Project A-Ko Fan Fiction ❯ The Best of Enemies, The Worst of Friends ❯ The Best of Enemies, The Worst of Friends... ( One-Shot )

Nabiki 1/2

The Best of Enemies, The Worst of Friends

 

(A Very Scary Thought)

 

Written by Jim Robert Bader

 

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

 

Based on the characters from the Anime series

Project A-Ko, which was created by Katsuhitsu Nakajima

And Kazumi Shirasaka; owned and distributed by

Central Park Media Corporation.

 

 

Standard Disclaimer: This is inspired by the work of Katsuhitsu Kakajima and Kazumi Shirasaka and is not my original creation. All characters belong to them. This is only a fanfictional work, and is not intended to compromise the rights of the original owners, distributors and publishers of the Project A-Ko series. I have no money to spare and would very much appreciate if no one tries to sue me.

 

 

Beiko threw down the hydrospanner with an ill-thought curse forming on her lips, frustration and pent-up anxiety adding fuel to a rage for which she had no other outlet.

 

“Stupid defective piece of metal!” she exclaimed, or words far less delicate or even printable, even as the tool bounced right back at her, propelled by its own inertia.

 

“Keep it down up there, willya?” came the disconsolate growl of another voice hailing from the far end of the cabin, “Some people are busy being bored to death, if you don't mind, Beiko-san.”

 

“I wasn't talking to you, Aiko,” the silver-haired Beiko Daitokuji growled back, “Just shut up and go back to sleep! I'm trying to get this stupid thing working again so we don't have to die out here in the middle of no where!”

 

“What?” the redheaded Aiko Managi lifted her eyes from where she had been gazing out a portal to see her reluctant companion of choice glaring back at her with a much-annoyed expression, “Are you telling me the great Daitokuji Beiko can't figure out how to fix a Starship engine?”

 

“Shut up!” Beiko shot back, “There is no piece of technology that I can't figure out, no matter how alien its origins, and this idiotic Hyperdrive won't get the better of me! I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve, you'll see soon enough, you ignoramus!”

 

“Oh my,” Aiko responded with irony, brushing back floating locks of crimson hair as she floated in the weightless environment of the spaceship cabin, held partially in place by the makeshift anchor of several straps that she used to tie her by her left arm to one bulkhead, “Don't tell me you're getting foxed by the thing? We need you to get this ship running again before we run out of fresh air and suffocate in space!”

 

“I know that, Aiko,” Beiko shot back in growing agitation, “But the tools I have to work with…this advanced technology were meant to be serviced by equipment that's been properly designed and fitted for this purpose, and with very few replacement parts on hand, which had to be cannibalized from other systems…”

 

“Look, Genius,” Aiko replied, “You know I don't understand any of that technical stuff, but I know you and what you're good at, and if anybody can figure out how to rescue us, it's you…or aren't you the one who's always telling me that there's nothing any alien can design that you can't figure out and master?”

 

“Figuring it out isn't the problem,” Beiko swept her silver locks out of her eyes and stared accusingly at the annoying equipment, “But this is like trying to service a mobile suit using just a pair of pliers and a kid's socket wrench that's been outfitted three sizes below the actual ratchets. I'm doing the best I can to jury rig the life support, but I doubt I'll have artificial gravity restored anytime soon, and without the Inertial dampeners, even if I could get the Hyperdrive back online we couldn't risk using it without turning the both of us into strawberry jam…or at least that's true in my case. You could probably survive it.”

 

“Yeah, but it wouldn't be any fun, right?” Aiko huffed, “Well, just do whatever you have to do to get us out of this. If you can at least get the ventilation restored then we wouldn't be suffering with all this heat…”

 

Beiko had to silently acknowledge this, but it was galling to contemplate the very real possibility that she might not be able to pull them through this time before the self-contained and highly insulated environment within their small star ship became unlivable. Already it was so warm that she and her companion had been forced to shed most of their outer garments, stripping down to the very thin material that they normally wore inside of their flight suits. Both of them were perspiring rather noticeably, and this gave the air a pungent tang of their mixed body odors. They both needed to bathe rather badly, and yet the hydrostatic booth had been one of the first units that she had been forced to cannibalize when searching out for badly needed spare components. Even a sponge bath was unlikely until they could get the water purification system back online, and by that point the air was likely to be near toxic levels. Already it was getting harder to breathe, and in another hour or two it was bound to become even more unpleasant.

 

Of course, Beiko reflected that these conditions were likely harder on herself than her companion. Aiko's weird mix of alien and human hybrid DNA gave her a higher metabolism than that of a normal person, one reason why the fiery redhead was currently restricting her physical activities to a bare minimum, conserving energy that might be badly needed for later. Beiko, for the most part, was a normal human woman, barely seventeen years old and still a year or so from graduating from Graviton High School. Though she and Aiko were of roughly similar ages there was simply no comparison between the two of them on a physical level.

 

Beiko was tall and willowy with a slender, athletic build, a fine figure and a very handsome profile, one regal and aristocratic in bearing. She moved with the grace of a ballerina and had earned high marks in all areas of a classical education. A certified GENIUS (whom some would argue was certifiable) who had mastered all areas of technology before her freshman year, she was at the top of her class and a proud representative of her social order.

 

Aiko, by contrast, was rough, coarse and crude with barely passable grades and little interest in anything remotely high brow or aesthetic. In spite of having been blessed with an attractive face and figure, Aiko took little care to embellish her natural appearance and as such had a more rugged and earthy appeal, one worthy of such a “Common as Mud” Tomboy and completely beneath Beiko's high social standing. That the two of them should even associate together was scandalous to say the least, but Fate had reluctantly paired them off to combine their efforts in a worthy goal that so far had eluded them, thus leaving them both to wonder at the wisdom of their partnership effort.

 

“If you want to keep breathing so much, you could try coming over here and giving me a hand,” Beiko responded at last after only a momentary pause to reflect upon these concepts.

 

“Me?” Aiko reacted as if stung, “What the hell would I know about all this alien crap? Give me something to punch and I'm all there, but building stuff is your department, Beiko.”

 

“Well, then maybe you'd like to help out by stepping out of an air-lock!” Beiko snapped, finally losing her limited reserves of patience.

 

“Well, geez,” Aiko winced, “You don't have to bite my head off about it…”

 

It was a measure of all that they had gone through the past few weeks, and the changes they that had both endured, which kept Beiko from following up with another insult. As quickly as she had lost her temper, Beiko managed to find it again, taking a deep breath before saying, “Look, Aiko…you're a lot stronger than me, and you can turn screws with your fingers, and I don't have the right sized equipment to do the job right, so float your butt over here and give me a hand so that maybe—just maybe, mind you—we might actually get out of this thing alive, you got that?”

 

“Well…” Aiko said reluctantly, “If you think it will help…”

 

The redhead unwound the strap that she had used to tie herself off and floated free from the wall where she had been hovering, careful not to use too much force to propel herself across the room to where Beiko was crouched over an opened panel. It took some effort (not to mention some comical windmilling of her arms and legs to remain reasonably stable) but with Beiko waiting to catch her at the end, Aiko was able to make the short distance without destroying anything in the process.

 

“Here,” Beiko guided Aiko's hand to the equipment panel and directed her what to do, coaching her fellow classmate not to use too much force upon the delicate equipment, and by a series of instructions managed to get the task accomplished.

 

Even as they did so, both girls had cause to reflect on the very odd circumstances that had forced the both of them into this unlikely partnership…indeed, even transporting the both of them to the very stars themselves, on an elusive quest to find a mutual friend, even at the risk of life, limb and mutual isolation.

 

Aiko had met Beiko when the two were only five years of age, both of them being studied at the same Westchester Institute for Gifted Children due to their unique qualifications (some would even call them mutants). From the moment the both of them had laid eyes on one another they had become the worst of enemies, striking sparks (and each other) on numerous occasions until forcibly separated by their respective elders. The two would not see each other again for well over a decade, only to be assigned to the same homeroom class only two semesters ago, where they had promptly renewed their rivalry all over.

