Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2016 16:32:18 -0700
From: Douglas DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Survivors (Revised) Chapter 7

This story contains sex between minor boys.  If such things offend you, or
you are not at least 18 years of age, then please don't read on.  This
story is not true, but who knows, maybe someday it will be.

Welcome back to the "Survivors".  In this Robert Charles decides to make
his presence felt at the ship's school.

Please donate to the Nifty Archive.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

CHAPTER 7
THE TOUR

Jordan saw Ryan and Mike walking together down the hall. Jordan didn't like
what he saw and knew that Robert Charles wanted to keep those two
apart. Jordan quickly turned to look for Robert Charles and report on what
he had seen.

What they really needed to do, Jordan thought, was to find ways to break up
the budding friendships on the ship. If he and Robert Charles kept everyone
split, then they would be the ones with power. As far as Jordon was
concerned they deserved power because they were the ones going after
it. The rest of them seemed to be wimps.

Knowing the ship and how it worked had always helped Jordan. And while
there might only be twelve boys, he knew how to use people to get his
way. He was latching onto Robert Charles because he knew Robert Charles was
tough, a winner. He was going to be the leader and Jordan wanted to be on
the side of the winner. Robert Charles's dad was the Colonial Governor and
that gave Robert Charles power all by itself. Jordan knew that whoever
became Mr. Z's leader had lots of power.  It always worked that way. Mr. Z
had made Robert Charles his personal choice for leader, and, from what
Jordan had learned, Mr. Z's pick always won the election.  He and Robert
Charles had to make sure that is what would happen in a week.

Most of the boys agreed to meet in dining hall # 2 for lunch. Douglas,
Scooter, Mike, Ryan, Jeremy, Brandon, Alex, and Stevie sat at one of the
large tables together.  Warren had gone back to his room, saying he didn't
feel well. Travis was sitting at a table with two girls. Jordan and Robert
Charles were eating together in dining hall #4.

While they were eating the boys talked mostly about Mr. Z's choice of room
leader.

"I can't see Robert Charles getting elected. I know none of us are gonna
vote for him," Jeremy said.

"Well, who is going to run against him?" Mike asked.

"Why not you?" Ryan said. "It sure would piss off the teacher. And you know
if I don't believe you hit me, then nobody else will believe it either."

"How does everyone feel about that?" Mike asked. "Do you all think I really
slugged Ryan?"

The table got quiet. Then Jeremy asked, "If it wasn't you, then who was
it?"

It got quiet again. "It wasn't me," Mike said quietly.

"Then who?" Jeremy asked again.

"It wasn't Mike," Ryan said again. "I don't know why I know, but I
know. And look how nice he has been to me before and after it happened."

"And maybe he is scamming you," Jeremy retorted. "Look, I'm not trying to
get on you Mike, but why would Robert Charles, Jordan, and Matthew all lie
about what happened?  And why would anybody hit Ryan anyway? The only guys
close to him who talked to him a lot were Mike and Travis."

"You were close," Ryan pointed out.

"Okay, and me. Only I never talked to you. Mike and Travis did."

"So you think I slugged Ryan?" Mike asked.

"I don't know. I'm just saying you might have or somebody else might have."

Douglas had been taking this all in. Finally he decided to get them back on
the subject.  "Let's get on with the subject. If we don't like Robert
Charles, then who is going to run against him and beat him?"

"Weren't you the president of your old school?" Scooter asked.

"Yeah. But that was because I had a lot of friends there and everybody knew
me."

"But you have experience. Why don't you run? I don't know if Mike will get
enough votes."

Mike looked sad. He was losing friends because too many people thought he
hit Ryan.  He was determined to find out who did hit Ryan because whoever
did it had hurt Ryan and him both and he was tired of being blamed.

Douglas was thinking about what Scooter said. He was still unhappy about
having to leave his school. Unhappy about not being president any
more. Unhappy about losing his friends. Being the leader in Mr. Z's room
was nothing compared to being president of an entire school student
body. Douglas didn't want to get involved here. He liked most of the boys
in the group, but there was too much weird stuff going on for him to want
to get involved.

Scooter looked at Douglas. "Well?"

