Abel III's Awakening - 20. Chapter 20 The Suggestion

Chapter 20

The Suggestion

A couple of weeks passed by as we busily worked installing and implementing all the upgrades. The bridge was completely done. The family quarters also were completely repainted and redecorated, mostly according to Steve and Bill's master plan. Everyone agreed that they had a flair for pulling together some creative ideas and implementing them. Work on the crews' quarters was progressing nicely too. The main work areas, common areas and hallways would be redecorated last. Hal's main processing and storage core was updated and the back-up was in the process of being completely replaced and updated. That section under the family quarters was going to be sealed off completely when everything was completed with only an emergency hatch entryway located under the bolted down couch in the cabin that Dennis and I shared and that hatch was already installed. The food service area was done and Engineering was finished at last. The medical bay was in the process of being updated, as were some other odds and ends.

Dennis and I were working on the installation to the medical bay when we were contacted by Drew who sent, {I know you two are keeping the admiral under surveillance to see if or when he will issue that bulletin, is there any progress there? I am asking because I am trying to balance our personnel requirements against our remaining numbers. As you know we have lost or will soon lose between twenty and thirty members of our crew, meaning at least ten of them are still teetering on whether to stay or jump to a berth on another ship. It would really help if we could put that concern about turbulence behind us. Do you think you could use your psychic influence to get the admiral to go ahead and release that proposed bulletin?}

Dennis looked at me nodding that I should reply, {We have discussed it, but didn't want to do anything without the family backing us on taking that step. We will discuss it tonight at the family meeting if that is OK with you.}

{That would be fine} Drew replied, {I just need to see what the final numbers are so I can determine who we can shift around and if we can get replacements.}

While Kade and Dad were busy with the installation of Hal's back-up core unit, Drew had taken on the chore of seeing to our personnel requirements, a job normally done by Kade. However, Drew had more than fifty years of experience working with my grandfather filling that same role and even though he was semi-retired, he was Kade's back-up.

We finished our installation of the new multifunction whole body scanner and we asked Dr. Dan to come take a look and see how it worked. Of course he had been studying the tutorial download on his terminal and was confident of his abilities to operate it. He asked me to be the first to undergo a scan as he was sure my familiarity with scans in general as well as this new machine, which I had helped install would make me more at ease. I lay down on the table and proceeded to lock down my shields and concentrated on being calm like I had before. The doctor ran the scan and told me when it was over. This machine produced its results summary immediately and in fact, it was directly hooked into the ship's network.

Hal sent, {Your scan is like last time with the most amazingly regular brain waves. The scan reveals a young man in his prime with absolutely no medical problems or symptoms found on the scan.}

Just as Hal finished his send, Doctor Dan came back into the room and said, “The machine is working perfectly and so it seems is your body.” He again marveled at my composure and the regularity of my brain waves during the scan and noted my health had never been better.

Dennis who is always linked to me, but in observer mode only during the scan, then sent to me, {I have got to do more Yoga with you, so I can develop the kind of mental control you exhibit.}

That installation completed the updates being done in the medical bay except for the painting and redecorating planned by my cousins. Work on that was scheduled to start the next day.

Dennis and I finished up gathering our tools and left over packing material and proceeded to Engineering where we stored our tools and placed the packing material in the bin to be recycled. We headed next to do our work-out where we continued to power through each exercise machine and completed the circuit of all the machines twice each as we had for the past several weeks. It was really making a difference. We didn't look like gym bunnies, but we definitely had the definition and good muscle tone reflecting our regular work-outs. Sweating freely, we grabbed towels and headed to our cabin and our shower for a more personal workout.

Dennis loved our shower refresher unit as much as I did and had gotten involved in programming many of his favorite tunes and recordings into it from his com unit as well. He had long since gotten a ship's com unit and transferred all his files from his station com unit. When we entered the shower he started one of his favorites, which was a bluesy jazz number, with a bit of syncopation and some great bass saxophone runs. He began washing me moving his hands in rhythm to the music and the sonically propelled mist was in time to the syncopation as well. The body wash we were using was very mild and had a buttery feel to it as he massaged it into my shoulders and back down to my glutes. As he closed the small distance between us and reached around to soap my chest down to my crotch, he sensuously rubbed his front against my back and it was like fire and ice as the pre-programmed shower changed to cold water only. It only dampened our arousal for a minute as the water temperature slowly climbed back up to a more comfortable level. As we were completely linked, I experienced his full sensations as he washed and rubbed against me, just as he experienced my full sensations of being massaged, and rubbed with the buttery body wash. Being telepathic and making love to another telepath while linked continued to be a mind blowing experience for both of us and we both appreciated that we had a lifetime to explore all the wonderful ways to fully experience the joy we could provide for each other. Our simultaneous orgasms were becoming the norm and the perceived dual pleasure was our ultimate reward as we cuddled.

Hal again had to interrupt us to warn that we needed to dry and get dressed if we wanted to make it to dinner on time. We activated the dryer function and then grabbed clean towels to finish as we scrambled to dress in clean uniforms and hurried to the dining hall.

