Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2021 21:01:00 +0100 From: Andrew Passey Subject: Andromeda Three Part Nine (Young Friends) (Science Fiction) Unsurprisingly the answers me and Dix were looking for didn't seem forthcoming. Well not for me, I couldn't talk to Dix about it obviously. I don't know what he or I was expecting though? Getting a message on my datapad saying "congratulations you definitely are gay!" Or one saying I wasn't? Am fairly sure Dix wasn't getting messages like that either. The life of a teenage boy was chaotic anyway and despite the structure on board that was still the case on Andromeda Three. There just wasn't the time to think things through and certainly no one I could talk to about it. Life on board Andromeda Three in those first couple of months was a crazy time. Just the sheer magnitude of what was going on was overwhelming at times. We'd left our solar system! We'd left our galaxy! We'd been on our voyage in a spaceship for over a month! It was inconceivable for a boy like me. It was everything I ever dreamed of but it was also something I was scared of. I'd put all my hopes and dreams into escaping Earth and going to a new galaxy. What if things weren't great there either? I convinced myself that with my new family that wasn't going to be the case but I still worried about it at times. After all life isn't perfect wherever you are although it was a damn sight more perfect for me onboard than it was back at the children's home. As for my new family, well I'd sort of settled into life on board and life with Dix, Jess and James. It had taken some getting used to for all of us and we'd all had to change. Probably Dix and me had to change the most given we were sharing a room and going to school together. Not quite in each other's pockets every minute of the day but at times it felt like it. We were changing physically and mentally all the while stuck together in a tiny room. It was definitely a challenge at times but we'd sort of made it work. We'd got into a bit of a routine where when the other one would take their two minute shower they'd go and get undressed in the shower room. That would give the other a few minutes to wank off and then when they went for a shower the other one could do it in the bedroom. It wasn't ideal but it was better than nothing. It was an unspoken thing between us but we both knew what was going on and it worked for us. I'd actually seriously considered suggesting we just relax about that sort of thing as well and do it in front of each other but I thought it was probably too much of a leap for Dix. I did wonder how big his dick got when it was hard. We'd popped the odd erection around each other and often had morning wood but I knew Dix wouldn't want me to look so I didn't, however tempting it might be. Dix had certainly changed though. On this particular day Jess and James were out at work and we were home alone as school wasn't on for the day. I woke up first and had gone to the toilet. I came back into the room to see Dix awake and sat on the edge of the bed naked, his big cock sitting snugly on his balls. He'd taken a while but now he was very relaxed about being naked in front of me. Despite the video log I'd seen of his, he'd not mentioned anything about sex or his sexuality and neither had I. It was nice not to have to think about that for once in my life although I'm not going to lie that I had the odd fantasy of messing around with him. I really enjoyed spending as much time as possible with him and I did wonder if I'd fallen in love with him but it was hard to tell, did I even know what love was? I was kept pretty busy with school. Having never been in a formal learning environment I found the structure very suffocating at first. It was all so slow learning that way. It felt like learning at the slowest person's pace. Luckily Dix was very intelligent like his parents so we were able to work on things together and test each other outside of class, often prompted by his parents. I'd started to get used to it at school and began to enjoy the whole thing. But it was certainly nice to have no school on weekends and a chance to sleep in! "What happened to the boy who couldn't even bear to take his pants off in front of me to sleep?"I asked with a grin at Dix who was still sitting on the edge of the bed naked. He grinned back, "Well I got used to it. And as you said I've nothing to be ashamed of. What's the saying? If you've got it, flaunt it! I reckon you've grown a bit but maybe I have too!" Dix was certainly getting braver and at times it felt like he was almost being flirty but I put it down to my imagination. He was right that I reckoned my dick had grown a bit, maybe filled out a bit width wise as well but his was also a bit chunkier I thought, "Yeah I'm not catching you up anytime soon cock wise, not until puberty is done with us both! I'm starving, shall we get some clothes on and try to find some food?" I asked which Dix nodded vigorously at, scratching his big balls idly at the same time. We were about to get dressed when the ship shuddered quite violently, knocking me on to Dix, our naked bodies briefly entangling. Dix sat up in surprise. "That's very strange, sounds like we've dropped out of interstellar travel. Must be a malfunction. Mum and Dad will be busy!" Then an alarm started blaring out in our room and a robotic voice said "Evacuate. Evacuate. Evacuate." "What do we do?!" I asked