Prayer and Reflection

Hans Hermann was irritated. The waiting was annoying sure, the shift work, exhausting, but the thing that irritated him was the fact that they were doing it in the first place. The others had been euphoric about the North Pole, but most of them wouldn’t even see it! It seemed so… staged. A fake achievement for a practice mission. Then there was the food. Truly it was their mistake for putting him in charge of the cooking in the first place. He’d told them he couldn’t cook to save his life, but they said he’d learn. They were somewhat correct, but while edible, his adequate cooking left everyone missing Li and Alain’s deft hands. He slumped over his own dinner. It was a cabbage soup. He thought it salty and over cooked green slime, but he choked it down.

“So you’re a Christian?” The voice of Pamala Sheldon broke his annoyed self deprecation. The pretty brunette was sitting across from him in the dinner hall, bags under her eyes, nursing a cup of tea.

“I, yes, in a sense,” he said, nodding. “I am a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, and so many others, Pamala.”

“I… see,” she said, confused. “Where I grew up, I was pretty sure I knew I was just a Christian.”

“And where was that?”

“Edmonton, or outside it technically, Alberta.”

“Ah yes, our Canadian. They are religious there?”

“My people sure were.”

“I see. You see, I am a teacher of faiths, not a faith. We’re going into the great beyond, the stars illuminate our way. The teachings of faiths of Earth are holy, and right, but they are but the beginning, not the end in and of themselves. They’re…” he paused for dramatic effect, “the context of our faith.”

“Interesting. I can see where they get the cult leader accusation from,” she laughed, patting his hand to reassure him it was a joke. He laughed along, having heard the joke a thousand, thousand times before. Still, Pamala and he had rarely talked up to this point, and he welcomed the opportunity to get to know her better.

“What have you heard about the mission so far,” he asked. “Any news?”

“Nothing really, besides what’s up on the screen,” she indicated to the display on the wall above them, “they’re just tooling along on the ice cap. Pilots are pretty tired, think they’re close to mandatory shut-eye time, but that’s not my buisness.”

“You have not… expressed this worry to anyone,” he asked lightly. He was deeply suspicious of this woman, there was something amiss behind this warm, if tired persona. The Doctor’s instance to the contrary was notable, but not proof of innocence.

“No I’m just a geologist, supervising a mission on a mission to an ocean of ice. Not exactly working in my field here, I let the people who know what they’re doing handle it. They know what’s up.”

“Wise, wise. How are you feeling by the way? Is the recovery going well?”

“Oh gawd, yeah, I’m fine. It was a nasty bout, I tell ya.”

“We were all very worried, when we heard you’d collapsed…”

“Oh yeah, that fever was nuts. Still cough when I wake up but honestly, I feel OK. Doc Alphonse is actually impressed with my recovery speed, given how bad I was.”

“I was worried they’d take you off mission.” Hermann remembered the commotion when she was found ****. Kellerman had taken care of her, got her to the sick bay and they’d pumped her full of ****. Three or four times, in here deluded fever she called out for her phone, and to talk to Joe, between wet hacking fits. She even did when Ilsa was carrying her out of her room.

“I’m honestly surprised they didn’t.”

“You must have a guardian angel,” he said simply. Surely, he thought, this Joe was her contact, and she the spy. They must have shielded her from being taken off mission, surely.

“I must have eh? Anyway, how are you?”

“Oh I am well. My cooking is, poor, but I’m working on it.”

“It’s not so bad. Less salt next time maybe.”

“Yes, less salt,” he said quietly. He looked down at the sludge in his bowl and sighed.

“Don’t feel bad about it! You’ll get better with practice I promise, and for now this ain’t too bad,” she said, reaching out across the table to hold his hand in hers. She smiled making eye contact with him.

“Thank you, Pamala, I appreciate this.”

“Hey, I gotta go to work now, we’ll hang out later,” she said, smiling and lightly brushing his arm as she walked past him. Her scent of body wash and a facial scrub she made in the lab lingered in the air behind her. He sighed and took his dishes to the dishwasher rack, then rolled that over to the dishwasher. The cycle of cook-clean-restock-cook-clean-restock was endless it seemed. Still, the cleaning gave him time to reflect. The water pressure bedeviled him as ever; water conservation was a constant priority. Soap too was in short supply.

