Fantasy Journey to Year 1,000,000,000

Consciousness slowly returned to Taylor. He was naked and standing up, and yet his feet were not touching the ground. He was pinioned to the air around him, as if he were strapped to a vertical table, one he could not see or touch.

There was a light shining in his eyes, and the rest of the room was dark.

"Ah, he is becoming aware again. Welcome back, Captain Taylor."

Taylor recognized Arnack's voice.

"We have a number of tasks we need you to perform for us, Captain Taylor. The first one will be the most important. We want you to order your ship to land here."

Taylor gave a surprised laugh. "And why would I do that?"

"Because if you do not, we will subject your body to increasing amounts of pain," said Senderock.

Taylor set his face in a determined way. "I hope you enjoy the sounds of screaming."

"We have no special preference for it. But perhaps you will."

And so it began.

They could cause pain in any part of his body, seemingly without any instrumentation. In his hands, his arms, his feet, his legs, his stomach, his chest, his head, even his.... anywhere. Taylor screamed freely, but he didn't break. They tortured him for what seemed like a very long time. And yet, he didn't give them what they wanted.

After a time, even the Ascended noticed their failure. "It isn't working," said Arnack. "I do not understand. Captain Margaret Astor of the United Survey Service ship Aurora broke much more quickly."

"This one has much more fortitude than Captain Margaret Astor of the United Survey Service Ship Aurora," Senderock observed.

"What did you do to them? Did you torture them too?" Taylor yelled.

"They were much more cooperative subjects than you were... eventually," said Arnack.

"Let us try with the female," said Senderock.

"An excellent idea," said Arnack.

There was a shimmer of light, and Jennifer appeared, standing ten feet in front of Taylor. She seemed to be similarly pinned to the air.

And she was completely nude.

Taylor had served with Jennifer Hale for more than two years. He had seen the wonderful curves of her uniform, but never had he seen her without clothes on. His jaw dropped as he saw his first officer's body naked for the very first time.

She was as beautiful as he imagined. Even more so. Her breasts were every bit as round and firm as Taylor had imagined. They had a slight sag, being free of a Survey Service standard issue bra, but somehow that made them even sexier. She had large, red areolas which were incredibly arousing.

Moving farther down, her belly was as trim as Taylor expected, her legs as slim and athletic as he well knew. And between her legs....

Taylor stared at her furry pubic bush. It was black, like the hair on her head, but much curlier. She had shaved the sides around her lower opening so her genitals stood out more. Her labial lips were rich and red. To his immense shame, Taylor got an immediate erection.

When she saw his penis getting hard, Jennifer's eyes widened. She looked into his eyes, but he couldn't meet her stare.

"And now we begin," said Arnack.

"No!" Taylor cried.

In seconds, Jennifer was crying out in pain. They did the same thing to her that they had done to him. Taylor was forced to watch as they inflicted pain on different parts of her body. Every so often they would stop, and offer to end the torture, if she would agree to call the Devonshire. She refused.

Taylor kept yelling at them to stop. He struggled at his invisible restraints. Watching pain being inflicted on Jennifer was awful.

And yet... her body was getting slick with sweat. Her round, firm breasts were shining in the bright lights. Jennifer moaned with pain, but her moans could easily have been confused for something else. And the expression of her face, the expression of her teeth clenched and her eyes tightly shut could in other circumstances be confused for pleasure, not pain.

A part of Taylor, a shameful part of him, felt his penis throb with need as he watched what was being done to his first officer, to his very best friend.

But Jennifer refused to crack. After she screamed especially loudly, Arnack said, "Lieutenant, we take no joy in this. Contact your ship, and the pain will end."

Jennifer looked at him with confused eyes. "What do you want them for?"

"Just a physical examination," said Arnack. "Nothing else. Then you will all be free to go."

"Don't believe him, Jennifer!" Taylor cried.

Jennifer looked at Taylor, and then at Arnack, and said, "No."

"Most regrettable, Lieutenant," said Arnack. And in moments she was screaming again.

They heard a new voice, a lighter, more feminine voice.

"What is this?" said the new voice.

"Prelnick," said Arnack, and there was real warmth in his voice. "So good to see you."

"I heard about the new arrivals," said Prelnick. "The male looks like quite a healthy, vibrant specimen."

