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Through the Looking Glass

By: CaptainKirk



Greeting fellow Lit readers. Again, I thank you for your kind comments and encouragement in making my stories and my first series a success; it is much appreciated.

Now, as promised, the next adventure awaits!

Consider: if one thing in your life or one event in history were altered in any way, no matter how insignificant it may have seemed at the time, how differently do you think the outcome of your life would be? Would it be changed only slightly? Radically altered to the point of being unrecognizable? 

This is the premise for this adventure: the same Earth, the same era, but different dimensions and realities... and two scientists have discovered the doorway.

I hope you like it.

_________________________________________________ 

"All set on your end?"

The question was directed at a young woman at the controls, preparing the experiment for its first initial run.

"Everything looks good from here," was the response.

"Alright, then; pre-fire chamber ignition in one minute," the one in charge directed his attention upwards, "Monitoring stations; confirm safety systems."

Along the upper part of the laboratory was a glass gallery containing the rest of their team, readying the outer monitoring equipment and making sure all of the safety protocols were ready to be implemented, if necessary.

"All safety systems are green, Doctor," responded one of six lab technicians, "Back-up systems on stand-by and containment doors are sealed; we're ready, here."

Dr. Mitchell Parr checked the main fuel conduits and power cables one last time before backing away from the energy chamber. It was the first test of a new energy source and its main containment systems, and he didn't want to leave anything to chance. This was the crucial first step in their experiment, and a lot was riding on the success.

"Everything's ready, Lisa; let's fire it up."

Dr. Lisa McIntyre, Parr's colleague, adjusted the controls for a low power emission sequence that would last only one minute.

"Pre-fire ignition, ready in thirty seconds," she confirmed. Giving the readouts on her computer a final check, she initiated the start-up sequence. Parr manned his computer station next to hers and activated the sensors to monitor the chamber's reaction to the new power source.

"This is it," he said, smiling, "Four months of construction ready to be put to the test. If this model works..."

"I know," Lisa smiled back, equally excited, "If it works, we'll be giving birth to a whole new energy source."

The clock counted down as the pair of scientists watched the network of mechanisms prepare itself for its first run, the rest of their team watching from the gallery as well as their friend (and boss), Darrin Zane, the director of the facility.

The DL-1tm cold fusion reactor was the baby of the two science wizards and the collective work of their team. The first 'test model', about the size of a love seat with the reaction chamber a sphere the size of a basketball, sat atop a raised platform not ten feet from the main control console. 

One side of the fuel processor was affixed to hoses that pumped in tiny amounts of Deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, while the other side supplied the processor with Lithium, an element used primarily in batteries. Using a combination of electrostatic catalytic and osmosis separation, both elements were extracted from sea water, with the remaining oxygen used to power the small electrical pumps that would feed in the reactor fuel.

Most fusion reactors that run on this process today use Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, in concert with Deuterium. Lithium, having to be mined and treated before use, was deemed 'not cost effective' because of its lower power output. The science team suggested sea water instead, but to use the process with a Lithium source from water only was not consider 'efficient enough' by the science community to replace normal nuclear reactors. 

But the daring scientific duo wouldn't be discouraged, determined to come up with the answer. Exciting the atoms of Lithium with an ionic pulse to reverse the electromagnetic charge and holding it in a pseudo state of quantum mechanical flux, it made the Lithium bond more rapidly with the Deuterium thus creating more energy. 

Even though the fraction of power that was needed to produce the ionic pulses came from the reactor itself, the total amount of energy it would create would still be well above 90% efficiency. It could create energy cleanly, more abundantly, and (as long as there was sea water available to produce the isotopes and cool the reactor at the same time) practically free.

As with any untried procedure there were inherent dangers, chief among them was the containment chamber and its inability to hold the raw energy in check if the test somehow got out of their control. All of the team members volunteered to be in the containment area to help with the initial start up. 

But Dr. Parr wouldn't allow anyone to risk their well being if something went wrong, nor would he ask them to take a chance he wasn't prepared to take himself. He would be the one to start the reactor, determined to take the risk of his own calculations; Dr. McIntyre, having done some of the computations herself, insisted on being with him for the same reason.

