Journey to Year 1,000,000,000 Ch. 03

"Michael... Michael understood," said Jennifer quietly. There was something, something more, something she was hiding. Taylor could sense it.

But now was not the time to discuss it. Juci was showing them around the local recreation center. There were people sitting in front of holographic displays, displays of sports, or entertainment, holoplays or holofilms. That at least hadn't changed in eight million years.

"This is happy time," said Juci.

"I see," said Taylor.

"Everyone is happy," said Juci.

"They look it," said Jennifer, giving Taylor a frowning look.

But while some people were watching entertainment, many weren't. Most were sitting in front of holographic lists of messages and numbers.

"What are they doing?" Taylor asked.

"Counting their status chits," said Juci.

"Status chits?"

"People give each other status chits," said Juci.

"What do they do?"

"They make us happy," said Juci.

"What?" said Taylor, trying to understand.

"They make us happy," Juci repeated.

They walked behind two women chatting avidly as they studied their holographic messages.

"I just got a status chit from Jeri!" said one.

"I just got a red cherry from Bobi!" said another.

"This is my tenth status chit today!" said the first one.

"This is my second red cherry," said the second woman. "Red cherries are special, because they don't come as often."

"I want a red cherry," said the first woman.

"I'll give you one of mine," said the second woman, and she waved her hand, and a red cherry left her holographic ledger and went to the first woman's.

The first woman chortled with glee.

"And this is what they do... all day?" Jennifer asked.

"It is a lot of fun," said Juci.

Jennifer whispered in Taylor's ear. "A society where everyone is glued to their comms in search of 'likes' from their friends. How weird is that?"

"This society has regressed farther than I thought," said Taylor. He looked around, noticed something, and frowned. "Juci... do these people have jobs?"

"Jobs?" she said, looking confused.

"You know... work, to keep things going. Like making food."

"We don't need jobs for that," said Juci. "Here, let me show you." She walked over to an alcove. "Ka-pla!" she said.

There was a sparkle, and a tray of red cubes appeared in a dish.

"What is that?" Taylor asked.

"Food," said Juci. She picked up a red cube, and popped it in her mouth. "Ummm, good."

"Ummm, good," said Jennifer, mocking her to her face.

"Yes," said Juci, smiling. "Would you like one?"

"No," said Taylor quickly. "So... machines produce your food. But who produces your machines?"

Juci looked confused.

"When things break down. When things stop working. Who fixes them?"

Juci brightened. "Oh, you mean the big heads."

"The big heads?"

"We don't see much of them. They don't like to show themselves."

"Where are the big heads, Juci?"

"Up there," said Juci.

"Up there," she said again.

Up there. The same words Bernard had used to describe what had happened to the Aurora crew. Could the Aurora have met with these "Big heads"?

"Big heads sounds like the technical class," said Jennifer. "Perhaps we should speak to them."

"Definitely," said Taylor. He turned around, and something caught his eye. Someone.

"Doctor Shaw?" Taylor said, with a tone of disbelief. Shaw was all by herself, walking unaccompanied on this strange planet!

Elizabeth turned. "Oh, Captain Taylor."

"Are you alone, Doctor?" Taylor asked.

"Well, I just-"

"I gave strict orders that no one was to wander around alone," said Taylor. "Do you feel that you're exempt from my rules, Doctor?"

"No, of course not, Captain," she said, reddening slightly. "But I just... I just...."

"What is it?" Taylor asked.

"I can't find any children on this planet."

It was true, Taylor realized. Since Taylor had come to the village, he hadn't seen a single child. He turned to Jennifer. "Have you seen any children, since we landed?"

"No," said Jennifer.

Taylor turned to Juci. "Juci, where are the children?" He saw the confused look on her face. "Babies. Young ones."

"Young ones!" she said, brightening. "You would like a young one?"

"I'd like to see one, yes," said Taylor.

"Coming right up!" said Juci. She went over to a taller alcove, almost like a walk-in closet. "Please give me Toni." She turned and giggled. "Toni is my favorite."

The alcove sparkled, and a girl, apparently ten years old, suddenly appeared.

"Mommy!" the girl cried, reaching out to hug Juci.

"Oh, baby girl!" said Juci. "How I missed you!"

"Elizabeth, what are we seeing?" Taylor asked.

"I just saw a child appear from an alcove," said Elizabeth.

"They keep their children... in storage?" Jennifer asked, with heavy disbelief in her voice.

