by H. C. Brown
"The bigger the wormhole, the safer it is for us." Jace leaned forward in his seat.
"There's much less chance of it collapsing."
Fear rose in Fane's chest, the unfamiliar sensation making it difficult to breathe.
He swallowed hard. The starship hurtled through space toward the wormhole, gaining speed by the second. Blue walls spun around them, crackling with lightning. The sight reminded him of his past life, a memory partially suppressed by Gryd's programming.
Without prompting his AI, Fane received images of surfing a tube in Hawaii. Hell yeah.
What a rush.
Seconds later, the ship erupted into open space. The Milky Way spread out like a welcome-home beacon. Earth spun in blue glory, a night-light for a weary traveler. Fane turned and grinned at Jace. "I know you wanted to go home, but this is where I belong."
"I have no home since my planet was invaded." Jace stared bleakly out the window and shuddered. "It's overrun by Trans." He turned back and looked at Fane. "I wonder where in time we are."
Fane accessed his AI. "2040. Hell, earth didn't have interplanetary space travel until 2078. They are peaceful at the moment and have only just repaired the ozone layer.
They have robotics, but they use them mainly for prosthetics. The neural pathway technology is in its infancy. They use flybikes and hovercars. They developed the PFV, that's Earth's personal flying vehicles, this year, and then put the manufacturing on hold until they work out the travel grid." He glanced at Jace. "What did you get on health? Do we need to turn on disease protection?"
"They have eradicated cancer and a few other uglies. Oh yeah, and all sexually transmitted diseases, but they still haven't found the cure for the common cold." Jace chuckled and pointed to Earth. "It's right under your noses."
Turning in his seat, Fane frowned at his friend. "They will spot us as soon as we get into range. We'll go in under stealth and hope for the best. We'll have to stash the ship in a nice little lake and hike to the nearest town. I'm accessing suitable coordinates now."
"I'm betting they haven't ever seen a guy with two cocks." Jace grinned, but then his expression grew somber. "Let's hope we don't end up as lab rats here as well."
"We must stay one step ahead all the time." Fane got to his feet. "My AI insists we won't be able to trade in gold. We have to make it into armbands and sell it to merchants." He moved to the locker and slid out the gold. "Here, the strips are thin enough to bend." He tossed two strips to Jace.
"We'll need identities. You have a name you want to use?" Jace bent a gold strip around each upper arm. "Their systems are so ancient I could hack them in my sleep."
"My name is Fane Jacobs. My birth date is 15, January . . . make it 2010."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Jace Brand, 28, May, 2015." Jace inclined his head. "I'll do a background on both of us and upload it into your AI." He chuckled. "I'll add some impressive IT credentials. Anything else we need, I can handle it as we go."
Fane grinned. "I'm assuming my AI will be able to communicate directly with their systems?"
"There's only problem. We will need to be very careful logging on to their primitive servers. Our AIs will overload their ancient systems." Jace shrugged. "Their computers run very slow, so we will experience a delay we're not used to."
"Will they be able to detect our presence?"
"They'll have no hope breaking our code, so we'll infiltrate like virtual ghosts on their mainframe." Jace met Fane's gaze. "They'll only discover what we want them to know."
* * * * *
Jace relaxed in his seat. This was his first visit to Earth. The ship dropped into a lake on the outskirts of the city of Broadoaks. Local time flashed on the vid-screen as 3:30 p.m. The transporter dropped them in a deserted wooded area. Jace glanced around, inhaling the sweet scents of pine and leaf mold. Redwoods and pine trees reached for a cloudy sky. Underfoot, the earth sank beneath their boots, the grass still damp from recent rainfall. Clumps of fallen leaves, wet and glossy, littered the pathways in every shade of autumn. He glanced down at his clothes. The blue jeans and black T-shirt hugged his body like a second skin. With a grin, he pulled the Nu-Leather jacket around his chest. "It looks like men have worn this get-up for a few thousand years. I must say I'm surprised they use leather. The Nu-Leather we have is much better and smells the same."
