Sex in a Cold Climate

The sound made by the hydraulics of a standard maintenance hatch as it split into two halves and opened should have been something so common to him that it passed without notice. Jack had been on Gagarin 1 for such an extended period of time that the unique sound was as commonplace to him as birdsong to those who lived planetside. But then the sound was not usually accompanied by so much anticipation or the same fear of discovery as it was on that particular night.

Jack turned from the small dome of the observation blister with the skill and precision only known to those who had spent long months living in a zero gravity environment. He controlled his motion without a conscious thought, much the same way that one would walk without any concentrated effort when under the influence of gravity, spinning his body so that he could see down the length of the service tunnel behind him.

The shapelessness of his blue jumpsuit could not hide the fact that he possessed the slender and somewhat spare physique that had become the stereotypical image of the career space worker back on the surface. Though he was only average in height, the lack of gravity and the constant regime of exercise required to keep his body from withering to nothing meant that Jack seemed taller and more elongated than he was in reality.

Part of the impression was based on the all too real effect that the weightless environment had in allowing the spine to stretch to its full length, adding perhaps half an inch to the average height. But the largest part was down to the way in which his limbs, devoid of anything but wiry muscle and sinew, had learned to move with an almost balletic grace in response to the effects of his new surroundings.

Unlike many other space workers, Jack kept his hair long enough to reach his shoulders and pulled the dirty blonde tresses out of his eyes with a broad elasticated band that left it trailing behind his head like a golden halo. His eyes intense blue eyes added to the image of a somewhat unruly and rebellious young man, darting about as they did now inside deeply sunk sockets with an air of nervous anticipation.

“Olivia,” he called into the shadows of the tunnel, “that you?”

“So long as you’re Jack,” the answer to his question came in a voice that was obviously both female and suffering from a certain degree of the same nerves infecting him at that moment in time.

The familiar tones had an instant effect on his mood, chasing away some of the anxiety that had seized him whilst he had been waiting in a matter of a few seconds. Also, with some of the pressure lifted, Jack found that he was able to put on some of the confident demeanour that he was sure the situation in which he now found himself would require.

“Glad you could make it,” Jack managed to purge most of the trepidation from his voice as he spoke. “Hope you didn’t have too much trouble finding the place.” He was too focussed on the here and now to realise that he sounded like an accountant hosting a house party for the benefit of his clients.

“Your directions weren’t that bad!”

Olivia’s response failed to properly register as she emerged from the mouth of the tunnel and into the six foot square junction beneath the blister. Though Jack had known her for more than a decade and he had learned to hide it very well in that time, there was still a moment or two when he was caught off guard by the sight of her face. There were women whose faces looked better on paper for any number of reasons, but it was simply something about Olivia’s face that slipped past his guard and made his pulse quicken.

It had always been the same way for him, ever since the day they had met back in high school. Her bright and open smile seemed able to affect him in a way that no other woman had ever been able to. It added a light to her elfin oriental features that brought her to life in a way which seemed to be absent when she wore any other expression.

She wore a jumpsuit that was superficially similar to his own, but on off white colour indicating her status as a member of the orbital platforms medical staff as opposed to his own position as a technician. Her sleek, black hair was still bound up in the practical braid that she wore during her duty shifts, reaching down almost to the small of her back and keeping her large brown eyes clear while she worked.

As she emerged from the shadows and into the light that the blister allowed into the junction, her pale skin was illuminated for the first time and Jack found his eyes drawn down towards her neck as if by an irresistible force. He saw that her jumpsuit was unzipped to the waist and the garment that she wore beneath was a mesmerising combination of black material and light reflecting on the curves of her body.

Jack had always tried to be a thoroughly modern man as far as Olivia’s other striking physical features were concerned. It was strictly Neanderthal to resort to the same kind of attitudes that had been common amongst men in the past centuries when it came to the opposite sex. But there was no escaping the fact that she did possess exceptionally large breasts.

And there they were, staring him in the face from beneath a layer of spandex that made them all the more noticeable against the drab colour of her jumpsuit.

