Discovery

Raynor Schwartz heard the rumble of the landing rocket outside the habitat but paid little attention to it besides that. He was crouching next to some pumpkin plants under the sheer light of the glow bulbs hanging above him.

“I swear the lights are the only thing that keeps me warm on this habitat,” sighed Ramona Wagner, who like Schwartz, was pollinating some pumpkins.

“Truly, this is the only warm room on the station,” he agreed. He straightened himself out, his back weary and sore. He took a second to admire his girlfriend’s butt in her jumpsuit and smiled.

“I see you checking me out,” snickered Wagner, looking back at him with a mischievous grin.

“I was doing nothing of the sort,” Schwartz declared dramatically. Ramona smiled and went back to her work.

“I am going to grab a cup of tea. Want to come my dear,” Schwartz asked her.

“I still have a dozen more plants over here. Mind grabbing me some chamomile,” Wagner responded.

“Not a problem,” Schwartz said, and headed down the long botany hall to the kitchen. The walk reminded him of how sore he was. The gravity might be lighter, the work easier, but hour after hour, day after day, it wore on you.

“How are you Professor,” Eric Alain asked when Schwartz entered the kitchen.

“Oh fine, same as you, getting some tea. Did I hear the new Rocket just arrived?”

“Yeah, I’m on my way to the airlock to see Li right now, actually,” he said happily, adding, “she likes to have a warm cup of tea after a busy day, so I thought I’d bring her one.”

“You’re a good man mister Alain,” Schwartz said, patting him on the shoulder while he grabbed some mugs.

“Well, the jury is still out,” he chuckled. “Actually, while I’ve got you here, can you give me a hand with something?”

“Of course Eric, what is the matter,” Schwartz asked.

“Nothing nothing, it’s just I noticed something. So you know that flat plateau fifty clicks north of here? That big mesa out in the sand?”

“I do,” replied Schwartz. He scratched his chin, feeling the prickle of day-old stubble. “What um? What about it?”

“OK so I sent a drone up there a couple weeks ago to scout it out. It crashed,” Alain explained

“What happened,” asked Schwartz, squinting his eyes.

“No idea, it was performing fine then it suddenly dropped and ate shit. The thing is: it’s not dead. It can’t fly, but it’s been sending me temperature readings,” continued Alain, setting down the mug of tea.

“What can I help with,” Schwartz, who was even more confused, asked. “The drones are not my area…”

“No it’s not that,” interjected Alain. “The thing of it is: the temperatures on that mesa are inside what you described as workable for modified lichens!”

“You mean it’s warm,” Schwartz asked incredulously.

“Not warm so much as less cold. Like, a lot less cold,” said Alain, who pulled out his intercom and started looking for something. “Ok here it is, it’s minus five at night, plus ten during the day.”

“My God,” breathed Schwartz, suddenly aware his hands were shaking. “That’s… that could work. Can you send me…?”

“Just did pal,” Alain said with a smile. “This could work man. Like, it could actually work.”

“Thank you, Eric,” Schwartz gushed, clapping the pilot on the shoulder, “this is breathtaking! The biggest development in terraforming science since… Since we landed!”

“Listen mate, I need to go greet Li, but listen, go talk to Carson, or Dayton, or whomever you need to. Let’s get this shit going,” exclaimed Alain, a wide grin splitting his face.

The two men walked together to the reception area, still chatting about the potential of their find. When they arrived, Li and Kellerman were just coming through the airlock. Kellerman pulled off her helmet and gave Gabriel Alphonse, who was there to greet her, a long tight hug.

“Oooo some tea! Aren’t you a gentleman,” squeaked Li happily when she saw Alain. She kissed him deeply, then he passed her the tea.

“How was it hun,” he asked her after they broke the kiss.

“Honestly, grim. I’ll tell you about it later, but yeah, that was a tough job,” she said heavily. On that note, Schwartz left the returning crewmembers and headed to the botany hall.

“I have news my dear,” he said exuberantly to Wagner when she saw her.

“Is it that we’re out of chamomile,” she pouted after sniffing her tea,

“Is it…? Scheisse! I am very sorry my love, I was distracted you see,” he stammered.

“It’s fine babe I’m just being silly,” she soothed, taking his hand in hers, “tell me.”

“Yes, so Alain, he lost a drone in that mesa we talked about,” he said quickly, “that warm one you know? Yes, so that area, he lost a drone!”

“I’m confused,” she said with a chuckle. “Why is this…?”

“Oh right I’m sorry, OK OK, so the drone he lost it, but it’s still transmitting its signal including temperature. And the average temperature! It’s inside parameters for the QWE3 lichen we developed in Greenland!”

“What?! What? Are you? You’re serious,” she stammered, her eyes wide. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t know but we must find out. We can start the floral population right there, and so much earlier than we planned,” he said, excited.

“You fuckin serious,” cut Lyndon Carson’s voice across the two botanists. He was leaning against the wall beyond where Wagner was standing. In his excitement, Schwartz realized he hadn’t even noticed him standing there.

“Yes! It could happen. Lyndon, we must go to Tara with this,” he gushed.

“Agreed, go for it,” he said curtly.

“Do you not want to be…” Schwartz asked, but Carson cut him off.

“Naw, fuck. My schtick is indoor plants professor. They got you for this work. You grow plants good for sure, but this shit’s your life. Go do it,” he said simply. Schwartz thought he looked bored, but he didn’t care.

