Journey to Year 1,000,000,000 Ch. 12

"What did you do?" Victor asked, running over to Ramirez. He felt for a pulse. There was none.

"An act of kindness," said Elizabeth, looking almost smug.

"Kindness?"

"He was in pain. I ended his suffering. This satisfied your requirements. I was not the one to cause his initial discomfort."

"Did you feel anything?" Alex Stone inquired.

Elizabeth looked up for a moment. "I think so. It was... fleeting, but I felt something. Satisfaction. A desire to help others in the same way."

The other United wiggled their tentacles and started to murmur.

"You didn't help him!" Victor cried out, clutching Ramirez's dead body.

"We will have to study this further," said one of the United.

"We will have to study every kind of kindness so we can properly screan it," said another.

"This isn't kindness. This is murder!" Victor shouted.

"Note the Encourager's strong emotional response. We should study that as well," said Elizabeth.

"This Encourager is useful," said Alex Stone. "We should give him the isotope, and sample his genetic diversity."

"Not yet," said Elizabeth. "Professor Victor Berman is simply a font of useful information. We must press him for more good ideas like this one."

********

"They are totally amoral creatures," said Victor, his voice in a whisper. "They have no understanding of kindness or compassion or feeling. I tried to teach them, but they are coming from such a radically different basis of understanding that they simply could not relate."

"Don't blame yourself, Victor. You tried," said Taylor.

"Because of me, Ramirez is dead," said Victor.

"Sooner or later, we're all going to be that way," said Taylor. So far a half a dozen of his crew had been killed, either through torture or application of the isotope. The remaining 54 crewmembers were a cowed, huddled mass, shrinking back whenever a United appeared, fearing they would be next to be called upon.

"Captain, you have to do something," said Elizabeth.

"I don't know what I can do," said Taylor.

She looked at him imploringly. Taylor never felt as powerless as he did in that moment.

And then Jennifer reappeared, sporting an evil grin.

********

"I have come for you, Ensign William Collins," said Jennifer.

"No," said Collins, shaking his head. The other crew shrunk away from him, as if he were suddenly radioactive. "Please, not me. There's been a mistake."

"No mistake," said Jennifer. "You must make love to me, Ensign William Collins." She stared intently at him. They watched as Collins was slowly dragged forward by an invisible force.

Elizabeth looked imploringly at Taylor. Taylor bit his lip, and jumped to his feet.

"No!" Taylor cried, interposing his body between them.

"No?" Jennifer inquired, as if the word were alien to her. She gave a smile that was both sexy and amused. "Captain, you do not have the power to say no to me." She put a gentle hand over her breast.

"Take me," said Taylor. The words simply came out of his mouth.

"What?"

"Take me. I'll make love to you. You can study my sexual desire." There was a challenging note in his voice, and his eyes.

Jennifer gave him an odd look. "Captain, I was saving you for the end."

"Well, you can move me up your list," said Taylor.

"Captain, your chances of surviving an application of the isotope are even less than your crew's. You have already absorbed a substantial dose. A second dose will surely be lethal."

"Then I'll have to give a good performance then, won't I?"

"No!" said Elizabeth, surging forward. Victor held her back.

"What am I witnessing here?" said Jennifer, looking from one to the other. "It is not physical love. It is something else. Another kind of motivation we missed?"

"You wouldn't understand it," said Taylor.

Jennifer considered for a long moment. Taylor didn't know which he feared more. That she might say no... or she might say yes. Finally she nodded. "All right, Captain. Show me the true nature of physical affection. But if you fail to impress me, I will have to give you the isotope."

"No, Michael, don't do it!" Elizabeth cried.

Taylor turned to her, and gave her an unreadable look. Then he walked up to Jennifer, so they were face to face. "I'm ready," he said quietly.

Suddenly, Taylor was completely nude. So was Jennifer. Elizabeth gasped.

Jennifer smiled as she saw his large, hairy chest and broad shoulders. Her smile grew broader as she looked between his legs and raised her eyebrows and gave him a mocking stare. "You've wanted this for a long time, haven't you?" She gave him that mocking look so common to her now.

Taylor didn't respond. If Jennifer was disappointed, she didn't show it. Without making a sound she lay down on the bed in the center of the chamber, under the bright spotlight. She lifted her knees and spread her legs.

Taylor looked down at her. Like the real Jennifer, the hair around her nether lips were shaved to make them stand out more. Jennifer's dark pubic bush was in stark contrast to the red, glistening lips just below them. Even now, under these strained circumstances, he found his penis getting hard just looking at it.

