Time Differences Ch. 01

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"Augusta! " Clarissa gasped, and I realised that she'd been stunned by what had happened.

Augusta looked her. "Do not be foolish, Clarissa," she positively snapped. "There is no society to be shocked, no parents to beat me -- we are cast utterly adrift, as you yourself keep saying. And Mr Evans is all we have."

"Aside from Mr Frake," Clarissa reminded her pointlessly. The poor sod who'd been sailing the boat with the seven women aboard when it capsized in a sudden squall was paralysed with shock, and showed no signs of recovering yet.

"Do not be childish, Clarissa," Augusta snapped.

"You are the child who seeks comfort in hugs!"

"I thought that you took what I was doing to be more than that!"

"So Mr Evans is to replace Walter as your sweetheart, then? And what of Elspeth, or Georgiana? Who will replace their lost sweethearts?"

Augusta simply shrugged at that.

"So you dream of this... this informal marriage with Mr Evans, perhaps?"

"Perhaps. After all, the House assures us that it would be safe."

"Safe? And so you can hope to engage in intim... in carnal relations with this man for amusement? Perhaps you should share him with Elspeth and Georgiana!"

"Excuse me," I cut in, "but you're neither of you thinking much here. Just back down and take a deep breath, okay?"

The two girls glowered at each other, but stopped talking for a moment. Then Augusta turned back to me, placing a hand on my upper arm. "I apologise, Simon," she said, "we were indeed being foolish. And nor did I consider your own feelings just now."

"Don't worry," I said, "I wasn't insulted. And by the way, Walter was going to be a very lucky guy."

"Really?" she asked.

"Surely."

"Ah, cooing like lovebirds," Clarissa sneered from the other stool.

Augusta stared at her. "Clarissa," she said firmly, "kindly leave us."

Clarissa gasped. "Alone?" she asked.

"There is no one else here. And you are clearly disinclined to be polite to us."

"And what should I tell the others?"

Augusta stared at her, her chin jutting. "Tell them what you wish!" she snapped.

After a moment, Clarissa, matched stare for stare, rose to her feet and marched from the room. Augusta went to the door after she'd left and it had closed. "House," she said, "do not open this door for anyone outside the room, do you understand?" "Yes," the House replied.

"And cease attending to us," Augusta added. The walls went dark again.

"Umm," I said, "I don't know much about your etiquette, but haven't you just burned a lot of bridges?"

"I suppose that I have, Simon. But I do not suppose that I care." She sat down again.

"Well, don't worry," I said, "Clarissa will calm down eventually, I'm sure."

"After she has blackened my reputation -- and yours -- I fear."

"I'll live with that, if you can. And don't worry..."

"What of?"

"I will be a gentleman, still, whatever Clarissa may say."

"Oh, that." Augusta positively grimaced at me. "Do you know, I had not given the matter one thought? And I do believe that I do not even care."

"Ah. Well." I was sitting on one of the stools at this point, and Augusta was still standing by the door. I wasn't sure what to say next, but she stepped towards me.

"Stand up, please, Simon," she said. I obeyed, and she put her arms around me, and kissed me again. I decided that we might as well kiss properly, and she gasped as I explored her mouth with my tongue, but then relaxed, and smiled as we broke the kiss.

"That was surely what the novelists call passionate," she said, "but very pleasant. And..."

"Yes?"

"You feel -- strange."

"Oh, that," I said, probably blushing as she pressed her thinly-clad body against mine.

"Is that your -- your male member?" she asked.

"I'm afraid so."

She bit her lip again. I decided that the look of uncertainty that gave her nicely relieved her normal Amazonian style. "I should be shocked," she said, "but instead, I fear that I merely find myself curious."

Oops. This was going places which I probably ought to avoid. However, in my hormone-addled way, I could also see reasons why I might not bother. Augusta had burned those bridges, after all.

"Look," I said, "you ought to understand -- I'm likely to take this sort of thing as an offer. And it's an offer I'm likely to accept. You probably ought to walk out of that door right now."

"And meet Clarissa, gloating outside? No, thank you, Simon. I would rather that you assuaged my curiosity."

I looked at her, and then shrugged. I should have been dead, but instead I was some inconceivable time into the future, with no idea what came next. I was going to play everything by ear -- or by some other part of my anatomy.

