Journey to Year 1,000,000,000 Ch. 09

********

"They certainly look human," said Elizabeth, as they stepped out of the shuttle.

They could see the men and women waiting for them at the end of the white landing platform. Everything was white here.

"Amazing," said Victor. The white strip of the ring fragment continued as far as the eye could see, from their perspective. But when they looked up, they saw the reddish bulk of Mars looming in the sky, as well as the stars. "There must be some kind of force screen keeping the atmosphere in. I could get agoraphobia looking up like this."

"Then don't look up," Doctor McCrae growled. He had insisted on coming along at the last minute.

They walked over to their hosts, a small group of men and women.

"Greetings once again," said their leader. "I am Tammad."

"And I am-"

"Captain Michael Taylor," said Tammad. "And Doctor Elizabeth Shaw, Professor Victor Berman, Doctor William McCrae, Lieutenant Obongo Babangida, Ensign Clay Raleigh, and Crewman Rudy Garrett. Welcome. Please follow me to the reception area."

He took them to an outdoor space which had inclined seating--all in white, of course. The area was ringed by pillars. As they sat down, Taylor looked inquiringly at Tammad.

"Yes, Captain Taylor, we are telepathic. But we are happy to speak to you using verbal communication. It would be an honor."

"An honor?" said Taylor. Out of the corner of his eye he saw McCrae raising a hand scanner.

"You resemble the Original Ones, which we have modeled ourselves after. It is such a pleasure to see your kind again."

"Again?" said Taylor.

"Yes," said Tammad. "Two years ago, our Expedition encountered the valiant crew of the Survey Service Deep Space Cruiser Exeter."

The Exeter. The ship that had returned mysteriously with eight melted bodies on it.

"What happened to them?"

"They all perished, so we think. All except one," said Tammad.

"One?"

"Me, Captain Taylor," said a new voice.

A woman in a full dress Survey Service uniform stepped out from behind a white pillar. She wore Captain's bars. She was tall, good looking, and had brown hair... tied up in a bun. She had more than a passing resemblance to Elizabeth.

Taylor recognized her; he had seen her holo before, in his briefing materials.

"Yes," she said. "I am Captain Audrey Spaulding of the USS Exeter."

Taylor just stared at her.

"Yes. I can read your mind as well. A small upgrade provided by our hosts." She sat down next to him. "But let us talk. Your ship. Your ships. I recognize one of them. The Judicator, which was sent out before mine was. Did you find the crew and join forces with them?"

"No," said Taylor. "The crew was lost. We managed to salvage the ship in the year 22,000,000."

"Probably in one of the previous windows we skipped," said Captain Spaulding. "We really had no idea which window to exit, so we skipped the first two before exiting here. Purely by chance we selected the right place to exit the time tunnel."

Taylor felt a surge of excitement. "Are you saying that the time tunnel is generated from this time period?"

"Most definitely," said Spaulding. "It is a product of the United."

"The United?" said Taylor.

"Alien creatures who have invaded the Earth," said Tammad.

"Alien invaders?" said Taylor. "Can we go back a bit? We need to catch up on nearly five hundred million years of history. Do you have a minute to explain all that?"

"Of course," Captain Spaulding said, smiling at his attempt at humor. "Over hundreds of millions of years, humanity evolved intellectually."

"The creatures with the big brains and bad table manners," said Doctor McCrae. "We met them."

"Yes. They advanced their science as far as they could, but felt frustrated that they could evolve no further," said Spaulding. "Some chose to live their existence in a virtual layer, which I see from your mind you have visited."

"Yes," said Taylor.

"Those who continued to remain on this plane of existence decided they wanted to de-evolve."

"De-evolve?"

"To return to the state of existence that they were before." Spaulding turned to Doctor McCrae. "Doctor McCrae, what do your readings suggest?"

"That these people around us are human. And so are you. Apparently," said Doctor McCrae.

Taylor addressed Tammad. "You've really come full circle? You're just like us?"

"Not exactly like you, Captain. We retain some improvements. Telepathy, for example, and some forms of higher thought. But we are much closer to you, genetically speaking, then the Ascended you met in previous encounters," said Tammad.

"You haven't mentioned these squid creatures who attacked us," said Taylor.

"The United. Our colonies were invaded by a race of beings called the United. They may resemble squids, but only because they choose to."