 

Beiko had been the one to initiate hostilities, using technological weapons and devices in her effort to eradicate Aiko from her existence, only to see her inventions be trashed one by one by her adversary. Aiko was a powerhouse, no less than the daughter of two Super Heroes of legendary stature, and thus naturally endowed with Herculean might many times greater than any ordinary teenager. Aiko's combat training, combined with her prodigious strength, made even the largest of Terror Weapons that Beiko could build into so much scrap metal within a matter of minutes. It was only when Beiko had built a suit that enhanced her own physical prowess that she had managed to hold her own against Aiko, but all their fighting had ever managed to achieve was a virtual stalemate with the two of them doing more damage to their surroundings than to each other.

 

And what was the cause of their high-powered rivalry? Why, none other than the third party in their merry little troika, a bright and cheerful girl by the disarming name of Ceiko, who was the object of their mutual contention.

 

Even now both girls would brood when they thought of the bubbling blonde who had been their mutual friend and cause of so much aggravation. Ceiko could lighten up a room with her smile or break out into tears that would cause others to frown in the direction of whatever had caused her displeasure. She had been Aiko's best friend for years and her near-constant companion, while Beiko had developed a crush on the other girl and wanted Ceiko for herself, viewing Aiko as her only rival. Ceiko herself had been oblivious to the cause of their fighting…or at least at first it had seemed so…but near the end of their association she had grown disheartened by the bickering of her two best friends and had gotten it into her head that they cared more about each other than about her, spending so much time having “fun” together!

 

That said fun had involved Akagiyama Missiles and a lot of high-powered destruction hardly factored in at all to Ceiko's bubble-headed thinking. That Aiko and Beiko were always trading insults (and sometimes hurtling VERY HEAVY OBJECTS) at one another did not seem to register in Ceiko's mind that the two of them were NOT having a very good time in each other's company. In fact, matters got considerably worse when the handsome boy known as Kei entered the picture with both Aiko and Beiko going nuts over the same potential love interest, and all the while Kei having eyes only for Ceiko, who hated him with unbridled passion.

 

And then the space aliens known as the Leptons arrived on the scene, headed by their Queen, who pronounced Ceiko as her daughter. This stunning revelation came as no surprise to anyone who had known Ceiko and considered her a little “Spacey,” but it was like a hammer blow to both contending parties. When Ceiko's mother carted her off into space it was like their world had come to an end, and without a second glance the two of them ceased fighting altogether. Aiko and Beiko had dropped everything in a failed effort to “rescue” Ceiko from her own people, and after this crashing failure had each dropped into a complete depression, all meaning in their lives having vanished altogether.

 

For over a week they went about their now-empty existence, too lethargic even to fight let alone care about the issues that had divided them for so long. Nothing mattered since the loss of their friend, and even to work up as much emotion as it took to get angry just did not seem worth the effort.

 

Then inspiration hit Beiko like a blow between the eyes, and at once a plan was hatched to change misfortune into opportunity. With her vast family resources (and one handy alien ship that was available for study and reference) she built her own ship as a copy of the one that had carried her beloved Ceiko off to the stars. It was Beiko's intention to follow her love off into the Alpha Sigma quadrant to retrieve her back to Earth…but there was only one flaw in her plan, that being the Lepton fleet and soldiers who would oppose such an endeavor.

 

The answer, of course, was to recruit Aiko, a one-woman army to balance the forces and give Beiko a fighting chance at staging her rescue. The drawback, of course, was having to ask Aiko for help, a feat only slightly less unpleasant than having her teeth pulled with a pair of pliers, but Beiko was desperate, and with no other chance to find her way to Ceiko's side she swallowed her pride, set aside her grievances and approached her nominal rival with her proposal for a partnership-slash-truce.

 

It was an offer she knew Aiko could not refuse though neither girl fully trusted the other, and Aiko rightly suspected that Beiko would turn on her at the first opportunity…or so the platinum blonde girl had originally intended.

 

What had gone wrong with her brilliant master scheme, Beiko wondered now, weeks after the two of them had set out with such bright and open promise, putting their regular lives on hold and even setting aside their school attendance, risking the wrath of their respective elders (and in Aiko's case that was no light matter, her mother and father being formidable by any standard, and no strangers to traveling in space, so in all likelihood there would be fearsome repercussions). They had left the planet Earth and traveled to the stars with the best of intentions and a lone hope shared in both of their hearts…so what had gone awry that they should find themselves now adrift in a remote area of space with a damaged space craft just barely keeping them alive against the hostile environment that surrounded them for light years in all directions?

 

What had gone wrong, simply, was that neither girl had ever been to the stars, and outside of theories (and a healthy diet of science fiction in Aiko's case) they had little preparation for the type of situations that would confront them, especially on a diplomatic front. Space was not just a vast and open terrain of serene calm and infinite silence, there were incredibly violent forces to content with and hostile star-faring empires vying for territory like any military power on the Earth (which was a protected, underdeveloped world and thus sheltered from the realities of extraterrestrial civilizations, such as the Jurai and the Oni, who had claims on the world and forever eyed each other with mutual suspicion).

 

Almost instantly the partnership of Aiko and Beiko had been subjected to a series of adventures and challenges that had tested their resources to their ultimate limits. Almost against their mutual consent, the two had been forced to fight back-to-back and defend each other's interests, each one taking risks on behalf of the other. Slowly, almost inexorably, the walls had come down from between them, leaving them in a rudimentary sort of alliance that was on the borderline of friendship, though neither girl was willing to call it that for the longest interval. Beiko's homemade ship had gotten wrecked during one of their battles, forcing the two teenaged girls to be marooned for a time on an alien world hundreds of parsecs from Earth. Stripped of all but the most minimal or resources, the two had been forced to become ever more reliant on one another, and by turns this generated a kind of trust that weakened old hates and awakened in them a grudging respect for one another as a person.

 

This quasi-friendship was tested only weeks later when the two girls faced their greatest challenge and finally had an opportunity to be united with Ceiko, facing down a group of Interstellar terrorists with plans of universal conquest in order to rescue their friend from their evil adversaries. No sooner had they been reunited with Ceiko, however, but the Lepton fleet caught up with them and Ceiko's mother demanded her daughter's safe delivery from these “pirates.” Only Ceiko's hasty intervention on their behalf had saved the both of them from the tendrils of Lepton justice…but then Ceiko had astonished her friends even more by announcing that she would be returning to her mother willingly, having accepted the responsibility of being a symbol for her people, the heir designate for the Lepton Empire.

 

That effectively brought an end to their quest, and with the blessings of the Lepton fleet they were offered a ride home aboard a Lepton shuttle, and no hard feelings for any and all misunderstandings. Devastated and betrayed, the two had no choice but to accept the offer, and so had been on their way back to the Earth, wondering at what cost and for what cause they had sacrificed so much, and for what reason? It all had seemed like such a colossal waste of time and now their journey seemed likely to end in abject failure.

 

After all, who could have imagined that the Leptons had blood enemies who would fire upon their borrowed ship without asking any questions? Their escort had taken the brunt of the action, holding the enemy off long enough for Beiko to cleverly maneuver them into an ambush worthy of Justy Tyler, but not without consequences for their own trusty ship, which was so badly crippled as to be barely even space-worthy. In a way, it was a perfect climax for an absolutely miserable journey, one destined to end as pathetically as it had been initiated. All they needed was a rupture in the hull or a primary deck and the derelict that they were trapped upon would effectively become their coffin.

 

“She never really thought of us as anything but friends, did she?”

 

Beiko reacted in surprise to the question, having become so lost in her thoughts that she had almost forgotten the close physical proximity that now remained between her and Aiko.

 

“Who…Ceiko?” Beiko recovered her poise and tried to sound more nonchalant than she felt over that question.

