Journey to Year 1,000,000,000 Ch. 18

Journey to the Year 1,000,000,000

Chapter 18

[Note: This is a Science Fiction story with some erotic scenes. It is not a story with erotic scenes in every chapter. Some chapters have incredible sex scenes, but many others have none. ]

Taylor was in quarantine.

It was not simply a medical quarantine; he had been examined not once or twice but thrice, and had been cleared.

No, this was something more than that. This felt like protective custody, a polite word for imprisonment.

Taylor told his story three times to his Survey Service interrogator, one Lieutenant Commander Laura Miller, from the Legal Branch.

"Let me just review my notes... to make sure I have everything right," said Miller, checking her Pad. "The Survey Service sent your ship into the Black Box to investigate the phenomenon. You say you landed in the year... 8,000,000. Is that correct, Lieutenant Commander?"

Lieutenant Commander. That's what she called him. She was being courteous, but she wasn't.

"That's correct, Lieutenant Commander," said Taylor woodenly. He had long since decided that he did not in fact like Lieutenant Commander Laura Miller.

"And there you found mentally advanced aliens called the Ascended, who took you captive and performed experiments on you and your crew," said Miller.

"Correct."

"And some of these experiments involved having different members of your crew having sexual relations with each other."

Stay down! Just stay down and let it happen!

Taylor winced ever so slightly. "Also correct."

"Because... these advanced aliens... were very interested in... sex?" There was more than a hint of a smirk on the Lieutenant Commander's face.

"They were studying the concept of restraint. They had diverged from another branch of humanity which had none."

"And did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Did you have restraint?" Again with that little smile!

"I'm exercising it right now," said Taylor, and there was something in his gaze that made her flinch. Good.

Laura Miller sighed, causing her very tiny breasts to heave slightly. "Lieutenant Commander. In the next part of your report, you claimed you then travelled to the year 22,000,000. There you were trapped in some kind of virtual reality-"

"A virtual layer."

"Some kind of virtual reality," said Lieutenant Commander Miller. "There you claimed your crew entered into relationships with each other, as well as with women who grew on trees."

"It all happened."

"And these... relationships... all happened over a period of two and a half hours? Or two and a half months? Your report was unclear on this point."

"Both."

"Both. Of course!" said Miller. "And then, you claimed you encountered the crew of the Judicator, but only their minds. Their bodies were gone."

"The consciousness of the crew of the Judicator, yes."

"Sorry, I'll change minds to... consciousnesses," said Miller, speaking into her Pad as she pressed on a part of it. "I wouldn't want my report to be inaccurate, would I?'"

They don't believe me. Even after three days of interrogation, they still don't believe me.

Taylor gave her a sharp glance. "You may have noticed the ship that I landed in. That should be some evidence that I'm telling the truth."

"Oh, we believe you came across the Judicator. Somewhere," said Miller. "And by the way, you also seem to have misplaced the ship you left in."

"That was also mentioned in my report."

"Yes, in your next stop on your fabulous journey. To the year 50,000,000."

"No. The year 500,000,000."

"I'm sorry," said Miller, barely disguising the sarcasm in her voice. "You didn't merely travel fifty million years into the future, you went five hundred million years! I'll be sure to add the extra zero to my report."

"You do that," said Taylor.

"And in the year 500,000,000, you again encountered an alien species, who again took you prisoner, and once again... they were interested in human sex practices."

"Not just human sex practices," said Taylor. "The United had lost all reason for existing. They explored all kinds of human motivation. One of them was pain and torture. But yes, one of them was sex as well."

"How fortunate for you, Lieutenant Commander, that your interrogation was in the area of sex, rather than pain," said Miller. "Once again, according to your report, you had sex with your crew, this time, including your first officer, Jennifer Hale."

Those dead eyes. That mocking smile. His penis, thrusting in and out, eagerly grasping for an orgasm, all in an effort to avoid a second lethal dose of-

"Not exactly," said Taylor.

"Not exactly?" said Miller. "For my report, Lieutenant Commander, how did you not exactly have vaginal intercourse with your first officer?"

Taylor wanted to vesper Miller out of existence. If only he could. He took a deep breath. "It wasn't Jennifer any longer."

"Oh yes, I forgot. She turned into a giant squid. So you had intercourse... with a giant squid?"

