Amber cast her eyes over the earnings report for the month. The planet of Python IV was a rather wet one, she could hear the rain thundering outside her office as she tried to concentrate and read. She generally skimmed all the nitty gritty details of the actual numbers and how it broke down, moving the virtual page down towards the bottom where the totals were. That was all she actually needed to know. It showed a profit increase of 1.2% for the month which was acceptable. Nothing out of this world but still, more money to plough back into the business. There was a footnote from her Director of Finance at the bottom of the document, something that was only there when important information needed to be passed along (they knew Amber generally skipped most of the report).
I am sure you are aware Amber but component parts for ship engines are set to rise in the next quarter, I’d advise starting to put some profits aside to cover this, particularly for our older fleet where NOS (new old stock) parts are harder to come by.
Yes, she was aware. Amber made sure to keep abreast of price changes. She employed a whole finance team but she still liked to know this information herself. She never really trusted others with her money, but as her company had grown it had become a necessity to start employing such people. One she detested.
Her mind started to wander, particularly retracing the steps of the last thirty years or so to how she had gotten to this point. Amber was the owner of Vanguard Perihelion DSE (Deep Space Exploration), a company she had founded on the back of a smaller ship building firm that she also still operated, Rostok Ships and Cruisers.
For her it was the next logical step, she always liked to explore as a filly. Her company could build deep space exploration vessels, so she had a prototype designed and began her adventures. With one little ship and a whole lot of gusto to get out into the unexplored reaches of the galaxy to bring back riches to make her well...rich. She had been pretty successful at it. There had been tough times, in fact there had been times where she had nearly died due to either failures on the ship, or just her own brash nature causing her to perhaps push a little harder than she should have. Nothing however had cost her her life, but the mare was getting a little old to keep exploring like she did. The company had grown and she had a whole fleet of her own ships and employees now reaching even deeper into the unknown than she ever did. She had trotted the path, now it was time to hang up her horseshoes and focus on the companies she owned. Growing up was not much fun.
Her mind flipped back the financial report she had been staring at, which she switched off. ‘Perhaps retiring the generation two deep space exploration vessels would be an idea.’ she said to herself. Whilst they were her own ships, she knew that the footnote was referring to parts they had sourced from now bankrupt companies. Amber’s company was good but they couldn’t build those ships alone. Many were now decades old and starting to become unreliable. She had some nasty business around a month ago where one of them had simply vanished. A ship issue or some deep space anomaly? She had no idea. The transponder had gone dead and when a rescue vessel had arrived, there was simply nothing there to recover and no trace of where it had gone. At least eliminating older vessels from the fleet would be a possible way to stop things like this happening more frequently. Besides, the generation five ships were in the testing phase. It made sense to retire such old ones soon. She sent a quick electro-mail to her Head of Ship Design to schedule a meeting to roll out the retirement of the vessels. He wouldn’t pick it up until the morning, it was late. The clock on her computationer read that it was just passed two thirty in the morning. Amber was a bit of night owl, but she had to get up in the morning for more meetings. She would just check the company finances before she went to bed.
Logging into the finance system all was well, whilst she got the report and technically never had to log directly into their accounts she liked to see and make sure what she was being told was the truth. She never liked to assume that it was just correct. She often found small discrepancies but nothing bank breaking. It was good to keep her finance department on their hooves, especially when she told them about it.
Both her companies were healthy. There had been somewhat of a boom in the last decade for ship orders due to a new, hard to navigate sector being partially charted that offered great rewards for those willing to venture into it. Once Amber had gotten wind of it, they had developed a class of ship specifically to deal with the conditions in what Pacers liked to term ‘Hell’s Maw’. Pacers was two words shunted together to form a more pleasing word that rolled off the tongue. Pony Spacers. Basically anypony that could get their hands on a ship and fly it. It also extended to those that exclusively lived in space but it was less commonly used in this fashion.
Due to the combination of both a need for new ships and The EEC (Equestrian Exploration Control) requiring that unlike the cowboy days of old when Amber had started exploring on her own, Pacers be granted a permit and be of the employ of a firm to explore deep space, Amber had seen ship orders go through the roof to accommodate the influx of new pilots wanting their chance at the riches of Hell’s Maw. It was fairly simple. The company built and financed the ship, the Pacer worked for a minimal salary (as finding said riches was not guaranteed) so if they came back with nothing, they at least had some money to take back with them. If they found anything of value, once its value had been determined it was a simple 80/20 split between Vanguard Perihelion DSE and the Pacer. Whilst some grumbled about the ratio of the split, it was quickly quashed when often whatever they found made them rich beyond their wildest dreams, with enough credits in their bank (if they were sensible) to mean them, their children and their children’s children would never have to work a day in their life. They would then inevitably cut ties and walk from the company, not wanting to take on any more dangerous exploration missions when there was no need to and DSE would take back their ship, repeating the cycle and refurbishing it for another Pacer. Over the decade or so of this running successfully, even with the huge costs involved of the construction and maintenance of their now rather vast fleet, Amber’s companies had amassed such a wealth that she was struggling to find things to do with it and had begun to sink it into pet projects and prototypes that even she wasn’t sure if it was going to be a technology that was needed, but it never hurt to explore.