"Choose to? What does that mean?"

"They are a species which has evolved in a different direction, Captain Taylor," said Tammad. "Each cell in their body has become self-aware."

"Self aware?" said Taylor.

"Consider your brain. It consists of billions of neurons. Each neuron, in and of itself, has no awareness. You only have awareness from your neurons interacting with each other in large numbers," said Tammad. "Now imagine evolution over a period of millions of years. Imagine each neuron becoming self-aware even before it connects to the others."

"The resulting connection would create an extremely self-aware, self actualized mind," said Victor.

"What would that kind of consciousness be like?" Taylor asked.

"We can't even imagine," said Tammad. "Very highly evolved." He paused. "But that wasn't the only result of evolution of the United. The cells in their body are not only self aware, but also mutable. They can change into any form."

"So... they choose to look like giant squids."

"Yes," said Tammad. "Now that they have converted Earth into a water environment, they find that form best suits their needs.

"And what of humanity?" Victor asked.

"We're scattered among the stars. We're fighting back in some places. Conquered in others. Simply left alone in still others. It is a big galaxy," said Tammad. "I lead the Expedition to Earth, to reclaim our former homeland from the United."

"Even if it is all underwater," said Victor.

"Yes," said Tammad. "But that is easily fixable, if we reclaim the Earth."

"Oh, an easy fix, to be sure," said Victor. His smile faded when he saw that no one else realized he was joking.

"So these... United created the Black Box," said Taylor.

"Yes," said Tammad.

"Why?"

"To draw people in from Earth's past," said Tammad.

"For what purpose?" Taylor asked.

"Entertainment," said Tammad.

"Entertainment?" That was the very last answer Taylor had been expecting.

"They used them in games of chance and death," said Tammad. "They alter them genetically in unusual experiments."

"If their consciousness is so advanced, why would they feel the need to do these things?" Taylor asked.

"They are alien. Who is to say?" said Tammad. "For years they have caught my people and used them for their amusement. But now they seem to want a greater variety of entertainment. So they opened what you call the time tunnel to draw in your crews."

Taylor turned to Captain Spaulding. "Captain, the Exeter came back to us, but there were only eight crew aboard, and they were dead. Did you send the ship back in time?"

"No," said Spaulding. "That was their work."

"Why?" Taylor asked.

"We do not know," said Tammad. "There is much of the motivations of the United that we do not understand."

"Captain Spaulding. I see only you here... where is the rest of your crew?" Taylor asked.

Spaulding bit her lip and looked away, obviously overcome with emotion.

"Captain, I asked you a question," said Taylor.

"They are gone," said Spaulding, looking very upset.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked.

"Captain Spaulding came to us to ask for our help," said Tammad. "While we were meeting with her, her ship was attacked and seized by the United."

"And the crew?"

Spaulding shook her head.

"By now, they have probably all been used up by the United," said Tammad.

"A Captain should never outlive her crew... but I did," said Spaulding, her face heavy with emotion. "I... I tried to stage a rescue, with the help of Tammad's people, but their main base is too heavy fortified."

"We are not skilled fighters," said Tammad. "We have lost much of what you call the aggressive instinct. So we reached back into Earth's past to find one who could help us." He saw the look of confusion on Taylor's face. "Alex, perhaps you should introduce yourself."

One of Tammad's men, a tall, sandy haired man with broad shoulders, stood up and nodded.

"Who are you?" Taylor asked.

"My name is Alex Stone," said the man.

Taylor still looked confused.

Spaulding turned to Taylor. "He is Colonel Alex Stone."

Taylor said... "That Alex Stone? The hero of the Ramandan wars?" He looked at Stone. "But... by our time frame, you died forty years ago."

"Yes, I did," said Stone. "But right before I died, Tammad's people came back in time using their own means and brought me here. They rejuvenated me to make me young again. There has been no corruption of the timeline; my remaining minutes of life were not memorable ones."

Taylor's eyes narrowed. He certainly looked like textbook holos of Alex Stone. In the year five hundred million, anything was possible.

Taylor turned back to Spaulding. "It is obvious the Earth was not destroyed by the Black Box. Do we still have a mission to complete?"

"I believe so," said Spaulding. "From what I gather, the Black Box eventually faded about a year after we left. But the resulting shockwaves killed several million people. We have to stop that from happening."

