O2

Min Li was jolted awake. She opened her eyes and from her small bunk, saw Eric Alain at the driver’s seat of the rover. The light of Martian dawn was filtering through the windows. The cold, lifeless light of the distant sun cast long shadows from the rough, craggy mountains beyond.

Li pulled the blankets off her body and stood carefully in the moving rover. She was naked, like Alain. The rover’s cabin heater was so much more effective than the heating system in the habitat, and they both were enjoying the warmth. Li walked over to Alain and hugged him from behind and gave him an affectionate kiss on the neck.

“Good morning mon cheri,” he said to her, looking back to give her a warm kiss.

“Hello honey, want a coffee?”

“Love one,” Alain responded, and Li got to work boiling some water in the kitchenette. She made two cups of coffee using the crappy instant coffee powder from their ration packs, and brought Alain one.

“I hope I didn’t wake you,” Alain said when she sat beside him.

“You didn’t, but Mars definitely did.”

“Yes, we hit a rocky patch in the night, it’s been rough going since midnight.”

Li placed her small hand on Alain’s muscular thigh and squeezed his leg. He smiled. Li thought he looked sleepy, but knowing Eric Alain, she knew he wouldn’t be getting any rest today.

“How long till we arrive,” she asked.

“Couple… three hours. Almost there.”

“I’ll check for mission updates,” Li said, and stood back up, giving him a kiss as she stepped away. She opened her email to find one from Tara Dayton waiting for her.

“Hey babe,” Li said after reading it, “Tara sent a message and uh, no news.”

“So they haven’t heard a single communication from the SpaceY ship at all,” he asked.

“No, she says… she says here that they’ve done press releases saying all is normal but they um, they all originate from Earth. Nobody on the ship appears to have communicated.”

“That’s so weird. We’ll know soon enough,” he responded. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, she says that they’re due in four hours, as calculated.”

Li couldn’t shake the feeling that something was incredibly fucked up. This wasn’t normal and the fact SpaceY was trying to say it was normal just made her more suspicious. A voice telling her that this wasn’t normal was on loop inside her head.

“What… do you wonder what we’ll do if they are actually in trouble,” Li asked.

“I don’t know what we can do to be totally honest,” Alain said, looking worried. “We’re just one rover but… we’ll see I guess.”

Li flopped back down onto the bunk and stretched. She felt so confined on the rover, and she was excited to get out and explore. Alain sat at the driver’s seat, his back to her, the incredible Martian landscape filling the windshield.

“You know, it’s pretty easy sometimes to forget where we are and then I look out and wow,” Li said, reclining. The stars shone in window above her bunk.

“The view is incredible from here too,” commented Alain with a small snigger. She thought he was looking outside, but when she looked back at him, he was facing her. She rolled onto her belly to give him a good view of her shapely ass.

“What about now,” she asked, sliding her hand softly over her buttcheek before looking back at Alain, who had stood. He walked over and squeezed her ass gently.

“Beautiful,” Alain said huskily. Li rolled back over onto her back and looked up at him. He was standing beside her bunk at head-level, and his cock at half mast below a mat of half-regrown dark pubic hair. She admired his toned body, his abs, his muscular legs, and she felt very lucky.

Alain leaned over Li and kissed her deeply on the mouth. She closed her eyes and kissed him back while his tongue danced around her mouth. He kneaded her small breast gently in his hand and tweaked her nipple, making her body tingle with excitement. Alain broke the kiss and his hand slid down her body. His fingers slid over her mound and down the outer lips of her labia, then his slid his middle finger inside her.

“Mmm you’re so wet for me,” Alain said softly. Li didn’t respond with words but instead took his nearly fully erect cock in her mouth. He groaned and tipped his head back. His cock was hot in her mouth and tasted like the sex they had the night before. “That’s so fuckin good.”

“Mhmm,” Li moaned, his thick, hot cock muffling her words. She tried to focus on Alain, but she moaned loudly when his fingers found her g-spot. With his thumb on her clit, the sensation was overwhelming. She started to orgasm hard, her pussy squeezing the invading fingers. His cock fell from her mouth as she wailed with pleasure, but he pushed himself back between her lips and fucked her mouth even more insistently than before.

