Steve and l will head for engineering—we’re closer than you guys. Wake up Jeremy and tell him to meet us there. Wake up Alex and Douglas and let them know. I'll need you at the engineering station on the bridge."

 

Brandon hung up. He and Stevie had slept in the same bed and almost fell over each other getting out of it. They didn't bother to get dressed. Nobody had worn clothes on the "Paxton" from the time they got it cleaned up. Within five minutes everyone was at their stations.

 

"So, do we shut down, Douglas?" Alex asked.

 

"You're the captain," Douglas said. "I'm the leader of the group, not the captain of the ship. You're in charge of running the ship, and we both agreed to that. I'm in charge of the mission.  You have to decide, Alex."

 

Alex got on the intercom to get Brandon’s advice. After all, Brandon was their chief engineer. They discussed the fuel flow issue and decided it was best if they did what Quan had told them to do. "Shut down the warp drive, Brandon," he said.

 

They all knew what that meant. If they couldn't get the warp drive started again they would be marooned in space, drifting along until the environmental machines broke down. But Quan had said if they didn't shut it down when there was a problem with the fuel flow they could lose all their fuel and never get the ship going again.  Whatever choice he made was a risk, but Quan had made it pretty plain that when the fuel flow alarm went off the warp engines had to go down.

 

Brandon pushed the touch screen on the main Engineering control panel and the warp engines went offline. They all felt the little dizziness that happened when a ship left or entered warp space. Alex looked out of the front view screen and saw the colors of warp space change to the black of deep space. All he saw was black and the lights of stars.

 

They set to work investigating why the alarm went off. Brandon wished somebody on the ship would invent a warp radio so he could talk to Quan. He looked at all the readouts. They looked normal and didn't tell him a thing. He had no idea why the fuel flow alarm went off. The red light under the gauge was flashing, but the readout looked normal.

 

He got out the manual and the shorter instructions Quan had given him. The manual was too technical for him to fully understand. He would need years of education to figure it out, but Quan had put the major things that could happen in a manual that would be easier for him to understand. He hoped that he could find what went wrong on the printout.  "If I can't figure this out," Brandon thought, "we're doomed."

 

Brandon went through the engineering log. He checked the readings. He compared them to Quan's instructions. He couldn't find anything that looked out of the ordinary on the ship’s readouts. Alex called him.

 

"Any luck?"

 

"Not yet. I'm flipping through lots of pages."

 

"Well, it's almost five in the morning. Let's get some sleep. We might be drifting but it doesn't look like we're in any danger. If any new alarms go off we'll wake everybody up." Douglas came on and said he they would all meet at ten o'clock.

 

When ten came they met in the dining hall. The "Paxton" was not nearly as big as the "Starkeeper" was and the dining hall was the best place to meet. Since this was about running the ship, Douglas started the meeting and then put Alex in charge.

 

"All of us need to help Brandon find the solution,” Alex said. “We need to go through all the manual and see if there is a pattern that set off the alarm.  All of the readouts are normal. The ship’s computer isn’t telling a thing. Anything to add, Brandon?"

 

"Quan said the computer should tell the area where the problem is located,” Brandon answered. “Like if there is a leak or something it should tell where to look. It doesn’t tell us nothing. It just keeps setting off the alarm. I don't even know where to begin to look."

 

After more discussion they broke up and started working. They flipped through the manuals.  Stevie had the computer replay what happened in engineering before the alarms went off. He played it back over and over, but couldn't figure out what set off the alarms because not a single gauge had changed its indication. Brandon looked at the computer as well. Every reading was perfect right up to the alarms going off, then the fuel flow lights turned to red.  But nothing showed up on the gauges that could have set the alarms off.

 

They worked until they were too tired to work any more. Mike made a nice meal and they rested in the dining room and ate. It was close to midnight when Alex said it was time to sleep. They would all need fresh minds to find out what was wrong.

 

Brandon and Stevie lay in their bed together. They both were exhausted.

 

"All the tests show nothing wrong. Quan's book shows nothing wrong. I don't understand the regular ship’s manual at all—I mean not only is it very technical, but it’s written in Hakaan which I’ve just barely begun to learn. I don't know what else to do, Stevie."  Brandon felt close to crying. Stevie hugged him and kissed him. They were too tired to do more and fell asleep in each other's arms.

 

Douglas and Scooter talked until early in the morning. Douglas was worried yet again that he had done the wrong thing. Scooter told him that they would get it all fixed, and that they weren't going to all die out in space. Douglas planted a loving kiss on Scooter’s lips.

 

"I love your optimism,” Douglas told him, “but we were safe on a planet, Scooter. Now here we are drifting out in space. We need all of our fuel to get to Hakaan. If we lost any we're done. We will drift in space forever, and it's my fault we're here."