"I don't think I'm interested right now." Douglas saw the disappointed look
on Scooter's face, which hurt him. But, he thought, I'm really not
interested. And Scooter is interested in being Jordan's friend anyway so
why should I care what he thinks?"

"Well," said Alex. "If nobody runs, then Robert Charles wins."

"Maybe that's not so bad," Jeremy said. "The teacher likes him. He's kind
of a jerk sometimes, but he seems okay other times. I mean, all he does is
act like a big shot for the teacher. He doesn't really have any power to do
anything. It's not like he is running a government or something."

"Let's all think this over. We have a week before the election, but we need
to decide earlier. I think Robert Charles needs somebody to run against
him, just so he doesn't win too easy," Scooter told them.

Everybody agreed to think about it and got up from the table. Ryan was
disappointed that Travis hadn't joined them for lunch. Jeremy felt the same
way about Warren not being there.

Travis had his lunch with two girls, Carmen, who was twelve, and Lisa, who
was thirteen, like he was and was also Matthew's sister.  They had invited
him to lunch and he thought it was a cool idea. But while he sat there, all
they talked about was the boys on the ship and why none of them except for
him, Robert Charles, and Jordan seemed interested in them. They were
talking about how fine all the boys were, and were mad because the boys
almost totally ignored them.  They wondered if Travis knew why.

All Travis knew was that this lunch was boring him and he wished he was
with the boys in the other dining room. But then that was wrong, because he
was supposed to like being with the girls. He was supposed to want to pick
out a girlfriend like he had on Earth.  But here he was sitting with two
cute girls, and all he could think about was sitting with Ryan. He shook
his head like he was trying to clear it. He smiled at the girls and said he
had to go.  He said good-bye and abruptly left the table.  He walked back
to his cabin wanting in one way to go back and talk with the girls, and in
another way he wanted to find Ryan. He felt very confused inside.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Scooter's father, Chief Engineer Paxton, and Captain Fuller were in the
Captain's office.  They were discussing the warp enhancer. Scooter's dad
told the captain about the chief engineer installing the enhancer backwards
and what the dangers were. He told him he thought the ship should be taken
out of warp and the enhancer turned around to the position that had been
fully tested.

"Is the ship in immediate danger from running it this way?" the Captain
asked.

"Not at all," Chief Engineer Paxton answered.

"I don't think so," Scooter's dad admitted. "But it never has been tested
over long distance in this alignment. In ten short tests it started heating
up twice and we had to shut it down."

"Was your test ship in danger?"

"Not that we could tell. It would heat up real gradually and never came
close to a danger zone. We could see the temperature creep up and we would
shut it down."

"And this happened only two times out of ten?"

"Yes. But they were all on short tests. We only did longer tests with it
installed the other way around. So we don't know yet how it will work on a
long test."

"But both times it heated up it was real gradual?"

"Yes."

"So if we got a heating problem with ours we could shut it down? We would
have plenty of time to do that?"

Scooter's father thought a few seconds then told the Captain they probably
would, unless something happened differently than on a short test. "I
really think it should be tested first on a long test. Yes, we know the
enhancer can generate more warp speed the way the chief engineer installed
it, but it operated flawlessly under all conditions in its original
position. We don't know why the temperature rose on the two tests and until
we do we shouldn't use it in the second position." He looked at Chief
Paxton. "There are over 1500 passengers on here, including our sons.  This
isn't the time to experiment. We know the first way has been safe on every
test. The second way functioned properly only 80% of the time and on short
tests only. I am asking you to take the ship out of warp and turn the
enhancer around."

"I disagree," Chief Paxton said. "It can save us an extra week of travel
over the first position. We have important people, equipment, and food
supplies to deliver to the colony. The quicker we do so the better for all
involved. We will monitor the enhancer very carefully. I'm not about to
risk my life, the passengers, or the life of my son."