The counter was almost at 'zero', and Mitch and Lisa were on pins and needles, anxiously awaiting the initial reaction. The team above them was on the edge of their seats, Zane gripping the railing tightly, excited and worried.

The machines hummed to life as the reaction chamber started to glow a hue of light blue. The processors converted the materials needed and sent the remainder to the pumps.

"Pre-fire ignition: complete," Lisa said, unable to stop smiling, "Main stage ignition: ready to fire."

Mitch looked over the readouts one last time and, satisfied with the levels, said, "Initiating main reactor sequence for sixty seconds in five, four, three, two, one... mark!"

The reactor glowed brighter, its equator pulsing white, as the elements combined and annihilated each other in quantum explosions. The resulting power was then sent to an electrical turbine off to the side of the laboratory and, in a matter of seconds, was whirring at top speed.

Elated, Lisa checked the readouts, "Power levels: nominal; reactor core temperature: holding steady. Coolant pumps: operating normally; fuel flow is constant. Reactor output at 21%, turbine output..." her eyes went wide with astonishment, "...97%! The turbine is running at almost peak output with only about 20% of the power needed to run it!"

"It works," Mitch whispered. Then, all of a sudden he hugged Lisa, lifting her off the floor and twirling her around as he shouted, "It works!"

They both laughed and cried with glee, and shouts and huzzahs were drifting down from the gallery, as their experiment ran as smoothly as their computer simulations said it would, without even a hiccup.

"We did it," Lisa proclaimed with tears in her eyes, "It works! We can use this power as a new energy source! No more oil, coal, nuclear reactors..."

"Whoa; hold on," Mitch said, smiling as she was but not trying to downplay their accomplishment, "No, no... not quite yet. This is still at the initial stage of the process, testing the materials and working out the 'bugs'; there's still plenty of work to do yet. But at least now we know... we've proven it; cold fusion works!"

And that was when the alarms went off.

Mitch and Lisa bolted back to the controls, scanning the readouts and selecting buttons that would give them the answers. In the gallery, every team member scrambled to their station and immediately set the safety controls to enable the system. 

Large metal screens rolled down, cutting off the overhead view, as doors and windows below were magnetically sealed from the outside. View screens popped on in the gallery showing the entire lab from different angles.

"Dr. McIntyre," one tech shouted into the intercom, loud enough to be heard over the alarms, "We're seeing a power surge from the equatorial ring of the containment chamber; the magnetic seals aren't holding!"

"I see it!" she fired back, adjusting more controls. "Mitch, it's not the magnetic ring! There's a micro-fracture along the upper edge of the E-ring; the power surge is widening it!"

"Emergency shutdown; now!" Mitch slammed his palm onto the large red button off to the side of the computer console. 

The turbine stopped spinning, the hum of the reactor faded, the processors ceased pumping the element fuels, and the alarms winked out... but the glow from the translucent reactor globe only dimmed slightly.

"Dr. Parr," another of the tech blared out over the comm unit, "Main power had faded and the reactor is shut down, but there's still a build-up of some kind. It reads as a kinetic, photonic energy mass; some kind of residual light surge. Sir, you should evacuate the lab!"

"Keep all safety protocols in place, Michael!" Mitch shouted back as he stepped towards the reactor platform. Lisa darted out from behind the console and hurried over to help him, poking at the controls and shutting down systems.

"Mitch; hold it!" this from Darrin, "That build-up could break through the containment sphere any second; you don't know what that will do to you guys!"

"If anything, it'll just give us a big light show," answered Mitch, flipping levers and switches at the processors source and probing the circuitry, "If not, maybe I can shunt the photonic flash to the..."

"MITCH!"

The shout was barely out of Lisa's mouth when the crack around the reactor globe flared with a brilliant blue-white light. Mitch and Lisa shielded their eyes as the brightness intensified and, in one quick burst, a wave of light blue fanned out across the lab like a water ripple in a pond after a rock was just tossed into it, accompanied by a dull warbled tone of sound. The wave washed over the two scientists, almost knocking them off their feet, and disappeared into the walls... all in a matter of a few seconds. The eerie tone faded and the glow from the reactor sphere dwindled to darkness.

Blinking to get the blurry purple afterimages out of his eyes, Mitch turned to Lisa to make sure she was alright, she doing the same. 

