Thread: First Date on New Sendai Station (River_Wolf + Starkness)

Daren Garcia-Zhao quickly rinsed the soap from his short-cut dark hair, sputtering as warm water and suds spilled down his chest. Water was in short supply on the starship after all, theyd been recycling it for ten years and he was only allotted about thirty seconds of shower time a week. He scrubbed as hurriedly as he could, knowing that he needed this shower to count. In a few hours hed get off this ship for the first time in a decade, which meant he could find a bar, and a drink, and a woman. The last thing he wanted was to smell like a long-haul freighter. The water ran out and Daren stepped out of the tiny shower. He stood naked in front of the mirror, slowly shaving off his dark beard until he was smooth-cheeked. He turned his face from side-to-side. When was the last time he didnt have a beard? He couldnt remember. Eight? Maybe nine years. He wondered if the loneliness showed in his gentle brown eyes. The Celebration Leap was a long-hauler making the decade-long run to stations at the edges of known space. When hed climbed aboard for this assignment hed been twenty, barely a man and looking for adventures in space. What a disappointment it had been to realize that space was intensely boring. The crew was only two dozen but being stationed down the length of the ten-mile freighter meant he barely saw another human being. They worked in pairs, but his partner was a gruff slob named Helium who barely spoke and when he did say something it was crude. Not exactly human companionship. Daren practiced a smile. Damn. It looked forced. He took a deep breath. He was nervous. All he wanted from shore leave was to hump his brains out, but he worried. He was pretty out of practice at talking to women. He smiled again and winked. Then shook his head with a sigh and slipped into his grey company-issue coveralls. Real smooth, he chided himself. He was good-looking enough. He kept his hair clipped short, because it was easy and practical. Hed made a point to hit the gym in his section daily and his body was toned. It wasnt his looks that worried him, it was the years of isolation that clung to him like a musk. Living in space changed a man. He made his way from the lavatories to the nearest portal and gazed out the frost-sheened window at the glimmering station, lights blinking in the blackness of space. It was still a few hours away, but already the place looked huge, a vast city hanging in the abyss. He shivered. The hours passed like an eternity, but finally they lurched into shuttle distance. When the airlock clamped and the doors slowly hissed open, Daren felt a rush of wind. The air smelled so different. His crew mates were slapping each other on the back and whooping. They started to run down the long corridor. Again, they had to wait, each of them being processed into the station, but at last Daren found himself standing amid a neon-flashing marketplace. People milled around him. Families. Women . The air smelled like teriyaki and burgers. Teens leaned and flirted, people smiled. It was almost overwhelmingly noisy. Garcia. A mans hand clapped his shoulder. He turned. The captain. You didnt forget, did you? Daren stared blankly at him. Life support? Oxygen? Youve got to get that sorted out before shore leave. Daren shook his head. Sorry, sure. Ill do that right away. Captain. Theyd planned this via transmission once the ship was in communications range. They needed to upgrade the life support, especially oxygen regeneration for the ship. There was a scientist here on the station who was apparently a specialist. He just wanted to get that out of the way so that he could lose himself in some womans arms. Daren pulled his telepad out of his pocket and flipped to the directions. Lets get this out of the way, he sighed.