Chapter 10.3
Colonel Alex Stone, however, was in a much better position. There were no United between him and Jennifer. He ran to her, his compression rifle firing nearly continuously.
One, two, three... the squids blew up. The fourth fired a blast at Alex, but he dodged it. He swung his rifle butt against the side of the United's head, and it went crashing backwards, even as it pulled his rifle away from him. Alex swiftly drew his compression pistol, and blasted the squid to pieces. Then he went to grab a wide-eyed Jennifer, who was starting to recover from the effects of the paralysis.
The battle was soon over. They had won. Four members of their team had been stunned, not counting Jennifer.
By the time Taylor got to her, she had shaken the effects of the paralyzing tentacle. "Jennifer, are you all right?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm fine, Michael," she said. She turned to Alex. "Alex, you saved me. You saved my life."
"Anyone would have done the same," said Alex Stone.
And I tried to, Taylor thought.
"But you were the one who did it," she said, and her smile cut a small hole in Taylor's heart. "How can I ever thank you?"
Alex paused. "Ah... I don't know.... dinner, in my quarters, tonight?"
"Done," said Jennifer, and her broad smile crushed the remnants of Taylor's heart.
Taylor found Tammad inside the small installation. He stood over a container of small orange cubes.
"The second element, I take it," said Taylor.
"Yes," said Tammad. "We are making excellent progress."
But excellent progress towards what?
Taylor piloted the shuttle as they returned to the Judicator. Jennifer sat in the copilot's seat. He had arranged it this way, purposefully. He wanted a chance to speak to her alone, before, before....
"Jennifer?"
"Yes, Captain?"
"You're going to have dinner with Alex Stone tonight, in his quarters?"
Jennifer gave him an odd look and didn't answer for a long moment. "Yes, Captain."
"Are... are you...."
"Am I what, Captain?" Jennifer asked, her eyes hard as flint, as she turned her face and body towards him. "Are you asking me if I'm going to fuck him? Is that really what you want to know, Captain Michael Taylor?"
"I... yes."
"I cannot believe it. I cannot fucking believe it," said Jennifer. "Do you realize how fucking inappropriate it is to ask me that?"
"I'm concerned for you," said Taylor, feeling the conversation was spinning out of control.
"I don't think so. I don't think you're concerned for me at all." She paused another moment, staring at him in a way that made him uncomfortable. "Are you ever going to get over it, Michael? You're never going to have me. I'm sorry, but that's the way it has to be."
"I-"
"I think, if we get back to Earth, when we get back to Earth, in our time... I think it would be best if I requested a transfer," said Jennifer.
"A transfer?" said Taylor.
"We can't work together as a team anymore, Michael. We really can't. Your emotions are interfering with your work."
"Jennifer-"
"Look, there's the Judicator. Are you going to adjust our trajectory to enter the shuttle bay, or should I?"
For once, Taylor was completely speechless.
Jennifer was notably absent from dinner that night, as was Alex Stone. Taylor tried not to think about, to think about what Jennifer was doing with him....
His thoughts were interrupted by Captain Audrey Spaulding, who sat down next to him. "Hello, Michael," she said.
"Hello, Audrey," said Taylor, putting a smile on his face.
"How are you doing, Michael?" She asked. From her smile he was reminded of the unfinished business they had. He remembered how they had kissed in his tent the night before. How he had felt her touch. How they had a meeting of minds, a shared empathy.
Audrey started to talk to him, but Taylor found himself only half listening. He was starting to get visions in his mind, powerful ones.
Of him and Audry, completely nude in bed...
Audrey mounting him. As she slid his penis inside of her, she stifled his protests. "It's a Captain's prerogative," she said, as she started to move easily on his shaft, up and down, up and down. "I have a higher permanent rank, so I get to be on top, Mister." She smiled and winked even as she made love to him.
"We have two of the elements," she said. "Only one more to go," she smiled at him.
"Yes," said Taylor.
As he felt himself inside of her, he watched her go up and down, her heavy breasts bouncing with every push, the bun on top of her head looking like a thick, short, penis, moving up and down, up and down, symbolizing the movement deep inside of her....
