Journey to Year 1,000,000,000 Ch. 08

"Are you all right?" Taylor asked anxiously.

Elizabeth nodded, sucking in her lips.

Taylor started to perform the mating ritual, pounding into her furry muff with increasing vigor and enthusiasm with every thrust. It was as if his penis disappeared into a forest, only to reappear again seconds later. He loved the wetness, the friction, as he pounded into her hairy slit.

"Oooooh" Elizabeth cried, as her breasts heaved and she leaned backwards, fluttering her eyelids.

"Is it hurting you?" Taylor asked anxiously.

"No, it's just... I... I didn't know it could be this way," she said.

This way? Could Elizabeth be a virgin?

Taylor pumped her more vigorously.

"I wanted it to be you," she said, looking into his eyes. "I wanted you to be my first."

"Your first?" said Taylor.

"Almost first," said Elizabeth. "I've only done it once before. It barely counted. I've been attracted to you, Michael, ever since we met. I just couldn't bring myself to make the first move. Ooooh!" Her face grew pained. "I'm getting closer, Michael, closer!" She closed her eyes, lost in the feeling of being impaled by Taylor's hard tool. Elizabeth started to buckle, and yell louder, and soon she was shaking and trembling as she achieved her climax.

"Oh, oh, oh ohohohohoohoh OOOOOHHHHH!" Elizabeth cried, at the top of her lungs. No one within a half mile could have any doubt what was happening inside her tent. She had climaxed in just a matter of seconds.

Taylor smiled down at her as he pulled out. He hadn't climaxed, but for now, that didn't matter.

"Michael, tell me... is that how sex always is?" Elizabeth asked.

"It... it can be," said Taylor.

"I... I've missed out on so much," said Elizabeth.

Taylor smiled shyly. "How is the thing on your back?"

"It... it's getting looser. I feel it... I feel it starting to lose control over me."

"What can we do to get it off you entirely?" Taylor asked.

"It's... it's telling me what to do," said Elizabeth, rolling over so she was on top.

"It's telling you how to be rid of it?"

"It's hard to explain in words... maybe it would just be better if I show you," said Elizabeth shyly. She mounted him with a knowing smile to match his confused look. And then Elizabeth did what she didn't think possible: she grabbed his organ, which was still hard, and toyed with it, smiling at him.

Taylor stared at her with enormous surprise. He was still surprised when Elizabeth inserted it into herself, and started to ride him. Taylor watched as her small breasts bounced up and down as she rode him. Her rider pulsated and glowed on her back, sucking up her nutrients and energy as she worked up and down on Taylor's penis.

Slowly but surely Elizabeth worked her way to an orgasm. This time when she came again, they both did, looking into each other's faces with pained smiles on their faces. "Oh, oh," said Taylor.

"I feel it too!" Elizabeth cried. "Yes, yes..."

"Yes!" They both cried at the same time.

********

It took a full minute before Taylor could think again. "The thing on your back?"

"You mean this?" Elizabeth held it in her hand now. It was as stiff as a board and lifeless. She tossed it to the ground.

"You saved me. In more ways than one," said Elizabeth, hugging him.

"And Vincent."

"Yes, and Vincent."

********

And so Taylor and Elizabeth officially became a couple. It was awkward when Jennifer came up to him the next morning and gave him a hug. "Oh, Michael, I'm so happy for you," she said. Of course, she had to know. They all knew. The whole camp had heard Elizabeth's earth shattering climax. But it was still embarrassing.

"Thanks," said Taylor gruffly. He knew what Jennifer was thinking. Now that his own sexual needs were being taken care of, he could no longer be angry with her. Or could he?

Taylor and Victor talked after breakfast.

"What's going on here, Victor?" Taylor asked. "This Ascended base appeared out of nowhere."

Victor looked thoughtful. "The best I can figure out is that the planet created the Ascended who kidnapped Elizabeth."

"Can it do that? Create people?"

Victor shrugged. "It can create living dolls who hang from trees, perfect replicas of us except without any self awareness. I'd say the planet could do just about anything."

"But why, Victor?"

"It gives us what we need."

"We needed Elizabeth to get kidnapped?" said Taylor.

Victor smiled. "Elizabeth was alone, and miserable. You were alone, and also miserable. Now, what's changed, Michael?"

"We are... together." A thought struck Taylor. "Victor, are you saying this planet was... playing matchmaker with me and Elizabeth?"