"What the Hell was that?" she asked, still blinking.

"Some kind of... photon surge... a light particle wave; I'm not sure," Mitch answered, finally able to see her clearly enough.

The huge lab doors unlatched themselves and hissed open, the team rushing in with Zane leading the pack.

"Are you two alright?" he immediately asked. He pointed to the others, and, "Check all systems and make sure everything is shut down; we have to let the fuel elements settle before we can get into the reactor."

"It'll take at least a day for the fuel elements to stabilize," one of the techs shouted out.

Zane nodded, and, "We'll give it the weekend to calm down, then. When we get back, I want every piece of equipment looked over. Take it down all the way to the bolts and rivets, if you have to; I want to know what the Hell happened!" He turned back to his scientific wizards, checking them over. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"We're okay, Darrin... I think," Mitch said with some weariness.

He sighed in relief and ran a hand over his close cropped graying hair, "We've got the whole thing on video and stored on disc. We'll go over it frame by frame, and find out what went wrong with the reaction."

"No," Mitch shook his head, "no, it wasn't the fusion itself; it was the containment sphere of the reactor, I'm sure of it. The fusion worked, Darrin; you saw it."

"I know that, Mitch," Zane consoled, "You proved your theory; you don't have to convince me of that. But I'm not going any further with this until I'm satisfied that wasn't what caused the breach. Let's just go over what happened and take it step by step."

Zane could see the disappointing trepidation in Mitch's eyes, Lisa mirroring the same look, "Look, guys; your experiment worked, as far as I'm concerned. You two did it; you've proven cold fusion is possible. We'll go over the data and come up with a better containment system, if that really was the problem. We'll let things simmer down for now and pick it up Monday morning; there's no rush. In the meantime, I want you two to get checked out by the staff physicians."

"Darrin, I feel alright; just a little dizzy, is all," Mitch countered.

"I'm alright, too; just still seeing flashes," Lisa added.

Zane shook his head, "Guys... don't make me make it an order; go get checked out, then go home. We can't really do anything until the elements in the reactor fuel processors settle down, anyway," he patted both of them on their shoulders, "Don't be discouraged; you two did great work. We're on our way to a better future, I'm sure of it."

Giving in, Mitch and Lisa nodded and headed out of the lab. Mitch turned one last time and said to Michael, "Note the time in the log and mark the incident. Gather all the information and send it to my computer at home."

"Yes, Doctor," he said as he and the rest of the science team went back to work checking to make sure everything was off.

* * *

'"We did it; it works! We can use this power as a new energy source! No more oil, coal, nuclear reactors..."'

'"Whoa; hold on. No, no... not quite yet. This is still at the initial stage of the process, testing the materials and working out the 'bugs'; there's still plenty of work to do yet. But at least now we know... we've proven it; cold fusion works!"'

The alarms sounded.

Mitch and Lisa darted back to the computer console...

"Play that part back again."

Mitch clicked the computer screen icon at Lisa's request and the image reversed and whirred back.

'"...No more oil, coal, nuclear reactors..."'

'"Whoa; hold on. No, no... not quite yet. This is still at the initial stage of the process, testing the materials and working out the 'bugs'; there's still plenty of work to do yet. But at least now we know... we've proven it; cold fusion works!"'

The alarms sounded.

"There." Lisa pointed to the reactor sphere, just above the equatorial ring.

Mitch reversed the image again.

'"...plenty of work to do yet. But at least now we know... we've proven it; cold fusion works!"'

The alarms sounded.

Mitch froze the picture and zoomed in on the reactor, adjusting the pixels of the image to get a better resolution.

Just above the upper lip of the magnetic seal that ringed the sphere was a tiny crack, almost hairline sized and about a half inch long.

"We were right," said Lisa, "It wasn't the ring that failed and it wasn't the fusion reaction; the sphere itself had a weak spot."

Mitch rubbed at his chin, "How the Hell did the fabrication techs miss that?"

"It must have been the micro-fracture we detected. The only way they could have found it was if they put the whole thing under a microscope."

Mitch nodded to her, "The containment sphere was suppose to hold the energy stable relative to itself, distributing the pressure equally throughout the inside. That 'weak spot' made it unequal and threw the whole thing out of balance."