“I will. I’m going to write up the proposal right now,” Schwartz said. Carson nodded and picked a green bean from the planter next to him and took a satisfied bite, then left wordlessly.

“This is amazing Raynor,” gushed Wagner as Carson left. “And also, there’s something else…”

“What is it Ramona,” Schwartz asked, taking her hand in his.

“You called me your love,” she whispered, then gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

“Well, I do love you, Ramona,” he said softly, looking into her sparkling blue eyes.

“I love you too,” Wagner whispered in his ear, then they kissed, deeply. Their tongues swirled together, and Schwartz pulled her tight against him, and she held him tightly against her. Then she broke the kiss and smiled while she looked into his eyes. “Now you gotta go write that proposal.”

Schwartz exhaled deeply, then rested his head on Wagner’s shoulder and breathed deeply, enjoying her smell. The smell of the woman he loved. He didn’t want to leave even if it was just down the hallway. He didn’t want to let go. He wrapped his arms around her body in a tight bear hug and felt the bottom of her breast under his fingers. He broke the embrace, knowing if he held her any longer his passion for her would get the better of him.

“Science,” he muttered with the spite of a curse word. Wagner laughed.

“She is a cruel mistress my dear Professor,” she said. Schwartz nodded glumly and headed to the computer in what they called the botany office. The email from Alain with all the specifics was waiting for him on his computer, and soon his eyes were flicking over the findings.

“This, this could work,” he breathed, surveying the figures. The calculations based on latitude and longitude came next, and once again passed. At no point in the Martian year would this site get so cold that the lichen would die. Dormant perhaps, but not dead. He had no idea how long he spent at the desk until Wagner appeared holding a plate of steaming food.

“Mein gott, is it already suppertime,” he said with shock, “I only just started surely.”

“It’s been four hours,” giggled Wagner, putting the plate down in front of him. “I asked if you wanted to come and you didn’t hear me, so I just got you some food.”

“What? You,” he stammered, feeling himself blush. “I am sorry my love I must not have…”

“It’s fine it’s fine I promise,” Wagner laughed. She stood behind his chair and rubbed his shoulders slowly. “How’s it going?”

“Very promising. Very very, mmmm yes right there, very promising,” he said, enjoying the back rub. “See this graph here shows the median temperatures, and here it shows the extremes. Both, as you see are what we have discussed.”

“This is incredible,” beamed Wagner, looking over his shoulder at the graphs. Schwartz kissed her on the neck when she was reading but stayed focused on his work. “When you talk like this, it makes me feel like we’re back in the classroom. In Heidelberg.”

“I miss teaching sometimes,” he said, nodding slightly. “This, everything, it’s very much worth it, but I do miss it regardless.”

“Tell me about your findings professor,” whispered Wagner huskily in his ear.

“My findings…” Schwartz began, but when Wagner’s hand slid to his jumpsuit zipper and pulled it down, he understood. “Well, miss, as you see on the next graph here, there is not much sun.”

“Do your lichens need lots of sun professor,” Wagner asked, while she unzipped her own jumpsuit.

“They do not, but, ahhh,” he began then gasped when Wagner’s gentle, soft hands found his member in his underwear and started to stroke him. It was cold at first, distractingly so, but he felt himself rising to her touch quickly. “Yes, no, they do not need much sun, but some for mmm, photo… synthesis.”

“What about air doctor,” Wagner asked in a pouty voice, while she lifted her singlet with her free hand. Her breasts bounced out of the material and she pressed them into his face while she continued to stroke him.

“Air…” he said, muffled by her warm, soft tits, “is not necessary with our lichennnns, just uh, just carbon dioxide.”

“I also don’t think air is necessary,” she whispered, then dropped to her knees between his legs and took his now fully erect cock from his jumpsuit pants and took his entire length into her throat.

“Goddamn,” Schwartz gasped.

“Tell me more professor,” Wagner pouted, taking him out of her mouth just long enough to say the words before taking him again.

“So, mmmgh, so we must take a ne-new drone to the site, and we must check it is not a mistake. This phase though, this phase will not last long,” Schwartz groaned, trying to warn her he was close without breaking the fourth wall.

“What’s the, (slurp), phase after mmmgh, after that,” Wagner asked, all while sucking and licking his cock.

“Then is the big finale. We will know, we will spread life all over the surface,” he gasped, feeling the orgasm rising in his balls.

“Spread it all over my surface professor,” moaned Wagner, stroking Schwartz’s cock inches from her face. He couldn’t hold it any longer, groaned loudly, and tipped his head back, feeling his cock explode all over her face.

“Fucking ahhhghh,” Schwartz gasped, looking down as another spirt shot into Wagner’s open mouth and onto her presented tongue. Some dripped onto her lips, adding to the ropes of cum that covered her cheeks, lips and nose. He groaned loudly, when she took his cum soaked cock in her mouth and sucked the last drops of his load from him. Then she licked him clean, letting him watch as she swallowed each drop.

“I fantasized about doing that every day in Heidelberg,” she Wagner whispered, standing and pulling her top back over her exposed breasts. Cum ran down her cheeks and chin, and she gathered some with her fingers and licked them clean. “I’m going to go to my room and get cleaned up hun. Don’t stay up too late though, OK?”

“But your face…” he gasped while still putting himself away.

“I doubt I’ll see anyone but if anyone sees me, then they’ll know I’m yours… Professor.”