Goddesses Pt 03

part 3: The Sleeper

I'm frozen. My perceptions have slowed, and in turn time seems to have accelerated. Beyond my lidded eyes the days fly by in panoramic flashes of light. Of all this I'm only dimly aware, occasionally drifting off into bizarre frigid dreams.

I'm caught in a mental limbo. I haven't died, but in my state I'm neither amongst the living. I'm not cognisant enough to think clearly, to make sense of what is happening. I'm like a frightened monkey, running through the labyrinthine mazes of my shattered subconscious. I catch glimpses of my laboratory prison, watching day and night fly past, before I again fall back into the maze.

But then, finally, there is the thaw...

Chapter 1

I could feel my body. I could feel cold rock pressing against my rear, my back. I was soaked from head to toe with frigid clammy water as I sat cross legged and hunched forward slightly.

I couldn't move. Every bone and joint in my body felt stiff and immobile. My eyes were shut, but I could sense light beyond them. Opening them just a crack, the light was blinding! I recoiled slightly, the act of doing so stinging my neck and spine.

I groaned a gravelly sound. Awareness was beginning to dawn on me, of who and where I was, how I'd gotten there.

I'd climbed that mountain intending to die. Yet there I sat, awakening with what seemed to be the hangover to end all hangovers. I slowly opened my eyes again, very gradually letting the light enter them. Squinting, I took in my surroundings.

With blurry, unfocused vision I saw that I sat several feet away from the mouth of a cave. Clear water was dripping just beyond the opening. Puddles of slush and melted snow were all around me. It was daytime, but the sky outside was overcast a hazy blue-violet.

The snow covered mountain was melting, and immortal, I still lived.

***

Sore and aching all over, I began my descent. It was only a few degrees above freezing, enough to melt the ice. My wet dress clung to me embarrassingly but my knee-high leather boots were offering needed protection, though the raised heel wasn't suited to the hike.

Below the landscape was not as I had left it. The mountain was snowless, blanketed with the green of evergreen trees and patches of bare brown soil. In the distance I could see that the river had swollen to twice its size, likely from all the melt.

I was terribly hungry, and my energy reserves were about depleted. My first stop was going to be Marla's house, where I meant to find food and a place to gather my bearings.

Moving downhill was easier than the uphill hike through snow, and in a few hours I reached her house... or rather, what was left of it. By then the sun had dried my clothing, leaving me dirtied but decent.

The brick structure still stood, but any wooden details were rotten and falling apart. The horse stable had all but completely decayed, and the great oak door was cracked and hanging open. It was deserted.

How long had I been asleep? It looked like it might have been decades since anyone had cared for the place. Stepping inside, the house was mostly stripped bare. Some old furniture remained, though it was rotting away like much of the rest. There was a huge gaping hole where the main floor had collapsed into the basement. Seeing that, I didn't trust the stairs enough to climb to the upper rooms.

In one corner I found a mound of sheets and rags, as well as a stash of canned food. Evidently someone had been squatting in what was left of Marla's home. I barely trusted the grimy can of green beans, but I was starved. I banged it on some exposed brick, puncturing the can, causing the brine within to leak out. I tore it open and promptly devoured its contents... cold, salty mush. Disgusting, but nourishing.

My strength restored, I continued my long trek back to civilization.

***

The town of St. Moritz was a shadow of its former glamour, now just a little village at the shore of a lake. I was standing at the town boundary, trying to digest what change time had brought. I must have slept for a long, long time! Gone were the fancy cobblestone streets and quaint tourist-trap shops -- it was all now submerged. The water level had risen a great deal, swallowing the downtown core and leaving only sparse housing at the higher elevations. It was too warm for snow, but still I was cold.

So this was the future. I wasn't sure how to proceed -- I didn't have a home any more, and the communications infrastructure was likely nothing like the cell phone and wi-fi networks I was used to.

A truck drove past on its way out of town, its motor merely a low hum. Evidently combustion engines were a thing of the past. It was a powerful looking thing with eight sets of wheels, painted white, and on its flank was the red logo of Astro-X.

My

Astro-X.

Despite my ill suited boots I ran after that truck, yelling and waving my arms. It came to a slow halt, and a man leaned out the window.