 

“Well duh,” Aiko snorted, “Who did you think I meant? I mean…Ceiko seemed pretty happy being back with her mother, doncha think?”

 

“I don't really know,” Beiko replied honestly, “And I'm not sure I'd call it happiness. You saw those haunted circles around her beautiful green eyes? That effect can only be caused by unshed tears, and if anything I think she was trying to act brave for our sake, to convince us that she was happier with her own people.”

 

“Do you mean they forced her into it?” there was a note of excitement in Aiko's voice, as if the thought of possible deception on the part of the Leptons had briefly called her battle spirits back to life with the hint of another possible rescue in the offing.

 

Beiko almost hated having to dash that note of hopefulness in the other girl's voice, “No…I'm sure Ceiko was acting on her own volition. She was sincerely convinced that her people need her to prevent a civil war breaking out among the nobles of the various Lepton houses. They need her as a symbol to unite their rival factions, and Ceiko has honestly decided not to run away from that. As hard as it may be for us to believe—let alone accept—she's growing up at last and maturing into a woman.”

 

Now it was Aiko's turn to hear the melancholy tone of reservation in the other girl's voice, and it irritated her more than she would have thought was possible as she growled her reply, “Hey, enough of that! We said we weren't gonna talk about her leaving us like that again, remember?”

 

“We agreed not to dwell upon the past,” Beiko replied, not bothering to hide her sadness, “But it's hard to stop thinking about Ceiko. She looked so beautiful at her coronation as Princes…”

 

“Yeah…” Aiko allowed a wistful note to escape her lips as she contemplated the sight of her childhood friend appearing so regal and majestic at the side of her mother…but thoughts of this—sad as they were—triggered another thought that had been nagging her for some time now, so she said aloud, “Hey, Beiko?”

 

“Yes, Aiko-san?” Beiko replied in a tone of wistful distraction.

 

“How come all of the Lepton people we've seen so far have been women?”

 

“Oh,” Beiko took a moment before forming her reply, then shrugged her shoulders and said, “That's because there are no men in their society. They're a Gynacentric culture who reproduce by artificial means…Parthenogenesis, or cloning if you will, using recombinant DNA to meld the chromosomes of two women in order to produce a viable offspring.”

 

“Huh?” Aiko blinked, “Could you repeat that again, and in plain Japanese?”

 

“They don't need men to make babies,” Beiko replied, “So all of their people are deliberately engineered to be women.”

 

The tool in Aiko's hand fell from nerveless fingers and went spinning like a top, nearly colliding with a control panel but for Beiko's hasty intervention.

 

“No men?” Aiko replied, “Are you kidding me?”

 

“I am not,” Beiko replied as she handed the tool back to Aiko then resumed instructing her in the manner of its proper employment, and only then continuing, “Despite centuries of brainwashing by a largely male dominant culture like Japan, the simple biological truth is that men are not as necessary to the survival of a species as they tend to believe. Their primary task is to fertilize us, and once this has been accomplished they are largely useless, except perhaps as material providers. Men care for their women while they are pregnant and nurturing their young…or at least that's how it goes in theory. In actual practice, many men hardly have any part in the upbringing of their children…and it is left to the woman to secure a home and provide for a family without him…”

 

“Ah…Beiko?” Aiko remarked, “You are aware of the fact that my mom is an Amazon, and my Dad's always been a big part of my life, when he's not out saving the world or doing stuff like that, and I'd hardly call him unnecessary.”

 

“True,” Beiko replied, “But then again your father is…rather unique…and one could hardly call him a bad role model. On the other hand, my father…”

 

“Oh,” Aiko felt a very awkward pause hang in the air as Beiko did not continue her statement, leaving it to the redhead to indelicately say, “You mean about him ripping you off of your designs, ideas and patents?”

 

“Not to mention his inconveniently fixing Kei up with our teacher in unholy matrimony,” Beiko's growl belied the melancholy that they each felt on that subject, and their shared guilt over having broken up Miss Ayume's wedding with their rather enthusiastic antics. Beiko might harbor a grudge against her father for having called out the military in a futile effort at stopping her, but what really hurt overall was the way he cut off her allowance for a week as punishment for defying his will, forcing her to dip into her savings to come up with the petty cash that she had needed to fund her Starship project.

 

And that had exposed to her the horrible truth, that her father had been dipping into her trust fund for years to finance his own investment schemes and projects. Behind her back he had stolen many of her best ideas and marketed them under his own name, effectively shutting her out of the patents and royalties that were hers by right of invention.

 

“Men,” Beiko spoke the word with disgust, “They promise to be there for you, but you can never really count on them…”

 

“Beiko,” Aiko said aloud, “I don't see how men can be seen as unnecessary…just because you don't need them to make babies. I mean…a lot of guys do stuff that can be pretty neat…”

 

“Oh yeah?” Beiko snorted back, “Name one thing a man is better at than a woman, other than making babies?”

 

“Wow,” Aiko marveled, “You really are in a snit about men. What's the matter, still upset because you had to shoot Snot-face when he was threatening to kill me? Or was it the fact that he offed you first that's got you ticked off about the whole male sex?”

 

“A combination of things, I'm afraid,” Beiko admitted before muttering under her breath, “I should have stayed true to my instincts. I always knew men couldn't be relied upon, like most women…”

 

“You think girls are better than guys?” Aiko wondered.

 

“Are you saying men are better?” Beiko replied, then for a moment silence hung between the two young women, a silence punctuated by a budding awareness of their awkward proximity to one another, forced by the cramped confines of the panel within which their hands were currently sharing space.

 

“Eh…exactly how do you mean that, Beiko?” Aiko asked without glancing at the girl whose body was so close at hand that she could feel the warmth it radiated and smell the musky perfume of her body.

 

“How do you think I mean it?” Beiko replied, “Honestly, Aiko, your naivete astounds me. Why do you think I've been after Ceiko all this time? Just so that I could show her my CD collection?”

 

Aiko did not immediately reply, but it finally dawned on her to ask, “Are you saying that you're a lesbian?”

 

“No,” Beiko replied, “If I were only into girls I couldn't be interested in a guy like Kei, or…”

 

Another awkward pause, and then Aiko said, “Oh yeah…him…forget I asked it…”

 

“No, you're right,” Beiko replied, “He's dead, I killed him…I've got to get over that and learn to move on. Besides, Gail was crazy, he wanted to destroy all of reality…”

 

“Not to mention the fact he'd killed you once already…” there was another pause as Aiko bit her lip, then said, “Batting two for two here…”

 

“It makes you uncomfortable asking me about that,” Beiko replied, “Doesn't it? And you were the one who made that bargain that revived me…”

 

“It was Commander Martu's doing,” Aiko hastily responded, “He put something in you, and suddenly you were all better…and all I had to do was agree to help him out against Gail…”

 

“Nanotechnology,” Beiko explained without glancing at her companion, “He must have injected me with that advanced technology we found within my system. It repaired the damage done to my body by Gail and helped revive me after I was dead for…oh, maybe five to ten minutes…”

 

“Dead?” Aiko's swallow was audible, “But…I still don't understand how that could be. You had a hole in your chest the size of my fist…”

 

“I know,” Beiko said in a slightly roughened tone of voice, “I can still remember what it felt like…like having the wind driven out of my sails, and then nothing. It's like my whole body shut down and I went into a coma…and then I woke up again…and you were there looking down at me and asking if I was all right. I never did thank you for that, by the way…”

 

“Why should you?” Aiko replied, “You've never thanked anyone for helping you out before.”

 

That brought on another long, drawn out pause, and then Aiko spoke again, “Beiko…I…”

 

“What?” Beiko replied, “You were right…I don't apologize for what I am or what I've been, but…I must admit that I haven't always been the most appreciative sort either. All these weeks we've been together, I never really found the way…or the words…to say how much I appreciated your caring enough to make that deal that saved me.”

 

“Beiko…” Aiko found it difficult to say anything more.