"Have you given any thought to what we might do once we return to Earth?" she asked.
She leaned towards him, so he could better see the shape of her large, eggplant shaped breasts pressing against her shirt.
"Once we return to Earth? If we return to Earth," said Taylor.
"I'm an eternal optimist," said Audrey. "We'll probably get vacation. I'd love to see more of you." She smiled at him.
She smiled at him as he felt the head of his organ roughly stimulated. Her wetness permeated him, entering the slit at the very tip of his penis... he felt an unfamiliar burning, working its way down from the head of his organ....
"I'd like that too," said Taylor, feeling himself sweating. "Is it hot in here?"
"A little," said Audrey. "Would you like to go to my quarters and cool down a bit?"
Up and down, up and down, getting closer... tighter and tighter... it felt so good....
And then he thought of Jennifer.
"No," said Taylor, seeing the disappointment on her face. "I'm just not in the proper mind frame. I'd love to, after the mission is over."
"All right," Audrey said, in an even tone.
Three tables away, Elizabeth and Victor ate dinner. "I wonder what's going on there," said Victor, watching the sudden change of expressions on Audrey's and Taylor's face.
"I can guess," said Elizabeth bitterly.
Taylor got up and left.
"Can you really?" said Victor.
"Just wait. Count to ten," said Elizabeth.
It was actually a twenty count before Audrey got up and left, leaving after him.
"That's our Captain," said Elizabeth bitterly. "Always keeping up appearances."
Victor gave her an odd look. "I don't see why you have any need to complain. You made your feelings quite clear to him."
"Is that what he told you?" Elizabeth said.
Victor shook his head. "Michael didn't have to tell me anything."
"It wasn't real," said Elizabeth, putting her hand to her chest. "What we had... in that virtual layer... it was not real."
"Keep telling yourself that," said Victor, getting up with his empty tray. "Maybe if you keep saying it, you'll even believe it."
Lieutenant Jennifer Hale of the United Survey Service wasn't dressed in her Survey Service uniform when she entered Alex Stone's quarters that evening. She was wearing a long, flowing black dress that showed off her best assets, big and thick and round and the envy of every man who had ever had her. She knew full well what Stone's invitation to dinner had meant, and she was ready for it.
Indeed, she was even eager. Ever since that night when he had consoled her, after Obongo had died, thoughts had flashed through her mind. Erotic thoughts. Of Alex, thrusting between her legs... Alex, filling her so deeply... and in one recurring fantasy, Jennifer, on her knees, showing Alex the ultimate gesture of appreciation that a woman could show for a man.
So when she entered his quarters, she knew the time had come for her to be fucked.
Alex smiled as she entered his quarters.
Jennifer saw dinner prepared on a small table next to his bed. How convenient.
"Jennifer. You're looking so lovely tonight." He reached up and hugged her. He felt warm and wonderful. And then Alex pulled back, looked into her eyes, and gave her a firm kiss. She responded eagerly, grinding her lips against his, leaving no doubt that she was going to be a willing participant in the night's events.
They sat down for dinner, but Jennifer's mind was on something else. She was thinking of the visions, the visions of love between her and Alex. She was excited by it, and more than ready. And so after dinner, when he extended a hand, she took it, and she let him pull her down to his bed.
Soon they were kissing and hugging and touching, and before long they were nude, and then they were making love.
Jennifer smiled as Alex thrusted inside of her. He had such a hairy chest. It was wonderful. His face was beautiful too. That smile, and those green eyes... green, just like Michael's. For a moment, an erotic shudder went through her. Where did that come from?
And then it was all Alex again, on top of her, inside her, all around her. She felt thoroughly encompassed. He was so manly, with his hairy chest and strong arms! She reached her peak, and passed over the edge. "Aaahhhh!" Jennifer cried, her breasts heaving, with a broad smile.
Alex pulled out and held her hand as she enjoyed the afterglow. But Jennifer noticed something was missing. "You... you didn't?"