Chapter 2

No matter what year I'd found myself in some things will never change, and a trucker is still just a trucker. He was thick set with several nights of stubble, and a little dirty, but his eyes were kind as he looked down at me from his high perch. "Ah... ciao?"

"Ciao, sir. Do you speak English?"

"Ah, hm... some English, yes."

"Can... can you help me? I'm lost."

He nodded slowly. He looked like he couldn't believe what he was seeing -- a tall, beautiful, buxom young woman, covered in dirt and moisture, her hair and makeup a mess. For a moment his eyes flitted to the low neckline of my dress, but he caught himself and raised his gaze. "You are lost... you have got here, how?"

Who would believe me if I told them I'd just woke up from a decades long sleep at the top of a mountain? "Please, can you just take me to a city? I... I'm lost," I repeated.

Without taking his eyes off of me he pulled a lever, and the passenger side door opened with a metallic

clank

. I walked around the front of the huge vehicle and climbed a small ladder up into the cabin.

"Ohhh... oh my god, warmth," I sighed, placing my hands over the heating vents on the dashboard. Heat hadn't touched my skin for who knew how long, and the driver kept the interior of his truck toasty warm... It was an amazing feeling.

"Yes. You have been in cold for long? It is warm now."

"Yes I have. Thank you very much, sir."

We were seated on a fake leather bench seat, well worn from years of service. The interior of the truck's cabin was decorated with pictures of the driver's family, as well as pinup pictures of beautiful women and futuristic cars. None of them were printed on actual paper, and there wasn't a single piece of paper anywhere else. It looked like it might have been his second home.

"My name, Giancarlo."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Giancarlo. I'm Eva." I hesitantly offered a hand to shake, unsure of the proper mode of decorum in my situation. He saw me extend it and chuckled, then shook it with his comparatively huge and roughened paw.

"You are lucky. We go to France, Paris. You have been to Paris?"

"No, never."

"It is place where lady like you, I find. Here in countryside? No, only worker like me."

"I see. Could you tell me, uhm... what year it is?"

"Nnh?"

"What is the year, uh...

la data

."

He gave me a quizzical look, once more analyzing the dirtied young woman who sat in his truck. "You do not have network chip?"

"Network chip? No, I don't have such a thing."

That seemed to disturb him a little. "It is year, uh... two-one, zero seven."

You'd think I'd have been amazed, but at that point I was already numbed to shock at my new surroundings. "Twenty one-oh-seven." If my years of slumber counted, I was one hundred and eleven years old.

"Si. You are confused, forgetting? I take you to doctor, get network chip repair?"

"Oh no, I don't think so." I'd never been to a doctor in my life... it just wasn't necessary, and would lead to complications. "I just want to know where I am. And when."

"Look here," he said, as he pushed a tablet toward me. The screen came to life, defaulting to what looked like his trucker's license. With a swipe of his hand it flashed to what must have been the 2107 equivalent of a web browser.

The tablet was quite a piece of technology. It was as thin as a piece of cardboard, but the resolution was unparalleled by anything from my time, and the user interface was flawless. In a matter of moments I was browsing the internet of my future and learning how the world had changed as I slept.

Chapter 3

First, I wanted to know what Astro-X was doing running trucks around the European countryside. Bringing up the corporation's history, I found that they had been bought by a wealthy and mysterious family in 2014, and upon doing so they were able to build a fleet of their quantum ships. Their first move then was to branch into space mining -- the moon and asteroids were a rich source of metals. On Earth the cost of materials had been rising steadily, and so almost overnight Astro-X turned the industry on its head. The corporation's patented quantum drive gave them a monopoly on extra-planetary mining, making them one of the biggest, most important financial entities yet. Giancarlo's truck was returning from a trip to Switzerland, where he had dropped off a shipment of extra-planetary precious metals.

And it was all because of me.

Reading further, there was a short subheading titled 'rumours'. Rumour had it, that the family which had initially bought the nascent corporation was comprised entirely of

futanari

women.

What

? I followed the link to a page on futanari.

Futanari, once colloquially referred to as 'goddesses', are a humanoid sub-species, first discovered in 2026, though evidence shows that they have coexisted with homo sapiens for all of recorded history...