 

In truth she was not certain just why she had bargained with Martu the way that she had, or why it was so important to bring Beiko back from the dead. All she knew was that the sight of her companion's lifeless body had done something to her that no enemy had ever done before…it had made her forget about everything but the need to have Beiko restored to full health. Perhaps the loneliness of being left all alone had been too much for her to bear…or perhaps, just perhaps, she really and truly would have missed having the bothersome rich girl around. They had been through so much together that all of their past problems and difficulties had seemed unimportant next to seeing that their adventures would continue.

 

And now Beiko was with her, fully restored, had been fully functional for all the time since they had defeated Gail and his cronies and restored Ceiko back to her people. It was strange thinking about it now, but there was no denying that Beiko's death and resurrection had affected Aiko on a level that she had yet to grapple with in any conscious sense of the word…and to have Beiko near her now, so warm, alive and vibrant…

 

“I know I'm not…the easiest person to get along with,” Beiko continued, “And, if anything, I've been…well…”

 

“A real pain in the butt?” Aiko finally found something familiar that she could focus upon, something far less confusing than trying to account for the strange emotions that were welling up within her at that very moment.

 

Beiko seemed to take the jibe in good humor, surprising Aiko, who was used to her companion having a somewhat volatile and Mercurial temper, “I guess it has seemed that way for you, hasn't it?”

 

“Well, you've only tried to kill me like almost every day of class for the past two semesters,” Aiko responded, “Giant robots, powered armor, Akagiyama missiles, cyborg assassins, even that laser you tried to nail me with in that cheap back-shot on that desert planet…”

 

“I know,” Beiko actually sounded amused as she added, “But you have this infuriating habit of not knowing how to die like a good little girl. In fact, it drove me up the wall how you could trash my best inventions and make all of my hard work go all for nothing…”

 

“Sorry to disappoint you, Beiko,” for some odd reason Aiko found herself grinning as she said this.

 

“Don't be,” Beiko replied, “It used to annoy me, but I've always secretly admired that about you, that you're so damned hard to kill. It's gotten us through worse scrapes than either of us could have managed alone…”

 

“Ah…Beiko?” Aiko swallowed, “What do I do next? Do I turn this thing any further?”

 

“Only if you want to snap it off with your fingers,” Beiko cautioned, taking the tool from Aiko's hand and making a few adjustments to the controls, then aiming the beam-projector end of it at a tiny aperture that they could barely reach at the bottom of the panel, murmuring softly, “Now if I can just calibrate this a little bit this way, then make a few more adjustments…”

 

There was an audible click, and then a rumbling noise passed through the floor plates, and a moment later both women turned their heads at the feeling of a draft blowing over their bodies. Cool air circulated through the vents as the life support kicked in at long last and it was suddenly easier for the both of them to breathe normally, a fact that the two young girls acknowledged simultaneously, sitting upright and crying out in joy, “WE DID IT!”

 

“Air,” Aiko took a deep breath and reveled in the sensation of coolness against the moist skin of her body, “We're saved!”

 

“Not yet,” Beiko replied, enjoying the sensuous feeling of a breeze in her long white hair, which waved about like clouds of smoke all around her, “But it's a good enough start. Now if we get gravity and the inertial dampeners back on line we'll be able to fix the Hyperdrive and get this bucket of bolts moving again back towards civilization.”

 

“Whew…maybe we ought to take a break before we try that,” Aiko shook her head to let her crimson locks dry off from their dampness, “You've been at this for hours, and just the few minutes I've been working on it has got me hot and sweaty again…”

 

“You look just fine, Aiko,” Beiko smiled as she admired her companion, “And you always were a slacker.”

 

“Huh, says you!” Aiko shot back, “And when did you turn into such a workaholic?”

 

“When it's my life on the line I can work from dawn to dusk and not feel it,” Beiko yawned and stretched, “However…you may be right this time…I could use a little R&R. Too bad the showers are out, you smell a little gamy.”

 

“Me?” Aiko retorted, “You ever try standing down wind of yourself?”

 

“Physically impossible,” Beiko replied, “But I will concede the point. I guess the only alternative is to get the water reclamation unit back online so we can take turns with sponge baths.”

 

“That can wait, can't it?” Aiko floated near to the panel and regarded Beiko sidelong, “You look real funny with your hair all like that…”

 

“Eh?” Beiko turned to regard her silvery tendrils, which were waving about her near-nude body like the living snakes of Medusa, “Well…with no gravity it shouldn't be all that surprising…and try taking a look at yourself, why don't you?”

 

“What about me?” Aiko wondered, and wondered all the more why the question should suddenly matter.

 

“Oh…nothing,” Beiko could not quite hide the smile that crossed her lips, “It's just that you look…”

 

“What?” Aiko frowned as her companion paused in mid-sentence.

 

Beiko took a moment to reply, just now noticing the way Aiko's hair caught the dim emergency lighting of the cabin and seemed to crackle around her face like the flames of a camp fire, giving the young demi-Kryptonian an unearthly radiance, which prompted Beiko to say the word, “Lovely…”

 

“Huh?” Aiko blinked.

 

“Er…nothing,” Beiko glanced hastily away, amazed at herself and marveled that she could have spoken the word aloud, let alone felt it with any sincerity.

 

“Did you just pay me a compliment?” Aiko was having trouble believing the words even as she spoke them, “You called me lovely?”

 

“I said it was nothing,” Beiko replied testily, “Just a slip of the tongue. I was going to say you look like a horse, which is what you sound like when you bray with laughter…”

 

“That isn't what you said, Beiko,” Aiko ignored the barb and gave her companion a curious study, “Why would you say something like that to me? I don't get you sometimes…you spend all that time trying to kill me because you think it'll somehow make Ceiko like you…”

 

“I know,” Beiko glanced away, “Pathetic, isn't it? Don't ask me what I was thinking…”

 

“I gave up trying to figure out how you think a long time ago,” Beiko replied, “But I thought you hated me…that you were just looking for the right time to put a knife in my back…”

 

“It would have to be an awfully strong knife,” Beiko responded in a poor display of humor.

 

“Well,” Aiko hesitated, “I dunno…maybe if the dagger was magic…Dad's always had a problem with magic…”

 

“I'm also no where near strong enough to drive a dagger home with any force against you, Aiko,” Beiko resumed, “And besides…”

 

Aiko waited to hear the rest of this, and when nothing else was forthcoming she prompted with the words, “Besides?”

 

“…I…” Beiko hesitated, finding it hard to get the rest of her words out, “…I don't feel…that way about you any more, Aiko-san…”

 

“You…don't?” Aiko blinked.

 

“I don't hate you…” Beiko forced herself to continue, “Not anymore…I can't…not after everything…not when I owe you my life several times over…I…”

 

“Beiko…” Aiko murmured softly.

 

“I…” Beiko tried again but found it hard to continue, so she turned to study the far end of the ship's tiny cabin before resuming, “Too much has happened…to us both…and now…there's no point in fighting it any more. Ceiko's gone to us…to both of us…to you, to me…we're just stuck here with each other and no hope of anything else besides that…”

 

“Beiko,” Aiko moved closer to the other girl, resting a hand on one slender shoulder. To her surprise Beiko responded to the touch, turning around to meet the redhead with eyes filled with tears, which shocked Aiko to the core as she had not expected to see such emotion in the silver-haired girl's aristocratic features.

 

“What a pair…we are…” Beiko's voice trembled as she spoke, “The best of enemies…the worst of friends…and yet…I'm not sorry I came out here with you…Aiko-san…”

 

“Beiko…I…” Aiko found the words fade out from her mind as a pair of slender hands reached out to cup her face, and to the redhead's utter amazement she found Beiko was looking at her with the most peculiar of expressions.

 

Without a word, the platinum blonde guided Aiko's face closer to her own, and then Beiko pursed her lips as if thinking things over. This brief hesitation caused Aiko to stare in blank incomprehension, right up to the moment when her lips made contact with those of her companion, and then Beiko was kissing her on the mouth, and that drove all thought clean out of Aiko's mind as her mouth responded automatically, and then she was kissing Beiko back without even a thought as to what she was doing.