"Yeah, but they don't have the ability to engineer their own body coverings."
Fane moved off in the direction of the city. "Remember, when you find a sex partner you have to undress manually."
The sexy image of fucking two sweet, male subs crossed Jace's mind, and a tingle of awareness shot straight to his balls. The thought of choosing his own playmates and having them for the entire night made him hard. He had a craving to wake up beside Fane, too, but he knew deep down his lover craved a woman of his own. He glanced at Fane. "Earth females of this time were not nesters, were they? The history I have is sketchy on personal stuff." He fell into step beside Fane.
"They bred, but most held high-profile jobs in order to survive in the failing economy. They let older females care for their young." He grinned. "The males treated them as equals. At first, the females welcomed this equality, until they moved women into mining and other extreme work and expected them to do men's work—females don't have the build for continuous, manual labor. However, the women didn't back down and worked until they started to become sterile. Female domination in the workforce almost led us to extinction."
"How?"
"Earth women are super-intelligent and can multitask but most put off breeding until they were financially stable. Many waited too long. In my time, females are still equal, but we encourage reliance on males for protection. If they want to pursue a career, that's fine, but we've removed the pressure of having to work." Fane smiled.
"Most are highly skilled before marriage and now have the time to pass that knowledge onto their offspring."
Jace scratched his five o'clock shadow. "So how did your Earth recover from the economic crisis?"
"We stopped trying to kill each other and found an alternative power source, the eternal one that runs our AI. It stabilized the world economy. We eradicated disease and repaired the ozone layer. In 3011, every country in the world is on an even footing, financially. In the future, the main trade on Earth is in food and knowledge" He smiled.
"Then came wormhole technology, and in 2090, Earth founded the Interplanetary Alliance"
"Hell." Jace grimaced. "Then we started going to war again."
* * * * *
They paused at the perimeter of the forest and scanned the area. From this high vantage point, the town below looked sleepy and still. Fane relaxed. The smell of hot bread drifted on the air. His gaze dropped to a brick building, white smoke streaming from the chimneystack. A large sign displayed the name Good Food Bakery. Across the road, a parking lot filled one full street corner, and in the distance, a sparkling city spread out in glass, red brick, and cement. Flybikes flashed by overhead and a variety of brightly colored cars sped along the roads. The streets were busy with people going about their everyday lives. Children congregated in a small group outside a school building. Fane and Jace blended into the crowd and walked casually, side by side, down the sidewalk. Fane turned and grinned at Jace. The tight ball in his gut vanished. "We're free at last."
"Let's make a list of priorities." Jace rubbed his chin. "First, sell some of the gold, find shelter . . . and food . . . I'm starving hungry." He chuckled. "Then I'm goin' on a hunt for some prime ass."
Fane laughed. "And beer . . . lots of beer."
Chapter Three
Fane pushed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and gazed at the sign above the shop window. We buy gold, silver, precious stones. He turned to Jace. "Are you sure you've set up everything we need to pass as locals?"
"Sure." Jace grinned. "They use primitive scanners. Trust me."
With a shrug, Fane pushed open the shop door. Computer, give me local language
speak. He walked casually to the counter, slipping off his jacket. The shopkeeper eyed him with suspicion. Fane smiled and pointed to the gold band on his arm. "You buy gold? What will you give me for this armband?"
"Market value on weight." The shopkeeper held out his hand.
Fane slipped off the armband and dropped the heavy gold circle into the man's palm. In this time, they rarely used gold for jewelry; the use as a super conductor made each ounce priceless. He watched the man test the gold and then weigh it.
"I gather this is a family relic?" He looked up at Fane. "I haven't seen gold this pure in many years."
"Yes, we both have armbands. They were handed down over generations." Jace smiled warmly. "It's a shame we have to sell even one of them but we were robbed on the way into town and lost everything except these." He leaned against the counter. "I'm sure proof of ownership is in our records."