"Don't play the fool, Lieutenant Commander, you read my report, you know how they can change shape-"

"I only know how you said they can change shape," said Miller. "And then your story, if possible, gets even wilder, when you claim you came forward to the year one billion, and had some kind of affair with a woman who resembled your girlfriend. Really, Lieutenant Commander, how much of this can we credibly believe?"

"She came back with me. You all saw her."

"Yes, we saw a woman who resembled Pamela Nesbitt."

"Where is she now?"

"Being examined. Like you," said Miller.

I hope Pam's examiner has a better attitude. For the examiner's sake.

"Is there anything else you'd like to add to your report, Lieutenant Commander?"

"Only that I want out of here," said Taylor. "I'm a Survey Service officer. I've been charged with no crime. I demand to be released."

"You are a Survey Service officer. And Survey Service officers go where they are ordered to. And right now, you are ordered to stay right here."

She got up to leave.

"For how long?" Taylor shouted after her.

Miller looked back at him. "Until further notice."

********

It was three more days before he was released.

He was given a Survey Service dress uniform, and called to Admiral Von Windhoek's office.

"Come in, Captain," said Windhoek. His face was carefully neutral.

There was one change Taylor noticed immediately. "Admiral? Is there something different about you?"

Windhoek smiled. "A small promotion. To full Admiral. In recognition of my hard work. And yours."

"I wasn't aware that anyone believed I did work of any kind," said Taylor, frowning.

"Of course they did. Sit, Commander. Sit!" he said.

Taylor sat.

Windhoek looked at Taylor for a long moment. "It's good to see you, Taylor."

"It's good to be seen, sir."

Windhoek smiled. "You are unhappy about your treatment."

"That would be an understatement," said Taylor.

Windhoek sighed. "You have to look at it from our point of view, Lieutenant Commander. You leave in the Devonshire. You are presumed dead. You come back, a year later, in a different ship from the one you left in. Neat trick, that, by the way."

"Thank you sir."

"That wasn't a compliment, just an observation."

"Yes sir," said Taylor. But he screaned that Windhoek was pleased with him.

"Yes, you came back a year later, right in the middle of your own memorial service. Did you time that, by the way?"

"No sir."

"I didn't think so... but I wondered. Anyway, you and five crewmembers, and one passenger, come back with a fantastic story. You didn't just travel to the future. You travelled a billion years into the future. You were experimented on by aliens in all kinds of ways which would make holopornographers blush. You come back with a fantastic story about aliens a billion years in the future who are planning to wipe out the galaxy. No, I take it back," he said, referring to notes on a holoscreen. "They are planning from preventing the galaxy from being created. Do I have that right?

"Yes, sir. They will recreate the galaxy, but in a different way where mankind will not exist."

"I see," said Windhoek. "Do you understand how that's a bit hard to follow?"

"Yes sir. But it's all true. If you've talked to the others-"

"We have, Captain. And rather extensively, as with you. They tell virtually the same preposterous story. Except..."

"Except what?"

"They say you were incredibly brave and resourceful. And they also say, to a man, that you saved their lives time and time again."

"That's not quite true, sir."

"So now you don't want me to believe them?" Windhoek gave a smile, and Taylor saw he was playing with him, at least to a degree.

"I'll tell you what I do know," said Windhoek. "What I do know is that right after you entered the Black Box, the shockwaves ended, and soon afterwards the Black Box disappeared entirely. It's hard not to make a connection with your efforts on the Devonshire."

"But-"

"So whatever happened, you're global heroes. All of you," said Windhoek. "Just accept that, and don't push your luck." He leaned back in his chair and gave Taylor a sly look. "You know, when you left, I never expected to see you again."

"You didn't?"

"I really didn't, son," said Windhoek. "I thought maybe there was a chance you could get to the source of the Black Box projection, and stop it, but I never thought you'd find your way home again. The fact that you came back, the fact that you came back with even five of your fellow crew members... it's tremendous. It's amazing. You're in line for a promotion... as well as that command of your own I promised."

"Thank you, sir," said Taylor.

"Which only leaves us with one minor matter," said Windhoek. "Your unexpected passenger." He pressed a button, and a holorecording appeared in the air.

It was at the remembrance ceremony, when Taylor had been swamped by reporters. By that time, Pam was at his side.