"Almost," said Alex. "It's not important."
"Oh, but it is!" Jennifer insisted. She pulled him up so that he was standing. She got to her knees. She took his organ, still wet with her juices, in her hand. It was hard and glistening. Suddenly, Jennifer had a sense of déjà vu.
She was in the exact same position she had been in her visions. She remembered seeing herself, as if she were a third person, on her knees, her heavy breasts leaning forward, smiling as she admired Alex's penis, and then opened her mouth and slowly but smoothly inserted it into her.
And so she did the same thing for real, this time, half wondering what was going on, as she started to suck and caress him with her lips and tongue. Alex helped, slowly working himself in and out of her, as he grabbed the back of her head firmly, playing with her hair as he pleasured himself on her willing mouth.
Jennifer serviced him lovingly, the man who had saved her life. And then when she could feel him tightening up, she didn't pull out, but instead let it happen as nature intended. Alex cried out, and throbbed inside of her, filling her mouth with a hot, sticky substance. Jennifer lovingly swallowed his issue, but she frowned even as she did so. His cum was hot, and it burned her throat, and even as she pulled out, she coughed, causing her breasts to shake.
"Are you all right?" said Alex, taking her in his arms.
"Yeah," said Jennifer, coughing again. "I guess I just swallowed the wrong way."
Alex laughed, and she laughed, and together they returned to bed.
"A cube?" said Victor.
"That's not possible," said Doctor McCrae.
"We see it, so therefore it is," said Victor.
They were staring at a small planetoid on the viewscreen. And it was shaped like a cube. A perfect cube.
"How can that be?" said Taylor.
"Planetoids can be produced in any shape," said Tammad.
"But why a cube?"
"Spatial energy moving across a cube shaped gravitational field can generate tremendous amounts of electrical power," said Tammad.
"I don't see how," said Wade Tanner.
"It would require much explanation," said Tammad. "Suffice to say that the last element we need, called Kratonium, is stored in one of the points of the cube."
"One of them? You don't know which?"
Tammad shook his head. "Our information was not specific enough."
"There are eight points on the cube!" Taylor said.
"Well, I know which point it's stored under," said Doctor McCrae.
They all looked at him.
"The last one we look at, of course," said McCrae.
Taylor smiled and shook his head. "How big is that cube?" he asked.
"It is one of the smaller ones," said Tammad. "In your measurements, it is only approximately three standard miles to a side."
As the cube rotated, they could see different terrain on it. One side was oceans. One side was desert. One was forest. One was grasslands. And other was... the sixth side was unclear.
"Amazing. If you want a different terrain, all you have to do is flip to the other side," said Victor. "Think of it, Michael. You can go on vacation and have the mountains and beaches and the tropics all in the same place!"
"We're not going on vacation, Victor," Taylor reminded him. He turned to Tammad. "What happens when we find the last element?"
"Well, then we should be able to breach the defense shield on Corta," said Tammad. "In theory, anyway."
"And after that?"
"We go to their control center, and blow it up. You'll find a large black monolith there, quite tall, you can't miss it. That's the generator for the time tunnel," said Tammad.
"It sounds quite simple."
"Oh, it will be anything but. The United will resist us, be sure of that."
"I will," said Taylor. Something caught his eye.
He looked at Jennifer. She seemed a bit unsteady. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine," said Jennifer. "Just a bit of indigestion... from breakfast."
She had probably been up all night, fucking Alex blind. Taylor tried to keep his face as expressionless as possible. "Jennifer, are you up for this mission?"
"Of course," said Jennifer, smiling gamely.
They landed on the cube. From their sensors they detected United soldiers at every corner of the cube, so they landed in the middle of one of the cube's sides, a grassy area where it was easy for the shuttle to land. After they had disembarked, the shuttle lifted off again. It would come back for them when they reached their final destination, whichever corner that was.
"Nice," said Taylor, looking at the gentle green flatlands. Above him he could see the stars. There was some kind of artificial light source in the atmosphere here, but it couldn't be viewed directly.
"Jennifer, what do you think of-" he broke off as he saw Jennifer starting to shake.