Lisa nodded back, "And concentrated the pressure at that point, causing the inner casing to rupture and cracking the sphere at that spot." Lisa walked out from behind Mitch's chair and leaned back off to the side of his desk, the big pink towel wrapped around her gaping slightly, "If Darrin sees this, they won't have to dismantle the reactor; just the containment sphere."

"I'll call him tomorrow and tell him what we've found, but it's still up to him," Mitch agreed, typing more commands into his computer and downloading the images into a file.

Lisa adjusted herself to get more comfortable, letting the towel gape farther to show off her inner thigh.

Mitch grinned, "You're distracting me on purpose, aren't you."

She nodded, wearing that naughty grin she brought out when she wanted to play. Lisa and Mitch were not only scientific colleagues; they were also lovers living in his high-rise apartment. She lifted her leg and placed her foot into his crotch, rubbing at the growing bulge and flashing him her freshly showered pussy topped with a thin strip of red fur.

Still grinning, Mitch protested, "Lisa, quit that; I have to get this information downloaded and ready for Darrin."

"Not right now, you don't," she retorted. Giving him a direct hint, she loosened her towel and let it fall off, revealing her damp, naked body. Mitch perused her nude form with loving eyes, forgetting all about the computer downloads and knowing what she wanted. 

He had instantly fallen for Lisa the moment they met at the science symposium they were both attending and lecturing at two years ago. After their presentations, Mitch asked her to join him for lunch, seeing the same bored look on her face he knew he was wearing at those types of events. They discovered their mutual interest in applied physics and technological engineering, both of them graduating from college with high degrees before most of their friends left high school, and talked for hours after the conference was over. 

His experiments involving cold fusion and ideas for models of generator prototypes intrigued Lisa and, very interested in her thoughts on the subject, Mitch offered her a position on his team at Ener-Dyne Technologies. Finishing her projects at Berkeley, she joined him in a city called Birchwood just south of Sacramento two months later and eagerly dived into the fusion project. 

Their eyes and expressions couldn't hide their mutual attraction to each other, either. Lisa was drawn to his tall, well toned form and handsome face, the tiny flecks of gray in his black hair made him look a little older than the man of only thirty he was. 

Mitch was equally captivated by her sweet, slightly crooked smile and green eyes that lit up her pretty face, her curvy almost hourglass figure hypnotized him. Whether pulled tightly back in a pony tail or hanging loosely about her shoulders and down her back, Lisa's long red hair definitely made her stand out in a crowd.

Mitch pushed his chair away from the desk to get up, but Lisa held him back with her foot now on his bare chest. Wiggling them up to his face, Lisa sighed and giggled as Mitch took her toes into his mouth and suckled them, then running his tongue up and down her sole, tickling her.

Sliding off the edge of the desk and kneeling in front of him, Lisa loosened the rest of his robe to expose his freshly showered body. She licked her lips in anticipation at the sight of his hard and swollen cock, its bulbous head oozing out a dollop of precum. She licked away the tasty drop with a flick of her tongue and lovingly circled his tip with it, cradling his balls and squeezing out more precum. 

Mitch leaned back in his chair and moaned as Lisa engulfed his dick into her sweet mouth and felt it inching its way down his shaft. It was slightly more than average length, but Mitch's cock was fat and Lisa's mouth strained to get around its thick girth, her tongue equally challenged to slather it with spittle.

After some minutes, Lisa released his cock with a slurping suck and licked the thick rod from his scrotum to the tip with a final tongue swipe. She got off of her knees and perched her soft round butt on the desk and spread her legs apart. Grinning, Mitch slid out of his chair and knelt before her, gently rubbing her creamy white thighs.

Nuzzling her little red fur patch, his tongue flicked out quickly and teased her pussy lips, causing her to gasp and arch her hips to him. Mitch's tongue swiped at her womanhood with long strokes, savoring the taste of her juices. Lisa let her head fall back and her luscious swelled breasts rose and fell with her labored breathing as he feasted upon her pussy, making her nipples bud and harden. 


