Journey to Year 1,000,000,000 Ch. 10

And suddenly, the loss of Obongo didn't feel quite as acute as it did just a minute ago.

********

Their next destination was another small, artificial planetoid named Sorshim, following Tammad and his men who were flying in small space bubbles ahead of them. But they didn't know exactly where they were going yet, because Sorshim actually moved. Tammad warned Taylor that it might take a few days to find it.

As they waited, Taylor talked to Victor in his command office.

"If you believe it's a trap, why are we going to this... Sorshim?" Victor asked.

"Because I don't know any other way of breaching the defenses of the United," said Taylor. "But I don't trust this Expedition. They want something from us, something they're not telling us. I can feel it."

Victor's eyebrows narrowed and he frowned. "Michael, you say you're suspicious because you defeated the United too easily. Now let me ask you a question: if I dropped you with a concussion pistol in the middle of the African savannah, one filled with lions and tigers, how long would you last?" Victor asked.

"Not very long."

"But why? You have the more advanced weaponry; and surely you are more evolved than lions and tigers."

"I get your point," said Taylor. "That evolution doesn't necessary go together with military prowess. But... there was just something odd about it. They were shouting at us, Victor. Shouting at us, practically begging us to show them aggression. It was as if they wanted to be killed."

"I don't know, Michael. We're talking about an alien psychology, an alien psychology 500,000,000 years in the future. Speaking realistically, it's amazing we can even understand them at all." Victor paused. "If you don't trust the expedition, what about Colonel Alex Stone?"

"I don't know," said Taylor. "He did save my life, apparently."

"Well, we're just going to have to tack on the word apparently to everything that happens to us, aren't we?" Victor grinned. "But what do your instincts tell you about him?"

"My instincts? I don't know. That he's a good man," said Taylor.

"And what about Captain Audrey Spaulding?"

"A good woman. A very good woman," said Taylor.

"So how do you explain it if a good man and a very good woman are in league with the Expedition, conspiring to do something terrible to us?"

"I can't. Not yet," said Taylor. "We have recovered one of the three elements, and by tomorrow we should be at the location of the second one. Hopefully the truth will reveal itself soon enough."

"The truth always reveals itself, sooner or later," said Victor. "But in time to do something about it? Not often enough," he said, smiling thinly.

********

Two days later, Jennifer and Alex Stone were having lunch in the cafeteria. Victor and Taylor were sitting two tables away.

"Jennifer seems to have recovered from her loss," Victor observed.

"Yes, she has," said Taylor. He looked at Jennifer, who was smiling and laughing with Alex at the other table. "And in record time too."

"Oh, jealousy doesn't become you Michael," said Victor.

"Victor, Jennifer told me she was in love with me, but wouldn't have me because she was married. Then I find out that she's no longer married and with Obongo. That was difficult, but I could accept that," said Taylor. "And now, Obongo's body isn't even cold, and she's chatting it up with Alex Stone, apparently without a care in the world."

"Michael, sometimes when people are suffering an acute loss, they need the company of others. It's part of the recovery process."

"Yeah," said Taylor, remembering how Jennifer had specifically rejected his company. Jennifer, it would seem wanted the company of anyone but him. "But it also makes them vulnerable. Easy to take advantage of."

"Is that what concerns you, Michael? That Alex Stone will take advantage of her? Or that you can't?" said Victor. If anyone else had said that, it would have come as a stinging rebuke.

But Taylor just let it slide over him. As he watched Jennifer, his heart sank.

She was smiling at Alex Stone. Giving him her little smile, the special one that was meant for him. Whenever he said something sarcastic she would laugh, and give him that "I find you so amusing and endearing look" that used to be reserved only for him. Jennifer was leaning forward, almost leaning into Alex. Her tight uniform showed the wonderful curve of her big melons. Her luscious long black hair was draped on either side of her shoulder. She was so beautiful. So darling. And it felt like every other man could have her... except him.

And then, Taylor thought Jennifer looked back at him, out of the corner of her eye, for just the briefest of moments. She looked, and she must have seen the pain and agony in his face, and then she... she... she looked back at Alex and laughed.

