All That Outer Space Allows

The men hurried off the bridge.

Kristin shrugged theatrically. “Well, ladies,” she said, “so much for that. I guess we ought to make our way back to the main door, or whatever it’s called.”

“Oops,” said Aiko.

Something began to thrum deep in the spaceship. The deck began to vibrate and a smell of ozone filled the bridge.

“Oh my God!” said Kristin. “What have you done, darling?”

“I didn’t see the button,” Aiko protested. “Look, it’s not even supposed to be here, it’s like it’s just stuck on or something.”

They all started bickering. Kristin was blocking the exit from the bridge, and Suzanne wanted to leave the spaceship. She didn’t like it in here—even with the window uncovered, there were too many dark corners. Layla complained there was oil on her lilac skirt and she’d never get it clean. Eniola was scared of whatever it was Aiko had switched on—out of fear of what the spaceship might do or what her husband might do Suzanne could not tell. Aiko was adamant it wasn’t her fault—whatever it was—and Kristin was determined they stay where their husbands had left them.

Aiko and Kristin snapping at each other started to annoy Suzanne, so she made her way to the front of the bridge, hoping she might see the men returning through the window. She thought about sitting in one the acceleration couches, but it would mean clambering over the armrest and she couldn’t do that in her skirt and heels. She could see some figures strolling toward the dock. As they drew closer, she recognised her husband. And with him were the husbands of the other women.

As the men reached the dock, they stumbled to a halt and gazed up at the spaceship. They looked this way and that, some put their hands to their brow to shade their eyes. One of them pointed along the length of the dock at something, and suddenly they were slapping each other on the back, shaking hands and looking very pleased with themselves.

“Kristin?” said Suzanne. “Can you come here a moment?”

“What is it, darling?”

Kristin asked Aiko to be quiet with a raised hand, and wormed her way to the front of the bridge to stand beside Suzanne.

“Look at them,” Suzanne told her. “Why are they behaving like that?”

“I’ve no idea,” replied Kristin. “But that humming noise is really starting to get on my nerves.”

“Now what are they up to?”

They watched the men run along the side of the dock to the ramp leading up to the hatch. One of them stepped onto the ramp and hesitantly approached the side of the spaceship.

Five minutes later, Suzanne’s husband arrived panting on the bridge. “What the hell did you do?” he demanded.

All of the women pretended not to know what he meant.

“One of you did something,” he insisted.

“We’ve got absolutely no idea what you’re on about, darling,” declared Kristin.

“The invisibility!” he exclaimed. “It works!”

Another figure appeared in the bridge hatch. It was Layla’s husband. “Did you turn it off?” he asked.

Suzanne’s husband turned to him. “Turn what off?”

“The field. As soon as you entered the ship, it became visible.”

“I haven’t touched anything.”

“I can still hear that hum,” Kristin complained.

“What did you do?” demanded Suzanne’s husband.

“I don’t remember,” replied Aiko, either because she truly didn’t or because she was afraid to admit she had done anything at all.

Suzanne’s husband began to herd the women from the bridge. They trooped along the corridor until they reached the top of the ladder. The two men clambered down it, and the women followed gingerly. Halfway down, the heel of one of Eniola’s scarlet pumps stuck in the edge of a tread. Layla was behind her. While the two struggled, the rest followed the men to the airlock and out of the spaceship onto the ramp. Suzanne saw Kristin’s husband look up in surprise. He grabbed one of the other men and pointed at the women. No, past them. Suzanne looked behind her. What was the problem? There was the UESS Aldridge, looking just as large as life, its grey bulk filling the dock.

Eniola and Layla appeared in the airlock. Eniola was limping, but not because she was injured, and complaining of a run. As the two of them stepped through the hatch and onto the ramp, the men began to talk excitedly amongst themselves.

It took the men less than thirty minutes to determine that the invisibility field only worked when two or more of the women were aboard the spaceship. A single man, however, and UESS Aldridge remained stubbornly visible. It wasn’t just Suzanne, Kristin, Eniola, Layla or Aiko, either. The men fetched secretaries and nurses, and they too triggered the invisibility. But no man could do it. Aiko eventually confessed to having pressed a button, and it proved to be the main power switch for the invisibility field generator. None of the settings had been changed from the last test, which had of course been unsuccessful, before the wives had boarded.

The men began to talk among themselves.

“I don’t understand it at all,” Suzanne’s husband said.

“Something to do with women’s bio-electric field?” suggested Layla’s husband.

“We need to do more tests.”

“We can’t tell the navy it needs to crew all its destroyers with women.”

“They’ll cancel the project.”

“Whoever heard of an all-female space navy? It’s damned ridiculous!”

Kristin took umbrage at this last comment. “Why is it ridiculous?” she demanded. “We can fight as well as men. Women have fought throughout history.”

“The Amazons,” put in Suzanne.

“The Valkyries,” added Kristin.

“Onna-bugeisha,” said Aiko.

“Queen Zenobia,” said Layla.

“And it’s always been visible to you?” Kristin’s husband asked, quickly changing the subject.

The wives nodded.

“Even when we can’t see it?” said Aiko’s husband.

Despite their insistence the UESS Aldridge had remained stubbornly visible to them the entire time, the men seemed reluctant to believe their wives.

At that moment, Betty strolled up. She was wearing her usual flightsuit and had plainly landed minutes before from a test flight. “Hey, what’s going on?” she asked the men.

Suzanne’s husband quickly filled her in. As soon as she heard the UESS Aldridge had actually vanished from sight, she laughed. Then she said, “I watched you as I flew in. The spaceship has been here all along.”

“You didn’t see her disappear?”

Betty shook her head.

“So you can see the ship even when it’s invisible? Just like our wives can?”

Betty nodded and grinned.

Kristin leaned in close to Suzanne. “Just think,” she said, The spaceships are only invisible with women crews. And they’re only invisible to men. It looks like men might be finally out of the war game.”

“Oh no,” said Suzanne, feeling truly happy for the first time since her husband had been assigned to the spaceyard. “If they need us to wage war, I’m sure we can find a better way to sort things out than fighting.”