He had wanted Jennifer, badly, for more than a year, ever since the incident in the cave. Even before that. He had dreamed of a moment like this, when she would be nude, willing, and completely fuckable. He had repeatedly imagined what her breasts looked like under her tight Survey Service dayshirt, as he sneaked glances at the outlines of them hundreds of times. He had fantasized about seeing her vagina, of plunging into her, of making love to her. And now it was here, right in front of him, and all his for the taking. But not like this. Not like this!

"What are you waiting for, Michael? A formal invitation?"

Taylor saw the taunting look in her dark eyes, and realized that she had all the power here. As Taylor looked between her legs, at her slick nether lips, spread in a very open invitation, he also realized something else, that Jennifer's vagina was the beginning of his end.

Nevertheless, he moved forward, and gingerly lay on top of her. Jennifer's smile only grew broader as he got between her legs. He felt the warmth of her touch and flinched slightly. Jennifer noticed immediately, of course.

"Why the reluctance, Michael? This is what you've always wanted, isn't it? How many times have you fantasized about me? How many times have you flirted with me? How many times have you dreamed of being inside of me? Well, here it is, lover. Come and get it." Jennifer bent her knees even more as she smiled mockingly at him. She offered him her cunt, and he knew it.

Taylor looked at her face and gulped as he prepared himself for the inevitable. Jennifer restrained a mocking laugh. Taylor ignored her, looking down at her lower entrance, looking so perfect and penetrable. He had to do this. He was a Survey Service officer. It was his duty to protect his men. Taylor, grimacing, aimed himself at the narrow opening between Jennifer's thick, fleshy, nether lips. He heard Elizabeth yell one last "No, Michael!" as he swiftly moved forward, in one, smooth stroke, before he could change his mind, plunging his shaft into Jennifer's vagina. Jennifer felt warm and wet inside as he filled her, and yet, as he came face to face with her cold eyes, filled with malice, he felt a chill down his spine as she wrapped her arms around his back, trapping him in a not so sweet imprisonment.

"Finally! This has been a long time coming, hasn't it, Michael?" She asked, giving him an evil grin, as he started to pole in and out of her. "Tell me, Michael. Tell me this is what you've always wanted."

Taylor looked down at her body. Her breasts were the same as he remembered them, big, round melons with little sag. Her face was the same too, long, straight jet black hair, a modest nose, juicy red lips, and high cheekbones. Only her eyes were different, the same green eyes, but these were alien to him, and as cold as stone.

He had wanted Jennifer so badly, for so long; to see her nude, as he did now, to feel his penis thrusting inside of her, as it was now, to feel her breasts pressing against him, as they were now. And yet, to have her like this... when Jennifer was no longer... Jennifer.... He had gotten what he had always wanted, but too late, much too late!

"Does... does the real Jennifer feel like this?" He immediately regretted asking. But a part of him had to know.

"I am a perfect replica of Jennifer's body," said Jennifer, her eyes glittering. "In fact, you might say, a small part of me is still Jennifer." She smiled at his confusion.

Taylor looked in Jennifer's eyes as he thrusted within her. He saw nothing of the kindness or warmth in the Jennifer he had once known.

"Aren't you going to kiss me, Michael?" said Jennifer, mockingly.

Even as he moved in and out of her, Taylor moved his head close. Jennifer raised her head, and Taylor found himself pressing his lips against hers. Her lips were cold and unyielding. He tried to pull back, but Jennifer grabbed his head, holding him tightly, preventing him from letting go. When she had gotten all she wanted, she released his head, and he pulled back.

"You need to do better than that, Michael," she said, her eyes glittering. "You'd better make it good, or the next thing you'll feel is the isotope."

Taylor kept thrusting, trying to focus on the sexual act, but Jennifer was talking throughout. "I have all of Jennifer's memories," she said softly. "She loved it, you know. All of it. Playing you for the fool. Flirting with you, toying with your affections, cock teasing you day in and day out for months. And whenever she led you on and you got a little too bold, she would say, ever so regretfully" and now Jennifer spoke in a higher, more feminine voice, "I'm so sorry, Michael, if only I weren't married!" And she laughed as she saw the pained expression on his face.

For some reason Jennifer was not trying to arouse him. If anything, she was trying to do the opposite. Taylor was not sure why. It was as if this test were about something else entirely.