Back on Earth they had been something that it had taken a great deal of practice not to simply stare at in admiration and awe. But in zero gravity conditions they seemed to have been granted a life of their own. Liberated from the downwards pull on their mass they floated freely and had caused more than a few collisions between colleagues who should have been looking where they were going rather than at her chest.

Olivia looked around the junction and then gave Jack a conspiratorial grin. She was a shy and retiring girl by nature, but he could see in her eyes that she was pleased with the reaction her unzipped jumpsuit had caused in him. He had to admit that he had no idea how much courage she must have summoned to behave even meet him there in the middle of the night, let alone dressed in such a provocative manner as well.

“You’re sure that we’re okay here?”

“Of course,” Jack tried to calm her nerves. “I work this area of the tunnels on most days and I know who’s where at most times. We’re always pulling an extra shift for each other on my team, so convincing them to let me cover a few hours here and there in return for having this place to myself for the night isn’t really a big deal. And before you ask, no one knows why I want to be alone up here tonight and they’re not the kind of guys who’d even ask.”

That seemed to reassure her somewhat as she drifted closer to him and he deftly twisted to meet her, placing a gentle hand on her wrist to that they turned slowly with the effect of each other’s momentum.

“I brought something,” Olivia proffered a small styrene container with a pair of robust drinking straws inserted into a circle of foil on the lid, the standard method of preventing random incidents of inconvenient beverage escape on the orbital platform. “It’s champagne,” she laughed nervously, “seeing as how we’re celebrating…sorry about the box, but it was all I could get at such short notice.”

“No,” he shook his head, “it’s fine.”

He couldn’t help laughing himself.

“Champagne from a carton,” Jack shook his head. “This is going to sound awful, but it kinda reminds me of you.”

“What?” Olivia filled her voice with mock-horror.

“I mean something really special in an ordinary package.”

“I suppose I should find that flattering?”

“Ah,” Jack rubbed the back of his head, “don’t be mean to me; the nerves always get to me at times like this.”

“I know what you mean,” Olivia took a sip of champagne from the straw and offered the carton to him.

At the time they had made the pact, it had seemed like nothing more than a casual notion, tossed out in a moment of abandon. But now the time had come for them both to be good to their word, it seemed that the nerves were getting to both of them.

Though it was becoming ever more common for people to work on the orbital platforms now that they were so many in number, it was still a rare occasion when two individuals who were known to one another planetside found themselves in close proximity when they did so. When Jack had recognised Olivia’s name on the roster of new staff coming aboard on the standard three month rotation, the first thing he recalled was the pact and the amount of time that would elapse before they would be confronted with the prospect of fulfilling the promise they had made to one another back on Earth.

In truth it was a natural thing for human beings to want the bragging rights that came along with what had become known as getting one’s space wings. With the advent of commercial flight more than a century before there had been the compulsion for the same kind of people to join the mile high club with a cramped and frantic liaison in a bathroom cubicle. Of course the kudos of being able to claim that one had partaken of sex in space was now the focus of the same attentions and secretive meetings in hidden locations.

Jack and Olivia had confessed to one another before he departed for the platform that they had both made it plain to their friends the fact they intended to return with their space wings. Neither was as sure of their chances in the cold light of day and so they had agreed, in a moment of light hearted intoxication, that if they both failed to achieve their shared goal separately then they would achieve it together instead.

He knew that, with all due respect to his friend, he had tried his best to avoid the current situation as best he could. But the work had simply piled up on him as if fate were determined that he would end up in that position no matter how hard he tried. He could only imagine that life in the infirmary was every bit as demanding, leaving little or no time for a personal life and the space in which to cultivate any prospective partners.

So here they were, floating in a spot that he had picked out and drinking champagne that she had smuggled out of the refectory.

There was no avoiding it, and he could not have said that he was unhappy with the prospect. But there was still something that felt uneasy in the equation, a vague sense of guilt that made him feel that he had not tried as hard as he might to avoid the situation. He was baffled by the fact that a part of him had always wanted this, but the circumstances were not those that he would have chosen.