The Captain sat gazed at both of them. "Here is my ruling and why.  We
could take a week off the trip with the drive installed the way you want
it. But we use more fuel than by having it in backwards while at the same
time we travel slower. It's been turned around now, and that position works
best for speed and fuel.  The enhancer lets us go faster on the same or
less fuel. If we went a week faster we wouldn't prove a lot.  If we use it
like in the current position we will save two weeks and amaze both the
colony and Earth. Chief Paxton and his crew will watch the enhancer
carefully." He looked at Scooter's dad. "And I know you will be right there
checking on it too."

Scooter's dad looked right back at the Captain. "The Captain of the
'Titanic' was trying to set a record too."

"I don't plan on hitting any icebergs."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When Scooter got up to leave the lunch table Douglas got up with him. He
needed to talk to him. He had to find out why he hadn't been at dinner and
about what had happened between him and Jordan.  He was afraid his new
friend was slipping away and he didn't want that. He felt something very
special for Scooter, and he somehow needed to find out if Scooter felt the
same way.

"Hey, Scooter."

"Hey, Douglas."

"Do you have time to talk?"

Just then Brandon walked up.

"Well, I promised Brandon I would talk to him. We want to do some more
catching up.  How about after dinner tonight?"

"Yeah, sure. I don't think I have anything planned. I'll check."  Douglas
watched Brandon and Scooter head down the corridor. Somehow right then he
felt really empty. He decided to head for the games room. On the way he
bumped into Travis.

"Hi Travis. Where were you?"

"Hey Douglas. Eating with some girls."

"Oh. I bet that was fun. With who?"

"Carmen and Lisa."

"Isn't Lisa Robert Charles's girlfriend?"

"Yeah, and he makes sure made sure everybody knows that. But we were just
friends eating together, so I didn't think it was a big deal."

"So, do you like girls a lot?"

"I had a pretty cool girlfriend back home. I miss her. But these girls were
boring and the whole time I was thinking of....." Travis paused.

"Thinking of what?" Douglas asked.

"Never mind." Travis wasn't sure what to say now. All he knew was he was
confused. He wondered what Douglas would think if he told him. He
remembered when they were all getting to know each other he found out that
Douglas had been the president of his middle school. He probably liked
girls a lot. But still, Douglas was one of those boys the girls were saying
never seemed to pay any attention to them. He also knew that Douglas used
to be a peer counselor in his school. That he was somebody other kids could
come talk to. And Travis needed to talk. Now. Badly.

Douglas looked at Travis and smiled. Both of them right then were feeling a
little lost and lonely.  "Douglas, can we go to your room and talk. I need
to tell you something.

"Sure." The boys headed for Douglas's cabin. His mom was in and said hi to
the boys as they went into Douglas's room. Douglas secured the electronic
lock and sat up on his bed.  Travis sat in the chair.

"So what's up?" Douglas asked.

"Can I tell you something very private and secret? Something just for the
two of us? You said today in class that you were like a peer counselor in
your school. That means kids could talk to you real privately and you never
told anybody right?"

"Well, that's how it was in my old school on Earth, yeah."

"So can I talk to you like you're one of those? Like totally privately and
secretly...and you promise you won't hate me or anything?"

Travis knew he was taking a big chance. But if he didn't tell somebody what
was on his mind he was going to explode.  He knew he wasn't gay or
anything, he just wanted to know if anybody else had the same feelings he
was having. And he trusted Douglas. He'd seen how he handled Mike and
others in the games room. He saw how he had taken charge of the
conversation at the lunch table. He saw something special in Douglas,
something he could trust.

"Did you have a girl friend on Earth?"

"No...not really. I'm just not...um...into girls much."

Travis heard how Douglas's tone changed when he answered, and wondered what
it might mean.

"I had a girlfriend," Travis confessed. "We were tight. We kissed a lot,
and she even let me feel her boobs and stuff.  She even felt
me....well...you know...."

"I get the picture," Douglas laughed.

"Well, now here on the ship I kind of fell for Lisa. But that asshole
Robert Charles took her. And Carmen and Felicia are nice but kind of
dumb. I don't know much about Michelle yet except she stays to herself a
lot."

"Ok. And you're falling for one of those girls now?"

"Yes. No. I mean, I know I can't have Lisa and the others just don't
interest me. Maybe that's the problem. Whenever I'm with one of the girls
I'm thinking of somebody else."