She was about to shut off the more detailed finance system when she took one last look over the breakdown of payments out to their employees. The highest were all going to trinkets and materials brought back from Hell’s Maw, but one caught her eye from an already well explored, calmer area of space that was referred to as Twilight’s Cradle. A cluster of stars that had been in fact chartered by Amber years ago. It was a pretty area of space, named Twilight’s Cradle for the pulsars that gave off a slightly purple light from a distance. There were however a few pockets that most Pacer’s had deemed unworthy to even bother looking at, apparently though one had decided differently. The report read thusly, broken down into the barest of details:
PACER RECORD #07659 (NAME: FLIGHT RISK)
ENTERED GRID 0072: 04:13 HOURS
PLANETFALL DETECTED: 06:15 HOURS
BREATHABLE ATMOSPHERE DETECTED: 06: 18 HOURS
PACER LEFT SHIP: 07:44 HOURS
++ CONTACT LOST WITH PACER ++
++ CONTACT REESTABLISHED WITH PACER ++
SHIP REMOTELY SUMMONED 4.4 CLICKS NORTH: 14:56 HOURS
++ REMOTE TAKE OFF INITIATED ++
++ REMOTE LANDING SUCCESSFUL ++
CARGO BAY DOORS OPENED REMOTELY: 15:22 HOURS
REMOTE LOADER ACTIVATED: 15:24 HOURS
REMOTE LOADER LEAVES CARGO BAY: 15:25 HOURS
REMOTE LOADER RETURNS TO CARGO BAY: 15:46 HOURS
++ UNKNOWN COMPOUND DETECTED, SCANNED FOR KNOWN HARMFUL SUBSTANCES ++
++NO HARMFUL SUBSTANCES DETECTED, CARGO SECURED ++
ATMOSPHERIC EXIT DETECTED: 16:333 HOURS
The rest of the report was similar, it was the ‘unknown compound’ that had piqued her interest. This was especially rare these days, with Pacers often finding materials that were common across different planets. To find a new unknown one was interesting. There was a footnote at the bottom of the report, from the science lab analysing the compound that had been brought back. They hadn’t quite reached the stage yet where finance could get involved to determine its worth.
The unknown compound (currently Compound #077 for testing purposes) apparently appears to be some sort of leftover from a species native to the planet that died off millennia ago. The Pacer reported finding a little on the surface which is what they have brought back, but suspected there were vast reserves underground from a scan from her scanning device. They noted no infrastructure in place that would equate to any signs of civilized life. Just this...goo, is how it is best described. Tests continue, but at best guess we can determine it is some sort of highly durable food source. We are unsure of the effects on Ponies at this stage.
A food? How odd. Amber always found that ‘compounds’ varied but it was rare they came across one that could be edible. Often this fell into plants or other biological life but very rarely a compound. She’d head down to the lab tomorrow and let them know her personal interest.
-
The new compound had proved far more interesting than the report had even given a hint of. Amber had probably stuck her nose in a little too much into the work they were doing on it, the idea it was a food had intrigued the mare and she had sneaked a little taste from the storage vat when she had a moment alone. Amber was not a thin mare, years of working in space and doing very little to keep herself fit and healthy had meant she had developed a bit of a chunky body over the years. Her clothes barely covered a rather big pot belly and she often had trouble slipping into underwear that didn’t protest against a somewhat plush behind. It probably didn’t help that she was rather partial to junk food. Being the head of two companies could be extremely stressful, comfort food was often an easy pleasure to turn to. The thing was, after a little taste of the mixture she had heard a button on her pants pop off. It was a good thing she was rather chunky, the button was somewhat unneeded to hold the clothing to her figure.
She kept it in mind though. The mixture was rather pleasant to digest. Cogs started to turn in her brain. There was no need for any hush-hush. As owner, she could order what she liked, which was why her next move was to order a fleet of ships back to the planet to pick up whatever they could of the compound and also see if they could extract some from the underground reserves. Whilst she waited the many weeks for the vessels to return, her mind started to formulate a plan for her next move once it did. Retirement was looking more and more appealing, at least now she had something to do. Once back to her office, she picked up her phone and called down to Pony Resources.
‘Can you put an ad out for a personal mechanic?’ she asked, there were queries from the pony on the other end of the line. ‘Yes yes, I know we have hundreds of mechanics in the company. I want to interview one for myself personally.’ More questions came from the pony on the other end. ‘Never mind what it is for. I want an ad out by the end of the day so I can interview ponies next week. No I don’t need one of you there, just make sure the relevant background checks are in place for the candidates and that they are of the highest quality. Okay?’ Amber put the phone down before they had a chance to ask more questions, they had everything they needed to know.
Next thing she picked up the phone to call her Engineering department.
‘I’m sending you some coordinates. I need Amber’s Grace moving there. It’s a little out of the way, but it’s for a personal project. Call me if you have any issues.’ Amber said, putting the phone down once more before queries started to come her way. She punched out the planetary orbit coordinates into another electro-mail and sent them down. She’d wait for the confirmation the job had been completed a week before chasing it up.
-
It was the third interview of the day. Amber didn’t have much patience for interviews personally. She found them rather tedious once she got to the third or fourth candidate. After that she somewhat zoned out. It had been hell when she had started to need to hire ponies when the companies began to grow. Thankfully, she had made sure to pass the buck so to speak on the job to others quickly. This was an exception. She wanted to make sure the pony that she ended up hiring was right for the idea she had in mind.
‘Rivets is it?’ she asked, quickly scanning the name on top of the résumé.
‘Yes, just Rivets. I don’t have a second part to my name.’ the mare replied. She was a thin, dark blue bat pony. Mostly the same pale blue was the colour that adorned most of her body, but her hair had a darker streak in it. She was somewhat under dressed for the interview, but Amber was interested in her skills and not her clothes.
‘I see. I like to ask first before we launch into my questions but do you have any queries for me?’ Amber asked her.
‘Well, only one really. Apart from the ad saying it was a personal mechanic for you, what does the job entail? The duties seemed very generic.’ Rivets replied. Amber smiled, happy to answer.
‘I’m sure you know what we do here or you wouldn’t have applied for the job Rivets. I’m taking a personal trip to a recently explored region of space and need a second pair of hooves to help out. I’m a capable mechanic but I am getting on in years, I can’t do everything myself.’ Amber explained. ‘I’d need you to help maintain the ship on route and then my personal space station once we arrive.’