It seemed Marla's plan had come to fruition, in a way. Our numbers had grown enough that eventually our presence was undeniable. The societal implications were numerous, and humankind was divided on how it should choose to coexist with us.

Tensions between humankind and the futanari were eventually settled during The Great Exodus of 2083, when Astro -- X seedships carrying the majority of their population left Earth.

The story, history in fact, was just getting more and more incredible. Fuel for the rumours of Astro-X being owned by goddesses was the sudden announcement of the corporation's side project in the late twenty-first century. They wished to settle another planet, and that planet was to be a home for the goddesses, as well as any humans who wished to live within their kingdom. The location of The Great Exodus was secret, but it was in a star system many light years away.

The ships carried not only futanari women but also numerous humans who wished to settle the planet with them. These humans were chosen out of a vast collection of applicants according to detailed and stringent criteria. They were to provide genetic stock for the generations of futanari to come. Yet more ships carried supplies and Earthly biological materials with which the new planet was to be seeded.

Details about life on the futanari planet, rumoured to be called 'Anatolia', are closely guarded secrets and the subject of much speculation. The project is believed to be a success, for shuttles regularly return to Earth to pick up more human volunteers and biological material.

That sealed it. I would have to board one of those ships --

my

ships, to join the rest of my kind on Anatolia.

I took a deep breath, as if coming up for air after delving so deeply into the unbelievable truths of history. Giancarlo glanced at me for a moment, then fixed his eyes back on the road.

Network chip... what is a network chip?

A network chip was the evolutionary end point for cell phone technology. The chip, commonly planted on a person's wrist or some other easily accessed area, connected the individual to a worldwide network of commerce and communication. With a network chip, any person and any knowledge was within one's grasp, accessed on a whim through thought alone. It sounded handy, if not... intimidating. Surely a network chip would help me find my way onto one of the Astro-X shuttles to Anatolia.

"Giancarlo, I would like to have a network chip. Do you have any?"

"When in Paris, you buy. You have money?"

"Ah... no, I probably don't have any money."

He grunted.

"Where in Paris are we going, anyway?"

"To Astro-X supply depot. Central hub for Europe."

"Oh. That might be good enough..."

I turned back to the tablet. There was much more to catch up on, and we had a long drive ahead.

The world had changed a great deal while I slept. Back in 2014 it seemed we were constantly on the brink of disaster. Cataclysmic weather would drown cities in both the east and west, yet still authorities would deny that the climate was changing and vie for business to continue as usual. Those generations were short sighted.

Now in 2107 I found myself in a world populated by 12 billion people. Of those 12 billion, 9 billion were starving, thirsty or both. Rising temperatures had melted the Earth's frozen poles causing the ocean to rise, drowning coastal cities. Many of the capital cities of my time were now sunken ruins.

I was poring over an updated map of the world as night fell. Giancarlo stopped the truck and retired to the back cabin to rest. I had had more than enough sleep at the peak of that mountain and there was still so much catching up to do, so I remained with his tablet in the front of the truck, absorbing all the history that had played out while I slumbered.

Chapter 4

Midway through the following day I finally succumbed to sleep. It was a proper rest with forgettable, conventional dreams, much unlike the bizarre reveries I'd had during my long slumber. I awoke refreshed, and the truck was parked.

Giancarlo was already clambering out: "we arrive in Paris, Astro-X depot. My journey, it is finished."

I wiped the sleep from my eyes, sitting up straight. "Mmh... and mine has just begun."

Giancarlo's face was just visible as he stood below, outside the hulking vehicle in a vast garage. I crawled across the bench seat and out of the driver side door.

Giancarlo seemed to be holding his breath as I hopped out and stood before him. He was fidgety, nervous. I offered him a light hug and a thank you, which he accepted before promptly leaving for the employee lounge.

It was a strange farewell. Why did he seem so intimidated?

Overhead was a steel ceiling and cold fluorescent lighting. The floor was glossy and painted black, a silent surface for tires to roll across.

A small vehicle, essentially a golf cart, was trundling towards Giancarlo's truck. Its driver and passenger had their gazes locked on me. I turned to meet them.

Out stepped a smiling young man in a lab coat and a middle aged woman, formally dressed. They addressed me in accented English: "Hello. Can we assist you?"