"Yes, it will be." The man nodded thoughtfully. "Did they take your Intellic Cards? You should have them deactivated at once."
Fane sighed. "They took everything, and yes, we had them deactivated. We need to sell this, replace our Intellic Cards, and find a place to stay. We came here looking for work."
"If what you say checks out, I can supply cards." He pushed a thumb scanner across the counter. "This comes out at five hundred thousand credits. This is one hell of a load of credits. The transaction is too big for me to cover. I'll have to get this payment approved by Sci Tech. I'm guessing you'll want this credit split between both cards?"
Heart pounding, Fane pressed his thumb on the scanner and watched his fake life flash up on the vid-screen. Oh boy, Jace was good. The man was feeding information into the matrix on the fly. "Yes, we both need credits."
"Well, you check out." The shopkeeper nodded and pushed the device toward Jace. "Your turn."
Ten minutes later, they stepped out onto the sidewalk clutching their cards. The streets were clean. All the buildings were similar—tall skyscrapers, all metal and glass.
They walked through the crowded streets blending in with the locals. Many women stared up at them, some even smiled, but the males kept their distance. Men of Fane and Jace's size intimidated people. Fane accessed the map of the area and led the way to the Strand Hotel. Shelter and a meal were on the top of his agenda. Then they would hit the bars looking for sex.
A glass door with gold lettering swished open to reveal the hotel foyer. They walked through a body scanner and toward the front desk. An avatar of a bellhop from the 1940s grinned at them from a vid-screen. Fane leaned causally on the desk. It was strange speaking to an animation. "We plan to stay a while. Do you have a suite with two separate bedrooms available?"
"Sure." The face on the screen became serious. "I must say how sorry we are to hear about the robbery. The police are looking into your case. We have a problem with rival gangs; they usually cause trouble in town."
"They didn't get much." Jace pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Do you have a bar here? A place to eat?"
"Yes, Mr. Brand. The restaurant is to your left and the bar through the glass doors opposite."
Two cards popped out of slits in the desk. The bellhop waved a hand toward them and smiled brightly. "Room 999. Have a nice stay."
Fane slipped the card into his jacket and frowned. "What is the tariff?"
"Two hundred credits a night or one thousand per week. Do you wish me to withdraw half from each account?" The bellhop smiled.
"Yeah." Jace grinned. "We'll put everything on the account, including hookers."
"As you wish." The bellhop looked at Fane. "If you require any further information, please access the menu on your vid-screen."
Jace's voice rumbled in his head. "We should buy this place and turn it into a BDSM
dungeon. It would save a lot of embarrassment, for our clients, to be able to book in with a computer generated concierge."
"Now that is a good idea."
With a chuckle, Fane turned toward the restaurant. The cyborg part of him could run for an eternity without sustenance, but his human body needed food and beer—
yeah, a lot of beer. Sex could wait another hour or so. The atmosphere in the restaurant reminded Fane of a church. People sat around eating or talking in muted tones.
Classical music drifted through speakers set high in the ceiling. The concierge cast a disparaging glance over them and gave a sniff of disapproval. Fane smiled and met the man's gaze full on.
"A table for two, please." He glanced at Jace. "I'd like to see him on his knees before a Dominatrix."
"Yeah, slave number one." Jace chuckled.
The concierge consulted his book and, walking like he had a stick shoved up his ass, led them to a table.
Fane dropped into a chair. He grinned at Jace. "You know it's good to speak without worrying about Gryd listening in, but you have to admit M.S. has its advantages, even in this time."
" I don't think we should discuss anything of importance without Mind Speak. We have some details of this time, but the phrase Big Brother is watching you keeps coming up. They have government surveillance; one slip and they find out we have a neural network and we'll be in a laboratory with our brains in slices." Jace replied pointed to a vid-screen in the center of the table displaying a menu. " I'm betting they monitor dinner conversations . . . things slip in relaxed atmospheres."