In the time that he had been wrestling with his existential angst, Olivia had perhaps sensed his train of thought and closed the gap between them. She slipped her arms out of the sleeves of her jumpsuit and let it fall away to her waist, wrapping her fingers together at the base of his spine. The discarded carton of champagne tumbled away down the tunnel, but the fate of the alcohol was the last thing on Jack’s mind and she tightened her embrace, pressing herself into his body.

He barely had time to take in the sight of the latex pulled tightly across her body as she found his lips with her own and kissed him with an intensity that caught him totally off guard. He returned her attentions while his own hands suddenly discovered the sensation of her back beneath the body stocking that she had been concealing beneath the jumpsuit.

Olivia’s tongue found its way into his mouth at the same time as he felt the full mass of her breasts pressing into his own chest. All the while he was becoming ever more excited by the feel of the black material against her flesh, as though there were a static charge between the two that quickened his pulse.

Jack slid his hands down to the small of her back, pushing the jumpsuit further down and seeking for the curve of her buttocks. When he found them he could not help but stroke them at first and then begin to knead one in each hand with a slow, circular motion. Though he was not pressing as hard as he might have done, she reacted instantly to his attentions by moving her groin against his own in sympathy.

Their movements pushed the jumpsuit further down her legs until it bunched at the knees. The result was that when Olivia’s body made contact his below the waist, there was no more than a single layer of skin tight material pressed against her most intimate parts. Soon the effect of the pressure began to show in her breathing as she was stimulated by the simple motion of their bodies locked together. She gasped and took in a sharp breath, her face pressed against his cheek and the sound of her growing pleasure in his ear.

Jack himself was no less aroused by the contact and had begun to show his own physical reaction, visible even beneath his jumpsuit and very much evident to Olivia as she pressed against him. Had it been possible, he would have pulled her onto him right there and then, but the barrier of their clothing teased him and made his urge impossible to act upon.

Suddenly she pulled away from him, turning her head downwards and shaking her legs so that her own jumpsuit finally fell away from her body. Jack saw that apart from the body stocking, Olivia wore only a pair of black leather boots that reflected the light in the same way as the latex. They forced her feet into an En Pointe position like that of a ballet dancer and under normal circumstances would have made walking a nightmare. But of course in a zero gravity environment there was no such issue and they served only to add to the shape and allure of her floating form.

Jack watched in breathless silence as her hands unzipped his jumpsuit to the waist and then delved inside. The feeling of her latex gloved fingers on his skin was simply electric as they found their way quickly inside his underclothes. When the tips brushed his penis, he shuddered with the sensation. The feeling only became more intense as the rest of the fingers gently gripped him and began to stroke the shaft in a way that made use of both the strength of her digits and the texture of the latex covering them.

He only realised that his eyes had closed when he felt the chill of the air on exposed skin, his eyelids flicking open to see that Olivia had his penis fully out of his shorts and was cradling it in the palms of her hands.

She caught his glance with a look of pleasant surprise in her eyes, most likely from the need to use both of her hands for the task.

Jack could only manage a bemused smile in return.

He had never made much of the fact that he had a larger than average penis, despite the fact that there were those who would have never let the fact alone were they in his shoes. The reality was that in most instances it was more of an impediment than a boon to his life once people got wind of it. Most women assumed that a man in possession of such a large member was bound to be arrogant jerk without an ounce of sensitivity. Men on the other hand were more likely than not to ostracise the owner of the exceptional organ out of insecurity and fear of ridicule.

Jack had always been sensitive and self-conscious enough to keep the stature of his penis to himself until he was in a position to be forced to reveal it. He had found that in general, keeping it under wraps until a moment like this was the best way to avoid unpleasant assumptions and hopefully present someone with a pleasant surprise.

That certainly seemed to have been the effect it had had upon Olivia.

She smiled as she leaned forwards and licked the head with her tongue.

Now it was Jack’s turn to show his surprise.

In all the time he had known her, Olivia had come across as a pleasant girl. But she had seemed to be somewhat shy and reserved, like she was intimidated by the thought of the more physical and passionate things in life. He had often found himself feeling more than a little guilty when he had allowed his mind to spin private fantasies about the demure oriental girl, as though he was committing a small sin against her supposed innocence.

