Fantasy Journey to Year 1,000,000,000

"Yes. They advanced their science as far as they could, but felt frustrated that they could evolve no further," said Spaulding. "Some chose to live their existence in a virtual layer, which I see from your mind you have visited."

"Yes," said Taylor.

"Those who continued to remain on this plane of existence decided they wanted to de-evolve."

"De-evolve?"

"To return to the state of existence that they were before." Spaulding turned to Doctor McCrae. "Doctor McCrae, what do your readings suggest?"

"That these people around us are human. And so are you. Apparently," said Doctor McCrae.

Taylor addressed Tammad. "You've really come full circle? You're just like us?"

"Not exactly like you, Captain. We retain some improvements. Telepathy, for example, and some forms of higher thought. But we are much closer to you, genetically speaking, then the Ascended you met in previous encounters," said Tammad.

"You haven't mentioned these squid creatures who attacked us," said Taylor.

"The United. Our colonies were invaded by a race of beings called the United. They may resemble squids, but only because they choose to."

"Choose to? What does that mean?"

"They are a species which has evolved in a different direction, Captain Taylor," said Tammad. "Each cell in their body has become self-aware."

"Self aware?" said Taylor.

"Consider your brain. It consists of billions of neurons. Each neuron, in and of itself, has no awareness. You only have awareness from your neurons interacting with each other in large numbers," said Tammad. "Now imagine evolution over a period of millions of years. Imagine each neuron becoming self-aware even before it connects to the others."

"The resulting connection would create an extremely self-aware, self actualized mind," said Victor.

"What would that kind of consciousness be like?" Taylor asked.

"We can't even imagine," said Tammad. "Very highly evolved." He paused. "But that wasn't the only result of evolution of the United. The cells in their body are not only self aware, but also mutable. They can change into any form."

"So... they choose to look like giant squids."

"Yes," said Tammad. "Now that they have converted Earth into a water environment, they find that form best suits their needs.

"And what of humanity?" Victor asked.

"We're scattered among the stars. We're fighting back in some places. Conquered in others. Simply left alone in still others. It is a big galaxy," said Tammad. "I lead the Expedition to Earth, to reclaim our former homeland from the United."

"Even if it is all underwater," said Victor.

"Yes," said Tammad. "But that is easily fixable, if we reclaim the Earth."

"Oh, an easy fix, to be sure," said Victor. His smile faded when he saw that no one else realized he was joking.

"So these... United created the Black Box," said Taylor.

"Yes," said Tammad.

"Why?"

"To draw people in from Earth's past," said Tammad.

"For what purpose?" Taylor asked.

"Entertainment," said Tammad.

"Entertainment?" That was the very last answer Taylor had been expecting.

"They used them in games of chance and death," said Tammad. "They alter them genetically in unusual experiments."

"If their consciousness is so advanced, why would they feel the need to do these things?" Taylor asked.

"They are alien. Who is to say?" said Tammad. "For years they have caught my people and used them for their amusement. But now they seem to want a greater variety of entertainment. So they opened what you call the time tunnel to draw in your crews."

Taylor turned to Captain Spaulding. "Captain, the Exeter came back to us, but there were only eight crew aboard, and they were dead. Did you send the ship back in time?"

"No," said Spaulding. "That was their work."

"Why?" Taylor asked.

"We do not know," said Tammad. "There is much of the motivations of the United that we do not understand."

"Captain Spaulding. I see only you here... where is the rest of your crew?" Taylor asked.

Spaulding bit her lip and looked away, obviously overcome with emotion.

"Captain, I asked you a question," said Taylor.

"They are gone," said Spaulding, looking very upset.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked.

"Captain Spaulding came to us to ask for our help," said Tammad. "While we were meeting with her, her ship was attacked and seized by the United."

"And the crew?"

Spaulding shook her head.

"By now, they have probably all been used up by the United," said Tammad.

