Emily 2.0 Ch. 04

"You may have noticed very little crime here and they don't even have a word for rape," Collingwood continued. "Their Internet is devoid of pornography in the sense that we have it. There are no ladies of the night, no pimps, no sex crimes at all."

"No bodily autonomy either," Emily contended. "A woman's body isn't her own here. She has no say in who gets to fuck her, where, when or even how. How can that ever be right?"

"By making it consensual instead of not," he replied matter-of-factly.

"What the fuck, Collingwood??"

"It's a choice, Captain, don't you see?"

"Is it really though?" Emily responded angrily. "Look at the marks on my arse again, Collingwood. Tell me how much choice I got!"

"Yes, well, that notwithstanding, you need to think outside the box to see what's really going on here. Sure, you suffered a rather brutal punishment for what at best we would assume to be a minor social faux pas, but to them it's not. It's a snubbing of their whole system and way of life. A threat to their freedom and very existence."

Emily's shoulders slumped as she considered Collingwood's reasoning. All of this seemed so fucked up but perhaps he had a point? Maybe it was her perspective based on experience gained and learned from a whole other world? She still wasn't at all happy about everything happening to her here, though, and having Collingwood's ear at last gave her an opportunity to vent. If nothing else, it was a chance to voice her anger without offending someone or suffering any repercussions.

They had entered the park and found a bench they could sit on with no one else around.

"Ok, so moving on," Emily began. "How is your progress?"

"Ahh yes," Collingwood replied. "Well, I have some good news and some bad. You may have noticed here that the vehicles are all electric?"

"Ok, yes, now that I think about it you may be right." Emily replied.

"I am right. You may also have noticed the absence of fuel stations," he continued. "The vehicles all have solar paint, would you believe, so they literally charge themselves. They don't have a climate crisis here. They solved their issues with carbon emissions decades ago, maybe longer. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure that they've ever used fossil fuels to any great extent."

"Ok… but what's that got to do with us?"

"Well, as a result, they don't mine fossil fuels as a rule, and our ship is running on empty. There is a small amount of mining, and a local refinery for the space program, but it's no good to us because the fuel compound they use in their thrusters is quite different to ours. That's not all bad news, though. Their thruster technology is vastly superior. At least 20% more efficient and considerably more power. I think I can retrofit their technology into our ship to get around that issue. However, we burned 70% of our aquinium for the hyperdrive so we don't even have enough to make the jump to deep space, let alone back to Earth again, and they've never even heard of aquinium here. Their hyperdrive system used a combination of diplorium crystals with liquefied stuarium, which by my calculations wouldn't have worked. I'm afraid that their crew didn't make it to Earth 1, or any other Earth. They would have made the jump, but it would have exploded catastrophically seconds afterwards."

"Oh my God! Those poor people!" Emily gasped. "But what do we do now?"

"I have a general location where aquinium can be found, well at least where it can be found on Earth 1, but I don't anticipate that will be any different here on Earth 2. The problem is I don't know precisely where, so we have to find it first. Once found, we then need to refine it, and that I have no experience with so it will involve some experimentation. All this must be solved before we even start on looking at tracking and mapping parallel universes to attempt a journey back home."

"Couldn't we just make a jump anyway so we're at least out of this horrible place?" Emily suggested, obviously eager to be marooned anywhere else but there.

"And that brings me to another bit of bad news," Collingwood responded. "I think it would be a very bad idea to make a jump completely blind again. We got lucky this time, but we could just as easily jump into a universe where the sun has gone supernova and we burn up the instant we drop out of hyperspace. Or we find an Earth devoid of all life that didn't survive the climate crisis, or some other global catastrophe like a large meteor strike, and we end up stuck there without the fuel to leave again or food to survive. And that's just two of hundreds of negative possibilities. We also don't know yet if the number of parallel worlds is finite or infinite. Even if finite, the number may go well beyond trillions, making the odds of stumbling into a potentially fatal one unacceptably high. We don't have a choice. We simply have to know where we're going before we try again. There is a bright side, though."

"Which is?"

