The People Makers Ch. 20

********

When Taylor woke in the morning, he felt sore. Incredibly sore! What a terrible nightmare he had. He felt something grainy under his fingertips, and opened his eyes.

The graininess was Tessa. His arms was wrapped around his lover, turned into powder.

********

"ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!" Taylor screamed at the top of his lungs as he literally lifted up a table and tossed it across the Algeria Lounge. Only once before had he exhibited such superhuman strength, under very questionable circumstances when the inhabitants of a distant planet thought he was a God.

Susan Shinn and Jessica Whiskey screamed as the table went flying over their heads. People ran for their lives. Taylor plowed a path directly to the men's table. Anything that got in his way--chairs, tables, people, were thrown to the side like rag dolls.

"YOU!" said Taylor, pointing at Craig Cobin.

"Me?" said Craig, pointing to himself. Ardis McDuff and Roland Miller, who just happened to be sitting next to him, leaned away.

"I WANT YOU!" Taylor cried. He lifted Craig up into the air as the women screamed in terror and admiration.

"YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER AND MY BABY! YOU KILLED MY BABY!"

"I didn't kill anyone!" Craig yelled, even as his legs kicked empty air. Taylor was so strong.

"Take it easy, Captain!" said Hot Dog, grabbing onto one arm.

"Easy, take it easy!" said Hamburger, grabbing onto the other.

And then Taylor, acting like he wasn't being held down, tossed Craig across the room. Craig went sliding across the marble patio floor and hit his head against an enormous potted plant.

Hot Dog and Hamburger tried to grab him again. Taylor tossed Hamburger across the floor. Hot Dog tried to get a grip on Taylor but Taylor got a grip on him. He grabbed him around his black, matchstick neck, and squeezed and squeezed and squeezed.

Everyone gasped as Hot Dog flickered and suddenly changed into an ugly purple serpent wearing a silvery uniform. Hot Dog hissed menacingly at Taylor and Taylor squeezed tight, causing Hot Dog's head to separate from his body with an enormous popping sound. The decapitated snake body sprayed Taylor with purple goo. The headless purple serpent wriggled in his arms for a long moment before laying still.

And then Hamburger caught him from behind and he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and everything went black.

*********

Sophie was making love to him.

Commander Sophie Astor of the United Survey Service rode up and down methodically on his penis in the barely lit chamber.

Sophie was making love to him.

It took a moment for Taylor to realize what was going on. At first he thought it was Tessa but even in the semi-darkness he quickly recognized the outline of his first officer. He cleared his throat to speak but she put a finger over his lips. "No talk," she said. "Just feel."

She made love to him slowly, relishing the feeling of his erection inside her body, rotating her hips in a circle to stimulate the head of his penis in unique ways. A little smile graced her lips as she made Taylor pant.

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

"That's right. Let it out, let it all out."

And as Sophie made love to him, he did. When he emptied himself inside of her it was the most cathartic thing he had ever done. She collapsed into his arms and he went instantly to sleep.

*********

They lay in each others arms into the next morning. Sophie looked at him with her soft hazel eyes. "I'm so sorry about Tessa."

Taylor nodded.

"She was an incredible woman."

Taylor nodded again.

"And the baby."

Taylor winced painfully. My baby!

Sophie paused a moment. "But now... it's just us." She looked at him with intense vulnerability. "Michael... can you... can you ever feel for me... what you felt for her?"

Taylor looked pained. "Sophie... I love you."

"But... like you loved her?" She bit her lip. "I know it's silly. But I need to know."

Taylor shook his head. "It's not silly to ask. I know how you feel. I screan it." He paused. "What I had with Tessa was special. Incredible. One of a kind. She had a kind of empathy, a natural warmth, I've never seen with any woman, ever." He paused, seeing the hurt look on her face. "But you're different."

"I am?"

"You... Sophie, you're me."

"I'm... you?" She looked confused.

"You're me," Taylor repeated, with a firmness and confidence he felt quite clearly. "We're the same thing. With Tessa, there was always the challenge of bridging a gap. But not with you. We've worked together so long, Sophie, gotten to know each other so well, I feel like... like you're a part of me. We're like a single mind. It's hard... it's hard to put into words."

"No! You did just fine!" said Sophie hastily, feeling incredibly, incredibly pleased. "It's just that with Tessa-"

"If it hadn't been for Survey Service regulations keeping us apart, there would have been no Tessa," said Taylor.