"So it's like when you're with Felicia you think of Carmen, or maybe even
Lisa?"

"No. That isn't the problem either. It's...I...well..."

Douglas gave Travis a smile. "It's okay. No matter what you say, Travis,
trust me, it's okay."

Travis took a deep breath. It was dead quiet in the room. "I keep thinking
about a boy," he whispered and hung his head.

The room became quiet. Travis's heart was beating so hard he knew that
Douglas could hear it. Then Douglas smiled and said, "Is that all? Who is
the lucky boy?"

Travis breathed for the first time in what seemed like hours. "You mean you
don't care?"

"Hell no. I think it's great. Who is the lucky boy?"

"But I'm not gay. I've never thought about boys that way. Ever. Just
girls."

"Just girls? Never boys? Not even in a JO fantasy or a wet dream?"

Travis's bright red blush told Douglas everything he needed to know.

"So who is the lucky boy?"

Travis laughed nervously. Douglas was making him feel good. "Ryan."

"Lucky Ryan. And don't worry about liking a boy. Hell, we're kids, so who
cares who we fall for. Besides we have a lot of boys on this ship and not
very many girls."

"True."

"I've fallen for a boy too," Douglas confessed.

For some reason Travis wasn't surprised. "Scooter, right?"

Now it was Douglas's turn to blush. He knew a peer counselor shouldn't ask
what he planned on asking, but then he wasn't an official counselor and
life on the ship was already proving to be much different than life on
Earth.

"Travis, can I ask you something real personal?"

"Sure."

"Do you jack off a lot?" Douglas would never have dreamed of asking that
question if he were in this situation on Earth.

Another pause. "Yeah, I guess."

Douglas grinned "I do it two or three times a day sometimes. And all this
talk got me kind of, you know...."

"Yeah. Same here."

"You...like...want to do it? You ever do it with anybody else?"

"No. Have you?"

"Yeah, lots of times. It's fun. And if you have these feelings about Ryan,
it would be like...good practice."  Douglas wondered why it was so easy to
talk about doing this with Travis, but so hard with Scooter. "So, do you
want to do it?" Douglas could feel his heart pounding.  Travis was very hot
looking.

"Sure...I guess."

"Let's do it here on my bed. It's more comfortable. Don't worry, we don't
have to touch each other."

Douglas pulled off his shirt and Travis followed. Douglas loved the look of
Travis's bare chest, and his hard stomach. Travis was starting to get some
muscle on him, unlike his own skinny self.  They both pulled off their
shoes, then Douglas unbuckled his pants and pulled them off.

Travis looked at Douglas's tented briefs and knew he had to see more. He
pulled off his own pants, and now both boys were standing in front of each
other. Douglas's white briefs were tented out as were Travis's gray boxer
briefs. The waistband on Doug's briefs was pulling away from his waist he
was so hard.

Douglas wanted to pull Travis's briefs off in the worst way, but that would
seem like sex, not having fun jerking off. Douglas pulled off his own
briefs, and his boner slapped his belly.  Travis's boxer briefs came off
just as quickly and the boys lay side by side on the bed.

They started jerking off at the same time, trying hard not to look like
they were scoping each other out too much.  Their hands flew along their
hard dicks; Douglas was hairless and his dick was almost five inches, while
Travis had some fuzz at the base of his four- inch erection.  Pretty soon
they both were close to orgasm. Their faces got contorted, their bodies
shook, and within seconds they exploded, both of them shooting light cum
over their chests and bellies.

Douglas got up and grabbed some Kleenex. What he really wanted to do was
taste Travis's cum and eat his own, but he didn't think Travis was ready
for that.

"Was it pretty good?" Douglas asked.

Travis blushed but had to admit it was. "Best kind of counseling I ever
got," he grinned.  He was surprised what he'd just done didn't embarrass
him more. In fact it hardly did at all. He cleaned himself off thinking of
doing it with Ryan, while at the same time he wondered if Ryan would want
to do it.

