[CHAPTER 4] — Society divided
Lieutenant General Mark Hammond looked around at his fellow officers, noting how many of them were nervous about the recent events. Weapons and ammo had been disappearing from the armory, citizens were revolting, death was rampant on the Arks. Not just this Ark, but every Ark. The Ark’s design was meant to allow all the surviving humans to dock the ships together to form one giant Ark and they had or a time; but when disease had hit, they had separated them once again to limit the spread. This had also meant that whatever limited supplies they’d had were now even more limited. The conditions on Earth had deteriorated too quickly and there hadn’t been enough time to properly supply and equip the Arks, leading to food shortages and unnecessary hysterectomies in young women from the lack of proper medical equipment. The animals had not all been gathered, and those that had been were small in number and dwindling as the weeks passed; all the animals that had once inhabited the Earth were now endangered species or extinct.
“We need to find a habitable planet, and we need to find it now. The longer this voyage continues, the more citizens we will lose. There’s a large asteroid in sector 3 quadrant 2, but it lacks a predictable course and terraforming will be too much of a challenge if we don’t absolutely have to. Ark Europea has found a tiny planet that will support their people long enough to repair and search for resources, Ark Asia has found a small moon they were able to terraform, and Ark Africa has found an asteroid with a predictable flight pattern they were able to terraform. The most promising option for us is a small planet in the Maelstrom Galaxy. That’s sector 14 quadrant 4, about three weeks from our current position. It has an atmosphere of its own that is very close to Earth’s clean atmosphere; the planet has liquid water, a singular continent that takes up 54% of the planet, and the rest seems to be salt water. The continent has rivers and tributaries, forests, mountains, and active volcanoes. It is quite close to Earth and considering the proximity to our location and the rapid breakdown of society onboard, I posit we set our bearings to those coordinates.” Hammond said in an authoritative voice. He was only about 75% sure that the planet was even habitable; but if they didn’t find a solution to get off these Arks quickly, every species on board-including humans- were definitely going to be extinct.
“Are we sure this is a viable option? What were the most recent readings from the probes?” Lieutenant General Lana Mueller asked. “Are there any other options other than this planet?” Hammond passed the readings along the line of Officers until it reached her. He had long since been an admirer of Lana, wishing that fraternizing were an option; but there was too much to focus on, too much at risk.
“This is our best option. Everything we have passed so far has been uninhabitable in one way or another. Most are poisoned by toxic gasses created by the planet’s own thermodynamics. The next closest possibility is a large moon that’s roughly five weeks from us. The closest and most provably habitable planet is the Maelstrom Galaxy. The name for the small planet is Uniterra, and as you can see the readings seem to match the name.” Hammond gazed at Lana, careful not to stare too long. She was incredibly beautiful, with long blonde hair and hazel green eyes. She was a talented officer, and smarter than most of her peers; Hammond included. Lana looked over the documents, pointing things out here and there and discussing it with those on either side of her. She would occasionally nod at something one of them said, a look of quiet discontent on her beautiful oval face. She considered all the possibilities she could think of before looking back up at Hammond.
“Landing on Uniterra and simply exiting isn’t going to be an option. The atmosphere is much denser than we can safely handle. We’re going to have to start changing our atmosphere slowly here in the Ark, or we’re going to have to purify the planet’s atmosphere before we can safely exit. The best option is to slowly adjust the pressure here inside the Ark, giving our bodies time to adjust before increasing the pressure; we repeat this process until the atmosphere in here matches the atmosphere on Uniterra. When we get to the planet we should be at just about the same level as the planet’s atmosphere, allowing us to exit the Ark immediately. Otherwise, we’re looking at lung collapse, barotrauma, circulatory problems and a number of other fatal conditions.” Lana said this looking directly into Hammond’s eyes, as if she were speaking only for him.