Through the Looking Glass



She inhaled sharply when Mitch found her clit and started tickling it with the tip of his tongue, her hips shaking and starting to rise off the desk. Lisa braced herself with one arm while the other came forward, and she pushed his head into her as she humped her wet pussy into his face.

"Ooh," she sighed, "I love it when you lick me there. Oh... oh, God; you're gonna make me... oh, oh, oh..." Her panting came out in yelps as Mitch attacked her swollen button with tongue tickles. Letting go of his head, Lisa threw her arm back and braced herself as her orgasm built up. She thrashed her head from side to side, her wild red hair flailing about, and released a mewling moan as her climax overtook her.

Mitch slathered his tongue all over her pussy as her hips came up off the desk and quivered. He reached under her and grabbed her delicious ass to support her and wiggled a finger against her little anus, making the rest of her body join her hips in quaking.

Lisa clenched her teeth and pushed her cunt into his face, letting out squeaks and grunts, and threw her head back, crying out, "Yes!" as she came, her inner walls clinching and releasing juices.

Mitch lapped up her sweet nectar and gave her pouting wet lips one last long lick, swathing her clit a final time. She shuddered and moaned as she lowered her ass down onto the desk and calmed down, her breathing coming out in gasps and pants.

"Oh, jeez," she sighed, running a hand through her mussed hair, "You know I love it when you lick me."

"I know," Mitch murmured as he dragged his tongue over her creamy thighs, then licked his way up her body. Lisa panted harder and started squirming as his tongue wriggled in her navel and slithered up her torso. Mitch savored the taste of her beautiful breasts, paying special attention to the stiff, swollen nipples that topped them. She leaned back again, enjoying all of the attention Mitch was giving her with his loving licks, nibbles, and kisses. He loved turning her on this way; he couldn't get enough of her delicious body.

The passion and heat building up inside of her, Lisa couldn't stand it anymore; she wanted him right now. She hopped off the desk and pushed Mitch back into his chair, licked her lips, and pounced on him.

Mitch quickly reached for her body as she climbed onto him, straddling his lap and rubbing her moist pussy into his cock. Lisa purred as his hard shaft brushed against her clit, and wiggled her hips until his dickhead was wedging itself between her hot lips. She panted harder as she eased herself down and, with a final groan, sank the rest of his cock inside of her.

Mitch buried his face into her cleavage, leaving licks and kisses all over her beautiful, soft globes, as Lisa rocked her pelvis caressing his manhood with the wet inner folds of her vagina.

"Oh, God; I love your body," Mitch mumbled into her tits, running his hands over her back. His tongue lashed across her nipples as he lowered his palms to cup her ass cheeks and help her ride him. Lisa's body stiffened up as she felt one of his fingers slip passed her sphincter and wiggle inside her ass.

"Oh, shit," she squeaked as she humped faster, "Damn it, Mitch; you know that makes me cum hard." Lisa slid up and down on his rock hard cock, shaking her head and desperately trying to hold back the wave of orgasms that would flood her pussy soon.

Feeling the sperm churning in his balls, Mitch grunted as he humped back as best he could. Watching Lisa's body squirming and bouncing, her hair flying about, he was unable to hold back as well.

Just as his cum was about to burst from his cock, Lisa plunged down, arched her whole body, and let out a shriek of delight as her orgasm washed through her pussy. Her muscles tensed as it clamped down on his throbbing dick and milked it for the semen that she knew was coming.

Mitch lifted his hips up slightly and groaned through clenched teeth as his cum exploded from his cock and splattered her quivering inner walls. He listened to Lisa yelping and mewling as his pulsing dick sprayed her velvet womanhood and finally collapsed back into the chair after his balls were empty, gently removing his finger from her tingling asshole.

Quaking all over, the last of Lisa's cum tickled through her loins and she slowly lowered and draped herself on top of Mitch, her hard nipples poking into his chest.

"Oh, fuck," she sighed, nuzzling his neck, "this chair has been very good to us."

Mitch kissed and nibbled her ear, enjoying the scent of her hair, "I'm surprised we haven't broken it yet."

They both chuckled and hugged each other, languishing in the afterglow of their love making.

"Oh, now I'm getting sleepy," said Lisa as she pushed herself up off of Mitch. Grabbing the discarded towel and holding it in front of her, she asked, "You ready for bed?"

