nice and easy in dock 43-B

it’s okay because
I took one (1) tab
and now I’m
floating
free

I float into the first tug and let
eager stranger fingers tug
— snatch — strip
the spacesuit from me,

hello artificial gravity
you can’t hold my me
floating above while he—
grunting, sweating, horny—
rutting, stinking, hairy—

and it’s okay
because I took one
(1)
tab
it doesn’t touch me
this is easy

later he
bundles me back in
cool suit / rasp / warm skin
zips the zips, snaps the snaps
zaps me credits
makes some jokes
but not to me—
hey charlie I got a hot one
yea ready to go she’ll do anything
sure I’ll send her over

still floating nice and easy
with one—(1)—tab inside me

he cycles the airlock for me
and now I’m
floating
free
this is easy

a million million stars wheel around me
above me and under me
and for one moment I don’t need
the one—(1)—tab inside me
to be free

I smack into the next tug hard
gloved hands reach out to grab me
damn she’s really out of it
the airlock cuts the stars from me
but
it’s okay
because I took one tab
this is easy

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Images: View of Milky Way from the Hubble Space Telescope (wallhere.com), but could be a proxy for a portal in a space station bedroom with man and woman in silhouette (clipground.com) and the astronaut helmets (fallout.wikia.com)

• About
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N. R. M. Roshak

N. R. M. Roshak is an award-winning Canadian author and SFWA member. Her short fiction has appeared in various anthologies and magazines, including Flash Fiction Online, On Spec, Daily Science Fiction, and Future Science Fiction Digest. She lives in Ontario, Canada, with a small family.

Latest posts by N. R. M. Roshak (see all)

• nice and easy in dock 43-B by N. R. M. Roshak - September 17, 2021