Fantasy Journey to Year 1,000,000,000

There was a tremendous explosion, as a galaxy was born. It spread and expanded rapidly, forming star clusters in a spiral shape.

"Is that our galaxy?"Taylor asked.

"No," said Pam. "It is one of mine."

"Yours? You create galaxies?"

"And stars, and planets, and nebula," said Pam. "I vesper them."

"That's incredible!" said Taylor.

"I do not vesper alone. We all vesper them," said Pam. "My role is specific. I was created as a diagnostic tool. To help us get closer to Tisson Crae."

"Tisson Crae."

"The way... the way things should be," said Pam. "There are an infinite number of ways to create a galaxy. We create it the way it should be."

"Should be?"

"According to Tisson Crae."

"Your standard of perfection."

"Yes."

She paused, looking at him with an unreadable expression. "The others have been requesting my return. I have unfinished work on two galaxies and three star clusters."

"You sound like a very busy diagnostic tool."

"I am," said Pam.

"Are your associates pressuring you to finish your research, so you can mur*er me and move on?"

"They are, Michael," said Pam.

"Then why haven't you?"

She looked away, almost evasively. "There are certain aspects of humanity I have yet to fully understand." She turned back towards him. "Are you ready to resume answering questions?"

"No," said Taylor. "You haven't shown me how you create a galaxy."

"Michael, that would take a long time."

"How long?"

"Perhaps a thousand or more of your years."

"I have time. I'm in no hurry."

And then Pam actually smiled at him!

"When you smile at me, what does that mean?" Taylor asked.

"That... that this body finds you amusing," said Pam.

"And do you?"

"No. I do not derive amusement," she said.

"Of course not," said Taylor. But he looked at her face as she said it. There was something there, just a hint of emotion. But what was the source: Pam, the human body, or Pam the diagnostic tool? It was hard to tell where one left off and the other began.

"All right," said Taylor. "If you can't show me how you create a galaxy, how about something small, like a planet? It seems to me we should be able to create a planet before lunch, right?"

Pam smiled at him again, and Taylor again felt an emotional connection.

"Well...." She said hesitantly. "On a galaxy we created some time ago, there was a problem with one of the solar systems. It was on my list of things to fix, but I haven't had the time."

"I know. I have a big list of solar systems that need fixing, and I never find the time either."

And then Pam laughed! "This... this body finds you... amusing... again. This feeling... of amusement... is it common... in your species?" She looked up at him, and Taylor was almost certain that he saw adoration in her eyes.

"Among some it is," said Taylor.

"What purpose does it serve?"

"It feels good," said Taylor. "And sometimes, it makes two people feel closer."

Pam gave him an odd stare, as if she was trying to somehow compute all this.

Suddenly, the image shifted, and they were floating around a solar system with several planets.

"This is the system that needs to be repaired," said Pam.

Taylor looked at it. There were two smaller planets closer to the sun, two gas giants, and then two smaller planets after that. "How do you know something is wrong with it?"

"I expra-ed it."

Suddenly the scene shifted. They were looking at the solar system, but from some kind of different perspective. They saw colored flows emanating from the planets; and sounds, like discordant music; and Taylor could also feel vibrations.

"There is something not quite right about this system," said Pam. "I trista it, but there is a problem. It does not Formos properly."

"Formos?"

"The celestial bodies... do not interact properly," said Pam. "There is friction, where there should be none. If nothing is done, the solar system will fail in two billion years."

"That could be a problem," said Taylor.

"I am afraid you cannot help with this, due to your inability to expra," said Pam. "Do you have the patience to wait for several moments while I try to expra a solution?"

"Of course," said Taylor.

Pam looked at the planets and the sun and fell silent.

So did Taylor. At first he looked at her. She looked so beautiful, as she always did, in her sexy fuck-cation white dress. Her look of concentration was so amusing! He always found Pam cute, in everything she did.