"Assist... me?"

The woman was the one who mainly spoke: "yes. Perhaps a shower, change of clothes? We were told you also need a network chip?"

"Uh, yes, I'll take any of those things. But, you...?"

"Oh, don't look so confused, miss. Giancarlo radioed in that he had picked up a lost woman during his trip."

"I see. Is Astro-X always so accommodating to lost women?"

"Not necessarily," the young man said. "But for a lost woman of your... specific nature, definitely."

I blushed. Giancarlo had figured out what I was -- that was why he became so nervous when we arrived. And now these two employees of Astro-X were openly acknowledging something which I once only anonymously revealed.

"Because I'm... futanari...?"

They nodded, unphased. "May we see some ID?"

I produced my driver's license, a superannuated relic almost a century old, and handed it to the male. He seemed astonished... I assumed it was because of my birth date. He passed it to the woman, who shared his reaction before regaining her professional composure.

"Excuse us, we forgot to introduce ourselves. I am Sandrine, and this is Leo."

"Pleased to meet you."

"We will make arrangements for you, Madame Dennis. Please, come inside..."

We got into the golf cart and were soon whirring off across the Astro-X compound. Outside the garage the sun was beating down, and it was

hot

. My calves were soon sticking to the leather of my boots.

"Alors," Sandrine said. "You look like you crawled out of a time capsule."

"I think I did."

"That would explain what a Dennis is still doing on Earth," Leo said.

"The rest of us are all on... Anatolia?"

"Oui, they left in the first ships of the Exodus. Apparently one was left behind," Sandrine said. "Now we will check you in to a room and have you settled in, then we will see how else we can assist you, yes?"

"Sure. Yes, that sounds fantastic."

***

I was treated like royalty, put up in a lavish hotel room which dwarfed my apartment back home. On the king sized bed fresh new clothes were laid out in the modern style of 2107, both formal and casual wares. To the side there was a glass table, where a meal waited. Fresh vegetables were delicately cooked and buttered, along with a pile of wild rice and something the size and shape of a chicken breast. It smelled delicious, but I had certain priorities.

I'd been outdoors for almost a century, frozen and thawed, and not once had I changed outfits! First things first, I needed a hot, soapy bath.

I drew my long, slender legs out of my boots, breathing a sigh of relief as my bare feet touched cool tile. Sliding the dress down the curves of my body, some of the aged seams cracked and tore. No bother, I wouldn't have any more need for it. I tossed it into the garbage and turned to look at myself in the mirror: my hair was a mess, and there was dirt smeared over my fore arms, legs and collar, but I remained as healthy and beautiful as ever. My breasts were left sore from being crammed in that tight dress for so long, so I massaged the tension away as the tub filled up.

I stepped into the water. It felt divine on my sore muscles. I practically melted into it, reveling in the warmth, the lush bubbles. It was at that moment of calm tranquility, the foam of shampoo permeating my hair, that I started to realize just how well I'd done.

Somewhere out there was a planet, a planet adapted by and specifically for goddesses. That was my contribution to them... and I intended to join them. That I was being treated so well was proof that the game had changed for my kind.

I got out of the water and toweled off, then slipped into a soft bathrobe. All I'd eaten since I'd awoke on the mountain was that cold can of peas, and my hunger was severe. Sitting down to have my meal, the vegetables were crisp but a little bland, while the rice was just fine. The faux-chicken breast 'thing' was actually delicious, whatever it was.

Across the table was a small plastic package. I opened it, and out fell a little plastic sheaf with instructions written on it -- first in French, then in English, as well as a tiny pen and a square of paper-substitute material.

1) Place Network Chip on desired region of body, with tabs against skin. 2) Apply pressure directly to the Network Chip for approximately five seconds.

"Hmm." Squeezing the sheaf, a tiny wafer thin square of mineral fell out. Its 'tabs' were mere bristles of metal, very delicate looking. I placed it on the inside of my left wrist and applied pressure... five, four, three, two...

TZAK!

Those bristles of metal moved like tiny tentacles, digging painlessly into the flesh of my wrist. I perceived a flash of static electricity, as if some Voltage had adjusted to the reference of my nervous system.