 

"No, it's not. We all followed you and we all knew what the risk was. We all voted to go. I will follow you anywhere, anytime and I'm happy I did this time. We did what we needed to do."

 

"I love you, Scooter."

 

"I love you, Douglas."

 

And they fell asleep in each other's arms.

 

The boys were up early and got back to researching the problem. Stevie found out in Quan's manual how to do a complete dry run test. The manual was not very long and had been translated into English. It contained the most basic information Quan felt the boys would need.

 

Stevie and Brandon programmed the computer and ran the fuel system through the dry run. Everything worked perfectly until they got to the spot where the alarms were set off before. When they got to that point the alarms went again, but all the readings remained normal.  "We're missing something," Travis said. "We gotta do it again. We have to find out what is setting it off or we will float out here forever."

 

Stevie programmed the computer again and they went through the test again and the alarms went off again. Quan's manual and the computer told them that everything was working perfectly. The tests said everything was working perfectly. But everything wasn't working perfectly. There was something seriously wrong with the fuel flow system to the warp engines. Something was making the alarms go off, and until they found out what it was they couldn't risk starting the warp drive.  Doing that could cause them to lose all the fuel they had or even damage the warp drive, which was something they would never be able to repair.

 

Travis and Jeremy followed the fuel lines to where the fuel tank was. Nothing was leaking. The next step would be to see if anything was leaking outside, which would mean a space walk. Alex decided they would do that the next day, and that Travis and Jeremy would go out on the walk with Douglas and Ryan backing them up while positioned at the airlock.

 

The twins, who were too young to help with any technical assistance were able to run errands and get tools and grab snacks and drinks for the older boys. They were happy to do anything to help.

 

That night everybody went to bed late again.  Jeremy was tossing and turning. He was worried about the space walk. Warren was tossing and turning too, mostly because Jeremy was. But he was worried about Jeremy some, too, and about them getting to Hakaan safely. Warren was about to send Jeremy to the other bed so he could get some sleep.

 

"Jeremy, maybe at least one of us could sleep if we weren't banging into each other."

 

Jeremy kissed Warren. "I'm sorry, buddy. I guess I'm a little tense. Going on a space walk is hard enough for people who know what they're doing. We were lucky when we did it on the ‘Moonduster’. And I'm not even sure we need to do this one."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"If there was a fuel leak outside, then the fuel gauge would be going down. It hasn't moved since we shut down the warp drive. So why go out?"

 

"Maybe the gauge doesn't work," Warren said.

 

"There are two of them, just in case. They both say the same thing. Everything is doubled."

 

"Everything?"

 

"Yes, everything."

 

Warren pushed himself close to the big studly boy he loved so much. He still didn't know why Jeremy loved his own little skinny self, but he was happy he did.

 

"What are you thinking, buddy? I can hear the hamster at the wheel up there in your head."

 

"What I'm thinking is this. Are the alarms doubled too?"

 

"Well, of course. If one doesn't get set off, the other one will be set off."

 

Warren snuggled up tighter to Jeremy. "What if one alarm goes off accidentally? What happens to the other alarm?"

 

"I don't know. I guess it doesn't do anything because it thinks the first alarm is working like it should. I mean, I suppose it backs up the first alarm if it isn't working, but doesn't do anything if the first alarm goes off. What does that have to do with.......oh......I think I see what you're thinking, buddy."

 

"Yeah, like what if the alarm is going off at the same spot because it isn't working right? What if there is nothing wrong with the fuel system?"

 

"I donno. Maybe we should check that out in the morning before we do anything else. That's a super good question, Warren. Super good."

 

"Well, then, just in case though, maybe I should relax you some so you can sleep."  So instead of pushing Jeremy out of bed, Warren went down under the covers and put Jeremy's hard cock into his mouth, soon bringing him off to an orgasm that shook the whole bed. Warren swallowed his lover’s thick sweet cum, and let his now relaxed love fall asleep cuddled against him. Jeremy was amazed at how much he had needed that release.

 

At eight o'clock Mike had breakfast ready for everybody. And at nine o'clock they had their morning meeting. Warren and Jeremy had already told everybody about Warren's theory. Now it was time to decide what to do about it.

 

"I guess we can run another test. But unhook the main alarm and see if the backup alarm sounds," Brandon said. "If it goes off too, then we still have a problem. But it won't hurt to find out what happens."

 

"How long will it take to do it?" Douglas asked.

 

Brandon looked at Stevie. "A couple of hours," Stevie said. "We have to figure out how to do it first. Then we have to run the same test."

 

"Well, while you're doing that we better go ahead with the space walk," Alex said. "Because if we are losing fuel we need to know it.  The sooner the better."

 

"If we're losing fuel, we're losing it pretty slow," Jeremy said. "The gauges still haven't moved. We waited all night, another couple of hours won't hurt."

