Survivors

 Travis smiled back.

 

"Hi."

 

"My name is Douglas."

 

"I'm Travis."

 

"Stand beside me here.  I think we can see. I can't wait until we shoot into warp, it's supposed to be really spectacular."

 

He heard a voice behind him. "That won't happen until we get away from Earth's gravity, or ugly things happen."

 

Douglas turned around. His heart almost stopped. Standing behind him was the cutest boy he had ever seen. He felt his whole body warm up. He was speechless, which was something unusual for him. He was almost paralyzed from what he saw.

 

The boy Douglas was eyeing looked at Douglas.  Right away Douglas knew that the next two months were going to be awesome. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew.

 

He stuck out his hand. "My name is Scott. My friends call me Scooter."

 

Douglas shook Scooter's hand while introducing himself. When he touched the hand he felt something stirring inside him. He was almost afraid he was going to have an embarrassing moment. His knees got so weak he thought he was going to collapse.

 

What he didn’t know was that Scooter was feeling the same thing.

 

Travis looked at both boys and wondered about them. The two had their eyes locked on each other.

 

Douglas was thirteen and in eighth grade. During the two months in space he would be going to the ship's school. The school had two teachers, one for the younger boys and the other for the older boys. Douglas had been the student body president of his old middle school. He also played two sports and had been well liked and popular.

 

His father was an engineer and was hired to help build the colony on AO IV. He had the choice of leaving his family for two years or bringing them with him. He decided to bring them. Douglas begged him to wait until the end of the school year, but his dad wanted them all together on the journey.

 

Douglas was very unhappy about leaving his school and his friends. But he made friends easily and already he seemed to have found two. Although he was very popular at his old school, only his two best friends knew he was gay, or he would have been unpopular real fast. Being gay wasn't the stigma it had once been, but it wouldn't make a guy popular either.  Douglas would still have had all of his friends, but he never would have been elected if he had told the school he was gay. His mom and dad knew about his sexual orientation and they accepted it with their usual dose of love. Douglas was cool with it, mostly. But it still wasn't always easy for him. He had done a few sexual things with some friends, but never more than masturbating together.

 

Scooter was thirteen and in eighth grade. He was as smart as he was cute. His mom and dad were divorced and he lived with his dad. He had lots of friends at school and had played JV baseball. He had skipped the fourth grade. His goal in life was to be a doctor. Scooter was gay too. Although nobody knew it except his friend Brandon.

 

But Brandon had moved away two years ago. His mother was a planetary biologist and had been eager to accept a position away from Earth. Brandon had been his friend since they were babies and Scooter missed him terribly. Scooter and Brandon jerked each other off frequently and had just started practicing oral sex around the time Scooter had turned eleven. After Brandon moved, Scooter jerked off with a couple of friends occasionally, but they never touched each other. He knew how he felt about boys and he wanted to do so much more.

 

Travis was thirteen. He was an athlete and a top student. He wasn't real big but he was well built and very strong. His father was a construction foreman and was going to help build things on AO IV.

 

Travis had many friends at home; his girlfriend, Kaylin, for one. He missed her badly already. He hated leaving Earth and felt knew he would hate the trip to his new home. But after meeting Douglas and Scooter he began to feel things wouldn’t be so terrible after all. He liked Douglas and Scooter and knew they’d be his friends.  

 

 

On another deck, other boys were trying to find space to watch the departure. As Stevie and Alex pushed their way to the front, Alex bumped into a big kid, who didn't budge. Alex tapped his shoulder and said, "Excuse me, do you think we could step in front so we can see a little bit?"

 

Mike, the boy Alex had tapped, turned around and smiled. He looked down at Alex and his heart fluttered. Oh my God, he thought. I have just died and gone to heaven. He and his friend are as cute as they had been in the shuttle. He gladly stepped aside.

 

"You and your friend can stand right in front of me."

 

"He is more than my friend," Alex said as he stepped around the big boy, "he is my brother." After he settled in front, he said, "My name is Alex, and this is my brother Steve."

