Journey to Year 1,000,000,000 Ch. 06

"Eight days," Taylor said to Victor, as they were sitting in the cafeteria. "It sounds impossible. It was weeks, at least. It had to be."

Victor smiled. "Of course, it felt that way. We were being tortured. You know how slowly time goes by when we're experiencing pain. Conversely, time goes rapidly when we're experiencing pleasure."

"The two should be reversed," said Taylor.

"In a well designed universe, it would," said Victor, smiling at him.

Taylor loved bantering with Victor. "I never got a chance to thank you," said Taylor. "I gave the speech, but you were the one who found the answer. You saved all of us, Victor."

"Yes, I suppose I did," said Victor. "Still, you were part of the solution too. I never could have said it as convincingly as a brave, dashing Survey Service Captain such as yourself."

Taylor glanced sharply at him, but couldn't tell if he was being praised or mocked.

Victor smiled again. "Let's call it a team effort and leave it at that."

Taylor nodded slowly.

"We have a lot of wounds to heal, don't we?" Victor asked.

"Doctor McCrae says the crew is severely stressed, but isn't physically injured," said Taylor.

"That wasn't the kind of wounds I'm talking about," said Victor.

Harder, Obongo, faster!

The image of Babangida thrusting between Jennifer's trembling legs was burned into Taylor's mind.

"They tried to break us up, Michael," said Victor. "Experts in psychological manipulation from eight million years in the future. It's bound to have an effect on crew morale."

"So what should we do about it?" Taylor asked.

"We should talk about it," said Victor. "Go, Michael. Talk to her."

Her.

Taylor had been avoiding Jennifer ever since they had returned to the ship. When he had to talk to her, he said the absolute minimum, and averted his gaze. Perhaps it was time to talk.

He gave a shipwide order. He ordered everyone who had had "troubling experiences" with other crewmembers to meet and talk it out with each other. He reminded the crew that none of them had been responsible for their actions. He told them all to work it out.

Taylor started with Suki Tanaka. He remembered how they had been stimulated to have intercourse in front of his entire bridge crew. He met with her in private in his command office. He saw the apprehension on her face, so he just got right to the point.

"I'm sorry for what happened between us," said Taylor. "It was the influence of the Ascended that made me do it."

"You don't have anything to apologize for, Captain," said Suki sharply, more sharply than she intended. Taylor was trying to deny what happened between them by falsely taking responsibility for it. "I was the one who actually... initiated things," she said.

Taylor nodded reluctantly. "But as your superior officer, I should have... declined. Instead, I encouraged you."

"Not encouraged enough," Suki smiled, sending a thrill through Taylor's body. "Captain, may I speak frankly?"

"Please."

"I can't say being stimulated to have sexual relations in front of you was the most pleasant thing," said Suki. "You now know about my... experiences on the Bonadventure. I trust you'll keep them in the strictest confidence."

"Of course," said Taylor.

"I used to be ashamed by the phrase 'Captain's girl'," said Suki. "But after my experiences on the planet, not anymore."

"No?" said Taylor.

"No."

Suki's eyes were filled with lust now. But it wasn't lust put there by the Ascended. It was the real thing. For a moment, Taylor felt captivated, trapped by it.

"I... I wouldn't mind being a Captain's girl again... to the right Captain," she said, giving him a look brimming with need. She let her hand slide over his.

Taylor was startled. They weren't in a lab, they weren't being experimented on, and they weren't being stimulated by artificial forces. They were on the Devonshire, and a junior officer had just expressed her love for him.

She tried to read his face, even as she played with his hand. "Didn't you like it... at least a little?"

Taylor remembered Suki, lying on her back, a smile plastered on his face, as he plunged into her moist vagina. She felt so good, so tight! And her breasts were so young and firm. He remembered when he climaxed, how they stared into each other's eyes, how they both cried out together-

"Of course," said Taylor. "It was... an unexpected... honor."

Suki frowned, and Taylor realized he had said the wrong thing. He tried to fix it. "But Suki... Suki, I'm your Captain. This is a Survey Service vessel. It's not proper for the Captain-"

"You do it with her!" said Suki accusingly.

Taylor didn't have to ask who her was. "Jennifer and I are friends. Good friends, but just friends." If we're still even that.

Suki looked at him uncertainly. "You... you two never....?"

"No," said Taylor.

She looked at him closely, wondering whether she should believe him.

"Believe me, I'd love to... pursue things... with you," said Taylor. "But as your Captain, I can't. It would destroy crew morale; it would destroy my authority. Surely you can see that."

Suki nodded reluctantly. She pulled her hand away.

"But I want things between us to be the same as before," said Taylor.

"Of course, sir," she said.

Things can never be the same between us as they were before, Taylor thought. Every time he would look at Suki, he would think of staring at her urinating, of plunging between her legs, of squeezing her firm breasts, of coming inside of her, filling her with his sperm-

"Thank you," said Taylor, with a gentle smile. "You're dismissed."

********

"I want to apologize, sir," said Lieutenant Babangida.

Taylor looked up at his security chief.

"I was under the influence of the aliens. I... shouldn't have hit you. I regret it very much," said Babangida.

Taylor noticed that Babangida didn't apologize for having sex with Jennifer. And why should he? Any apologizing in that regard should be to Jennifer, not himself.