"Jennifer?" Taylor said uncertainly.
Jennifer looked down. Her belly was starting to grow large, as if she were pregnant. She looked down in horror as her stomach ballooned out as if she were in the final days of pregnancy.
She looked at Taylor with terror in her eyes. "Michael... help... me....."
Taylor went over to grab her hand, but Alex grabbed him from behind. "No! Don't touch her!" he cried.
Jennifer had gone from trembling to shaking violently. Her pregnant belly started to flatten now but as it did, they could see the giant lump moving upwards, into her chest, into her neck, and into her head.
"Michael!" she cried one last time, and then her face changed like it was made of rubber, and then it melted, and then it was replaced by a giant eye. And then her body morphed, and changed, and turned into a giant squid.
The United.
And then they heard an inhuman shriek, and Jennifer started to grow smaller and smaller, until she disappeared into the point of a dot, and then disappeared entirely.
In moments, there was no trace of her, none at all.
Taylor pulled free of Alex. He looked at the spot that Jennifer had been standing on. He turned to Tammad.
"What just happened here?"
"The isotope-"
Taylor grabbed him by the shoulders. "That was not the isotope!" he roared. "Tell me the truth! What did I just see?"
"I do not know," said Tammad. "I have never seen such a thing before either."
"Before she disappeared... Jennifer appeared to turn into one of them. How could that have happened?"
"I..."Tammad seemed at a loss for words. "Perhaps it is the United. Perhaps they are experimenting with the isotope. Finding ways to use it to turn us into them."
"Now why would they want to do that?" Doctor McCrae asked. "You said they wanted to capture us unharmed, for their entertainment."
"I also told you that part of what they do, for their entertainment is... genetic experimentation," said Tammad. "It is rumored they like creating hybrids. We have never seen one, but it is said that they find it to be most... entertaining."
Taylor glared, and pushed Tammad back slightly as he released him.
"Captain, I have telepathic abilities, but it doesn't take a telepath to see that you no longer trust me," said Tammad. "Do you wish to cancel this mission? If you wish to call your shuttle and leave, I will not stop you."
Taylor considered a long moment. They already had two of the three elements. "No. We will continue the mission."
They started to walk to the nearest edge of the cube shaped surface they were on. Audrey Spaulding fell in step with him. "Michael, I'm so sorry for your loss."
Taylor nodded.
"I know what she meant to you," said Audrey.
Taylor said nothing.
"She was a fine-"
"Audrey!" said Taylor abruptly, his face full of pain and hurt. "I'd... I'd rather just not talk about it right now, all right?"
She looked at him. "All right, Michael."
They walked in silence. Taylor half listened to the conversation that Doctor McCrae was having with one of Tammad's men, a fellow named Mandar.
"So what does that mean, you're telepathic? You read each other's thoughts?" McCrae asked.
"Yes," said Mandar.
"That must be terribly... embarrassing sometimes."
"Not at all. We have evolved to the point where we feel no shame in sharing our thoughts with each other. Jealousy, fear, envy... we have shed all these things, Doctor McCrae."
"And what about love? What happens when you find out your wife prefers another man?" said Doctor McCrae.
"As I said, we have gotten past such things," said Mandar. He paused. "The United have taken it one step further. They can merge not only their minds, but their bodies as well."
"You said they could change shape," said McCrae. "So are you telling me they can merge into one... big... lump?"
Mandar smiled. "A lump is not a descriptive term, but yes. I am told that their sharing of minds becomes even more... intimate than ours. For a time, they become one mind."
"One mind? How do they ever decide what to have for dinner?"
"Doctor McCrae, the United do not eat."
"Well, now I know two reasons why I don't like them."
And Taylor walked on in silence.
Jennifer.
He loved her, and then he hated her, but in the end, he realized that he still loved her. To never see her lovely face again, to never see her smile, her gorgeous face, her beautiful body, to never again have his companionship... he shuddered. It was a low blow. Taylor only kept himself from crying aloud by pushing her out of his mind and focusing on the mission. Later. I will grieve for her in private, when I can.