‘Oh I see. How long will the trip last?’ Rivets queried.
‘I am hoping a few weeks at best, but the trip is important. That is why the salary is one lump sum equivalent to what we pay our top mechanics.’ Amber replied.
‘Oh the salary is not something I was concerned for Miss Amber. Like I say the details were vague.’ Rivets replied. It seemed to satisfy Amber.
‘Good, then I’ll ask you some questions if there is nothing else?’ Amber said, she started to run through the standard questions which were rather illuminating about this candidate. Sure she could read them from her résumé, but she liked to hear it from the pony themselves. Rivets had spent a good portion of her time working for smaller, rival companies building her experience up. The mare was clearly motivated to her job, she even had some instances of quite critical forward thinking. Amber had one final question.
‘Assuming I hire you for this role, do you have any scheduling conflicts?’ she asked.
‘No, I live and work alone most of the time. No family to speak of that would chase me up. So nothing to get in the way.’ Rivets replied, for a moment Amber almost had a small amount of pity but she quickly dismissed this.
‘You’ll get a call at the end of the week confirming or denying if you have the job. Thank you for your time Rivets.’ Amber said. With a shake of the hooves, Rivets got up and left. Amber had already made up her mind though. She thought she had better see the last candidate out of courtesy, but there was something about Rivets that was making her lean towards her over the others. When the last interview was over, Amber sat at her desk where she mulled her decision over for a grand total of around twelve seconds before picking on Rivets to be her personal mechanic. She had other things to attend to, meaning Rivets would have to wait until the end of the week for confirmation. Amber wanted to check up on how the station move was going and how the acquisition of the compound was coming. Rather than bringing it back to the lab on Python IV, she’d have it taken straight to her personal station in orbit above the planet once it reached the system. She sent another electro-mail to Engineering asking them to prep her ship for the end of the week. A Pacer was not necessary as she had hired her own. A confirmation came back quickly stating it would be ready to go and fuelled. Now, she waited.
-
Rivets had been sent the location of the spaceport by PR (Pony Resources) after they had confirmed she had successfully gotten the job. She had gotten there a little early so as not to disappoint her new employer. The job was potentially going to only last a few weeks but if she made a good impression, it might secure her future work. Today was oddly sunny, a rarity in the weather patterns of the wet and blustery Python IV, she had slightly regretted wearing a full mechanics jumpsuit for the trip. Rivets was standing outside the entry gate when she saw a hova-car approaching from the end of the street. A Stratos 7, one only the very rich ponies could afford with all the latest defence technology built in. As it approached, it slowed and a rear window rolled down to reveal Amber sitting inside.
‘Ah good, my driver thought that was you as we pulled up. Get in.’ Amber said, the door opening automatically. Rivets sat got in and took a seat next to Amber for the short journey to the hangar.
‘Stratos 7?’ she asked.
‘Well, being the owner of two large companies does make you some enemies. I never like to assume but hey-ho.’ Amber said. ‘Plus I can afford it.’
‘I didn’t say you couldn’t.’ Rivets nervously replied. The hova-car gently pulled forward, the large gate to the spaceport opening to let them inside.
It was not a large spaceport, although there was activity. Few ships were docked and there were only a handful of hangars that Rivets could observe out the window. The vehicle pulled around to a hangar on the end of the only row of them and the front doors opened just wide enough to allow the hova-car inside. Within the vast building, a ship that took up no more than half the space sat, dwarfed by the large structure sheltering it. As the vehicle came to stop, Rivets heard a click as the doors unlocked and her and Amber exited the vehicle. The two trotted across the hangar floor, Rivets observed the ship.
‘What is it? It’s not one of your standard models.’ Rivets said, looking up at the vessel.
‘My personal ship. She’s a bit of Frankenstein’s monster if I am honest, years of upgrades, prototype tech and the like bolted on. I’m sure you’ll get used to it on the journey. She’s got a flak-rip propulsion drive.’ Amber said. ‘Any experience with those?’
‘Theoretical yes...they’re not supposed to work.’ Rivets replied. ‘At least no firm I ever worked for could make them work. Amazingly powerful and fuel efficient but highly unstable.’ she murmured.
‘Well this one hasn’t blown up yet and I’ve made over a hundred trips on it.’ Amber said. The grav-lift is just over here.’
A grav-lift was at least fairly standard technology on most upmarket vessels. Amber and Rivets stood under the spot it activated in and were slowly pulled upwards towards the ship. An exterior door opened and shut behind them, forming the floor which they now stood on.
The interior was a real mix, somewhat scrappy in places where Rivets assumed some sort of work had been done recently and then lavishly decorated in others. This seemed to be spots like the mess, crew quarters and Amber’s own private room. Rivets was not really concerned, as long as it worked that was all she really cared. If it didn’t, she’d fix it.
‘Don’t worry, the station isn’t as rough as this.’ Amber said to Rivets who had joined her in the cockpit. There were two seats, clearly the ship was only meant to be flown by a very small crew. Amber was going through the start-up sequence to bring the engines to light as the hangar bay doors opened fully. She asked for clearance to taxi to a jump-off point, which she was given and sat back.
‘Uh, don’t you need to steer?’ Rivets asked.
‘Autopilot, it’ll take itself.’ Amber replied. The ship reached the jump-off point. Basically, a large platform that tilted ninety degrees to point the ship straight up so it could take off. There was a mechanical whirring as it hoisted thousands of tons of metal upright, with the two now wedged back in their chairs, Amber spilling over the edge of hers a little due to her size.
‘Now the thing about flak-rip drives is that…’ Amber started to say.
‘...Is that the acceleration in the atmosphere is pretty much on the limit of g-forces a pony can take right?’ Rivets replied.
