New Home

By J Itchen

They were recruited for a massive, mysterious and super-secret project. The team members are almost immediately made to ‘disappear’. From then on, they could not escape and they had to do exactly as they were told. Probably they could never return home.
Initially they were eight young men and four attractive women who had to live in extremely cramped and isolated conditions for years with almost no privacy and few rationed clothes. They had to prove themselves before going to the Star Project which had to last a thousand years. Living conditions on the Star Project were initially even worse, with communal and sexual tensions rising quickly.
What was the real mission? How could they live in so close quarters with no entertainment except what they could do themselves? Inevitably sex raises its head early on and becomes more important as the centuries went by, for entertainment as well as for reproduction.
Could this project really ever succeed? It may be the last hope of the human race, it may be a new beginning, or it may be a complete failure. Three distinct characters play pivotal roles at different stages of the project. They were flawed individuals but became ultimately revered.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J Itchen
• Release date: Aug 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005076955

J Itchen

J is a graduate from Bristol University, England, who is married with four children. Currently lives in Southampton, England, although when young also lived in other parts of the world (Malaysia, Thailand, Yemen Arab Republic).J has been writing for several years mainly for magazines (more usually science rather than science fiction), for specialist books and recently a web site. Starting with science fiction (not fantasy), genres published have also covered the erotic, plus a combination of the two.

Book preview

New Home

by

J Itchen

ISBN: 9781005076955

Published by J Itchen at Smashwords.

Copyright: ©2021, J Itchen, all rights reserved.

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New Job

Jack smiled at Carol who introduced herself as she sat down in the seat next to him on the airplane.

I presume that you are here on the same project as me? Jack said politely, to open the conversation.

Definitely, and I think that we will be on the same team, Carol replied as she strapped herself in. We are seated by team order in the plane. I think that we will get to know each other very well over the coming months, and maybe years. She smiled pleasantly at him with an interested eye.

Excellent, that sounds good, Jack said encouragingly. He liked the look of Carol who seemed to be in her mid-twenties, like him, and she was certainly pretty attractive with her dark slightly curly shoulder length hair and a healthy glowing brown skin complexion. He could definitely fancy her.

What do you know about the project? Carol asked him.

Next to nothing I’m afraid. I have been told that it is top secret and it will involve working away from home in semi-isolation for a long time. However, that just makes it sound exciting. I am pretty fancy free and I am very keen for a new start.

Just like me, Carol confirmed. She had a lovely smile. It must be a massive project because everyone on this plane is on it.

Are they? Jack was surprised. This was news to him.

Oh, sorry, I think that I have just told you something that is meant to be secret, Carol smiled again. But as we are all on the plane and ready to go already, so this secret probably no longer needs to be a secret between those on board.

How do you know about all this?

I work in communications and we had a basic brief before we took off, which included the fact that everyone on the flight is part of the project. What do you do?

I am a Project Manager, Jack said. I have been involved with some very new technology projects which the recruiters seemed to like.

It was a very intense selection process, wasn’t it, Carol said. They really went into your character, your family, your history and your aspirations.

They can’t have been that choosy if they can fill a whole plane with new recruits! Jack said jokingly.

This was the most interesting recruitment process I have ever seen, Carol went on. Low key, low publicity and yet very high numbers of people have been recruited. It is amazing. Carol looked around.

Jack was seated next to the window; Carol was in the middle seat. In the aisle seat was a large bloke who had his earphones in and was completely zoned out from contact with those around him.

Is that guy next to you part of our team? Jack asked Carol.

I guess so, but he is not talking.

So I noticed, Jack grinned. Maybe he is an antisocial type.

Maybe he is probably a techie on the spectrum, Carol whispered conspiratorially to Jack.

Don’t judge him yet! Jack gently protested. He has not even spoken a word to us.

My point precisely.

Jack reached across Carol to tap the bloke on the knee. Hi, are you on the ‘Star Project’ like us?

What? the man said indistinctly and removed one earphone.

Are you on the ‘Star Project?’ Jack repeated.

Yes, came the monosyllabic response.