"In a minute," he replied, bringing the readout back up on his computer, "The downloads are almost done; I want to get them on a flash reader as a back-up." Mitch grabbed her hand and kissed her palm, "I'll be there in a minute; I promise."

Lisa leaned down and kissed his cheek, then trotted towards the bedroom giving Mitch another beautiful view of her ass.

After a moment or two, the computer beeped at him, telling him that the programs were saved in memory and downloaded to the flash reader stuck in its side. Removing it, Mitch shut down the computer and with the reader and his robe in hand, headed for the bedroom.

He saw the woman he loved already in bed, the sheet hugging her curvaceous form. She smiled at him as he eased himself in next to her, and snuggled up to him draping a leg over one of his. Mitch caressed her side enjoying the softness of her skin and the hypnotic effect of her bright green eyes.

"Mitch," she exclaimed, rubbing his body and finding his cock, once again stiff and solid. Lisa teased him with a scolding smile, "And you said I was the insatiable one."

He grinned back, cupping one of her firm breasts, "Well, what sane man could possibly be with a gorgeous woman like you, and not get a hard on every ten minutes?"

Lisa giggled, stroking his penis, "Flattery will get you... absolutely anything you want, sir."

Mitch reached for her side again and made her squeal in delight as he tickled her. He scooped her up in his big arms to lay her on top of him and lovingly kissed her, Lisa returning it with the same fiery gusto.

* * *

"What!?"

Lisa, buttoning her blouse, rushed out into the living room when she heard Mitch shouting into the phone.

"Is that Darrin?" she asked, tucking her blouse into her skirt and adjusting the belt line.

Mitch held up a hand to her and continued his ranting, "When did they get there? Who are they?" His face scrunched up at the answer and replied, "We'll be right there." He slammed the phone down on the desk and yelled, "Damn it to Hell!"

"Mitch, what's wrong? Who's doing what, where?"

He turned to Lisa with anger painted on his face, and answered, "We have to get to the lab, right now. Government agents are there and they're confiscating all of the reactor materials, including the files!"

"They can't do that!" Lisa matched his angry look, her eyes flaring, "We're not under government contract or supervision! Who the Hell are they?"

"That's what we're going to find out; c'mon!"

Mitch and Lisa grabbed their briefcases and rushed out of the apartment, Mitch checking the contents of his while Lisa fumbled for her car keys.

Twenty minutes later, Lisa's car roared up to the facility entrance with Mitch bolting out of it before she put it in 'park'. The pair ran through the foyer and down the hall to their laboratory, but skidded to a stop when they saw two men in dark coveralls carrying pieces of the reactor out the door. 

Rushing passed the workmen, they entered the lab to see Darrin arguing with a gentleman in a black suit while four other people were dismantling the reactor components. Two members of Mitch's staff were yelling at them, warning them of the potential danger of some of the elements they were handling the wrong way, but the workers simply ignored them for the most part.

"What the Hell is going on here!?"

Both Darrin and the dark suited man turned at Mitch's bellowing, but the workers didn't halt their tasks. The man in the suit spoke as Mitch closed the gap on them.

"Dr. Mitchell Parr?" he asked, reaching into his pocket.

"Yes, and I want an explanation for this!"

He turned to Lisa, "And you would be Dr. McIntyre?"

"Yes," she replied, just as hotly, "Who the Hell do you think you are coming in here and..."

The man stopped Lisa's rant when he presented an I.D., "Agent Foster, FBI," he brought up his other hand with a piece of paper in it and continued, "Doctor, this is a federal warrant ordering you to cease and desist your experiments on your fusion project," he handed the paper to Mitch and went on, "We have instructions to confiscate all data and materials regarding said project and order the deletion of any data you or Dr. McIntyre may have in your possession."

Mitch's eyes lit up as he read the warrant, "'Possible terrorist activity'? Are they kidding? That's ludicrous!" Mitch read further, and his face got hard as stone when he saw the name of the one who ordered the warrant, "Brandford; that son-of-a-bitch! He's the one behind this!"

Agent Foster just nodded, "Congressman Brandford is the head of the National Resources Committee and a member of the Homeland Security Commission, and he felt it necessary to take steps to make sure your experiments were not a threat to national security."