‘Good, you know to strap in then.’ not that Rivets had any choice, as she said that an automated strapping system encased the both of them firmly in their chairs. ‘Hold on.’ Amber said, pressing the large button labelled LAUNCH.
The ship almost jumped forward off the pad, the two ponies not moving due to being well attached to their seats. Within seconds, they had cleared the cloud layer and then the atmosphere, leaving the planet behind. The straps released and Rivets could feel the usual weight of the artificial gravity that all space ships used, even ones like this.
‘I’ll set a course.’ Amber said, punching some controls on the command console. On the front windows, an artificially generated virtual lane appeared, showing the rough direction the ship was going to take and a projected arrival time which was reading as two days. Much faster than a ship with a conventional drive could complete the journey in, especially one going such a distance. Rivets say that the destination was a space station called Amber’s Grace.
‘Is the name a coincidence?’ she asked.
‘It’s my personal station, so I named it after me of course.’ Amber replied. ‘I thought I told you the name in the interview?’
‘Oh yes, sorry I forgot.’ Rivets replied. ‘If it’s okay with you, I’d like to look around the ship and familiarise myself with it in case we run into any issues in the next few days.’
‘That’s what you’re here for, there’s some schematics of the station available too. Shout if you want them.’ Amber said.
Rivets decided the best thing to do was do exactly as she said. Hopefully the trip would be without issue, but you never knew on a vessel with an experimental drive. Besides, it would occupy her time until they got there.
-
The journey had been rather calm, apart from a small issue with the port thrusters showing low power Rivets had managed to keep the ship going over the short journey. She was a quick study. She was just doing some inspection work on some of the interior piping when on the in ship communicator the voice of Amber crackled into life.
‘We’re nearly there, join me up on the bridge. The station is in visual range.’
Rivets put her tools away and trotted over to the bridge, as she took her seat she could see the station off in the distance. It was still quite far away, she had to squint to make out the shape of it. As they got closer, it’s shape became clearer. A rather unusual design, not that any station had a standard one but the Amber’s Grace has a rather compact layout. She couldn’t see any bolt-on modules either which told her it had been designed for one purpose which would never alter. It seemed that most of the space was reserved for living areas and a large number of docking bays underneath. She counted three in a half moon shape under the main arm of the living area.
Amber guided the ship into one of the bays, which was many times larger than the ship itself. Rivets didn’t like to assume, but generally bays this big either housed extremely large cargo ships for loading and unloading, or warships. She couldn’t exactly see any equipment around that suggested warships would be stationed here, the bay looked as if it had been recently used. Clearly it was cargo as she spied a few tanks over to the side that didn’t appear to be part of the bay itself, it looked to her they had been placed there only recently and somewhat hastily rigged up to the station with tubes exiting the covered tops which vanished into the walls. Before she could look closer, the ship turned away from them for Amber to dock it in the station.
‘So this is your personal station.’ Rivets said.
‘Yes, we’ll be here for a few weeks like I explained.’ Amber replied. ‘I have some research to do here, I couldn’t ask my normal employees to trek out here to look after it, so that’s your job for the next fortnight.’ Amber replied. The two departed the ship, with Amber giving a quick tour via a map display that showed off the entire station, rather than a physical walk around which would have taken hours. ‘Three docking bays for cargo ships, although I don’t expect any in the next few weeks. Mostly, it’s the science lab and living quarters where I will spend my time. I can at least show you that physically.’
Amber led Rivets down a rather clean looking corridor. A door opened at the end to reveal the living area. It was even more lavish and fine than what was on the ship that had brought them here. Fine art hung on the walls, sculptures. Everything looked almost clinical if it wasn’t for the gaudy golden walls and nick-nacks scattered about the place to make it look as if it was well used and a pony of great wealth resided here. Clearly, it was Amber’s little place to come and indulge herself when she needed time away.
‘Can you come over here for a moment. I need to weigh you.’ Amber said.
This was a rather unusual request. Rivets just shrugged though, she didn’t particularly feel like arguing at the moment. Perhaps there was some reason behind it. She stood on the scales and watched as they tallied up to around a hundred and eighty pounds. Amber made a note of this on a small device which she quickly put away.
‘Good, one hundred and seventy nine pounds. A good starting size.’ Amber said.
‘Starting size?’ Rivets questioned.
‘Did I say starting size? Sorry I meant just size.’ Amber replied. ‘The station has the artificial gravity calibrated so that it’s not too heavy wearing on you and me, despite our size difference.’ Amber explained. This seemed to satisfy Rivets, who knew that this had to be right to accommodate different ponies on board. ‘I’ve left a task list, if you could see to it, that would be great. I’ll see you tonight for dinner.’ Amber said, pointing a hoof over to a different portable device that was laid out on a small table for Rivets to pick up. She read the list and took it, the device guiding her to her first job, a small trot across the station.
-
The day had been fairly relaxed for Rivets, none of the tasks had been particularly taxing. She had noted as she worked that small, robotic devices were picking up a lot of what a full maintenance crew would cover on a station of this size. She had started to wonder why she was even here at all if they could do most of the work. The thing was, it wasn’t for her to question and she was being paid well to work here. She thought it best to keep her muzzle shut.
The device had a small map built in which directed her where to go for her next job. When all were ticked off, she found she could also use it to set a waypoint within the station and it would lead her right where she wanted to go. Of all the things Amber had shown she had only mentioned dinner but not where to actually head to eat. Looking down the list of rooms one was listed as ‘Dining Suite’. Rivets shrugged and set a waypoint, assuming that was where she needed to go. It was a short ten minute trot.
When she got there, Amber was already inside waiting for her reading a small journal which she put down as Rivets entered. The dining suite was small but just as lavishly decorated as the rest of the station. Clearly it was only meant to feed a small contingent of hungry guests.