Elizabeth raised her scanner. "She... she reads as human."

"Juci, where was Toni a few minutes ago?" Taylor asked.

"In there," said Juci, pointing to the alcove.

"No, that was empty. Before you called for her, where was she?"

Juci shrugged. "Away."

"Does she spend a lot of time away?"

Juci nodded. "She comes only when I want her to." She hugged Toni, who giggled in her arms.

"And when you don't want her?"

"She goes away," said Juci.

"This would make so many parents I know very happy," said Jennifer.

"Quiet! I'm trying to understand this," said Taylor. "Juci, are there any babies?"

"Babies?" she frowned.

"Younger ones than Toni."

"Oh, I can make them any age you like. Would you like to see a really young one?"

Taylor nodded.

"All right. Toni, go away now!"

"Yes Mommy."

They watched, opened mouth, as the child entered the alcove. There was a flash, and she disappeared.

"Did you just kill your child?" Jennifer asked.

"No, silly, she just went away! Do you want me to call her back?" Juci asked.

"No, Juci," said Taylor. "Show us a baby, a... really young one."

"All right," said Juci. She smiled and spoke to the alcove. "Make me... a really, really young one. With green eyes! I so love green eyes! Just like yours," she said flirtatiously to Taylor.

There was a flash, and a baby appeared on the floor, wrapped in a blanket. Juci picked him up. "Oh, he's so cute."

"Juci... is that your child?" Taylor asked. He watched Elizabeth rapidly scan the baby. She nodded, and mouthed "human".

"My child?" The question seemed to confuse her. "Of course. I called for him, therefore he is mine. I have never called for such a young one before. Shall we name him together?"

"You have never seen this baby before?" Taylor asked.

"No," said Juci. "I usually like them older."

"And this baby... is your child?"

"I called for it," said Juci.

"Instant babies," said Jennifer. "They've put women out of business."

"Jennifer, they will never put women out of business," said Taylor.

Elizabeth bit her lip as she watched Jennifer titter and smile slyly at Taylor.

"They make babies. They actually make babies," Taylor marveled. "But... how does it work? If they are sent away, do they grow up... in some other place? I have so many questions-" suddenly his wristcom beeped. "Yes, Taylor here."

"Captain?"

Taylor recognized the voice. "Doctor McCrae? Is something wrong?"

"We've had an incident," said McCrae.

********

McCrae had taken Gouda up to the Devonshire in a shuttle, accompanied by a security guard, as per Taylor's orders. Personally he thought the precautions were excessive; Gouda didn't look like she could hurt a fly. She was a blonde, giggly girl, perhaps 20 years of age. Her age was one of the things McCrae intended to verify. He had heaped scorn on Elizabeth's impromptu "scanner examination". That was the difference between biologists and doctors. He practiced medicine.

The girl was tittering as McCrae put her on an examination bed and inserted her body into the med scanner. A full analysis commenced.

McCrae was analyzing the results even as the bed slid back and she came out of it.

Gouda really was 20 years old, or thereabouts. McCrae was disappointed, somehow; he was expecting these people to be thousands of years old.

There were differences in her brain. Her brain was like a human from the 23rd century, but had somehow... atrophied. There were fewer neurons, fewer interbrain connections. It was like looking at the brain of a child. And there was something else... a line of nerves extending from her brain, down to her fingertips. And what was implanted in her fingers?

Gouda giggled as McCrae picked up her hand and started to look at her fingertips. They looked normal, but the scans said there was something unusual there.

"You like my hands?" she asked.

"Yes," said McCrae.

"I can do many things with my hands," said Gouda. "Things you would like," she added.

"I'm sure," said McCrae, giving a quick glance at the security guard standing by the door, his face impassive. He went back to examining her fingers. Just what was it the scanners had picked up?

"Do you like Shulpapa?" she asked.

"Sure," said McCrae. "Everyone likes Shulpapa, right?" He went back to examining the readout from her scan. He barely paid attention as Gouda got up and wrapped her hands around his body.

Suddenly, he began to get aroused. Very aroused. "Stop that," he said, trying to shrug her off.

But Gouda simply giggled and latched onto him stronger. McCrae's mind was suddenly filled with the images of a nurse named Kathy he had met at a recent medical conference, a woman in her 40's who found time to spare between lectures just as he did..... they had gone back to his hotel room, and he had made love to her. He had pounded between her legs... it had felt so good... it had been so long....

