Time Differences

Part 4: Questions and Illustrations

Augusta gasped, and we both twisted to see who was speaking.

Sarah had slipped up close to us while we were preoccupied with our fucking, and was sitting on the meadow, staring hard at us -- which presumably meant at my legs and balls and Augusta's back and arse. She was smiling faintly, with her hands neatly folded in her lap.

"Sarah!" said Augusta, hastily clambering off me, "Are you

spying

?"

"Hardly, sweet Augusta," Sarah answered. "I made a pleasant stroll in the meadows, and stumbled upon this scene."

"She has a point," I said to Augusta. "We are right out in the open here."

"She did not continue upon her way," Augusta snapped.

"I'm afraid that little Sarah here likes to watch," I told her. "I mean, she likes doing the thing too. But she really only jumped me after she'd watched Jemima and me at it for a while. And she loves mirrors."

"Mr Evans!" Sarah gasped. "A gentleman should not say such things of a lady!"

"Well, a lady might have walked on by rather than stopping to watch her friends screwing -- um,

tupping,

as Jemima would say."

She held her annoyed look for a second, then cracked and giggled. "I fear that you are correct," she said. "I do enjoy too much to watch."

Meanwhile, Augusta had gathered up her robe and was holding it in a fetchingly modest but barely effective way in front of herself as she sat beside me, and she threw mine over my lap and my deflating cock. "We shall be more careful of you in future," she said.

"Forgive me, Augusta, Simon," Sarah said. She scurried over to us, and knelt in front of us. "All this is so new to me -- what is modest and what is not when we are giving ourselves so?" She leant over and kissed me on the cheek. Then she turned to Augusta and repeated the gesture to her, and Augusta smiled briefly.

Then Sarah leant forward again and kissed Augusta on the lips, staying in contact for several seconds. When she leaned back again, I noticed that both of them were looking puzzled. It was certainly an odd gesture; the six girls had been prone to affectionate but brief mutual kisses among themselves for as long as I'd known them, but this was downright sensuous.

"Forgive me," Sarah said again, breaking the brief awkward silence. "I was simply curious."

"I think that such things would be better directed to Simon," Augusta said. "Such passion passes best between a man and a woman."

"Does it?" Sarah replied.

"Hey," I said, "what's this all about?"

"I have been talking to the House, I should admit," Sarah said, "and this led me to some puzzling things."

"Oh," I said to Augusta. "I probably should have warned you all. The House is trying to understand human sex. It may be asking some weird and impertinent questions."

"Questions which lead to more questions, and to ... other strangeness," Sarah said.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"I perhaps should best show you," Sarah said, "back at the House."

Augusta and I shrugged at each other, pulled our robes back on, and followed her. She walked purposefully back to the House, and then to her room, where we all sat down on the stools scattered round the place.

"When the House asked me about ... relations between men and women," Sarah began, "I did my best to explain to it what I knew. But it soon became evident that some of its questions implied possibilities of which I was ignorant. For example, it asked of relations between men and men, or women and women."

"Oh," said Augusta. "I have heard whispers of such things, but..." she faded into confusion.

"I too confessed ignorance," said Sarah. "Indeed, I told the House that it might be able to tell me more than I could explain to it."

And I'll bet you sounded a little bit keen about the idea,

I thought. Then it struck me that, if I was right, the House might have understood more about Sarah than she realised. It wasn't human, but it seemed to have a lot more grasp of nuance and human motivation than I for one had originally thought.

"This led the House and I to talk somewhat, about ignorance and knowledge," Sarah went on. "In due course, it explained that it preserves

pictures

of events to which it does not pay actual attention..."

"Oh yeah," I said, "I should warn you all about that, too. The House has cameras... It can get pictures even where it honestly ignores things with its conscious mind."

"So I now understand," Sarah said, as Augusta frowned, looking worried as the implications of what she was hearing sank in. "And so -- I asked if it had pictures of things that might resolve my ignorance."

Oh, did you.

Little Sarah was getting a bit too clever with her voyeuristic impulses, it seemed to me.

"What did it show you?" Augusta asked carefully.

"House," said Sarah, "pray show me the scene from Miss Halstead's chamber that you produced for me earlier..."