I am Jack and this is Carol, Jack said hurriedly before the man put his earphones back in. What is your name?

Joseph, he said grouchily.

Can we call you Joe? Carol suggested.

Joseph, came the response and the earphones were back in.

Jack raised his eyebrows a bit as he settled back in his seat.

As I said… Carol whispered.

The plane took off, they had a small airline style supper and then the lights were dimmed for the long night time cross-ocean flight. Carol fell asleep and her head nodded sideways towards the big guy, Joseph, in the aisle. He firmly pushed her away. So after briefly groggily waking up Carol ended up with her head on Jack’s shoulder instead. He did not want to disturb her but found it difficult to sleep himself, especially as his position was not very comfortable. Moving would wake Carol. He quite liked having her head on his shoulder and she smelled nice. He had high hopes about getting to know her better.

Eventually they were nearing their destination, the lights went up, Carol woke up and they had an airline breakfast.

The female captain came over the public address system. We have been instructed to land at a different airport to what was planned. It is called Newhome and is an extra hour’s flying time. So, relax and enjoy the flight. The stewards will come around offering tea and coffees.

Where is Newhome? Carol wondered. I have never heard of it.

I have never heard of it either, Jack said. It sounds like a tiny airport out in the middle of nowhere to me. Maybe it was set up by travellers or pilgrims looking for a new home."

The live location map on the screen does not show it, Carol observed.

Their screen on the back of the seats in front showed the plane veering off on a new heading but no clear indication of any large towns or cities on their route. Their end point had no name.

After an hour’s extra flight, they touched down at the Newhome airport. As they came into land Jack could see a sizeable settlement of new rectangular building precisely set into regular rows. These buildings were inside a large rectangular compound laid out very exactly in straight lines with individual units surrounded by high fences.

That looks like it has a high boundary fence all around it, Jack observed to Carol.

Carol leaned over him to look out of the window, her lovely scent wafting into Jack’s nostrils. It looks like a prison to me, she said.

I think that it looks like a totally new town set up for the Star Project, Jack said. I do not know why they need to enclose it in a double fence.

It is a high security project, Carol said. It is probably to keep intruders out rather than keep us in.

It looks like it will do both.

The plane landed and it taxied up to a solitary low building, which looked gleamingly new. The area was semi desert with very little greenery.

Jack and Carol had to wait as the plane was unloaded slowly team by team. This confirmed Carol’s understanding that the whole plane was full of new recruits for the project.

Keep in your teams, which are numbered on your flight tickets, a woman in a thin blue uniform said from the front. She had come onto the plane from the low airport building.

Jack and Carol stayed together as they identified the other members of their team, including Joseph, and then followed the other teams into the building. It was dark outside with a light cold breeze. There was no customs check to go through and no sign of where to pick up their baggage. They simply went into a large room and waited on airport style seats whilst each team was called as a group into the next room.

Jack looked at the other members of his team, number fifteen. There were four women and eight men. All looked fairly young but so far no-one was being chatty. The room felt stark and unwelcoming, like they were in a processing area with no refreshments and a queue outside the single toilet.

Does anyone know anything about the Star Project? Jack ventured, to get people chatting.

There was a general shaking of heads.

Let’s go round and see what role we have each taken, Jack suggested. So, as they waited each person introduced themselves and what they had been recruited to do. Even Joseph stopped briefly from listening to whatever he had on his phone to tell the others that he was twenty-five, unattached and an electrician. That was it. It was all a bit stilted.

There were equipment specialists, two computer specialists, two engineering specialists, and a horticulturalist. Then there were generalists who were Carol and himself, but no finance or personnel types. One said she flew planes for a living, which Jack assumed were small crop spraying types of planes.

It was their turn as a team to progress to the next small room, just big enough for their team. There were piles of clothing, including smalls, along one wall and travel bags stacked along another wall. There was a man and a woman who were dressed in the same blue uniform that the woman who had come onto the plane had been wearing. Jack guessed that they would get to know that uniform extremely well.