‘Ah, right on time, at least according to the job list.’ Amber said. ‘Hungry?’
Rivets rubbed her belly, whilst the work had been light, she felt that her energy was somewhat depleted and that she could certainly use something to eat. ‘Yes, hungry.’ she replied.
‘Good, here. Actually I was wondering if you’d like to try something. I am not much of a chef, but this is something I put together in the lab.’ Amber said, telling a small white lie to Rivets as she made her way over to a small machine inset within the wall. She pushed a button and it produced out of thin air a steaming hot hayburger and fries from out the wall. Rivets blinked, technology like that she had only read about in science fiction books. Amber saw her astonishment.
‘Oh, it’s not as complicated as you think. In fact it’s a bit of a cheat.’ she started to explain. ‘It’s just a small transporter. The meal was already waiting in one of the cargo bays. The transporter moves it from the cargo bay to here and heats it at the same time in seconds. I’m not a unicorn so I can’t summon food out of thin air.’ Amber said smiling. She pressed a button again and another plate appeared once she had taken the first, an identical meal apart from one difference, the plate that was placed in front of Rivets had a small pot of sauce on the side.
‘What’s this?’ she asked, inspecting it.
‘What I’d like you to try.’ Amber said. ‘Go on.’
Rivets looked at the ‘sauce’. It was an odd dark blue colour that didn’t look particularly pleasing to the eye. She decided to be cautious and started by just dipping a fry tentatively in. She felt a little uneasy with Amber watching her the entire time, but decided it was better to just eat. The sauce was somewhat slightly gooey in nature, but it had an incredible taste. Somewhere on that perfect balance between sweet and savoury with a little spice to give it a kick. She wasn’t sold on the colour, but the taste was certainly sensational.
‘Well...it tastes great. You might want to work on the colour though.’ Rivets said. ‘You’re going into food production now?’
‘Just something I have been toying with. I thought whilst we’re here it would be a good opportunity to ask another to try it.’ Amber explained. ‘It’s not the reason we’re here, just a side project of mine.’
‘I see.’ Rivets said. There was still plenty of the sauce left and she had a whole meal to go. She decided to slather the top of the hayburger patty with it, which seemed to delight Amber. ‘This would make a good burger relish, or some such thing.’ Rivets said.
‘Hmmm, I hadn’t thought of that. I just saw it as a dipping sauce. Perhaps so.’ Amber replied.
Rivets finished her meal, the sauce had made it much better than just a standard hayburger with fries. She gave her belly a little pat of satisfaction. It felt soft, a little...plumper? Than before? Perhaps it was just the effects of filling it with a meal that made it do that. In any case, she thanked Amber for the meal.
‘No problem, when you wake up tomorrow there will be a new task list. I’ll need to weigh you again so that the artificial gravity can be adjusted. It’s a bit of a balancing act.’ Amber said. With that, the two left the dining suite to get some sleep for the night.
-
The next day rolled around. It was always difficult in deep space, especially with the lack of natural light to tell your body clock whether it really was morning, or night. Rivets made her way to get her new task list and to be weighed again.
‘Hmm, a hundred and eighty nine pounds. Must be the artificial gravity throwing your body weight off. I’ll adjust it.’ Amber said. Rivets just gave her a non-caring shrug. She knew that it could do things like that so it wasn’t a concern. Everyday Amber weighed her and took notes. The thing was, as each day passed Rivets weight didn’t stabilise, it started to go up in smaller increments at first. But then it was bigger ones. At the end of each day of work she’d get a meal and that small pot of sauce would be there for her to enjoy. Amber kept blaming the artificial gravity for the bat ponies increasing heft but Rivets was starting to make a small connection, suspiciously that the sauce might have something to do with it. She was a mechanic, she wasn’t stupid.
Work was getting harder to complete, particularly in tight spaces. The bigger Rivets was getting the more difficult it became to work in particular areas that called for her to be a slender pony able to squeeze into tight spaces. On one or two occasions she had to use her little device to call upon those small robots to pull her out of a tight spot where her enlarged belly or flanks had gotten wedged. If this station was crewed it would be embarrassing. Thankfully the robots were not sentient, and just pulled the blubbery mare out with little more than a slight ‘boop’ indicating they had done their job.
It was on the eighth day that really made Rivets question her increased weight gain. The night before she had taken a double serving of the sauce, wanting to put it on her hayburger and also have enough left to heavily dip her fries into. When she came to be weighed, Amber read the weight off as a whopping four hundred and twenty seven pounds, taking more notes as she did so.
‘Artificial gravity huh?’ Rivets said, dryly.
‘Yes...the adjustments must be wrong each time.’ Amber replied. Enough was enough, Rivets knew there was more to this.
‘Come on Amber. Even I know that with artificial gravity not adjusted right the weight difference on a station should be maybe twenty pounds at best, not several hundred.’ Rivets started to say, her voice getting more flustered and shrill as she spoke. ‘And what station requires a mandatory weigh in everyday anyway? Usually it’s just when you arrive!’ Rivets scoffed. ‘Look at me!’ she said, poking a hoof to her now rather large and low hanging belly, her stomach sticking out of her clothing. ‘This is not the product of artificial gravity gone wrong.’ she exclaimed, giving it a slight jiggle for effect to drive her point home. ‘It’s that damn sauce isn’t it, what’s in it???’ Rivets demanded. ‘And by the way, I’m bigger than you now. Don’t think I won’t use this added padding to my advantage.’ she said, coldly.
‘Fine… I know you’re not stupid Rivets. It’s why I hired you. Yes, it’s the sauce.’ Amber said, going over to an observation window. ‘You see that planet down there?’ she said, pointing a hoof to the world the station was orbiting.
‘What of it?’ Rivets replied.
