We reached the Warp Gate just as it was nearing mid afternoon in Standard Hours on the second day and we immediately used it to jump to the next system.
The next system had a red star and several planets orbiting around it, though none of them were habitable.
Unlike the other systems that I had visited that only had one station hovering above a planet, this system had multiple space stations and some of them even had a cluster of them orbiting the same planet.
Also, space was much more busy here compared to the other systems around with a lot more space traffic too, like you could literally see swaths of ships flying all around you outside the cockpit.
One interesting thing I found was that there were two objects that look like some kind of giant gate a short distance away floating side by side. Most of the ships that have arrived through the Warp Gate or are heading towards the Warp Gate were also moving to or coming from those two things.
“Amber? What are those things?” I asked through our comms channel.
“Oh those? You’ve never seen one-- Oh yeah, memory loss. Those are the Space Highways that you might find in certain systems. They let you fly at speeds faster than travel speeds and it’s a means of getting around a system really quickly.”
“That’s cool. I’m guessing people use that to get from one station to the other?”
“Yep. The Inucanis were the ones who made that. Humans invented the Warp Gates for faster travel out of system. The Inucanis made the Space Highways for faster travel within the system. There’s a reason why the two races are on really good terms. Then again, I suppose there’s other reasons but that’s beside the point.”
Sounds like something I might want to read up on in my free time.
All of us then formed up again before following Reese towards the Space Highway, joining the line of ships that were waiting their turn to enter it.
The Space Highway consisted of a giant, semicircular machine on each side that seemed to project an opaque white path in between them that led out towards the other side of the system. The space in between was large enough for all but the largest ships to fit through and any ship that entered the space between the gates were immediately whisked away faster than the eye could see.
There were two of them, as I had initially spotted, with the one on the left sending ships away from us while the other was sending ships towards us.
I guess these gates were one directional.
“Are we stuck on the highway until the very end?” I asked.
“Oh no. This thing works like a tunnel. When you enter the tunnel, you would be sent hurtling forward so if you want to leave, just angle your ship and boost yourself out of the tunnel to break away from it.”
Ah, so if your destination was along the way, you simply need to exit the highway before reaching the end.
Soon enough, it was our turn to enter the Space Highway and I slowly got closer and closer to the space in between the gates.
As soon as we reached the threshold, I felt my ship pulled forward by an invisible force and the other ships around me quickly disappeared behind me.
I was expecting insane amounts of G force pushing me to my seat but surprisingly, aside from the initial acceleration where I felt a slight push, there wasn’t anything pushing me back in my seat.
In fact, I could stand up and walk around just fine.
“So how’s the experience?” Amber asked, clearly knowing that I would have something to say since it was my first time on it.
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“Interesting. How does it work?”
“Pffft, heck if I know. I think it’s something about creating some kind of space tunnel that speeds up anything that enters it or something. Maybe you can search the GalNet for that?”
“I’ll do that later I guess. Anyway, how long would this take?”
“Mmm… This sends us all the way to the other Warp Gate on the other end of the system and we’re going at the freighter’s speed… So I guess it’ll be around three hours or so.”
I blinked at her, “Wait… Three hours for us to go from one end of the system to the other?”
“Yeah, pretty slow for now since we have to match the freighter’s speed but I think we could reach there within an hour if it wasn’t for that.”
“No, no, no… I meant only three hours? How fast are we even… Oh.”
I looked down at my console to see the speed that we were travelling at and I found myself looking at eighteen thousand kilometres a second.
With this speed you could go from Earth to Mars in about three hours too!
That’s pretty insane.
I mean, this system wasn’t as big as the solar system since there were only three or four planets orbiting around the star and the Warp Gates weren’t exactly on opposite sides of the system so it wasn’t as far away.
But then again, this is still going to take three hours which meant that I had nothing to do for three hours.
Ugh… I should really get something to do while in space… Are there game consoles here or something? I should look for some when we’ve reached the other system.
I looked at Amber who seemed to be staring at me from across the screen, “Hey Amber?”
“Hmm? Yes, Tera?”
“What do you usually do when you’re stuck in a long trip like this? You know, where you’re just sitting around and waiting to reach your destination?”
“Mmm… Do you really want to know?”
I raised an eyebrow, “Err… Yes?”
She smirked before leaning back on her pilot seat, “Well… I first get comfortable on my chair like so~”
I wondered what she was going to do and watched her intently.
Seeing that she had my attention, she then picked up her terminal and placed it somewhere off screen, “Then I set up my terminal like so… Find a nice video or even just one of those that I had already saved and favourited… Then get myself in the mood and… Ahh~”
I realised what she was doing when her hand slipped below her waist and started sliding up and down off the screen.
I rolled my eyes, “Really, Amber?”
“Mnnghh~ You asked, so I answered~ What else is a girl supposed to do all alone in a cockpit with nothing but space all around her? Sometimes if I know that I would be alone for a long while, I’ll even just strip off everything~”
Even while she was telling me that, her hand never stopped moving. In fact, she even lifted both her feet up to rest on her chair, obviously to give her easier access to give herself pleasure.
I could also feel a twitch in my pants when I started imagining what she looked like on the other side of the screen, seeing that I could only see her upper body from here.
“Are you really that horny?”
“Not really, I’m just bored. And you are right in front of me after all so that’s better than finding some video of some other girl to schlick to~”
“Right… Don’t tell me that you were doing it yesterday too?”
“Oh no~ I wasn’t that horny yet. I was merely hungry.”
“You just said you weren’t horny, didn’t you?”
“Hehehe~ But after touching myself a little, I’m horny now~”
I rolled my eyes again.
She giggled before scooting a little lower in her seat, “If you like, I don’t mind moving the camera a little lower for you, Tera~ Actually, how about we just do it together? You can show me how you make yourself feel good too, I can learn a little bit more about you that way as well and the next time we get together in bed… Ehehehe~”
“I didn’t take you for a pervert.”
“Oh, but I’m only a pervert for you though so that doesn’t count~ Come on~ Join me~”
“No.”
“Awww~ Come on~ At least maybe take off your top or something? I could schilck to your face but seeing your boobs would definitely get me off even more~”
“No.”
“Well, then don’t mind if I do then~”
Without hesitation, she stood up to reveal that she had already remove her bottoms beforehand and stripped herself of her top, tossing the shirt aside before settling herself back in the chair again without shame.
“Ahhh~ That feels much better. Ohhh~ Now just imagining your fingers riiiiiight there~ It’s perfect, Tera~ Ahhhh~”
I could have just turned off the call right there. I could have just ignored it. I could have just did my own thing and not pay attention…
Fuck it…
I started taking off my clothes as well and joined Amber.
Hey, she’s my girlfriend, what kind of lover am I if I don’t join her in doing this too?