********

Jennifer was feeling very unsure of herself. Two nights ago Alex had come to her quarters. He had helped ease her pain. They had kissed, but nothing else had happened beyond that. She respected him for that. She had fallen asleep in his arms, and he was gone when she awoke in the morning.

They started having meals with each other, as they waited for the Expedition to locate Sorshim. Alex was married, but it didn't seem to be a barrier since he had lived out his entire life with his wife, at least, as far as she knew. And besides, that was over 500,000,000 years ago. That was ancient history. Right?

Alex was so handsome, and dashing, and understanding and... and....

Jennifer had been having visions. Or vivid daydreams. She didn't know what to call them.

They were snippets, not lasting more than five seconds in length. But she was having them more and more frequently, ever since the night she had spent with Alex.

And they were all about one topic: making love to Alex.

They were nude. Alex was on top of her. He slid inside of her slowly, ever so slowly. Jennifer felt every move of his organ as he penetrated her fully.

"Tammad said he thinks he has finally located Sorshim," said Alex.

"Oh, that's great," said Jennifer, suddenly jolted back into awareness.

"Yes, he says we can find the second element there, so he thinks."

"I love you," Alex said, as he slowly moved his firm penis in and out of her moist vagina. "I love you, Jennifer."

She stared back at him with wide eyes, and gasped almost imperceptibly.

"The second element is called Tarcarti," said Alex. "It is the second of the three elements we need to unlock the defense system around Corta."

"That's really interesting," said Jennifer, realizing she was starting to break out into a sweat.

Jennifer was on her knees in front of him. "Please let me do this. Please."

Alex nodded.

She took his organ in her mouth and started to suck him. A thrill permeated her body as she serviced the man she loved.

"The United have an impenetrable forcefield around Corta, but anyone with the right key can pass through it," said Alex. "Our key will be a combination of these three elements."

"Fascinating," said Jennifer, struggling to remain calm.

Alex thrusted between her legs... she felt his hardness inside her... Jennifer sucking on his shaft... Alex moaning in pleasure....

"Once we breach the shield, we can shut down the mechanism controlling the Black Box," said Alex.

"Success!" Jennifer grinned nervously.

Alex deep inside of her, between her legs... the head of Alex's penis on her lips and tongue... Alex thrusting deeply between her legs.... the head of his organ twitching on her tongue, twitching, twitching... erupting!

Jennifer suddenly sat upright. Her fork clattered to the floor. She felt all eyes on her, including Taylor's.

"Are you all right, Jennifer?" Alex asked.

"I... yeah," said Jennifer. "I just realized something I forgot in my quarters. I have to go and get it." She got up and walked out of there on slightly unsteady legs.

********

"Victor."

"Not Victor."

"Why?"

"He could be more useful as an Encourager."

"You like him."

"He is rather pleasant, but I still think he would be better suited to be an Encourager than a gene donor."

"His love for science is great."

"So is Doctor Bruce Anderson's."

"As good as Victor's?"

"Almost."

"All right. Give him five percent less than you gave Babangida."

"Five percent less and the isotope may not work."

"The dose you gave Babangida turned him into a pool of sludge."

"The dose response varies wildly, from individual to individual. You know that."

"Give him two percent less."

********

"Ah.. ah... ah... ah...."

Taylor was dreaming.

He was dreaming of sex with Jennifer.

But the oddest part was, he wasn't the one having sex with her.

It was Obongo.

Michael watched Obongo insert his thick black tool into the slit between Jennifer's legs. Jennifer's pubic hair was dark, but compared to the color of Obongo's penis it might as well have been vanilla.

Taylor watched as her labial lips stretched to accommodate his huge organ. The muscles in Obongo's ass clenched and unclenched mightily as he worked slowly and methodically to inseminate the woman Taylor loved.

Jennifer gave Obongo her radiant smile. The secret smile that used to be reserved for him. "I love having you inside me," she whispered, looking into his dark eyes.

Obongo smiled back at her, his face a mask of effort and affection.

But then something changed. Obongo's body became wetter, slimier. His arms and legs were replaced by tentacles. And his head became one big giant eye. A giant eye which stared wordlessly at Jennifer.

Jennifer screamed, and tried to get up, but she was impaled. "Let me go, let me go!" she cried.