‘One of our Pacers discovered something and naturally, we brought it back for testing. It’s a food compound from some now long gone civilization that has survived, somewhat compatible with pony physiology but has side effects...your intense weight gain is the main and most obvious one.’ Amber explained. ‘I hired you for your skills but I also hired you for your body...in more ways than just seeing how much blubber you could pack on.’ Amber said, a little blush on her face.
‘Wait...you like me?’ Rivets said. It was a little shocking, Amber had been almost cold to her up until this reveal. Every conversation had been somewhat clinical, focused on the job or with no feeling of sentiment or emotion in Amber’s voice. Rivets didn’t really know how to process it. ‘So you like me...and do this to me? This is how you treat ponies you like? What on Equestria happens to the ones you hate?!’ she shouted.
‘Look I know you’re angry…’ Amber started to say.
‘Angry!? That doesn’t even begin to describe it! I’m three times as big as I was within a week of being here. It’ll take months to slim down!’ Rivets replied, still a husky tone of resentment in her voice. ‘You know what, forget work today. I bet you don’t even need me to do this, your army of little robot helpers can do my tasks. I’m going to relax. I need to think.’ Rivets said, stomping off in the direction of the dining suite.
Amber just sighed. She knew the pretence wouldn’t last very long. She was actually somewhat impressed that she had managed to keep the maladjusted gravity cover going for so long. She hoped she felt better tomorrow.
-
‘Morning.’
‘Morning.’
The two sat in the dining suite, a break from the normal pick up work and weigh as clearly, Rivets was still upset. Amber thought it best if she spoke first.
‘Look I understand if you want to leave.’ Amber said. ‘You’ll be paid, I’ll even cover your gym bills or treatment, however you want to get rid of the weight.’
Rivets said nothing, she just got up and pressed a button on the food device. A hayburger with a small pot of the blue sauce appeared which she brought over to the table, sitting down on it with a gentle creak as her hefty rear sank into the material. Amber was confused, Rivets continued to say nothing as she started to eat this somewhat unusual breakfast.
‘See, that’s the thing.’ Rivets began to say. ‘I was angry when I finally learned the truth from you Amber, but I somewhat suspected this to be the case. I just wasn’t completely sure.’ Rivets said. She took another bite of the burger, making sure there was plenty of sauce on it. ‘But...this sauce is incredible. Plus...the added weight has been well...you don’t want to know what I’ve been doing in my off hours with this belly.’ she confessed, giving it a little prod. ‘I know you’re a big mare, but I thought that was just because you had a desk job. But this is...nice doesn’t begin to describe it.’ Rivets explained. She finished her burger, a small belch leaving her lips as she did so. ‘Seems you’re not the only liar.’ It was almost a shameful confession of pleasure, enjoying her new weight and size, but she figured if Amber could come clean and warm up to her, Rivets could at least try to do the same.
‘I...see.’ Amber replied. ‘You know you’ve only been eating a very watered down version of the compound we discovered. It was something I did on purpose to make it more sauce like...never could get the colour to change though.’ Amber laughed, her demeanour changing to that of a more relaxed mare. ‘You’re right, the work was somewhat of a distraction. The bots can take care of things. I may have given you less than accurate figures on your weigh-ins too…’ Amber confessed.
‘So what do I really weigh?’ Rivets asked.
‘Last one yesterday...six hundred eighty three pounds. You’re a few hundred pounds heavier than I let on.’ Amber confirmed.
‘Hmmm, I did feel hefty. Explains why when I wake up now there’s a giant impression in the bed mattress.’ she said with a slight laugh. ‘Watered down you say?’
‘Mmmm, I tried some myself. Eating it straight it’s a lot more potent with the weight gain effects.’ Amber replied.
‘I’d love to try the potent stuff.’ Rivets said. ‘Now.’
Amber simply complied, getting up from the dining suite table she pressed a different sequence of buttons on the food dispenser and instead this time, a small bowl of the mixture was produced. It was a darker blue than the sauce, as it wasn’t watered down. As Rivets started to eat, she could already feel her body started to fatten up. A few more bowls of this would see her really begin to gain.
-
Two weeks she was meant to be here, at this point it felt like it had been a few months.
Rivets just about managed to haul herself out of bed, assisted by some of the small robots. The mare, on a diet of the compound daily for weeks had ballooned in size. Her stomach dragged along the floor as she attempted to walk, Rivets having to forcefully push her upper body down so that her hooves could actually make contact with the ground at this point. She hadn’t taken her jumpsuit off in over a week, the material stretched beyond the limits of what she thought was possible the fabric could take. It clung to her body almost like a compression suit, keeping a large amount of blubber from spilling forth. Now on her hooves, she squeezed her massive bulk out of her bedroom door to find Amber already waiting on the other side.
‘I have something interesting to propose.’ she said.
‘Oh? I hope it's how to expand your station. Pretty soon I won’t be able to move out of my bedroom.’ Rivets grinned, her blubber wobbling about as she came to a halt. There was a gentle slooossshhh as her stomach settled.
‘Better, follow me.’ Amber said, leading Rivets at a slow waddle through some corridors back towards one of the large hangers that Rivets had observed when they first arrived. Whilst the three were identical, this one was devoid of any interior items apart from some tubes hanging from the ceiling. She brought Rivets right to the middle and grabbed a small device. One of the tubes on the ceiling started to come down towards them, Amber speaking while it did so.
‘I’ve found a way to make the compound more potent. It’s what I’ve been working one while we’ve been here. Care to be my blubbery subject?’ Amber asked.
‘As if you have to ask. May as well go the whole hog.’ she replied. The hose was now dangling in front of her, Amber grabbing it and slipping a small attachment device around the back of Rivets bloated neck to ensure the hose stayed in place and pushing the hose into Rivets maw. Amber pressed a button and a pump kicked into life somewhere in the hangar. Rivets immediately felt her mouth fill with a slurry-like mixture, but she could taste that it was the compound. The filling was so forceful and so quick that it barely had time to register in her maw before it vanished inside her, she watched, helpless as a grinning Amber carried on explaining.