Lana noticed that she had his full attention, and it made her roll her eyes. Hammond really thought he was keeping his feelings wrapped up, but it was so obvious to Lana it made her wonder how many others noticed his affections. He’s like a simpering schoolboy, Lana thought to herself. She placed the stack of papers she held down on the table and turned to the man on her left;
“Gentry, go give the orders to the engineers. We need to get this process started immediately if we’re going to survive this.” Lana turned to the person on her right, “Baker, go alert the medical staff of the changes; tell them to be ready for people to come in with complaints of joint pain, fatigue, skin rashes or itching, cardiac symptoms, neurological symptoms and respiratory issues. It’s best we are ready for anything, there’s no knowing how people’s bodies will react when they have no experience with deep sea diving. This is going to turn the Ark into one big scuba tank, maintaining the pressure evenly until we get to the planet. Harrow, go prepare the kitchen staff, tell them what they need to know to adjust their methods. Cooking under increased pressure is different and may require an alteration in the gasses they use. Hammond, you come with me to inform the captain. The rest of you prepare your departments and get back to work.” Lana had pointed to each man as she gave out their orders, and when she pointed at Hammond his heart did a backflip.
Everyone dispersed, leaving Lana gathering up the intel on the table. She placed it into a file, and looked up at Hammond. She knew what she was about to do could land her in the brig, stripped of her rank and position; but she was fairly certain that would not happen. If she was right about Hammond, this would be far from punishment.
“Are you ready to go talk to the captain?” Hammond said as the last officer left the conference room. He had walked over near Lana, taking in her scent as she moved past him and around him as she had gathered the paperwork from the table. She had stopped not far from where he was and put the file where she stowed the paperwork down in front of her. She turned toward him and glided over the few short steps, causing Hammond’s heart to beat faster as the distance between them closed.
Just when Hammond thought his heart would explode in his chest, Lana grabbed him by the back of the neck and pressed her body against his. When their lips met, Hammond thought for sure his knees would give out from beneath him but he managed to keep upright. She was an amazing kisser, so much so that every other kiss melted away in his memory and was replaced with this moment. To his horror, he started to get an erection like a pubescent boy. He could feel it move in the closeness between their bodies. He pulled himself back, his cheeks turning a deep shade of red.
“I apologize, this is not the time nor the place.” Hammond started to back away further, making an attempt to get their task completed.
“Not a chance, Schoolboy.” Lana said, pulling him back against her and kissing him deeper. She swiftly unbuttoned his shirt, her slim fingers deftly undoing each button with a quickness that seemed otherworldly. When she reached his belt, she unclasped it and pulled it out with one swift motion; tossing it on the floor. The button of his pants was undone before the belt had even hit the floor, and she released his hard slender member. She wouldn’t call it a pencil, exactly, but it wasn’t overburdened by girth. Lana was optimistic that he could use the length, and she grasped it in her small hand; she massaged it for a moment before looking into his eyes, undressing herself from the waist down.
“Quick and dirty, we have work to do.” Lana said quietly, leaning back against the conference table and wrapping her legs around him.
Hammond could not believe what was happening, but he didn’t question it. He swiftly moves his nine inches inside of her, thrusting hard against the back wall of her vagina as he held her firmly around her narrow waist. She wanted it dirty, but that wasn’t normally his style; he changed the position of his hips slightly as he thrust, making sure he hit every millimeter of her insides. She was warm and slick the moment he had thrust into her, and as he drew near his climax, he felt her warmth gush over him and those walls clamp down tighter than he had ever experienced. She dug her nails into his back and she stifled a wail of pleasure into his shoulder. His climax came a moment later, his seed filling her and spilling back out onto himself. They shuddered against each other one last time before Hammond dropped his mouth to Lana’s neck, giving a prolonged kiss at the curve of her shoulder.
After a moment to breath, Hammond pulled himself away from her and looked into her eyes. Her hazel eyes had become greener with golden flecks in it, the emotions of what they had just done leaving them with a slightly glazed over look. Luckily the conference room had a sink and paper towels, and Hammond rushed to get some dampened for them to clean up. He kneeled in front of Lana, faced for the first time with the sight of her and he couldn’t help himself; He leaned down and grabbed up her legs, lifting them onto his shoulders. He clamped his mouth down on her clit, flicking his tongue while sucking hard. Lana moaned loudly before biting her hand to stifle the noise, which only encouraged Hammond to deepen his assault on her vagina.
He thrust his tongue deep inside her, lapping up the remainder of their coupling. She tasted so sweet; he couldn’t get enough of it. He pulled her hips up farther, allowing his tongue to go deeper into her core as he thrust in and out until he felt her warm juices flowing again. He swallowed up all of what she released, relishing in the taste of her. He turned his attention back to her hardened clit as she trembled, her orgasm prolonged for several minutes as he flicked and licked her back to bliss.