I gathered up the one garment I was wearing, pulled it off, and stood naked in front of Augusta. Just looking at her and thinking what might come next ensured that my erection remained as strong as she'd felt as she hugged me, and now she gasped as she saw it.

"Surely," she murmured, "that is... It's impossible..."

I tried to make my smile as kind as possible. "You'd be surprised what's possible, when you relax," I said. "And fun, too."

She took a nervous step towards me, and reached out one hand to just brush my shaft. The moment of contact sent a thrill through me, although she pulled her hand away instantly. Then she looked from there to my face. "Should I assuage your curiosity?" she asked.

"That's not an offer I can refuse," I said.

"But please -- turn away."

I shrugged and turned around, and heard a rustle behind me. Then there was a pause, before Augusta said simply, "Simon..."

I turned around again, and saw that she'd turned away from me. But she was naked, and a blush was spreading all across her body. I stepped up behind her and held her by the shoulders. "You know," I said, "you have what would be called a lovely arse, in my time."

"Really, Simon," she said, "I am not utterly ignorant. I know that word."

"Okay, so it's not a twentieth century invention, I gather. Still, it's true." I moved closer to her, and she gasped as my hard-on pressed against her back. I kissed the back of her neck, and then looked down at her breasts. They were indeed attractive, so I put my arms around her to cup them gently.

She made a soft moaning noise in her throat. "What now, Simon?" she asked.

"Now, we just sit on the bed," I said, and led her there. We sat side by side, and she looked at me again, so I kissed her again, holding and gently fondling one of her breasts as I did so. She moaned softly again, and began to get the hang of kissing me back.

"Would you like to lie down?" I asked, and she didn't say anything in reply but just lay back on the bed. I lay beside her, and traced my hand from her breast across her ribs and stomach to her pussy. She gasped. "Easy," I said, "just open your thighs a little..."

Later, it occurred to me that she was so used to doing what she was told, especially by men who were older than her, that I could really have been guilty of taking advantage of her. Perhaps I was indeed all too eager to get laid again, after being stuck for days with seven women for company and not so much as a touch. But I'll swear that she looked nervous rather than scared, and sometimes more curious than nervous, and the noises she was making in her throat sounded pretty positive. Anyway, she opened her legs, and I probed her cunt with a fingertip. She was tight, of course, but she was also becoming lubricated. I shifted a bit, and kissed her breasts as I fondled her cunt and brushed her clitoris with my thumb. But all that just made me increasingly eager -- to put it politely -- and impatience was getting the better of me.

"Open a little more," I murmured, and knelt between her thighs. She glanced down, saw my erection again, and looked to one side, closing her eyes. I did my best to make things go smoothly, carefully placing the tip of my cock at her entrance. But that left me in an unbalanced position, and I knew that I had to act straight away.

"Augusta," I said.

"Yes?" she said, and I pushed.

It was uncomfortable for me at that moment; it must have been worse for her. But anyway, I gasped and pressed the full length of my body down on her, and she moaned. "That's it," I said, "that's done now..."

"And I am no longer a maiden?" she asked.

I smiled. "No," I said, "definitely not."

She looked at me and smiled sheepishly, and then held me, but she was gasping repeatedly; I realised that she was still recovering from the discomfort, and still confused. I kissed her on the cheek. "Take it easy," I murmured. "Just relax -- close your eyes again, if you like. Think about whatever you like."

She did close her eyes, and began to breathe more steadily as I moved against and inside her carefully. "Oh," she said, and then she repeated the noise several times. "Oh!" she said louder, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing hard. "Oh, Walter!"

Instantly, she realised what she'd said. Her eyes shot open, and she gasped. "Oh, Mr Evans!" she said. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm... I cannot..."

"Hush," I said. "Hush. Think about whatever you want. Walter would have been a lucky guy, and you loved him, and I'm just what you're stuck with. But just enjoy what you've got, okay? I promise that it'll only get better and better from now on."