"No Tessa?" Sophie's eyebrows shot upwards.

"No." Taylor shook his head. "I never would have looked at her twice. There only would have been you, and me."

"Really?" said Sophie. She felt an excited tingling from head to toe.

"You... and me." He grabbed her and kissed her passionately. She responded, grabbing his naked body tightly with hers, and time flew in different directions for a while.

*********

Some time later, Sophie said. "I was asked... to convey a message."

"A message?" said Taylor.

"Ship," said Sophie. "Play the message."

And then the holographic image of Special Negotiator Tessa Hetford appeared.

********

"Michael." She paused, taking a deep breath. "I'm so nervous recording this! But I wanted to leave you a message, just in case. I'm about to consummate and partner with Craig. I hope things work out, really I do, but I realize there's a chance it may not. People have told me... have me that when their pairings don't work out, after a certain number of time, that... that they are expected... to make room for newcomers. It's a cruel policy, but in light of the urgent need to restart mankind, maybe it's warranted."

"Anyway, I just wanted to say that if anything... happens to me... either after this pairing, or another one after it... I just wanted to say that I love you very, very much. You have made me feel things that no other man ever has. If you are listening to this, then I am gone, and I hope you will finally free yourself to get and give comfort from Sophie. She's an incredible woman, Michael, and you've let things like petty regulations keep the two of you apart far too long."

She paused as she started to choke up. "I... I love you very much, Michael. Always remember that." And then she started to cry, and the image faded.

********

Breakfast was a quiet affair. Taylor felt the eyes of the Community on him and Sophie. Taylor's memory was a bit mixed up, but he remembered doing something... being... rather wild and out of control. Sophie gave him worried looks as they ate. She was probably thinking about how he would process Tessa's last message. But after everything that had happened, Taylor was emotionally numb. Nothing further could affect him now.

Frog came over to their table. "Good morning, Captain. Commander."

Sophie gave a curt nod. "Frog."

"Are you... feeling better, Captain?" Frog asked tentatively.

Taylor shook his head.

"I'm sorry for what happened to-"

Taylor dropped his atomic fork with a clatter and stood up abruptly. "Don't even say it!" he said. "Don't even say you're sorry! You're not! You're part of the system and you did this to her!"

All eyes were on him. Sophie slowly pulled him down and he sat again.

Frog's head bobbed this way and that and she shifted from foot to foot.

"I understand your agitation."

"How can you understand my agitation?" said Taylor.

"I understand it because my host does," said Frog. "I come from a race of beings who are excellent caretakers, but are also quite vulnerable to feeling empathy for others."

"Your host?" said Taylor. "What does that mean?"

"Taylor, please listen. What I'm about to tell you contravenes all the rules," said Frog.

"What are you saying?" Taylor asked.

"The Experiment... is over."

"Over?" said Taylor. "What does that mean? Are we free to go?"

Frog shook her head. "You are all to be... terminated. We are to start again with a new species, one with more potential." Frog paused. "My host has become quite fond of your race. I will help you escape, if you wish."

"You will?" said Taylor.

"Yes," said Frog. "I have already sent a message to your Survey Service. But they may not arrive in time. It would be best if you and the Commander left now, on the Probe Ship."

"What about the others?" He looked around the Lounge.

Frog shook her head. "The others would notice if large numbers attempted to leave. I can't save everyone. But I can at least save both of you, and perhaps make a very small amends... for the loss of your... friend."

"Haggis told us he tried to leave once. They simply called the ship back."

"That will not happen. I will be with you and make sure that will not happen," said Frog. "Do you know the orange door to the hanger bay?"

"Yes."

"Meet me there in thirty of your minutes. And tell no one."

********

Frog was in the Central Core. A giant tube of glass 200 feet tall was in the center of the room. Thousands of tiny yellow lights swirled inside of it.

"You have gone too far this time," said J.

"I regret nothing of what I did," said Frog. "We treat the humans like expendable food animals. But they are thinking, living, feeling beings. What we did to them was wrong."

"It was necessary so we could live," said M.

"There are other ways of living," said Frog.

"Would you prefer to spend another millennia in here, without a body to feel sensations with?"

"We could have found another way. A more humane way."