The woman official stood in front of them to tell them what was to happen. You are about to step into a new life. This is a new way of doing things. You have to leave your past behind you. You have all signed a binding contract to work in this new highly secure environment and you are required to do what we tell you to do without being given an explanation. The first thing is to put all of your possessions on one side by the wall there. She indicated where the other bags were stacked. There were a lot of them there already.

The lady continued: You are required to leave absolutely everything here before you go through that door, she indicated a door on the far side of the small room. Everything means everything. This includes your phones, your computers, your bags, your necklaces and your rings. When I say everything, that includes leaving all of your clothes. You will be working together as a team so intimately that you will know everything about other members of your team. You will be living together in very close cramped quarters and you need to overcome any bashfulness that you may have right now. This is your first test of suitability. It is a requirement that you comply.

Carol looked sideways at Jack, Did she just say ‘all of our clothes’?

She did. Jack confirmed.

ALL of them? Carol looked incredulous

Induction

Jack warily dropped off his bags with the other hand baggage and looked at what the others were doing, which was much the same as him. They all looked warily around to check what the other new recruits were doing.

Make sure that everything is put on the side, phone, watched, laptops, tablets, rings, everything, the woman said. Your main bags will be retained by us as well. All that goes past this point is the body that you were born with. You will be searched and scanned.

Jack reluctantly did as he was told with his small items that he carried with him. The others did too.

Now take off your clothes, please, the man in the blue uniform said. You need to go through a scanner and we require that you have no clothes on at all for that.

The first one to be naked goes through first, the woman added.

Jack removed his Jacket and shirt, as did the others, then his trousers until he had only his underpants on. They all seemed to have stopped at their underwear.

Put your clothes to the side with the other clothes, the woman instructed, then finish taking ALL your clothes off. Every stitch must come off so you are naked as the day you were born.

Jack had noticed that underwear had been on top of the piles of clothes when he had come in. So, the other teams must have done this already.

Come on, the lady said and bustled over. She unhooked the bra of one of the women and encouraged her to remove her bra. The pretty fair-haired woman hurriedly removed her knickers as well and almost ran stark naked to the door to be processed first.

This started a trend. The lady insisted that Carol remove her bra and Jack was positively impressed. He thought better of commenting on this.

However, there was now a general stampede of naked bodies, both male and female making for the exit door, which now had a short queue forming.

Carol and Jack were two of the last to remove their final item, their underpants and they both hesitated. Carol looked uncertainly at Jack.

You look beautiful, Jack told her. She definitely did in her topless state.

You are not bad yourself, Carol said with a smile.

Let’s do it together and join the queue.

OK. We can be brave together.

They both removed the last of their underwear and walked over to join the queue. Carol grasped Jack’s hand nervously as they walked. The female pilot was the only one behind them.

Why are they making us do this? Carol muttered to Jack once they were lined up.

I suspect they seem to want to break up barriers between us and the quickest way may be to shock us as a group and make us literally go naked in front of each other. It is certainly unconventional!

It is certainly a shocking induction, Carol said. I never expected anything like this. Are they allowed to make a mixed sex group of people strip naked like this?

Jack tried not to look at Carol too obviously, but failed and felt embarrassed.

It’s OK, we need to be comfortable looking at each other, Carol said and made a point about looking at his nakedness.

Jack squeezed her hand. You are beautiful, he repeated.

Carol said nothing.

Quite quickly they came to the front of the queue and Jack let Carol go through first.

The door was held open by the male official. As Jack waited, he could see Carol as she took hold of a bar just above head height as instructed and stood sideways in clear naked profile not that far from Jack. She looked great. She was examined by a man and a woman in detail, perhaps in case she had somehow sneaked something in with her. The uniformed pair then stood to one side as two brief flashes occurred. All the while Jack could see Carol clearly from a side on view and he could see everything that was going on.

Now it was his turn. He knew that the woman behind him would have a clear view of him as he was processed so he had to concentrate on the task in hand not getting aroused by the pretty young woman about to examine him. He could also see Carol on the other side as she started to dress in the blue uniform. She unabashedly looked back his way. She could see him sideways in profile too.

