Cassiopeia

Home Now

I just finished my list of daily tasks in the "Yami no Doragon" when I pressed the button for the electromagnetic latch to let go. The entire left-hand side of the vast white open lab space slowly came down. Moveable pieces whirled and buzzed as my bulkhead "room" popped up in what was a complicated hydraulic origami.

A most illustrious example of an adult pop-up book version of a room came to be in front of my accustomed eyes. My fascination still remained when I stepped foot in my shuttle for the first time all those years ago. The partition of electroluminescent opacity glass rose from the ground and created a completely sealed space from the open space that also doubled as my lab.

The glass was a foot thick and served as bacteria, radiation, and heat shield. Microparticles embedded in the glass reacted with the electrical current that coursed through it. This allowed the glass to have a range of a complete crystal-like transparency all the way to a solid white colour that could have easily been mistaken for a bulkhead wall in the middle of the space.

When the glass was up the lab also went through its own mechanical ballet in which special vents let out gases similar to chemical compounds that killed and neutralized any bacteria, viruses and alien spores. A Geiger counter like device measured radioactivity and radiation levels and if they turned out positive, another blue coloured gas released itself and caused the alert to come back down from a red "imminent catastrophe" warning. To a more agreeable green "everything is back to normal" colour.

The lab was unused and therefore none of the alarms had sounded and all was fine at this moment. I had taken samples, but not wanting to deal with losing them through this "over-cleanse" had judiciously left them in a separate exterior makeshift workshop some five hundred feet away from my shuttle.

I stripped down out of my terrestrial gravity spacesuit, unlike the actual spacesuit that I wore in here. Stepped out of the one-piece undergarment that I threw in the "scrubber". A convenient device that replaced what ancient societies used to call a... "What was that thing called again?" I mused. "Oh, yeah, a washing machine... so archaic", using such a precious and rare resource like water to clean themselves and their clothes. "How, barbaric." I thought.

I stood there naked a moment, looking at my reflection in the glass that looked like a makeshift mirror. I hadn't lost too much definition in this environment as I had kept the good habit of exercising every day to keep my muscle tone and flexibility.

I stood naked, looking at my feet, large and well planted on the floor, my muscular calves and thighs dusted in brown hairs, my testicles hanging low, my flaccid penis, the V-shape of my pubic region and lower abdomen, the almost crisply defined six-pack and my rounded, squared pecs, my broad shoulders and well-cut deltoid, stout neck, chiseled jaw, my crooked nose, my rare gold eyes peppered with brown and green flecks, my slanted eyebrows and my buzzed shaved head.

I did this full-body visual scan the way I had been thought in my training to pick up on any changes that could show disease or poisoning, not because I was vain and thought I should admire what many people would describe as a very fit man. The skin was the largest organ on the human body occupying almost twenty square feet of space and also the most telling of someone's health, the texture, complexion, appearance could give quick clues that something could have gone awry.

The air was warm but the breeze from the ventilation system caressed my neck and left shoulder. The sensation made me have goose skin all over and I closed my eyes, I could almost feel the ghost of a hand and fingers on my skin, the sensation causing blood to course through my veins and travel south, my shaft inflating and rising stout. My eyes shot open and I couldn't stifle a laugh.

How pathetic could I be that just a jet of warm air could get me so riled up? I was lonely, but seriously getting a massive erection over it was cause for concern. I looked down at it through the reflection and smiled cheekily at myself. "Not too shabby". I said under my breath. "I am not too bad for an early forty's guy." I then added.

That is when A.N.I.S.A. made its appearance known by stating the most irritating phrase. "Well David, the reflection is known to make objects bigger than they appear, also as per my data of the human anatomy you fit in the very normal average range."

My erection fell flat... total buzzkill. "..." I couldn't even muster a response. I pinched the bridge of my nose and in a visualization only found in my head, my rendition of what A.N.I.S.A. would look like as a human being was laughing at me pointing at my now decidedly small and perhaps even hiding genitals.

I walked the short distance to the "pop up" bathroom next to my "room." In there I found refuge from my ego deflating aggressor and used the pulsar light beams to clean myself.

Neat invention if I could say so myself, it removed dust and grime to the pores, got rid of all the dead skin cells and help reactivated the natural collagens of the body, keeping you looking younger longer, but also ensuring that if you sustained any surface skin injuries, the collagens inducing rays would cut your recoup type in half and minimize or eliminate all scarring.

I walked out and the pop-up bathroom folded and tucked on itself back into it's original hidden in the bulkhead position. This popping in and out of rooms always guaranteed the maximum amount of space available. So, though the space wasn't cavernous it felt light and airy and devoid of clutter.

I laid down in my bed naked, looking for the ominous presence of A.N.I.S.A. to kill the rest of whatever manhood or testosterone I had left. Wasn't my fault I was so lonely that just the mere thought of a human touch got me all hot and bothered. I wouldn't even play picky, woman or man, young or old, if they were willing to just be present and intimate with me... I would gladly give into temptation.

My cock stirred at the thought, but I willed it down fearing for the monster that is A.N.I.S.A. to ridicule me into an early death. The long day and somewhat recycled air made me sleepy. I covered myself with my blankets and called out for the lights to shut off.

There in total darkness, sleep came to me.