"We could do a whole lot worse than here, and not just if this version of Earth had been incapable of supporting life. Imagine a world where the Nazis won the war or is ruled by religious fanatics. You think being a woman here is bad? Imagine that scenario."

"Do you seriously think being a naked sex slave isn't bad??" Emily angrily retorted.

"Referring to our conversation earlier, that is a state of mind, Captain. A choice," Collingwood replied. "The lads are more than happy here, well apart from Jenkins who has a family on Earth 1, and the local women are certainly happy with the arrangement. They don't want for anything. It's an all-expenses paid free vacation, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, which you are now entitled to as well."

"I'm not a whore, Collingwood."

"I didn't say you were. I didn't say any of the women here were. It's just a matter of seeing things in the right light. This place is actually a paradise once you get your head around it."

"It would be a paradise for a man. Try being a woman here!"

"I don't believe I would think it any less a paradise in that event. Sure, it would take some getting used to, but once I knew what I now know, I think I could accept it and adapt quite happily."

"Easier said than done, I think, Collingwood. I wish we could change places for a day so you could experience the reality of it."

"I have spent time contemplating the very concept. I think once you make the effort to get past the initial shame, which is only learnt behaviour from our home planet, there is potential for it to be thrilling and daring. None of the outdated restraints and expectations we place on ourselves back on Earth 1. No slut shaming for example."

"I am yet to feel thrilled by any of it," Emily replied coldly. Collingwood could be such an arrogant prick at times. "So, what is it you like about the place, besides all of the eye-candy and sex you could ever want?"

"Well, they have a nifty little democratic socialist government going on here, made up of local shires and continents with an international base. At first, I assumed it draconian and subjugated but it's not like that at all. It's all about community and sharing at both local and global levels. Everyone playing their part and knowing their role in it. No one wants for anything. Education, medicine, are all covered. The men pay the taxes, and the women get a free ride, but they can also work if they want that too. There's no hunger anywhere in the world. Very little crime. No climate crisis. No disease. As a result, they haven't had any major wars here. World War 1 & 2 didn't happen. No Vietnam. No Korean war. None of that. The military here are only used for national emergencies and disaster recovery. That's it. Every 3 years there's an election. If the people don't like the way things are going, it's out with the old and in with the new. Any tyranny is put down very quickly. The people truly do decide their own destinies here, provided they play by the rules."

"Do women get to vote too?" Emily asked.

"Of course!" Collingwood replied. "Look, I know you feel like you're nothing but a sex object here but there's way more to it than that. Women have a role, as do men. That's all. And as I've attempted to point out, the female role has many, many benefits for both men and women. Having all women nude and sexually available is a foreign concept to us so we think it's extreme and demeaning, but to them it's not. To them, this is what they know, and it totally works on so many levels. I don't believe they would have made the advances that they have without it. It only seems vulgar and one-sided to you because you're not from here, but once you open your eyes, it's way more than that, and the women here are way more important than that."

They both looked up and ceased their conversation as a man approached. He walked straight up to Emily.

"I hope I am not intruding. Can you 'Lay', 7GQA9E?" the man asked.

Um… I'm not sure what that is, sir," Emily replied. "I only went through Debutante last night and haven't yet done the deb training."

"Are you not a little old to be a deb?" the man responded with some surprise.

"Um… it's a long story," Emily replied.

"Look, beat it, buddy," Collingwood growled. "Can you not see that I am already engaging with this woman?"

"My apologies, good sir," the man replied. "It did not seem like you were going to couple. My mistake."

As the man walked away, Collingwood rolled his eyes and resumed talking.

"Yes, well, the short of it is that we have many problems to solve so it may be some time before we're even close to making a return journey home, so you will need to find a way to adapt. My advice is to try to start seeing things from their perspective and you may very well discover that a change of heart is all that's required."

"I don't know if that's possible, Collingwood. I hate all of this."

"I understand, but truly it is a paradise once you open your heart and mind to it."

"It sounds like you don't really want to leave?" Emily asked.