Douglas had his mind on one thing when he came---Scooter. Even with Travis
jacking off right next to him, which was hot, the image in his brain was of
Scooter. But Jordan said Scooter liked him better. And Scooter had picked
Brandon to be with after lunch.  Travis admitted he was falling for Ryan,
even though he thought he liked girls. And Jordan seemed to hint Scooter
liked boys, and that he liked Jordan best. Scooter was going to be a dead
end, even after their moment of being "special friends".  Douglas needed to
find somebody to be his best friend.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scooter sat on his bed and Brandon was on the second one. They both were
naked, like they had been every time they were together up until Brandon
had moved away. They were always naked since they both had been raised as
nudists. Right now they both had erections and were just slowly playing
with themselves.

"Why didn't you ever write me?" Scooter asked.

"I did. You never wrote back."

"How could I? I never got anything from you. I didn't know where to write
you."

"Something strange is going on then. I'm going to have to find out what
happened. I know I couldn't tell you right away where we were going because
of that other company that was trying to hire mom. We had to be all secret
and stuff. But I figured once we got to Mars it would be okay to write. I
guess maybe it wasn't. After you never wrote back I gave up."

The two boys sat quietly for a while, stroking themselves. Scooter was
hairless, but Brandon had a small bush of hair centered in his pubic
area. That was something he didn't have the last time Scooter saw
him. Scooter wondered how much cum Brandon shot now.  They both were
comfortable jacking off in front of each other, it was second nature to
them. They had done it countless times before.

"Scooter, do you want to..."

"Yeah," was all Scooter had to tell him.

Nothing else needed to be said. Brandon came over to Scooter's bed. They
got into the 69 position.  Brandon worked the skin on Scooter's uncut
cock. Then he licked the head, swirling his tongue on it, flicking the pee
slit, then letting it slide into his mouth. Scooter moaned with
pleasure. At the same time he sucked on Brandon's cock. It was a lot bigger
than the last time he'd had it in his mouth.  The two boys bobbed their
heads on the other's hard dick, licking and sucking, feeling each other's
balls and ass. They were humping each other's mouths, loving the tastes of
each other, tastes they hadn't sampled in two long years. Scooter was ready
first, and he rammed Brandon's mouth with a hard dry cum.  About fifteen
seconds later Brandon shot his own cum, surprising Scooter with the
volume. Scooter couldn't handle all of the sweet boy cum, and some of it
dribbled down his chin. Brandon saw it and licked it off. The two boys
kissed and then cuddled on the bed.

"You know I love you, Scooter."

"And I still love you."

Brandon looked at Scooter. "I will always love you as my best friend and
brother. But I heard you call Douglas your special friend."

"There is something about him. It's like I'm connected to him in some
way. But he doesn't know it. I don't know how to talk to him about it. It's
all so strange." He looked at Brandon. "I don't want to hurt you my old
best friend and brother."

"Scooter, when I got on the ship I met somebody. And he sent sparks through
me just like Douglas did through you."

"Stevie."

"You know me pretty good too, Scooter."

"Brandon, maybe God meant us to be on the ship together so we could find
our loves together."  The boys kissed deeply, old best friends and lovers,
both knowing they were happy being together again, but that somebody
different was going to become part of their lives in an important way if
they could just find a way to make it happen.

+++++++++++++++++++

Brandon left Scooter's cabin soon after that. Scooter decided to look for
Douglas and see what he had wanted at lunch. He headed for Douglas's cabin
but nobody was there. He decided to go to the games room. When he arrived
Jordan came up to him and led him to a couple of chairs in the corner.

Douglas entered the room wondering who he'd see there. He immediately saw
Scooter; he could talk to him now. He took a few steps in Scooter's
direction but stopped when he saw Jordan grab him.  He stood there feeling
jealous again.

"Scooter, I just wanted you to know that Douglas was talking smack about
you again."

"How? What was he saying?" Scooter asked.

"Stuff about your dad. He and I talked about his invention. He said your
dad didn't care about the ship; he just cared about his invention. Then he
said he was just pretending that he liked you because he wanted to see you
naked and stuff like that. He called you a little wimp. I just thought you
should know."

Jordan walked away leaving Scooter hurt and confused. He saw Douglas walk
up to him.

"Can we still talk tonight, Scooter?" he asked.

