Tuesday, 1200 Hours

[Note: No Sex In This Chapter]

When Admiral Thorndike exited the briefing room, followed by a file of Solar Guard Officers and Civilian Contractors, he noticed Captain Depardieu, Lieutenant Hammer, and Professor Sandstorm standing at the end of the passageway, chatting amicably. Then they turned and headed off towards the Officers' Mess for lunch. As the Admiral continued on his way in the opposite direction, he muttered to himself, "Hot damn, I'm good."

At the white linen-covered table, after having placed their order with the Steward, Captain Depardieu announced that he was going to have to 'lay low' for the next week or so. His wife had given him hell last night.

"Oh, Pascal," Professor Sandstorm sighed and covered his hand with hers. But remembering where they were, she quickly removed it. "I had so much fun last night."

"I did, too," Lieutenant Hammer agreed.

"I think we all did," Captain Depardieu said. He chuckled and shook his head. "That was the wildest thing I've ever done in my life!" A pause. "I hope we can do it again sometime. Sometime soon."

"Yes!" Professor Sandstorm exclaimed, then she lowered her head, her gaze falling to her lap. Looking back up, her large, blue eyes darted from one man to the other. "I hope you two don't think I'm a tramp or something. Before Pascal," she nodded towards Captain Depardieu, "I had not gone out on a date in over twelve years. Back when I was thirty."

Both men were shocked at that revelation, but she explained that she had been so immersed in her work, that she did not have time for anything else. "Everything was robotics." Smiling shyly at Lieutenant Hammer, she said, "As you once saw . . . Everything."

Tuesday 1645 Hours

Standing in the huge, cavernous shop, observing the technicians at work on the robot, Lieutenant Hammer almost felt sorry for him . . . it. The unit was lying on a large worktable and had its access doors on the front of its chest removed. Half the gears and relays and vacuum tubes lying next to it. It was as if he was observing an operation.

"There is no way we can fit all the navigational procedures into this," a Senior Chief said.

"We don't have to," a Lieutenant replied. "All we have to do is enable it to handle the two stations on the upper level."

"And how is this five hundred pound brute supposed to get up there?" the Senior Chief asked in dismay.

"I brought that up the other day," Lieutenant Hammer answered. "They are going to install two poles - one at each end of the upper platform - with hydraulic lifts."

The Senior Chief nodded his head, "That'll work." Then, looking back down at the robot, he repeated, "But it's still going to be awful tight."

"We can replace these three relays," Professor Sandstorm pointed with one of her painted fingernails at the devices deep within the machine's 'chest', "With a TX-115."

"But the TX-115 only has six contacts," the Lieutenant pointed out.

"It has four auxiliary contacts on the side," Professor Sandstorm replied. "The two mini-gyros are low amperage and the auxiliaries will be fine."

"Yeah, we could do that," the Lieutenant answered. Then, glancing at the clock on the bulkhead, he turned to Lieutenant Hammer. "Jack, if it's alright with you, I think we can carry on tomorrow. We've done enough damage for one day."

Patting the plexiglass dome at the top of the robot, Professor Sandstorm said, "My poor baby."

Lieutenant Hammer, who was in overall charge of the project, concurred with his fellow Lieutenant. As the others headed towards the exit, Professor Sandstorm walked up to him. She looked haggard, so he asked, "How are you doing?"

"Tired. Exhausted," she smiled up at him. "Sore . . . Very sore. You two really worked me over last night." The look of concern on his face prompted her to quickly add. "Oh! But I want to do it again. The sooner the better."

As the two strolled towards the exit, she asked, "Would you mind not coming over tonight? I've been fighting falling asleep all afternoon." He told her but of course. Leaning in closer to him, she asked, "Can I confess something to you?"

Lieutenant Hammer nodded.

"One thing I've always been interested in, but have never had the courage to try," she said, amending it to, "Never had a partner to try it with, is . . ." She hesitated. After all they had done together during the past couple of days, was she suddenly going shy on him? At last she blurted out the word, "Bondage."

"Hmmm," Lieutenant Hammer replied. Personally, he had never thought about it one way or the other. "Let me do some research."