Journey to Year 1,000,000,000 Ch. 16

The multidimensional image of the solar system appeared around them. We studied it for a long moment.

"How much of this was your doing?"

"None," said Pam. "I merely vespered it, as per the finiteral's instructions."

"It... it is Tisson Crae," 49 said.

"It is Shursta," 37 whispered.

"Yes, yes it is," said Pam. "There is more to these finiterals than it seems. That's why I want to be left to complete my analysis."

"I would like to perform my own analysis," said 1012. "If these finiterals are so unusual, they might merit a second perspective."

"Very well," said Pam. "But do not interfere with my own ongoing analysis."

"Of course," said 1012.

1012 faded.

37 said, "1012 wants you to return to Formos."

"I know precisely what 1012 wants," said Pam.

"For eons you worked well together, creating galaxies with wonderful Tisson Crae. You were a team. You researched, and he pushed you to completion. That is all he is doing now."

"Is it?" Pam asked.

********

Victor entered the bridge. It was empty, which was odd. Ensign Wood should be on duty. He turned to go, when suddenly he saw a stranger. It must be one of the aliens. It was a tall man, with a serious expression on his face.

"Hello," said Victor. "Have you seen Ensign Wood?"

"He was just here," said the man. "You are Doctor Victor Berman?"

"Yes," said Victor. "What is your name?"

The man shook his head. "I do not have a name, as you know it. The other of us who was here seems to think there was something special about your species."

"I quite agree," said Victor, sitting down by a console.

"I do not. You live an extraordinary short life span. You do not vesper. You do not trista. You do not Shustra. You have no conception of Tisson Crae."

"All you say is true, but our virtue is in our basic humanity," said Victor. "Our love of life. Our love of existence. We have travelled far in advance of our own time, and found that species even more evolved than we are had much to learn from us."

"There is nothing I could learn from you," said the man.

********

McCrae checked his chrono. Vincent was late. That wasn't like him. They were supposed to play a game of three dimensional chess. And then he heard the door swish open.

"Vincent, it's about time-"

Only it wasn't Vincent.

"Who are you?" McCrae asked.

The man smiled at him.

********

Her door buzzed.

"Go away," said Elizabeth.

Her door buzzed again.

"Oh, go away."

And then her eyes widened when she saw the door to her quarters vanish. An unfamiliar man stood there.

"Who are you?" said Elizabeth. "What do you want?"

"Terribly little, actually," said the man.

********

"Ah, ah, ah, aaaaaah," said Taylor, his face a mask of pain and joy, as he climaxed.

The other Taylor.

Taylor and Pam watched dispassionately as Taylor, the other Taylor, filled the other Pam's vagina with sperm for the last time.

"Was that good for you?" the other Pam asked dreamily, with a satisfied smile.

"Yeah," said the other Taylor.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. Because that was the last time."

"Why did she end your relationship in that way?" Pam asked.

"I've wondered the same thing, more than once," said Taylor. "Was she being spiteful? Or was she trying to be kind? I still don't know the answer."

"Chronologically, there was a time when Pam had no feelings for you," said Pam. "Then there was a time she liked you. Then there was a time when she loved you. Then there was a time when she no longer loved you. During all these times, she was the same person, and you were also the same person. And yet her attitudes changed radically. Can you explain that?"

Taylor watched himself, looking shocked, surprised, and hurt, being forced to get dressed and being booted out of Pam's apartment. "A relationship is... a learning experience. It's just like building a solar system."

"Really?" said Pam.

"Really," said Taylor. "When you built that defective solar system, the one I fixed, did you purposefully try to build a defective planet?"

"Of course not."

"You only realized it some time after you built it, didn't you?"

Pam looked amused. "Are you saying that a relationship is as complex as vespering a solar system?"

"Maybe even more so," said Taylor. "With relationships, attraction comes first. Incompatibilities take longer to come out, over time. Pam loved me because I was handsome, attractive, the model Survey Service officer that many women lust after. She wasn't thinking about the fact that my missions took me away from Earth for months at a time; she wasn't thinking about how infrequently we'd be able to see each other; she was only thinking of how attractive I was, at first."

"And what were you thinking, Taylor?"

"I? I was thinking... of how beautiful her long, straight blonde hair was," said Taylor, staring at Pam's. "I was thinking how lovely her brilliant green eyes were, and her high cheekbones, and her luscious lips," he said, staring at Pam's face. "I was thinking how large her breasts were, and how soft to the touch they were," he added, looking at the imprint of Pam's breasts under her flimsy fuck-cation dress. "I was thinking how good it felt to make love to her, to fill her with my...." Embarrassed, he broke off.

"Your seed?"

Taylor nodded, red faced, as he suppressed a shy grin.

