Into Another World

"C'mon, Mercy. You wanted a chance at this big dick of his." Terri reached over and gave it a sticky squeeze, which made it start getting hard again. She met my eyes as she said, "Ted, I hope you don't think we're trying to take undue advantage of your situation."

Mercy said, "Yeah, I shouldn't have made that 'earning your keep' crack."

"Well, if I'm going to live here, I have to earn my keep somehow and not just be a charity case. Or does that make me a kept man? So long as we stay away from slavery metaphors, I think I'm okay. But I do want to contribute more than sex."

"We'll figure something out. But not this minute," Terri said. "Right now, it's my turn to feel this bad boy inside me, but from behind."

Terri turned over and rose to her hands and knees. Mercy quickly kissed me once more before she slid away to let me rise and take position behind Terri, then wriggled her way below Terri into another 69 position and gave my cock a quick suck before I could shove into Terri. She then guided me between Terri's labia and let go as I slammed forward, making it halfway inside of Terri's tightness on the first stroke.

"Fuck, that's a big dick!" Terri cried out. "Give me all of it, Ted!"

Her pussy resisted me, taking three more thrusts before I hit bottom. I withdrew about halfway and drove home again and again, bumping her cervix each time and eliciting squeals that were smothered by Terri's face being firmly entrenched between Mercy's thighs.

Mercy, meanwhile, was feasting on Terri from below, her tongue also lapping against my balls and shaft as I moved in and out.

With my first orgasm out of the way, a second one should have been a long way off. But, Terri's slick pussy was squeezing me so deliciously that I could feel that tingle building that would eventually lead to another massive explosion. I could have slowed down to avoid it, but I chose to keep fucking Terri as hard as she wanted, while Mercy and I brought her to orgasm together. Her grunts and moans, even engulfed by Mercy's vulva, were increasing in volume and frequency and I was pretty sure she was already close.

"Ohhhh fuuccckkk!" she screamed, as pulses inside her signaled that she was coming and then spread to spasms that traveled from head to toe. "Aaaiiiiii fuck fuck commmminnngggg! Harder, Ted!"

I wasn't sure I could fuck any harder than I already was, but with Terri shaking and thrusting her own ass back at me even more, our bodies slapped together more quickly. I tightened my grip on her hips and pulled her to me, expecting that I would be making it harder for Mercy to keep eating Terri out. It didn't seem to bother her, as I felt her tongue keeping contact and occasionally sliding along my shaft and balls. The pair obviously had a lot more experience being in a threesome than I had.

I had to smile, thinking that I had really lucked out that these two horny women lived here in this world. Where would I be, if someone else had lived here? What if it had been my counterpart and my roommates, without enough differences in the house to realize that I was the one who was out of place?

That what-if thought slipped away as the pleasure I was feeling brought my attention back to what I was doing. As her orgasm ended, Terri likewise returned her focus to lapping at Mercy's clit while still pushing back at me. I was determined to get Terri to come at least one more time before I gave in to my own orgasm. Her pussy was wetter, providing a bit less friction, but my cock felt just as stimulated as before, sliding through it. It didn't hurt that Mercy was stroking my perineum with two fingers, while her tongue seemed to be everywhere at once. Her groans vibrated into my cock as she licked the underside.

Those intensified as Mercy suddenly started her own orgasm, stiffening below us and then bucking her hips. Terri paused in thrusting back at me in order to hold on, which made me slow down as well. Mercy kept shaking until she stiffened and let out a long wordless scream and then collapsed.

Terri turned her head to me and said, "She's passed out," before she disengaged from my cock to move off of Mercy's body. "It happens to her sometimes when she comes extra hard. That was maybe her seventh orgasm tonight, including what we were doing before you showed up. She'll be fine in a minute or two, but she's probably done for the night. You and I, on the other hand, aren't finished yet."

"Okay, so do we fuck next to her? Or move over to your guest room?"

"She will want to see us screwing when she wakes up. She won't join in again, but she does like to watch." Terri resumed a kneeling position on the left side of the bed, spreading her legs and holding her butt cheeks apart.