“Make do make do,” he grumbled. His mind went back to the spy hunt. It seemed to him rooting out a traitor would be far more important than going to the North Pole, but so be it. He wanted them found before the departure, wasn’t that obvious? Afterall, once they leave, there’s no going back, and no jail. What can do you do with a spy? He shuddered to think of the unspoken implication. They had to be found now.

When he’d heard about the potential that SpaceY might have smuggled an agent on board, his mind instantly sharpened. This was his life’s work. If he didn’t bring the Interplanetary Gospel to Mars, then who would? It was too much to risk for the life of a spy. Even one as sexy as Pamala. She was a hot little thing, even in her baggy brown jumpsuit. It was always stained and dusty and her hair; perpetually unkempt. She rarely showered at, the same time as him, but when she did, however, it was the highlight of his day.

But what was the phone incident? The questions whirled through his mind unbidden. What was she so worried about? Who’s Joe? Her contact to the outside? She was muttering his name incoherently when she was carried out of her room, blood running from her lips. Poor thing. Maybe it would have been easier had she died or at least got too sick and been evacuated. Why hadn’t she been? Doc Alphonse was confident, Kellerman was not. Experience? They talked with Tara and then never discussed the matter again. It seemed absurd to him that they would keep her on after this, especially since she still wasn’t fully recovered.

The dishes were clean. He chuckled to himself, having been so lost in his thoughts he did them all without even thinking of it. He thought it the one true advantage of this job. Still, he looked forward to the pilots returning.

“Shuttle landing bay 1, shuttle landing bay 1,” crackled Sheldon’s voice over the announcement speakers. Hermann dried his hands wearily and walked the bay. The rumble of the shuttle was audible through the station. By the time he got his suit on, Min Li was waiting for him beside the shuttle.

“Load up order ten, I have to piss and then refuel. Another mission,” she said quickly, jogging off to the airlock. Hermann went over to material transfer airlock, and punched in ten to the terminal, then waited for the machine to pass the contents out. Sleep was creeping in on him, he wavered in the wind, then snapped to attention when the cargo doors slid open with a series of boxes on a pallet. His shoulders ached when he picked up the first box. By the last one, his arms and back had joined in.

“Another, job, for, more, people,” he panted aloud. Li came back through the airlock, walking easier.

“Thanks Hans. Phew, this tempo man. Three hours in the air, then load up, three more hours. Plus unload,” she rambled. “Anyways, thank you. I’ll go fuel up now.” She patted him on the back of the suit and started pulling the fuel hose out and latching it to the shuttle.

Hermann went inside, peeled of his now sweaty space suit, and sat on the bench in the airlock. His body craved sleep more than anything in the world. He had six hours now, until the next time he was needed; breakfast. Sweat ran down his back. He walked gingerly to his room to grab his shower bag and towel. His bed called to him, he considered getting in and sleeping, but he felt icky. He knew he’d be more comfortable after and he fought the urge.

On the walk back he saw Sheldon, and they said hi and passed friendly, if sleepy, looks to one another. She had just finished her shift in the command center. Hermann figured she was going to bed; the long shifts must have be affecting her badly given her recent sickness. Besides, he didn’t have the energy for more spy games. He stripped off quickly in the shower room, put on a towel, and walked into sauna in the next room. The sauna was actually an ingenious water collection system. The atmosphere outside the habitat was pumped in, filtered and heated, creating condensation. It was that warm condensation was used to heat the sauna.

The door clunked shut. He hadn’t heard it open, but he did hear soft footsteps in change room. Through the sauna window, he saw Sheldon. She looked tired as she walked to a locker. He turned away when she unzipped her jumpsuit, intent on giving her some privacy. She didn't care for modesty it seemed, but staring through the curtains would make him feel like a creep.

“Hans? That you hun?”

“Ja, just got done for the night,” he responded. He tried not to think about the beautiful woman who was probably naked just meters away. The blood started pumping to his crotch, and he prayed not to cause an embarrassing scene. The door opened. She was as naked as the day she was born.

“Mind if I join you, Hans?”

“Of… of course,” he said, waving her inside. Her firm little tits bounced with each step she took. She sat near him, sighing happily as she relaxed back into the wood bench seat. Her legs were a little open, and her smoothly shaved pussy kept drawing his eye.

“It’s soooo nice in here. Remind me to thank Sam. He invented this thing, right?”

“You’d think he was a Finn,” chuckled the German. Already Hermann could see tiny beads of sweat forming on Sheldon’s flawless, pale skin. She ran her hands through her short brown hair.