"A Captain should never outlive her crew... but I did," said Spaulding, her face heavy with emotion. "I... I tried to stage a rescue, with the help of Tammad's people, but their main base is too heavy fortified."

"We are not skilled fighters," said Tammad. "We have lost much of what you call the aggressive instinct. So we reached back into Earth's past to find one who could help us." He saw the look of confusion on Taylor's face. "Alex, perhaps you should introduce yourself."

One of Tammad's men, a tall, sandy haired man with broad shoulders, stood up and nodded.

"Who are you?" Taylor asked.

"My name is Alex Stone," said the man.

Taylor still looked confused.

Spaulding turned to Taylor. "He is Colonel Alex Stone."

Taylor said... "That Alex Stone? The hero of the Ramandan wars?" He looked at Stone. "But... by our time frame, you died forty years ago."

"Yes, I did," said Stone. "But right before I died, Tammad's people came back in time using their own means and brought me here. They rejuvenated me to make me young again. There has been no corruption of the timeline; my remaining minutes of life were not memorable ones."

Taylor's eyes narrowed. He certainly looked like textbook holos of Alex Stone. In the year five hundred million, anything was possible.

Taylor turned back to Spaulding. "It is obvious the Earth was not destroyed by the Black Box. Do we still have a mission to complete?"

"I believe so," said Spaulding. "From what I gather, the Black Box eventually faded about a year after we left. But the resulting shockwaves killed several million people. We have to stop that from happening."

"The United have set up their main base on the ruined planet of Corta," said Tammad. "It has an impenetrable shield, unless one has the proper elemental code. Our scientists have deciphered the code, and it is just a matter of getting the proper elements. Unfortunately, as I have said, we are not skilled fighters, and Colonel Stone is only one man. If we could work together... we could wipe out the United headquarters, and shut down the time tunnel."

"That sounds like a good plan," said Taylor.

"Do you think we can trust them?" said Bill Carey. He appeared in the Judicator's conference room by holo.

"No," said Taylor.

"No?" said Victor, sounding very surprised.

"After what we've been through? I don't trust anyone," said Taylor. "For all we know, these are simply a different set of aliens with their own agendas."

"They did scan as humans," said Victor.

"Apparently, I said," said Doctor McCrae. "The United may not be the only ones with molecular shape changing technology. In this era, they could turn themselves into a bowl of fruit and we'd never know until we took a bite out of them."

"So, you are going to decline their offer?" Victor asked.

"No, we'll accept their help, if indeed they are really helping us," said Taylor. "We are obviously far outmatched technologically. We can't do this on our own. We'll accept their offer of help, but we'll do so with caution."

"Captain Spaulding vouches for them," said Jennifer.

"Or something which looks just like Captain Spaulding does," said McCrae. "And do you really believe that's Colonel Alex Stone?"

"He looks just like his image in the holobooks," said Victor.

"We've learned not to trust the evidence of our eyes since we've started this journey," said Taylor. "As I said, we'll proceed with caution. I will take a combat team of ten men lead by Lieutenant Babangida to retrieve the elements we need to breach the Corta defense shield. Bill, you'll stay with the Devonshire to provide support. Jennifer, you will take command of the Judicator."

"That is all."

Except, it wasn't all. Jennifer came to see him in his command office shortly after the meeting.

"Take me with you," she said.

"No, Jennifer," he looked at her. "You were angry with me when you didn't get command of the Judicator. And now I'm giving it to you."

"Take me with you, Michael," she said.

Taylor looked at her. She seemed so earnest.

"Why?"

"You're going to need me," she said.

Taylor leaned back in his chair. "You think I'm going to need you? Or are you thinking of Obongo?"

Jennifer sucked her lips and looked at the ceiling for a moment, her hands on her hips. Then she turned back to Taylor. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about Obongo. But it's not just about him. You need me, Michael. Just like you needed me in the cave. You need me to watch your back."

She looked at him with earnest eyes. "Please."

Taylor paused a long moment. He looked at her gorgeous face. He drummed his fingers on his desk. Finally, he nodded curtly. "All right."

