If you don't like science fiction and reading, this is not for you.

Right then. I've started writing something that might become the start of a Scifi story that has nudism/naturism in it.
I'm going to put the first 2500 words here. My request to who feels up to it: please read it and tell me if you think this is viable for a story.
I'm not going to put down the entire plot I have planned for it here (as you may understand), otherwise there would be no fun in reading the story any more.

So here it is:
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1. We've got a problem

"And then to think it looked so promising," space cadet Mickels sighed. "We can't even live there to do our work; it's too hot for normal people." He stood in front of the large screen that gave a view of the planet that lazily rotated beneath them. It was a perfect planet for what they wanted: only a few light-years from Earth, breathable atmosphere, the most intelligent life-form was an odd, easily scared thing with three legs, two arms and a head like an overgrown snake that only bleated, and still the space travellers had a hard time living on the surface.
"I know, Ronny," said Cassandra Collins, the ship's first officer, who stood next to him. "The Biology group is still trying to find out what's in the air there that destroys the airfiltering system. Once they fixed that we can live there more permanently with the air conditioning going."
She had come back up only a few days ago after living on the surface for a week. In bikini. It just didn't feel right, doing official ops while not in uniform, but a uniform just wasn't an option down there. Another problem was that the guys often walked around with massive bulges in their swimming trunks, as the female personnel in bikini presented too much opportunity for gawking and fantasising. That was something that didn't make first officer Collins feel good either, being reduced to a mental sex-object. Oh, the men never laid a hand on her or the other women (unless they were invited to), but it wasn't right. It was good to be on board the Nebula-7 again.
"Officer Collins, sir, the captain wishes to see you," a voice came from the communicator on her shoulder.
Cassandra tapped the thing. "On my way." Without another word to the person calling her or cadet Mickels she turned and walked off. The captain didn't like waiting.
*
"Collins. Sit." Captain Yorins was often a man of few words. "Any news?"
"No sir. Biology still is working on the filter problem, the tripeds down there are still curious but stay clear of our perimeter, and the men down there still prove they have no erectile problems when women are around. And probably without women as well."
Captain Yorins stood in front of the large window and looked out into space while the planet hung below, just within view. "That's bad. Our mission is to fix this, prepare the place for the new inhabitants, and do it fast. The previous crew failed. I want this mission to succeed."
"I know that, sir, we all do, but someone forgot to brief the planet about that." Cassandra knew she could talk to him this way. "The place is almost perfect, with forests, lakes, edible fish and vegetables, breathable air, even some fruit we never saw before."
"Still no steak running around?" Yorins loved his steak.
"Sorry sir, but no. All animals that run around on land have been pronounced inedible lacking volunteers." That was quite the understatement: four members of the previous group of worldbuilders had died from eating one of the tripeds, two of their own from eating a giant slug. After those deaths the order had gone out that no wildlife from the planet's surface was to be eaten. Fish had not been a problem so far, if one could call the small, oddly shaped creatures in the water 'fish'.
"That's bad," Yorins said. "That and being stuck here. Find us a solution for both problems, first officer."
Cassandra rose. "Working on it, sir." They both knew there was no easy solution for either problem, but took his words as a dismissal for now.
After leaving the captain's office she paced to Biology. "Guys? Anything new?" she asked through the intercom. She didn't feel like going through the entire cleanroom routine, dressing in a funny, almost see-through overall after being made particle-free. The latter procedure gave her a headache.
"Hi Cass, nothing yet." Will Grant reported. "It's bikini or bust, and we all would love to see you in bikini."
"Or less," Cassandra groaned.
"Yes please," said Will.
She still had the intercom open and could kick herself for that. Laughter came from the others in the Biology lab. "Forget that, and forget what I've just said, or you're going on report!" she snapped. She knew she looked okay but she couldn't allow this kind of frivolity. Not on her behalf; after all she was first officer, not some space sailor.
*
After a few months in which hardly any progress was made, the star cruiser was preparing to go back to Earth. Another cruiser with a fresh crew of worldbuilders had arrived and was prepared to take over. Its crew was informed of all discoveries so far, and the new ones were convinced they could fix the problem with the air conditioning and the living quarters, just like the people on the Nebula-7 had been. As the new arrivals had the same equipment as those who were leaving, no one on the Nebula-7 had much hope, but there was always a chance.
Captain Yorins ordered the entire crew on standby as the Nebula-7 drifted away from the strange planet. They had been here for a long time and there was no telling if anything that still looked safe had secretly taken a beating from some tiny, stellar object. At departure, all systems showed readings in the safe zone though.
"Take us home," was the captain's order. The navigators aboard the Nebula-7 had already selected the best wormhole to dive into. The trip home would take half a year at best, and most crew members would be in cryo during that time to preserve air, water and food, all precious commodities during such a trip.