He held the bar in front of him and looked ahead as instructed. The man and the woman examined his hair, his fingers and every orifice. They made no bones about it. Then they stood to one side for the flash of his scan. This was a double flash, one for an X-ray, he suspected, and one for a full-frontal photograph.

It was over and he was dismissed to go and collect his new clothes. As he walked out Carol watched him, gently smiling. She looked nice in her new blue zip-up jacket, shortish skirt and light blue shirt. Jack was given something similar, but shorts instead of her skirt. They had no socks and very lightweight shoes.

It was not that bad, was it? Carol said.

It had its positive sides.

Like?

Like seeing you, Jack said.

With nothing on, Carol expanded. It was the same for me seeing you.

Look, the barriers between us are crashing down already! Jack smiled at her. They are doing this on purpose as part of their induction plan for us.

You might want to put your clothes on now, Carol suggested as she looked down at his naked maleness. But there is no hurry.

Those issuing his uniform seemed to know his size already so he started to get dressed as Carol moved on to the next room. He watched the woman behind him as he put on his clothes and as she was checked over in sexy profile. She was something of a stunner as she came out and walked nude towards him. She had straight short fair hair, slim and definitely an attractive body.

You look beautiful, Jack told her.

I bet you say that to all naked ladies, she countered.

But it is absolutely true.

Thank you. She smiled warmly at him.

We will be working together very closely together, I believe. Jack said.

So, I understand, but quite how closely that is and whether it justifies this treatment I do not know, she shrugged as she went to get her new uniform.

I am Jack, a Project Manager, Jack said and offered her his hand, even though she was still naked. She shook his hand politely.

I am Jessica. I am an aircraft pilot, Jessica said. I piloted the plane that brought you here. She looked too young to be an airline pilot, or she had progressed through the ranks very rapidly.

Jack went to the next room where his new team were all busy chatting to each other. The experience seemed to have made them act all of a sudden like they knew each other well. Jack realised that he did not like the fact that Carol was chatting to the young handsome guy who had gone through the screening ahead of her. She must have watched him in profile as he had been processed naked too.

Joseph looked lost without his earphones so Jack went over to speak to him.

That was a pretty shocking induction, eh? Jack said.

It was nice seeing the girls.

They saw us too.

Obviously, Joseph said in an expressionless way.

Jack realised that Joseph might well be embarrassed by his obese body, so he changed the subject. It feels odd to have lost all of our stuff, including our phones and computers. They seem to want us to start again from scratch and that means having zilch, nothing, not even a ring to remind you of home.

I thought that we were getting it all back later, Joseph said.

No, they are not letting us have anything back, not for quite a while anyway. They said that pretty clearly. Jack realised that Joseph had probably not heard much of what they had been told as he had kept in his earphones in until he had been forced to remove them. His earphones were now banished for ever.

A different man and woman from in the previous room seemed to be the officials in charge of this post-screening room, but still in the same thin blue uniform that Jack and everyone else in sight wore, as did he.

The official man now called for quiet as the last of their team had managed to get processed and then dressed: Shortly you will go by bus to your accommodation and your office and your recreational area, it is all the same thing. There you will be required to train for a while, pass our tests and you will be required to be totally self-sufficient. We have provided the technology and the means to achieve self-sufficiency, but you must make it work. You will have one computer linked to the management team and you will be issued with daily tasks to complete satisfactorily. Once we are confident in your team’s abilities then you will move on to the actual project.

What is the actual project exactly? Pat, one of the team asked, his fair hair bouncing a bit as he hopped with nervous interest.

You will find out when we assign your team to the actual project. That information is confidential.

Can we call our parents? Carol asked. You have taken our phones.

No. As you are aware this is a top-secret project. Your relatives and friends think that you died along with everyone else when the plane crashed in the Atlantic on the way here.

There was a shocked gasp followed by silence as everyone took this in and what it meant. Some members of the team gasped or were open mouthed. Jack did not get on well with his family, but his Mum and Dad would have been very upset if they were still alive. Jack wondered how many of those in the plane had close relatives or lovers, and how many in his team. Maybe they had been chosen partly because they did not have close family ties.