When she had calmed, he gently wiped her clean with the dampened paper towel before getting himself cleaned. He held his hand out to Lana, helping her up from the table and handing her clothes to her. Once they were both dressed Hammond grasped her chin and turned her head up, pressing his lips against hers in a gentle kiss. He rubbed his thumb over her lips as he wondered what that had been about. He pulled himself away from her and pointed towards the door.
“Are we ready to go see the captain now?” Hammond asked, cocking his eyebrow up at her.
“Yes, I haven’t seen Daddy in a while. It’ll be nice to see him, even under the circumstances.” Lana said with a smile as she walked out the door.
“What do you mean, ‘Daddy’ Mueller? Mueller!” Hammond called after her, but she had kept walking down the hall giggling. For a brief moment, panic consumed him as he realized what had just happened. He had just fucked the boss’s daughter on the conference table… he was going to get airlocked for sure. He sighed heavily and followed after her, knowing that the job at hand was more important than his fears.
When he reached the flight deck Lana was already embracing the captain and talking to him quietly. As he approached, Lana smiled at him and introduced him to her father;
“Daddy this is Lieutenant General Mark Hammond, one of my peers. He was not aware until now that you were my father so we may need to give him a moment.” Lana laughed as she said this, making a joke at Hammond’s expense which normally he would find annoying and rude but from her was just endearing.
“Captain Rivers, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Has your daughter brought you up to speed?” Hammond said this hoping that his tone and demeanor gave nothing away.
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“She has indeed.” Captain Rivers replied, arching his eyebrow at him. “You let her convince you to let your guard down and things escalated in the conference room? Don’t worry, my daughter likes to try and shock me. I’m sorry you were caught up in her shenanigans.” Lana giggled mercilessly, moving towards Hammond and wrapping one arm around him and the other around her father.
“Don’t tease him, Daddy. I really like him, even if he’s a simpering schoolboy.”
Hammond wasn’t sure what to say as he stood there in such close proximity to his boss, this gorgeous woman that he had just had every inch of himself inside just minutes before, holding the two of them against her for a long moment that felt like a lifetime. When she let them both go, Hammond moved to a respectful distance from them both.
“I greatly admire your daughter, Captain Rivers. She’s incredibly intelligent and a great officer. It’s my honor to serve beside her.”
“Yes, she is. She earned it all on her own, she wouldn’t let me help one bit. She even enlisted under her mother’s maiden name so she couldn’t be directly tied to me. She didn’t want anyone to think she had an advantage over them for being my daughter.”
“Daddy, we’re actually here on official business. There’s a lot to discuss.” Lana interrupted their chat, having gotten bored quickly and wanting to get down to business. She and Hammond proceeded to tell the captain everything he needed to know.
Nobody noticed the eavesdropper they had listening to their conversation.
#
Ansley hurried along the corridors and down staircases, searching for the berth she needed. As her job as a radar technician on the flight deck often gave her opportunity for, she had come upon some sensitive information that she needed to pass along to Bruce. As she came upon his berth, she wondered what state he would be in today. Since his wife had left him, he had some days where he was very coherent and sober and other days where he was so drunk he was soiling himself. Ansley thought of him as pathetic, but she was the type of woman who would do anything- with anyone- to get ahead. Bruce had been organizing a movement to take control of power and become king, and Ansley was determined to be the Queen. It didn’t matter who’s dick she had to suck to get there, she was more than willing to do so.
Ansley opened Bruce’s door and found him standing in the middle of the room masturbating. He looked at her expectantly and she rolled her eyes, walking over and kneeling in front of him, taking his tiny dick in her mouth. It was like brushing her teeth, narrow and about the length of her jaw; there was no such thing as deep throating this one, there wasn’t enough of him to even tickle her uvula. She tolerated the act half-heartedly and when he finished in her mouth, his sour jizz spilling over her tongue making her want to gag, she swallowed and smiled at him like he had given her something to be proud of. She knew her role.
“Always a pleasure, Ansley. Now why are you bothering me?” Bruce said as he threw himself onto his disgusting futon.
“I overheard the captain talking to a pair of Lieutenant Generals. They’re going to alter the pressure in the Arks to match a new planet they found for us to live on. It’ll take three weeks to get to the planet and they’re going to slowly increase the pressure until we’re living at the same atmospheric density as the planet. Once we’ve landed, we will be able to exit the Ark immediately. It’ll be safe outside. They said that increasing the pressure in the Ark can cause people to get sick but that it’s the best option they have considering how socially unstable things have gotten.”