"He is," said Arnack. "He has already shown a potential restraint quotient far exceeding the crew of the Aurora."

"Unfortunately, Arnack is not up to the challenge of breaking either of them," said Senderock.

"I will, I just need more time," said Arnack.

"Their ship has already called for them twice and they have not answered. If they do not respond soon, they will become suspicious and leave."

"It's a pity there's not a real man here who can break these two," said Prelnick.

"I can do it," said Senderock.

"How?" said Arnack.

"There is a bond between these two," said Senderock.

"I have noted it," said Arnack.

"We can use it to our advantage," said Senderock. "Female! Jennifer Hale! Are you listening?"

"Yes," said Jennifer feebly.

"We have run out of time. We are now going to torture your Captain until he dies, or until you capitulate, whichever happens first. Do you understand?"

"No!" Jennifer cried.

"Then let us begin."

They started to torture Taylor again, and this time it was even worse than before. He heard himself scream in agony. It went on for a short time, or a very long one, it was so hard to know. And then it was over, and when he could hear again, he heard Jennifer shouting, "I'll do it! I'll do whatever you say!"

"Call your crew and have the ship brought here," said Senderock.

"Jennifer... no...." Taylor said.

"I have to," said Jennifer. "I have to save you. Just like I did in the cave." And when she looked at him, he saw the love in her eyes. She turned to Arnack. "You're only going to examine them? No torture."

"Of course. You will be free to depart very quickly."

"All right," said Jennifer reluctantly.

On the bridge of the Devonshire, Bill Carey sat in the Captain's chair. "Hale! We've been trying to contact you."

"I know," came Jennifer's voice. "We were in a zone that blocked transmissions."

"You've been out of touch for hours."

"Yes... we've been seeing all kinds of amazing technological achievements."

"Are you coming back now?" Carey asked.

"No. The people here have invited us to visit them. Captain Taylor wants you to bring the ship here."

Carey looked at the other bridge officers, Suki Tanaka, Obongo Babangida, and Bill Collins. "The Captain ordered that?"

"Yes," said Jennifer.

Carey paused. "Can I speak to the Captain?"

"He's busy... talking to Ensign Raleigh."

"They found Ensign Raleigh?"

"Yes. Now bring the ship in now. That's an order, Lieutenant."

Carey drummed his fingers on his armrest indecisively. "All right. We're coming in."

The Devonshire landed on one of the larger landing pads. There was one person waiting for them: Jennifer Hale, in her crisp Survey Service uniform. The landing platform opened, and Bill Carey exited the ship, escorted by six men holding compression rifles. He looked around carefully before marching to Jennifer, who stood perfectly still.

"Lieutenant," said Carey. "Where's the Captain? Where is everyone?"

He looked at her face, and instantly knew something was wrong.

"I'm... I'm so sorry," Jennifer said.

And then a white light descended on Carey and his men, and a larger white light encompassed the ship, and consciousness fled.

Survey Service Captain Michael Taylor was alive.

Every part of his body was sore. Sore, but not in the terrible pain it once was. Whatever they had done to him hadn't left any permanent damage. And he was wearing his Survey Service uniform again.

Unfortunately, that was all the good news there was to be had.

He was in a cell, sealed by a force field, facing a circular chamber lined with other cells. He could see Bill Carey, Obongo Babangida, Bill Collins, Doctor McCrae, Suki Tanaka and... Jennifer! She was sitting up, and staring directly at him, two cells away.

"Are you all right, sir?" She asked.

"I think so," said Taylor, struggling to get up.

"You betrayed us!" said Bill Carey. "You led us into a trap."

Taylor said nothing.

"No, the Captain wouldn't do that," said Suki firmly.

"Did you, sir?" Collins asked. "Did you order Lieutenant Hale to tell us to bring the ship in?"

Taylor didn't respond.

"He's a coward. A narcissist," said Carey. "I knew it. The Survey Service officer with a god complex. We had to get him for a Captain. Why, if I could get into your cell for a just a minute-"

"Stop it!" Jennifer cried. "Just stop it! Taylor didn't break."

They all stared at her.

"I did," she said, starting to sob.

"You did?" Suki asked.