And then Taylor felt/heard a splat! sound, and the squid released inside of her, and Jennifer looked down at her belly in horror-

Taylor sat upright in his bed. Why in the world would he have a dream like that?

********

Sorshim was the oddest thing Taylor had ever seen. It was shaped like a rod, a long, thin cylinder, with a hollow interior. It was five miles in diameter, and 22 miles long.

"And let me guess," said Taylor. "What we need is at one end, but we have to enter at the other."

"I would not advise a landing at the reinforced end," said Tammad. "Your shuttle would be destroyed before it could land."

"Why would they leave one end unguarded?" Taylor asked.

"It is their psychology," said Tammad. "They all travel by bubble. They have been doing so for millions of years. They cannot conceive of someone walking a half mile, much less 22. It does not seem possible to them."

"I see," said Taylor. "So I guess we go down."

********

Sorshim was... odd.

The interior of the rod consisted of a floor of giant orange and white squares. Every time they stepped on a square, it glowed. There was vegetation, of a sort, green vines that went above their head and had white glowing spheres on top of them, which provided light.

"This is the weirdest thing I have ever seen in my life," said Jennifer. She stepped forward, and the square she stepped on glowed. "Oh!"

"Do not fear," said Tammad. "It will not harm you."

"Why... why would they make a place like this?" Taylor asked. "What is the purpose?"

Tammad shrugged. "If I were a member of the United, I could probably tell you. Shall we proceed?"

They started walking. Ensign Torrence had replaced Lieutenant Babangida as head of security, and he lead the team today. They had also brought along one of Elizabeth's scientists, Bruce Anderson, a physical materials specialist, to study the unusual nature of this asteroid. Anderson, a thin, balding scientist, was chatting up a storm with Mushi, who had taken a liking to him.

Taylor remembered that Mushi had been friendly with Raleigh and Babangida, who both had been killed by the isotope. But she had also been friendly with others, including Doctor McCrae and even himself, and nothing had happened to them. It was probably coincidence.

They walked for hours. The gravity here was heavier than what they were used to, about 1.2 times earth normal, which made for slower going.

After they had covered about a dozen miles, Taylor saw that his men were getting weary. He felt it himself. His legs were sore. He decided to call a halt for a few hours so they could rest and get some sleep. They pitched tents and set up a perimeter patrol.

So far they hadn't encountered a single member of the United. But if it was as Tammad said, perhaps they would all be clustered at the far end of the rod.

As they were finishing dinner, Taylor overheard Doctor Bruce Anderson talking to Tammad. "Hundreds of dimensions? Really?"

"Actually, thousands of them. But we can only perceive hundreds," said Tammad. "We have travelled to some of them. They are quite amazing."

"When you say other dimensions, do you mean parallel universes?" Anderson asked.

"No," said Tammad. "I mean different planes of existence."

"Different planes of existence," Anderson breathed. "What does that mean? What is that like? What... what... oh... oh... OHHHH!" He got up and clutched his head. His body started to smoke and shimmer. Before their very eyes, his body started to liquefy. In seconds, he was simply a pool of fluid on the ground.

Jennifer looked at the body in horror. "Not again!" she cried.

"It was the isotope," said Tammad sadly. "I am so sorry for your loss."

"That's it?" said Jennifer. "You're sorry?"

"There's nothing that can be done," said Tammad.

"You can't detect these things?" Jennifer asked.

"We can," said Tammad. "But as I have already explained to Captain Taylor, the isotopes travel at high velocity. The one that briefly went through Doctor Anderson is already some miles away from us."

Jennifer looked at Taylor, who looked back at her. He walked forward and embraced him. She hugged him back.

********

"You still gave him too much."

"Infection through dermal contact is very unreliable. The failure rate is 84%."

"Internal infusions are much more reliable. The failure rate there is only 54%."

"With a very small sample size. Unproven."

"Our next infusion should be internal."

"Internal requires the active cooperation of the subject."

[A newcomer enters the telepathic conversation]

"Are you ready to give the Captain the isotope?"

"Yes. But I question the wisdom of it."

"Have you developed feelings for the Captain?"

"You know full well that none of us have any feelings of any kind."

"I am not so sure about you. You absorbed a microinfusion of modified DNA from Ensign Margaery Comsat of the USS Exeter. For a time, you showed signs of compassion."