2. Not an ordinary day

"Temperatures up to normal today, dear," Jeremy said. "Ninety-something. Nothing like a regular day to get some things done."
"Just you watch yourself, Jeremy." Casey Gilberts, Jeremy's caring wife, wrapped her arms around her man and pulled him against her. "I love to feel you, you know."
Jeremy smiled as he put his hands over those of his wife. "I know, and I can't have enough of you." They stood together like that until Casey let go. A sigh of reluctance escaped her. "Where are you going to work today?"
"Jenny hasn't decided yet."
Jennifer Marks, to each and all known as Jenny, was the leader of their small community of about three hundred people.
"Must be hard for her to figure something out by now, so much has been done already," Casey said. She kissed her man on the cheek. "Careful out there. Last time you came home with more scratches than I care for."
"Oh, count on that," Jeremy assured her. "We're probably done near the forest anyway. Oh, there they are."
"They" were a group of a dozen people who came sauntering towards the house of the Gilberts in the morning sunlight. Jeremy waved at the people, kissed his wife one more time and started walking towards his friends. Before he reached them, the whining sound of a small hovercraft made everyone look up. The machine was entirely closed so it had to be from the south, from one of the cooler regions.
"What the hell's that then?" Barbara wondered as the group watched the hovercraft slow down and then come to a full stop at a safe distance away. The pilot of the thing at least knew his trade, making sure that sand and small stones weren't spraying over the people. The hovercraft sank to the ground and after a few moments its wing-door opened. "They're gonna be hot," Barbara voiced what everyone already knew.
Three men and one woman, all dressed to the nines, emerged from the hovercraft. They saw the group of thirteen, upon which one of the men pointed and said something to his companions before they started walking. The polit of the hovercraft made himself useful in closing the door again so the cooling air would stay inside.
Jeremy felt a hand on his arm. It was Casey's, who had joined the group of curious people, as had many others. They waited in silence. Dressed people were sparse around here; they didn't like the temperature. Of course not.
"Hello," said the woman as they were close enough. "Can we go inside somewhere please?" There was something about her that made Jeremy think. He'd seen her face before.
Jenny wasn't around to speak with these people. Since he was something like assistant mayor of the community, he sighed. "Okay, but I hope you're making this a short visit. We have things to do and you weren't exactly announced." Casey and he led the group of four to their house and sat them on the porch out of the sunlight. Everyone wanted to hear what these people had to say and they wouldn't fit inside the house. "Right. You're out of the sun. What's your reason for visiting us out here? And feel free to take something off if you're still too warm."
The men took off their jackets and rolled up the sleeves of their shirts. The woman persisted in her attire. "We're sorry to bother you," she said.
Jeremy was certain of that. Dressed people usually looked down on naked people who lived in communities like this one, many dressed people hated coming here. After the big problems that the Earth had seen when scientists had tried to influence the weather in order to battle climate change, too much had gone wrong. Floods, dry spells, hot and cold areas trading places, that and more had been the unsteady rhythm of life for years. After the atmosphere had calmed down, many people migrated to areas where they felt most comfortable. An interesting change in attitude happened when several groups of nudists chose to build small communities where they could live the way they wanted. Nude. Many of them had jobs in 'clothed' communities, for which they dressed before going there, but more and more these small communities had become self-sufficient, like the one Jeremy and Casey lived in. There was no rivalry between the nudist communities and the large, airconditioned domes of the dressed, there just wasn't much reason to visit each other often.
Casey had gone in, and brought chilled refreshments for the visitors.
Jeremy understood that these people were more annoyed having to come into naked-people territory than about actually bothering them.
"My name is Ann Winthrop," the woman introduced herself. Winthrop. Of course! Jeremy knew the name. She was a well-known industry leader in space technology. That was why her face looked so familiar. "I'll make this as short as possible because I can't understand why you people prefer to live under these conditions. We are looking for people to help us. We have discovered a planet that supports human life but we run into problems with climate control. The people who work on the planet complain about the heat there, and they're unable to perform their duties for more than a few weeks before they need to return to their starship."