In response, one wall of Sarah's room instantly became a screen, and once again, I was watching a view of Miss Halstead's room, with its dark-toned walls. I guessed that this was a little while after I'd last seen Miss Halstead; she was lying on the bed, still looking stunned and quiet but a lot more sane than when I'd last seen her. Georgiana was there too, bustling around, fetching her a beaker of water. She sat beside Miss Halstead as the older woman drank, and stroked her brow. "Come," she said, "you have lain here long enough. You might be refreshed if you bathed, perhaps."

Miss Halstead rose to her feet obediently if lethargically, and Georgiana led her to the bathroom -- so the viewpoint shifted there -- and helped her to remove her dress, revealing again that she had a more than passable body. Then Georgiana frowned for a moment before removing her own dress, revealing a younger, maybe skinny but maybe also athletic figure.

"House," she said, "a warm spray, if you would."

When the House obeyed, Georgiana quickly and efficiently helped Miss Halstead to wash, then told the House to stop the shower and found some towels. The two of them returned to the bedroom, now wrapped in towels, and the viewpoint shifted back.

At Georgiana's direction, Miss Halstead stood stock still and Georgiana unwrapped her and began drying her down. The older woman seemed inert throughout this, even when Georgiana carefully rubbed her breasts dry, but then Georgiana moved below her waist. After the briefest of pauses for thought, Georgiana began delicately to pat Miss Halstead's pubic bush dry with an edge of the towel. Miss Halstead's own hand shot out and grabbed Georgiana's, and Georgiana gasped, then lowered her eyes.

"I apologise..." she began, but Miss Halstead seemed to loosen her grip slightly and then moved Georgiana's hand, so that for a moment she was no longer patting but rubbing the towel against her crotch. Then she released her hold.

Georgiana rose to her feet, still looking submissive, and Miss Halstead grasped her by the shoulders and spoke for the first time. "Georgiana..." she said.

"Miss Halstead," said the girl.

"Ah, Georgiana. The only one who is faithful to me, I think."

"Miss Halstead?" Georgiana met her gaze.

Miss Halstead released her grip and visibly relaxed. "I am sorry, Georgiana," she said. "I do appreciate how much you have done for me. I think ... I think that I am feeling a little better now."

"Good," said Georgiana. "Perhaps you should rest a little more?"

Miss Halstead took the suggestion and lay down on the bed; Georgiana, still wrapped in her towel, lay beside her. Then Georgiana propped herself up on her elbow and kissed Miss Halstead on the cheek, just once and tentatively at first, then a second and third time as the older woman raised now objection. After the third kiss, Miss Halstead even smiled faintly.

Neither of them said anything, but Georgiana gently caressed Miss Halstead's face and smiled back at her. Then, suddenly, impulsively, she placed more light kisses on Miss Halstead's shoulders and throat. Miss Halstead touched her lightly on the back as she moved cautiously downwards, eventually coming to the older woman's breasts, where she paused for a moment, then began to nuzzle softly at her nipples.

By now, the towel wrapped around Georgiana was becoming disarrayed, and she eased it aside. She continued with the kisses for a moment, then seemingly realised what she was doing and paused, looking up at Miss Halstead's face. But Miss Halstead smiled slightly at her. Georgiana moved back up, and the two women kissed mouth to mouth, cautiously at first, then passionately.

When they broke apart after a few moments, they stared nervously at each other. It was Miss Halstead who made the next move, her hand moving tentatively to Georgiana's pussy. Georgiana sighed and lay back, seeming to go limp, and Miss Halstead paused, but then Georgiana grabbed her hand and just held it in place. After a second, Miss Halstead began to move just her fingertips, carefully stimulating Georgiana's clitoris.

Georgiana accelerated to orgasm with extraordinary speed; I guess this was the stuff of her wildest fantasies, even if she didn't know it herself. She moaned and writhed, her eyes tight shut and her skin flushed pink; then, with one last great sigh, she went limp. When she opened her eyes after a moment, it was to see Miss Halstead looking at her with a blank, expressionless face. But Georgiana twitched a small smile, and returned to kissing Miss Halstead's nipples, and Miss Halstead sighed softly, once at that and a second time when Georgiana's hand strayed cautiously to her pussy.

"Is this right?" Georgiana asked, but Miss Halstead said nothing; her eyes were screwed tight shut and she was lying in a hunched posture, her chin pressed down to her throat. But when Georgiana stopped, nervously, Miss Halstead gave a wordless cry and grabbed Georgiana's hand with both of her own, actually forcing two of Georgiana's fingers into her cunt. Georgiana gasped and wriggled against her, and Miss Halstead moaned softly. They both froze for a moment, and then Georgiana set to work, stimulating Miss Halstead more methodically.