 

“Aiko,” Beiko drew the redhead into her arms and began kissing her in earnest, emboldened by the lack of refusal on the other girl's part, to say nothing of the way Aiko started returning the kiss, first gently then with real passion.

 

The moment lasted only a few seconds before Aiko pushed away and stared in disbelief at her companion. In hushed words of confusion she asked, “Wh-what was that…?”

 

“It's called kissing, dummy,” Beiko's tone was rough with the fear of eminent rejection.

 

“I know,” Aiko retorted, “I mean…I know what it is…but…why…?”

 

“I don't really know myself,” Beiko replied, “I just wanted…I wanted to kiss you…”

 

“To…me? But…why…?” Aiko stammered.

 

“Because…” Beiko paused to steady the trembling in her voice, “Because I want to…do you?”

 

“Do what?” Aiko's eyes were round and guileless.

 

“Do this…” Beiko leaned in again for a second kiss, and the redhead did not pull back this time as Aiko allowed the kiss to happen, all thought of resistance as far and remote from her mind as understanding quantum physics. This kiss lasted longer than the first, and when it ended it only marked the beginning of a whole new transition.

 

Without gravity to use for leverage, Aiko could not find a purchase to resist as Beiko wrapped her arms around her and held their bodies close together, all the while kissing the sides of the redhead's neck and throat down to the hollow of her collar, at which point Aiko's body began to respond with surprising approval, even as Aiko mind was awhirl with amazement, unable to fathom the blonde haired girl's true intentions, let alone her own reactions. She had always thought the rich girl weird beyond the point of eccentric, but to have Beiko coming onto her like this was so out of left field that it left Aiko a little breathless.

 

And then Aiko felt the press of the other girl's body against her own, like being poked by two hard and very firm nipples that could be felt through the sheer material that they each were wearing, which awoke in Aiko some dim understanding of the other girl's intentions, and at this realization she pushed back against her, holding Beiko at arms-length, shocked beyond words as she stared into the other girl's half-lidded eyes with clear disbelief, seeing in Beiko a look of genuine longing.

 

“Beiko…” Aiko struggled to find the words, but finally blurted out, “Have you gone completely mental? Why…?”

 

Beiko turned away and for a moment said nothing, but at last she looked up and met Aiko's gaze before saying, “Do you find me unattractive?”

 

“Huh?” Aiko was stunned by the very question.

 

“You find me repulsive…is that it?” Beiko continued, “You can't forget the fact that I was your enemy…and now I'm something different…”

 

“Beiko…” Aiko murmured in confusion, wondering how in the name of the universe she was supposed to cope with her friend when she was in this very strange mindset.

 

“I-I'm not the same girl anymore, Aiko,” there were tears now in Beiko's eyes, “I've changed…”

 

“Changed?”

 

“For the better, I think,” Beiko continued, “You don't need to fear me anymore…I won't try to hurt you ever again…if anything…I want…I want for you to like me…”

 

“To…like you?” Aiko knew that she was mindlessly repeating things, but she could not help herself, so overcome by her companion's weird behavior.

 

“I want to show you that I'm not all that bad, Aiko,” Beiko replied, “And if you'll let me…I know a way to pass the time that won't leave you feeling bored and useless…”

 

“You…do…?” Aiko swallowed.

 

In reply Beiko just smiled and said, “Leave everything to me…and I promise you won't regret it.”

 

Aiko was at a loss on just how to react to this declaration, but Beiko had a leering, purposeful look to her demeanor that was making the redhead more than a little nervous. Beiko reached into her tool kit and pulled out a pair of disks which she displayed with great flourish before Aiko, then calmly held with one hand while she took Aiko by one arm and attached one of the disks to the Redhead's right arm bracer. With equal deliberation she attached the other disk to Aiko's left arm bracer, then touched a spot on both disks that caused a slight humming sound to fill the air…and made Aiko feel a slight dizziness that had nothing to do with their currently weightless condition.

 

“Wh-what did you do…?” Aiko asked.

 

“Something I came up with after long contemplation on the subject,” Beiko grinned, “Neural enhancers to magnify the output of those power dampeners you call your bracers. They should at least temporarily ratchet down your strength levels to something manageable, just as your bracers normally work to inhibit your Demi-Kryptonian strength so that you don't accidentally break things by ill intention…”

 

“You what?” Aiko stared in amazement at the two disks, feeling her body relax to a degree that was not natural, as though the strength were flowing out of her arms and legs, leaving her feeling both relatively weak and helpless.

 

“Only temporary, as I said,” Beiko hastily reassured her companion, “At most the effect will last up to an hour…possibly less. I came up with the original idea back when I was…well…not as favorably inclined towards you as I am now…in fact, back then I had intended to kill you..”

 

“But…why?” Aiko asked in growing bewilderment.

 

Beiko surprised Aiko by leaning closer towards the redhead once again and looking her intensely in the eyes, then in a surprisingly husky tone of voice she replied, “Because you're a lot stronger than me, Dummy…and I break a lot easier than you do.”

 

Aiko's brown eyes got very round as she found herself staring into the luminous depths of her companion's blue eyes, and then Beiko's face filled the whole of her vision as their lips came together once again, this time Beiko's mouth tenderly and sensitively melding with Aiko's unresisting lips, even as Aiko's mind swam with confusion at the permutations of just what was happening here, not least of which was the mystery of why she was suddenly behaving in such a passive and yielding manner.

 

Then something extended past the lips of the silver haired girl and began to probe against Aiko's mouth and the redhead's eyes went wide again in surprise at having a tongue explore her mouth. Beiko's kiss was causing the whole cabin to spin in a swirl of confusing sensations, and something very strange came over Aiko as she found her tongue responding to the challenge presented by Beiko's, the two tongues meeting half-way like contending Sumo wrestlers who embrace and find a kinship in the match. It sent a kind of thrill down Aiko's spine at discovering the warmth that grew between them as their tongues melded into one flesh with neither the victor nor the loser in a contest for which there only be victory for both parties. It was the first time anyone had ever kissed Aiko in such a manner…HELL…the first time that anyone had kissed her passionately at all in her young life! That it should be Beiko kissing her in such a way was only slightly less amazing than discovering how much Aiko enjoyed that kiss, in spite of all logic or the tiny voice screaming in the back of her mind that this was the “Psycho-Bitch” who had made her life a living hell for two semesters, and definitely NOT someone who could be trusted!

 

When Beiko broke that kiss at last, it left something of Aiko behind that the redhead only noticed by its absence. It was as if a tiny portion of her soul had gone from the kiss into Beiko, leaving something of Beiko behind to make up for its absence. There was something almost terrifying about the way the silver haired girl's eyes were gleaming with an animalistic intensity that belied her nominal genius and made her seem all the more predatory. Without a word she seized Aiko by the thin material that covered the redhead's upper body and tore it asunder down the middle, exposing Aiko's chest to full view even as the Demi-Kryptonian reacted with a gasp and felt the urge to cover herself against Beiko's hungry expression.

 

Before she could do so, however, the silver-haired girl bent down and brought her mouth into play as she seized hold of one ripe breast and began to devour it with passionate kisses. Aiko gasped and tried to push Beiko away, but the curious weakness in her limbs made the gesture futile and all she could do was bend back her head and utter a gasp of disbelief as she felt Beiko's tongue rasp along the edge of one areola, flicking against Aiko's right nipple in such a way that the redhead could only shudder with arousal.