Fane glanced at the menu and grinned. Each had the fat and energy content plus the nutritional benefits. Hell, the genetic enhancements from their time eliminated the need to worry about anything but enjoying food. He could eat whatever he wanted with no adverse side effects. So could Jace. He ran a finger down the menu. "Two steaks, bloody, fries and salad. Beer, keep it coming until I say stop. Chocolate cake—
two servings."
"Give me the same." Jace leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. "But I want my steak burnt."
Their meals arrived about half an hour later. They ate slowly, savoring every bite. Fane's belly filled and his mind turned to sex. He met Jace's gaze across the table. "I wonder where we can find some hookers."
The screen in the center of the table flickered, and the bellhop appeared. "Our bar has a selection of escorts, guaranteed to satisfy the most particular client. You will find them in the red section."
"Fuck" Jace shot Fane a gaze. "I told you they listen in."
"Thanks." Fane slid his chair back and got to his feet. "Coming?"
"Sure." Jace frowned. " This is worse than Gryd. I think I'm gonna need a bit of time to take us off their observation grid."
"Tomorrow. Right now, I need pussy."
* * * * *
The bar hummed with conversation, and up-tempo music belted from a wall panel surrounded with brightly colored lights. Jace followed Fane's broad back to the section of the bar with the red carpet. He scanned the area. His need for a sweet boy-toy to suck his cock would have to wait. Women, their expressions glazed and expectant, and wearing short skirts and low-cut tops, lazed on sofas. In truth, he liked big tits, and after all, any female could take both cocks at the same time. Somewhere in this town, there would be a BDSM club to satisfy his more carnal desires. The prostitutes had painted their faces, making their eyes and lips appear huge and out of proportion with the rest of their features. Jace gazed at a pair of tits so big they made his knees tremble. The raven-haired female arched her back to press dark, erect nipples against the flimsy, pink fabric of her top. She gave him a sultry smile and got slowly to her feet.
Jace held out his hand. "I want you all night. I have a room."
"Fresh out of prison, honey?" The escort took his hand. "I'm Trixie."
Jace led her from the bar and into the hotel foyer. "Nah, I'm just horny."
He turned his head to see Fane practically dragging a redhead from the bar. He grinned and waited for him. "How do we get to our room?"
"This way." Trixie moved toward the elevator. She smiled at Fane. "You want to share us?"
"You'll get your turn tomorr
ow . . . maybe." Fane slid his arm around his escort.
"Laverne, here, is all I need for tonight."
* * * * *
The suite, with a separate sitting room, two bedrooms, each with a bathroom, was large and well equipped. Fane led Lavern inside the first bedroom and closed the door. He removed his jacket and threw it on a chair. The hooker gave him a sweet smile and sat on the bed, kicking off her red stilettos. "No, put them back on and stand up."
Fane undressed, watching her expression. She smiled nervously and drew in a long breath the moment she set eyes on his cock. He grinned. She would run for the hills if she knew I have two. He pulled out a chair from a small, writing desk and set it in the middle of the room. Rubbing his hands together, he sat down and looked at Laverne.
"Take off your panties, shirt and bra, but leave your skirt on and those shoes."
He loved to watch women undress. His cock grew hard the second her pale breasts bounced free of her bra. The bright pink nipples looked like cherries on ice cream. She stood before him, the heavy scent of her perfume masking her own feminine allure. He rolled her nipples, and she bent to allow him to suckle. She tasted faintly of soap, and the rose perfume lingered on her skin.
Lifting his head, he met her gaze. "Show me your pussy."
Disappointment flooded over him. The soft down that covered her sex was light brown, not the fiery red he had craved every damn night for the past few months. "Lay across my knees. I'm going to spank you."
With her body draped across his thighs, Fane stroked her back, and then lifted her skirt. His palm cupped her bottom, the flesh cool against his skin. He ran his thumb down the cleft of her ass cheeks, dipped in her damp pussy, and then circled her anal star. He pressed his thumb against the tight muscle, testing the resistance. "You like ass fucking?"
"I will do anything that pleases you." Laverne wriggled her ass.