“Haaaannnns,” she yawned, stretching, “I’m sooooo tired.”

“The heat here is the only thing keeping me awake,” he agreed. “This tempo is too much. Twelve people is barely enough to run this place. Nine? It doesn’t work.”

“Yeah…” she trailed off. Hermann thought she looked sad suddenly, or maybe just exhausted. She coughed a little.

“I can’t wait for the pilots to get back,” he offered, sensing she was feeling awkward. “Cooking is… not my talent.”

“You’re not so bad Hans, you’re your own worst critic. You should see what they come up with in the mines up North in Canada,” she said, adding a dramatic shudder.

“You’re too kind.”

“Can I ask you something Hans,” she asked. She seemed so insecure in his eyes.

“Of course Pamala, anything.”

“Does the crew not trust me anymore? Since I got sick… It feels like… It’s stupid. It’s just that I’ve been working with Carson since the North Pole Op started and… he’s. Look, I know I said some weird shit when I was sick OK? I. Was. Sick. I don’t even remember it. I had some fucked up dreams the whole time.”

“Look… Pamala, you had a bad fever. You were delirious, mad with fever. Don’t break yourself up over it. You’re a good worker. And a good woman,” Hermann said slowly. He was starting to believe it too; her vulnerability made her seem somehow less threatening. Like she was caught up in a terrible misunderstanding.

“Thanks Hans,” she said, standing. She started to pace around the sauna. Hermann, tried to make eye contact when she spoke, and not look at her most intimate places that were now directly in his eye line. He shifted to hide his crotch a little, trying to will his penis to stop growing.

“It’s just, Lyndon is such an asshole,” she continued, pacing still. “He’s always on my ass, always sucking up to the boss or making sure she’s happy. He’s exact about what I do yet distracted about what he does! Can’t stand the prick. Americans!”

“Do Canadians not like Americans either?”

“Worse than yas, we have to deal with them all the time.”

“If there is one thing that can unite the world, it’s being annoyed at the Yankees,” laughed Hermann. Sheldon giggled and sat beside Hans on the wooden bench, her arms outstretched on the back of the bench.

“Fack,” she said heavily, “isn’t that the truth?”

“The expedition is only another week longer,” said Hermann, trying to help console, “then Lyndon will just be the guy from another department to you again.” She smiled.

“Thanks Hans, it means a lot, you know.”

Could she really be a spy he thought, looking into her eyes. They were a well of confusion and doubt, not the steely determination of espionage. It made sense, he told himself; Uranium mining is surely important to the company, she must be important. Had he misjudged her, badly, he thought. Had he been looking at this all wrong? The exhaustion was getting to him.

“It’s funny,” she said softly, “when I was in the Yukon, the mines, I’d be attached to my phone. Reports from mines testing the remote gear I gave them would call me at any hour with problems. It would never leave my side, my phone, and when it did… I remember I went into a mine with it in my pocket for an inspection, right? No signal down there of course. I had thirty reports to read when I got back up. Thirty! Anyways, it used to be attached to me, and now? I left my phone in my locker today and haven’t even thought about checking it. Funny, eh?”

“We might as well get used to it,” nodded Hermann, “after all, the distance to Mars means we’ll not be able to connect to the internet.”

“Exactly. Can’t speed up light,” she exclaimed. They were all very aware that the data exchange was such that it could take up to 40 minutes to receive a message.

“Hahaha! Get this,” she said excitedly, turning to Hermann on the bench, “one time, when I was in Edmonton on break, I’d gone out for drinks with some classmates. From school. And I’d turned my ringer off, right? It’s a party, I wasn’t on the clock. We’re having drinks… doing shots. Ugh, so many shots.” She winced for dramatic effect and then continued her story. “I check my phone, and I’ve missed like, five calls from a mine in N.W.T, and at least two from Joe, my old boss. He was sooooo pissed!”

“Your boss. Joe, you said. He was mad why?”

“The drill I’d just finished installing in a mine had come loose from the housing!” Her eyes were wide and awake with excitement telling this story. When she gestured, as she did more and more with the excitement of the story, her firm little breasts bounced, and Hermann’s eyes inevitably dropped lower. She was cross legged on the bench, and her womanhood was on full display. She seemed not to care that as the conversation continued, his eyes started to roam her body, unconsciously, at least at first. She was small, but her body was corded muscle. When she leaned back for a moment, he could see the definition in her flat stomach and abs.