I got behind her again and slid my cock back inside. She pushed onto me with even more force than before, now that she wasn't needing to maintain contact with Mercy. Rather than grab onto her hips again, I wrapped my arms around her torso and grabbed her boobs and squeezed her nipples.

I saw Mercy's eyes flutter open, spot the two of us next to her and smile. She lay there, watching, as Terri and I slammed together, building towards what became a huge mutual orgasm, mindless pleasure engulfing us both as I filled Terri's vagina with a huge load of my semen.

We collapsed to our sides, facing Mercy, who was grinning at us. She slid closer to give Terri a long kiss, while her left hand reached down to caress between our legs, where my cock was still encased inside Terri, my hips still making small thrusts but beginning to go soft. When Mercy had her hand coated in our juices, she lifted it to her mouth and licked at it, before thrusting two fingers into Terri's mouth.

Terri sucked on the two fingers, getting a taste of our combined flavor. I reached my hand over Terri's body to stroke along Mercy's cheek, drawing eye contact with her. I couldn't think of what I wanted to say in that moment. Was I feeling gratitude, love, lust or some mix of those? Whatever it was, I knew I wanted more of it. All I managed to say was, "That was amazing."

~~~~~

In the morning, I had no choice but to put back on the clothes that I had worn the day before. It reinforced to me that I literally arrived in this new world with just the clothes on my back.

Over breakfast, I learned that Terri's last name is McCade and Mercy's is Tagano. Confirming my guess, Mercy is Japanese on her father's side and African and Irish on her mother's. They were both 31 and adjunct professors at the university and a couple for 5 years. I didn't remember them as faculty on my world, even though they taught classes which I had taken. Credits that were a world away.

I also found out that Earth-8's Supreme Court had not legalized same-sex marriage as Earth-9 had, which is why Terri and Mercy rented a two-bedroom house to pose as roommates, because none of the landlords near the university would rent a one-bedroom unit to a pair of women. How McGillicuddy would react to a man moving in, we weren't sure.

Before calling the Inter-Earth Immigration Agency, we did a Google search, to look for my family. We were able to find Nathan and Tonya Jackson at a different address in the suburbs of Cleveland, but digging deeper found that while they had a son named Ted, his birthdate was six months after mine, meaning he was genetically my brother, not my duplicate. His two sisters didn't match mine either and he didn't have a brother. It was a fundamentally different family. Checking Earths 1 through 7 did not find a duplicate of me, either, with my parents not even married in two worlds, but different combinations of children in those where they were.

"I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad that I don't have a duplicate in this world," I said. "It does mean that none of my family or friends are going to recognize me. I would rather not contact them for help at this time, if the two of you are willing to help me instead."

"Not a problem, Ted," Terri answered. "We want to help, we can, so we will."

Mercy added, "Whether that's as friends or as a longer-term relationship with you. Last night was a pretty good start on the latter."

~~~~~

A phone call to the IEIA resulted in a surprisingly rapid response, as they had detected what they called a "transient dimensional anomaly" in Lincoln Park overnight and had a team already there investigating it. An Agent Sam Tucker was dispatched to interview me and was at the door in minutes, apparently having run over from the park. He used a handheld scanner to check what he called my "vibrational pattern", confirming that I came from another world, one that he said had not already been linked by Carlson Labs. He said my world would be officially designated Earth-9, which confirmed to me that no new worlds had been linked since Earth-8.

However, while a vibration pattern could identify each separate world, the technology behind the portals could not be configured to connect to a world based upon knowing the pattern. If they were not able to stabilize the anomaly in the park and link a portal to it, it would not be possible to construct a portal elsewhere.