"She loved fucking Obongo in front of you," Jennifer whispered softly, smiling at him. "She loved it when Obongo knocked you on your ass, and when he fucked her right in front of you, so you were forced to watch. Jennifer felt that was the best fuck of her life. Your anguish was just so delicious. She fed off of it, just as much as she fed off of Obongo's big black dick."

Taylor remembered how Jennifer's beautiful body had jolted with every thrust, how her gorgeous well rounded breasts shook with every one of Obongo's lateral moves as he used her as only a man could. And he remembered that smug smile, the smug smile she had seemed to give him while Obongo was completing the act within her. Could this creature be telling the truth about Jennifer?

Taylor was still thrusting within Jennifer now, but he felt rage and despair mixing with arousal. She was purposefully trying to sabotage him, to prevent him from completing the act.

"Poor, pathetic Michael," said Jennifer mockingly. "Only now, at the end, do you understand the truth about your beloved Jennifer. She wanted to fuck every man within arm's reach. Every man who wasn't named Michael Taylor."

Taylor roared and gritted his teeth as he plunged into her. He felt fear coursing down his spine. He knew he would be able to climax; Jennifer's body just felt so good. The internal friction on the head of his penis was incredible. But he also knew, somehow, that it wouldn't be nearly enough to satisfy her.

He closed his eyes, trying to avoid Jennifer's hard-eyed stare, trying to just focus on the physical sensation, to make it happen.

And then a funny thing happened.

"Open your eyes, my love."

Taylor opened his eyes.

Jennifer was gone.

The woman he was making love to was Pamela.

"Pam?" he whispered, as he continued to thrust into her.

"I have searched long and hard for you through millions of years of past history, my love," she said.

Past history?

Taylor looked at her face; it was Pamela's face, complete with her high cheekbones and green eyes and luscious blonde hair. He looked at her body; Jennifer's breasts had suddenly become longer, and softer.

"This can't be," said Taylor, even as he moved in and out of her.

"I have finally found you," said Pam.

"This can't be real."

"We will be together soon, my love," said Pam. "I'm going to help you through this."

"No... this isn't real," said Taylor.

"Look into my eyes."

"No."

"Michael, look into my eyes!"

Taylor stared at her beautiful green eyes. Suddenly he became transfixed. His penis suddenly got rock hard. He started thrusting like a madman, filled with passion.

"Oh... that's right... yes... yes... yessss!" Pam cried. But the voice was not Pam's.

"I love you," he cried fiercely. "I love you so much." He felt himself reaching his climax.

"And I love you too," Pam said, this time in her own voice.

"Oh.. oh... oh.. oh.. ooooohhhh!" Taylor cried, and then he was pulsing into her, each one like a thunderclap, and he released into her with all he had.

The next thing he knew he was lying still, on top of her, his head resting on her breasts, smiling happily with his eyes closed.

"Open your eyes."

He opened his eyes and saw... Jennifer.

Jennifer?

She was no longer looking at him with that mocking smile. She looked, if anything... puzzled.

"What did you do?" she demanded.

Taylor frowned, and took a few seconds to get his bearings. Jennifer studied him closely as he disengaged and pulled back.

"What did you do?" Jennifer asked again.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked.

"I... I felt something." Jennifer looked... startled.

"What?" Taylor asked.

"I... I am not sure," said Jennifer. She looked almost distressed by her inability to express it. "But... the results were... if I can even understand the word... amazing." And she looked at him, and for a moment, her eyes were no longer cold. They were wondrous, and filled with admiration.

What had just happened here?

Suddenly Taylor realized, however improbably, that he held the upper hand now. His gaze grew firm. "So I guess that means no isotope for me," said Taylor.

"I guess not," said Jennifer, with an uncharacteristically uncertain laugh, and for a second, a split second, it seemed like the real Jennifer.

Taylor got up and stepped away from the bed, conscious of the eyes of his crew on him. Suddenly he was clothed again. Elizabeth ran forward and hugged him. "Michael, are you all right?"

Taylor nodded slowly.

"Interesting."

They turned to see Jennifer standing up, still nude, her legs unabashedly spread. "Not just physical love. There is another ingredient. Overcoming reluctance. When you were able to do that... I... I felt something," said Jennifer. And then she vanished.

********

"What are we doing?" Elizabeth asked.

"We are lying on the beach," said Victor.

Victor had no idea where they were. Somewhere on Corta, he presumed. That didn't matter. He had asked Elizabeth, the other Elizabeth, to take him there. They laid on reclining beach chairs, watching the surf go in and out.