Li’s orgasm subsided and Alain slid his fingers out of her and licked them. She stood and indicated for him to sit on the bed with the inscrutable body language lovers share. He did so, and she climbed on top of him. She teased the entrance of her pussy with his cock until his cockhead shone with her wetness, then she slid down onto him until his entire shaft was impaling her, and she started to ride him slowly.

Alain’s hands roamed her body, squeezing her tits, pinching her nipples, and then he used one thumb to rub her clit to her rhythm. She sped up as her second orgasm gathered momentum. Li wanted it to go on forever, but she could tell Alain wouldn’t last much longer. She felt him start to swell inside her.

“Oh fuck uuhhhhh,” Alain half-groaned and half yelled. Li’s climax swept through her when she felt him throb and flood her with his cum. She cried out and her nails dug into his chest. His hands gripped her asscheeks as she rode his throbbing, spirting cock. The two stayed together, still breathing heavily, while their pleasure subsided.

“I love feeling your cum inside me,” Li whispered in Alain’s ear, his cock softening inside her. They kissed. Then she climbed off of her man and flopped into the small bed next to him. His load dribbled down her thigh.

“Rover this is Base, rover this is base, come in,” crackled Tara Dayton’s voice the radio located in the front passenger seat. Li cursed under her breath, staggered over to the passenger seat and sat down in front of the radio.

“Rover, send,” Li responded, all the while feeling Alain’s warm semen running out of her. She swirled some around on her thigh with her finger while holding the handset in the other hand.

“Rover to Base be advised: ETA of arrival now minus one hour. Acknowledge.”

“Rover acknowledge,” Li said quickly, then looked over to Alain who was still laying on the bed, breathing heavily with a big glob of cum on the tip of his dick. “We need to get moving.”

Li sped up the Rover using the autopilot, and the ride got a lot bumpier. She calculated that they were only half an hour away from the landing site, but that wasn’t much of a window.

“Goddamn this has been a fun trip,” said Alain when he sat down in the seat next to Li, a big shit-eating grin on his face.

“Eight times in four days,” giggled Li. When they arrived at the proposed landing site the two dressed in their jumpsuits and then Mars suits. They dismounted from the vehicle and were immediately thankful for the spot they had picked. Situated on top of a high, rocky ridge, the view was spectacular in all directions. It also hid their rover from observation from the landing site, which was the other reason this site had been selected. Li setup the telescope while Alain set up a portable tracking radar.

“I got em Li,” Alain said when he switched on. “Right on time, be here in… we should have visual when they come over the top of them mountains in five mikes.”

“Ok telescope ready,” responded Li, her eyes fixed on the viewfinder screen.

“Radar shows… yeah OK they’re slowing so their auto landing sequence has initiated and the main engines firing,” Alain said, watching his scope. The two stood in silence, watching their equipment. Soon a fuzzy object was visible on Li’s screen.

“OK! I have them,” Li said, then keyed her radio button on her suit wrist. “Rover to Base, ship in sight.”

“Base to Rover, roger. Is it flying normally?”

“Affirmative Base.”

“It looks totally normal,” said Alain, still focused on the screen.

“Confirm,” Li said, then looked up to see the tiny dot of yellow fire on the horizon. “Ship in sight.”

The SpaceY ship was a large, shiny white rocket-shuttle. Its main engines were blazing, slowing it down as it initiated the landing process. When it passed overhead, the two involuntarily ducked it was so low, and so loud.

“Fuckin hell. OK Base, they just, they’re landing now,” Li reported. The white vessel fired its retro rockets, and it pivoted to vertical, engines still roaring, and touched down with a blast of red dust. The ship was totally obscured by the dust hanging in the air.

“Rover this is Base, please confirm successful landing.”

“Base this is Rover, I confirm.”

“Very well Rover, be advised, Base will now be attempting contact with the ship. Do not, I say again, do not contact them directly.” Li thought Dayton made the right decision; if they were hostile, it would be better that they didn’t know about their observation mission.

The dust settled around the ship and silence fell on the landing site. The two observers watched in silence, but there seemed no sign of life from the vessel. More than an hour elapsed in silence before base radioed again.

“Base to Rover come in.”

“Rover to Base, send it,” Li answered quickly.

“This is Base, no, repeat no answer from vessel on any frequency. SpaceY HQ also not receiving,” Dayton informed them. Li was shocked, but before she could wonder what was happening, a Dayton continued, “you are to take the Rover and approach the vessel and attempt contact.”