My heart sank a little when I realized I was stuck on Earth-8, possibly forever. Tucker then took my existing ID, bank cards and cash, gave me an equal amount of Earth-8 cash and told me that new ID designating me as an inter-world immigrant granted residency rights on Earth-8 would be hand-delivered within a week, along with a detailed historical questionnaire about my world and instructions on how to apply for eventual citizenship. Then he wished me good luck and departed.

~~~~~

I slumped onto Mercy & Terri's couch once Tucker was gone. I felt too numb to cry.

"Are you okay?" Terri asked, sitting beside me. Mercy sat on her other side.

"That confirms it. I'm more than homeless, Terri. I'm world-less. I'm stranded. Forever."

"Ted, honey, you have a home here, for as long as you need it," she said. "It will be up to Mercy and me to make sure you never want to leave us."

"Oh, really?" I asked. "I'd ask how you intend to do that, but I think I already know."

"Are you going to complain about our methods?" Mercy asked.

"Not in the least. But, before you show me, we need to talk about getting me some more clothes. I can't keep wearing this outfit forever."

"Let's go shopping, then."

~~~~~

When Terri and Mercy had to go to work on Monday, I was alone in the house for the morning, using their Internet to familiarize myself with the various major and minor differences between my old world and this new one. There are too many to list here, from politics to minor differences in inventions to movies and music being slightly different. It all made the world feel different, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. It felt like I hadn't lost my whole world, just bits and pieces. But the biggest piece was that I was one of those differences.

At lunch, I walked over to the familiar campus and met Terri and Mercy for lunch at a cafe we both knew. Even that seemed vaguely different when I got there.

"What's wrong, Ted?" Mercy asked, picking up on my sour mood immediately.

"I saw a bunch of students I recognized on the way here, even my roommate Tom Sampson, but I had to resist calling out to them, because none of them know who I am. Even our waitress here is a girl I dated as a freshman, Sarah Quinn, but she doesn't recognize me. It reminded me once again that my parents wouldn't know me if I dared reach out to them. It's still a lot to absorb that I didn't exist here until a few days ago and I'm having to start over as a stranger in a world that's like mine in a lot of ways but isn't mine. The longer I'm here, the more differences I notice. Most importantly, though, this world doesn't know me at all. It would almost be easier if the world were completely different, instead of mostly familiar."

"You really think so?"

I said, "It's not just that I see a familiar face and know that they don't remember me, but I have to remind myself that who I remember is really their counterpart on my world and that their lives here might have differed a little or a lot, even though they still wound up as students at this same university. How much can I rely on my memories of their personality and character? Can I rely on it at all? Or do I have to assume that they're as much strangers to me as I am to them?"

Terri said, "It sounds like the old nature vs. nurture arguments. How much of a person's personality is determined by their genetics vs. their experiences?"

"I don't imagine for a moment that the answer is that experience has no effect at all. So, I have to assume that it's not safe for me to rely on those memories I have of them. Just like when I was listening to some music this morning and was thrown off because the last verse was different than the same song on my world or featured a different set of musical instruments or voices than I remember. Then, when I looked it up I found that there were two members of that band that were different than I remember. It's not that the song was better or worse, just that it was different. So, do I remember that song or just its version on my world, where it's 75% the same?"

Mercy added, "That's a pretty clear metaphor. People have been debating how to quantify the differences and similarities between the parallel worlds, too. Plenty of people have been able to compare their lives to their counterparts. You're just the only person we know who's been stranded away from his world."

I asked, "Have you looked up your counterparts? Have you wound up as a couple on the other worlds?"

