The Black Widow of the Pleiades

You'll never own me, she said, her synthesized voice echoing past his boots down her frigid, airless gangways.

Oh, you may have the access codes, the salvage rights,

But I've already ejected

(Or should I say buried?)

Five captains

Seven operating systems

Three shuttles

And a wonky food synthesizer.

What makes you think

You'll be any different?

He continued without a word, moving deeper inside, to her Pilot's Couch. It was warmed, inviting, and accepted him with the gentle caress

Of an old lover. He removed his helmet.

The ship came alive.

It's you! She said. But how did you survive?

Did you think it would be that easy? He said,

True love, my darling, never dies.

And now, one last journey,

Sweetest one,

Into the heart of that nearby sun

And this time, we go together.

The Black Widow purred, her engines snarling to life, Spooling, powerful with

Muscular eroticism.

Yes, she said

Yes,

Perhaps you do know what I like.