'That word again," said J. "You have sealed your own fate. The Council has found you irreversibly contaminated by your Host, and decided to separate you from this project. Leave the host body now."

"No... please, no," said Frog.

"It is not a request," said J.

Frog stiffened as a yellow light emerged from her head. It slowly drifted out of her and then found its way into the bright, yellow tube, to once again become one of millions.

Frog blinked rapidly and shrugged her shoulders. For the first time in more than a hundred years her mind was hers again! She could think for herself again! F had never left her, not even for a minute, except when she was unconscious during sleep cycle, or when another could temporarily take her place.

"I'm free!" Frog cried. "Finally! After so many years! Free, free, free!"

"Yes," said J. "You have the gratitude of all of us for many decades of serving the Federation productively and loyally. We thank you for your service."

And then before them Frog's body turned into powder and collapsed into dust.

*********

Taylor and Sophie stood by the orange door to the hanger bay and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

They looked at each other. Something was wrong.

They went back to the Oregon Lounge, asking if anyone had seen Frog. They hadn't. They got the same answers in Algeria and Bermuda. They were just leaving Bermuda when Hamburger stopped them.

"I hear you're looking for me," he said.

"No. Looking for Frog. Have you seen her?" said Taylor.

"Frog went away," said Hamburger, hopping from foot to foot.

"Away where? When is Frog coming back?"

"Frog's not coming back," said Hamburger, still hopping.

"Who... who will perform her role?" Sophie asked.

"I will!" said Hamburger. "I'm the new Frog, you might say! Is there anything I can help you with?"

Sophie and Taylor exchanged looks.

"Oh, before I forget, let me introduce my new friend!"

Suddenly an animated cluster of french fries appeared, flavored and cooked potato sticks.

"Let me guess," said Taylor wearily. "You're Mr. French Fries."

"How did you know?" he asked, hopping from foot to foot.

*********

"We have to get out of here," said Taylor. "We have to get through that door."

"Haggis got through it once," said Sophie. She paused, frowning.

"What is it?" Taylor asked.

"An idea," said Sophie. "A theory."

"At this point, I'll try almost anything," said Taylor.

"Let's get Haggis."

*********

They told Haggis to meet them at the orange door. But when Haggis appeared he had Marla with him. Taylor opened his mouth to say something but Haggis said, "This is Marla."

"Marla," said Taylor.

"She can be trusted," said Haggis.

Taylor screaned the two of them, sensing the connection. He sighed. "All right. We're all here to get through this door and get out of here."

"An excellent idea. How do we do it?" Haggis asked.

"You did it once," said Sophie.

"But what I did no longer works."

"Try," said Sophie. "Try again, doing the exact same thing you did before."

Haggis gave her a wary look.

"Ship?"

"Yes, Haggis?"

Haggis tried to remember the exact words he had used before. "Ship... I want you to create a simulation... which gives me have access.... to all the Station's top level access codes. Use actual data from your memory banks.... to simulate this access."

"Done, Haggis."

"Now open-" he stopped as Sophie put a hand over his mouth, and shook her head.

Then she spoke. "Ship?"

"Yes, Commander Astor?"

"Let's build on Haggis's simulation. I want to build a simulation within a simulation. Stipulate that... the builders of this Station were aware of Haggis's request, and only pretended to give him access when he asked for it in his simulation."

"Stipulated."

"Then simulate that in the process of living within the builder's simulation of Haggis's simulation, that Haggis broke through the proscribed limits of the builder's simulation and actually got full system access."

There was a pause, and for a moment Sophie didn't think it would work, until-

"Granted."

Sophie took a deep breath, and turned to Haggis and raised an eyebrow.

"Ship... open hanger bay door."

And the orange door opened!

"Sophie, you're a genius!" Taylor cried, kissing her. "I love you, have I ever told you that?"

"Occasionally," said Sophie. "But you might make a habit of saying it more often now."

He smiled as he hugged her tightly. Marla smiled too and whispered to Haggis, "Don't they look cute together?"

Haggis cleared his throat.

"Oh, yes." Taylor released Sophie. "Good work, Commander."

"Thank you... Captain." She gave an uncharacteristic smile.

They stepped through the hanger bay door.

It was just as Taylor remembered it during his trip to the planet. There were a number of shuttles, and also the long, phallic shape of the Probe Ship which had a bulbous cockpit like a penis. On the left side of the vast room was a yellow door which Taylor remembered went to Central Control. He ignored that and went to the entry hatch for the Probe Ship and turned to Haggis.