As McCrae slipped in and out of the vision of lust, he became aware of Gouda's fingers, on his face. Her fingers had developed suction cups. She was taking from him, draining him.

McCrae, pounding between Kathy's legs....

Gouda, sucking the lust from his mind, feeding on it.

McCrae, his organ getting tighter and tighter...

The pounding in his head, getting tighter and tighter.

McCrae exploded inside of Kathy, and he cried out....

The security guard heard his cry, and realized something was wrong. He ran forward, and pulled at Gouda, but she flung him away, and turned back to McCrae

For a moment, though, McCrae was free. He grabbed the first thing on his medical tray and injected her, even as she raised her hands to make contact with him again.

********

"It's built into their fingertips. They use it to elicit strong emotions from others, and then absorb them," said McCrae. "It's a very painful process."

"What kind of emotion did she absorb from you?" Jennifer asked.

"We can talk about that later," said McCrae, looking down at the unconscious Gouda. "The important thing, Captain, is that anyone on the surface may be in danger."

"I'm on it," said Taylor crisply. He readjusted his frequency to broadband. "Attention all landing parties. This is Captain Taylor. Report back to the landing area immediately. Do not delay for any reason. Lieutenant Babangida?"

"Yes sir," said a deep voice.

"Contact all landing parties and make sure they are on their way."

"Yes sir," came the response.

Taylor, his face full of tension, tried to compose himself as he faced Juci. "This thing of absorbing emotion through the fingers; do you know about it?"

"Of course. We all do it," said Juci. "It is all part of receiving pleasure," she giggled, as she tried to touch Taylor.

Taylor slapped her hand away. "This receiving pleasure, can it ever hurt people?"

"Well, no," said Juci. "Except those few who like boing boing. And some who really like shulpapa. You need to stay away from those."

Taylor activated his wristcom. "Lieutenant Babangida? Have all landing parties reported in?"

"All except two groups. Ensign Raleigh was escorting two scientists in the northwest corner. I can't raise him. Scientists Asimov and Clark were in viewing some outdoor sculpture in the southeastern part of the settlement, and I can't raise them either."

Taylor knew the sculpture yard Babangida was talking about. It wasn't far away. He made an instant decision. "Take some men and begin a search in both locations. Use extreme caution. I'll meet the team searching for Asimov and Clark. Taylor out."

Taylor turned to Jennifer Hale. "Get Doctor Shaw back to the ship."

"Captain, you're not going to go out there alone! That will violate your own rules," said Jennifer.

"Lieutenant, I need to find our missing men, and I need to make sure that Doctor Shaw gets back to the shuttle safely. This is the only way I know how to do both. Go, Jennifer!"

"Yes sir," she said.

As they turned and left, Taylor thought he saw a look of concern in Elizabeth's eyes.

Taylor started off for the sculpture area at a run. He saw people all around him, but he was on his guard now, and didn't let any get near him.

As he got closer to the sculpture yard he heard voices yelling.

"Boing boing! Boing boing! Do you like the pain? Does the pain make you feel good? Boing boing! Boing boing! Boing boing!"

Taylor burst into the sculpture yard, and saw a terrible sight.

The two scientists were on the ground. They were surrounded by people who were kicking them, beating them, punching them, and slamming blocks of wood into them. At the same time there were people with their hands on the heads of the fallen scientists, yelling "Boing boing! Boing boing!" at the top of their lungs.

The ground around them was red with blood.

Taylor drew his compression pistol, set it to maximum, and blew apart a statue just feet away.

That got their attention. Some of them turned and faced him.

"Do you like pain?" one of them shouted.

"Boing boing! Boing boing! Boing boing!" the crowd cried.

And then they rushed him.

Survey Service training kicked in. Taylor instinctively held his arm up to his face and rapidly fired off shots. He hadn't had time to reset his pistol; each shot ripped through the body of an attacker.

Five people were blown to pieces before they could reach him. But they were too many. They started grabbing him and punching him. Someone grabbed his pistol away. He started to go down under the blows of madmen.

And then there was a shout, and someone in front of him exploded. And then another person exploded, and another after him.

The mob turned tail and ran, leaving a pile of bodies behind them.

Ensign Bill Collins and two crewmen stood there, with smoking compression guns.

"Captain, are you all right?" said Collins.

"Yes, I'm all right," said Taylor, feeling blood on his forehead. Blood was spilling on his face, but it wasn't a deep wound. "See to the scientists."

There was nothing to see too. Asimov and Clarke had both been beaten to a pulp. The crowd had beaten them to death and fed on their pain.

