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

"Maybe I could probably get a job right here, with the Australian territorial army."

"No," Pam said again.

"Why not? They have a base here, right next to Auburn field," said Taylor. "You wouldn't have to move."

"I don't want you taking a military job where they might ship you all over the place. I want you here, Michael Taylor," said Pam, giving him a kiss. She stared at him and Taylor could screan that her mind was working furiously. "I think you could do quite well working at a corporation... or a bank."

Taylor laughed. "What would I do at a bank?"

"You could be a manager. You are good at managing people," said Pam.

"Yes... a crew of Survey Service astronauts."

"Astronauts, businessmen, it's all the same thing," said Pam. "People are people."

Taylor wanted to laugh, but he saw she was serious.

"You have a gift, Michael. You are a natural born leader. That's why you made such a great God." She gave him such a sexy smile that he wanted to grab her and kiss her.

She sat down opposite him. "You know, I have just the thing for you. My Uncle Remus knows the President of Apptronics. He told me he could get you a job there, maybe."

"Apptronics?"

"They make popular applications. Their most famous one has almost two billion downloads."

"What is it?"

"An app which tells people what mood they are in."

Taylor laughed. "Why would anyone need that?"

"Don't overestimate people, Michael. People like to be guided. They like to be told everything, even how they're feeling. Apptronics is well on its way to becoming a multi billion credit company. Go and talk to them, Michael."

"I don't know-"

Pam put a hand over his. "For me, dearest one?"

Taylor looked into those eyes, and was lost.

********

"Ah, ah ah, aaaaaah!" Pam cried, at the exact same time as Remy did. Remy smiled as he felt his penis flood her vagina with his cum. Success!

"So, how was that?" Remy asked, as he dismounted her.

"How was what?" Pam asked, sounding puzzled.

"Your first big O," said Remy, looking pleased.

"What do you mean?"

"Your first sexual climax! I told you it might take a few tries."

A few tries. For the past two weeks, they had been having sex nearly every night. Remy had been pounding into her relentlessly, hammering her vagina with his impressive shaft. He had squeezed and sucked and nibbled on her breasts. He had worked her entire body over.

"I did not climax," said Pam resolutely.

"But... you cried out-"

"Just as you did," said Pam. "I was emulating you. I have observed other women having sexual climaxes. And yet I am not able to have one with you. Is that because you are not able to bring women to a biological orgasm?"

"No! I have brought hundreds of women to orgasm!" said Remy, suddenly realizing he had said the wrong thing. But his words had no noticeable effect on Pam.

They hadn't only been fucking for the past two weeks. They had also been touring World Government facilities. A World Government Health Clinic, a World Government Food Processing Plant, a World Government Sewage Reclamation Center, a World Government End of Life Departure Center, and most recently, a World Government Welfare Engine.

Remy had given her a tour of the gleaming computer banks, row after row after row of them.

"What do they do?" Pam had asked.

"They generate welfare credits for nearly half the world's population," said Remy. "These machines are continually generating credits and putting it into the bank accounts of billions of people around the world."

"Why?" Pam had asked.

"Because every being has a right to consumption." Everyone knew that. It was in the World Government Constitution.

Remy had been trying to play up the benefits of the World Government, but, to be candid, he wasn't sure if he was making any headway. He had read Taylor's report about Pam, and Taylor had said that Pam laughed and smiled. But Remy had never heard Pam laugh, had never even seen her smile. It was like she was a different person.

...or a different diagnostic tool, if one really believed Taylor's full unredacted report. Personally, after two weeks with Pam, Remy was of the opinion that Pam was simply a woman, a woman who was sexually frigid and emotionally repressed. He had had more luck squeezing an orgasm out of the Prime Minister of Iceland, a rotund woman in her late 60's.

Remy had tried to get Pam talking. She appeared to have zero interest in his own background, which was odd, if she really was a research tool, so he asked about her instead.

She claimed to be some kind of tool who was part of a larger group which created galaxies. It was pure fantasy, of course, but Remy indulged her.

"So you create suns? Do you make them yellow? I like them yellow," said Remy.

"I am a yellow sun," said Pam.

Remy said, "Yellow like your hair, you mean?" He sniffed her hair. "It smells wonderful."

She just gave him that unreadable stare, as she always did.

"Tell me some of the best planets you created." He would try to indulge her in her nonsense.