One, two, three... the squids blew up. The fourth fired a blast at Alex, but he dodged it. He swung his rifle butt against the side of the United's head, and it went crashing backwards, even as it pulled his rifle away from him. Alex swiftly drew his compression pistol, and blasted the squid to pieces. Then he went to grab a wide-eyed Jennifer, who was starting to recover from the effects of the paralysis.
The battle was soon over. They had won. Four members of their team had been stunned, not counting Jennifer.
By the time Taylor got to her, she had shaken the effects of the paralyzing tentacle. "Jennifer, are you all right?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm fine, Michael," she said. She turned to Alex. "Alex, you saved me. You saved my life."
"Anyone would have done the same," said Alex Stone.
And I tried to, Taylor thought.
"But you were the one who did it," she said, and her smile cut a small hole in Taylor's heart. "How can I ever thank you?"
Alex paused. "Ah... I don't know.... dinner, in my quarters, tonight?"
"Done," said Jennifer, and her broad smile crushed the remnants of Taylor's heart.
Taylor found Tammad inside the small installation. He stood over a container of small orange cubes.
"The second element, I take it," said Taylor.
"Yes," said Tammad. "We are making excellent progress."
But excellent progress towards what?
Taylor piloted the shuttle as they returned to the Judicator. Jennifer sat in the copilot's seat. He had arranged it this way, purposefully. He wanted a chance to speak to her alone, before, before....
"Jennifer?"
"Yes, Captain?"
"You're going to have dinner with Alex Stone tonight, in his quarters?"
Jennifer gave him an odd look and didn't answer for a long moment. "Yes, Captain."
"Are... are you...."
"Am I what, Captain?" Jennifer asked, her eyes hard as flint, as she turned her face and body towards him. "Are you asking me if I'm going to fuck him? Is that really what you want to know, Captain Michael Taylor?"
"I... yes."
"I cannot believe it. I cannot fucking believe it," said Jennifer. "Do you realize how fucking inappropriate it is to ask me that?"
"I'm concerned for you," said Taylor, feeling the conversation was spinning out of control.
"I don't think so. I don't think you're concerned for me at all." She paused another moment, staring at him in a way that made him uncomfortable. "Are you ever going to get over it, Michael? You're never going to have me. I'm sorry, but that's the way it has to be."
"I-"
"I think, if we get back to Earth, when we get back to Earth, in our time... I think it would be best if I requested a transfer," said Jennifer.
"A transfer?" said Taylor.
"We can't work together as a team anymore, Michael. We really can't. Your emotions are interfering with your work."
"Jennifer-"
"Look, there's the Judicator. Are you going to adjust our trajectory to enter the shuttle bay, or should I?"
For once, Taylor was completely speechless.
Jennifer was notably absent from dinner that night, as was Alex Stone. Taylor tried not to think about, to think about what Jennifer was doing with him....
His thoughts were interrupted by Captain Audrey Spaulding, who sat down next to him. "Hello, Michael," she said.
"Hello, Audrey," said Taylor, putting a smile on his face.
"How are you doing, Michael?" She asked. From her smile he was reminded of the unfinished business they had. He remembered how they had kissed in his tent the night before. How he had felt her touch. How they had a meeting of minds, a shared empathy.
Audrey started to talk to him, but Taylor found himself only half listening. He was starting to get visions in his mind, powerful ones.
Of him and Audry, completely nude in bed...
Audrey mounting him. As she slid his penis inside of her, she stifled his protests. "It's a Captain's prerogative," she said, as she started to move easily on his shaft, up and down, up and down. "I have a higher permanent rank, so I get to be on top, Mister." She smiled and winked even as she made love to him.
"We have two of the elements," she said. "Only one more to go," she smiled at him.
"Yes," said Taylor.
As he felt himself inside of her, he watched her go up and down, her heavy breasts bouncing with every push, the bun on top of her head looking like a thick, short, penis, moving up and down, up and down, symbolizing the movement deep inside of her....
"Have you given any thought to what we might do once we return to Earth?" she asked.