"Oh, I'll find a solution for the sake of the science alone. Your unhappiness, and Jenkins' for that matter, only increases my motivation. I'm not completely cold-hearted," he added with a wink and smile. "The General has pretty much given me a blank cheque to work with, so finance isn't an issue at least. He believes parallel universe theory holds a lot of potential for scientific discovery and the benefits that it may bring."

"Wait, the General knows about us and parallel universes now? Can he help get me out of this? Maybe I could live on the base somewhere away from this nonsense, and help you until we can get out of here?"

"It's not that I haven't attempted that angle many times from the get-go already. I even tried telling him that your input was vital to my research," Collingwood replied. "Unfortunately, he finds the whole idea of a clothed woman repugnant, even if she's not from here. He won't hear of it and says it would be way too much red tape, which is beyond his authority to approve anyway. He is an extremely useful friend and ally, but unfortunately this request goes way over his head, should he be so inclined to consider it, which he isn't. He definitely drank the Kool-Aid of this place, and I'm finding myself increasingly partial to it as well. If and when we find a way to go back, I'm starting to think I may very well return here."

Emily's shoulders slumped. Another dead end.

"So, can you give me a guesstimate at least? How long do you think we're stuck here?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have an accurate answer I can give you. I'm not even sure as yet if I will even be successful. I may very well fail. At best, it may be years before we even find an aquinium deposit and figure out how to refine it. My first task is to determine how to retrofit their thrusters into our ship, then solve the aquinium issue before I even start on looking at a way to map parallel universes, and that may well stop me in my tracks. However, should my hypotheses pan out and everything goes to plan, I anticipate two to five years, but there's a whole lot of ifs in there."

At least two to five years without clothes, wearing a collar and being fucked in every hole on a daily basis?

Emily wanted to cry.

"Look, cheer up, Captain," Collingwood consoled as he put his hand reassuringly on her bare shoulder. "Honestly, will you at least try to start looking at things from a different angle? You might find yourself surprised and even happy here. You may not even want to leave, even if we eventually can, once you get your head around it and see things in the right light."

"Well, it seems I don't really have a choice about that for now, Collingwood, so I will try, I suppose."

"That's the spirit," Collingwood encouraged. "I guess we should get you back to your friend, but first can I ask a favour?"

"Sure, how can I help?"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice that you seem to be hunching and keeping your legs together around me. I have longed for you since I first laid eyes on you, Captain, as I'm sure you're already well aware. Many's the time I've dreamt of seeing you like this, knowing that any advance on my part would likely be futile. Would it be too much to ask of you to get you to 'Present' for me?"

"You can't be serious!"

"It's your choice, Captain, but I can assure you that it will be greatly appreciated to see this dream of mine come true at last. And besides, perhaps it would help you to accept your new reality if there were no more reason to try to hide yourself from me once I have seen it all anyway? Perhaps it would allow you to relax more in my presence on future visitations?"

The nerve of the man! But he does have a point. Being nude and displaying my body in graphic detail is my new normal for now, and possibly forever if his research fails. Why should he be treated differently than any other man here? Plus, he's our only hope of ever leaving this place. That's worth a little gratitude if nothing else, and if it'll make him happy to see something that any other man can see anytime now anyway, where's the harm? God, it's going to hurt, though. He's a subordinate, and I know him! It's so wrong on so many levels. Nevertheless…

Having made her choice, Emily stood up and walked around to face him as proudly and confidently as she was able. Then she spread her legs wide apart while keeping her back straight and holding her hands behind it. She blushed a little but smiled through it and looked into his eyes. To her surprise, he made no effort to control his gaze. His eyes unashamedly worked their way up and down her naked and splayed body continuously, and he was in no hurry to finish. It was so hard not to recoil and close her legs. Finally, he looked into her eyes.

"You are so very, very beautiful," he finally spoke. "Thank you."

Then to Emily's surprise, he offered his hand to her. She took it unconsciously and he gently raised it to his lips before kissing her knuckles. He was serious about it too. It was a gesture of honest adoration, not feigned or insincere in the slightest.

What the fuck?