slightly, panicked from the noise and the evacuation message. Dix stood up and took charge, "We were told about what to do in this situation. We have to head to the main assembly point for this area to await further instruction. It's probably just a test," Dix said looking nervous and I knew he didn't believe that. We quickly pulled our pants and our suits on and came out the bedroom ready to leave when the pitch of the alarm changed and the voice blared out: "Full emergency shutdown. Full emergency shutdown. Full emergency shutdown." We walked to the door but it wouldn't open when we waved our comms bands at it. I didn't know what to do but yet again Dix was calm. Well calmer than me anyway. He pressed his comms band and spoke into it. "Mum! The alarm is going off and the door won't open. It said evacuate but we can't. Now it says full emergency shutdown. What's going on and what do we do?!" Jess's reassuring voice then came out of the band, "Don't panic boys. I think we've had some minor electrical damage from something and it's damaged some systems and caused a small localised fire. Most of the ship is unharmed but it appears our pod is in the area where the fire is. We've just dropped out of interstellar travel but it'll take a while for the ship to slow down. Once it has dropped to normal cruising speed we can fix it." "So what do we do?" Dix asked. "Wait for us to get the power back on to your area. Just relax and stay calm. I'll call back in a moment when I have an update." We looked at each other nervously. Dix was biting his lip and I wanted to go over and put my arm around him and tell him it was going to be fine. But I wasn't sure that was the best approach. "Just try and stay calm, Dix," I said, smiling at him nervously. "Says you! You're shitting it more than I am!" "Yeah I am but you are shitting it a bit too. I need a wank to calm me down" "Fucking hell Starboy! We're in a shit load of trouble, the ship is on fire, the door won't open and all you can think of is wanking your cock! I shrugged and smiled at Dix, "It relaxes me!" Dix was about to say something then smiled as he realised what I was doing, "Ah very well done, talking about wanking to keep me from focusing on the matter at hand and getting stressed about it. Well played. Although......I could really do with a wank too!" We both giggled at that before the comms band flared up with Jess's voice again. "Right, first of all I want both of you to remain calm," she said, which wasn't a good start. "You're both going to have to be brave and do as I tell you. As you know the section you're in is damaged and on fire. We need to vent the area and send the drones in to fix it. Everyone else in the area was either someplace else or managed to evacuate the area before the emergency shutdown. You're the only two left. So Command has decided that the risk to the mission is greater if we don't put the fire out than delaying putting it out while we try to get the power back on for your door. I'm afraid you're going to have to enact emergency procedure alpha and break free from the ship. So you need to detach and use the pod like a shuttle. Don't worry, we've planned for this, we've run tests, it'll be fine. The autopilot will take you to a nearby planet. Your beacon will switch on automatically and we'll track you. It might be a few days before we can pick you up so you need to stay strong my boys. I love you." This sounded bad but I wasn't totally sure why we had to do it. "Why can't we break free of the ship and just float outside until the fire is out then reconnect?" I asked. "That's a good suggestion but it won't work. We are still slowing down from interstellar travel. As soon as you detach you'll drop behind. You have a local fuel cell drive but not to the speed of this ship. Don't worry, as I said this is something we've planned for and not totally unexpected.. The shuttle mode will kick in and will take you to a planet. It should be safer than just drifting in space where any debris floating around could damage the shuttle. So just relax and let the shuttle take you to the planet the systems choose. We'll know which one it is. When we've slowed enough we'll send out a rescue ship which will pick you and the pod up and then you'll dock with us again probably near this exact spot. The pod will be just like normal, you'll have power and everything. I know it's going to be a shock but don't panic. This isn't unexpected. Deep breaths. Strap yourself in the cockpit and I'll tell you exactly what to do." We were both very nervous but Jess's words were slightly calming. We did as we were told, strapping into two of the four seats in front of the cockpit that looked out into space. "What now Mum?" Dix asked and then pushed some buttons as Jess gave directions. "That's it, you're ready to go. Just press the "release" button and you'll be off. We can't delay any longer, the fire is spreading. Your father and I will see you soon." "I love you Mum" Dix said " I love you.....Mum" I also said, calling her Mum for the first time. "I love you Dix, I love you Starboy. Stay safe. Now press the button." Dix did as he was told and with a big clunk whatever was holding us let us go and we detached from the ship. The shuttle shook violently before settling down as we left the ship's wake. Already we couldn't see it and I was face to face with the bitter reality that we were alone in the vast beautiful yet scary expanse of space.