"What kind of crazy place is this?" Collins asked, gasping as he saw the dead bodies.

"It's the kind that we don't want to spend any more time with. Let's... let's get back to the ship."

"What about the bodies, sir?" Collins asked.

Taylor shook his head. They would be very vulnerable carrying the bodies to the ship. They would leave them here, and come back later, in force, to retrieve the bodies. "We will return for them. First I want to make sure that everyone else gets to the ship safely." They started off at a run.

********

There were a lot of scared scientists and crewman lining up to get into the waiting shuttles. The Devonshire had two shuttles and one of them was rapidly being filled to capacity while the second was landing. It would take more than one trip to bring everyone back. Taylor immediately ordered a defensive perimeter set up around the landing area. Survey Service crewmen drew compression rifles from the shuttle and circled the landing zone in a tight circle.

Doctor McCrae emerged from the newly arrived shuttle with Gouda in tow even as scared scientists rushed aboard it.

"Michael! Are you all right?" said McCrae. Without waiting for an answer, he started to inspect Taylor's head wound.

"I'm fine. I... where is Lieutenant Babangida? And where is Jennifer and Doctor Shaw?"

At that moment Elizabeth came running up to them, in the company of another scientist named Wade Tanner. Elizabeth's clothes were torn, and her hair, which was normally in a bun, was coming apart.

"Elizabeth! Doctor Shaw! What happened? Where's Jennifer?" Taylor asked.

Elizabeth struggled to get her breath. Finally she spoke. "We were attacked. By a mob. Jennifer and Ensign... Ensign Tanaka, who was escorting Wade... drove them off, so we could escape...."

"What direction?"

Elizabeth pointed, her chest heaving, unintentionally causing her small breasts to stick out prominently.

"Fulton, Myers, with me," said Taylor.

"Michael! You're not going to take on a mob, are you?" McCrae yelled after him.

Taylor didn't answer.

********

[Ten minutes earlier]

As Jennifer and Elizabeth had rushed back to the shuttle, the crowd around them grew increasingly menacing. Jennifer and Elizabeth had linked up with Suki Tanaka and Wade Tanner, but only Jennifer and Suki were armed.

"I like your softies," said one man.

"Thanks," said Jennifer, fast walking back to the ship. She couldn't help but notice the growing crowd that was keeping pace with her.

"I like your softies too," said a second man, looking at the curves of Jennifer's uniform.

"That's great," said Jennifer, not liking the look of the mob.

Suddenly, their way was blocked by two big men.

"I'm Dani," said one.

"And I'm Fulgi," said the other.

"Do you like Shulpapa?" Dani asked.

Jennifer looked at the crowd as it closed in. She realized they were about to be taken. She raised her compression pistol and made eye contact with Suki, who did the same. "Elizabeth!" said Jennifer. "When I say run, you and Wade run."

"What?"

There was no time to say any more. Jennifer and Suki opened fire, and started gunning the crowd down. They would have made their Survey Service marksmanship trainer proud. They stood shoulder to shoulder, emotionlessly gunning down everything in a 45 degree angle, clearing a path.

"Run!" Jennifer cried.

Elizabeth only blinked twice before she grabbed Wade by the hand and ran through the crowd. The crowd converged on Jennifer and Suki, and Elizabeth heard the sounds of more compression pistol shots, until suddenly the guns went silent.

********

Jennifer and Suki were sexually aroused, reliving memories in their minds. Jennifer was reliving an experience she had had with her husband Michael, the day he had proposed to her. He had gotten on bended knee and asked her to marry him. At the time, it had been the happiest moment of her life. Jennifer had said yes, and then they cried and hugged each other, and then Michael had made sweet love to her. Jennifer had spread her legs and smiled as he pounded into her. It was such a sweet taking... so sweet to be taken, by the one she loved....

Suki was back on the Bonadventure. Mark Waters was pounding into her in the small cargo bay, in the third module of the tri-module scoutship.

"No, Mark," she had said. "Sean might come by."

"Let him come," Waters chuckled.

"No..." she moaned, but it was just a moan. His lips were on hers. He had taken her so many times, that her resistance was just a ritual. She smiled as he kissed her again while banging her especially hard.

"Captain's girl... Captain's girl... Captain's girl... so helpless... so needy...."

"Yes... yes... yessssss....." Suki hissed. She felt the pain, and the pleasure.

His eyes, burrowing into hers.