"The United have set up their main base on the ruined planet of Corta," said Tammad. "It has an impenetrable shield, unless one has the proper elemental code. Our scientists have deciphered the code, and it is just a matter of getting the proper elements. Unfortunately, as I have said, we are not skilled fighters, and Colonel Stone is only one man. If we could work together... we could wipe out the United headquarters, and shut down the time tunnel."

"That sounds like a good plan," said Taylor.

********

"Do you think we can trust them?" said Bill Carey. He appeared in the Judicator's conference room by holo.

"No," said Taylor.

"No?" said Victor, sounding very surprised.

"After what we've been through? I don't trust anyone," said Taylor. "For all we know, these are simply a different set of aliens with their own agendas."

"They did scan as humans," said Victor.

"Apparently, I said," said Doctor McCrae. "The United may not be the only ones with molecular shape changing technology. In this era, they could turn themselves into a bowl of fruit and we'd never know until we took a bite out of them."

"So, you are going to decline their offer?" Victor asked.

"No, we'll accept their help, if indeed they are really helping us," said Taylor. "We are obviously far outmatched technologically. We can't do this on our own. We'll accept their offer of help, but we'll do so with caution."

"Captain Spaulding vouches for them," said Jennifer.

"Or something which looks just like Captain Spaulding does," said McCrae. "And do you really believe that's Colonel Alex Stone?"

"He looks just like his image in the holobooks," said Victor.

"We've learned not to trust the evidence of our eyes since we've started this journey," said Taylor. "As I said, we'll proceed with caution. I will take a combat team of ten men lead by Lieutenant Babangida to retrieve the elements we need to breach the Corta defense shield. Bill, you'll stay with the Devonshire to provide support. Jennifer, you will take command of the Judicator."

"That is all."

********

Except, it wasn't all. Jennifer came to see him in his command office shortly after the meeting.

"Take me with you," she said.

"No, Jennifer," he looked at her. "You were angry with me when you didn't get command of the Judicator. And now I'm giving it to you."

"Take me with you, Michael," she said.

Taylor looked at her. She seemed so earnest.

"Why?"

"You're going to need me," she said.

Taylor leaned back in his chair. "You think I'm going to need you? Or are you thinking of Obongo?"

Jennifer sucked her lips and looked at the ceiling for a moment, her hands on her hips. Then she turned back to Taylor. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about Obongo. But it's not just about him. You need me, Michael. Just like you needed me in the cave. You need me to watch your back."

She looked at him with earnest eyes. "Please."

Taylor paused a long moment. He looked at her gorgeous face. He drummed his fingers on his desk. Finally, he nodded curtly. "All right."

"Thank you, Captain," said Jennifer, with gratitude in her eyes.

Taylor nodded. "I just hope we both don't regret it." He paused. "Inform Ensign Collins he is about to go down in history as the first Ensign to command a battle cruiser."

"Not Suki?"

"No, not Suki."

********

Their first stop was the crescent moon of Sorim, somewhere between the orbit of Mars and Saturn.

Over 500,000,000 years, mankind, and its successors, had sculpted and reshaped the solar system. The big gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune had been solidified, moved closer to the sun, and terraformed. But additionally, all sorts of artificial structures had been constructed in space, like the rings of Mars. As the years progressed, new planetoids and moons were created.

One such moon was Sorim. It was very oddly shaped. It looked like the moon when it was three quarters in eclipse; it was shaped almost like the letter C.

It was only twenty miles long. One tip of it was heavily fortified with United soldiers. They would have to land at the unguarded other end and march to the fortress from there, walking nearly the entire length of the "C".

The air was breathable, but the terrain was barren and rocky. It looked and felt like the surface of the moon, except the air was breathable.

"This used to be a lush planetoid filled with trees and fields and homes," said Tammad.

"Homes?" said Taylor.

"There were thousands of these, scattered throughout the solar system. People would build planetoids, and then place homes on them."

"Real estate in the year 500,000,000," said Jennifer. "Wow," she added, with a smile.

They had landed on the unoccupied tip. Looking at the other tip, they saw little dots moving in the distance. Taylor looked at them through his magnifiers. They were squids, giant squids, swarming all over the place. His men would be outnumbered.