"It is so random, then. You do not look for qualities which would help a long term relationship survive. What you both look for are ephemeral qualities... like attractiveness."

"Yes. There's nothing rational about attraction," said Taylor. "Sometimes it blossoms into something more, and sometimes it doesn't. Why did you join the group you are a part of?"

"I did not join, although some do. I was created, specifically, to be a diagnostic and research tool."

"Do you enjoy being a diagnostic and research tool... for your group?"

"Enjoy?" Pam frowned. "I experience Formos, if that is what you are asking."

"Formos?"

"It is a kind of... satisfaction from being a member of a harmonious group."

"Formos," said Taylor. "In the year one billion, love is out the window, and all we have left is... Formos." He made a wry face. "I can hardly wait."

********

Pam returned Taylor to the Judicator, telling him. "I have some matters to attend to. I will be back for dinner, and sleeping with you tonight."

Ever since she had become human, Pam took her meals with Taylor, and slept in the same bed with him. They didn't have sex, but Pam's body enjoyed the feeling of lying next to Taylor. While she slept, of course, the rest of her could be attending to other matters; Pam's human form was only one aspect of her whole.

But an increasingly troubling one. Her human extension was filling her with all sorts of unusual thoughts. She found herself smiling and even laughing with increasing frequency. Her human body found Taylor to be... charming. Amusing. Attractive. Her human body wanted to make love to him. But each time Taylor turned her down. It was not enough that her body wanted to make love to him, he said, she had to want it herself, which was ridiculous, since a research and diagnostic tool had no interest in such matters.

It still troubled her that she had confided in Taylor about the plans under discussion to erase the galaxy and start over. She should not have told Taylor about that. And yet, when Taylor had correctly expra-ed the solution to the problem with the solar system, she had been so taken by surprise, so impressed with him, that she felt something for him which made her reveal those facts to him. Empathy? Sympathy? She had never felt either before, so it was hard to know what it was. Perhaps her human extension was influencing her more than she thought.

"All right, see you soon," said Taylor longingly. The way he looked at her now, it had changed. Taylor used to look at her. Now he seemed to look for her. Pam expra-ed that there was a difference, but she wasn't quite sure what it meant.

After Pam left, Taylor went looking for the crew. The bridge was empty. Ensign Wood wasn't on duty. He went to the cafeteria. Empty. The ship's lounge. Empty.

He activated the comm. "Is anyone aboard? Anyone at all? Report!"

"No one will respond, Captain."

Taylor turned to see a tall, dark haired man standing there. "Who are you?" his eyes narrowed. "You're one of them, aren't you?"

"One of Us, you mean. Yes," said the man, smiling as he took a step forward.

Taylor took a step backwards. "What have you done with my crew?"

"Oh, I don't know, they're probably around here, somewhere," said the man, grinning.

There was something about him, something familiar. "Have we met before?"

"Not exactly," said the man, giving an odd smile.

"What do you want?" Taylor asked, still edging away from him.

"My counterpart has demonstrated an unusual curiosity in yourself," said the man.

"Counterpart?" Taylor's eyes narrowed. "You mean, Pam."

"Pam," said the man. "What a delightfully non-descriptive name. Yes, Pam."

"You describe yourself as her counterpart. Are you her spouse, her mate?" Taylor asked.

"We don't have such retrograde concepts, Captain. Our affiliation is of a much higher nature," said the man. "We do important work together. Pam, as you call her, designs galaxies. Very important work. But right now she is not designing anything. Do you know why?"

"Because she's examining me," said Taylor.

"That's right," said the man. "When Pam gets off-track, when Pam gets too overfocused on details, that's where my job comes in. I'm the expediter, designed to get Pam focused on the big picture. Designed to get her to completion."

"What is your hurry?" Taylor asked. "You live for millions of years, if not longer. What difference can a few days possibly make to you?"

"In the abstract, none. But your presence is a distraction. Pam, as you call her, is straying from her true purpose. She is a diagnostic and research tool, but in your company she is rapidly becoming something else, not in her original design."

"I'm flattered."

"You shouldn't be. Her actions are disrupting the Formos of Us." The man looked at Taylor. "It is said you have unusual screaning abilities. Perhaps you can even expra? Show me your powers, Taylor."

"What... what do you want to see?" Taylor asked.

"Tell me... what I am about to do right now." The man smiled, and took another step forward.

********

Pam returned to the ship, in the cafeteria. Taylor usually waited for her there. He no longer needed to feed her, but sometimes he still did, putting a piece of carrot or lettuce between her lips and watching her munch contently. He did it not because he had to, but because he enjoyed it. Why Pam didn't know. He smiled at her as she ate. Something seemed to be happening in his mind as he watched her eat food he fed her, but she couldn't expra exactly what that was.