 

Mike laughed and smiled. "Hi guys. My name is Mike."

 

Mike traded fist bumps with the brothers.  Already they were warming up to each other. Alex could feel the big boy pressing him from behind. For some reason he felt very comfortable around this big kid with his huge friendly smile and easy laugh.

 

They felt some movement, and suddenly Earth started to get smaller in the window. The trip was beginning for them.

 

Mike had just turned fifteen. He was tall and strong. On Earth he played hockey and baseball. He was a good student and a talented athlete.  He was going to miss his good friend Zach, but the chance to go to AO IV with his brother Brad was too good to pass up. Except for his dad and Zach and sports, he wasn't leaving much behind. Mike was gay, but he had never done anything sexual with another boy. He wanted to with Zach in the worst way, but was afraid of losing the only really good friend he had.

 

Alex and Stevie were closer than most brothers. They were fifteen and thirteen. They were brothers, best friends, and lovers. Stevie was born right when Alex turned two. Right away Alex was in love with his little brother. Stevie and Alex were connected from the minute Stevie was born. Every time Alex walked into a room Stevie would smile. When Alex turned nine he discovered the pleasures of masturbation and was quick to show Stevie. The boys soon found out more sexual pleasures and, by the time Alex was eleven, they were close in every possible way.

 

The boys were talented musicians.  Stevie played the guitar and Alex played on the keyboards, and they both sang beautifully.  Anyone who listened could hear the love they had for each other in their music. When Alex turned eleven and Stevie turned nine, their mother divorced their dad, who was also a musician, and married a mining engineer. He got a job on the new colony of Alpha Orion IV working for a large mining company. Their father didn't want to take custody of the two boys and neither did their mom.

 

Their father couldn’t afford to clothe, feed, and house the two boys. Their mom refused custody not because she didn't love them, but because she knew they could never develop their musical talents on a wild planet like AO IV. They were sent to live with an uncle, one of their father’s brothers. The uncle abused the boys mentally, physically, and sexually. He took away their music and made their lives miserable. The only thing that saved them was their love for each other.

 

As their uncle made life painful and awful, they would cuddle up on their small bed and make life beautiful and full of love. Without each other for support, their suffering would have been too painful to continue living. After a year and a half of misery, their father came back for them. He was making money with his music and felt he could support his sons, whom he loved. Alex was twelve and Stevie was ten. For the next two years they had been happy traveling with their dad. Their dad home schooled them and taught them how to play at a professional level and how to use their musical talents to entertain.

 

Then hard times hit again. He was going to send the boys back to their uncle. They told him that they would run away before they went back. They had told their father only the bare minimum of their life with their uncle. They were too afraid of him to tell their father everything, but they knew they would never go back.

 

Alex wrote his mother begging her to let him and Steve live with her.  He got a letter back saying life was hard on Alpha Orion IV, but it was getting better. A city was being built. She missed them. If they were willing to make the sacrifice, she and their step dad would send them two tickets to the colony. A month later they were on the shuttle heading for the "Starkeeper". 

 

 

Ryan walked into his empty cabin. He picked a bed and threw his backpack on it. The rest of his stuff would come soon after it was loaded on the ship. He sat in a chair in a corner waiting to see who his roommate would be. The door opened and the boy he had seen on the shuttle walked in.

 

"Hey...my name is Jeremy," he said.

 

"Hi," Ryan said shyly. He had feared this boy would be his roommate. While he liked the friendly boy right away, he felt the boy was too outgoing. Ryan was shy and liked to keep to himself. He knew Jeremy would end up running the room even if he was younger. Ryan wished he could find a boy like himself. One who was quiet and sensible; not loud and brash.

 

Jeremy threw a bag on the other bed. "You want to go to the observation area and watch us leave Earth?"

 

Suddenly Ryan started crying. He didn't want to cry, but the tears started rolling down his cheeks.