These Star Project guys were clearly deadly serious people to deal with! They were not playing games.

This is a top-secret project and you are already deeply committed to it, the woman official said. We require you to comply with what we ask of you.

What about the plane? Jessica, the pilot, asked. What happens to that if it is meant to be at the bottom of the ocean?

It will be broken up and all traces of it removed from the site, the man explained. You all committed to this project and you should forget about everything that happened before. It is a new beginning for everyone. This is so important that everything must be kept totally secret at all costs.

Why? Carol asked.

You will find that out only when you get deployed, the male official said. Now your bus has arrived, please board it now. You need to read the instructions at your site when you get there in great detail and follow them to the letter. I hope to see you all when you get assigned to the project. It is a great human endeavour.

Jack managed to sit next to Carol on the bus. The windows were covered so they could not see out and there was a barrier between them and the driver so they could not see out of the front either.

What did you make of that? Jack asked her.

Interesting and concerning, Carol said.

It was interesting when the woman knelt down to check my testicles.

Yes, I saw that you were ‘interested’. Carol confirmed.

Do you suppose that the woman chose to do that check rather than the man, or was she told to?

She chose to for sure, Carol smiled at him. Most heterosexual women would. Maybe she was checking for a male heterosexual reaction as well.

She got that.

Indeed, she certainly did. Carol gave him a coy little sideways smile. She had seen it.

Jack realised that Jessica would have seen it all as well as she had watched him go through the process from the other side. That would have definitely included his heterosexual reaction which was therefore witnessed from close up by three women, Carol, Jessica and the female official. There was no point in being embarrassed by it. Carol and Jessica had looked pretty sexy naked as well.

How are you feeling now? Jack asked.

Terrified, Carol replied. They have made us effectively disappear. They could do anything, literally anything, with us and no-one would know. It sounds like we are here whether we like it or not and our bridges have been burnt so we cannot return to our old lives. We have in effect been kidnapped.

So, we cannot resign and leave the project ……. Ever? Jack wondered.

You heard the official. It sounds to me like no-one can be allowed to leave the project as that would breach first big secret and reveal that the plane never crashed.

Shit! Jack said. The implications were jus hitting him.

Shit indeed.

What happens if we fail to prove ourselves suitable in our training? Jack mused.

Good question. Do we stay here in training for ever, or at least until the project is finished, whenever that may be?

Jack looked at her. We simply have to pull together as a team and make sure that we perform and get deployed as soon as possible. It is all we can do. It is all we must do. We have no choice.

Training

They were dropped off inside the compound at what turned out to be their ‘site’ just as dawn was breaking. The first impression was of a fairly large plot of scrub land with a shipping container as the only shelter. In the site were some polythene tunnels and what looked like a lean-to small shack by the shipping container and a water tank behind it.

The bus drove away and the solid ten-foot-tall gates shut with a clang. Jack heard the locks being applied. This certainly felt like a prison. They could not leave. He looked at the ten-foot-high white fence that surrounded the site, including barbed wire at the top. This felt like a high security prison. How long would they be confined here? They had to get out quickly!

Jack nudged Paul, who had described himself as a horticulturalist, but seemed a very mousy character, complete with a thin body and wild thin hair. What do you think of the polytunnels? Can we grow enough to be self-sufficient?

I will have to look at them, Paul replied. My first impression is that they are way too small to feed twelve of us. We are going to struggle to grow even starvation rations.

Jack left him to look more closely at the polytunnels as Jack went into the shipping container by the simple door cut in the side. Most of the others were in there already.

This is our only accommodation, Carol was saying. There are six beds and twelve of us. There is one tiny shower and no toilet that I can see. We will have zero privacy.

There is a composting toilet outside in the small lean-to, Edwina said. I had a look just now. It will soon be disgusting with twelve of us using it unless we are really rigorous about cleanliness. Edwina was a solid, slightly chunky woman with short brown hair, again in her mid-twenties, as they all seemed to be.