She leaned towards him, so he could better see the shape of her large, eggplant shaped breasts pressing against her shirt.
"Once we return to Earth? If we return to Earth," said Taylor.
"I'm an eternal optimist," said Audrey. "We'll probably get vacation. I'd love to see more of you." She smiled at him.
She smiled at him as he felt the head of his organ roughly stimulated. Her wetness permeated him, entering the slit at the very tip of his penis... he felt an unfamiliar burning, working its way down from the head of his organ....
"I'd like that too," said Taylor, feeling himself sweating. "Is it hot in here?"
"A little," said Audrey. "Would you like to go to my quarters and cool down a bit?"
Up and down, up and down, getting closer... tighter and tighter... it felt so good....
And then he thought of Jennifer.
"No," said Taylor, seeing the disappointment on her face. "I'm just not in the proper mind frame. I'd love to, after the mission is over."
"All right," Audrey said, in an even tone.
Three tables away, Elizabeth and Victor ate dinner. "I wonder what's going on there," said Victor, watching the sudden change of expressions on Audrey's and Taylor's face.
"I can guess," said Elizabeth bitterly.
Taylor got up and left.
"Can you really?" said Victor.
"Just wait. Count to ten," said Elizabeth.
It was actually a twenty count before Audrey got up and left, leaving after him.
"That's our Captain," said Elizabeth bitterly. "Always keeping up appearances."
Victor gave her an odd look. "I don't see why you have any need to complain. You made your feelings quite clear to him."
"Is that what he told you?" Elizabeth said.
Victor shook his head. "Michael didn't have to tell me anything."
"It wasn't real," said Elizabeth, putting her hand to her chest. "What we had... in that virtual layer... it was not real."
"Keep telling yourself that," said Victor, getting up with his empty tray. "Maybe if you keep saying it, you'll even believe it."
Lieutenant Jennifer Hale of the United Survey Service wasn't dressed in her Survey Service uniform when she entered Alex Stone's quarters that evening. She was wearing a long, flowing black dress that showed off her best assets, big and thick and round and the envy of every man who had ever had her. She knew full well what Stone's invitation to dinner had meant, and she was ready for it.
Indeed, she was even eager. Ever since that night when he had consoled her, after Obongo had died, thoughts had flashed through her mind. Erotic thoughts. Of Alex, thrusting between her legs... Alex, filling her so deeply... and in one recurring fantasy, Jennifer, on her knees, showing Alex the ultimate gesture of appreciation that a woman could show for a man.
So when she entered his quarters, she knew the time had come for her to be fucked.
Alex smiled as she entered his quarters.
Jennifer saw dinner prepared on a small table next to his bed. How convenient.
"Jennifer. You're looking so lovely tonight." He reached up and hugged her. He felt warm and wonderful. And then Alex pulled back, looked into her eyes, and gave her a firm kiss. She responded eagerly, grinding her lips against his, leaving no doubt that she was going to be a willing participant in the night's events.
They sat down for dinner, but Jennifer's mind was on something else. She was thinking of the visions, the visions of love between her and Alex. She was excited by it, and more than ready. And so after dinner, when he extended a hand, she took it, and she let him pull her down to his bed.
Soon they were kissing and hugging and touching, and before long they were nude, and then they were making love.
Jennifer smiled as Alex thrusted inside of her. He had such a hairy chest. It was wonderful. His face was beautiful too. That smile, and those green eyes... green, just like Michael's. For a moment, an erotic shudder went through her. Where did that come from?
And then it was all Alex again, on top of her, inside her, all around her. She felt thoroughly encompassed. He was so manly, with his hairy chest and strong arms! She reached her peak, and passed over the edge. "Aaahhhh!" Jennifer cried, her breasts heaving, with a broad smile.
Alex pulled out and held her hand as she enjoyed the afterglow. But Jennifer noticed something was missing. "You... you didn't?"
"Almost," said Alex. "It's not important."