 

"I agree with Jeremy," Douglas said.  "Let's not risk anybody out in space if we don't have to."

 

Alex glared at Douglas. Douglas wasn't in charge now. He was. "You want to make the decision, Douglas?"

 

"Nope. This isn't mission business. This is running the ship. It's your call."

 

Alex nodded at Douglas and this time gave him a quick smile. Douglas always found a way of reminding him that they had picked the right person to be their leader. "I agree with Douglas. Let's run the test first."

 

Stevie went to the bridge and started working on how to disable the main alarm so that the second alarm would take over. Jeremy and Travis helped him, while Brandon went to engineering to run through his manuals and printouts. After about an hour Stevie thought he had it figured out. He punched in some numbers and got surprised when an alarm went off. He looked at what the computer screen told him.

 

"PRIMARY ALARM DISABLED. BACKUP ALARM ON." Even though it was in Hakaanen, he had learned enough to be able to read it.

 

He called Brandon. Brandon told him he had seen the same message. Now it was time to run the test. Stevie programmed the same test program they had been running. When it got to the point where the alarm had gone off before, nothing happened. The test went quietly on. Everybody let out their breath that it seemed like they had been holding in forever.

 

Now it was time to try it for real.

 

"What if somehow we disconnected the whole system?" Mike asked. "What if the problem isn't the alarm system?"

 

"Mike, you worry too much," Ryan told him. "Come to my bed tonight after we're safely rolling, I'll take care of your worries." Travis looked at Ryan. Ryan smiled at him, and Travis smiled back. Ryan had a nice way of relaxing people. And Mike sure looked like he needed it.

 

"Only one way to find out," Alex said. "And that's to go back to warp drive." He looked at Douglas. "Only this time, it's the whole mission we’re talking about. It's your call, Douglas."

 

Douglas knew that wasn't true. But he knew what Alex would decide. It was the only possible decision. "Start the countdown," he said. "We're going back to warp."

 

The boys cheered and went to their stations, or went to a spot where they could observe what was going on. Alex started a two-hour countdown. Now the questions were, what if the alarm really was working right and it went off again? And what if both alarms weren't on now and something really was wrong?

 

"Worrying won't solve a thing," Travis said. "Let's just get this thing going."

 

When the countdown got to zero the warp drive was engaged.  They all felt the familiar dizziness as the starship went back into warp space. Everybody stared at the control panels waiting for alarms to go off.  Nothing happened. The fuel gauges stayed steady. The fuel flow was like it was supposed to be. The "Jordan M. Paxton" raced toward Hakaan.

 

That night Ryan and Travis gave Mike a long massage. The massage ended with Mike having an incredible orgasm, spilling his seed over the sheets of his bed as Ryan and Travis both helped him over the top. Ryan was right, Mike thought, I worry too much. But if this is my reward for worrying, maybe I should worry more often.

 

 

Three days later, Scooter looked over the navigation instruments and smiled. He let everybody know that they were a day away from Hakaan. The next day they would have to leave warp space. The "Paxton" had run perfectly. The fuel level had gone down just like it was supposed to. No alarms went off. Warren had come up with the proper solution.

 

"Warren sits around quietly for weeks, then suddenly he seems to shine when he really needs to," Douglas told Scooter.

 

"Well, when he shines, he shines pretty good. Nobody else thought about the alarm being broken. We all were looking for something complicated, when it ended up being something simple."

 

"Maybe that's why he came up with it.  It was a simple solution. And he wasn't involved in trying to read manuals and all the rest of the shit. He looked more at the big picture. But whatever, we're almost at Hakaan."

 

"And we're all wondering what is there."

 

"You worried?" Douglas asked.

 

"Yeah. Aren't you?"

 

Douglas looked into Scooter's eyes. "Big time," he said.

 

 

That night all of the boys met in the dining room.

 

Douglas addressed the group. "Tomorrow, if all our calculations are right, we will arrive at Hakaan. What happens from there none of us know. For all we know the population of Hakaan has been wiped out, but Doctor Lokor didn't think so. He said populations always survive plagues.  But whatever happened, for the last twenty-five years no ship has gone to Inferno from the home planet.

 

"One thing we know for sure is, no matter what happened on Hakaan, the chances of us leaving there on our own aren't zero. Quan told us where fuel might be stored, but that was twenty-five years ago.  And we would still need a way to transport the fuel to the ‘Paxton.’. So who knows what will happen.”

 

"Tomorrow I will take over from Alex. He is the ship's captain. But we will be at our destination and not traveling through space.  I'm going to need all of your help.  It was all of us working together. That's how we got here from the day RC launched us from the ‘Starkeeper’.”

 

The way Douglas said the “RC" sent shivers down their spines. They all knew what happened in the cave with Scooter and Douglas and Robert Charles.

 

"All of us working together will get us all home. Just like it got us this far."