‘I’ve mixed it with something homemade, the potency is triple what it was just on its own. You’ll start to feel it very soon…’ Amber teased. ‘I’m sure you saw the tanks when we entered the station, you’ll be full of their contents soon.’
She wasn’t wrong, Rivets felt her body immediately start to blimp up. Quickly she was rising off the floor as a gigantic, blubbery belly bed formed beneath her. Her jumpsuit tightened against her already massive body, small rips appearing in the surface as her flabby gut sought to explode out of it.
SHHHHHHHRRRRIIIPPPPPPP!
A massive tear formed along her stomach as hundreds of pounds of expanding fat burst forth from the now ruined suit, tatters of it still covering portions of Rivets body. She would have gasped at the relief of now being free from the material prison, but her mouth was full of the slurry mixture which was quickly bringing her to a weight she could only dream about. She had no idea how much of the slurry mixture Amber intended to pump her full of, but every second she grew her body got softer and larger. Immobility had quickly become a reality, now she was starting to sink into herself…
Massive folds of fat started to form on her stomach as thousands of pounds materialised almost seemingly out of thin air. Her hooves, now useless which she wiggled fruitlessly were becoming trapped in a blubber prison that was expanding around her every second. Her wings even were fattening up, quickly taking a spot on her back that meant they’d sit there offering no form of flight ever again. Her ass had become two giant, soft wrecking balls of blorpy flesh, quickly consuming her tail as if it was a light snack that vanished between two monstrous cheeks.
The hangar she was in was large, but it was quickly shrinking around her. Ten thousand? Twenty thousand? Thirty??? She had no way of knowing how many thousands of pounds she now weighed, there would be no scale large enough to even get anywhere close to her true weight before it broke beneath her immense body. And still she was growing, Amber giving no signs of stopping the compound mixture from entering her body anytime soon.
Rivets suddenly felt extremely cold, an odd sensation considering how soft and warm her body was. There was something strange about it, as if a surface was pressing up against her. Then she realised that her body had gotten so large that she was starting to press up against the hangar walls. My goodness, she had filled the space? What was in this stuff?
More and more of her bulk pressed up against cold outer walls. There was a slight panic as Rivets wondered if Amber had lost control and she was destined to burst out the hangar in a fat explosion into space. Perhaps at this size her body would act as a natural protection against it? But as her worries started to invade her mind, she felt the mixture slow down and then stop. She had stopped just short of completely filling the hangar, a relief to say the least.
With what little space was left, Rivets head was still somehow not yet consumed by her multiple neck rolls. It was amazing her body had adapted to her size so well. She saw Amber trotting her way across her rolls, eventually making it to her bloated, fattened head.
‘Well...that was something. You’ve not even consumed one tenth of what we have stored here on the station and there’s plenty more on the planet below.’ Amber teased, giving Rivets fattened face a little loving rub to show her the appreciation of her blobby mass. ‘You know this hangar is suddenly looking a little small...how about a nice cosy planet to keep expanding on? I know one that just happens to have the most fattening food supply you could ever come across…’ Amber cooed. Rivets just gently nodded, it was the most she could manage with the hose still in her maw. She eyed the planet below, Amber moving her way off her massive bulk. ‘You stay right here, I need to make a call. We’ll get you down there.’ she giggled, vanishing from Rivets line of sight. All Rivets could do now was sit and wait, trapped in her own blubbery prison and somewhat squished in the hangar there was little she could do. Totally at the mercy of whatever decision Amber decided to make.
Amber, a little red in the face and huffy, was finding it hard to keep her composure with the massive blob of a mare she had fattened up on the station. She could feel the gravity generators working overtime to try to keep the station in stable orbit with the massive extra weight now trying to pull against the structure. If it was a ship in an ocean, it would have an extremely heavy list to starboard by now. She had an idea, she hoped they had gone to the staging point as requested and not turned around and headed home yet. Amber made her way back up towards the main central area of the station. There was a small communications panel that she tapped on, bringing it to life. A message flashes on the screen.
SCANNING…
SCANNING…
SCANNING…
The first thing it did was always look for nearby ships. They should be there.
FRIENDLY FLEET DETECTED
POSITION 1.5432 GRID 43
COMPOSITION:
++ 4 OSIRIS CLASS CAPITAL SHIPS ++
++ 2 RHINO CLASS HEAVY TRANSPORT SHIPS ++
++ 6 DEFENDER CLASS HEAVY FIGHTER SHIPS ++
The rest of the ships were somewhat useless for this, just part of the fleet composition. It was the Rhino’s she needed, heavy lifting vessels that were built specifically to transport immense weights. She tapped on another button and opened communications to the lead vessel, it took a few moments for the captain to respond.
‘Ah captain, I was wondering if you had headed back to base yet.’ Amber said.
‘We were ordered to shadow the station on the other side of the planet for two weeks miss Amber, I don’t count it as two weeks yet.’ came a gruff reply.
‘Yes, plainly. I have orders. Bring the fleet to the station and prep your Rhino crews for a transport job. Not far, we are moving an object from the station to the planet. Do they still have grappling hooks and a large protective, life sustaining membrane?’ she asked.
‘As far as I am aware, we have had no need to employ them whilst waiting.’ the captain replied.
‘Ready them for the transport job. I’ll send details shortly of the cargo location. This one must be handled carefully captain. It is a live cargo.’ Amber said, that was all the details she was willing to pass over.
‘I see…’ the captain replied, shutting off communications.
