Abel III's Awakening - 13. Chapter 13 Arrival at Starview

Chapter 13

Arrival at Starview

The last transit was uneventful if somewhat stressful for everyone. We kept our group psychic shield locked down within the outer hull plates and seemingly remained under the 'radar' from the Guardian. We timely arrived at the space station at Alpha Centauri and the entire crew seemed to experience a collective sigh of relief.

The Earth's space station was named Magellan as it went around the planet. The space station at Alpha Centauri was called Starview as it provided a great view of the binary stars as well as the lone planet in the system which was too close to it's star and had a surface temperature of about 1200 degrees Centigrade. Starview was huge. It was a little over three-quarters the size of Magellan measured from the most distant arm on one side to the most distant one opposite to it. It was also situated much further away from its star, at least three astronomical units away from the closest star, and much closer to the transit point in that system.

While my dad and Kade were overseeing the complete engine shut-downs and securing the various umbilical connections to allow transferring power and communications from the station and bringing ship's gravity up to the station standard of fifty percent, I was tasked with doing a general scan of everyone on the station. While the station had only about two-thirds the docking bays as Magellan, it had a far larger resident population and huge central storage facilities. Therefore, its mass was even greater than the Magellan.

We were docked at a refit bay on one of the outer spokes of the station, which grandfather and Drew had previously arranged. With Hal's help I finished my preliminary scan in less than three hours and found absolutely nothing to indicate anyone had any ill will for my family or the ship. However, out of the sixty thousand people on station, I did note that there were four people with telepathic ability and reported that to my grandfather and Drew. I also noted there were only about five thousand females on station. I learned that one branch of the Klein telepathic family had their business enterprise on station and lived here.

The crew and my cousins were all looking forward to a two-day pass while the materials for the interior systems refit were assembled and brought to the loading bay. Meantime, refit tugs were busy examining our outer hull plates to determine if any of them needed replacing.

For those going on a pass, everyone had to carry their com links. It acted as their identification, was used to make payments, provided communications, and could be tracked both by the station and the ship's computer. Everyone also had to buddy up. The station had a divergent population and a low crime rate, but there were always people who would take advantage of someone to bilk them of their coin.

The brothers wanted to go shopping and get their hair cut and spiked, so when we finished our chores at 1600 hours, we got on a tram headed to Starview's main shopping mall. Shopping with my cousins was an eye-opener. I had always considered shopping to be a drudge. One I usually performed online where my biggest concern was arranging for the delivery. My cousins considered it an adventure and fun and brought a spark to it that I found contagious. We piled into store after store and they went through them like a tornado, touching some things but leaving others alone.

It was when we got to the home furnishings store that they got really excited. They were doing shopping for all the family cabins and the guest cabin as well. They were looking at duvets and sheets, wall coverings and rugs, bathmats and towel sets. One advantage of shopping in person I soon learned was to telepathically get what the sales clerk was thinking. The clerk was good, but he kept showing us the over-priced merchandise instead of the better quality and more durable stuff. It was not until I asked where the quality merchandise that would last more than a couple cleanings, that he finally showed us some stuff worth considering.

Bill asked me, “Where did you learn about quality in fabrics when all your stuff is out of ship's stores?”

I replied, “Ship's inventory does not include designer items, but we only stock quality items that will last and the stuff he was showing us would not make it through the refresher unit more than a couple of times.”

Once the decent quality stuff was shown, they had a field day buying stuff and coordinating colors and textures. Since they were buying in some quantity, they even haggled the prices and then arranged for it all to be delivered to the Silverspin.

Our next stop was the hair salon where we got our faces shaved and our hair cut and styled. The brothers wanted their hair spiked like most of the crew wore and they also wanted some subtle burnt orange highlights worked into their chestnut brown spikes. I just had my usual trim as my shiny dark black hair naturally showed some slight blue highlights in most light.

Our next stop was for some clothes to go clubbing. Bright graphically painted tees and skinny leg jeans were on our lists. It was there that I felt another telepath lightly try to scan my cousins whom I continued to monitor lightly. I did not react physically but did peek around telepathically to 'see' who it was as it felt like someone in the store with us. I was not surprised to see it was a middle-aged woman. She did not notice my monitoring of the cousins but seemed surprised at the complexity of their natural shields. She also was shocked that she could get nothing from me at all as to her I appeared to be invisible, even though she was physically eye-balling me. I stealthily increased my surveillance of her and caught her sending to her son to come take a look at the three guys who seemed to be naturally blocking her, one to the point that she could not even sense telepathically.