 

Douglas looked at the group. "This could be our last normal night together for a long time. I think we should show our love for each other, like we have since we were on the 'Starkeeper'." Nobody had any objection,

 

There was soon a lot of wrestling, kissing, jerking off, and sucking going on. Nobody cared who was with whom. But in the tangle of arms and legs and bodies Douglas saw the twins sitting alone at one of the tables, naked and hard and looking at everything going on, but also looking a little bit scared. He got up and sat next to them, his erection, jutting out of widely scattered wisps of pubic hair, was wet with precum. He was also wet with his sweat and the sweat of the other boys he had been playing around with, not to mention sticky with their precum.

 

"Are you guys okay?" he asked.

 

"Yeah, I guess," Ethan said quietly.

 

"This is part of how we all love each other. We're a big family. We have been since we were on the 'Starkeeper', we just haven't had much chance to express it together recently. You guys don't have to stay if it bothers you. I know you're young and you didn't...."

 

"We're not little kids," Ethan said forcefully. "We're ten years old. I've done this stuff before," he added trying to sound grown up.

 

"So, do you wanna stay and watch then?" He saw how hard their little boners were and how they tried not to touch them with everybody watching.

 

"Yeah, I guess so," Ethan said.

 

"Or do you want to join us?"

 

"I dunno, maybe…," Ethan started to say.

 

"Yes," Ethan said interrupting him. Ethan looked at his twin brother. Logan was the shy one, and here he was wanting to join the wild group in front of them. His night with Travis seemed to have given him a shot of confidence.

 

For Logan the decision was simple. In the big group he could have some fun and lose his shyness. He got up off the couch and sat down on the floor. Before he knew it Scooter and Douglas were wrapping themselves around him. He lost himself in the two teenage boys having fun with him.

 

Ethan watched his twin brother dive into the orgy. He was deciding whether to follow him when Ryan got up, pulled him along, and brought him to the floor. Logan lost Ethan, and Ethan lost Logan, and the twelve boys got lost in arms and legs and sucking and sweat and precum, until finally there were hard orgasms and cums in mouths, on bodies, on the floor.  When it was over they were all exhausted and dragged themselves to their rooms. All but the twins. Ethan ended up sleeping with Scooter and Douglas, and Logan ended up sleeping with Ryan and Travis. Stevie and Brandon took the bridge watch for the night and slept through the last night of their journey.

 

 

The next morning Mike had an early breakfast prepared. After eating, Alex and Douglas went to the bridge. Brandon, Travis, and Jeremy went to the engineering section. Stevie had the helm and Ryan was at the engineering station on the bridge. Alex told Ryan to take them out of warp. Ryan put his finger on the icon on the touch screen. Down in engineering, Brandon watched the gauges flicker, and they all felt the light dizziness of going out of warp.

 

The boys on the bridge could see a sun in the view screen. It was small, but bigger than the rest of the stars. They were at the edge of a solar system.

 

Scooter started working as the astrogator, checking where the sun's planets were. He had been told that Hakaan was the second planet from the sun in the solar system. The Hakaanen called their sun Chamira. As the ship moved through the solar system, Chamira filled more and more of their view screen.

 

"Have you found Hakaan yet, Scooter?" Alex asked.

 

"Not yet, I'm...oh..wait. I have something." Scooter gave some instructions to Stevie, who turned the ship to the new coordinates. It was now heading straight towards Hakaan.

 

Mike got on the radio trying to see if he could raise any signals. Scooter came over to do the broadcast. He was still the only one who could speak fluent Hakaan.

 

Two hours went by without an answer.  Mike got lots of static and noise but no words.  Soon they could see the planet, and it wasn't long before they were ready to enter its orbit.

 

Scooter had used the Hakaanen name for the "Paxton." He identified the ship and asked for permission to enter orbit. He said they were coming from Inferno, using the Hakaanen name. He kept repeating his broadcast, but he got no answer. They heard nothing but static and random noise.

 

Stevie and Alex placed the starship into orbit. Now they would have to check what else was in orbit.  The ship had a proximity alarm, but Alex knew he would have to be very alert.  Douglas would have to decide what to do next, especially with no answers to Scooter's broadcasts.

 

The boys looked down at the planet's surface. Except for the different shapes of the continents it looked just like Earth. The continents were green and brown. They could see the white peaks of mountains. And, like Earth, most of the surface was ocean. White clouds covered sections of the planet. It looked beautiful after so long on the desert planet of Inferno.

 

"It's gorgeous," Scooter whispered in awe.

 

"You're right, it is," Mike replied. "But if what I'm hearing on the radio means anything, that beautiful planet below us is a dead planet as far as intelligent life goes."

 

NEXT: Chapter 53 THE ANCIENTS

 

Emails always appreciated. Douglas. the hakaanen@hotmail.com