"Captain Taylor! Captain Taylor! Is it really you?"

"Yes, it's really me," said Taylor, smiling broadly.

Suddenly he was bombarded with questions.

"What happened to you, Captain? Where's the rest of your crew? You left in one ship, and came back in another!"

"It's a long story," said Taylor. "But.. we went into the future."

"The future? How far into the future?" said one reporter.

"At one point, a billion years," said Taylor.

There was widespread laughter.

"Come on, Captain! Tell us the truth!" said another.

"He speaks the truth," said Pam. "I am from approximately a billion years in your future."

"You, young lady? Why, you look like Captain Taylor's girlfriend or wife!"

"No, that was me."

The cameras turned to see the shocked face of Pamela Nesbitt. The cameras panned back and forth, from the original Pam, to the new Pam.

"Captain, Captain, what is this? There are two of them? Can you explain-"

Von Windhoek pressed a button, and the transmission froze. "It's unfortunate you decided to conduct a news conference before we could debrief you."

"I'm sorry about that, sir. It's just... I was gone a long time," said Taylor.

"A billion years, apparently," said Von Windhoek. Taylor could not screan whether the admiral believed him or not.

"Where is Pam?" Taylor asked.

"She's being processed." The admiral pressed another button.

A different holoscene appeared. Pam was sitting completely naked in a laboratory, on an examination table.

"Spread your legs, please," said a Survey Service doctor. Pam spread her legs.

"Wider... wider, that's good." The doctor inserted something between her legs. The device glowed green.

"Are you having sexual relations with this body?" Pam asked.

"No, these are just some tests," said the doctor.

"I have a fully functional human body," said Pam. "I can demonstrate, if you like."

"That won't be necessary," said the doctor.

"Where is Taylor?" Pam asked, as a doctor probed her ear.

"Being examined, just like you."

"Will I see him soon?"

"I cannot say."

Von Windhoek pressed the pause button. The image of Pam, with her legs spread, and her face looking impatient, froze in the air.

"So that's the girl from a billion years in the future." Von Windhoek said.

"Not simply a girl, sir," said Taylor.

"Yes, she's a...tool, I'm told," he said, giving a nasty grin.

"A diagnostic and research tool. She builds galaxies, sir."

"On her spare time, or is that her day job?" Windhoek asked.

"Sir, you've never doubted my word before," said Taylor.

"And you've never come back claiming you've been a billion years in the future before."

"Look at her, sir. Just look at her."

"She does bear an uncanny resemblance to one Pamela Nesbitt, who I am told you are also acquainted with." Again, that nasty grin.

"Yes sir."

"The doctors say that the Pam who came back with you is human. Fully human. And nothing more. And yet... she's not a clone of Pamela Nesbitt. We checked."

"That's because she isn't a clone, sir."

"The only unusual thing about her they could determine is that apparently, her body did not exist 48 days ago," said Von Windhoek. "Can you explain that?"

"She was created just for me, when I arrived," said Taylor.

"Yes, and so far, that's the only piece of solid evidence which backs up your highly improbable story," said Von Windhoek. "If not for her, you and your five crewmates might still be locked up for observation."

"So what do you believe, sir?"

Von Windhoek shrugged. "What I believe does not matter. The question is, what does the Survey Service believe?"

"And what do they believe?"

"That you went into the Black Box. You encountered aliens, but not necessarily a billion years in the future. That your interactions somehow caused the Black Box to close. That this young woman, despite appearances, is actually one of those aliens."

"I should be with her," Taylor said.

"That is not the opinion of the Survey Service."

"She asked for me!"

"She's the property of the World Government now," said Von Windhoek. "You've completed your mission. With flying colors, I might add. You're free to go."

"Go? Go where?"

"On extended leave," said Von Windhoek. "Now that you're in our time and space again, we'll know where to find you, if we need you."

********

"Michael!" Sara Taylor sobbed as she crushed her son with a bear hug. "I never thought we would see you again!"

Taylor's father was there, and his brother Darden and sister Val as well.

His mother stuffed him full of food. "Eat, Michael, eat," she said, as if he hadn't eaten in a billion years. Well, perhaps he hadn't.

And then the interrogation began.

"I can't tell you what happened, Mom," said Taylor. "It's classified."