It took Miss Halstead a couple of minutes to reach orgasm, and as the recording played, I glanced at Augusta and Sarah out of the corners of my eyes -- but they were both watching the screen, fascinated and bemused. When I looked back, it was just in time to see Miss Halstead arch her body on the bed and give a sharp cry of pleasure, before going completely limp. Georgiana took her hand away from Miss Halstead's cunt and the pair of them embraced, kissing each other hard on the lips with their eyes closed, before lying silently in each other's arms.

"And thus they remained for as long as I cared to watch," Sarah commented, "although that was just a few minutes. House, you may end this display now."

Augusta looked from the blank wall-screen to Sarah, and then back to the screen, and then to Sarah again. Then she embraced Sarah, and kissed her full on the lips. For a moment, I thought that there was some serious passion there, but then the two girls broke apart and cracked up into slightly nervous giggles.

"Oh, my dear Sarah," said Augusta, "it would seem that your spying has revealed more about the righteous Miss Halstead than we would ever have

dreamed

."

"And more about dear Georgiana..." Sarah agreed.

"Hey, you two," I said, "be careful with all this. We all have to live together, like it or not. Just because Sarah managed to talk the House into letting her spy on other people, doesn't mean you ought to boast about it. Things could get very nasty if you're not careful..."

"I fear that you may be correct, Simon," said Augusta, doing her best to look serious. "Have no fear, we will say nothing..."

"Unless Miss Halstead should seek to punish us for

vile practices

," Sarah added.

"Yeah, well," I said, "I get it -- this is the kind of thing she'd have beaten girls for, back in the old days."

"Oh, she did," Augusta said. I blinked, and she stared at me. "Please do not think us complete innocents in those times, Simon. On cold nights, girls would share beds often enough, and occasionally, some would share caresses. But when some poor fool was found by Miss Halstead, her response was always -- quite vile."

"So she was a bitch," I said, and the two girls gasped. "Well, that's over. Better let her be. She's harmless now."

"Oh, Simon, do not think that you can act as a father to us, when you have taken the part of a ... sweetheart," said Augusta, with a scowl. "But do not take us for fools either. We will leave Miss Halstead and Georgiana to their small games."

"Yes," Sarah agreed, "and Elspeth too."

"What?" I said.

"Oh, so your spying did not end there?" said Augusta, staring at the other girl.

"No," said Sarah. "I fear that I have been quite wicked -- but I will complete my confession now." She turned back towards the wall. "House," she said, "pray show the scene I observed involving Elspeth."

The wall changed again, to show a plain room, with Mr Frake the sailor lying on the bed with a blank expression, and Elspeth sitting on a stool next to him, looking at him with a caring expression. Elspeth had been acting as a nursemaid to Frake since before I arrived, I'd gathered, and there were a couple of food bowls lying around the place, suggesting that she'd attended to him when he hadn't got out of the room.

She was talking, and her words confirmed that impression. "Please, Mr Frake," she said, you should get up and walk about a little more. This is not an unpleasant place."

"Ah, no, it cannot be," said Frake, "for it surely be Heaven..."

"It is no such..." Elspeth began, but Frake wasn't listening much.

"If this be Heaven," he said, "then the girls must've become angels. You do look like angels, and you are kind as angels, for surely."

"No, Mr Frake," said Elspeth sadly, "we are no angels, and this is not Heaven."

"Oh, but don't say that," said Frake sadly, "for if this is not Heaven, then it must be -- the other place, and you must've fallen to become devils -- or you are devils pretending to be those poor girls who were drowned through my folly. And yet -- you've not been cruel, as devils must be."

"You know, I did wonder," Elspeth said, "for quite some time, you know, if Georgiana was correct, and if we were being taunted by some devil. But that won't do, will it, Mr Frake? This isn't Heaven or the other place, not if the church has anything right on the subject. I'm afraid that the House is telling the truth."

"What's it say, then?" Frake asked, looking at her with more focus than I'd seen him manage before.

"That this is simply -- another world, to which we were snatched when we were about to die, because taking us or leaving us be could no longer matter."