“So the drill was loose from the housing, and it burnt up the bearings! Such a mess, grease everywhere. So like, these guys are running around putting out fires, literally, while the inventor of the drill is doing flaming shots in Edmonton! But what was I supposed to do?! We all need time off,” she trailed off for a moment. “Not unlike now actually.”

“It sounds like that’s the case,” he said. He hadn’t seen this side of her before, this happy, bubbly and confident personality that hid under the layers of worry and doubt. “So what happened?”

“Well… one sec,” she coughed, then continued. “I called them up, told them I’d sort it, called up the company and got spares sent, then called up Joe to tell him the good news.”

“And he wasn’t mad anymore?”

“He was furious. I could barely finish my sentences, I was hammered!” She giggled. “But I did it, they got it up and running again next day. Shit, it worked better than I did the next day.”

“Hungover?”

“Soooo bad,” she giggled again, “at least I had someone to hold my hair back… oops,” she covered her mouth with her hand to feign embarrassment.

She’s so beautiful, Hermann thought, watching her bubble with excitement about… remote mining. Everyone has their niche, their passion. It was nice to see this side of her, he felt relaxed, and easy in her company.

“You must love remote mining as much as I do,” she said, with a cheeky grin on her face.

“Excuse me… oh…” he stuttered, noticing that he had grown an erection. “I am very sorry I…” Sheldon laughed.

“Hun don’t worry about it, I take it as a compliment,” she said lightly, admiring him. She shifted closer on the bench, within arms reach.

“You are very beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she said, pausing. “Hans, do you pray?” He was somewhat taken aback by the question and had to refocus his mind to their conversation earlier.

“Uh, no, not really. God isn’t a man, a form we understand him to be, and he does not listen to the words of normal people. Do you?”

“Well not really no, not for a very long time,” she got on her hands and knees on the bench and whispered into his ear, “I do like being on my knees though. Why don’t I take care of that for you?”

Hermann was about to answer when she reached over, pushed his loose towel aside, and started softly stroking his hardness. Then she stood and moved over to him, standing in between his knees, and he admired her body, her small nipples pointy in the hot atmosphere of the sauna. She dropped to her knees in front of him, her face inches from his crotch.

“I wouldn’t want you to have to carry this around,” she said sweetly, cupping his sack in her hand, and still slowly rubbing his cock with the other. She looked up at him, smiling, then guided his cock gently between her lips and slowly sucked him deep into her mouth. He tipped his head back and groaned with sensation. She started a slow, steady rhythm, her head bobbing and deeply sexual slurps emanated from the corners of her mouth.

“So fucking good,” Hermann gurgled, watching the little brown haired head bob in his lap.

“Mhmm?” she hummed.

“Oh fuck yes, yes you are,” he said, watching her work. She responded by taking him as deep into her throat as she could, and he groaned with pleasure. She gagged, and withdrew him, taking a break to cough. She started to lick him from the bottom of the shaft, slowly up to the head, then slid his cockhead into her lips, and engulfed him again. She started to finger herself while she sucked and massaged his balls with the other.

“And s-so, mmm, beautiful too.”

She dropped lower, sliding her lips down his shaft to his balls, taking one then the other gently in her mouth. He gasped with delight. Her hand came up from her pussy, and she put it to his mouth so that he could taste her wetness. Then she got it wet again, and he felt her slowly rub around his asshole with it.

“Yeahyeah,” he gasped. She started to suck his cock again, fast, slurping loudly. She slid the moistened finger slowly into his ass. It was uncomfortable at first, tight, then a burst of sensation exploded inside of him. His orgasm almost instantaneous.

“Oh fuckfuckfuck!”

He started to violently buck his hips while his cock erupted in her mouth. She kept sucking, slurping while she took spurt after spurt of his load in her mouth. The last few she pulled him out of her mouth and jerked him over her lips and cheeks.

“You sure enjoyed that huh,” giggled Sheldon, cum dribbling out of her mouth and down her face, “warn a gal next time,” she added playfully.

“Fuck… my god…” he gasped incoherently, which just made her giggle more.

“I’m glad I could help Hun, hehe. I’ll just go clean up in the shower,” she said, standing and slapping her cummy hand lightly down on his leg. “Have a good night,” she said as she left the sauna, sweaty and smiling.