It seemed that he had been wrong as she swallowed half the length of his penis into her mouth, slowly wrapping her lips around it as it came. She massaged with her tongue and played with the remainder of the shaft that she could not accommodate in her mouth with her fingers. As she did so there was such a practiced skill to her attentions that he was sure she could only have been working from experience.

That same experience allowed her to release his member and propel herself backwards through the air, leaving him suddenly aware of the pleasure he had been so lost in ebbing away.

Jack had no choice in the matter now, he had to pursue her and he did, pushing himself after her and towards the observation blister above them.

The wicked look on Olivia’s face gave away the fact that she knew exactly what she was doing to him, allowing him a glimpse of what she was capable of and them compelling him to chase her.

She faced him as he came after her, drawing her legs up and spreading them apart so that she could reach the skin zipper that ran from below the belly button, beneath the legs and up to the base of the spine in the body stocking. The skin zipper was a relatively new invention, still novel enough to provoke interest in those who had not come across them before. Rather than a mundane method of holding the edges of the opening together, the fabric around it had been treated with a chemical compound that picked up a small static charge from handling and used it to remain closed until pulled apart. The effect was much like skin that had become stuck to skin and needed to be pealed apart, so hence the name.

Olivia parted the edges around her vagina and turned herself gracefully as she finally reached the transparent steel of the blister, indicating to Jack where he should focus his attentions. In response he spiralled towards her, all the time there with a nagging and familiar piece of classical music playing inside his head that no matter how hard he tries he was simply unable to place.

Once he had drifted close enough, Jack slipped his hands under her arms and pulled her backwards into his embrace. The momentum of his body caused them to spin faster and they twisted together in the observation blister until she gripped a support handle and slowed their motion to a lazy stop.

With her free hand, Olivia reached around and guided him towards her until his penis finally made contact with the lips of her vagina. Even lost as he was in the act of moving his hands across the surface of her belly and breasts, Jack needed no urging and simply pushed his way inside her, not stopping until he could feel the warmth of her body pressing against every inch of his member.

After the teasing and the chasing, the actual sensation of being joined was enough to distract them both from the awesome sight of the Earth rendered in stark blue, green and swirling white across so many miles of airless void. The idea had always been to make the occasion special with the addition of the most breath taking view of the planet below them, but neither found that they were able to think of anything but the other in that moment and the sight went unnoticed as they made love.

It was only as Olivia came to her climax that she opened her eyes and took in a startled breath, partly from her own pleasure and partly from the overwhelming sight of the planet in all its glory. At the sound of her cry, Jack opened his own eyes and saw the same vista a moment before he came. Neither could be sure if the urge to look upon the planet had been inspired by the sensation of climax or the sight of the planet had pushed them over the edge.

“Were you faking it as well?” Olivia asked as they clung together in the afterglow.

“You’re not serious?” Jack's voice was filled with hurt and shock.

“Not the orgasm,” Olivia shook her head, “the whole thing of not being able to get laid up here!”

“No, but I get the feeling that I’m going to wish I’d said that I had pretty soon.”

“You really don’t do subtle hints, do you?”

“I suppose not,” he laughed.

“I really thought telling you I wanted to get my space wings would be the hint that clued you in on how I felt about you. Then I thought if I suggested the pact, then that would be a dead giveaway. But even telling you I hadn’t had any interest didn’t wake you up either. So I guess the only way to make things clear to you is to just come out and tell you.”

“I suppose so,” Jack had to laugh again at the ridiculous nature of the situation.

“I like you, Jack,” Olivia pressed herself into his chest. “I’d like to do this on a regular basis, but I’m worried that you’ll need cue cards in the future!”

“Hey,” he wrapped her in his arms and took the opportunity to squeeze her breasts just because it was exceptionally pleasant to do so and he was now sure that he could get away with it, “we can’t start out with you thinking I’m some kind of moron!”

“What does that matter,” Olivia looked up and encircled the view of the Earth with her hands, “when we have the whole of the world in the palms of our hands?”

08.06.12