Jack decided that he had to step in before this discussion degenerated. We need to work out how we get out of this shit-hole site as soon as possible, he said. As such we all need to focus on what needs to be done. Clearly with six narrow single beds we are going to need to hot bed. We each will have the use of the bed for half of the day and someone else has it for the other half. We are going to have to allocate responsibilities for the various things that need to be done. As such we need to read the instructions, wherever they are, and allocate who does what.

Who deals with the composting toilet? Edwina asked. Apart from all of us.

I have just had a look at it too, Rick, a thick set man said. I do not think that it is a composting loo. It looks like it is linked to a water purification system and will feed water to the plants as well as back to us. It is a water and nutrients recycling system.

I suspect that the water purification system will not provide enough water for us and it will need power to run it. If we are to be self-sufficient then we will need to be careful with both of these, Jack said.

There is a tank of water that seems to be half full at the back, Rick said. However, that will not last long unless we are very careful with it. Maybe we can catch any rain water.

This is a desert, Edwina pointed out. When do you expect to get rain?

I have heard that even in the desert it may be possible to harvest dew, Rick said.

How do we do that? Joseph asked gruffly. I saw that we have solar panels on the roof here. Apart from the fact that they are positioned all over the place, dew will only provide a tiny amount.

We have to recycle everything, Judy, a petite woman, said as she pulled her straight fair hair away from her eyes yet again. She was reading the instructions, whilst sticking her ample chest out as if this was her usual way of standing.

Including water? Dave asked.

Including water for sure, Jack confirmed. Water may be our most precious commodity if we are to be self-sufficient in a desert. Rick, can you see what can be done to harvest dew or rainfall if it happens? Joseph, can you take on sorting out the solar panels? I will ask Paul to take charge of the polytunnels for food and see if we can get food from elsewhere, such as trapping birds, if there are any.

I can set up a bird trap, Pat said. I used to do that as a kid before I got into computer games. I will need a stick, some string and something that acts like a net."

What about sleeping arrangements? Jessica asked. Her slightly severe angular features and short fair hair somehow gave her an air of competence.

I will put together a list, Carol volunteered. We can have two women and four men on each shift. I will try to cover all the tasks on both shifts so we can be effective twenty-four hours a day. Shall we say noon to midnight for one shift and midnight to noon for the other?

I will help you, Jack said. Once I have read the instructions, I will have a better understanding of what skills are needed to be deployed where.

Can we make it 1 pm to 1 am as that timing splits the night better, Jessica suggested.

And we can have a joint team meeting at noon, Jack added. If everyone can please attend that we can air any issues, whether they are technical or down to relationship issues. We have to work together well which means getting on together well in these cramped conditions. In that way we will get out of here as soon as possible. Getting out of here to join the actual project has to be our joint goal.

They broke up to look around further.

Jack looked at the various complex bits of kit that were in the shipping container. These were the most recent in terms of energy and water saving but Jack suspected that they would still be chronically short of both.

How do we have a shower in here? Judy said. She looked in the tiny shower cubicle with a solid opaque plastic surround and door. It is so small that everything will get soaked inside. We will have to leave our towel and our clothes outside away from the wet.

Is that a problem? Jack asked as he went over.

We will be totally naked as we get in and out of the shower. Judy pointed out.

Maybe that is why they made us strip off when we were screened, Carol suggested. We have all seen each other naked now.

You could shower in your underwear, Jack suggested.

We all only have one set of clothing, including only one set of underwear, Judy said. There are no second sets and they are leaving us to be totally self-sufficient now so we are not getting any more.

It will be costly in terms of water and power to wash our clothes anyway, so doing them whilst we shower might work Jack said. We will need to shower and wash as infrequently as possible.

We will still have to take off our wet clothes at some point and be naked, Judy pointed out.

I think that one of their tests is a sexual one, Carol said. "How will we as a mixed sex group get along? I think that we will have to stay totally platonic within the team, however difficult that is. Otherwise, sex and jealousy will raise its head.