"Best?" Pam frowned. "By what standard? Do you mean Trista? Or Shursta? Or Tisson Crae?"

"I... I mean pretty."

"So you mean Shursta," said Pam. "I once created a planet with seven rings of all different colors. Taylor said it was the prettiest thing he had ever seen, after me." She turned to him. "Where is Taylor?"

She would ask that at least once a day. He would give her the same answer, that he was out on assignment, and would return soon, but he could see that that answer would not satisfy her indefinitely.

"You're always so serious looking," said Remy, taking her hand. "Do you ever smile?"

"Yes," said Pam. "Taylor says this body has a most beautiful smile."

Again with Taylor! Remy knew that this Taylor had a reputation as a ladies's man, but Remy had seen his holo, and he was sure that he was far more attractive. Remy was at least three inches taller than Taylor; he had darker eyes; a smoother jaw, a handsomer grin; and a more muscular body. What could any women see in that low ranking Survey Service rogue but not see in him?

"Did Taylor-" and Remy immediately saw her eyes light up, "Did Taylor ever talk to you about the art of flirtation?"

"Flirtation. No," said Pam. "Please elaborate."

Remy took Pam's palm and started to massage it with his thumb. "Flirtation is the art of showing attraction."

"Can it lead to love?"

"It can," said Remy, as his hand moved up her arm.

"Can it give me an orgasm?"

"Anything is possible," said Remy, rubbing her shoulders.

"Then proceed. Flirt me immediately. I am ready," said Pam.

Remy smiled. "You... you have the most beautiful eyes, do you know that?"

"Yes. Taylor told me that," said Pam.

Remy hid his irritation. "And you have gorgeous high cheekbones... and a cute little nose...." He let a finger roam across them. Pam stared back at him expressionlessly.

He let his hands roam across her breasts. "And you have beautiful breasts." He squeezed gently. "Do you like that?"

"This body likes it," said Pam.

Pam did that a lot. Whenever they had sex, and he asked that question, she would sometimes answer in the affirmative, but always referred to it as pleasing "This body". "This body" liked his kiss. "This body" liked the feeling of him on top of her. "This body" liked his penis entering her. He assumed that Pam, for whatever reason, disassociated herself from her own body. Another weirdness from a very weird woman.

"And does this body like this?" Remy asked, rubbing her nipples through her sheer dress.

"This body does," she said, giving him a pointed look.

Progress!

Remy slowly undressed her, and then himself. He proceeded to have sex with her, slowly and carefully. He asked her at every step what she liked, and what she didn't. As he thrusted within her, he felt a difference, this time. A spark in her eye. Her body became more responsive.

And then, as he moved in and out of her, she started to gasp. More importantly, she was gasping when he wasn't; it was his second time of the day, and he was coming along a little more slowly. She was coming on her own!

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ahhh," Pam said. And then she was silent.

Remy looked inquiringly at her. "Did you climax?"

"Yes," said Pam.

"So... how was it?"

"This body enjoyed it." Pam blinked exactly twice. "Congratulations. You successfully stimulated nerve endings to achieve a biological response. You are to be commended on the catalyzing force of your anatomical piston," said Pam.

"I think we're making real progress here," Remy grinned, feeling really good about himself.

********

It was a painful duty, but a necessary one.

Taylor, and the other five surviving crewmembers of the Judicator, were holding a reception for the families of the crews of the Aurora, Judicator, Exeter, and Devonshire. They all wanted one thing, the one thing Taylor could not give them.

Taylor had pleaded with Admiral Von Windhoek, but the Admiral refused to be moved. Classified meant classified. He could not discuss in any specifics what had happened to the four crews.

"So what am I supposed to tell them?" Taylor had asked.

Von Windhoek stared him in the eye. "That they perished upholding the finest traditions of the United Survey Service."

And that's what he did.

At least it was good to see his crew again, the few who had survived. There was Ensign Daniel Wood, now Lieutenant Daniel Wood. Taylor congratulated him on his promotion, as well as his new assignment as Assistant Chief Engineer on the Inverness. Taylor's own promotion had not yet come through, which annoyed him, even though he would be resigning his own commission in just a few weeks; it would be nice to leave the service as a full Commander, at the least.

Doctor McCrae was there as well, and he came over to say hello. "So we actually made it, Captain."