Ann Winthrop looked at all the naked people around her. "Conditions there are rather similar to what you live in. That is why we hope that a group of you is willing to go to the planet we found and work there for us. Well-paid of course."
Her words met a wall of silence. Only after Jenny appeared from behind several layers of people, the silence was broken. "I heard your words. I wonder why you turn to us for that. Where's the catch? What's so dangerous out there?" she asked.
One of the men hurried to answer there as sweat trickled down his cheek. "Excuse me. I am Martin Jones. Let me assure you there is no danger. The planet we're talking about is very docile, there are no dangerous animals. Not dangerous unless you eat them. All animals there except the creatures that can best be described as fish are poisonous as far as we know. That's the only danger. The main problem is the discomfort of our people in this obnoxious heat." The man unbuttoned his shirt a little.
"Let them wear swimwear," Jeremy said. "Should fix your problem."
"That's not how things work , sir," said Ann Winthrop. "The officers aboard the starcruiser tried that, but the sexual innuendo is just too great for people who've been cooped up in a starship for so long."
"Sexual innuendo? Because of swimming trunks and bathing suits? You really should loosen up protocol a little," Jennifer Marks said. Martin Jones shot an overheated look at Jenny but remained silent.
Ann Winthrop shook her head. "We send people out into space, on a journey that takes about half a year. Most of the people on board are in cryogenic chambers. What would we do with any children that were born accidentally? You can't put those in cryo-chambers."
"Sterilise your people?" was a comment from someone who stayed hidden behind the crowd. It started a laugh but everyone knew that wasn't feasible.
"So if I understand you correctly you're looking for a group of people who are okay with working in warm conditions," said Jenny, stepping up before more smart comments were launched. "And you're looking at us for that."
"Yes. It makes sense," said one of the other men who had so far remained silent. "Your settlement is closest to our city. You live under conditions that are almost as warm as the planet we're targetting. We'll supply the training you'll need, reimburse your families for all the trouble-"
"Wait." Jeremy raised a hand. "Reimburse our families? What about the people who will actually go there?"
"They will of course be the ones who actually get paid," said Ann Winthrop, "but I'll be honest with you. As this is a space mission there is always a chance that not everyone comes back alive and that's why we usually mention the payment that way."
Jeremy frowned. The whole thing intrigued him, but there obviously was quite a risk involved if these people went about this so carefully.
"Hey, you," Casey whispered as she prodded him. "What's going on inside your head? Thinking of leaving me here while you fly out into space?" She knew her husband. "If you go, I'm going with you."
He looked at her. "Damn you, woman. Since when do you read my mind?" he asked with a wink.
"Since a long time, I just never mentioned it. It's convenient, you know," Casey laughed.

22 thoughts on “If you don't like science fiction and reading, this is not for you.”

  1. I agree with Boyd that the sexual arousal depicted in the opening parts doesn't work it seems to be an artificial trick to make the plot work.
    I really like the idea of novels, including sci-fi, where naturism is the norm in the society depicted is a good idea, indeed I'm working on one myself. Just because it is naturist however doesn't mean that sexual arousal and activity should be excluded just that the trigger for the sex shouldn't be the nudity per-se. Human interactions include sex in a wide variety of ways nude or clothed and naturists needent be coy about this.

  2. If this is promoting naturism, I see a problem. It wasn't long in the story that "the guys often walked around with massive bulges in their swimming trunks, as the female personnel in bikini presented too much opportunity for gawking and fantasising." This would imply that men on beaches on earth do the same thing, which we know doesn't happen unless they are there for the wrong reason. Focusing on work, being professional and over a period of time, this would not be an issue any more than nude people in resorts do this. They don't. You have a good idea, but presenting with a sexual overtone may not fly for the majority of naturists.

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