“Thanks for letting me know. Now get over here and let me stick it in that sweet ass.” Bruce said, grabbing Ansley by the wrist and pulling her to the futon.
Ansley gave him a sultry smile and undressed, preparing herself to take his little stick in her back door. When she turned around, she dropped her smile faster than her panties dropped to the floor and assumed the position Bruce liked her to be in; face down on her elbows with her rear end up in the air. She felt the little push like someone had stuck the tip of their thumb in her anus and he began thrusting, Ansley made fake noises of pleasure as he did. Bruce only ever lasted five minutes, and that was when he was working for it; he finished with wet grunting noises and pulled out letting his cum squirt on Ansley’s back. He slapped his peanut on her butt a few times before tucking himself back in his pants. He grabbed up a dirty t-shirt that was on the floor and tossed it onto his pile of ejaculate.
“Clean yourself up and get on with your day. You’ve served your purpose.”
Ansley looked at him with mild distaste as she cleaned herself up and got dressed. She hated him; but if he ended up as King, she would tolerate him for what he could give her. Ansley had only ever had one goal in life- to be in a position that everyone had to respect her. She had never had any kind of real love or respect in her life. On Earth, she’d had a family and a father and mother but not until she was a young adult. Her mother was a paranoid schizophrenic and refused to take meds. She’d lost custody of Ansley and her siblings while her father had been in jail for dealing drugs. Ansley had been adopted by a couple who was not kind to her and she had been neglected, she had been clumsy and often had broken bones go untreated so she ended up a lopsided cripple, the father had inappropriate feelings for her that the mother resented her for; they had all but tortured her, to put it bluntly.
Her father had gotten out of prison soon after she turned 19 and moved in with her. He was supposed to be helping her take care of her three severely disabled children, but he was a drunk and was far from reliable. Ansley had no choice, though, as he was the only person she had to help her. She had struggled with a meth addiction in her younger years, so her father being drunk and taking care of the kids was a vast improvement on her own abilities to nurture them at the time. She had been a prostitute since she was sixteen, stripping at night as a supplement to her income. One night while she was with a customer doing meth, her father had taken the children out to the liquor store and crashed the family vehicle, killing all of them. Ansley had gotten clean after that, and gone to night school to be a radar technician. She joined the military when they got desperate enough for soldiers that her past didn’t matter anymore.
As Ansley left Bruce’s berth, she turned to go back up to work but was intercepted by one of her old customers from Earth. James was much different from Bruce. He was tall and handsome, well endowed with hips that moved like the Earth was tilting on its axis. He wasn’t lean and cut like a magazine, but he had a dad bod worth noticing. As James pressed Ansley up against the wall of a little used corridor, he licked up her neck and pressed his erection into her to let her know his needs. Ansley looked around the area and spotted a supply closet nearby.
Leading James carefully into the closet, Ansley eagerly dropped to her knees and pulled out his fat cock. James had a disrespectfully thick dick, but Ansley was used to having it in every part of her. Ansley put his length into her mouth slowly, wetting every inch of it in preparation for what was to come. It was always the same with James, so when he began throat fucking her with his hefty eight inches, she was prepared for it. It didn’t stop her from gagging, but he loved that; the more tears that flowed from her eyes the more excited he got, thrusting faster and faster until he emptied the contents of his testicles into her throat.
When he had finished, he stripped her down and started thrusting his fingers vigorously inside her, front and back. As she came close to her climax James stopped and forced himself into her, thrusting straight to her core. Most men she couldn’t even feel inside her but James was so thick and moved his hips so much that she could actually feel him knocking around in there. James clamped his eyes shut as he got close to ejaculating, feeling that Ansley was there with him he pounded into her several quick times and they escalated to bliss simultaneously.
Once finished he grabbed some paper towels off the shelf behind Ansley and tossed them to her to clean herself up. He got dressed as she did, and then he sat on a workbench to watch her dress. Ansley was far from beautiful, but she had a nice body. Her ass was perky and despite the constant abuse, her kitten was well groomed and pleasing to look at. Her tits sagged a bit, but he could tell that they were once perky and delicious looking. He never asked her anything personal, but he often wondered how many kids she had based of her breasts; his wife had borne him three sons, each breastfed- he knew what boobs looked like after feeding babies for months on end.
