mcgrew's Journal: Bill's crippled boat

Chapter One
Previously

        Half of them were practically begging me to have sex with them. Man, if it weren't for Destiny I'd be having a hell of an orgy right now. I hurried through the inspection and got my ass back to my cabin as fast as I could.
                Destiny was sleeping, so I figured I'd go over the inventory list. The maid would be noisy in about ten minutes.
                Right before the noisy damned machine showed up an alarm went off. Damn. DAMN! Fucking whores!
                But this time it wasn't the whores, it was a distress call from another ship. "Knoll, here," I said to the tablet. "How can I help?"
                I didn't know how far away the other boat was but it would probably take at least a minute for the signal to get to it unless it was really close. I laid the tablet down and opened a beer. Hair of the dog, you know. Halfway through the beer I decided to return the favor for Destiny; she was going to want coffee when she woke up, so I made a pot.
                The rackity machine came in and started noisily cleaning. Destiny woke up. "Damn, that thing's noisy," she said. "Do I smell coffee?"
                I handed her a cup and sat down next to her. "Thanks," she said "What do you want to do today..."
                The tablet interrupted her. "Captain Knolls? Is that you, John? Kelly here. Thank God somebody's in range. I'm about thirty light seconds behind you and one of my engines shorted out. It didn't leave enough fuel for me to make the Mars landing. I'm just coasting, so I'm going to be weeks late. Can you spare a couple of batteries?"
                Hey, it was Bill Kelly, an old friend driving one of our company boats. I'd known Kelly for years. "Wild Bill" they'd called him, even though he wasn't very wild at all.
                "Hey, Bill, sorry about your luck. Yeah, of course I can spare a few batteries, you might even have enough charge that you won't be too late. I'll go dead stop for a while so you can catch me."
                "Boat captains sure are busy," Desire said.
                "Sorry, hon."
                I spoke into the tablet again. "Attention passenger and cargo. We will be enduring a short period of weightlessness, so be prepared. Captain Knolls out."
                "I don't think I've ever been weightless before," Desire said.
                I grinned. "Get a barf bag, it upsets some folks' stomachs. I have to go to the pilot room. I'll be back shortly." I kissed her, threw the beer can at the noisy maid and walked to the pilot room.
                It would be a couple of minutes before we were completely weightless. I swung the boat around and lowered the throttle. Gravity slowly went away as I dropped the throttle. The gauges said we were stationary so I killed the motors. Stuff started floating around.
                Shit, I forgot about the coffee. I flew back to my cabin "" and I mean literally, since there was no gravity. Destiny was floating above the couch. I pushed against the doorway towards her. "I like this," she said. "Lets make love, I've never been weightless before."
                "Well, I have, but I never had weightless sex before," I said.
                Having sex in zero G wasn't easy. Gravity makes almost everything easier.
                An hour and a half later my fone buzzed. "John? Bill here, I'm almost at you, can you adjust speed to match?"
                "Yeah, I'll be in the pilot room in a second." I set my fone to the shipwide speakers. "Attention, passenger and cargo. We will be experiencing low gravity shortly and then zero G again, so if you've been floating around with nothing to grab, now's your chance."
                I docked with Bill's ship. He called. "John, you want me to come over?"
                "You bet, old buddy. I ain't seen you in ages!"
                "See you in a minute."
                "I'm going to cargo," I said to Destiny. "Want to come along?"
                "And meet one of your friends? Try to stop me!"
                God, but I'd fallen in love with this woman. If it hadn't been for her the whores would have had me by now.
                We met Bill at the dock. "Bill, meet Destiny. She's, uh, I guess my best friend."
                Bill said "I thought I was your..." and looked at Destiny. "Oh. Damn I'm dumb. Pleased to meet you, Destiny. You hooked up with this guy? I thought astronomers were smart!"
                I laughed. "Fuck you, Bill. Want a beer?"
                "You have beer? I was wondering what you were hauling. I thiught you didn't do cargo runs any more?"
                "Well, this one's different. It ain't your normal cargo."
                "If beer ain't your cargo why do you have beer?"
                "I like beer! I have wine, too."
                "Hell... can you spare some, old buddy?"
                "Sure, I brought plenty. I can spare a few bottles of wine, too."
                Wow, thanks. No wonder I like you so much, you old asshole!" We both laughed. "So," he said, what's your cargo and why are you so rich right now."
                "Whores."
                "Huh?"
                "I'm hauling whores. They gave me a fifty percent bump in pay to haul 'em."
                "Christ, you always get the good assignments! How the hell did you manage this one?"
                "Hell if I know, the fucking CEO himself called me into his office. Scared the shit outta me."
                "you must be livin' right!"
                I laughed. "Me? Damn, Bill, you know me better than that."
                "Uh, 'scuse me, Miss, uh..."
                "Name's Desire, Bill."
                "Uh, can I have a word in private with John?"
                She looked at me and winked. "Sure, Bill." She took off, knowing I'd tell her what happened later.
                "Ok, uh, look, John, I ain't been laid in like forever and you got hookers on board. Uh, you mind if I spend a little money on your boat?"
                "Bill, I am about to make your day. You're gonna get laid and it ain't gonna cost you a penny. These bitches are horny as hell. They'd pay you if they had any money. If you want an orgy, just go to my commons area. Meanwhile, I'll gradually accellerate for a while while those batteries are being moved to your bot and installed, no sense in both of us being late."
                "Damn, buddy," Bill said. "You're the best friend I ever had!"
                I winked at him. "All for the company's bottom line. Make sure that's in your report!"
                "Christ, John, of course!"
                "Look, Bill, have fun with the whores and I'll meet you in my quarters after you get your rocks off."
                Bill owes me! ...and, well, I guess I owe him, too. Maybe the whores will leave me alone for a while, I got Destiny. I don't need no fucking whores. They're just a pain in my ass. I want a raise! Fifty percent more ain't enough to put up with these bitches.
                It would have been a lot different without Destiny. The whores would have probably took over my boat by now.