"They were torturing him. They were killing him. I couldn't... I couldn't let it happen," said Jennifer. "They tortured him for the longest time... he refused to break. He's better than... better than... all of you."

Everyone started talking, arguing, yelling.

"That's enough!" said Taylor. The voices died down.

"Very impressive," said a new voice. Taylor recognized it as Arnack's. "You show a most impressive level of restraint, Captain Taylor. Not only did you resist our unpleasant stimuli, but you also seem to have the ability to inspire restraint in others."

"I'm glad I impress you," said Taylor dryly.

"You have. For restraint is what we are here to study. We need a fuller understanding of how much restraint you, our very distant ancestors, possess, so we can better understand how our race diverged from the Lowers. Think of it as... historical anthropological research."

"I think of it as torture," said Taylor.

"As would animals of your century that you experimented on."

"So that's what you think of us. As animals."

"Surely that is correct," said Arnack.

"But we think. We reason. We have self-awareness."

Arnack gave a dry laugh. "You think you reason. You reason that you think. In reality, you do not even begin to Xetan."

"What is Xetan?"

"You see? You are so primitive that you do not even know what the concept means," said Arnack. "And now we must begin our studies."

"Is this what you did to the crew of the Aurora? Drive them mad with your experiments?" Taylor asked.

"We did not drive them anywhere, as you put it. The crew of the Aurora cooperated, eventually, and gave us some fascinating results."

"Then where are they?"

"They are quite used up, I'm afraid," said Arnack. "But the data we obtained from our experiments expanded our understanding of historical anthropology by a factor of three."

"If you learned so much, why do you need us?"

"We only had 42 subjects to experiment with! That is an extremely small sample size! And now, thanks to you, we have 64 more! That will more than double our confidence intervals!"

"I'm so happy for you," said Taylor.

"You should be. You are going to aid our anthropological research immensely," said Arnack. "And along the way, you may help me personally as well."

"In what way?" Taylor asked.

"There is an opening to become a second keeper of the circle of Trilesta. Prelnick has said she will open her body to the man who gets the post."

"I'm so excited for you," said Taylor.

"You should be. As second keeper I will be able to advance the cause of behavior science research even further. And if Prelnick gives me permission to procreate, my superior genes will seed the next generation."

"I wouldn't worry about that," said a new voice, which Taylor recognized as Senderock's. "After your ineptitude this morning, Prelnick will never open her legs for you. I was the one who broke the Lowers, not you."

"We will see, Senderock," said Arnack. "And now, Captain Taylor, are you and your valiant crew ready for your first test?"

"No," said Taylor.

"Good. Then let us begin!"

And then... nothing happened. Everyone stared at each other for the longest time, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.

A while later, out of thin air, something appeared on the ground.

A dish, filled with red cubes, appeared in every cell.

"What is this?" Taylor heard crewman Karen Levenson ask from another cell.

"Food, I think," said Taylor. He realized he was hungry. He picked up one of the food cubes. It had the consistency of gelatin. There was no water to go with it, but some of the cube felt more rubbery than others. Taylor guessed that those had more liquid content.

He cautiously put one in his mouth and bit down. Flavorful liquid slipped down his throat. Someone screamed-

It was Suki, in a cell across the way. "Suki, are you all right?" Taylor asked.

"I just felt this terrible pain, in my stomach," said Suki.

"Did you eat some of the food?" Taylor asked anxiously.

"No," said Suki. "Although I am hungry."

Taylor puzzled over this. And then, looking straight at Suki, he took another food cube, and put it in his mouth, and bit down.

Suki screamed again, grabbing her stomach.

"Oh no," said Taylor, spitting it out. "No."

"What is it? What's happening to us?" Suki asked.

"They're testing our restraint," said Taylor. "They want to see if we can stop ourselves from eating, even when we're hungry."

"And if we can't?" Suki asked.

"Then someone else in this room gets painful shocks," said Taylor.

Everyone looked around as they took in the implications. In order to eat, they would have to inflict pain on someone else.

"That's one of the things that separates us from animals," Taylor realized. "Animals will eat anything put in front of them immediately. Civilized people exercise restraint."

"Quite right, Captain Taylor," came Arnack's smug voice.

Taylor looked up, and saw him on the second level of the facility, staring at them with his big bug eyes.

