Cold. The first thing I felt was a chill settling like a shroud over my skin.  I heard a soft hiss and a white haze began to fill the tiny chamber of the sleep tube. My orange jumpsuit did little to block the cold air that danced over my body.  The air grew colder and Goosebumps raced down my limbs and the hairs on my neck stood at rapt attention.

 Stiff. My limbs began to atrophy, growing useless in the cold tube.The air continued to grow colder and my arms sat uselessly on my chest. My legs twitched once and then were still.I tried to move my toes and found that they did not obey my minds commands. I shifted my head a fraction of an inch, and then even that freedom was denied me.  I lay motionless in the clear tube, staring out at the blinking lights of a communications panel that resided on the wall next to my sleep tube.

 My sight began to fade. The lights of the chamber began to dim. I could no longer see the blinking lights of the communications panel. It appeared that I was looking through a tunnel that was growing steadily longer, the scene at the end growing smaller.  It dawned on me that I could no longer hear the subtle hiss of the cold air as it was pumped into my small cylinder.  My hearing had drifted to nothing but the sound of my slowly beating heart.

 The tunnel of my vision grew longer, the light fading. Finally darkness settled in and I could see nothing. In my blindness I could only listen to my heart as it beat steadily. Thump, thump, thump. My heart beat as it always had, pumping my blood throughout my body. Thump, thump. I listened as my heart began to slow. Thump.I panicked as my heart held still.

 It's not supposed to be like this, I screamed inside my mind.I could not see and I could hear nothing.I tried to move and was held immobile by my frozen limbs.Please, I screamed within my slowing mind, help me.  But no one came and no one heard.  Please help.

Blackness. My mind shut down and I was finally locked in suspended animation.My body was frozen in a sea of mist that held my body temperature low and my heart rate was a miniscule throb only occasionally flexing as if it was struggling to remember what it was programmed to do.

Blackness.  Behind my eyes was the void of space, the same realm the ship I was encased in raced through towards eternity.

* * * * *

Collette slept the sleep of the dead in a suspension chamber next to mine. She had been chosen to lead the Earth Relocation Colony due to her diplomatic skills. She was a natural leader, and that was a necessary skill when relocating to an alien world. She had drifted into suspended animation easily; concern never dancing in her mind. She slept mutely, her stiff joints held immobile and her mind relaxed.

It would take twenty-seven years to travel to the Meriden star system. Twenty-seven years of lifeless sleep and empty dreams. We would be woken one month prior to our arrival to give us time to make the final preparations for landing and to allow us to exercise our muscles prior to feeling the gravity of another planet.

Collette slept.

Time passed.

The ship raced on.

* * * * *

A klaxon sounded. Nobody heard.  The ship shook.  Nobody felt the shudder.

* * * * *

A sound reached my ears. "A ou ake?"

I felt cold. My arms moved slightly as I rubbed my stiff fingers over my thinly clad arms.  I could hear sounds, but could not discern what the sounds meant. I strained to understand the unintelligible sounds, struggling to make some sense of what I heard.  Was an alarm sounding?  Was someone speaking?

Again, more clearly, "are you awake?"

I opened my eyes, the tunnel of my vision expanding as I raced towards consciousness. Groggily, I choked, "what."  I was dazed and confused, uncertain of where I was. Why am I so cold? I wondered.

"Hi," Collette hovered above me; standing in her newly issued white jump suit. White was the pinnacle of standing, issued to only those that were leaders and then only those who stood above the rest.  Collette had earned hers when she was given control of the ERC.

"How long?" I asked, my strength returning, but my words were slurred.

"Thirty-two years."

I slowly sat up, my face a mask of confusion. "Thirty-two? Where are we? What happened?" I spat off questions, trying to find answers in the soft face of Collette as she stared down at me.  Her face showed signs of concern, which did not ease the tension that was climbing in my mind.

Collette spoke slowly, as if she was still coming to grips with her discovery. "It appears that we had drifted off course." We have been suspended five years longer than we should have been, and with the course not correct" she trailed off.

"You don't know where we are," I finished her unspoken thought.

Collette nodded.

The somber way she nodded finally brought me back to full consciousness. "Who have you woken?"  Collette, as the leader, would have been the first person to be unfrozen, and then she would determine if it was time to awaken the rest of the crew.  "You were the first.  With your computer knowledge, I was hoping you could find out where we are and what went wrong."

Collette helped to pull me from the tube and we walked briskly to the bridge of the ship. I sat at the navigation computer and called up a star chart of the know galaxy.  Using telescopic photography I used the computer to compare our position to the star map. The results were not good.  We had traveled to an uncharted region of space.

The lights of the bridge blinked their informative dance.  I crossed over to the main computer interface panel and tried to call up the daily logs of position and ships status. I shook my head as I read the words that floated on a holographic monitor, NO ENTRIES FOUND.

Scanning the files those same words kept appearing like a mantra, no entries found.

"Not good," I said.

"What?"

I explained that for some unknown reason we had drifted off course, to an uncharted region of space. I also explained how the computer seemed to be damaged and as I continued to retrace thirty-two years of entries I found the last good entry.

October 20, 2904

Ship status OKAY.

Freeze tube status OKAY.

Fuel status OKAY.

Engine status OKAY.

Crew status OKAY.

Crew casualties NONE.

Course status OKAY.

             Interior scans NEGATIVE.

             Exterior scans UNKNOWN.

I looked at the last entry unknown? What was unknown?  It appeared that the sensors had detected something outside the ship, but what?  Punching the keys I tried to pull up the next entry and managed only a vague snippet of information.