 

It seemed to Aiko that she was perceiving these events from two very different perspectives, even as Beiko continued to play with and kneed her breasts, rubbing her face against Aiko's swelling mounds before alternating her attention between one nipple and the other. On the one hand Aiko was of a mind to believe that her companion had finally gone completely nuts and was ravishing Aiko in a state of dementia brought about by cabin fever. On the other hand she was reacting to the blonde's aggressive onslaught with surprising submissiveness, even given that her strength was temporarily dampened to almost normal human levels. Beiko was coming onto Aiko as if on the point of starvation with the redhead her last meal, and yet she displayed such sensitive and compassionate technique that it was difficult to credit that Beiko had never done this before with another person. It became even more amazing how Aiko's mind and body responded positively to this forcible seduction. It was as if discovering this side to Beiko's nature had awakened a similar state of mind within Aiko, one the redheaded Amazon would never have imagined herself capable of possessing!

 

Beiko's hungry lips were straying over the exposed areas of Aiko's upper chest even as the redhead's mind was coping with the shock and denial brought on by discovering that she could actually enjoy this. The silver-haired aristocrat was not idle while Aiko tried to make sense of what was happening, pausing only long enough to tear the rest of the artificial fabric loose from Aiko to expose the whole of her powerful body. In the weightless environment of their small cabin it was childsplay for Beiko to position her face so that it hovered over the area of Aiko's crimson-bushed groin and, lifting Aiko by her hips in order to secure her in place, she brought her lips down into play once again and began teasing and playing with the other girl's groin, even as Aiko's eyes went round with astonishment and her back arched in reflex, her legs splitting out to form a “V” that framed Beiko's face even as the Silver-haired girl began to tease the redhead into clitoral erection.

 

Beiko was in heaven even as she brought her lips into play nuzzling the sensitive mound that was unfolding to meet her invitation. The pink folds of Aiko's pussy lips greeted her like a vertical smile, tempting the silver-haired girl with an oddly sweet aroma tinged with honeysuckle and roses. It was an offer that Beiko absolutely could not refuse, and so she used her tongue first to flick the tiny, hard nub that was exposed beneath the hooding, then to explore along the edges of the crevasse that threatened to engulf her, all the while enjoying the first taste of Aiko's nectar.

 

Aiko was—at this point—quite beyond protesting this shockingly intimate behavior or the way in which Beiko was coming onto her, betrayed by a combination of lust and belated desire that welled up from within at this most intimate probing. Beiko's tongue was driving the redhead to distraction, and now she fully understood why the Genius had dampened Aiko's pile-driver strength as a matter of precaution. One clench of Aiko's powerful thighs would have been enough to snap Beiko in two without half trying, and it was all Aiko could do not to cry out in amazed protest as Beiko all but devoured her pussy, thrusting deeper with her tongue and even swirling it around the interior to catch and stimulate each and every nerve that it could encounter.

 

In an amazingly short period Aiko experienced her first-ever orgasm, shooting hot nectar out from the depths of her vulva for the silver-haired girl to devour with unbridled passion. For Beiko it was the reward for countless hours dreaming of such a moment in the privacy of her thoughts, but for Aiko it was a nearly religious experience, an epiphany, the point where she awoke to her own womanhood and ceased to think of herself as a mere child or a distorted reflection of her parents. That it should be Beiko of all people who could give her such a moment was simply beyond incredible, yet the effect was undeniable, even as Beiko made it plain that she would not be so easily sated.

 

“AHHH—KAMI-SAMA!” Aiko finally cried out in both dismay and amazement, her body clenching so hard that—had she been at her full strength—her orgasm alone might have shattered the ship's bulkheads!

 

“You liked that, did you?” Beiko briefly looked up from Aiko's bushy red mound, her face glistening as the lower half was covered in a thin translucent sheen, licking her lips with obvious savor, “Well…the best is yet to cum for you, dear Aiko, and I've only just started to have fun with you…”

 

“There's more???” Aiko was uncertain whether to be alarmed or excited at the prospect, but seeing as she had come this far (no pun intended) she found no reason to refuse to submit to a little extra, especially as the light in Beiko's eyes was twice has hungry and intent as before, leaving Aiko more than a little cowed at the implication.

 

“Oh yes,” Beiko's voice was husky with desire as she bent back to the task of licking Aiko's pelvis clean, a task for which she seemed ably and enthusiastically well suited, and before long Aiko was crying out in dismayed approval of her companion's best efforts, as much in thrall to that insatiable tongue as she was to the fact that this was Beiko doing it to her. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever imagined that she could experience such intense arousal as the fireworks shooting through her loins from Beiko's gentle-yet-insistent probing. That Aiko had allowed it to get this far was in itself a thing most uncanny!

 

Of course, had she been coherent enough to take notice of the fact that Beiko's hand was drifting to her tool-kit, Aiko would have been even more alarmed and twice as dubious of the other girl's intentions. Needless to say, Beiko kept the redhead too preoccupied to notice when she removed a device from her kit that was three centimeters in diameter and shaped like a small metallic rod with a rounded end that looked deceptively innocent, though even Aiko would have guessed at its intended purpose.

 

Needless to say again, Aiko was oblivious to the existence of the device until she felt the cold, hard end press up to join Beiko's tongue at the mouth of her vulva. The tongue withdrew and the rod took its place, sliding up into Aiko with such ease that the well-lubricated tunnel closed around it with a sucking motion that it was almost pneumatic. Beiko slowly pushed the thing in until it was buried ten centimeters deep inside of her lover, then paused and swirled it around a bit before withdrawing it a few centimeters, only to push in again until it sank full five centimeters deeper.

 

“Gawd!” Aiko gasped as her weightless body writhed upon the rod in Beiko's hand, “What is that…?

 

“Hush,” Beiko urged as she moved to position her body closer in parallel to the other girl, using her free hand to steady her as she brought her mouth up to kiss her lover. This time her kiss had an unusual flavor about it, and Aiko's eyes went round as she sampled the taste of her own juices coating the tongue of the silver-haired Beiko.

 

“What is that?” Aiko asked in delayed comprehension.

 

“That's you, Dummy,” Beiko replied before kissing Aiko on the mouth once again and probing with her tongue to explore the root of Aiko's tonsils.

 

Aiko's mind reeled as she finally made sense of that statement, but rather than gag at the thought of ingesting her own excretions, Aiko instead found she liked the taste of her cum in her mouth and understood implicitly why Beiko seemed to relish its salty-sweet flavor. That inspired in her to wonder what Beiko's own juices would taste like, a thought that would have shocked her previously unenlightened mind to no small end, but which seemed perfectly natural given these frankly amazing circumstances. It might just be cabin fever or the near-certain approach of death leading to a desperate cry for life on both of their parts, but whatever had brought this on, Aiko was—at least for the moment—entirely grateful.

 

While Beiko's left arm was currently crapped around Aiko's body, holding the weightless redhead in place, her other hand was working the makeshift dildo in and out of her sensitive vulva, causing Aiko no end of mounting excitement as she reacted to this stimulation by reaching out to embrace Beiko, not mindful that one of her hands encountered the swelling firmness of a breast, whose ripening nipple felt as erect and sensitive to the touch as her own rock-hard nipples. Aiko took Beiko's muffled gasp as an implicit sound of approval and began to cup and caress the soft texture of that breast until it swelled all the more firmly to her embrace. Aiko played with the nipple, taking it between thumb and forefinger and squeezing it all-so-gently, eliciting a groan of encouragement from the much-aroused Beiko, so Aiko began to tug on the nipple and pull it tighter, alternately squeezing and fondling the breast even as her mind reeled from the pleasure of the rod sliding in and out of her body.

 

Beiko was in heaven at feeling her efforts being returned—albeit hesitantly—by her fiery companion, relishing the touch of Aiko's hand upon her bosom as the needed confirmation that what they were doing was entirely right and proper. Days of fighting the urge to seduce her one-time-enemy turned partner had built up in Beiko an intense longing borne of much denial and repressed sexuality. Those passions once directed to the unobtainable Ceiko were now focused entirely upon the very-much-available Aiko, once the bane of her existence, now the hope for a brighter tomorrow. She intended to do all that was within her power to deepen their budding ties to one another, and to make up for a past that no longer seemed to hold any relevance as old resentments were banished into nothing.

