"Looks like you're getting the hang of it already." Roger smiled.

"Amazingly, it's not that hard." Kamala grinned and tapped one of the thruster controls. "And it helps that everything's touchscreen and can be configured to each user's preferences."

"Yeah, that's pretty slick." He leaned over to look out the side window. "Damn, I hope we find something useful soon. There are so many things we need to worry about -- food, water, medical supplies."

"Yeah." She sighed and played around with another control, sweeping one of the shuttle's cameras over the wreckage drifting all around them. The shuttle they'd chosen seemed to be designed for scientific expeditions, so it had cameras and other scanning devices. She'd set the ship to scan everything for life signs and power sources, but after an hour out here, they hadn't picked anything up.

Roger watched her for a moment and seemed to realize that her mood had taken a downturn. He gazed out the window for a moment, then he chuckled. "Another thing I should look up is the winners of the Super Bowl during the past century, just in case we manage to find our way back home."

Kamala grinned again. "I probably should be aghast at the thought of that sort of manipulation, but honestly, I find the idea quite appealing. Win just enough money to buy a house somewhere and live comfortably for the rest of our lives. Or maybe start up our own business."

"Sounds good. I don't know if I'd feel right about not having a job, even if we had enough money to get by without one. Having our own little business might be worth the investment."

He's talking about us being together. Kamala beamed. Sounds like he's actually considering a relationship. Yes!

She took a slow breath and waited for her elevated heart rate to return to normal. "So, uh … when we talked earlier about … well, about us …"

"Before we found the Challenger, right?"

"Yeah. Did you really mean it, or did you say you were interested just because you thought we were gonna die?" She couldn't look him in the eye while she waited for his answer, afraid that if she did, she'd look like she was begging.

"A little of both, actually." He reached out to hold her upper-left hand. "I really, really like you. I've always considered you a friend. And I think we could be more than that." He blushed and looked away. "And when I thought we only had an hour to live …"

"Oh." She placed her other left hand over his, cupping it between hers, but still couldn't look at him. "And now?"

"I want to try it. I'm just having a little trouble getting past … well …"

"Ah. It's too 'weird' for you?"

He chuckled again. "When I was in the med-bay after you saved my life, Boiler came to see how we were doing. She kept nudging me in your direction, and when I said it hadn't really occurred to me because it was too weird, she just looked at me like I'd farted."

Kamala laughed. "Given her background, that's not surprising."

He blushed again. "Yeah. She said that she has three biological parents and is in love with two humans, and one of her friends is a human brain in a robot body, and another friend is able to phase his body through solid objects, so she's the wrong person to talk to about 'weird.' Kinda put things into perspective."

"But you still can't quite take that last step?"

"Uh …"

"Hmm. Okay, hold that thought." She tapped a few more glowing buttons on the touch-panel. "There. I've set the shuttle on autopilot. It'll keep scanning for life signs and ships with intact hulls, and will steer around any debris large enough to damage it." She released the buckle on her seatbelt and floated free, flexing her spine and rubbing her lower back. Fitting her huge, snake-like body into a chair designed for bipeds was always awkward at best.

She pushed away from the console and drifted into the passenger compartment. A row of seats ran along the right side, while the left was taken up by a workbench which was presumably used for analyzing samples and whatever other scientific work the shuttle had been sent out to do.

The bench should work. She tugged on its edge and turned herself to face Roger. She smiled and unhooked her double sports-bra, flicked it away and raised a brow ridge. "Does this help?"

He blushed but grinned at the same time. "It certainly does."

Her hearts pounded again. She unbuckled her tool belt and hooked it around one of the bench's legs. Moving slowly, she slid her cargo skirt down the length of her body, pulled the tip of her tail through, and tossed the skirt over her shoulder. "How about this?"

"Things are definitely looking better." He glanced out the cockpit windows. "But if one of the other shuttles passes by and the people inside see us …"

She took her ultratool from its pouch on her belt, aimed it at the panel just inside the doorway, and sent a command to the shuttle's computer. The door closed behind Roger, blocking them from the view of anyone outside.

He smiled, but it faltered quickly. "And doing it in zero gravity … uh, I hope I don't get motion sickness."

She nodded at the bench. "One of the benefits of having four arms. I can keep one pair around you and hold us both to the bench with the other pair."

"Yeah, that could work."

"Come here." She held onto the bench, reached out with her tail and coiled it around his waist. She tugged gently, pulling him to her, and slipped her lower arms around him.

"I, uh …"

She kissed him, holding it for a long moment before pulling back a few inches. She gazed into his wide, startled eyes, and smiled. "That seems to help."

He nodded and leaned in to kiss her again.

She took his hands and moved them up to her breasts.

He glanced at her chest and laughed softly. "I'm not sure where to start."

"Anywhere you like." She turned, keeping her upper arms around him, held onto the bench with her lower hands and slid her upper hands over his back, down his chest, and stopped at his belt. She unbuckled it while giving him another, longer kiss. When their lips parted again, she breathed, "Here's a good place to start: I love you."

He stared back at her, startled again, and broke into a brilliant grin. He opened his mouth, hesitated, and finally pulled her into another embrace.

Still can't say it, eh? She unzipped his pants and pulled them down. That's okay. Small steps. Just getting him out of his clothes is practically a miracle. She glanced down and grinned.

"Looks like I'm on the right track, at least."

"Yeah, definitely." He pushed back long enough to take his shirt off and returned to her arms, sharing an even more passionate kiss with her. He stroked her cheek and smiled. "I think we can stay out here for another couple hours before everybody else starts wondering what happened to us."

"Sounds like a plan," she whispered, and pulled on the edges of the bench, pinning him lightly to its surface, and aimed a saucy grin at him. This is gonna be the best two hours of my life.