"Thank you, Captain," said Jennifer, with gratitude in her eyes.

Taylor nodded. "I just hope we both don't regret it." He paused. "Inform Ensign Collins he is about to go down in history as the first Ensign to command a battle cruiser."

"Not Suki?"

"No, not Suki."

Their first stop was the crescent moon of Sorim, somewhere between the orbit of Mars and Saturn.

Over 500,000,000 years, mankind, and its successors, had sculpted and reshaped the solar system. The big gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune had been solidified, moved closer to the sun, and terraformed. But additionally, all sorts of artificial structures had been constructed in space, like the rings of Mars. As the years progressed, new planetoids and moons were created.

One such moon was Sorim. It was very oddly shaped. It looked like the moon when it was three quarters in eclipse; it was shaped almost like the letter C.

It was only twenty miles long. One tip of it was heavily fortified with United soldiers. They would have to land at the unguarded other end and march to the fortress from there, walking nearly the entire length of the "C".

The air was breathable, but the terrain was barren and rocky. It looked and felt like the surface of the moon, except the air was breathable.

"This used to be a lush planetoid filled with trees and fields and homes," said Tammad.

"Homes?" said Taylor.

"There were thousands of these, scattered throughout the solar system. People would build planetoids, and then place homes on them."

"Real estate in the year 500,000,000," said Jennifer. "Wow," she added, with a smile.

They had landed on the unoccupied tip. Looking at the other tip, they saw little dots moving in the distance. Taylor looked at them through his magnifiers. They were squids, giant squids, swarming all over the place. His men would be outnumbered.

Taylor had his ten men... and Jennifer. Alex Stone and Captain Spaulding had also both volunteered to help. Tammad had brought a half dozen members of his Expedition... for a total of 20 men and women. Taylor just hoped it would be enough.

Tammad had informed them that the United would likely use stun weapons on them. The United considered them a valuable commodity and wanted them taken alive.

Right now at one tip, they were only about four miles from the second tip, if one floated through space. But they would have to walk around the circumference of the "C" shaped moon to get to the other tip, which was probably a two day walk. Taylor had wanted to land them closer to the other tip, but Tammad had warned them that there might be United snipers along the way who could disable their ship.

And so they walked. The ground was soft and crunchy, like the lunar surface. As they walked, the Survey Service crew found themselves talking with their new allies.

Taylor found himself walking with Captain Audrey Spaulding. "So how do you come to be here, Lieutenant Commander?" she asked. "I have to confess, I have never seen a Lieutenant Commander in command of a battle cruiser before."

"I was originally in command of the Devonshire," said Taylor.

"Nor have I ever heard of a Lieutenant Commander in command of a Dorsetshire class attack frigate," said Spaulding.

From anyone else it would have sounded like a reproach. But as Taylor looked at Spaulding and looked at the twinkle in her eyes, he realized something.

She's flirting with me.

Could it really be?

Taylor's suspicions were confirmed the more they talked.

"I imagine you were selected for this mission because of your heroic behavior on that undiscovered world," said Spaulding.

Heroic. No one in the Survey Service had ever used that word to describe his behavior in impersonating a deity. But when he looked into Spaulding's eyes, and saw the admiration, he felt a chill down his spine.

"I requested you, you know," she said.

"Requested me?" said Taylor.

"To serve on the Exeter," said Spaulding.

"You did?"

"Yes." Spaulding smiled at him, and he felt another secret thrill. "But by the time I had an opening in my command staff, you had already been given command of the Westerner."

"You... really wanted me to be on your ship?" Taylor said.

"Um hm," said Spaulding.

Taylor risked another glance at her. She looked so much like Elizabeth. She had a slightly longer face, but the same green eyes. And the same brown hair, even the same bun! Well, almost the same. Elizabeth's bun was larger and thicker. Somehow that made her more...

No, mustn't think that! Not about a fellow officer.