-
Rivets had been alone for a good half an hour now, she was starting to get a little worried. Mostly, she had been using the time to somewhat acclimate herself to her new body. The plushness of it all surrounded her, the mare completely encased in herself. It was a warm, safe feeling. She was just starting to really settle into herself when she heard a rather distressing noise.
An alarm started to sound in the hangar bay. There was no announcement, just around twenty seconds of it before it shut off. She wondered what it meant. This was quickly answered.
There was a large THOOM! as the cargo bay doors began to open, she felt her massive gut get sucked forward, the rush of air escaping the hangar bay almost sucking her out. Thankfully due to her size she was still somewhat wedged, but gently she started to slide forward and out the hangar bay, the hose and attachment slid off her face as she did so. There was little to observe apart from what was obviously now a small fleet of ships positioned outside the doors, two ships very close on either side of the door. As Rivets started to slide out, she felt herself get caught as she exited into the vastness of space and was quickly encased by an almost jelly-like membrane that sucked its way around her mass. It was odd...she could breath? Must be something to do with the membrane. As she somewhat panicked and looked around a small drone launched from one of the ships and made its way over to her blubbery head. An image of Amber appeared on screen.
‘Sorry, I should have come and told you this was happening but I figured it was best to just get it over with. You’re in a membrane of my own design, it’s really meant to cushion large cargo containers on ships and protect Pacers who are lost out in space and let them breathe should they be deprived of their space suits for any reason. We’re using it to get you down to the surface.’ Amber explained. ‘It’ll protect you from the atmosphere, there’s one more thing...you’ll bounce.’
Rivet's eyes went a little wide to show her concern. Amber picked up on it and tried to calm her. ‘Not much, don’t worry you’re not going to go bouncing over continents or anything, it’s just a mass as big as you falling some distance will make the membrane impact the ground at speed and likely bounce upwards a bit. The ships are not rated for atmospheric entry so they can only get you down so far before they’ll need to let you go. See you soon.’ Amber said, the small drone flying away back to its mothership.
There was a light whir as the drives of the two Rhino vessels engaged to pull Rivets forward. Slowly they picked up the pace, the planet getting larger and larger until it filled Rivet's vision. Perhaps with enough of the compound, one day she’d be back up here as a small moon for it. The possibilities…
As the ships got closer to the atmosphere, there was a soundless click as they released Rivets, now caught in the gravity well of the planet. She was plummeting down at an incredible pace. She could see the membrane heating up around her. She hoped it would hold…
Suddenly the noise of wind whistling past filled her ears. She had broken through into the planet, there was a layer of cloud that quickly vanished and before her was a patch of ground which unceremoniously she slammed into, her fat and the membrane around it forming a cushioned landing that she hardly felt.
KRA-THOOM!
As all her blubber compressed down, coupled with the large membrane around her, it quickly spread out again and that bounce Amber had mentioned shot her straight back upwards a few miles into the sky. As she sailed backwards, she noted her impact had left a large crater which quickly vanished from her sight, another patch of ground approaching quickly.
The same thing happened again, but with far less force, her folds and blubber compressing inwards with the membrane acting almost like a spring to fire her back upwards, but this time she only went a few hundred feet. There was a much smaller crater.
After a few more bounces, Rivets finally came to rest on the surface, her fat jiggling, still surrounded by the membrane as it stopped wobbling about. No longer confined to the hangar bay it had spread more evenly, the mare a large bloated blot on the landscape.
She heard a loud boom above her, it sounded like a ship entering the atmosphere. She observed a silvery streak coming down a little way from her, a small ship that was clearly only big enough for a few occupants at best. It came to land a short distance from her and a small dot of a pony exited the vessel. As it got closer, she could tell it was Amber, who through the use now of some gravity assisted technology (which appeared to be small thrusters mounted around her hooves) she gracefully flew her way up onto Rivets still quivering belly, protesting with a number of grummmbbbllleeee’s! and slooooosssshhh’s!
‘That was quite the impact, you’ve made several craters you know.’ Amber giggled. ‘And we registered a small earthquake after the first one. That was quite the slam. I’m not sure if it was down to the membrane that saved you or all this huge, jiggling blubber…’ Amber teased, giving one of Rivets rolls a playful little wobble to show her pleasure for it. With the hose removed Rivets was able to speak.
‘H-How much bigger do you think I can be?’ Rivets asked, she saw Amber smile.
‘I love that you’re already thinking like that. Oh much bigger Rivets, I’d say you’re going to suck this planet dry.’ she cooed. ‘It will take us a little time to set up some sort of system to extract the raw compound and make it palatable for you. In the meantime, we can keep going with the reserves from the station. I’ll make sure they are brought down, how does that sound?’ Amber asked.
‘...I can’t wait to start gaining more.’ Rivets confessed. Amber was pleased, she gave another little playful wobble of her folds.
‘You’re in a good spot, plenty of room to expand. By the time anything on the planet becomes a problem, you’ll be able to crush it, or fill it, depending what it is.’ Amber laughed. Her mind started to wander too, based on her projections of the compound they had found so far (and hadn’t found all of it) she estimated Rivets could probably grow to take over half the planet at least. It was a mystery, a totally alien thing that could have such a wonderful effect on a body. Of course she already had her lab teams working on a way to make more once they ran out here. She didn’t see Rivets growth simply stopping because they used up all the local source. Her mind was already going towards large supply stations, filled with tanks and tanks of it. Pipes feeding Rivets endlessly, until...until…
Well, it was difficult to say where it would end. All Amber knew was her little blubbery plaything wasn’t anywhere near big enough for her yet. She really wanted to see how she could carry this size forward and where it would take them both. Amber was glad she had made the right decision, Rivets was the perfect gainer. Eager for more and wanting her body to get fatter and fatter. Amber would be happy to help, to see just how blorpy she could become. Amber heard a cacophony of booms, the first shipment from the stations tanks was arriving.