Everyone was now used to seeing us looking like we had just consummated our love and we only drew nods as we entered. They also were now used to seeing us put away prodigious amounts of food.

Kade remarked to Dad in a voice meant for the whole table to hear, “It's a good thing the jumpsuits stretch as Abel III and Dennis are really beginning to fill them out.”

My cousins, who were in the middle of serving our table turned and looked at us, and Bill let out a wolf whistle while Steve just went, “Woof, Woof!”

Everyone broke into laughter and the meal continued in a very convivial manner. Grandfather did mention to my cousins to be sure and attend the family meeting at 20:00 hours in his cabin.

After supper, Dennis and I retired to our cabin where we again followed the tagged thread to the admiral to see what the latest was regarding his issuing a bulletin. The station Director and chief Librarian had again contacted him that day and reemphasized the importance of issuing the bulletin. They noted that a favorable alignment of the transit points would occur in only three days and several ships were scheduled to depart Starview at that time and would be traveling in intra-stellar space and they were worried that one of them might do something to provoke the Elders. Additionally, they argued that it would help settle down the rumors and general angst on the station about more possible encounters with turbulence while in transit. The admiral was still indecisive as he had received no direct orders from central command on Earth but was just told it was within his discretion to deal with it as a problem in his sector as there were no other reports of such an occurrence from throughout the Sovereign Celestial Empire.

We went to Grandfather and Drew's cabin just before the appointed time and found Dad and Kade were already there. My cousins joined us just at 20:00 and we all exchanged greetings.

Dad started off the meeting announcing that the installation of the back-up core and memory banks under the family wing was almost complete and an additional two meters in thickness of shielding was going to be installed all around the back-up power and power storage units which surrounded the core processor and memory modules. After that a permanent bulkhead would be welded into place sealing the whole area off from the rest of the ship. With all the shielding in place around the central units, it would be undetectable by any outside probes. The cooling vanes from the bridge and main computer core under it, trailed off to both sides under the front of the ship passing directly under the area where the back up was located as well and were more than adequate to disperse any excess heat unable to be used by the life support systems as well. Likewise, the cooling vanes trailing off the other way went under the kitchen and any excess heat from that area was already being dispersed through those vanes as well.

Dad further noted that on the opposite side from the new back-up core on the level below the main deck, we had another permanent bulkhead behind which was kept the main water reserve for the ship and it encompassed about fifty cubic meters and held about fifty-thousand liters. The massive piping system aboard contained another ten thousand liters of potable water in addition to the fifteen thousand liters in the recycling system, which went through a reverse osmosis process with an output of up to five thousand liters per day. As the water tank was topped off at every stop through one of the umbilical connections, it was never below half full. Water was an expensive and vital resource.

Dennis and I reported the upgrades to the Medical Bay had been completed and only the new paint and carpet as part of the redecorating were needed to finish that area.

Steve consulted his com unit and noted that the redecorating had been progressing well and all the occupied crew quarters save for four doubles and two singles were finished and those would be done tomorrow. Then the plan was to do the medical bay and then start on the remaining work areas, common areas and hallways.

Drew then got to the heart of the meeting and announced, “The personnel situation is still in a state of flux. Twenty men have already departed and signed on with other ships. Ten more are on the brink of following them and we do not have enough men with multiple ratings to adequately man the ship, especially if the teetering ten all decided to leave. “ Drew then gave me a nod to proceed.

“Dennis and I have continued to monitor the admiral as well as the station Director and chief Librarian. The station leaders clearly want the admiral to issue the bulletin and made that clear to him again today. The admiral is still undecided. He received word from Naval headquarters on Earth that it was up to his discretion as there were no other reports of any turbulence encounters within the Sovereign Celestial Empire. As a result, if you support our decision, Dennis and I will use my power of suggestion by sending the admiral the firm conviction that he has made the decision to issue the bulletin as proposed tomorrow. We intend to reinforce the conviction that it is the right thing to do while he is sleeping tonight and that he must act decisively and do it first thing on awakening tomorrow.”

I looked around at my family and they were all nodding their heads. None of them had any doubt that Dennis and I could accomplish what we said we would do. Also none of them could think of any compelling reason not to take the action as outlined. After some thought on everyone's part, Grandfather asked formally, “Is there any objection to Abel III's proposal?”

No one raised any objections and we had our unanimous consent and support of my family.

The rest of the meeting was spent on the remaining items to be scheduled and also Drew and Grandfather were working on lining up cargo to be transported. It was decided that if every thing worked out as planned, we would be ready to depart Starview space station in ten more days.

That announcement had a deep emotional impact on my partner Dennis. He had accepted a position on board in Engineering and knew he would be leaving the familiar confines of the station where he had spent the better part of his life, but to have an actual target date was sobering to consider.