"You mean a threat to his bank account!" Mitch fired back, "I've had run-ins with him before! Head of the N.R.C., who also happens to be part owner of one of the major oil companies in this country and has shares in coal and natural gas mining corporations! That greedy bastard saw our new energy source as the 'threat', and pushed the Committee to shut it down!"

Foster tried to calm Mitch down, "Doctor, I have no knowledge of the motive behind this warrant; all I know is what I was ordered to do. This lab is to be shut down until a congressional hearing can be convened."

But Mitch wouldn't be deterred, "This warrant says I'm not allowed to work on the cold fusion project; it doesn't say anything about shutting the entire lab down!"

"That's exactly what we were arguing about before you came in, Mitch," Darrin broke in, closing in on Foster, "We have crucial experiments going on in this facility; you are not shutting it down, not while I'm the director!"

Agent Foster's phone beeped at him and as he answered the call, Darrin turned to Mitch and Lisa.

"They got here early this morning and started tearing the reactor apart and boxing it up. They already went through the files and deleted them."

Two more agents popped open their briefcases and rifled through their contents, selecting folders and discs and then tossing them into a box half full of other data material. Mitch gripped the flash reader in his pocket and watched them go through his and Lisa's cases with anger, but before he could respond, the agent engaged them again. 

"That was my superior. He said you may continue to work in your lab, but you are forbidden to do any work or research into the fusion project."

Lisa glowered, "My, how gracious of him."

"Please don't take this lightly, Dr. McIntyre," Foster countered, "The N.R.C. and Homeland Security considers your cold fusion reactor a 'possible threat' to the security of this nation; that 'threat' carries serious repercussions."

"No, they don't," Mitch muttered, "It only threatens to put Brandford and his energy baron buddies out of business; he's the one that feels threatened, not the N.R.C."

"Be that as it may Doctor, you are not allowed to work on anything connected with your project, nor are you or Dr. McIntyre or any member of your staff allowed to discuss this with anyone until a formal hearing can be arranged before the Committee."

"You mean before the Committee has a chance to stall it out in the House!" Mitch threw back, "They'll delay it so it'll die out before it gets a chance to be heard, giving Brandford enough time to come up with some lame excuse for a bill to stop research on cold fusion! You people are all alike! You see something that threatens your paychecks and stock portfolios and you..."

"Mitch," Lisa laid a hand on his arm, "This is not helping! I'm mad as Hell too, but there's nothing we can do right now!" She then turned to Foster, "You better believe we'll be at that hearing, Foster; you tell Brandford that! We'll be gunning for him!"

"I'm sure a subpoena for the two of you will be forthcoming," replied Foster. Seeing his team finishing their packing, he followed them out of the lab. But before he left, he added, "Doctors... please believe me; I'm truly sorry for this. I was sincerely hoping a project like this would succeed; the potential benefits would have been staggering. I hope this all works out for you... I really do." With that, he left the laboratory.

Mitch slammed his fist down on his desk, "Damn that son-of-a-bitch! Brandford's been trying to shut this whole thing down ever since he got wind of it!"

"But what made him make a move on it now?" asked Darrin.

"It must have been the accident," Lisa chimed in, "He heard about it and used it against us."

"No, Dr. McIntyre... it wasn't that."

All three of them turned to the voice behind them, and saw a young lady approach. Her small, slim figure took form under the overhead lights with her short straight brown hair reflecting the glare.

"Maggie? How do you know?"

Lisa and the others saw Margaret Castle, one of the top science assistants on the team, walked up to them with her head slightly down. Mitch scrutinized her carefully and the light bulb over his head popped on.

"It was you, wasn't it?"

Maggie nodded slowly, ashamed to look any of them in the eye.

"Why?" he growled.

"Because that's what they pay me for, Doctor."

"The N.R.C.," Mitch closed the gap between them and stared her down, "They paid you to spy on us, and when the accident happened..."

"No, Doctor; I told you it wasn't because of that," Maggie snapped, "They've had me keep tabs on you for months, keeping them updated on your progress. When I told them you were close to perfecting the cold fusion process, that's when they made their move. It was set up a week before the accident occurred; it didn't have anything to do with shutting you down."