Taylor wondered if Babangida had even bothered to apologize to her. There was something between the two of them now; the way they smiled when they looked at each other on the bridge when they thought Taylor wasn't noticing. Taylor recognized the way Jennifer smiled at Babangida. It was the same way she smiled when she looked at Taylor. The way she used to smile when she looked at him. One bond had been severed, and replaced with another.

"-so I'm very, very sorry. Sir," said Babangida.

Taylor looked up. He hadn't been paying attention to a word Babangida had been saying. "Apology accepted."

"Sir?"

"You're dismissed."

********

"So I guess... it's time for our little talk," said Jennifer, looking and sounding uncharacteristically nervous as she sat down opposite his desk.

"I guess it is," said Taylor.

Stay down! Just stay down!

"I'm sorry I... I sent some of my pain shocks over to you."

Some? At the end, Jennifer and Babangida had been directing all their pain shocks at him, and he had been sending his to them. It had been after the incident. The incident where Jennifer and Babangida had made love to each other. After Taylor had been effectively cuckolded.

"The Ascended were... manipulating my mind," said Jennifer.

Just let it happen! Stay down, and let it happen!

Taylor nodded.

"This doesn't change anything between us, or how I feel about you," said Jennifer. She moved to put a hand over his. Taylor looked coldly at her. Jennifer slowly drew back her hand.

"I have the utmost respect for you, you know that, Captain," said Jennifer, giving a nervous smile.

Taylor nodded.

"I like to think that our... special relationship remains intact," said Jennifer.

Just let it happen! Stay down, and let it happen! Taylor watched as Babangida plunged his large black penis into Jennifer's trembling white body. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and moaned, "Harder, Obongo, Faster!" Then she looked mockingly at Taylor and smiled smugly at him.

"You have nothing to worry about," said Taylor, in a neutral voice.

"Good," said Jennifer, giving an uncertain smile. "Sir?"

"You're dismissed."

Jennifer gave him a hurt look as she got up to leave.

********

Oddly enough, Taylor's relationship with his second officer was strengthened by the experience. He and Bill Carey had acquired more mutual respect for each other. Taylor began to wish that he had kept Bill as his first officer and left Jennifer on the Westerner.

********

"A lot of unpleasant things happened to us on the planet," Elizabeth said, as Midge Watson and Wade Tanner sat before her. "The aliens tried to pit some of us against others of us. Some of us gave in more quickly than others of us. Some of us feel that others of us gave in too quickly, too easily."

Wade glared at Midge Watson. It wasn't hard to guess who Elizabeth was referring to.

"But we have to put all that behind us now," said Elizabeth.

"How can we?" said Wade. "Some of us broke our Survey Service oaths and declared loyalty to a foreign power. Can we really overlook that?"

"We can, when it's the result of torture and indoctrination," said Elizabeth. "Anyone can be tortured and broken. I was, if you recall. Do you consider me a traitor, Wade?"

"No," said Wade. "But you held out longer than almost anyone."

"It's not for you to judge how long people should have held out for," said Elizabeth. "These were not normal circumstances. I know we can't forget what happened... but I hope we can forgive."

"And if we can't?" Wade glared at her defiantly.

"Then I'm ordering you to forgive them," said Elizabeth. "We started as a team, and we are a team once again. If I hear of any... factionalism, I will take disciplinary measures. Am I clear?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Yes Elizabeth."

Elizabeth nodded, studying their faces. This was her third such conversation today, and there was still more to come.

********

Elizabeth saved Vincent for last.

"The Captain ordered us to have these... reconciliation meetings, Vincent," said Elizabeth.

"I am so so sorry!" said Vincent suddenly. It all just came spilling out of him. He spoke quickly, babbling like a brook. "I didn't mean to do it! I didn't want to do it! Please, please forgive me! I was under the influence of the Ascended!"

"We all were," said Elizabeth coldly. "And yet, while many of us capitulated to them, you were the only one they were able to convince to inflict pain on others of us."

Others. Meaning her.

"They... they were controlling me." His tone was pleading. His eyes were fixated on her breasts, sticking out through her blouse. Vincent, totally rattled, couldn't control it now.

"They didn't get Professor Tanner to whip any of us. They didn't get Doctor Parker to whip any of us. They only persuaded you, Vincent," said Elizabeth. She paused. "It makes me wonder. It really makes me wonder. Somewhere, deep inside... did you want to do it? Did you enjoy whipping me?"

"No!" said Vincent, his eyes wide.

"You seemed like you did!"

"No, no, I didn't!" Vincent cried.

Elizabeth gave him a hard look. "I don't believe you."

"But you have to!"

"No, I don't," said Elizabeth. "The Captain ordered us to reconcile. Consider us reconciled. But I don't want you anywhere near me, Vincent. I don't want you to be near me in public, and I never want to be alone with you again in private. You say the absolute minimum to me, and I'll do the same. Do you understand?"

"Elizabeth?"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" she practically screamed the words.

"Yes, but-"

"AND STOP STARING AT MY FUCKING BREASTS! THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU STARING AT MY FUCKING BREASTS, I'LL GOUGE YOUR FUCKING EYES OUT. NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" She was screaming, now.

Vincent got up and bolted for the door. He practically barreled into Victor as he ran out into the corridor.