"What are you going to do, starve us until we eat? What kind of test is that?" Taylor yelled.

"We are going to test your levels of restraint."

Time passed. There was no natural sunlight, so it was impossible to know if it was day or night. Their wristcoms had been taken from them. There was a hole in each cell to be used for excretions; so far everyone tactfully looked away when someone had to go.

Hunger started to build up in their bodies, and then their minds. It started to gnaw at them, to eat at them, for want of a better word.

Suddenly the red food cubes were looking very, very attractive. Taylor could tell by the looks of desperation on his crew's face that they weren't going to last much longer. So he laid down the line. "You can eat. You can all eat. It's a natural thing, to have to eat," said Taylor. "Don't feel you have to hold out for the rest of us. The only rule is, if you have to eat, warn us first, and eat as rapidly as possible."

Crewman Rudy Garrett was the first to break. "I'm sorry... I can't... I have to eat."

"It's all right," said Taylor. "Just do it as quickly as possible."

Rudy looked around. He didn't know who he would be inflicting pain upon. He picked up a red cube and put it in his mouth, and started chewing.

Jennifer Hale yelled out in pain.

Rudy put another cube in his mouth.

"Don't do one at a time!" Bill Carey roared. "Eat them all, as fast as you can, man!"

Rudy filled his mouth with red cubes. He started chewing the rubbery cubes as rapidly as he could. Jennifer was rolling around in agony. Her screams filled all the neighboring cells.

And then Rudy swallowed, and it was done.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he whispered.

Jennifer, gasping as she lay on the ground, her body covered in sweat, stared at him with a hard look.

"Jennifer, are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she said coldly, as she slowly sat up.

One by one they all gave in to hunger, and one by one they gave pain to one of their cellmates. At the last was Bill Carey and Taylor, both of whom had refused to eat.

"Captain, you have to eat," said Jennifer. "Some of us have already eaten twice."

It was true. A second wave of food cubes had been delivered.

Taylor shook his head. "I'm fine." His "pain partner" was Suki Tanaka. He didn't want to be the one to inflict pain on her.

"Listen to her, Captain," said Bill Carey. "You have to eat."

"You haven't eaten, Bill," said Taylor.

"That's because-"

"Because of what?" said Taylor. "Because you're a real officer, and I'm not?"

"I never said that," said Carey.

"You have looked down on me from the moment I came aboard. You think I'm reckless and irresponsible and have no regard for my crew, is that right?" said Taylor.

Carey didn't answer.

"You would have been happier if I had eaten first. If I had eaten first, that would have fulfilled your expectations of me," said Taylor. "And you, by eating last, would show that you have more leadership potential than any of us. That's what this is all about, isn't it?"

"You're both being stupid!" Jennifer snapped.

"You can't call the Captain stupid!" said Carey.

"I just did," said Jennifer. "What are you going to do, mark me down for report?"

"When we get back to the ship, yes," said Carey.

"Captain, please eat," said Suki. "I want you to." Her eyes were begging him.

Taylor looked at her. He shook his head.

"All right," said Carey. "We will both eat at the same time."

"You eat," said Taylor.

"Both of us, or none," said Carey.

And that was how Taylor and Bill Carey finally agreed to eat some food. Suki Tanaka and Karen Levenson screamed in pain while Taylor and Bill Carey ate as rapidly as possible. And then it was over, and their screams turned to moans, which soon faded entirely.

As Bill spoke to Karen, Taylor called over to Suki. "Suki, are you all right?"

"I'm... recovering, Captain," She said, lying on her stomach.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

Suki was touched by his concern, and his expression. "Don't worry about it, sir."

"Fascinating," came the voice of Arnack. "It was as we thought. The two most senior males are in competition. They are exercising the most restraint."

"To what end?" said Senderock.

"Probably they are competing for the females, to show their worthiness to be inseminators," said Arnack. "Isn't that what you were attempting to do, Captain Taylor?"

"Come into this cell, and I'll show you exactly what I was attempting to do," said Taylor.

"That won't be necessary. A fascinating first effort. I must go and notate my results," said Arnack.

"Wait!" said Taylor. "Where is the rest of my crew? And the scientists?" None of the scientists were in the cells around him. They seem to have been purposefully segregated.

But there was no response coming from Arnack.​