Taylor invited a special guest lecturer at his class the following day, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw.
Dr. Shaw had been one of the few survivors of the USS
Devonshire
on its fateful mission to save the Earth by traveling to the year one billion to discover who or what had created the Black Box which was slowly but inexorably destroying the Earth. Taylor had had a brief sexual relationship with Doctor Shaw. What he remembered most about her was her extremely thick, bushy pubic hair which reminded him of Tessa's. But Doctor Shaw had been more conservative about sex acts than Tessa was, at least until Pam, the Research Tool he met in the year one billion, had freed Elizabeth's sexual inhibitions... as well as the sexual inhibitions of
everyone on the planet Earth
for a brief moment in time.
When Taylor saw Elizabeth, the first thing that flashed into his mind was the memory of Elizabeth, totally nude on her hands and knees in the Church of Pam, as three men simultaneously pumped in and out of her mouth, vagina, and ass. Elizabeth had been so proud to please so many men in front of Taylor, though of course once Pam's meddling had been reversed it was very likely that she might have reinterpreted her enjoyment of these events.
Now Taylor and Elizabeth had a distant but respectful relationship, given what they had experienced together at the other end of time, and Taylor had invited her to speak on the topic of interrogation.
"We were interrogated, and tortured, roughly in the year 8,000,000," said Elizabeth. She whirled around. "Who laughed? Someone just laughed." She put her hands on her hips. "You'd better speak out before I come and get you!"
"I did," said a young woman.
"You being..."
"Cadet Miley Spruance, Ma'am."
"And why did you laugh?"
"Well, Ma'am, you have to admit... traveling to the year 8,000,000... it's all rather... unlikely, isn't it?"
Elizabeth put her hands on her hips, causing her pointed breasts to stick out from her tight shirt. "You know nothing and are proud of it. Is this the new generation which is being raised, Michael?"
"She's just a cadet," said Taylor. "I thought I knew everything when I was a cadet too."
"Well, Cadet Miley Spruance, for your information, we
did
go to the year 8,000,000, as well as other periods in future history. We were captured and we were tortured. And all of us broke eventually."
"And what is the lesson from that, Ma'am?" asked another Cadet.
"The lesson is that when you are held captive, and tortured, you survive any way you can. The human body is not made to endure torture. Do whatever you have to do to save yourself and worry about honor and integrity later."
"Is that what you did, Captain?" asked Cadet Straighter. "Did you let your captors break you?"
Taylor felt all eyes on him. "No, I didn't give in. But I don't respect Elizabeth or any of the other scientists who did concede any less. Each one of us does what we are capable of. That's the lesson that you have to learn here today."
After the class was over, Taylor took her hand. "Elizabeth, thank you for coming. Marvelous to see you again."
"Good to see you too, Michael," she said, looking him up and down. "If anything you've become even more... distinguished over time. Have you ever heard from Pam again... the other Pam?"
"No," said Taylor.
"A pity," said Elizabeth. "I hear you're seeing someone now."
"Does the entire world know I'm seeing someone now?"
"Most of Port Auburn, at least," said Elizabeth. "You're still one of the hottest eligible bachelors on the planet, Michael. She's a very lucky girl." And then she reached over and startled him by kissing him on the cheek. "I'm very happy for you."
And then she was gone.
Taylor walked in a daze back to the tiny office the Academy had assigned to him. He was surprised to find Cadet Sydney Straighter there, waiting for him.
"Cadet?"
"Captain," she said. "I mean, sir-"
"Is there something you wanted?"
"Only this," she said. And she reached out and kissed him on the lips and wrapped her arms around him.
Taylor was so surprised that it took him a moment to react, to unwrap her hands and free himself. "Cadet!"
"Don't you like me? Don't you think I'm attractive?" she said.
Sydney was a gorgeous blonde. If he wasn't so satisfied he would definitely have been attracted to her. But he was in love with Tessa... and Sophie... and didn't feel the need for even more companionship.
"Please, just go out to dinner with me. Just dinner!"
But Taylor knew it wouldn't be just dinner. He
screaned
there was something motivating her, some kind of desperation, something he didn't quite understand.
"I'm sorry, I can't. I... I'm seeing someone."
"I know. The world knows," said Sydney. "But she's
old
."
"Cadet, she's a year younger than me."
"You know what I mean," she said.
"I'm sorry," said Taylor. "My heart belongs to another."
Oddly enough, that made Sydney smile. "It sounds nice when you say it like that. All right Captain. But you really don't know what you're missing."
Taylor touched her cheek. "I'm sure I don't. And I appreciate the thought."
********
"Your performance is improving, Captain," said Vice Admiral Bunim.
"Thank you, Admiral."
"But there is still a ways to go," she said. The fat Indian woman gave him a pointed stare, her enormous breasts looking liked melted pudding trapped in her dayshirt. "In your most recent lecture you made reference to Obongo Babangida, your security chief on the
Devonshire
, a black man."