 

Jeremy looked over at Ryan. "Hey, are you okay? Come on and go with me. It will be cool and you’ll feel better being out of this little room.”

 

"No, you go...I'll be ok," Ryan sobbed.

 

"You sure?"

 

"Yeah, I'm sure."

 

Jeremy left the cabin, worried about his new roommate. Ryan threw his stuff off the bed and cried. He was sure his new roommate hated him now. This whole trip was starting off as miserable as he knew it was going to be. Meanwhile, Jeremy got to the observation room on his deck just in time to see Earth start to get smaller as the "Starkeeper" headed out of orbit.

 

Jeremy came from a poor family. Everything went wrong for them after Jeremy was born. But his parents found ways of managing a good life even as their luck went bad. When things went bad for people there was always a colony to migrate to where a family could start over.

 

So they left Earth when he was eleven. They were afraid to take him because of how wild and unsure things were. But now he was older, the farm was producing, and he was ready. Jeremy was excited and he looked forward to the new life. He loved challenges and this would be a big one. He wanted to help his parents make their farm a success. He was ready for this trip.

 

Jeremy loved his foster family. Their son, Brian, became a close friend and lover. Brian was eleven now, but for the whole year they slept together and did everything they could together. They learned sex together and did it all. Brian wasn't the only one Jeremy had sex with, because Jeremy wasn't shy. But Brian was like his brother, and even when Jeremy did something with another boy, Brian was usually with him. Jeremy was one of the few boys excited about going to AO IV. 

 

Ryan was fourteen. He was small and slight for his age. He was a sensitive and somewhat immature boy. He knew he cried too easily sometimes, and he kept trying not to. Living with the Swansons the last year had helped him.

 

He didn’t live with his parents any more. His parents didn't understand him. His father didn't understand his sensitive son and almost seemed to hate him sometimes.  His mother simply followed her husband’s lead. He didn't know why they bothered to send for him. He had heard the Swansons say something to the effect that people in the colony would get more pay now if they had a child in the house. So Ryan figured his parents probably only wanted him because he was money. And besides, they probably didn't have anybody to hit there.

 

Ryan was also gay. He never in his life had done anything sexual with another boy. He probably never would. His parents would kill him if they ever found out, he was sure. Sometimes he didn't even want to live it hurt so much. And now he had some macho roommate who probably left behind a dozen girlfriends on Earth. He wished there was a way he could walk into space. 

 

 

Warren lay on his bed in his cabin. His dad had asked him to go to the observation room, but he refused. Why would he want to look at Earth? He didn't want to leave Earth and his brothers. Why didn't dad let him stay behind with them? He was the sick one. He was the one who got picked on. And he didn't need to be tougher. He just needed to be home in his big room in his big house. Warren could feel tears starting. Yeah, dad said he had to go to school starting the day after tomorrow. But he wasn't going to go. He would not leave this cabin for the next two months. Not even to eat. His meds were working on him. He fell asleep on his bed and didn't even feel the ship start to leave orbit.

 

Warren was fourteen. He came from a rich family. His mother died when he was born. His older brother Todd and his younger brother Ian were both adopted. He loved both of them like real brothers, because they were his real brothers. Warren lived in a mansion and lived a sheltered life. He had asthma and eating problems. He had problems sleeping. He had problems making friends. His best and only friend on Earth, Josh, had died of some rare disease that got through quarantine from a colony. Just his luck; his only friend dies from something hardly anybody could get.

 

Now he was going with his dad on this "adventure". Sure he would have a nice house on AO IV, but it wasn't Earth. But then, other than Ian and Todd, what was there? At school he was picked on because he was small and cried easily and was shy and quiet. The thing that kept him going was the love of his dad and his brothers. But there was nothing for him on this new planet. He would stay in their big house and never leave, so why bother going? Warren never thought a lot about sex. He jerked off at least once a day, because his body told him to. But he knew he could never have sex, because who would like him long enough to do something with him?

 

 

Jordan was sitting in the crew observation lounge while Robert Charles sat in a chair across from him. Neither boy paid much attention to the other as they looked at Earth filling the window.