 

“Aiko,” she murmured into her companion's ear as she began to nuzzle the cheek of the redhead, all the while wondering why she had ever felt anything but desire for this dynamic child of wonder.

 

“Beiko…” the name seemed to hold as much amazement as recognition on the lips of the now-fully-aroused Aiko, who clearly found the whole encounter as strange as any dream, yet who seemed more than willing to reappraise her old assessments of the silver-haired vixen and allow bygones to be bygones…if only for an hour.

 

Beiko could hold herself back no further at this point. Letting go of the rod and leaving it inserted deep within Aiko's vagina, she took advantage of their weightlessness to slide her body up to where her breasts were even with the face of her companion. Surrendering herself to her companion's scrutiny, she was rewarded with delight as Aiko responded to the proffered gesture by burying her face within the swelling mounds of Beiko's twin peaks. With an enthusiasm worthy of the newly converted, she went at Beiko with a hungry vengeance, extracting many gasps, groans, moans and murmured cries of approval as Beiko yielded to Aiko's admittedly clumsy efforts, relishing the way the redhead seemed all but to devour her, first one breast and then the other…and then to open joy as Aiko yielded to her own temptation and lifted Beiko up with both arms, spreading the silver-haired blonde's legs wide as she sought out Beiko's pale pelvis. Beiko's groans, by this point, became intense cries bordering on screams of incredulous ecstasy as Aiko went down on her with all the energy of a hungry Labrador devouring a bowl of cream.

 

And cream was what she yielded as Beiko at last gave into her climax, shuddering with total release as she experienced a moment of sweet bliss that far exceeded her wildest expectations. The platinum blonde genius became a panting, writhing animal with the relentless energy that Aiko poured into devouring her pussy. Cries of ecstasy and pleas of continuation filled the air and mingled with the wet, slurping noises of Aiko's less-than-fastidious efforts, and those drops of cum that Aiko failed to catch turned into floating pellets of clear jism, bouncing around the interior of the cabin while filling the air with the musky perfume of two horny young girls spending their first passionate embrace in the arms of one another, former rivals now become fully partnered in a strange inversion of what previously had been the dynamic between them…

 

It was fully two hours later that the two of them wound down their love-play and hovered close side-by-side with arms embraced as they relished the warmth that radiated between their two bodies. They were silent for the longest time as their minds took stock of all that had just happened, neither one knowing exactly what it would bode for the future, or whether it was only a momentary respite in their often troublesome relations.

 

“Wow,” Aiko finally said after the longest time of finding no other words that would service.

 

“My thoughts exactly,” Beiko murmured, her head resting on Aiko's shoulder, relishing the intense happiness that she had found in the arms of her enemy-turned-lover.

 

Another lengthy pause, then Aiko said, “You still think we'll get through this one alive?”

 

“We have to,” Beiko replied, “We can't have come this far to give up now, Aiko.”

 

“I wasn't talking about giving up,” Aiko replied, still finding it strange that she could be this at ease with one arm around the waist of her companion. The power dampeners had long since lost their charge and she was now back at full strength, hardly helpless like before and all too aware of how fragile was the other girl's slender body, which oddly made her feel almost maternally protective.

 

“I know,” Beiko replied in a bare whisper, “We still have a lot to do if we're to get this ship moving under its own power…but I'm glad we took the time to do this. Being with you…in this way…makes me feel as if we could overcome any obstacle, do anything we set our minds to…”

 

“Ah…” Aiko was left feeling very awkward at this softer tone in her companion, implying something more permanent than just the brief tumble that they had shared with one another.

 

“You don't have to say anything,” Beiko nestled closer into Aiko's arms and seemed to draw even more warmth from the other girl's naked body, “Let's just take it one day at a time from here on and not worry about tomorrow. I won't pressure you into doing this again if you don't want to…”

 

“Ah…hah?” Aiko blinked her eyes, “I didn't say I didn't…”

 

“I know,” Beiko said again, “I just want you to know…I'm very glad that I never did succeed in attempting to kill you. You mean a lot more to me now than just a friend…and I wanted you to know this.”

 

“Beiko…” Aiko murmured the name as if amazed that this could be the same crazy girl who had tormented her all through high school.

 

“I…have a confession to make…” Beiko hesitated before continuing, “I've never told anyone this…but…Beiko isn't really my name…it's more like a nick-name.”

 

“It is?” Aiko arched a crimson eyebrow.

 

“It was the name-designation they gave me at that Institute where we met,” Beiko continued, “Project B-ko, short for Beatrice Kane…”

 

“BEATRICE?” in spite of herself Aiko fought the urge to bust out laughing, “Your real name is Beatrice?”

 

“That's right,” Beiko replied ruefully, “Beatrice Kane Daitokuji…it was the name given me by my mother, before father changed it to Beiko for…reasons too complex to go into, mostly relating to my trust fund. My real name is Beatrice, I just use Beiko because it sounds more Japanese and causes less problems for me among our class-conscious peers and…those who might discriminate against me for being less than fully Japanese…”

 

“Oh…that,” Aiko chuckled softly.

 

“What's so amusing?” Beiko wondered as she lifted her head to regard her fiery companion.

 

“You think you're the only one with that problem?” Aiko asked with a soft laugh, “I'm not even Japanese, except by adoption. If anything, I'm told I resemble my great-grandfather, who lives on Mount Olympus. I don't look the least bit Japanese, and if you've looked in a mirror lately you'd see you're far more Japanese than I am.”

 

“True,” Beiko seemed to share her amusement, then added softly, “Tell me something…were you born with the name Aiko, or is that also a name designation?”

 

“Ah…” that put Aiko on the spot and both girls knew it, but at last the redhead pursed her lips and in a low growl she said, “Promise you won't laugh if I tell you?”

 

“Scouts honor,” Beiko raised a hand with a solemn expression.

 

“You were a scout?” Aiko eyed her companion dubiously.

 

“Junior Graviton League Scouts,” Beiko replied, “Care to see my merit badges?”

 

“Well…” Aiko was not sure where to go from there, so instead she just answered the question, “My name…well…it's Alison…Alison Kent Managi.”

 

“Alison?” Beiko raised both pale eyebrows in surprise, then thought a moment before continuing, “Yes…I rather like the sound of that. Alison it is…somehow it suits you.”

 

“I told you you were gonna…huh?” Alison blinked, then said, “You like it?”

 

“It fits the you that I've come to see of late,” Beiko replied, “Far better than that nick-name given you at the institute. It describes the woman you are, the one I've so much come to admire and cherish.”

 

“Uh…” Aiko was uncertain how to respond to that. She was going to have to do a lot of rethinking about her companion as it was, and she wasn't at all certain if she liked the implications posed by the silver-haired girl's very intimate statement.

 

“So…Alison…” she heard the teasing affection in Beiko's voice and began to feel nervous once again, “Would you care to take part in a little experiment that I'm dying to try out on you?”

 

“On…me?” Aiko DEFINITELY did not like the implications of being a lab experiment for one of Beiko's field tests.

 

“Who else?” Beiko chuckled, letting go of Aiko's waist and sliding her body down the length of the sinuous redhead, “The idea came to me just a little while ago…and I'd like to put it to the test, if you have no objections.”

 

“What kind of test?” Aiko asked with suspicion as she gazed down the length of her naked body at the smiling Beiko.

 

In answer to this question, Beiko held up the rod that she had been using before as a makeshift dildo. The silver haired girl leered meaningfully as she rubbed the metal rod up against her face, then made a great show of licking the shaft before sliding it into her mouth altogether.

 

“Ah…Beiko?” Aiko's nervousness intensified as she saw her companion bring the rod out of her mouth and up alongside Aiko's crimson-bushed pelvis.

 

“Hold still, Alison,” Beiko urged as she began to rub the thing up and down the outer exterior of Aiko's vulva, even as Aiko reflexively parted her legs to allow easier access, “This will only take a moment…”

 

“Ah…what do you have in mind?” Aiko's voice was husky as she felt her arousal cause her loins to unfold before the dildo like the parting of a lotus blossom.