"Oh, but it is!" Jennifer insisted. She pulled him up so that he was standing. She got to her knees. She took his organ, still wet with her juices, in her hand. It was hard and glistening. Suddenly, Jennifer had a sense of déjà vu.
She was in the exact same position she had been in her visions. She remembered seeing herself, as if she were a third person, on her knees, her heavy breasts leaning forward, smiling as she admired Alex's penis, and then opened her mouth and slowly but smoothly inserted it into her.
And so she did the same thing for real, this time, half wondering what was going on, as she started to suck and caress him with her lips and tongue. Alex helped, slowly working himself in and out of her, as he grabbed the back of her head firmly, playing with her hair as he pleasured himself on her willing mouth.
Jennifer serviced him lovingly, the man who had saved her life. And then when she could feel him tightening up, she didn't pull out, but instead let it happen as nature intended. Alex cried out, and throbbed inside of her, filling her mouth with a hot, sticky substance. Jennifer lovingly swallowed his issue, but she frowned even as she did so. His cum was hot, and it burned her throat, and even as she pulled out, she coughed, causing her breasts to shake.
"Are you all right?" said Alex, taking her in his arms.
"Yeah," said Jennifer, coughing again. "I guess I just swallowed the wrong way."
Alex laughed, and she laughed, and together they returned to bed.
"A cube?" said Victor.
"That's not possible," said Doctor McCrae.
"We see it, so therefore it is," said Victor.
They were staring at a small planetoid on the viewscreen. And it was shaped like a cube. A perfect cube.
"How can that be?" said Taylor.
"Planetoids can be produced in any shape," said Tammad.
"But why a cube?"
"Spatial energy moving across a cube shaped gravitational field can generate tremendous amounts of electrical power," said Tammad.
"I don't see how," said Wade Tanner.
"It would require much explanation," said Tammad. "Suffice to say that the last element we need, called Kratonium, is stored in one of the points of the cube."
"One of them? You don't know which?"
Tammad shook his head. "Our information was not specific enough."
"There are eight points on the cube!" Taylor said.
"Well, I know which point it's stored under," said Doctor McCrae.
They all looked at him.
"The last one we look at, of course," said McCrae.
Taylor smiled and shook his head. "How big is that cube?" he asked.
"It is one of the smaller ones," said Tammad. "In your measurements, it is only approximately three standard miles to a side."
As the cube rotated, they could see different terrain on it. One side was oceans. One side was desert. One was forest. One was grasslands. And other was... the sixth side was unclear.
"Amazing. If you want a different terrain, all you have to do is flip to the other side," said Victor. "Think of it, Michael. You can go on vacation and have the mountains and beaches and the tropics all in the same place!"
"We're not going on vacation, Victor," Taylor reminded him. He turned to Tammad. "What happens when we find the last element?"
"Well, then we should be able to breach the defense shield on Corta," said Tammad. "In theory, anyway."
"And after that?"
"We go to their control center, and blow it up. You'll find a large black monolith there, quite tall, you can't miss it. That's the generator for the time tunnel," said Tammad.
"It sounds quite simple."
"Oh, it will be anything but. The United will resist us, be sure of that."
"I will," said Taylor. Something caught his eye.
He looked at Jennifer. She seemed a bit unsteady. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine," said Jennifer. "Just a bit of indigestion... from breakfast."
She had probably been up all night, fucking Alex blind. Taylor tried to keep his face as expressionless as possible. "Jennifer, are you up for this mission?"
"Of course," said Jennifer, smiling gamely.
They landed on the cube. From their sensors they detected United soldiers at every corner of the cube, so they landed in the middle of one of the cube's sides, a grassy area where it was easy for the shuttle to land. After they had disembarked, the shuttle lifted off again. It would come back for them when they reached their final destination, whichever corner that was.
"Nice," said Taylor, looking at the gentle green flatlands. Above him he could see the stars. There was some kind of artificial light source in the atmosphere here, but it couldn't be viewed directly.
"Jennifer, what do you think of-" he broke off as he saw Jennifer starting to shake.
"Jennifer?" Taylor said uncertainly.