Inside my own thoughts I was updating my visual memory of at least one member of the Klein family. I had taken a few peeks at her physically myself as we went through the various racks of clothes and in the meantime maintained the usual banter about colors and prints with my cousins. When her son came up to her, I was able to update my visual memory of him as well. Both his parents were telepathic and he was a high level three, but not nearly as strong as my father. His name was Dennis and his mother was Elizabeth. She directed him to scan us and he focused on us directly as he looked our way. His focus became so strong that my cousins became aware and subtly got my attention and Steve said to me, “That guy is really staring at you. You must really be his type.”

I glanced in the direction Steve indicated and looked directly into Dennis Klein's eyes and sent quietly, {You are staring!}

I watched as his mouth formed an O and he turned to his mother and I heard him send to her, {He is one of us. Who is he? And why can't I get through his shields even a little bit?}

While appearing to continue shopping with my cousins, I interrupted and sent, {I am Abel Silversmith III and I am pleased to meet you Dennis. My cousins have not come into their powers yet, so we must be discreet. They thought from your stares that you were interested in me so let's play it that way.}

With that I looked at him again and he was still staring. I turned to my cousins and said, “It looks like I really do have an admirer. Want to go over and introduce ourselves?”

My cousins smiled and nodded their agreement, so we made our way over to them. I went up to Mrs. Klein and said: “Hello, I am Abel Silversmith III and these are my cousins Steve and William Brown. We are members of the crew on the cargo ship Silverspin.”

Dennis stood there tongue-tied so his mother responded, “I am Elizabeth Klein. My family owns and runs our company, Space Controls Ltd. This is my son Dennis.”

I responded, “Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't your family's company going to be doing some of the work and providing some of the equipment for our refit?”

Elizabeth replied, “Yes we are and Dennis will be personally overseeing the delivery and installation of some of the new automated control modules your ship ordered for engineering.”

“Glad to meet you,” I said as I turned to her son who appeared to be about my age.

“Likewise,” he replied as he shook my hand and held it just a moment longer than necessary as he looked directly into my eyes.

As I was probing him discretely I could sense he was interested in me. It was flattering. And it felt remarkably good.

Dennis was gorgeous. Blond hair worn somewhat shaggy, ice blue eyes, a large straight nose, perfectly sculptured ears barely peeking out from his hair, a strong jaw and just a trace of a wispy blond mustache caused a stir in my loins. He was maybe an inch taller than me with broad shoulders and a narrow waist with long legs encased in tight jeans.

My cousins didn't miss a thing and noticed the interest seemed mutual. Steve asked Elizabeth Klein, “We are just about done shopping here and if you are too, do you know of any near by places to eat that you recommend? ”

Shortly thereafter, we were checked out and on our way to an authentic Italian restaurant that was a favorite of theirs and only a short walk away.

We were soon settled with salads, bread sticks and a delicious red wine after having each ordered our favorite dishes. I turned to Dennis and asked, “How long have you been working in the family business?”

He replied, “All my life!”

And his mother laughed and said, “Well at least since he was about ten years old. Before that I'd say he got in the way more than he helped. He was always interested and had a million questions. His father used to beg me to keep him occupied so he could get a job done.”

We all smiled and Dennis blushed slightly. The conversation was light and mostly about the station, Starview and it's many facilities. The entrees were served and consumed and for dessert, the Kleins insisted we try the homemade spumoni. It was something of a novelty and we all loved it. As we were getting ready to leave Elizabeth mentioned again that Dennis would be delivering and begin installing the most intricate and sensitive of the new control systems that updated and improved the relays from the Bridge to the rest of the systems in engineering in two days. I answered that we would be ready.

We made our good-byes and as my cousins and I were leaving the restaurant and deciding whether to book a room on station or return to the Silverspin, I began paying more attention to the shared link I had with the rest of my family. None of them had contacted me but I was getting a sense of some new problems involving loss of crew. To resolve the room question we asked to see a double and noted that while it was larger than the doubles shared by our crewmembers, it was still considerably smaller than the cabins in the family wing. The facilities including the refresher unit were ordinary. The price was four times what dinner for the five us cost and that sealed the deal. We headed back to the Silverspin.