But then his concentration gradually turned to the planets. He didn't understand what he was seeing, of course, not the meaning of the colors, or the sounds or the vibrations. Taylor started to tune out, to relax his mind and lose focus. As he looked at one planet, however, his mind started to make an intuitive jump. He looked at one of the smaller planets, and the gas giant behind it, and then looked at it again.

"Iron," he muttered.

"What?" said Pam, immediately turning to him.

"The... the second planet. I was thinking that it could use more of an iron nickel core."

"It already has an iron nickel core," said Pam.

"A larger one," said Taylor.

Pam gave him an odd look. "I will vesper it." She focused.

Suddenly, the second planet seemed to grow larger. The outflows from it, which were orange, suddenly grew clear. The sounds from it grew more mellifluous. The vibrations from it grew more regular.

Pam gave Taylor a startled look. "How did you-"

"The gas giant, behind it," said Taylor. "Move it out another twenty million miles. And increase the helium content of the atmosphere."

Pam looked confused, but said, "I shall vesper it." She concentrated on the scene.

And suddenly, everything changed.

The outflows from each planet, which had been different colors, suddenly became the same color. All transparent, with a tinge of white-blue, like the color of water. The vibrations from each planet became uniform, in harmony with each other.

And the sounds! The sounds, which had been random before, became coordinated. It sounded like an exotic orchestra, played by instruments Taylor had never seen or heard before.

"You... you fixed it," said Pam. "How did you do that?"

"I... I don't know," said Taylor. "I just looked at it, and the thoughts just popped into my head. It seemed... the right thing to do."

"How can this be? You cannot expra; you cannot trista; you cannot shursta; you cannot even screan."

"Maybe I can," said Taylor. "When I was held prisoner by the United in the year 500,000,000, they gave me something they called an isotope. It altered me. It made me see things that the others didn't."

"Could primitive screaning give you the ability to see this? I highly doubt that," said Pam. "Taylor... what you just did totally defies explanation! Do you know how frustrating that is for a diagnosing tool?"

He could see the look of shock and admiration on her face. "Did I do well?"

"Incredibly, yes. But now I want to know how you did it."

"Some things don't have an answer," said Taylor.

"Everything has an answer," said Pam.

"Maybe, even in the year one billion, there are still some things that have no answer," said Taylor. And he held her in the arms, and she gave him the look, and he reached down and kissed her. And as he heard the music of the solar system which he had created, they pressed their lips together, and enjoyed each other.

When Taylor pulled back, he was expressionless. "How was that?"

"My... my human body enjoyed that," said Pam.

"But not you?"

"I... I am a diagnostic tool. I am not meant to feel such things," said Pam, feeling and looking flustered.

"A pity," said Taylor calmly.

"Taylor?"

"Yes?"

"There is something I must tell you," said Pam. "You, your planet, are in great danger."

"The entire human race is going to be wiped out?" said Victor.

"Worse, Victor. We will never have existed," said Taylor.

"But why, Michael?"

"There's a flaw in the galaxy, Victor."

"A flaw? What flaw?"

"A flaw in its construction," said Taylor. "According to Pam, the Milky Way Galaxy will collapse upon itself and destroy itself in 40 billion years."

"And that's a flaw?"

"According to Pam, galaxies usually last at least ten times as long," said Taylor.

"That's really taking the long view," said Victor.

"So what they plan to do is to go back in time and change the way the galaxy was created."

"Can they really do that?"

Taylor remembered observing the origins of the universe. "Oh, yes, Victor, they can."

"But... if they change the way the galaxy unfolds-"

"Earth, and mankind, will never exist," said Taylor.

"But what about them? They are descended from mankind too, are they not?"

"Yes," said Taylor. "They will cease to exist as well. Not only will they cease to exist, but all the galaxies they have created will cease to exist too."

"And that doesn't bother them? That they are planning their own destruction, along with everyone else's?" Victor asked.

"They see no intrinsic value in their existence," said Taylor. "When I asked Pam about it, she shrugged and told me that while her group would cease to exist, there were other groups in the universe, doing much the same thing."

"So she doesn't mind wiping out all life in the galaxy, including her own," said Victor.