She couldn't look me in the eye, or find anything else to say, so I set to work distracting her, moving as steadily and carefully as I could. At first, she just held me, but then she began to run her hands up and down my back, and I began trying to think about something else so as to distract myself and keep things going. I managed; before I lost control, she gasped and squeezed me hard, managing some small squeak of pleasure. I lifted myself above her, and she smiled at me uncertainly; then I more or less involuntarily increased the strength and speed of my thrusts for a few seconds until I came into her with a groan. She looked worried then, but when I focussed again, I smiled at her reassuringly and lowered myself onto her once more.

But the raw pleasure of getting laid for the first time in weeks (from my point of view -- in rather longer, according to the House) had meant that I'd used everything I'd got at that point, and my erection quickly began to shrink. I rolled off her, and smiled at her again, and I was pleased to see her smile back.

***

The House, when we reached it, looked nothing like what I might have expected. It was a cluster of low, irregular, linked shapes, looking almost as if they'd been grown rather than built -- an effect increased by the fact that the grass (and other plants -- this area seemed more like a meadow than a well-kept garden, although it was completely level and nothing growing there was too hard on the feet) actually grew up and over the whole thing. However, the shapes also had some clear windows, and one or two entrance-ways, with flat, cream-coloured panel doors, one of which slid smoothly aside as we approached.

In fact, it opened just before we got there, as two other people emerged from the House. Both were dressed in those same plain white sack-dress robe things, and one was another girl -- around eighteen or nineteen, I was guessing now, the same as the first two I'd met -- although this one had light brown hair in an especially long plait. She emerged first, and then waited with an air of gentle patience for her companion -- a middle-aged guy, verging on the elderly, with straggling grey hair and a beard, and a crazy look to him.

Both of them stopped dead and stared when they saw me. The man stared like I had two heads, while the girl gave me more of an appraising look, and then nodded.

"This is he, then," she said.

"This is Mr Evans," Miss Halstead replied, "and do mind your manners, Elspeth."

The girl -- Elspeth -- looked painfully contrite and -- good grief, I thought -- dropped a curtsey. "I am very pleased to meet you, Mr Evans," she said to me.

"Ah, delighted, I'm sure," I said.

"Are you of the dead too, then, sir?" the old guy suddenly interrupted. I looked at him, and realised that he was staring at my face, examining me like I was a specimen of something.

"I don't think so," I replied, trying to sound conciliatory. "I was in an accident, but I seem to be okay now."

"An' yet you're in Heaven!" he said, still staring, "Where these poor maids be angels..."

"Now, Mr Frake," Elspeth said, "we really don't know what... You mustn't call us that. It's surely blasphemous."

"Oh, but 'tis a strange Heaven, assuredly," Mr Frake said to me in a conspiratorial tone. "The devil himself speaks here, if you'll pardon me naming him..."

"Now, Mr Frake," Elspeth said, taking him gently by the arm, "let us not worry Mr Evans further. It is time for your walk..."

She led him away, speaking to him softly, and Miss Halstead shook her head at me. "I am sorry for that," she said, "Mr Frake is... a little touched in the head by our shared experiences, I fear.

Great, I thought, so he's the crazy who all the other crazies think has lost it. But I did my best Don't Worry shrug at Miss Halstead, and followed her into the House.

***

"That was -- strange," Augusta said, "but -- it was interesting, too. Should we repeat it at some time?"

"I'd recommend that we do," I said. "Like I said, it'll be better for you now the first time's over."

"I do find that I am still curious," she said, "and you are kind to a poor puzzled girl."

I smiled. "You can call yourself a woman now," I said.

She smiled back. "Perhaps I will," she said, "if anyone will speak to me."

"I will. And don't worry about the others -- we'll sort things out with them."

She got up and off the bed while I watched happily, and realising that she needed to clean herself up a little, she scurried off to the bathroom. The bed was a mess too, of course, but the House seemed to clean itself very efficiently whenever our backs were turned, using some technology I couldn't imagine -- it had said something about machines too small for us to see.

Augusta returned, and gathered up her dress. "I suppose that we cannot remain here forever," she said."

"I guess not," I replied, and pulled on my matching garment. "Come on, let's go see if the world is still the same."

Augusta walked up to the exit. "House -- open the door, please," she said.

The door slid open. Miss Halstead was standing outside; later, I realised that she must have been standing there, waiting, for who-knows-how-long. The moment she saw who was in front of her, she slapped Augusta hard across the face.