"Yes, he was black."
"And you made reference to your navigator Suki Tanaka, who was Asian."
"Yes, she was."
"These are all good things. But so far you still have made no references to sexual minorities."
"Admiral... do you really want me to make up stories about the sexuality of the people around me?" Taylor asked.
"Not make up, Captain. Embellish to inspire. Embellish to inspire is our motto in the Diversity and Inclusion Division, haven't you heard that?"
"No, Ma'am. I'm not a regular member of the faculty, I'm just a guest lecturer-"
"Ignorance is no excuse, Captain. Can't you introduce more sexual diversity? A female crewgirl who might have been lesbian? A crewman who might have had anal sex, or was unsure of his gender or which bathroom to use?"
Taylor thought hard. "Well... as I recall, Suki Tanaka was attracted to me, but she did have a brief sexual encounter with today's guest lecturer, Doctor Elizabeth Shaw."
"Perfect! Why didn't you mention that?"
"I didn't think Dr. Shaw would be appreciative if I did. Also, Suki and Elizabeth were coerced into giving each other orgasms by an alien race of squids who threatened to-"
"Details, details. Can't you cut through the details, Captain?"
"I'll try, Admiral."
********
Sophie went out for coffee with Clarence Norman.
She had been unsettled, more than she cared to admit, when she had met Special Negotiator Tessa Hetford. She had expected to meet a beautiful but fairly superficial or vacuous woman but was surprised to meet a female of depth and character who actually tried to befriend her!
It unsettled Sophie Astor to the core. She started to question her own motives and actions, and the durability of her semi-relationship with the Captain. She found her late night kissing sessions with him increasingly frustrating and yet she didn't have the willpower to stop. She needed more, much more, and if Michael Taylor couldn't give it to her, perhaps someone else could. Perhaps she could glue together half a relationship with Taylor with a half relationship with a less worthy man and together enjoy a whole relationship, of a sorts.
And so she went out for coffee with her fellow Passive Observer.
Sophie was not particularly attracted to Clarence Norman. But there was no reason for her not to be. He was reasonably good looking, smart, articulate, and of course, a fellow PO. But Sophie felt nothing when she was with him, but hypothesized that perhaps extended contact with him in a less formal setting might change that.
And so she had agreed to one of his many requests to go out together. He was nothing if not persistent. That quality had helped many men propagate the species and make their own unique contribution to the gene pool.
She and Clarence talked over cups of atomic coffee. It was obvious that Clarence hadn't been out on a date in a while, or if he had, he had no notion how to go about it. He talked at length about his past PO assignments, both for Passive Observers International and the Survey Service, as if his past observational achievements might impress her. He asked nothing about herself and in fact Sophie discovered that she was required to say little or nothing at all.
He's an objectively handsome man. Surely there must be something attractive about him. Surely there must be something wrong with me. Perhaps I just need to try harder.
********
Taylor was watching himself having sex with Tessa. He
should
have been outraged.
She had secretly recorded him, them, the both of them while they had been having sex. It was a gross violation of his privacy.
And yet... as they lay on the bed together, completely nude, watching their holoselves go at it, Tessa, the real Tessa, toyed with the head of his penis and whispered in his ear. "You looked so sexy Michael."
"I did?"
"Yesss....." The heat of her breath intoxicated him. He looked into her eyes. She
burned
for him. "Look at the manly way you thrust into me. Look at how the muscles in your ass move as you take me, like a real man. Look at the way my breasts rock around as you fuck me senseless!"
Her voice, the manipulation of her fingers, the holorecording, all of it drove Taylor to wild excitement. He found he had to have her right then and there. He mounted and entered her in one smooth motion and started pounding wildly, as if in sycophantic synchronization with the holoimage before him.
"That's right! That's right, lover! Take me! Take me hard!" Tessa cried.
"I will!" Taylor growled. Part of him felt violated,
intensely
violated. He remembered Tessa's friend Maggie who had told him gleefully that she and Tessa shared everything. Well, did they also share
this
? Was Maggie sitting at home with a bowl of popcorn watching avidly while Taylor fucked her best friend?
Taylor wanted to know but he also didn't want to know. Right now he was focused on pounding Tessa's pussy. Her thick pubic bush looked so womanly and excited him. He knew what she was doing. She was doing what she always did, driving him mad so he would quickly come inside of her. And then, once he had had his first orgasm, would come the main act.
The main act was not long in coming. After Taylor climaxed, they lay arm in arm for a time, flirting wildly and professing their love for each other. For Taylor really did feel himself falling in love with Tessa. It was no act. She was so sensual. She was like no other woman he had ever known.
As they flirted, Tessa tugged on his penis insistently. Taylor knew was she was doing and he cooperated with her. Before long he was hard again and the second act began.
Only this time Tessa got on top of him. Surprised registered on Taylor's face as she mounted him and inserted his penis inside of her. And then she started to ride up and down on his shaft.