"Not tonight. I'm kind of tired. Maybe tomorrow or something." Scooter left
the room fast before Douglas saw him fighting off tears. Scooter headed
back for his cabin, feeling sick again.

Douglas stood there confused. He knew there was a special connection
between them. He felt it. He felt it hard the night they slept
together. Why couldn't Scooter feel it?

Jordan saw the sad look on Douglas's face. He walked up to him.

"Scooter just told me how he wants me to be his friend. And how he wished
you would leave him alone and not bother him. If I see you bothering him,
I'll protect him.  So take this from Scooter's best friend...fuck with him,
you fuck with me." Jordan walked away.  Douglas was amazed how that cute
little boy could act so evil when he looked so angelic.  He was crushed by
what he heard. He left the room too, feeling tears coming on just like
Scooter had.

Mike had been talking to Alex while all this was going on. Both of them
watched Jordan, Scooter, and Douglas. Both of them agreed something strange
was happening.

In another part of the room, Brandon, Stevie, Ryan, and Travis watched the
goings on.  Brandon knew how Scooter felt about Douglas, and was having a
hard time figuring out what he had just seen happening between them. He
wondered if he should get involved somehow.

Douglas didn't see Scooter and his dad at dinner. He felt empty not seeing
the little blond.  That night Scooter didn't show up in the games
room. Well, he would see him at school the next day. Tomorrow they would
tour the ship. At least that was going to be interesting.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Most of the boys agreed to meet in dining hall #5 for breakfast before
school. They were excited about the upcoming tour of the ship and were very
chatty considering the early hour.  Scooter, Brandon, Mike, Douglas, Alex,
Travis, Ryan, and Stevie sat at one table.  Warren, Jeremy, Matthew,
Jordan, Robert Charles, and Lisa sat at the other table.

Mike thought about who would run against Robert Charles and ran through in
his mind how each student would vote. If the table seating meant anything
he saw the vote as 8-6 against Robert Charles. There were also the three
other girls in the class to take into account.  Depending on how they voted
the election could be very close. The question was, who would run against
him?

Warren didn't really want to sit where he was, but by the time he arrived
in the dining hall the other table was full. Plus, Jeremy wasn't really
sure about some of the kids in that group, like Mike and Douglas. Warren
was afraid of both Jordan and Robert Charles, but he was wary of Mike
too. He didn't understand why any of the boys talked to Mike. From all he
had heard Mike was the one who hit Ryan on Mars.

Douglas sat next to Scooter. He wanted to talk to him badly, to tell him
how he felt about him. But he knew it was useless. Scooter's friends were
obviously Brandon and Jordan, not him.

Scooter wanted to talk to Douglas, too. He wanted to tell Douglas how he
felt about him, but he knew Douglas didn't like him. Yet even knowing that,
he could feel something coming from Douglas, something very powerful and
lovely. Both boys sat next to each other, not talking and very
confused. Brandon and Travis both noticed their behavior.  They didn't know
what was wrong between the two of them; they just knew that somehow they
had to help fix it.

After breakfast, the class met with Mr. Z. in the ship's school. There were
seventeen students in the class. Mr. Z told them that he and Robert Charles
would be the ones in charge. He said he had talked to Robert Charles about
what was going to happen on the tour. He instructed the class to obey
Robert Charles's commands.

Then he asked if anybody had decided to run for the position of room
leader. A couple of eyes went to Mike. Scooter looked at Douglas, hoping to
hear a yes, but nobody said anything.

"Remember, the election is Wednesday. If nobody runs, then Robert Charles
automatically wins. Obviously since I chose him as temporary leader I
believe in him. If he is who you want, then of course we won't need an
election. I think he will do an excellent job."

Nobody had any comments to make, so Mr. Z started his lesson on the
tour. He told them that the ship's tour would cover the four main areas of
the ship. Life Support, Passenger Services, Engineering, and finally, the
Bridge.

The class started the tour in Life Support. Everything on the ship was
recycled to make water and air. A lot of the machines and chemicals
Brandon's mother used on planets were used on the ship so that there would
be air and fresh water for everybody. Life Support took up a whole deck of
the ship. The LS Engineer was Commander Jennings, a nice lady who was very
proud of what she did and her enthusiasm made her part of the tour
interesting.