"That's how she sees it," said Taylor.

"Well, that makes worrying about the Black Box look like small change, doesn't it?" Victor said. "Not only will humanity be destroyed, but it will never have existed." He paused. "When are they going to do this?"

"A million years or so."

"A million years?"

"They're not hasty," said Taylor.

"Well... then, we've got plenty of time," said Victor. "Don't we?"

Taylor shook his head. "Victor, you're not thinking about this straight. Say somehow we get back home, to the 23rd century. Once we're back there, all time in the future will have happened, from our perspective. It will be future history."

"If that's true... then we will be wiped out, instantly. So instantly we won't know we ever existed," said Victor.

"Precisely," said Taylor. "Frankly, I'm surprised we haven't been wiped out of existence right now. If the future already exists-"

"Then maybe they decided not to destroy the galaxy," said Victor.

"Or maybe, somehow, it just hasn't happened yet. Victor, we've travelled a billion years in the future, but that doesn't make us experts on time paradoxes," said Taylor.

Victor laughed.

"What's funny?"

"Well, it's just... I thought we were just facing the end of our existence. You, me, Elizabeth, the six of us. But as it turns out there are much bigger stakes, once again," said Victor. He paused, considering. "Pam. Why did she tell you this?"

"She said she wasn't supposed to."

"But she did. What does that suggest to you?"

"That her humanity is slowly asserting itself," said Taylor.

"We can use that, Michael. Keep trying to influence her. Turn her to our side."

"Pam told me that there are over a thousand others in her group. What can one person do to help us?"

"Ask Teldoc. Or Suki Tanaka," said Victor.

"You let a finiteral redesign a solar system?" 49 asked.

"He assisted in it," said Pam.

"1018, I think you have been away from the group for too long," said 49. "You should rejoin, and merge, so we can Formos."

"I yearn for Formos, as you do," said Pam. "But you made me to be a research and diagnostic tool. I am performing my function. This finiteral has done a feat that we would have thought impossible. Look for yourself."

The multidimensional image of the solar system appeared around them. We studied it for a long moment.

"How much of this was your doing?"

"None," said Pam. "I merely vespered it, as per the finiteral's instructions."

"It... it is Tisson Crae," 49 said.

"It is Shursta," 37 whispered.

"Yes, yes it is," said Pam. "There is more to these finiterals than it seems. That's why I want to be left to complete my analysis."

"I would like to perform my own analysis," said 1012. "If these finiterals are so unusual, they might merit a second perspective."

"Very well," said Pam. "But do not interfere with my own ongoing analysis."

"Of course," said 1012.

1012 faded.

37 said, "1012 wants you to return to Formos."

"I know precisely what 1012 wants," said Pam.

"For eons you worked well together, creating galaxies with wonderful Tisson Crae. You were a team. You researched, and he pushed you to completion. That is all he is doing now."

"Is it?" Pam asked.

Victor entered the bridge. It was empty, which was odd. Ensign Wood should be on duty. He turned to go, when suddenly he saw a stranger. It must be one of the aliens. It was a tall man, with a serious expression on his face.

"Hello," said Victor. "Have you seen Ensign Wood?"

"He was just here," said the man. "You are Doctor Victor Berman?"

"Yes," said Victor. "What is your name?"

The man shook his head. "I do not have a name, as you know it. The other of us who was here seems to think there was something special about your species."

"I quite agree," said Victor, sitting down by a console.

"I do not. You live an extraordinary short life span. You do not vesper. You do not trista. You do not Shustra. You have no conception of Tisson Crae."

"All you say is true, but our virtue is in our basic humanity," said Victor. "Our love of life. Our love of existence. We have travelled far in advance of our own time, and found that species even more evolved than we are had much to learn from us."

"There is nothing I could learn from you," said the man.

McCrae checked his chrono. Vincent was late. That wasn't like him. They were supposed to play a game of three dimensional chess. And then he heard the door swish open.

"Vincent, it's about time-"

Only it wasn't Vincent.

"Who are you?" McCrae asked.

The man smiled at him.