Victor shrugged. "Occam's Razor, Michael. The simplest explanation is usually the right one."

"I don't know if that's the simplest explanation, Victor."

Victor put a hand on his shoulder. "Michael, would you accept some advice?"

"Sure, Victor."

He smiled again. "Why don't you take a short break from trying to figure it out, and just spend some time enjoying it?"

********

And so Taylor spent his days with Elizabeth. They worked together, harvesting food during the day, they talked together, and of course, they slept together.

Taylor had been worried that without the influence of the parasite, Elizabeth wouldn't enjoy sex as much. He worried about his ability to please her.

He needn't have. The next night when she shyly started to kiss him, to let him know that she wanted do it again, he readily complied. Soon he was sliding in and out of her. She was so moist, so hot! He loved the way her body slickened and her breasts jostled as he had his way with her. Elizabeth's eyes were half closed as she focused on the physical sensation, giving low moans that built up to a crescendo, at the precise moment that the feeling of Taylor's shaft rubbing against her clitoris brought her to a rip-roaring peak.

"Ooooooooh!" she cried out, her breasts heaving, as she climaxed again. And a moment later, so did Taylor.

As they lay together, hugging in the darkness, she said, "Is it always like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... does each time always get better than the time before it?"

Taylor was secretly pleased.

********

It was only later that he learned the details of the man who cost Elizabeth her virginity She had had a one time experience with a man named Henry who entered and left her life after their first sexual encounter, which left Elizabeth with feelings of inadequacy and emotionally scarred her for life.

"That's it?" said Taylor, when he heard her tell the tale. They were lying together, nude, in his tent. "That's why you're so... uptight about sex? Because one idiot disappeared after one rollabout?"

"I'm not uptight about sex," said Elizabeth.

Taylor laughed hysterically.

"What?"

"You are the most uptight woman I know!"

"I am not!"

Taylor grabbed her hair bun, and shook it. "That symbolizes it more than everything. Do you ever let it down?"

"Sometimes... when I shower."

"Let me do it," said Taylor suddenly.

"Do what?" said Elizabeth

"Take your bun virginity."

"Well, I don't know...."

"I do," said Taylor. And he put his hands over her head into her bun, and as he unraveled it he stared into her eyes. And then in seconds Elizabeth felt her hair dropping to her shoulders.

"You are so beautiful," he said, seeing for the first time how her brown hair lovingly framed her angular face. He looked down at her small, rounded breasts, her furry pubis, and saw her in a whole new light. "So beautiful, so sexy."

And Elizabeth was so turned on by the taking of her bun virginity that she tripped him up again right then and there.

********

They shared details about their personal lives. Elizabeth told him about Vincent.

"I wouldn't blame him either. If I were around you all the time I would stare at them too," said Taylor, fondling her titties.

Elizabeth laughed and slapped him playfully.

"You really should forgive him, Elizabeth. He risked his life to help me rescue you," said Taylor.

"He whipped me, Michael. He whipped me, and he loved it."

"He's smitten with you. Forgive him. That's an order, from your Captain." He kissed her around her neck.

"You can't give an order like that," Elizabeth chuckled.

"Then consider it an order from your lover," said Taylor. He slid a hand between her legs, into her wetness. He started to play with her clitoral hood. "Forgive him."

"No," said Elizabeth.

He rubbed her more insistently. "Forgive him!"

Elizabeth gasped.

"Forgive him!" he repeated.

"Oh... ohhhh, Michael," she said, her head falling back.

"Will you forgive him?"

"Kiss me, Michael," she said. "Kiss me, and I'll do anything you ask."

Taylor pressed his lips against hers, and Elizabeth felt as if she were being propelled through space and time.

********

The next morning, Elizabeth ambled out of her tent. She felt wonderfully sore. And the first person she saw was....

"Vincent!"

"I wasn't staring at you! Honest!" said Vincent.

"Vincent, come here!" said Elizabeth.

Vincent looked reluctant.

"Vincent! Come!" said Elizabeth.

He fearfully walked over to her.

"Closer."

He took a step forward.

"More."

He took another step.

"Almost there."

Vincent took another step, and now he was face to face with Elizabeth.

"Good," said Elizabeth. "Now... for once in your life, stop looking down at my breasts. Look at my face, Vincent. Women have those too, you know."

Vincent forced himself to look into her eyes.

"There, that's better," said Elizabeth. And then she did the most unexpected thing.