"Your behavior on that planet where you crash landed was above and beyond the call of duty. You saved your passengers, and thousands of people from slavery. I can't think of any other officer in the fleet who could have done what you did. Your performance was exemplary," said Spaulding.

"Thank you, Captain, I'm... really flattered to hear that," said Taylor.

Spaulding stopped and touched his hand. Taylor's heart speeded up.

"Please," said Spaulding. "Between us, when we're alone? You can call me Audrey."

"Audrey," said Taylor. Is this really proper? Should we be so familiar with each other? "Michael," he managed to get out.

"Michael," she said. And her smile, the way she said it turned Taylor on incredibly.

"Lieutenant Jennifer Hale," said Jennifer.

"What a lovely name," said Colonel Alex Stone. "Call me Alex."

"All right... Alex," said Jennifer. "But only if you call me Jennifer," she said, with a titter.

Alex Stone was incredibly handsome. He was tall, sandy haired, and had broad shoulders. She had read about his exploits in her school holobooks as a little girl and had been smitten with him. To meet him in the flesh was incredible for her.

"What does it feel like to still be alive, and fighting battles five hundred million years in the future?" Jennifer asked

"Amazing," said Alex. "The things I've seen... I can't even find words to describe some of them, Jennifer. I thought my life was finished. I had served the Survey Service, and Earth. These people have given me a second life. I owe them a lot."

"Earth owes you a lot, too, Alex," said Jennifer.

He nodded, but changed the subject. "What brings you here, Jennifer?"

"The same thing as you. The Survey Service."

"No," said Alex, and he looked into her eyes. "What brings you here?"

She flushed. "My commander. Michael Taylor."

"I sensed a bond between the two of you."

"We're friends. Very good friends," said Jennifer.

"And the other?"

"What other?" Jennifer asked.

"Tammad's people augmented me, and Captain Spaulding," said Stone. "They gave me rudimentary telepathic abilities."

"You... you've been reading my mind?" said Jennifer, blushing a deeper shade of crimson.

"No, my abilities don't stretch that far," said Stone. "Although Audrey has developed her abilities more than I have. I can only sense general emotions. But what I was going to say was, I don't need to be a telepath to notice something going on when the large man ahead of us keeps looking back at you."

"That's Obongo, Obongo Babangida," said Jennifer. "He and I... he and I are..." For some reason, she felt shy about telling this to Alex Stone. She didn't precisely know why.

"How marvelous for the both of you," said Stone.

Jennifer frowned, as if that wasn't the answer she was expecting. "How did they give you telepathic powers?"

"That is a very long and complicated story," said Alex Stone. "We would need more time than we have now to tell it."

"Well, maybe we can make time later."

"Maybe we can," said Stone, giving a small smile.

Taylor, who was walking a few steps behind Stone and Jennifer, observed but said nothing.

"Mushy?"

"No, Mushi," the young woman laughed.

Doctor McCrae eyed the young dark haired woman. She had been tagging along with him ever since they had started walking. She was very gregarious, very flirtatious... and in Doctor McCrae's mind, also very suspicious. He had learned not to trust overfriendly aliens.

"You are a doctor of medicine."

"Yes, that's what we call a real doctor," said McCrae.

"There are not-real doctors?" Mushi asked.

"Go to any university and you'll find a ton of them," said McCrae. "Actually, you can also find many of them in doctor's offices, wearing white coats."

Mushi laughed. "You are funny, William McCrae."

"How did you know my first name?" McCrae asked.

"We are telepathic," said Mushi.

"Telepathic with no manners, it seems."

"Manners?"

"Something you lost in the evolutionary cycle, millions of years ago," said McCrae. "It means you don't peek into people's minds unless you're invited." He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh," said Mushi. "Have I offended you?"

"Not yet. But the day is young," said McCrae, looking around at the others. Many of Tammad's people seemed to have paired off with the Survey Service crew, and were talking to them as well.

Mushi laughed again. "You are a healer. You must enjoy healing people very much."