"Son... you landed in a different spaceship than the one you left with," said his father.

"Yes, Dad," said Taylor.

"How did that happen?"

"I can't tell you."

"Only five of your crew survived?" his father asked.

"Yes."

"What happened to the rest of them?"

"I can't tell you."

"What can you tell us?" Sara, his mother asked.

"Mom... it was the most incredible journey of my life. I saw the most amazing things," said Taylor, remembering the sight of the universe being born.

"Is it true... that you went a billion years into the future?"

"Mom, I can't tell you," said Taylor. But then he nodded solemnly.

"Oh my God," said his mother, grabbing her chest. "What... what is it like so far in the future?"

"Mom, I... I just can't."

"Son," said his father. "Were you responsible for shutting down the Black Box? Did you... did you save the Earth?"

Taylor shifted uncomfortably. "Kind of."

"Kind of?" said his brother Darden. "Mike, we're asking you if you saved the human race or not, and your answer is 'kind of'? What kind of answer is that?"

Taylor frowned but did not answer.

His mother smiled at him. "All right then. Surely you can tell us about the woman . The one who looks exactly like Pam," his mother asked.

"You mean Pam?" said Taylor.

"No, the woman who came back with you," his mother said.

"Her name is Pam too, Mom."

"Another woman named Pam, who looks just like your Pam?" said his father, trying to wrap his mind around all this.

"That's right."

"She said in the interview that she was from a billion years in the future," said her mother. "Is she some kind of... robot?"

"Mom, I can't say anymore."

"Michael, you have to see her."

"Who?"

"Pam. Your Pam. The real Pam. You should have seen her! She was crying real tears at your funeral."

"While she was comforted by her fiancée, Doug," said his brother Darden dryly.

"Fiancée?" said Taylor.

"You should have seen the look on her face when she saw you, Michael. She screamed your name at the top of her lungs! She still loves you, I know she does," said Sara. "Go and see her, son. Go and see her, for my sake."

"I... I'll try Mom. If she'll see me."

"She will."

********

She looked beautiful.

Pam was wearing tight cream pants that went halfway down her knees, that showed every curve, and a matching cream blouse... which also showed every curve.

Taylor came in wearing a hat and dark glasses, and dressed in civilian clothes. Ever since the interview he had been mobbed by the media.

He saw her sitting at a table in the restaurant, waiting for him. She didn't look pleased.

But then Taylor came to her table. She looked up at him, confused, until he took off the hat and glasses. Then she jumped up and hugged him. It felt good. Really good.

"Michael," she said, looking into his eyes. "Is it really you?"

Taylor nodded, not trusting his voice at first. Finally he said, "We're making a scene. Let's sit down."

They sat.

"I... I thought you were dead. We all did, after a year," said Pam.

We.

"But I came to your memorial service. Did you see me?"

"I did."

"What happened to you, Michael? What really happened? You can tell me."

Taylor looked into those beautiful green eyes. She had the same face, the same high cheekbones, the same luscious red lips, the same flowing blonde hair... just the same as he had seen it... just a billion years apart in time. After a billion years apart, after a billion years of wishing, they were finally together again! Finally! Taylor still couldn't believe it was happening.

"Tell me, Michael, tell me," she implored him.

"I... I can't," said Taylor, very reluctantly.

"Is it true, what I heard? That you went... a billion years into the future?" Pam asked.

Taylor nodded silently.

"What... what was it like? Oh Michael, you have to tell me! The Earth, was it even-"

"I can't. Please don't ask, Pam. I just can't," said Taylor, in a tortured voice.

Pam's expression grew sour. "Always the Survey Service first, Michael. Well, at least some things haven't changed." She paused, summoning the strength to ask about the biggest question in her mind. Taylor screaned it. He knew what was bothering her. Finally, she said, "What about her, Michael?"

"Her?"

"The woman who looks exactly like me? The woman who wore the exact same dress that I wore for you on our...our...."

"Fuck-cation," said Taylor.

"Yes," said Pam, giving an embarrassed smile. "Please, Michael, give me an explanation, any explanation, just one that makes sense."

Taylor said nothing.

Pam looked at him for a long moment. "They say she's a robot, Michael. They say she's a robot, made to your specifications in the future. A robotic version of me you could fuck at will."