"That was short lived. The change was not durable."

"Then why do you wish to spare Captain Taylor?"

"He would make a more suitable Encourager. He is very brave and determined. We could learn that by example."

"We could experience that even better if we absorbed his modified DNA."

"He is very valuable and should not be wasted."

"Agreed. Can you give him an internal dose of the isotope?"

"I believe so."

"Then do it. Give him a low dose. Seven percent below norm."

"Seven percent below norm? There is a significant chance that will not activate the transformation."

"He is too valuable. I would rather have the transformation fail than be left with a puddle of human chemicals."

"It shall be done."

********

Taylor wasn't having an easy time falling asleep. He had lost three men. They had all died in front of his eyes, horrible deaths where their bodies literally melted into liquid. This isotope was taking more of a toll on his crew than the United were. He was still tossing and turning when he heard a rustling and saw the outlines of someone entering his tent.

"Who... who is it?" he said.

"It's just me," said a familiar voice.

"Oh. Audrey," said Taylor.

Captain Audrey Spaulding of the Exeter sat down next to Taylor. "I thought you might need some company. It's never easy losing one of your men."

In the dim light he couldn't really see her face. But the outlines of her hair and trademark bun were clear. If her voice hadn't been a bit deeper, Taylor could have sworn that he was talking to Elizabeth.

"No, it isn't," said Taylor.

He felt more than saw a hand start to brush over his arm. "But there's more to it than just that, isn't it?" said Spaulding.

"What do you mean?"

"As I mentioned to you earlier, the Expedition has... upgraded me in small ways," said Audrey. "They have given me limited telepathic abilities."

Taylor stiffened, even as she continued to stroke his arm. "Don't be alarmed! I respect your privacy. But the intensity of your thoughts... you've been hurt, Michael, and repeatedly, by a number of women, haven't you?"

Taylor looked at the faceless outline of Audrey Spaulding, and suddenly all his frustrations came boiling out, the things in his mind he hadn't been able to tell Jennifer or anyone else. He found himself telling her about his failed romances with Pamela, and Jennifer, and even Elizabeth and Suki. When he was done, he felt embarrassed, but also good about it. He had kept it all bottled up inside of him for way too long.

"You poor, poor man," said Audrey. She was now stroking his shoulders. "Have you ever tried to figure out why you have such difficulties with women?"

Taylor shook his head.

"Elizabeth I understand. I can sense the conflict within her. She wants to be two very different kinds of people, and can't yet decide which one she really wants to be. That's not on you, Michael," she said, as her hand gently stroked his chest. It felt good.

"But the others... the others were all inevitable," said Audrey.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked, as he enjoyed the movements of her hand. It was a small thing, a light touch, but in the darkness, where all his other senses were dull, he felt it tenfold, as her fingertips graced his body with lightness and warmth.

"You and Jennifer. She was your first officer. Did you really expect your first officer to have an affair with you?"

"I...."

"You're her Captain. You can't reasonably put her in such a position," said Audrey.

"Maybe...."

"And Suki. Suki was even worse. She was one of your most junior officers. Even you couldn't bring yourself to do that. In both cases, the problem was you, Michael. Not you personally, but the position you occupied. The position of Captain." The fingers continued their sympathetic rubbing.

"And Pam?"

"It was the same thing. You were the Captain of a Survey Service vessel. How could you have a relationship with a woman you could barely have time to see?"

"So what is the answer then?" Taylor asked. "If I can't have relationships with my crew, and I can't have relationships with civilians, who can I have a relationship with?"

"The Survey Service," said Spaulding. "For dedicated officers like us, the Survey Service is our husband, the Survey Service is our wife. I think deep down you always knew that."

He felt her hand now, moving lower, moving to his thighs. Her touch became more insistent, pressing, demanding.

"But for those of us, higher in the chain of command, there is still one alternative," she said. And then Taylor saw her dark outline moving, leaning over, until her lips were above his.

"And what is that?" Taylor whispered.

"Captain to Captain," said Audrey. "There is no rule or regulation against it. Only a Survey Service Captain can understand the problems of another Survey Service Captain." And she pressed her lips against him. Taylor felt the warmth, and the glow, and it was wonderful.