She hugged him.

********

Once Elizabeth opened up to Taylor about her past, he did the same. He told her about Pam.

"And she dropped you, just like that? Right after having sex?" Elizabeth was incredulous.

"I think she was trying to be kind," said Taylor.

"I think she was being a real cunt, pardon my language."

Taylor laughed.

Elizabeth looked into his eyes. "You... you still love her, don't you?"

Taylor looked away.

"After all she did to you, you still love her," said Elizabeth. "And what about Jennifer?"

Taylor sighed, and told her the story. Elizabeth's eyes widened as he told her of their experiences in the cave, and how Jennifer told him she loved him, and how he carried that burden around for more than a year, until he saw her with Babangida, and found out the truth.

"I... I always thought there was something special between the two of you," said Elizabeth.

"I thought so too," said Taylor.

"I think... she just wanted to be friends."

"Yes, that's what every man likes to hear from a woman he's attracted to," said Taylor.

"You love her too, don't you?" said Elizabeth.

Taylor didn't answer.

"I'm not jealous," said Elizabeth. "Not anymore. Pam is 22 million years in that direction. And Jennifer, well, now Jennifer might just as well be. She's equally unobtainable. I'm just happy we're together," she said, and she hugged him.

"You've changed," said Taylor. "Ever since I took your virginity, you've become a different woman."

"Technically speaking, you did not take my virginity," said Elizabeth, giving him a sly look. "Henry got there first, however briefly."

"Oh, you had five minutes of sex life before you met me," said Taylor. "You barely even knew what a penis looked like!"

"That's not true!" said Elizabeth defensively, smiling as Taylor flirted with her. "I kind of got a glance... that first time. You sir, did not take my virginity."

"Oh, but I beg to differ. I took your most important virginity of all. Your bun virginity," said Taylor. She looked so beautiful now. Now that Taylor had conquered her, she let her hair down all the time. She looked ten years younger, like a completely different woman.

Elizabeth laughed and kissed him.

But one night when they were cuddling... afterwards... Elizabeth said, "Michael, don't be angry with me."

"I'm not, unless you're going to tell me you're secretly in love with Obongo Babangida."

Elizabeth laughed. "You're funny, you know that? I never realized that. Oh, I knew you were brave and handsome, but funny? I have to add that to your list of good qualities."

Taylor reddened. "You were telling me about something?"

"Yes, dear," she said, laying her head on his chest. "When I was captured by the Ascended, they told me that they had the Judicator crew."

"What?" said Taylor, sitting up abruptly. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I was afraid you'd go after them," said Elizabeth.

"Tell me everything," he commanded.

********

"I don't know, Michael," said Victor. "Could you be injured in a rescue attempt? Could you be killed?"

"Victor, if the crew of the Judicator is at that workcamp, we have to help them."

"Yes, but are they? Or is this another game created by the planet? Those Judicator survivors, which Elizabeth admits she never saw, by the way, could be as real as the sex dolls we pick from trees. We know this planet can create things for us; more than that, it can create scenarios. This may simply be another one. One that could involve personal risk, if it's realistic enough."

"Everything you're saying may be true, Victor," said Taylor. "But if there's even a chance the crew of the Judicator is alive, I have to go after them. It's deep in the DNA of the Survey Service. We don't leave our people behind."

He remembered that vividly, when he had been stranded on PR-52981, without any hope of rescue. And then the USS Caledonia landed, and Captain Margaery Chung, in her Survey Service finest, came off her ship, led by an entourage of Survey Service Marines. The sight of her, in her fancy dress uniform, being escorted by marines to rescue him, was an awe inspiring sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.

"I thought that would be your answer, Michael," said Victor. "Just be careful, please."

********

They were all volunteers. A dozen men with compression rifles. And Vincent was one of them. Taylor was rapidly becoming more and more impressed by the young scientist. Bill Carey and Obongo Babangida also volunteered.

They marched north. After an hour, they came to the mountain that hadn't been there before, as well as the workcamp that hadn't been there before. Taylor peered at the scene through magnifiers.

He saw them, all right. Men in torn and ripped uniforms, hauling rock out of a mine entrance.

"They're using them to mine?" said Taylor. He turned to Bill Carey. "This is like something out of a bad 20th century drama serial. No one has used physical labor for mining in centuries."

"It may be a created scenario, but that doesn't mean that those Ascended weapons can't kill," said Carey, pointing to Ascended sentries who held rifles.