Her door buzzed.

"Go away," said Elizabeth.

Her door buzzed again.

"Oh, go away."

And then her eyes widened when she saw the door to her quarters vanish. An unfamiliar man stood there.

"Who are you?" said Elizabeth. "What do you want?"

"Terribly little, actually," said the man.

"Ah, ah, ah, aaaaaah," said Taylor, his face a mask of pain and joy, as he climaxed.

The other Taylor.

Taylor and Pam watched dispassionately as Taylor, the other Taylor, filled the other Pam's vagina with sperm for the last time.

"Was that good for you?" the other Pam asked dreamily, with a satisfied smile.

"Yeah," said the other Taylor.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. Because that was the last time."

"Why did she end your relationship in that way?" Pam asked.

"I've wondered the same thing, more than once," said Taylor. "Was she being spiteful? Or was she trying to be kind? I still don't know the answer."

"Chronologically, there was a time when Pam had no feelings for you," said Pam. "Then there was a time she liked you. Then there was a time when she loved you. Then there was a time when she no longer loved you. During all these times, she was the same person, and you were also the same person. And yet her attitudes changed radically. Can you explain that?"

Taylor watched himself, looking shocked, surprised, and hurt, being forced to get dressed and being booted out of Pam's apartment. "A relationship is... a learning experience. It's just like building a solar system."

"Really?" said Pam.

"Really," said Taylor. "When you built that defective solar system, the one I fixed, did you purposefully try to build a defective planet?"

"Of course not."

"You only realized it some time after you built it, didn't you?"

Pam looked amused. "Are you saying that a relationship is as complex as vespering a solar system?"

"Maybe even more so," said Taylor. "With relationships, attraction comes first. Incompatibilities take longer to come out, over time. Pam loved me because I was handsome, attractive, the model Survey Service officer that many women lust after. She wasn't thinking about the fact that my missions took me away from Earth for months at a time; she wasn't thinking about how infrequently we'd be able to see each other; she was only thinking of how attractive I was, at first."

"And what were you thinking, Taylor?"

"I? I was thinking... of how beautiful her long, straight blonde hair was," said Taylor, staring at Pam's. "I was thinking how lovely her brilliant green eyes were, and her high cheekbones, and her luscious lips," he said, staring at Pam's face. "I was thinking how large her breasts were, and how soft to the touch they were," he added, looking at the imprint of Pam's breasts under her flimsy fuck-cation dress. "I was thinking how good it felt to make love to her, to fill her with my...." Embarrassed, he broke off.

"Your seed?"

Taylor nodded, red faced, as he suppressed a shy grin.

"It is so random, then. You do not look for qualities which would help a long term relationship survive. What you both look for are ephemeral qualities... like attractiveness."

"Yes. There's nothing rational about attraction," said Taylor. "Sometimes it blossoms into something more, and sometimes it doesn't. Why did you join the group you are a part of?"

"I did not join, although some do. I was created, specifically, to be a diagnostic and research tool."

"Do you enjoy being a diagnostic and research tool... for your group?"

"Enjoy?" Pam frowned. "I experience Formos, if that is what you are asking."

"Formos?"

"It is a kind of... satisfaction from being a member of a harmonious group."

"Formos," said Taylor. "In the year one billion, love is out the window, and all we have left is... Formos." He made a wry face. "I can hardly wait."

Pam returned Taylor to the Judicator, telling him. "I have some matters to attend to. I will be back for dinner, and sleeping with you tonight."

Ever since she had become human, Pam took her meals with Taylor, and slept in the same bed with him. They didn't have sex, but Pam's body enjoyed the feeling of lying next to Taylor. While she slept, of course, the rest of her could be attending to other matters; Pam's human form was only one aspect of her whole.

But an increasingly troubling one. Her human extension was filling her with all sorts of unusual thoughts. She found herself smiling and even laughing with increasing frequency. Her human body found Taylor to be... charming. Amusing. Attractive. Her human body wanted to make love to him. But each time Taylor turned her down. It was not enough that her body wanted to make love to him, he said, she had to want it herself, which was ridiculous, since a research and diagnostic tool had no interest in such matters.