"Augusta," she snarled, "go to your room immediately!"

I don't remember how exactly I moved in that moment, or how I shifted Augusta aside, but I found myself standing directly in front of the older woman.

"Miss Halstead," I said, "I'm told that I can just about pass as a gentleman to you lot, so I won't hit a woman. But if you ever lay a hand on Augusta again, so help me, I'll do whatever it takes to stop you. Do you understand me?"

She was a Victorian schoolmistress; normally, I'd have bet on her in a staring contest with anyone, let alone me. But at that moment, Augusta was the centre of my universe. Miss Halstead was the first to look away, turning on her heel and marching off without another word.

"Augusta," I said over my shoulder, "go wherever you like, and do whatever you like. There's nothing to regret -- got that?"

"I hear you," Augusta said, and then she took a deep breath. "But I think... Where would you wish to go now?"

I looked back at her. "Well," I said, "personally, I could really use some breakfast."

The House provided us with a communal kitchen-dining area, and kept us supplied with a variety of edible vegetables, and a blandly anonymous sort of meat that I suspected was grown in a vat somewhere, although I hadn't tried explaining this to the women yet. Fortunately, they had the Victorian wife-and-mother training, so they were able to convert these supplies into something edible, if not exciting. When we reached the dining room, we were met by cooking smells, and we found three of the other girls -- Jemima, Sarah, and Elspeth -- already there and eating.

They looked up when we arrived, gazing at Augusta with huge round eyes. I guessed that Clarissa had already told them what she knew of what had happened this morning. But Augusta looked coolly back at them, and then went with me to collect some breakfast.

We sat eating together, and she began to ask me about my time. None of the women had talked much about this yet, although the House had cross-examined me on what I knew of history, and I gathered that they must have learned bits and pieces. But she had a lot of difficulty getting her head around what I told her, even when I left out the worst bits of history. It'd been a strange couple of centuries, I guess.

But I felt like all that was just postponing something. Every time we looked up from our conversation, the other three girls were sitting there, toying with their food or just staring at us. Augusta evidently felt the same, and eventually, she gave a small sigh.

"I had best speak with them," she said quietly. "They may never understand, but I must do this eventually."

"Will you be okay?" I asked, "I mean, I can come with you if you like..."

"No, Simon," she said, "best I speak to them alone. And have no fear -- these are friends of mine. You go and have another conversation with the House about your time."

She made her way across the room and sat down to talk with the others. I was still worried for her, but I noticed that they were willing to talk, so I decided it was best to trust her judgement and to do as she said.

But I didn't go for one of the House's extended and faintly weird conversations about history, trying to tease meanings out of snippets of TV and radio broadcasts and racking my brains for facts about my era dredged up from school days and news. I went for some exercise instead, in the room that the House had created. Fortunately, none of the women were there -- they tended to avoid it when I was in there -- so I told the House to warn them if they approached the door, and started exercising naked.

The room I was in was like a kind of surrealist organic gymnasium, complete with exercise machines that resembled mad third cousins to treadmills and weight machines -- but it worked pretty well for the purpose, and the House, which evidently monitored our health closely, advised me as I went along. It wanted us to use this set-up -- whatever else it was after, it evidently liked us to be healthy -- and I found this no more of an imposition than being given a gym membership and then being politely nagged to use it. The women found it much stranger, I gathered -- they weren't much used to the idea of exercise for its own sake -- and probably only obeyed the House's suggestions because it had first raised the subject a short time after they first arrived, when they were still deep in shock and interpreting everything it said as the commands of a terrifying jailer. Now, it had become a habit for them, and frankly not a bad one; they all looked to be in good shape.

For me, it acted as a way of taking my mind off my whole situation, especially as the House would periodically throw some of its half-comprehensible questions about history or human behaviour at me as I exercised. I ended up spending the morning in there, and then went back to the dining room to grab some kind of lunch. The only other person in there was Elspeth, who gave me a very weird look and then scuttled out almost immediately.

So I took a short walk outside of the House, until the great arch over my head and the glittering shapes in the mid-blue sky got too much for me, and then I went back to my room -- at which point, things improved greatly.

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