“Base this is Rover, please confirm you want us to approach the SpaceY vessel,” responded Li incredulously.

“This is base, that is your order, over.”

“Very well Base, Rover on the move,” Li said and then looked at Alain. “You hear that?”

“Yeah, so much for subtlety. What if they’re hostile?”

“I don’t know,” Li admitted, “but daylight won’t last so let’s get going yeah?” Alain nodded and the two packed up their gear and got back abord the rover. The rest of the drive lasted only fifteen more minutes. On the way they attempted to raise the SpaceY vessel on radio several times without success.

The ship was completely silent when they arrived and got out of the rover. Li thought that was very weird. It was one thing for the ship to have stayed shut up and quiet when they first landed but by now, she would have expected their drones or something to be active.

“SpaceY vessel this is Min Li outside, please respond,” she radioed while walking around the silent vessel. It was huge up close, bigger than the Hermes and designed for forty people as opposed to the Hermes’ twelve. The nameplate on the side read STARTRAVELLER IV. “Startraveller four, this is Min Li outside, we are going to attempt entry, we are not hostile, please respond.”

“Nothing, should we…” trailed off Alain, standing next to what was obviously an airlock. Li nodded and he tapped on the control box. The door opened with a hum. Unlike the airlock at the hab, it was person-sized only and Li assumed there was a cargo door somewhere. The explorers closed the door behind them and toggled the atmosphere controls, which hissed loudly.

“Well we know that works. This is fucked, where is everyone, why don’t they care we’re in the fucking airlock,” asked Li. Her heart was hammering in her ears, and she felt like someone was sitting on her chest.

“Be ready, I’m going to open the door OK,” instructed Alain. Li wasn’t sure how to be ready, but she pushed the anxiety aside and prepared for what would greet them on the other side of the door. It opened slowly.

“What the fuck,” exclaimed Alain as he turned on his helmet mounted headlamp. The ship was completely dark and still. The anxiety was so great Li felt like she had tinnitus.

“It’s… dead,” she breathed. “Where is everyone?”

“This is fucked,” Alain said softly, as if trying not to wake up the ship before nearly shouting “wait! Shit don’t take your helmet off!”

“Base this is Rover uh, we uh, are in the SpaceY vessel, and there’s no sign of life,” Li said into the radio. Her wrist mounted atmosphere sensor told her the atmosphere inside the vessel was almost entirely nitrogen and carbon dioxide. There was nearly no oxygen.

“Rover please confirm ship is dark.”

“Base this is Rover, we’re checking but uh, it’s dead in here. The ship’s atmosphere is… fucking hell it’s unbreathable Base. Dark and qui…” She was cut off by a crashing sound from the upper decks of the vessel. “Shit standby!”

“What was that,” hissed Alain, whose military training had taken over. He was standing behind the best piece of cover he could find with just his head up, observing. Li walked slowly towards a ladder, and beckoned Alain to follow. Her feet seemed to move on their own as she walked. The ship was completely silent once again.

“Base to Rover come in. Base to Rover come in,” crackled the radio in Li’s ear as she climbed the ladder. Thanks to Martian gravity she was up in a couple quick leaps. What the narrow beam of her headlamp shone on next horrified her.

“Fucking shit Base this… goddamnit Base this is Rover. I uh…” Li began then trailed off. In front of her was the ship’s company, strapped into their landing couches, wearing spacesuits, and completely still. She tiptoed over to the closest one and found a screen on her wristband showing vital signs. Or it would have, if she had any. “Base this is Rover, I confirm this is a mass casualty event, over.”

“We need to find where that noise came from,” murmured Alain, who had joined Li. “I’ll check on the next deck up.” Li nodded and started to go around to each of the strapped in astronauts to check their vital signs. They were all dead, their faces blue. Each was connected to a life support hose, and each had a message on their wrist that read ‘O2 0% DANGER.’

“Holy shit Li get up here,” said Alain in her ear, alarm in his voice. She stopped what she was doing and rushed up to the deck Alain was on. He was standing in front of person collapsed on the floor. Li’s headlamp shone on a small oxygen tank that the astronaut had managed to connect to the port on the suit. “She’s… alive.”