"Why?" Elizabeth asked.

"To relax," said Victor. He paused. "This is Corta, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"I was meaning to ask, what happened to the planet? Why was a big chunk of its surface ripped out? Was it a disaster of some kind?"

"No, we did it."

"But why?"

"Because we could," said Elizabeth.

For a race of being seeking the meaning of existence, it seemed as good an answer as any.

"If a chunk of the planet is gone, shouldn't there be terrible seismic disturbances? Come to think of it, shouldn't the planet be collapsing on itself?" Victor asked.

"Why?"

"Gravity."

"Why would we permit that?"

"Oh," said Victor, realizing the answer was now self-evident.

"So, what is the purpose of this experiment?" Elizabeth asked.

"This is not an experiment," said Victor hastily.

Elizabeth abruptly sat up.

"A poor choice of words. It is most definitely an experiment," said Victor. He eyed her as she slowly reclined again, giving him a sharp stare. "This is an experiment in... relaxing."

"Relaxing? What does that mean to you?"

"Relaxing means... relaxing," said Victor.

"You cannot define a word with the same word."

"Why not?"

"Would you like some isotope, Victor?" She narrowed her eyes just like the real Elizabeth did.

Victor thought quickly. "Relaxing means... just enjoying the moment. Just being. Just existing."

"We exist in every moment of time. In every dimension."

"Yes, of course, but relaxing means...." Victor stretched out. "Enjoying the moment."

"How?"

"Stretch out with your senses."

Elizabeth concentrated for a moment. "I have analyzed the setting with all 17 of my senses. I have thoroughly screaned it."

"And?" Victor asked.

"And what?"

"What do you feel?"

"Nothing," said Elizabeth.

"Do you feel the breeze on your face?" There was a wonderful gentle coolness on Victor's face.

"Yes," said Elizabeth.

"Do you hear the sounds of the waves?" Splaassh... roar... splaaash... roar....

"Yes."

"Do you hear the seagulls?"

"Seagulls?"

"Whatever those white avians are." Whatever they were, they were making "awk awk" sounds. For a moment, Victor wondered if they were seagulls that had gone through half a billion years of evolution, and if so, if they were smarter and more self-aware than he was. The thought didn't comfort him.

"Yes," said Elizabeth.

"Do you see the blue of the water? The white of the surf?"

"Yes and yes."

"Do you smell the salt of the sea?"

"Victor, what is the point of this?" said Elizabeth.

"The point, my dear facsimile of Elizabeth, is to learn how to appreciate small things."

"Why would I appreciate them?"

Victor chuckled.

"What amuses you?"

"It's just that... you, your super evolved self, you're just like people from my century, people who can't learn how to relax."

Elizabeth smiled, and then she started laughing too!

Victor sat up, looking startled. "Do you feel something?"

Elizabeth's smile and laughter abruptly terminated. "No. I was just imitating you."

And abruptly, he was back in confinement with the others.

********

"Overcoming reluctance," said Jennifer, her eyes gleaming. "This is the concept we wish to study now." She looked at the fearful crowd of Survey Service crewmen and scientists.

"Captain Michael Taylor, please step forward," said Jennifer.

Taylor stepped forward, his face carefully neutral.

"Doctor Elizabeth Shaw, please step forward," said Jennifer.

Elizabeth slowly stepped forward, looking apprehensive.

"You have feelings for each other, do you not?" Jennifer asked.

Taylor looked at Elizabeth. "No," he said.

"No," said Elizabeth.

"You do," said Jennifer. "Taylor wants you, Elizabeth, and you know that. And part of you wants him. But there is a reluctance you must overcome. We want to experience you overcoming that reluctance, through you, Elizabeth."

"What are you saying?" Elizabeth asked.

"We want you to make love to Captain Taylor."

"No," said Elizabeth.

"You must make love to him, and both of you must have orgasms," said Jennifer.

"No," Elizabeth said again.

"You will experience the full female orgasm, Doctor Elizabeth Shaw," said Jennifer sternly. "If you do not, I will give you the isotope," said Jennifer. When Jennifer saw that Elizabeth wasn't moving, she reached for her.

"No!" said Taylor, grabbing and pulling Elizabeth away. "We can do this," he said, looking into her eyes. Elizabeth felt something. Somehow, he gave her the strength to nod. Taylor led her up to the bed in the center of the chamber, under the spotlight.