"I like it better than hurting them. Usually," said McCrae.

She laughed again. "Tell me, William McCrae. Tell me of your passion for healing others."

McCrae was about to give an ironic answer, when he looked into Mushi's eyes. There was something dark and mysterious in them. He decided to give her the real answer instead.

"When I was seven years old my older brother got very sick. We thought he might die. We took him to the hospital. A man in a white coat looked at him and said, 'This boy is very sick.' I went up to the man and asked him to save my brother because he was the only brother I had. The man in the white coat looked down at me and said, "Everything's going to be all right. I won't let anything happen to your big brother."

"That made a big impression on me," said McCrae. "I went into medicine."

"Did you also save people's lives?" Mushi asked.

"Sometimes," said McCrae. "But most times I just made people feel better. I began to enjoy it, making people feel better. And sometimes, I didn't even have to give them any medicine to do it."

Mushi looked up at him with thick eyes. "Yes... yes... I can feel your joy for healing others."

McCrae shifted about, embarrassed to have his feelings probed like that. He wanted to say something, to tell her to stop, but he felt almost hypnotized by those eyes, found himself falling into them in a certain way-

"Mushi!" Tammad called.

McCrae jerked back into awareness.

"Excuse me for a moment," said Mushi. She bounded rapidly over to Tammad.

"You should be with the one called Ensign Clay Raleigh," said Tammad, in a low voice.

"But the one called Doctor William McCrae has a passion for healing others! I felt it!"

"You are meant for Ensign Clay Raleigh," said Tammad.

Mushi's face went blank. "I am meant for Ensign Clay Raleigh."

"Go about your assigned task."

Mushi nodded and turned away.

They walked for several hours before they encountered their first signs of opposition. There was a building of some sort, on a ridge line.

And there were large six foot tall one-eyed squids scattered all over the place.

"Humans!" one of them boomed. They didn't seem to be actually speaking. They could all hear the voice in their minds.

"Welcome!" said the voice. "Show us your aggression!"

"We just want to get past you," said Taylor. "Step aside, and there is no need for violence."

"No need for violence?" said the telepathic voice. "On the contrary, we welcome it! Show us your anger! Show us your aggression!"

And then one of the squids released a bolt of energy, which exploded near them.

"Take cover!" Taylor cried.

And then the firefight began.

They traded blasts the with the enemy. The squids didn't seem to have distinct weapons of their own--they fired energy blasts from their tentacles. Taylor fired his compression rifle and hit one, and it blew to pieces.

To pieces?

Tammad had assured them that they needed to set their weapons to their highest settings to be effective against the United. Taylor wasn't sure if that was true or not.

Obongo Babangida and two men started to climb the ridgeline, to try to flank the squids. But they got cut down by enemy fire. More squids advanced, and one of them started to drag Babangida away.

"Obongo!" Jennifer cried, starting to get up.

Taylor pulled her back down. "Morgan! Tesla! With me!" He charged up the ridge, his compression rifle a live tool in his hands that was firing nearly continuously. He cleared a path to Obongo, but Morgan and then Tesla were hit by enemy fire. Taylor shot the squid who was towing Obongo, and it blew to pieces. He was just kneeling down to feel for Obongo's pulse when an energy bolt hit him and he fell to the ground.

More squids appeared over the top of the ridgeline. One of them started to drag Taylor's inert body.

"Men, with me!" cried Colonel Alex Stone. He ran up the embankment, seemingly unafraid of the energy blasts all around him. Three squids turned to face him; he shot one, did a side roll to avoid a blast while shooting the second and a third, and then wheeled to shoot a fourth which was sneaking up behind him.

And then, suddenly, it was over.

Jennifer ran over to Colonel Stone. "Are they all right?" she said anxiously, looking down at Obongo and Taylor.

"They are just stunned. They will recover momentarily," said Stone.

Jennifer looked at Stone. "You were incredible, Alex! You were every bit as good as the history holos say you were." She exhaled, causing her breasts to momentary thrust forward.