Taylor had his ten men... and Jennifer. Alex Stone and Captain Spaulding had also both volunteered to help. Tammad had brought a half dozen members of his Expedition... for a total of 20 men and women. Taylor just hoped it would be enough.

Tammad had informed them that the United would likely use stun weapons on them. The United considered them a valuable commodity and wanted them taken alive.

Right now at one tip, they were only about four miles from the second tip, if one floated through space. But they would have to walk around the circumference of the "C" shaped moon to get to the other tip, which was probably a two day walk. Taylor had wanted to land them closer to the other tip, but Tammad had warned them that there might be United snipers along the way who could disable their ship.

And so they walked. The ground was soft and crunchy, like the lunar surface. As they walked, the Survey Service crew found themselves talking with their new allies.

Taylor found himself walking with Captain Audrey Spaulding. "So how do you come to be here, Lieutenant Commander?" she asked. "I have to confess, I have never seen a Lieutenant Commander in command of a battle cruiser before."

"I was originally in command of the Devonshire," said Taylor.

"Nor have I ever heard of a Lieutenant Commander in command of a Dorsetshire class attack frigate," said Spaulding.

From anyone else it would have sounded like a reproach. But as Taylor looked at Spaulding and looked at the twinkle in her eyes, he realized something.

She's flirting with me.

Could it really be?

Taylor's suspicions were confirmed the more they talked.

"I imagine you were selected for this mission because of your heroic behavior on that undiscovered world," said Spaulding.

Heroic. No one in the Survey Service had ever used that word to describe his behavior in impersonating a deity. But when he looked into Spaulding's eyes, and saw the admiration, he felt a chill down his spine.

"I requested you, you know," she said.

"Requested me?" said Taylor.

"To serve on the Exeter," said Spaulding.

"You did?"

"Yes." Spaulding smiled at him, and he felt another secret thrill. "But by the time I had an opening in my command staff, you had already been given command of the Westerner."

"You... really wanted me to be on your ship?" Taylor said.

"Um hm," said Spaulding.

Taylor risked another glance at her. She looked so much like Elizabeth. She had a slightly longer face, but the same green eyes. And the same brown hair, even the same bun! Well, almost the same. Elizabeth's bun was larger and thicker. Somehow that made her more...

No, mustn't think that! Not about a fellow officer.

"Your behavior on that planet where you crash landed was above and beyond the call of duty. You saved your passengers, and thousands of people from slavery. I can't think of any other officer in the fleet who could have done what you did. Your performance was exemplary," said Spaulding.

"Thank you, Captain, I'm... really flattered to hear that," said Taylor.

Spaulding stopped and touched his hand. Taylor's heart speeded up.

"Please," said Spaulding. "Between us, when we're alone? You can call me Audrey."

"Audrey," said Taylor. Is this really proper? Should we be so familiar with each other? "Michael," he managed to get out.

"Michael," she said. And her smile, the way she said it turned Taylor on incredibly.

********

"Lieutenant Jennifer Hale," said Jennifer.

"What a lovely name," said Colonel Alex Stone. "Call me Alex."

"All right... Alex," said Jennifer. "But only if you call me Jennifer," she said, with a titter.

Alex Stone was incredibly handsome. He was tall, sandy haired, and had broad shoulders. She had read about his exploits in her school holobooks as a little girl and had been smitten with him. To meet him in the flesh was incredible for her.

"What does it feel like to still be alive, and fighting battles five hundred million years in the future?" Jennifer asked

"Amazing," said Alex. "The things I've seen... I can't even find words to describe some of them, Jennifer. I thought my life was finished. I had served the Survey Service, and Earth. These people have given me a second life. I owe them a lot."

"Earth owes you a lot, too, Alex," said Jennifer.

He nodded, but changed the subject. "What brings you here, Jennifer?"

"The same thing as you. The Survey Service."

"No," said Alex, and he looked into her eyes. "What brings you here?"

She flushed. "My commander. Michael Taylor."

"I sensed a bond between the two of you."

"We're friends. Very good friends," said Jennifer.

"And the other?"

"What other?" Jennifer asked.

"Tammad's people augmented me, and Captain Spaulding," said Stone. "They gave me rudimentary telepathic abilities."

"You... you've been reading my mind?" said Jennifer, blushing a deeper shade of crimson.