 

“You'll find out in another moment,” Beiko chuckled in a manner that in no way conveyed reassurance. It took only a few more moments before Aiko's pussy lubricated enough to provide an easy access to the rod, which Beiko gently plunged into the void, causing Aiko to gasp a bit as the thing was somewhat colder than body temperature. Beiko played around with the rod for a bit before leaving it in the full depth, buried deep in Aiko's now-fully aroused pussy. Satisfied that the rod would remain there on its own, Beiko removed her hand, then brought her face down to within centimeters of Aiko's pelvis.

 

Then, very softly at first, but with increasing pitch and volume, Beiko began to sing a single musical note, pitched carefully at the High “C” range, which caused the rod to vibrate from within the redhead.

 

Aiko jerked as this vibration caused her inside walls to spasm, and with a sharp gasp she cried, “N-N-Nani???”

 

Beiko raised her voice several octaves and shifted from the “Me” to “Fa” to the “So” range of vocal stimulation, and the rod inside of Aiko changed vibrational pitches accordingly, which sent new waves of sensation throughout the whole of the redhead's body. Aiko writhed and clenched as she felt the walls of her pussy contract upon the dildo, and then she threw her head back and began to pitch wildly in a roll that the weightless environment assured would neither have anchor nor bracing, even as she came with incredible force, her pelvis jisming a spray of cum into the cabin.

 

“Well,” Beiko smiled as she moved back further to a wall and out of reach of the gyrating redhead, “I'd call that a successful experiment, wouldn't you?”

 

“Gah—what was that?” Aiko asked, completely taken aback from the force of her own orgasm.

 

“A test of vibration and the intensity of your neural receptors,” Beiko replied as she floated back into reach of Aiko, then deftly removed the dildo, revealing that it was bent in the middle as if subjected to great forces, “Also a test of what happens when you lose total vascular control making love at normal strength levels. Obviously, this confirms my thesis that making love to you would require the right equipment to dampen down your power levels so you don't accidentally do this to a lover.”

 

Aiko stared at the bent rod in wordless wonder, sobering at the implications of what her orgasm might have done had that been actual man-meat.

 

“Not to worry, though,” Beiko smiled, “I'm sure I can come up with another means for equalizing things during our next lovemaking session. I just wanted you to be aware that the danger is greater for me than for you, and you need not worry that I will take undue liberties with your sweet body…”

 

“ATTENTION IN THERE!” a voice suddenly rang out in their cabin, startling both women out of their private reverie, “THIS IS THE GALAXY POLICE, DO YOU REQUIRE ANY ASSISTANCE?”

 

It took Beiko all of three seconds to react, first glancing at her companion, then breaking contact with her as she pushed off the nearest bulkhead and propelled herself to the forward control section of their cabin. Activating the damaged communications panel, she spoke into the receiver, “Hello…Galaxy Police? We are stranded in space, can you help us?”

 

“STAND BY, WE'LL BRING YOU IN,” the womanly voice on the other end responded, “DO YOU REQUIRE ANY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE?”'

 

“Ah…no, that won't be necessary,” Beiko glanced at Aiko, who was hovering close nearby, “But we're barely on life support now and most of our systems are failing…”

 

“Failing?” Aiko said with a questioning expression.

 

Beiko indicated the controls, “I think we were a bit too busy in here…while we were enjoying each other, several systems appear to have gone down. I would have initiated repairs, but if we're being rescued…”

 

“Rescued?” Aiko expression lit up, “Oh thank you, thank you! We're going to be rescued!”

 

Beiko smiled, enjoying her companions enthusiasm, but with great reluctance she amended, “I think we should try getting back into our suits before we greet our rescuers…I don't think the Galaxy Police would understand our current state of undress.”

 

“EEP!” Aiko glanced down at her nudity, then hastily covered herself over with her hands as if only just now remembering that she was naked.

 

Beiko smiled all the more before saying, “Relax…they'll probably mistake us for a pair of horny Leptons out hot-rodding on a date and they won't think anything unusual about what we've been doing for the past two hours…”

 

“You mean they…us? Leptons?” Aiko blinked, “No way!”

 

“Well, it's easier than trying to explain what a pair of Earth girls are doing way out here in the middle of nowhere," Beiko paused before adding, “Or, in your case, an Earth girl with Kryptonian genetics…”

 

“I'm fucking serious, Beiko!” Aiko protested, “I don't want them to think that we're a couple of weirdoes…”

 

“And why would they think that?” Beiko responded with an innocent expression, “I'm sure that the people who work for the Galaxy Police are entirely professional in their business…”

 

“KIYONE,” one voice called in over the com, “I'M GETTING SOME REALLY STRANGE READINGS FROM THOSE TWO…”

 

“KNOCK IT OFF, MIHOSHI,” the other voice snappishly responded, “THAT'S A LEPTON CRAFT, THEY DO ALL KINDS OF WEIRD THINGS WITH GENETICS…AND WOULD YOU TAKE YOUR HAND OFF THE COM BOARD? THE LAST TIME YOU PLAYED WITH THAT SYSTEM WE BROADCAST OURSELVES INTO THE COMMANDER'S OFFICE!”

 

“Of course,” Beiko added lamely, “I could always be mistaken…”

 

“That's a first to hear you say that,” Aiko noted with a sour expression.

 

“SAY, KIYONE…IF THEY'RE LEPTONS, WHY DOES THE UNIVERSAL TRANSLATER SAY THAT THEY'S SPEAKING IN JURAI?”

 

“DON'T BE REDICULOUS, MIHOSHI…LOTS OF PEOPLE SPEAK JURAIAN…”

 

“Are you sure we're actually being rescued?” Aiko wondered with a dubious expression.

 

“Have a little faith for once, Aiko,” Beiko smiled, “Everything's worked out for us so far. We have our lives, we're going home, and we're together…what more could you ask for?”

 

“Together?” Aiko blinked, thinking and eyeing her companion with a look of renewed doubt and suspicion.

 

“Trust me, Alison,” Beiko winked, “Have I ever led you wrong before?”

 

“You want me to make a list…Beatrice?” Aiko added the latter with a hint that she was seriously thinking it over.

 

Beiko sighed inwardly, knowing better than to push the matter. Aiko was clearly not entirely comfortable with what all had just happened, and being new to the emotions that were no doubt surfacing within her, she was having difficulty reconciling her personal self-image with the fact of their newly discovered intimacy, and how could anyone blame her for having second thoughts in the cold light of the aftermath of a shared experience unlike anything else that either girl had previously encountered.

 

Beiko took a moment to reflect on the changes that she had noted within her own heart the past few days, ever since discovering that Aiko had bargained for her life, had literally brought her back from the dead, only to watch Beiko flirt with a galactic menace by the name of Gail. How far could the redhead be expected to trust Beiko in the light of past experience? Given their history together, it would be wrong to rush things or mistake their initial lovemaking for a declaration of any permanent sort of union.

 

What she did know was that new feelings and emotions had been awaken within her, and so sweet was their nature that she was determined to feel them again, and one way or the other she had to persuade Aiko to share those emotions with her.

 

But that was for the future…for now they had to make their way back home and begin their lives all over. There would be many changes in the works for Beiko, not least of which was settling accounts with her father. No doubt Aiko would be facing the music with her own mother and father, and better to let the dust settle over both of their lives before making any serious declarations. It was the least that she could do to grant Aiko her space…just so long as they did eventually wind up together.

 

The best of enemies and the worst of friends…Beiko considered herself fortunate to be given another chance at a life of happiness, though the memories of Ceiko would be with the both of them forever.

 

“Let's go home, Aiko,” Beiko smiled, offering her hand to the redhead, who reluctantly took it.

 

“Home,” Aiko agreed, deciding to leave other matters for a future accounting…

 

 

Continued

 

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