Jennifer looked down. Her belly was starting to grow large, as if she were pregnant. She looked down in horror as her stomach ballooned out as if she were in the final days of pregnancy.
She looked at Taylor with terror in her eyes. "Michael... help... me....."
Taylor went over to grab her hand, but Alex grabbed him from behind. "No! Don't touch her!" he cried.
Jennifer had gone from trembling to shaking violently. Her pregnant belly started to flatten now but as it did, they could see the giant lump moving upwards, into her chest, into her neck, and into her head.
"Michael!" she cried one last time, and then her face changed like it was made of rubber, and then it melted, and then it was replaced by a giant eye. And then her body morphed, and changed, and turned into a giant squid.
The United.
And then they heard an inhuman shriek, and Jennifer started to grow smaller and smaller, until she disappeared into the point of a dot, and then disappeared entirely.
In moments, there was no trace of her, none at all.
Taylor pulled free of Alex. He looked at the spot that Jennifer had been standing on. He turned to Tammad.
"What just happened here?"
"The isotope-"
Taylor grabbed him by the shoulders. "That was not the isotope!" he roared. "Tell me the truth! What did I just see?"
"I do not know," said Tammad. "I have never seen such a thing before either."
"Before she disappeared... Jennifer appeared to turn into one of them. How could that have happened?"
"I..."Tammad seemed at a loss for words. "Perhaps it is the United. Perhaps they are experimenting with the isotope. Finding ways to use it to turn us into them."
"Now why would they want to do that?" Doctor McCrae asked. "You said they wanted to capture us unharmed, for their entertainment."
"I also told you that part of what they do, for their entertainment is... genetic experimentation," said Tammad. "It is rumored they like creating hybrids. We have never seen one, but it is said that they find it to be most... entertaining."
Taylor glared, and pushed Tammad back slightly as he released him.
"Captain, I have telepathic abilities, but it doesn't take a telepath to see that you no longer trust me," said Tammad. "Do you wish to cancel this mission? If you wish to call your shuttle and leave, I will not stop you."
Taylor considered a long moment. They already had two of the three elements. "No. We will continue the mission."
They started to walk to the nearest edge of the cube shaped surface they were on. Audrey Spaulding fell in step with him. "Michael, I'm so sorry for your loss."
Taylor nodded.
"I know what she meant to you," said Audrey.
Taylor said nothing.
"She was a fine-"
"Audrey!" said Taylor abruptly, his face full of pain and hurt. "I'd... I'd rather just not talk about it right now, all right?"
She looked at him. "All right, Michael."
They walked in silence. Taylor half listened to the conversation that Doctor McCrae was having with one of Tammad's men, a fellow named Mandar.
"So what does that mean, you're telepathic? You read each other's thoughts?" McCrae asked.
"Yes," said Mandar.
"That must be terribly... embarrassing sometimes."
"Not at all. We have evolved to the point where we feel no shame in sharing our thoughts with each other. Jealousy, fear, envy... we have shed all these things, Doctor McCrae."
"And what about love? What happens when you find out your wife prefers another man?" said Doctor McCrae.
"As I said, we have gotten past such things," said Mandar. He paused. "The United have taken it one step further. They can merge not only their minds, but their bodies as well."
"You said they could change shape," said McCrae. "So are you telling me they can merge into one... big... lump?"
Mandar smiled. "A lump is not a descriptive term, but yes. I am told that their sharing of minds becomes even more... intimate than ours. For a time, they become one mind."
"One mind? How do they ever decide what to have for dinner?"
"Doctor McCrae, the United do not eat."
"Well, now I know two reasons why I don't like them."
And Taylor walked on in silence.
Jennifer.
He loved her, and then he hated her, but in the end, he realized that he still loved her. To never see her lovely face again, to never see her smile, her gorgeous face, her beautiful body, to never again have his companionship... he shuddered. It was a low blow. Taylor only kept himself from crying aloud by pushing her out of his mind and focusing on the mission. Later. I will grieve for her in private, when I can.
- Next page: Chapter 11.1
- Previous page: Chapter 10.2