"Thank you," said Stone.

Taylor started to stir. The world above him was murky and cloudy. As it solidified, he saw Jennifer above him looking adoringly at Stone. "Thank you," she said, batting her eyelashes at him. "Thank you so much for saving Michael."

Taylor felt a deep plume of shame. He struggled to speak. "Wha...."

"Help him up," said Stone.

Two men helped Taylor get up.

"What happened?"

"You got a little ahead of yourself," said Stone. "You were ambushed by a squid backup team. That's a typical trick; they take down one of our own, and use him as bait to lure a second one in."

"I... I didn't know," said Taylor, as he recovered his wits.

"Of course you couldn't have known," said Stone. "We're just glad you're all right. Aren't we, Jennifer?"

"Yes," she smiled at him, before she turned to tend to Obongo.

But as she turned away Taylor thought he saw something in Jennifer's smile. No, in her eyes. Was it a trace of... pity?

It was something he didn't like to see, not from Jennifer Hale.

They went into the structure that the squids had been guarding. It contained containers of metal ingots of some kind.

"What are these?" said Taylor, looking at the shiny metal.

"Platinum rubes," said Tammad, holding one up.

"Rubes?"

"Used to power kirsten reactors," said Tammad. "Useless for our purposes."

"Not for ours," said Ensign Raleigh. "Do you realize, with just one of these, I'd be rich!"

"Ensign, what use is platinum going to do you in the year 500,000,000?" Jennifer asked.

"Here? Maybe none. But if we get back home, I'll be a wealthy man! One of these is worth forty years of Survey Service salaries!"

"Leave it," said Taylor.

"Ten of these and I'll be the wealthiest man in North America!" He started to stuff his pockets with pieces of platinum.

"Ensign, I said, leave it," said Taylor. "This isn't our mission."

"Yes, sir," said Raleigh. But the minute Taylor turned his back, he stuffed his pockets with a few of the platinum ingots.

Mushi immediately sided up to him. "What do you plan to do with that?" she whispered.

"When I get back home, I'm going to buy a giant mansion, maybe on the moon," said Raleigh.

"Really? Those little things can buy you that?"

"That and much more," said Raleigh. "I'll be set for life. Fabulously wealthy. I'll have my own space yacht, and servants, yes, real human servants, not the robot kind-" he proceeded to tell Mushi details of his fantastic future. Her eyes were aglow as she immersed herself in Raleigh's enthusiasm. She wrapped her hand tightly in his and smiled.

There was no conventional day and night on this planetoid, but after walking nearly ten miles they decided to take a break for some sleep. They set up tents, as well as a rotating schedule of guards, so at least everyone would get a few hours.

Captain Audrey Spaulding collared Taylor after dinner. "That was incredibly audacious of you to charge the front lines like that to rescue your man," she said.

"Thanks," said Taylor.

"But also incredibly foolish," said Audrey. "You're the Captain. You're the most invaluable man on this mission. You can't risk yourself like that."

"If I don't take risks for my men, how can I expect them to do the same for me?" said Taylor.

"That's the words of a hero. I think there's something else going on. Something between you, and Lieutenants Hale and Babangida." She searched him with her eyes. "Michael, you can't afford to let emotion cloud your judgment. If a man is down, think about sending another man to retrieve him. You're the king in a game of chess. Don't risk your most important piece."

Taylor nodded. What she was saying was making sense. But as he stared at her in the dim lights of the encampment, he wondered if she had any other reasons for showing such concern. Captain Spaulding was only a few years older than him, but she was showing a protective concern for him that an older sister would for a younger brother. It was nice, but at the same time made Taylor feel a little uncomfortable.

And then there was Colonel Stone. Taylor had been made to look weak and impotent in front of Jennifer. He didn't blame Stone, not exactly; after all, Stone had actually rescued him. But somehow, in the way it all happened, he felt like he had been... marginalized, even emasculated... but he wasn't exactly sure who the culprit was.​