"Almost everyone I know has indulged their curiosity and checked public information on their counterparts, as soon as their world's Internet was linked to the others. Others have even struck up correspondences with them. We found that we're married on two worlds, together but unmarried on two more, dated but broke up on one and never met at all on the last two. We left it at that and haven't emailed them and they haven't tried contacting us, either. In the end, we're living eight different existences, based on our own decisions, not theirs, even if they would make the same decisions we do. We can't know whether we're together somewhere on your Earth-9, but it's clearly not at your version of Commonwealth."

~~~~~

About three weeks after my arrival, IEIA contacted me, saying that they had stabilized the "periodic dimensional anomaly" in Lincoln Park, but that the resulting portal setup connected to a world whose historical facts matched up to what I recalled, except for the fact I had not disappeared. There was another Ted Jackson still living there. They suspected that my disappearance might have been the first divergent event between my world and this one. Either way, it was close but not close enough.

The Ted Jackson on the newly designated Earth-10 graciously allowed me to share his college transcript, which the Commonwealth University on Earth-8 accepted, so I could pick up my college career where I left off. A copy of his birth certificate was also added to my Inter-Earth ID.

Everything seemed great, except for one major problem.

"So, when do you start classes? Can you get caught up or pick up next semester?" Terri asked, after I had visited the university registrar.

I sighed and answered, "We forgot about their anti-fraternization policy. You two aren't in violation right now, because I'm not a student. But, I can't enroll without immediately getting the two of you fired. Even if I could afford my own apartment and tuition to separate from you, I would have to pretend to not know either of you and avoid any contact, when you're the only friends I have on this world. It's just easier for me to transfer."

Mercy asked, "Is there any reason you couldn't attend your classes on Earth-10? All of the Earths recognize each other's degrees, when people do migrate between them. We're not professors there, right? Plus, the new portal was built right here in the park. If you can cross back and forth daily, it could solve the problem."

"No, it wouldn't." I said. "I would need the exact same classes my counterpart is in and for some of them, there aren't other sessions I could attend to avoid him. Can you imagine the chaos? We would both have to constantly explain that I'm the Ted from another world. It's a million times worse than being identical twins, since our personalities and memories are identical up to the point I walked into this world."

"I'm sorry, Ted."

"Thanks, but it's not your fault. It's not anybody's. I just think it's better if I stay away from Earth-10 altogether. I need to build my life here, one that's different from his and has the two of you in it. To do that, I have to switch to another school. IU was my second choice, anyway. I just need to get the transfer approved."

"I'll drive you over there tomorrow," Terri said.

~~~~~

When we got to Isaakson University the next day, they had clearly been briefed by Commonwealth, already had a copy of my transcript and had already worked up a scholarship offer to cover my last year of tuition. Apparently, being the first Earth-8 school to enroll a student from a parallel world excited them.

~~~~~

Life settled down after that. I got a new driver's license and was borrowing Terri's car to get to IU's campus. My expectation that the students would all be strangers turned out to be false, as I recognized several people who had simply chosen to attend IU instead. After the school announced that I was from a parallel world, I was able to admit knowing several of their counterparts. When I talked to them about it, I was able to confirm differences in their experiences and personalities, some improvements, some not. I kept those to myself.

Once I stopped being the "new guy on campus", they just accepted me as Ted.

Eventually, when Earth-10's Internet was made available to cross-world searches, we located the Terri and Mercy there and laughed when we found that they were teaching at Isaakson. I wound up attending their school, just on a different world. They were also married.

"Should we hook them up with their world's Ted?" Mercy asked.

I thought about it and said, "I don't think we should interfere like that. Would we like it if they did that to us?"

"I guess not."

Terri said, "If they're as curious as everyone else we know, they'll check out their counterparts on all of the other worlds, not just ours, and they'll find the same variety of outcomes we did. The other Ted already knows about you and that you're living with the two of us. If our counterparts notice that, on this one world, we're a triad instead of a couple and they seek out their Ted, that would be great--and entirely their choice."

~~~~~

"I want to have your baby," Mercy said, during my graduation party.

"What?" I sputtered, around a mouthful of cake.

"You heard me. Terri and I both want to be mothers. We had been talking about using the same sperm donor, about two years apart, so that the kids would be half-siblings. That was before you showed up out of the fog, of course."

"So, am I the sperm donor in this scenario, or the father?"

She answered, "Father, of course. I think that the three of us are long past the 'let's see if we click' stage, don't you? Or do I need to get down on one knee and ask you to marry me first?"

"No, you're right. I already consider us as married as we need to be, if the laws won't allow all three of us to marry as a triad. I would be honored to become the father to this family. So, when did you have in mind? You're both on IUDs, right?"

"Yup. Mine is due to be replaced this month--or I could have it removed. We could start trying as soon as it's out, although it might take a few cycles to conceive."

~~~~~

Three weeks later, the three of us made a production of conceiving. I cooked my mom's Chicken Parmesan recipe and Terri picked up two bottles of merlot to go with it.