“So, did you tell him?” James asked as Ansley brushed out her hair with her fingers.
“Of course I told him. That’s what he pays me for. Why did you think that I wouldn’t? Just because you ask something doesn’t mean I’m going to do it. This is a business arrangement, not a relationship. I don’t owe you anything, but you do owe me for the fuck.” Ansley was annoyed. She continued to gather up her things, cursing James in her head. He had come to her weeks before trying to get her to go to him first with anything she found out. He didn’t even have the courtesy to offer her anything of value; “just a simple request between friends” as he’d put it. She scoffed in her head, just who does he think he’s dealing with? I don’t do anything for free, especially not for men. Expressly not for a man who had the audacity to think that anything from me would come without a price.
Ansley had her back turned to James as she finished putting on her shoes. She stood up and turned around in time to see James close his hands around her throat, pressing down on her hyoid until it snapped. James laid her down slowly, his hands still tightly grasping her throat as she suffocated to death. He watched as her face turned purple, then blue, before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she stopped struggling to breathe.
James grabbed up a bottle of bleach and an empty squirt bottle; he filled the bottle with the bleach and pulled her pants down far enough to get to her genitals. He inserted the end of the bottle into Ansley’s dead pussy, squeezing the unconcentrated bleach into her in an effort to degrade any DNA he had left behind. He filled the bottle again and poured the contents down her throat and over her panties and pulled her pants back on, not bothering to button them back up. James quickly moved the workbench aside and opened the large air vent behind it. Stuffing Ansley’s dead body inside, the look of surprise forever etched on her buttery features, James shoved as hard as he could until she was no longer visible. Then, closing the air vent back up and replacing the workbench, he checked outside the supply closet to see if anyone was around before exiting and walking off as though nothing had happened.
James made his way down the corridor to the head of the Armory. He poked his head in and said, “Hey, did you hear that there is supposed to be a meteor shower today at five?” and continued on his way. This was a code phrase the members of the Cult had agreed upon as a way to signal that they needed to meet without having to be seen fraternizing with each other. Most of them were spread out across the Ark, and those that were in the upper echelon of the group knew to pass this phrase on to the others they were responsible for notifying.
James then went to the head cook, the engineering department, the motor pool and the medical bay giving the code to the members. When he was done, he went and got some dinner before heading to the meeting spot. Anyone who overheard the phrase took it at face value and spread the word to be on the sky deck to see the meteor shower. This often cleared the way for the members of the Cult to assemble in the billiard hall without arousing suspicion. It was a place where people from all departments and walks of life gathered, and by five pm most people were in their berths eating dinner with their families. As James saw that everyone had arrived except Bruce, he started speaking to the group quickly.
“Listen everyone, the girl told Bruce everything. We’re going to have to keep playing along as if he’s got power for now. We still aren’t strong enough to go up against the Army, and we don’t have weapons for everyone yet. Everyone knows the plan, let’s just stick to it and quietly recruit new members until we have the numbers we need. This is a long game, ladies and gentlemen. The fuse is set, we just have to wait for it to burn to ignition so-to-speak. Everyone clear?” He looked around and saw everyone nodding, some looking openly annoyed.
“What are we clear about?” Bruce had walked in, swaggering like he had a large set between his legs; or a large load in his pants.
“Just telling them that you’re never late, we’re simply early, Boss.” James replied, taking on the demeanor of eager minion for Bruce’s benefit.
“That’s right, I make the time tables. Now, we’re going to land on the new planet in three weeks. That means we need to set all our plans into motion. Culinary, start to spike the food and drinks of members of the military and government. Make sure they don’t have the willpower to object to our power play. Armory, you need to increase the number of weapons and ammo you’re getting out of there each night. We need to have it emptied out in two weeks or less. Medical, keep siphoning supplies out of the medical bay, a lack of resources when disaster strikes will throw them off. Department heads need to up their recruiting game. We need to increase our numbers and fast. You all know what needs to be done, and you all know how to be discreet. Let’s get it done, people!” Bruce ended with two claps of his hands, signaling to the members that they were dismissed.
James led the way out of the billiard hall with his two most trusted associates by his side. They walked silently for a time until they were well out of Bruce’s earshot.
“Make sure culinary knows to slowly poison Bruce’s food with the others. Make sure they don’t kill him, but make him weak and sick.”
The two men nodded as they broke off going separate ways.