The meeting ended and my cousins wanted to spend some time with Dennis and I so we adjourned to Steve's redecorated cabin. He kept the paint scheme I surprised them with but now the rugs, accent pillows and duvet on the bed all were more colorful in their chosen colors of brown and burnt orange with a contrasting emerald green added to the mix. A wrap around couch separated the bedroom area from the living area and a huge wall mounted display panel showed a digital fireplace. That panel also doubled as the back screen for the holographic projector for Tri-V videos, gaming and broadcasts. The large round coffee table had hidden storage compartments for game controllers and they roped us into playing one of their latest games.

Dennis was the master blaster and made us all look like rank amateurs. Bill was better than Steve, but I was totally pathetic. Bill had to state the obvious, “Well we know of at least one thing at which Dennis is better than Abel III.”

Everyone chuckled and I replied, “You should see him doing an installation. He is so professional it makes you want to sit back and applaud!”

At that Dennis started to get embarrassed and to turn the spotlight back to me said, “Which is nothing to what Abel III can do telepathically. He is in a class by himself and believe me, I have been studying the family histories available through the Silversmith family which are much more complete than my family has access to!”

It was my turn to be embarrassed and I suggested we go look at Bill's cabin, which we did. He too kept the color palate on the walls that I had chosen, but like Steve he brought his own flair. He had several copies of famous impressionistic paintings mounted on the walls in his cabin and they were over sized and fantastic. One whole wall was done in Monet's famous Water Lily Pond. It contrasted nicely with the brown and cream colors I had selected. Bill had an L-shaped sectional and large square coffee table designating the living area which faced another wall sized view panel which was progressing though digital images of famous and historic landmarks.

His coffee table also had hidden compartments for game controllers as well as a refrigerated compartment filled with cans of Coca-Cola as well as bottled water and even a few beers.

They were both proud of their cabins and also of their contributions to the redecorating of Grandfather and Dad's cabins as well.

Dennis and I made our goodnights and we crossed to our cabin. Once Dennis had decided to move in with me, we discarded the proposed redecoration that Steve and Bill worked-up and instead recreated his room from home, which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. Dennis was an engineer and into design as well, and he had a wonderful bright but quiet retreat. The oversized bed was not touched, even though it was about thirty percent larger than the king sized bed in his room at home. Everything else was duplicated including his built in bookcases with little fold down lower rails to keep the books firmly in place. They were made of real wood and in fact were moved from Dennis' room along with his various work areas including an electronic draft and design table. Heavy draperies in a golden wheat pattern hung along the wall behind the bed, and his custom built holographic projector and multi-channel stereo system was a beast.

We did retain my preference for blue by keeping my shimmering satin, midnight blue duvet with a silver star pattern that seemed to move. Also the visible wall did have the light misty blue I liked. In addition, my computer terminal remained, but his from home was on a diagonal from mine. Of course we kept my shower, which he now thought of as ours since he had programmed several of his favorite tunes into as well. His desk chair he modified to add the locking mechanisms so he could use it during transits. It was a custom design of his as well and was covered in faux black leather with heavy memory foam padding which molded itself to you. It had built-in heating and cooling elements as well as a massage unit and it could be fully reclined as well. There was a footrest that came out from under the chair and the headrest could be extended as well. The armrests were pillow like and it was a very comfortable chair. My standard issue chair was going to be replaced as soon as Dennis had time to build me one like his. The materials and parts were already ordered and had arrived and stored in engineering.

Dennis and I entered into our combined psychic bond and checked on the admiral at 23:00 and found that true to his usual schedule he was snug in his bed and sound asleep. Over the course of the past few weeks, he had not deviated from his daily schedule once. He awoke at 5:30 and was up, showered, dressed and in his office by 6:00. His staff invariably had his daily planner and his coffee and a croissant ready for him when he arrived. He spent mornings going over reports, conducting meetings and issuing and approving various orders. Afternoons were scheduled as well but could include inspections, official visits or special briefings. He had dinner at 12:00 and had his evening meal at 18:30. By 22:30 he was always in bed.

As he was asleep and dreaming, we scanned his subconscious mind to see where he was on issuing the bulletin and found he was afraid of both looking indecisive if he delayed any longer and also of appearing over reacting if he went and issued the bulletin on his own. I called up his conversations with the station Director and Librarian and added some psychic weight to strengthen their arguments. I also played up his own importance as the admiral in charge of this sector of space responsible for ships transiting to and from it and that a ship had experienced turbulence probably due to sending out the creeper bot. As we carefully massaged his thoughts, we put in a strong suggestion that it was past time for him to act decisively and that further dithering would be perceived as weakness by both his staff, the leadership of the station and possibly even central command itself. As his resolve strengthened we put in the suggestion that issuing the bulletin would be the first thing he did on reaching his office in the morning. We then told his mind that he was confidently comfortable with his decision and he could enjoy a good nights rest and put him into a deep restful sleep.

We had taken our time and it was just after 01:00 when we finally withdrew and headed to our shower, which was quick and efficient as we were in a hurry to get to bed ourselves after a long day. However, we were too keyed up to sleep and decided to relieve tension by making slow passionate love while in our mind meld. I don't know when our passion and orgasmic glow ended or when we slipped into sleep locked in each other’s arms and thoughts. It seemed we even dreamed together of riding along the Milky Way in a stunning glow of stars.