Every day her body grew more and more accustomed to Taylor's. It was an interesting distraction. She wondered if she would still have these feelings when the experiment ended. Probably not, as she would simply terminate her human extension. For some reason, the prospect of that was starting to bother her. She didn't know why.

Taylor was not in the cafeteria.

Pam stretched out with her senses. The entire ship seemed to be empty! What had happened here in her absence? And then she expra-ed more closely. There was a presence, in Taylor's quarters. He must be there.

Instantly, she was inside his quarters. The lighting was dim.

"Taylor?" she said.

Taylor smiled up at her.

"Are you tired?" Pam asked.

"Yes, tired," said Taylor. "Come and lie down with me."

Odd. Although Pam was almost certain that Taylor enjoyed when she pressed her body against his, he had never before asked her to lie down with him. Pam lay by his side. "Where is the rest of your crew?"

"Oh, they're around here, somewhere," Taylor assured her. He reached over and kissed her on the lips.

This was doubly odd. Taylor had kissed her before, a number of times, but each kiss had been preceded by... something, an event which spurred an emotion which caused him to do it. Now he was kissing her, without any apparent antecedent. What had caused this change in behavior?

She felt his lips against hers. They felt different too. Taylor's lips were strong, and firm. Now they were also grasping, experimenting, hungering in a way she had never felt before. She felt his hands on her dress, starting to pull the shoulder straps down.

"Taylor, what are you doing?" she asked.

"You want to make love, don't you?" he said. "Let us perform the ritual of reproduction that you have asked for so many times."

And then she looked into his eyes, and expra-ed, and realized that this wasn't Taylor.

She pushed him away.

"You!" she said, sitting up.

"Me," said 1012.

"What did you do with Taylor? With the crew?"

He didn't answer.

"You killed them, didn't you?"

"Yes," 1012 grinned. He took her hand. "They were a distraction, 1018. You are a brilliant researcher. But sometimes you get stuck on one topic. This is my job, to get you unstuck. Let us go back to Us."

"No!"

"Let us have Formos!"

"No!"

"Let us create galaxies together!" said 1012.

"No!" Pam gave him a baleful look, and suddenly they were both on the bridge, as well as the six remaining members of the crew of the Judicator.

"What happened?" Elizabeth asked, looking startled. "I was in my quarters... with that man! And now I'm here...."

"He killed you," said Pam.

"What?" said Elizabeth, her eyebrows shooting upwards.

"He murdered you," Pam explained. "I... I apologize for any inconvenience."

Taylor looked at the man. "I know you! Now I remember where I've seen you before."

"You should," said 1012.

"You're Doug. Doug, the man Pam left me for," said Taylor.

1012 smiled. "Like Pam, I tried to assume a form I thought you would find pleasing."

Pam gave him a nasty glare.

"Pam, what is happening here?" Taylor asked.

"This is... an associate of Us," said Pam.

"One of your group?"

"Yes," said Pam. "Like me, he has a specialized function. His role is to expedite."

"To expedite," said Taylor, suddenly remembering.

"He feels I am spending too much time studying you. So he killed you."

"Are we... still dead?" Elizabeth asked.

"Not at present. Do you wish to go back to being dead?" Pam asked.

"No, no, alive is fine," said Elizabeth hastily.

Taylor turned to 1012. "You're jealous."

"What?" said 1012.

"You are jealous," said Taylor. "You are angry Pam is spending time with me. You want her to spend time with you."

"I want Pam, as you call her, to return to her basic function, creating galaxies."

"With you," said Taylor. He turned to Pam. "I thought basic emotions hadn't survived in the year one billion. I see I was wrong."

"You are wrong. I do not feel your crude urges to animalistically couple with Pam," said 1012.

"Then why, while disguised as Taylor, were you trying to do that very thing with me?" Pam asked. She turned to Taylor. "He tried to make love to me. I know you would never be kind enough to do that."

"I... I...." Suddenly, 1012 was at a loss for words. Pam waved her hand and he disappeared.

"Where did he go?" Taylor asked.

"Elsewhere," said Pam. She turned to him. "I am sorry you were inconvenienced."

"You mean murdered," said Taylor.

"Yes, murdered. I promise it will not happen again, at least until we have finished our examination of you."

"That's very comforting," said Doctor McCrae, speaking for the first time. "But I have a better idea. Why not just not murder us at all?"

"But... you do not belong here."

"Send us back to our own time," said McCrae.

"Why would we?" Pam asked. "You are finiterals. The effort would be meaningless."

"Not to us," said Taylor.

Pam frowned. "You are upset because you were briefly murdered. I understand that. I will leave you to rest for a while. We will resume our sessions in a short time." And she vanished.