 

Finally, Jordan asked, "Who are you?"

 

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

 

"I'm Jordan. I'm twelve. My dad is the Chief Engineer. I belong in here and I don't think you do."

 

"I'm Robert. My parents call me Robert Charles because Charles is my middle name. I do belong here because my dad is the new Colonial Governor, and I can go anywhere I want, including here.  Unless you want to make something of it that is."

 

"Fuck you and the horse you rode in on."

 

Robert Charles got up to his full height, walked over to the chair and stood over Jordan. "Look, punk, let's get something straight. I don't care if your dad is the fucking Captain. I'm bigger, stronger, better and smarter than you. So as far as you're concerned I do what I want, where I want, when I want. Because in the end my dad outranks yours." He yanked Jordan out of the chair by his shirt and glared right at him. "Comprende???"

 

Jordan nodded his head yes. Robert let him drop back onto the chair and sat back down in his chair, his back to Jordan. Jordan looked at him with hatred. Neither boy noticed that the ship had left orbit.

 

Robert Charles was the name his father had always called him--first name, middle name. Robert Charles was fourteen, big, strong, and a bully. And no matter what he did, whether it was bullying or beating up smaller kids, shoplifting or stealing, acting up in school, he never got into trouble. His father was a powerful man and fixed everything for him. As far as his father was concerned his son could do no wrong. Any time the boy got into trouble it was somebody else's fault. Even when he got his girlfriend Nancy pregnant, his fixed it by having her get an abortion. Nobody messes with my dad, Robert Charles thought, so nobody messes with me either.

 

He'd watched the boys getting off the shuttles. All the ones around his age were little wusses, like the stupid Chief Engineers' kid. Only one was close to his size and he figured he could handle that kid easily. He looked soft somehow. He figured he was going to be the boss as soon as the onboard school started. He didn't see anybody who would be in his way. And no matter what happened, his dad was there to fix it. He also saw a couple of cute looking girls. Things were looking up. Nothing like finding a poor schmuck to lord it over to impress a girl.

 

Jordan was twelve. He had lived on board transports, except when his father was on leave, since he was six. He knew his way around all of them. Like Robert Charles, he was a bully. He could threaten kids even bigger than him, because he had a mean streak in him. What Jordan had learned to like was procuring sex from boys. Mostly younger ones, but he even got it from older ones if they weren't real big. He looked for vulnerable boys, then went after them. Sometimes he sweet talked them, but other times he would coerce. He knew he couldn't really force anybody. His father spoiled him and was a lot like Robert Charles's father. But unlike Robert Charles, Jordan knew if he went too far his father wouldn't back him.

 

But he had ways of getting boys to do things and then threatening them to be quiet about it. Jordan wasn't a physical bully; he was a mental and sexual bully. And he hadn’t liked what Robert Charles did to him in the lounge. He hadn’t liked it one bit.

 

Douglas watched Earth get smaller and smaller as the huge space transport sped away from the bluish disk. The crowd on the observation deck was getting smaller too. He didn't realize that his body was pushed up against Scooter's butt. He did realize he had a boner and that he liked it.

 

"When do we head into warp?" Travis asked.

 

"Not for two days,” Scooter replied.

 

"Two days?" Douglas asked, "I thought you said it was going to happen as soon as we got away from Earth's gravity."

 

"Except for one thing," Scooter replied. "We aren't going to warp right away because we are going to pick somebody up first."

 

"Who? Where?" Douglas asked.

 

"I don't know who. But I know where," Scooter replied. "My dad told me."

 

"So where?" asked Douglas.

 

"Mars."

 

The boys were ready for adventure. They had no way of knowing that not only would they find adventure, but they would also be finding themselves in new relationships. It never occurred to them as the “Starkeeper” got under way that the ratio of gay boys to straight boys on the ship would be almost the opposite of the general population. For the moment they all felt it would be in their best interests to keep their sexual orientation secret.