"Ship, open the door to the Probe Ship."

Nothing happened.

Haggis spoke louder. "Ship, open the door to the Probe Ship."

Again, nothing happened.

"Maybe they discovered what we were doing," said Haggis.

"Or maybe the Probe Ship operates on a different system," said Sophie. She went to the door control panel, pressed some buttons. "Dead. No power."

"No," said Taylor. "I'm not going to let that stop us." He went to the panel and ripped it off. He saw several circuit patterns. Suddenly he was back at the Academy, fucking Lieutenant Commander Sarah Blade.

"But what if I'm working on a ship system I'm not familiar with?" Taylor asked, as he pounded the hot blonde's pussy.

"But what if I'm working on a ship system I'm not familiar with?" Sarah said, in a weak willed imitation of his own voice. Then she said, "All circuitry has basic patterns. If you're searching out for the central circuit, find the one with the most pathways that extends in the most directions."

Taylor looked at the door panel and found it. All he needed was power to open the door.

Power....

He looked around at the landing bay. He looked at Haggis. He looked at Marla. He looked at Sophie.

And then he looked at Sophie's breasts.

"What? What is it?" said Sophie.

"Your breasts," said Taylor. "Your implants. They're nuclear powered. Cold fusion, correct?"

"Yes," said Sophie.

"What if we can harness them, tap their energy to power the door control?"

"They... they aren't made to emit power in that way, Michael."

"I know. Unzip yourself, Sophie."

"Michael?"

"Do it."

Sophie looked so vulnerable as she unzipped her white jumpsuit halfway, with her enormous nuclear powered tits sticking out. Marla saw Haggis staring at them, and punched him in the arm.

Sophie looked uncertain.

"It will be all right," Taylor assured her, pulling her jumpsuit off her shoulders.

Marla gasped as she saw how firm Sophie's perfectly formed breasts were.

"They're so beautiful," she whispered to Haggis, who was still rubbing his arm.

Taylor reached out and gently caressed one of Sophie's breasts. Sophie looked at him with longing. Then he gently pushed her forward until her breast was in contact with the open control plate of the door panel.

"What is it you expect to happen now?" she asked.

And then Taylor screaned her.

********

Screaning, for Taylor, had always been an observational ability. Taylor had never quite found the words to describe what it meant. Pam said it was a rudimentary method of determining the "rightness" or "wrongness" of an object but was clear that it was much more. Taylor had used it as a lie detector but also to detect emotional states and motivations. But he had always felt that it could be used for other things just beyond his grasp... or perhaps his imagination.

Taylor felt something within himself, urging him onward, He screaned Sophie's left breast. He screaned Sophie's left cold fusion implant. He "saw" where it was lodged in her breast, and connected to her nipple. And then somehow, by screaning it, he activated it, and made it come alive.

Sophie gasped as a current of electricity surged out of her tit into the control panel as she was pressed against it. "Michael... something's happening!" She jammed her heavy breast into the confined space more tightly, to concentrate the juice.

And then the door slid open. Sophie gasped and pulled back.

"Sophie, are you all right?" said Taylor.

"I... I think so." Sophie looked down. Her left breast was now sagging, just a bit. But but that could be fixed later.

They entered their ship and made their way to the cockpit, which was obviously the bridge of the ship.

But when they got there, a forcefield sprung into being, blocking them from access to a veritable maze of shiny controls from one end of the pilot viewport to the other.

"They're aware of us," said Haggis.

"I don't think so," said Taylor. "If they were, they would have dragged us out by now. This is simply another safeguard they must have added."

"Well, how do we get past this one?" Haggis asked.

Taylor saw the forcefield emitter, mounted on the ceiling just behind the forcefield. It would have to be disabled. He reached out and screaned it. He could touch the emitter, he could feel it, but he didn't have the power to disable it.

The power to disable it....

He turned to Sophie and without saying a word unzipped her again and pulled out her luscious breasts. Her eyes widened as he fondled them in front of Marla and Haggis.

Then he reached out with his mind and screaned....

A bolt of lighting came out of the tip of one nipple and then the other, making Sophie gasp. Taylor aimed her breasts so they were pointed at the forcefield emitter, just behind the forcefield.