"Do I need to tell you to 'Come' again, Captain?" he asked, apparently seriously, as he released her hand again.

"I think I got it, Collingwood," she replied with an eye roll.

"As you wish," he winked, causing Emily to wonder if kissing her hand had just been him teasing her after all. It definitely had appeared to be a genuinely emotional moment for him, though. Perhaps he was now just trying to play it down to spare his ego in case she rejected him?

"You have no idea how hard that was for me to do in front of you, Collingwood," Emily revealed as they walked back towards the police station.

"I know," Collingwood replied, "and I won't forget it."

Emily wondered for a moment if the double meaning was intentional but decided to accept it as sincere, but with Collingwood you could never be certain.

He led her back into the police station to find 4NR waiting, still in the same chair.

"Gosh, I hope you weren't waiting here the whole time?" Emily asked. "I'm sorry I took so long."

"It is fine. I used the time to speak to the school, and you will be pleased to hear you are accepted to join the deb training, starting Monday," 4NR informed her with a smile.

"Oh, that is good to hear," Emily replied, while not actually being pleased. Going to school naked didn't sound like much fun at all, and the things she was likely to learn there about her new reality almost certainly wouldn't bring her any joy.

"Ladies, I shall bid you farewell," Collingwood interrupted. "Thank you for your time, 7GQA9E, you are most beautiful. 4NRP4W, please accept my apologies for making you wait here so long."

"It was no trouble, kind sir," 4NR replied.

With that, Collingwood bowed slightly to them both and departed, causing Emily to scoff at his exaggerated stuffiness.

"A consecutive coupling on your first day as a woman! I am so proud. But can you tell me why you were so long?" 4NR asked. "Were you coupling the whole time? The man must have a rod of steel!"

Emily had hoped she wouldn't be questioned. What excuse could she use without revealing that she and Collingwood knew each other? She thought of something to try.

"Um… he just wanted to talk, mostly. There was only a short oral coupling at the end."

The thought of blowing Collingwood made her feel a little ill. Thank goodness it was just a fib. Not a complete fib, though. She did 'Present' for him after all. God, how would she ever live that down if they got back to Earth 1?

"That is not uncommon," 4NR replied. "Many men are lonely and prefer the company of women. Some even choose not to couple. It is enough to have an ear that will listen."

Emily thought of something else. Collingwood had no way to find her again!

"I guess this one was like that too," she hurriedly responded as a plan formed in her head. "He asked if he could contact me again and I said I would be happy to accommodate him. Does your Vidlink have a number he can use, or some way to contact it?"

"Indeed. It is the same as my name - 4NRP4W, just as it is for every woman."

Emily cursed herself that she hadn't thought of asking 4NR that earlier. She glanced around to find Collingwood again and catch him before he left. He was just exiting the main door.

"Sir, sir!" Emily called out as she practically ran after him. Luckily, he turned around.

"Collingwood, I'm staying with my new friend for the next month," she whispered. "She's a social worker showing me the ropes, and she has a phone."

"A Vidlink you mean?"

"Yes, whatever," Emily replied with yet another eye roll. "Her name is 4NRP4W. That's also the number to use to find me. Write it down so you don't forget."

"One step ahead of you, 7GQA9E," he replied with a wink and a smile as he walked away, indicating he already knew.

"That man likes you a lot," 4NR noted with a slight frown as Emily returned to her. "Be careful, 7GQ. Sometimes men get too attached and it causes troubles."

"Thank you, 4NR. I should be fine. He was nice and I enjoyed his company."

"Ok then. Anyway, I think it is past lunch," 4NR continued, changing the subject. "Shall we find a restaurant here or can you wait until we go home?"

"I could eat," Emily replied. "What's the difference? Is there better food here or at home?"

"Food is food. It tastes good anywhere," 4NR smiled. "It just depends if you can wait or not."

Emily briefly considered whether she would be more comfortable getting back to the relative privacy of the women's quarters as soon as possible or if she could brave public nudity a little longer. She was quite famished and also thought some more effort getting accustomed to her new reality might be good for her, as much as she loathed the idea of pushing herself to do something like this.