Except that was wrong too. The Ascended didn't have guns. They didn't need them.

Taylor was tempted to call the whole thing off. It all just felt so... unreal.

But his sense of duty pushed him on. He couldn't leave them behind not knowing... not knowing if the Judicator crew were real.

He split his team up into two groups of five, one under his command, and the other under Bill Carey's. There were three guards on the left, and four on the right, and perhaps more they couldn't see in a series of tents.

Taylor raised a fist, counted to three with his hand, and gave a wave.

It could have been a textbook Survey Service operation. The Ascended fell quickly, one falling after another. After the perimeter guards were taken out, one group rushed into the tents, while another went to round up the prisoners.

Taylor was with the group who ran into the tents. By the time he got there, he saw two Ascended on the ground.

And then... that was it.

They had won.

********

There were ninety four survivors from the Judicator, including Captain Robert Andrews. For a moment, Taylor wondered how they would feed them all. Then he realized the planet would quickly adjust and increase the number of cooked steaks and potatoes coming out of the ground.

The men (they were mostly men), looked haggard, and exhausted, as one would expect of men who had been used as slave labor. But Taylor recognized Captain Andrews, who he had briefly met once, long ago in Perth.

"Captain? Captain Andrews?"

The older man, covered in dust, turned to face Taylor. "Yes?"

"I'm Captain Michael Taylor, of the USS Devonshire," said Taylor.

"Devonshire," said Andrews. "Why Devonshire?"

What an odd question.

"We were sent into-"

"Yes, yes of course I have heard of the Devonshire. But it's an odd choice," said Andrews. And he looked at Taylor. "And you, too, are quite an unusual selection. I have heard of you, of course. Perhaps that's it."

Captain Andrews sounded a little disoriented. Which was understandable, given what he had went through.

"We have an encampment, about an hour south of here. Can you make it?"

"An hour?" said Andrews. "Why so long?"

"Why so long?" said Taylor, looking confused.

Andrews sighed. "That's a realistic distance, I guess. All right, we'll go."

As they started walking, Carey approached Taylor. "Sir? Notice anything... strange about these people?"

"They seem a little... lost."

"Like they don't really care. They don't seem happy to be rescued," said Carey.

"We don't know how long they were held prisoner for. We don't know what was done to them. We have to find out what happened here," said Taylor.

********

When they got back to camp, Elizabeth ran up to Taylor and hugged him. He was still surprised by the change in her. She had become a completely different person. The shy scientist with her hair in a bun was gone, replaced by an expressive, sexually vibrant and emotional woman. All she needed was a little vaginal intercourse to unbind her truly outgoing nature.

But Taylor wasn't nearly as happy when he saw Jennifer run up and hug Obongo. "I was so worried about you," she told him, casting a quick glance at Taylor.

"He's fine. We're all fine," said Taylor, with a frown. "It was a textbook Survey Service operation."

Except, it wasn't. It was easy. Way too easy. It reminded Taylor of their arrival in orbit, when they had blasted one enemy ship after another without difficulty.

"Jennifer! See that these men get food and water."

"Yes, Michael."

Captain.

Taylor felt uneasy with so many strangers in his encampment. The newcomers outnumbered his crew. But they were all Survey Service. If they were Survey Service.

Taylor sat down next to Captain Andrews, who was wolfing down his food. "Captain Andrews?"

"Yes?" said Andrews, looking at Taylor as if he were a stranger. "I'm trying to eat. Can we do this later?"

"I was just wondering if we could talk," said Taylor.

"All right," said Andrews. "What do you want?" He looked at Taylor. "Have we met before?"

"Yes. At the Tactics Conference in Perth. I came up to you after your lecture-"

"That explains it," said Andrews. "That's why you're here."

"What's why I'm here?" said Taylor.

"Never mind that. Ask your questions," said Andrews, talking while he chewed.

"How long were you a prisoner of the Ascended?"

"The Ascended? Is that what you call them?" One of Andrew's men snorted.

"What did you call them?"

Andrews shrugged. "The big heads."

Something wasn't right here.

"How many years were you their prisoner?" Taylor asked.

Andrews tried to think. "Seven... maybe eight."

"Years?" said Taylor.

"No, hours."

"Hours? Are you joking?" said Taylor.

Andrews made a face. "Who thought this one up? Stillwell, did you think him up?"

"No, Captain," said one of the men.

"Barnaby?"