"Oh, but don't say that!" Frake said mournfully. "You say that, but I think about it, and I'll never see my Jenny again, or my little ones, or my old father..."

"I am terribly sorry," said Elspeth, "but I fear that is the case."

Poor Frake crumpled at that, weeping like a child, and then Elspeth gathered him in her arms. I thought for a moment that she was crying too, but then I realised that she must be made of sterner stuff -- or crazier. She was almost expressionless.

"You are an angel!" Frake insisted.

"No, Mr Frake. What can I say to convince you?"

He shook his head, and she stared at him. "I am not an angel," she repeated. "Angels are creatures of spirit, and I am flesh and blood." She took a deep breath. "Look," she said, and bending down, she pulled her dress off and stood naked in front of Frake.

Watching on the screen, I gasped at the gesture, and frankly admired Elspeth's body. She was the darkest of the six girls -- one of the others had once mumbled something, out of her earshot, about her being "swarthy" -- but to me, she looked fetchingly tanned and raven-haired -- especially when she reached up and unfastened and shook out her plait.

"We are not angels." she repeated.

"You

are

a demon!" Frake moaned. "What is it that you want from me?"

"I have recently been told of things," Elspeth said, "and I think I may know that now."

Frake stared at her uncomprehendingly, but she simply looked back at him, and then lay down beside him, nursing his head against her pert breasts. "Angels are pure," she murmured to him, "but

we

can seek impure and earthly comforts."

Frake looked even more startled than I felt, but he pressed his lips to one of her nipples in a gesture that was half a kiss and half a child seeking to nurse. Elspeth stroked his disarrayed hair, and then took his face between her hands and kissed his brow. Then she wriggled down the bed a little so that she was face to face with him, and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Oh, Mr Frake," she said, "may we not take comfort together?"

Good grief,

I thought,

all this time we all thought that she was a saintly little thing looking after the poor old crazy guy, and all along, she was just desperate for a father figure.

Oh well -- if it helped both her and Frake adjust to their situation, it'd be for the best. By the looks of him, Frake was still utterly puzzled, but he returned her kiss and then held her hard against him. She gasped, and I wondered if he was crushing her too much, but he let her roll back from him a little way, and then her hand moved down to touch his robe over his crotch. It was hard to make out, even on the big, perfect viewing screen that the wall had become, but I was pretty sure that the garment was rising in a tent there. Anyway, I didn't have to wait long for confirmation; nervously and uncertainly, Frake and Elspeth cooperated to pull Frake's gown up to his waist, revealing a full erection.

Elspeth stared at it for a long moment and gasped, then lay back with her eyes closed and her legs slightly apart. But Frake's instincts had taken over by now, and he clambered between her thighs, pushing them further apart, took his cock in hand, and put its tip at the entrance to her cunt. Then he entered her with a single muscular thrust. She gave a moan of what sounded like mingled pain and relief, and wrapped her legs round his as he began to rock against her. He was grunting wordlessly; listening hard, I heard her murmuring his name much more quietly...

"Enough," I said, "House, stop showing this." The wall went blank again.

Sarah looked at me with a mixture of petulance and nervousness. "Have I been too impertinent?" she asked.

"Yes," I said, "but I guess you're still getting the hang of things, now your old rules are gone. It is good to know that Elspeth and Frake are managing to find something together, and I'll suggest that you two find some way to explain to her a bit more about what's possible, so that she gets something more from it than soreness and a feeling of doing him a favour. But let's leave things there for now, shall we?"

"So you make rules now, do you, Simon?" Augusta asked. "Then what punishments do you propose should we offend you?"

"Oh, hell," I said, "I'm no good at rules. I just try to avoid offending people. But if Sarah carries on like this, I'll have to see what pictures I can get out of the House showing

her

, and maybe put put them on everyone's walls."

"Ah," said Sarah.

"Oh," said Augusta, "and what has Sarah done that would bring her more shame than she can bring the rest of us?"

"I dunno," I said, "but I'd have to see what I could find."

"And could I not shame you in return?" Sarah asked.

"You could try," I said, "but I don't recommend getting competitive. I'm still older and nastier than you."

"Oh," squealed Sarah, "I find that quite shamefully interesting."

"Sarah," Augusta said, "you are becoming terrible."

"I wonder how terrible," I said, succumbing to a temptation. I got up, walked over to Sarah, and kissed her on the mouth. "After all, you don't

just

like to watch, do you?"