Intergalactic Desire (13 page)

June looked down to Tolin’s lower body and realized his pants had already been removed. Apparently the Dextronin had designed clothing for their lower body that were easily undone and removed, avoiding that awkward pause that usually took place when a standing sexual partner removes their pants.
How prudent
, she thought.

She took a moment to survey. Well…all the “necessities” were in their proper place. Obviously, June did not know what average for Dextronin males was but, among humans, Tolin would have been considered very well-endowed. Tolin tugged down on her underwear, removing it and letting it drop to the foot of the console. Then he moved forward, aligning his body with hers. He kissed her again, pressing his body against hers. Her hands gripped his shoulders and he pushed into her. Neon numbers flowed around them as them as their bodies rocked in unison.

Chapter 7

“Five minutes till drop,” Q-bit announced. The moment was quickly approaching. The ship was in place and braced for the transit. June was at her usual place at the main controls. Tolin had taken his place at a second console where he could monitor the gravitational sensors. Once she had successfully sent a probe back to the Solar System, she made it clear she was going to take her own ship back as soon as possible. Tolin convinced her to run a series of probes through. They had quickly learned that the doorstop had to be readjusted each time due to fluctuating interference from the black hole. This meant success was not guaranteed even with June’s modifications to the doorstop. So far, they had only gotten 60 per cent of their probes safely through to the other side.

Once June had a series of three successes, she decided it was time. Tolin tried to get her to reconsider, but her mind was made up. She was not going to spend the rest of her life in the Dextronin System despite the risks and no matter what her feelings were for Tolin. She was not surprised when Tolin had insisted on joining her. She had tried to dissuade him but quickly concluded deep down she did want him with her.

Tolin reported the status of the doorstop and the wormhole’s stability. So far, everything was in the green. They could drop in 30 seconds. June wondered for more than the first time if she should have tried harder to convince Tolin to stay. She probably would have failed.

“Um, Tolin,” she said looking over at him. He looked up and smiled. If he was nervous, it wasn’t showing. “I never really told you about my family. Why I don’t have anyone waiting for me. Why I live the way I do.”

“If you don’t want to…”

“No, I do,” she said. She owed it to him. “My family… They were part of a movement. The “Fourscore Movement”. It’s a biblical thing. You remember our discussions about the “bible” is, and religions on Earth? Anyway, the people in this movement—they don’t believe in anti-aging technology. They believe human beings were given a finite number of years to live and that’s how it should be.”

“I see.”

“When I gained notoriety for my work, I parted from them and started using longevity drugs. As a consequence, I got to watch my parents, siblings, even my nieces and nephews, all age as I stayed the same. After more than a century, I have no immediate family left. I really didn’t stay in contact much in their last few years anyway. It was too surreal. I just wanted you to understand why I’ve been on my own for so long. Once I lost my family, I didn’t really want to get close to anyone else. Other than Q-bit.  At least I knew he wasn’t going to wither away and die before my eyes.”

Tolin smiled reassuringly. “Thank you for telling me. I’m sorry you had to experience that.”

He was probably about to get up and kiss her, but Q-bit began counting down the last 30 seconds.

Well, it was too late to second guess any of her choices now.
  “5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”

The ship slipped into the open wormhole. As before, the stars warped and stretched. Tolin reported everything still normal while June monitored the readings on her own console. Even if an issue did arise, it would probably require immediate action. That meant Q-bit would have to take control and correct the issue.

“Transit 60 per cent complete,” Q-bit reported.

“Still in the green,” Tolin stated, probably more to reassure himself than anything else.

“June!” Q-bit’s synthetic voice suddenly broke. “I’m detecting—there’s a fluctuation in the interfere—”

“What, Q-bit? What is it?” she asked.

There was silence for a tense moment.
Well at least they had not blown up yet.

“It’s ok,” Q-bit finally said. “I detected a fluctuation in the gravitational interference, but was able to adjust for it. We should exit the wormhole shortly.

June and Tolin both took a breath. Tolin caught her eye and they smiled. For a moment, they had both assumed the worst.

“We are now exiting Z114,” Q-bit informed them. “Welcome back to the Solar System.”

June and Tolin both jumped up from their chairs and embraced. June noted a thin layer of perspiration on Tolin’s brow.

“I knew you could do it. I’ve known how brilliant you were since the day I first read over the doorstop schematics.” He kissed her.
This was worthy of celebration, after all.