Oczt&1j h1, =104

Shi @ us****

STAB

Fr)|z

That was all I could retrieve. I looked at it and tried to decipher what the cryptic entry meant.  The data was garbled, the date a mixture of odd characters and symbols.  The ship appeared to have been damaged, the bold letters indicating a possibility.  Stabilizers, perhaps? If true, it would possibly explain why we were off course.  I explained my reasoning to Collette and she concurred.

I looked into her brown eyes and could not detect any signs of worry.  Her strength was amazing.  She looked at the screen hovering in the empty air.  With a soft shaking of her head she spoke softly, "can you scan the area outside the ship and see if you can find a suitable planet to colonize?"

"Of course," I replied.

"Good."

* * * * *

"I found a planet that will work perfectly," I reported to Collette. She looked tired, and I realized as I looked into her eyes how tired I was myself.  Funny how after sleeping for thirty plus years the first thing you need is a nap.

I called up a holographic map, the white stars floating in the air.  "We are here," I indicated a bright green blip, "and here," a flashing red dot, "is where I recommend we go. Same atmosphere and gravity of Earth. About 50 percent water, frozen polar caps. Should be perfect.  The only problem is it is still quite some distance away?"

"How far?" Collette asked.

"About two years."

My response surprised her. "Is there anything closer?"

"Not really.  There are suitable planets, but I think we will have the easiest time there. Other planets are closer, but the gravity isn't quite right, or the climate is in the extremes, too hot or cold. Truthfully, this is the best choice."

Collette bit her lower lip and then smiled a grin of absolute joy. "Then that is where we go." Her voice was giddy.

I had to ask, "What are you happy about?"

Her answer was vague,  "meet me in the aft sleep chamber when after you lay in the course."

"Yes, ma'am," I acknowledged and proceeded to the navigation computer to plot the course.

* * * * *

I found Collette at the freeze tube controls. Her face held a look of delight; as if she had a devilish plan dancing behind her eyes.  She was grinning broadly, pleased with her actions.  "Hi," she smiled as I crossed the room to stand beside her.

"What are you doing?"

"Do you think we need to wake the entire crew for the trip?"

I wasn't expecting the question, "not at all. I was wondering if we were going to return to suspended animation for the next two years or not."

"We are not.  What I am going to do is wake a certain, select few. I am going to bring all of the women out of the sleep and some of the men?"

"Which ones?"

Her eyes lit up, "the submissive ones."

And her plan became clear.

* * * * *

The forward cargo hold was full of milling people. Men and women stood around chatting loudly.  Questions like, "where are we,  or how long have we been out," skirted from mouth to mouth.

A hush fell over the crowd as Collette entered to room to stand before the milling throng.  They were dressed in the jumpsuits of Earth, the color indicating their standing in society. Collette's stood out as the only white jumpsuit, indicative of her almost saintly stature. She raised her hand and the room fell silent, "good morning," she said.

The group laughed at her joke.

"You may wonder why I have not revived the entire crew.  Allow me to explain." Collette went on to enlighten the men and women that stood in the large room.  She explained of the unknown computer malfunction that caused the computer to not awaken the crew at the appropriate time and how we had drifted off course due to some damage to the ship itself.

"In effect, we are two years from our new home."

A woman with dark red hair raised her hand, "why did you awaken us?"

With a smile Collette answered her question, "utopia." She scColletted the confused look on the faces of the group. "I have had all of the women revived, and only the more docile men. In effect, ladies, we are in charge. The men will do what you want, when you want, and how you want it. It will be a pleasure ship until we arrive two years hence." Still seeing the looks of dismay and confusion Collette said, "Let me show you. Dennis, come here."

I walked in the room naked. Collette had prepared me for her demonstration, and I was ready to obey. I was carrying a large dildo and a bottle of lubricant.

"Dennis here will now fuck himself with this dildo. Not because he wants to, but because I want him to." She turned to me, "begin."

I turned around so that my ass was facing the crowd.I coated the dildo with the lubricant, and then bending over I slowly eased the large phallus into my ass.I heard gasps of shock, laughter, and a small spattering of applause. I hissed sharply as the rounded head slipped past my sphincter.Slowly I eased the artificial cock fully into my ass.I pulled my hands away to show the assembly that I was indeed fully impaled by the dildo.

Collette spoke, "now watch as he fucks himself."

With those words I began to pull the dildo from my ass and then slip it rapidly back in.I was on display for the men and women of the ship.I knew most of them and had worked alongside half of them.I was blushing as I put myself on display.I continued to fuck myself with the dildo, sliding the thick shaft into my ass and slipping it out. Over and over I repeated this action as Collette walked around the room explaining her plan. By the time Collette returned to my side she had convinced the women of the validity of her plan.

The men had no choice.

As I remained bent over on display, providing entertainment for the women in the room, I heard Collette shout to the throng, it seems to me that the men no longer need their jumpsuits. Do you agree ladies?

A chorus of assent rang out.

You men will strip.In fact, you no longer need clothes at all.You will remain naked at all times. If we want to use or abuse you, we shouldn't have to wait for you to strip.

I looked between my legs to see the two-dozen men slowly remove their jumpsuits until they stood as naked as I was. I continued to pull the dildo from my ass and slip it back in, staring between my legs as Collette walked around the room. She chatted with the women, teased the men, and generally reacquainted herself with the crew. She returned back to my side and whispered to me, "That went well, don't you think?"

And as I continued to fuck myself with the dildo, I could only agree.