It still troubled her that she had confided in Taylor about the plans under discussion to erase the galaxy and start over. She should not have told Taylor about that. And yet, when Taylor had correctly expra-ed the solution to the problem with the solar system, she had been so taken by surprise, so impressed with him, that she felt something for him which made her reveal those facts to him. Empathy? Sympathy? She had never felt either before, so it was hard to know what it was. Perhaps her human extension was influencing her more than she thought.

"All right, see you soon," said Taylor longingly. The way he looked at her now, it had changed. Taylor used to look at her. Now he seemed to look for her. Pam expra-ed that there was a difference, but she wasn't quite sure what it meant.

After Pam left, Taylor went looking for the crew. The bridge was empty. Ensign Wood wasn't on duty. He went to the cafeteria. Empty. The ship's lounge. Empty.

He activated the comm. "Is anyone aboard? Anyone at all? Report!"

"No one will respond, Captain."

Taylor turned to see a tall, dark haired man standing there. "Who are you?" his eyes narrowed. "You're one of them, aren't you?"

"One of Us, you mean. Yes," said the man, smiling as he took a step forward.

Taylor took a step backwards. "What have you done with my crew?"

"Oh, I don't know, they're probably around here, somewhere," said the man, grinning.

There was something about him, something familiar. "Have we met before?"

"Not exactly," said the man, giving an odd smile.

"What do you want?" Taylor asked, still edging away from him.

"My counterpart has demonstrated an unusual curiosity in yourself," said the man.

"Counterpart?" Taylor's eyes narrowed. "You mean, Pam."

"Pam," said the man. "What a delightfully non-descriptive name. Yes, Pam."

"You describe yourself as her counterpart. Are you her spouse, her mate?" Taylor asked.

"We don't have such retrograde concepts, Captain. Our affiliation is of a much higher nature," said the man. "We do important work together. Pam, as you call her, designs galaxies. Very important work. But right now she is not designing anything. Do you know why?"

"Because she's examining me," said Taylor.

"That's right," said the man. "When Pam gets off-track, when Pam gets too overfocused on details, that's where my job comes in. I'm the expediter, designed to get Pam focused on the big picture. Designed to get her to completion."

"What is your hurry?" Taylor asked. "You live for millions of years, if not longer. What difference can a few days possibly make to you?"

"In the abstract, none. But your presence is a distraction. Pam, as you call her, is straying from her true purpose. She is a diagnostic and research tool, but in your company she is rapidly becoming something else, not in her original design."

"I'm flattered."

"You shouldn't be. Her actions are disrupting the Formos of Us." The man looked at Taylor. "It is said you have unusual screaning abilities. Perhaps you can even expra? Show me your powers, Taylor."

"What... what do you want to see?" Taylor asked.

"Tell me... what I am about to do right now." The man smiled, and took another step forward.

Pam returned to the ship, in the cafeteria. Taylor usually waited for her there. He no longer needed to feed her, but sometimes he still did, putting a piece of carrot or lettuce between her lips and watching her munch contently. He did it not because he had to, but because he enjoyed it. Why Pam didn't know. He smiled at her as she ate. Something seemed to be happening in his mind as he watched her eat food he fed her, but she couldn't expra exactly what that was.

Every day her body grew more and more accustomed to Taylor's. It was an interesting distraction. She wondered if she would still have these feelings when the experiment ended. Probably not, as she would simply terminate her human extension. For some reason, the prospect of that was starting to bother her. She didn't know why.

Taylor was not in the cafeteria.

Pam stretched out with her senses. The entire ship seemed to be empty! What had happened here in her absence? And then she expra-ed more closely. There was a presence, in Taylor's quarters. He must be there.

Instantly, she was inside his quarters. The lighting was dim.

"Taylor?" she said.

Taylor smiled up at her.

"Are you tired?" Pam asked.

"Yes, tired," said Taylor. "Come and lie down with me."