“Um… June,” Q-bit said, hesitation in his voice. In all their years together, she had never heard him speak like that.

“Yes?”

“There’s something wrong,” the AI said.

“Can you be more specific?”

Q-bit hesitated again. “We’re not where we’re supposed to be. Not at all.”

Tolin and June shared a nervous glance.

“Where are we?” Tolin asked.

“If my star charts are accurate, we are in the Dextronin System,” Q-bit replied.

Tolin breathed a sigh of relief. “Well at least we emerged safely, even if we did not cross over to your system.”

“I’m afraid I have more to report,” Q-bit interrupted. “All signs of Dextronin civilization have disappeared from my sensors.”

              “What?” Tolin said, astonished. “What do you mean? The station isn’t there?”

“I mean, nothing is there. There is no station. There are no orbital platforms around any planets or moons. I’m not even detecting any planets with a biosphere or any radio traffic.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Tolin said, incredulous. “Our system has three inhabited planets, four moons and countless stations.”

June placed a hand gently on his back. “I’m sure there is an explanation.”

“Yes,” Q-bit’s voice came again, “I might have it. I reevaluated the positions of the stars. They appear to be where they should have been 10,000 years in the past.”

June dropped into her chair. Could that really be true? There had been some hypothetical work on using the wormholes to travel back in time, but it had never been done. The few attempts made resulted in collapsed wormholes. Was it really possible they had slipped into the past of the Dextronin System?

“Q-bit, are you sure…”

“Wait…” Q-bit spoke again. “I’m detecting a signal from an artificial object, about a kilometer from our position.”

Of course. There must have just been an issue with Q-bit’s long range sensors. No doubt he’d pick up a signal from the station any moment now.

“It just came into range for a thorough scan… It’s the Ark that was being transported from the Solar System.  It appears it also slipped back through time like we did.”

June stood up again. “Q-bit! This isn’t funny! You can’t really expect us to believe we’ve traveled backwards through time.”

“June, look here,” said Tolin. He was seated in front of the secondary console again and was scrolling through the sensor data with a grim look on his face. “I think he’s right. There should be clear signs of civilization on these worlds, but there’s nothing.”

Chapter 8

It had taken some time for the shock to wear off. Well, the disbelief, at least. June would probably be shocked all over again every time she thought about what happened to them. It was fantastic, but true. They had slipped back in time as they crossed through the wormhole and had been deposited in the past of the Dextronin System. The aperture they had come through had quickly closed behind them, so a return trip was not a possibility.

It took them a few days to put the pieces together. They had arrived here for a reason. They had a destiny to fulfill. When they salvaged the Ark, they found it contained the genomes of thousands of plant and animal species from Earth. June was the first to reach the incredible conclusion. There was a reason Dextronin history began 10,000 years in the past. There was a reason the Dextronins were nearly identical to Humans. There was a reason their language seemed to share roots with her own. Tolin and June were predestined to be the progenitors of the Dextronin people.

It wasn’t easy for June to accept their fate, but it was clear they weren’t going anywhere. Even if it had been possible for them to travel to the Solar System, they would find an Earth on which civilization was in its infancy. No, this was where she and Tolin were meant to be.

With a few more taps of her console, June completed her work for the day.  They had been in orbit around the Dextronin home world for about a week. They had surveyed its barren surface and Q-bit and June were working on finding the optimal landing site.

Meanwhile, Tolin was spending his time tinkering with the Ark’s technology. He was certain he could combine it with the ship’s medical equipment to begin cloning different plants and animals. June was nervous he would not be finished before their rations were depleted, but Tolin was quick to point out his very existence proved they would succeed.

She rose from her station and walked back to the room where he was working. She grabbed him by the collar. Tolin gave her no resistance as she led him back to the quarters they now shared and pushed him down onto the bed.

June thanked her lucky stars she had already begun to have feelings for Tolin before they became stranded in the past. She could not imagine a worse fate than having to parent a whole race with a man she did not care for, did not love.  As with the plants and animals, Tolin was certain they could use their medical equipment to create artificial genetic diversity.  June had resisted the temptation to think of them as Adam and Eve, but the comparison was apt.

Tolin smiled up at her as she pulled off his shirt. She climbed onto him and began to massage his shoulders. She had learned that was one way to easily arouse him. They had a lot of “work” ahead of them. It was a task they were happy to perform.

THE END

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