From Life Support they went to Passenger Services. They got to see the
stage where entertainers put on shows. Some of the entertainers were hired
for each trip and stayed in the crew areas. Most of the entertainment was
for the adults. Alex and Stevie asked if there was any way they could put a
show on for the kids. Everybody knew they used to perform on Earth. Marie,
who joined the tour with the class, and Mr. Z both thought it was a great
idea and said they would see what they could do to set up a show.

The most interesting part, since almost all of them were hungry teens and
preteens, was the ship's kitchen.  There was one kitchen for all five
dining halls. The crew had its own kitchen. They saw the huge refrigerators
and freezers that were used to store over two months' worth of food. Mike
was so interested in all the food around him that he missed the rest of the
class leaving. He looked around and saw nobody, and had no idea which way
they went. He was suddenly afraid of being locked in the storage area.

Robert Charles came back around the corner and yelled at him, "Hey, get
your head out of your ass and join the group."

Mike's fist balled up. "Get off my case. You're not my boss."

"Somebody thinks different, and he's the one that counts."

"Well, somebody is going to run against you and beat you, then you won't be
anybody's boss."

"Yeah, well, I hope it's you, loser. With your reputation I'll win
easily. You're a big joke.  Now get your ass moving."

Mike walked up to Robert Charles, fuming, ready to punch him out. Robert
Charles looked at him and smiled. "Go ahead, hit the room leader doing his
job. You're going to have a great two months being restricted to your
room. Come on. Hit me, asshole."

Mike took a few deep breaths. His time would come. This wasn't it, but it
would come.  He wasn't going to take too much more from Robert Charles,
that much he knew.

When they caught up to the group Robert Charles made a big deal out of
finding Mike, embarrassing him, which made Mike even more determined to get
even with him somehow, sometime.

They went to Engineering next. Jordan's dad conducted the tour and Jordan
stood right next to him, making sure everybody saw how important he
was. Chief Engineer Paxton explained how the warp drive worked, then
bragged about the Warp Enhancer and how it was allowing the ship to travel
much faster on less fuel.

"We're going to take two weeks off of this trip because of the great way we
have the enhancer installed." He showed them where the enhancer was
installed and explained the gauges.

Scooter was angry because his father was never mentioned and it was his
father who invented the warp enhancer. He was mad that it wasn't his father
who was there explaining it. He also knew that his father was against going
after the speed record and taking an extra two weeks off of the transit
time. He wanted to speak up, but he still felt too shy around everybody.
Maybe he would say something in class later. It wasn't right that Jordan's
father was getting all the credit.

The boys looked at the gauges and machinery. It didn't mean much to any of
them, even after the explanation. Robert Charles was at the end of the
line. He stopped to look at the warp enhancer. He saw it as a boring piece
of machinery with a bunch of meaningless gauges. As he stared at it one of
the of gauges suddenly moved quickly from a blue line close to a red line,
stayed there, and then dropped back. The gauge said "Temperature".  He
wondered what that was all about. Oh, well, he thought, it's probably
supposed to do that. He followed the group to the tour of the bridge.

The bridge was interesting. They saw the navigation equipment and all of
the ship's controls. The Captain slowed the speed so the class could watch
the dancing colors on the view screen change.  The Communications area was
empty, because nobody had been able to figure out yet how to make radio
work in hyperspace. Brandon, who loved science, had a fantasy about being
the one to invent warp radio.

After the tour was over the class went to the crew dining room for
lunch. The Captain, Chief Engineer Paxton, Marie, and the LS Engineer
joined them. Robert Charles's father was there as well.  Scooter noticed
that his father wasn't there, even though his father had everything to do
with how fast the ship was traveling right then.

Robert Charles was sitting next to Lisa, running his hand along her leg. He
wondered if he should bring up the sudden jump the temperature gauge
made. Fuck it, he thought, it's supposed to do that. And even if it wasn't,
the Engineering crew would see it happen again and figure what to do.

Next: Decisions

Comments are welcome.  E-mail me at TheHakaanen@Hotmail.com