It was still only 2100 hours and we stopped by my grandfather's cabin and found the rest of the family there. They invited us in and we sat down to discuss our outing. The cousins were all excited about the bargains they had found to redecorate the family quarters. The reaction of our elders was restrained to say the least and William asked, “What's the matter?”

My grandfather announced that they had been informed by twenty-five crew members of their intention to leave employment because they were signing on to other ships. He went on to explain that the severe turbulence we had experienced while in transit had spooked many of the crew. Several of the crew had asked around and none of the men from other ships had ever experienced such turbulence. This further reinforced their fears that there was some hidden problem with the ship. They feared that somehow they could be marooned in transit and never get back to normal space if they remained on the Silverspin. Our crew was loyal, but like sailors of old, they were somewhat superstitious. Other members of the crew who were familiar with the planned refit could see that afterward, the ship could be operated with several fewer crew and were looking for berths on ships where they could move up in status.

Because the number twenty-five represented about one-fifth of our total crew, I asked, “Are the losses in any single area or department more than could be absorbed or do we have to seek additional crew for replacements?”

“That's still under evaluation, however four members of the food service department are leaving so that means Steve and William will be needed to help out there sooner rather than later which means starting the day after tomorrow” my father announced.

That news made a distinct impact on my cousins as they exchanged a worried look. I gave them an encouraging smile and told them, “You both are personable and hard working. The rest of the food staff will be fine with you and help you learn your jobs with patience, as they have all been the newbie too. In the meantime we have some time off, so let's try to enjoy it!”

The brothers and I got ready to leave but Dad said, “Abel III please stay a minute, as I do want to update you about the losses in your department as well. “

I motioned my cousins to go ahead and turned back to my dad and said, “What's up?”

“It looks like we will be losing four people from Engineering as well. With the automated updates, we could probably absorb a loss of three, but we may have to recruit someone on Starview before we leave. Additionally, what was your take on the Kleins?” asked my dad.

“I will keep a lookout for a replacement. Mrs. Klein was nice and her son was really nice” I replied drawing out the second 'nice'. “I haven't met the rest of the family, but I am looking forward to that too!”

My elders gave me a smile as I hurried to catch up with my cousins, who were standing in the hall outside the door of my cabin. My rock show shower was still superior to the ones they had installed while in transit. Of course I had considerably more time to tinker with the programming than they had. After the excitement of seeing the space station Starview for the first time and the rather long day, we were ready to unwind and have a little intimate time. It took no time at all for us to strip, use the toilet and head into the shower where the sonic misty waves of spray, the music, the light show and our dancing jiggling bits were soon engorged and well primed. Bill raised the topic of Dennis Klein and soon both brothers were teasing me.

Bill asked if I wanted to lick Dennis' ear as he leaned into me and licked mine. Steve wanted to know if I wanted to bury my face in Dennis' bubble butt as he pulled my face toward his. Bill asked if I wanted Dennis to spear me with his sword as he nuzzled his cock against my ass. The two of them wound me up and then would pull away. They both slathered body wash on me and began to sensuously rub me in the most electrifying ways. I had to keep my shields clamped down tight to keep from leaking psychic stimulation, as the physical stimulation was almost unbearable.

Finally they rinsed me, and then themselves, and activated the dryer function and we were soon heading to my bed. The brothers had me in the middle and again started teasing me about Dennis and what I would like to do with him. While it was all in good sport, it was also a little embarrassing as I had real feelings and fantasies about Dennis after just meeting him in a public place with no time to be alone with him yet. At last my tormentors took pity on me and were on either side of me, face to face with my shaft between their open mouths and outstretched tongues moving rapidly up and down, they brought me to a shattering ejaculation. They then proceeded to sensuously lick it up.

My cousins worked as a team and were not finished with me. Soon I was turned on my side in a sixty-nine position nursing on Steve's rampant erection as Bill was plowing my ass. Before we settled into an exhausted sleep, each of us reached orgasm at least three of four times as I lost count. I was glad we had the time off and didn't have to get up early the next day.

As I slept entangled with my best friends, my cousins, my dreams were again of a golden haired man spooning me in his arms.