"You had doubts?" Taylor asked.

McCrae laughed. "I gave up in the year eight million! Dying twice can have a seriously adverse impact on your morale, Michael."

"Are you going to leave the service?" Taylor asked.

"No! Who can ever find a more interesting life anywhere else? Time travel, aliens, broken planets... it was an incredible ride!" said McCrae. He laughed.

Taylor screaned that McCrae had been drinking. "How many of those have you had?" he asked.

"Not nearly enough." He held up a glass of green liquid. "It's terrible we can't tell these folks about what happened," said McCrae. "I feel for them, I really do."

"So do I," said Taylor, looking at all the sad faces.

Elizabeth and Vincent were also there, although Taylor was careful to note that they stood on opposite sides of the room, and while Vincent looked over at Elizabeth, she never looked at him.

What had happened there?

After their last... encounter, Taylor screaned that Vincent and Elizabeth had gotten together, much to his surprise. But now they no longer seemed to be with each other. He went over to Elizabeth to say hello. She was hovering, uncomfortably, by the snack table, her arms wrapped around herself.

"Elizabeth," he said.

"Captain," she replied formally.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"As well as can be expected," she said. He looked at her. There was no sign of the sexy seductress who had fucked Taylor hard in his cabin on the Judicator. That had been Doug's doing, the alien Doug.

"Are you still with the Scientific Branch?"

"Of course," said Elizabeth simply. "My career is my life."

"And nothing else?" Taylor looked at Vincent, who was watching them. "What about Vincent?"

"What about him?"

"I was under the impression you had... forgiven him," said Taylor.

Elizabeth looked at Taylor, and could immediately tell that he knew. "Vincent... comforted me when I needed comforting. Much like you did, Captain. But there was no love in it; it was purely mechanical. Just like you and me."

"Elizabeth-" Even as he started to reply, Elizabeth walked away.

"Well, it's good to see that some things haven't changed," said a new voice.

"Victor!" Taylor wasn't homosexual, but he felt the need to give Victor a solid manhug. It felt good.

"Michael!" said Victor. "You're looking good!" he looked Taylor up and down. "Is it Pam?"

"I thought I was the only person who could screan, Victor," said Taylor. "Yes, we got back together."

"I knew it. The two of you were meant for each other," said Victor.

"I hope so," said Taylor.

"What does that mean?"

Taylor told Victor how he promised to resign his commission. He also told Victor how Pam wanted him to take a job at a corporation.

Taylor had gone on a job interview at Apptronics, and it was perfectly dreadful. He saw row after row of customer service managers sitting at holographic screens in small cubicle desks. The thought of sitting in one of those repelled him. The idea of spending the rest of his life overseeing customer service for meaningless products revolted him. Still, Pam wanted him to get an office job. How could he do it without feeling smothered?

Victor listened quietly. Taylor noticed that Victor had gotten a tan! He couldn't imagine Victor lying on a beach.

When he was done, Victor said, "I hear you, Michael. Pam has given you her requirements. But have you given her yours?"

"Requirements? I... I don't have any requirements for her," said Taylor.

"What about for yourself?" said Victor. "Are you going to let her run your life?"

"Victor, she's the love of my life."

Victor looked at him. "Michael, are you going to let the love of your life run your life?" He frowned. "You're a Survey Service Captain, Michael. The best I've ever seen."

"I am?"

"Look at all these families. If you had been the Captain of their ships, perhaps some of their crew might have come back." He looked Taylor in the eye. "You're a Survey Service Captain. Anything else is wasted material. Whether Pam can live with it, or not, it's what you are." He thought of something, and smiled. "You, in the Survey Service... it's Tisson Crae. Who can fight that?"

Taylor found himself smiling back. Victor always had a way with words. "And how are you doing, Victor?'

"Me? Oh, I'm fine. I'm writing a series of papers about our experiences. From an exosociological perspective." He saw the look Michael gave him. "Of course, no one with a security clearance below 12 will ever get to read them, which is a bit of a problem." He gestured to the crowd of families who were watching them. "It's the same problem we have here. Everyone wants to know what happened, but we can't tell them. What have you been saying to them?"

"That their loved ones died for a purpose," said Taylor. "To save the Earth."