Odd. Although Pam was almost certain that Taylor enjoyed when she pressed her body against his, he had never before asked her to lie down with him. Pam lay by his side. "Where is the rest of your crew?"

"Oh, they're around here, somewhere," Taylor assured her. He reached over and kissed her on the lips.

This was doubly odd. Taylor had kissed her before, a number of times, but each kiss had been preceded by... something, an event which spurred an emotion which caused him to do it. Now he was kissing her, without any apparent antecedent. What had caused this change in behavior?

She felt his lips against hers. They felt different too. Taylor's lips were strong, and firm. Now they were also grasping, experimenting, hungering in a way she had never felt before. She felt his hands on her dress, starting to pull the shoulder straps down.

"Taylor, what are you doing?" she asked.

"You want to make love, don't you?" he said. "Let us perform the ritual of reproduction that you have asked for so many times."

And then she looked into his eyes, and expra-ed, and realized that this wasn't Taylor.

She pushed him away.

"You!" she said, sitting up.

"Me," said 1012.

"What did you do with Taylor? With the crew?"

He didn't answer.

"You killed them, didn't you?"

"Yes," 1012 grinned. He took her hand. "They were a distraction, 1018. You are a brilliant researcher. But sometimes you get stuck on one topic. This is my job, to get you unstuck. Let us go back to Us."

"No!"

"Let us have Formos!"

"No!"

"Let us create galaxies together!" said 1012.

"No!" Pam gave him a baleful look, and suddenly they were both on the bridge, as well as the six remaining members of the crew of the Judicator.

"What happened?" Elizabeth asked, looking startled. "I was in my quarters... with that man! And now I'm here...."

"He killed you," said Pam.

"What?" said Elizabeth, her eyebrows shooting upwards.

"He murdered you," Pam explained. "I... I apologize for any inconvenience."

Taylor looked at the man. "I know you! Now I remember where I've seen you before."

"You should," said 1012.

"You're Doug. Doug, the man Pam left me for," said Taylor.

1012 smiled. "Like Pam, I tried to assume a form I thought you would find pleasing."

Pam gave him a nasty glare.

"Pam, what is happening here?" Taylor asked.

"This is... an associate of Us," said Pam.

"One of your group?"

"Yes," said Pam. "Like me, he has a specialized function. His role is to expedite."

"To expedite," said Taylor, suddenly remembering.

"He feels I am spending too much time studying you. So he killed you."

"Are we... still dead?" Elizabeth asked.

"Not at present. Do you wish to go back to being dead?" Pam asked.

"No, no, alive is fine," said Elizabeth hastily.

Taylor turned to 1012. "You're jealous."

"What?" said 1012.

"You are jealous," said Taylor. "You are angry Pam is spending time with me. You want her to spend time with you."

"I want Pam, as you call her, to return to her basic function, creating galaxies."

"With you," said Taylor. He turned to Pam. "I thought basic emotions hadn't survived in the year one billion. I see I was wrong."

"You are wrong. I do not feel your crude urges to animalistically couple with Pam," said 1012.

"Then why, while disguised as Taylor, were you trying to do that very thing with me?" Pam asked. She turned to Taylor. "He tried to make love to me. I know you would never be kind enough to do that."

"I... I...." Suddenly, 1012 was at a loss for words. Pam waved her hand and he disappeared.

"Where did he go?" Taylor asked.

"Elsewhere," said Pam. She turned to him. "I am sorry you were inconvenienced."

"You mean murdered," said Taylor.

"Yes, murdered. I promise it will not happen again, at least until we have finished our examination of you."

"That's very comforting," said Doctor McCrae, speaking for the first time. "But I have a better idea. Why not just not mur*er us at all?"

"But... you do not belong here."

"Send us back to our own time," said McCrae.

"Why would we?" Pam asked. "You are finiterals. The effort would be meaningless."

"Not to us," said Taylor.

Pam frowned. "You are upset because you were briefly murdered. I understand that. I will leave you to rest for a while. We will resume our sessions in a short time." And she vanished.​