"And that's all they really need to know, I suppose. But naturally they want to know more. It's human nature," said Victor. "I've come across some of the families--Bill Carey's, Ensign Torrence, and a few others. It's not just words they want, but comforting. You're good at that, Michael."

"Am I?" Taylor asked uncertainly.

A man came up to Taylor. "Captain Taylor?" he said.

Taylor nodded.

"My name is Robert Ferris. My wife Jeanie was second officer on the Aurora."

Aurora, the science ship.

"Did you happen to see her, whenever... wherever you went?"

Taylor shook his head.

"Is there anything you can tell me about what happened to her?"

There was. But what could he say to the man? That his wife was probably tortured to death in the year 8,000,000 by the Ascended, as they studied the concept of emotional restraint? That was not an answer that Robert Ferris wanted to hear.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," said Taylor.

Ferris nodded miserably and walked away.

A middle aged woman came next. Amelia Andrews, the wife of Robert Andrews, the Captain of the Judicator.

"Is there anything, anything at all you can tell me about Robert?" she asked.

Her husband Robert Andrews. Along with the rest of the Judicator crew, their physical bodies had died, while their consciousnesses were trapped in the virtual layer. What could he tell her, that her husband was still alive, in an alternate dimension, somewhere 22,000,000 years in the future?

"I know you know something," she said. "You have to know. You came back in Robert's ship, for God's sake! Where is he, Captain Taylor? Tell me, where is my husband?"

"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can tell you."

"Please!" she said, tears forming in her eyes. "Something, anything!"

Taylor considered for a long moment. He looked at Victor. Victor gave her a sympathetic look.

"Your husband is dead," Taylor said finally. "But..."

"But?"

"He loved you very much."

"You spoke to him?" she said, her eyes full of hope.

"That's all I can say," said Taylor.

But that buoyed Amelia Andrews, and she actually smiled, before thanking him and turning away.

"Robert Andrews never told you that, did he?" Victor asked.

"No, he didn't," said Taylor. "But I have learned that sometimes that is exactly what people need to hear."

Just as he needed to hear it in the cave on the second moon of Sirius IV, when he was burning up with fever.

Just as Elizabeth needed to hear it in order to get a life-saving orgasm when they were prisoners of the United.

Next came another middle aged brown haired woman. She had her hair down, but if it were up in a bun she would look like-

"Hello, Captain Taylor. My name is Susan Spaulding. Captain Audrey Spaulding's sister," she said, extending her hand.

Taylor shook it.

"Is there anything you can tell me about my sister?" Susan asked.

What could Taylor tell Susan? That he had met an alien posing as her sister, who had given him the isotope? Or that he had met her sister in a dream, a dream so real that she gave him details of one of her crewmen's personal lives?

Taylor shook his head. "I never met her."

"You made it back. Why couldn't she?" Susan persisted.

Victor spoke up. "We don't have an answer for that. Life doesn't give us answers to such things. Your sister was a Survey Service officer. She knew the risks when she entered the Black Box. So did we. She took a chance, as we all did, and she helped save the Earth. It's not every Survey Service officer who can say that."

Susan Spaulding nodded, dabbing back tears. She thanked them and turned away.

"What about Pam?" Victor suddenly asked.

"What about her?" Taylor asked, a little confused, and he had to quickly screan to realize that Victor was talking about the other Pam.

"Do you know where she is?"

"The World Government has her," said Taylor.

"Do you have any interest in where she is, what she's doing?" Victor asked.

Taylor said, "Victor, I'm back with Pam now. The real Pam." But in fact, Taylor had thought of Pam sometimes, the other Pam. He had assumed that once he had gotten back together with the real Pam, he would have lost interest in the diagnostic tool from the year one billion. But he did wonder where she was, and how she was doing.

"The real Pam. An interesting choice of words," said Victor. He thought a moment. "I don't think there is a real Pam, Michael," he said.

"Victor?"

"I think there are two of them."

At that moment a weepy woman approached. She was Sarah Carey, the wife of his first officer, Bill Carey.

"Captain, I understand matters being classified. I was the wife of a Survey Service officer. But... he was your senior officer. Surely you can tell me something...." She grabbed his hands, and squeezed them tightly. Taylor could see the tears in her eyes.

What could he say? That Bill was alive, somewhere in the year 500,000,000? That he had given his life to save Elizabeth, by grabbing a United before it grabbed her and teleported her back to Corta?