Lisa could only stare daggers into Maggie and said, "Do you have any idea what you've done? We had the chance to get off fossil fuels, stop drilling and mining, stop importing oil, and help clean up the environment! The millions of jobs this project would have created shot all to Hell, and you did all of this for yourself and your secret little committee friends... for money? You make me sick!"

"Dr. McIntyre, please... I didn't want it to happen like this. I was just..."

But Lisa didn't want to hear anymore from Maggie. She, along with Mitch and Darrin turned their backs on her, with Mitch grumbling, "Get the fuck out of my lab... now."

Visibly hurt and sniffling, Maggie turned and slowly walked away, wiping at her face, and sobbed, "I'm sorry."

Mitch leaned on his desk, slumped over in defeat, and mumbled, "Three years of research, months of material testing and construction... the first main stage test worked, and now..."

Lisa cuddled next to him, placing a gentle hand on his chest, "Mitch, it's just a setback; we'll get passed it once the hearing..."

"No, we won't," Mitch answered, shaking his head, "They'll postpone it over and over until Brandford comes up with something to stop it for good, then a hearing will be a moot point by then and the project will be mothballed."

"This isn't over yet, Mitch," Darrin said, "We can fight this. I've got a lot of friends in Washington who can help."

"It won't do any good," Mitch left the desk and started pacing around the spot where the computer controls for the reactor used to stand, "Anything your friends can come up with, Brandford can find a way around it. Hell, all he has to do is say the words 'free energy', and every money grubbing politician, corporate CEO, and Wall Street crony will start shouting 'Socialism!', and kill it before it has a chance to be heard." He stared at the support bolts in the floor that held the console in place and sighed, "Forget it, guys; it's over."

"Well, I'm not giving up; I'm still going to make the calls and see what my friends can do," said Darrin. He headed out of the lab and to his office, leaving the scientific lovers alone.

Lisa, almost afraid to approach him, got behind Mitch and hugged him, "You can't just give up like this; we can't give up, now that we're so close to..."

"There's nothing to give up, Lisa. Even if we convince the Committee that our project merits further study, all Brandford has to do is mention the accident and that will set us back years. He's got us over a barrel with enough political bullshit to back him up... and he knows it." He turned around and embraced Lisa, "It's over, sweetheart; there's nothing we can do now. I guess... us 'wizards' will have to invent something else, eh?"

Lisa tried to smile at the joke, but instead buried her head in Mitch's shoulder and started crying. He held her close and consoled her as best he could, and tried not to let his own tears leak out of his eyes.

All of a sudden, both of their bodies stiffened up as if an electrical charge was running through them. They felt something building up inside them, like a wave washing over their forms and, just as it seemed to reach a peak, a vertical ring of light shot out and away from them and hovered about five feet from where they were standing.

The donut shaped vortex swirled like smoke in colors of white and light blue, and in the center was... a mirror, or what looked like one, fluctuating slightly like water undulations. 

Mitch and Lisa edged closer to the phenomenon, unsure of what it was, and looked it over with scientific scrutiny seeing their reflections in the wavy mirror-like surface being distorted.

"Did you feel that?" asked Lisa as she touched the outer ring of the vortex.

Mitch nodded, reaching for the opening, "It felt like a wave of water rushing through me, and then... this." He touched the opening and pushed his hand through it, watching his hand and its reflective counterpart merge and melt together, but immediately pulled back and examined his hand.

"What is it?"

Mitch held his hand out for Lisa to look at, and answered, "It felt like... water; not hot or cold, just wet. But my hand is dry."

Their scientific curiosity getting the better of both of them and, disregarding their own safety, they both poked their heads through the opening and saw... their lab on the other side. But the lighting was different, almost as if nobody was there and the lights were off.

Lisa walked around and got behind the swirling mass of light and sticking her head into the open part again, then pulling back, "Mitch... I can't see you on the other side of this... whatever it is."

"I couldn't see you, either," he replied, doing the same, "What the Hell is this..."

Mitch yanked his body away as the mass of swirls started blinking and fading, the mirror surface fluctuating wildly. Lisa stepped back as well, and the two of them saw the vortex shimmer and shrink down to nothing. Then, another wave of something splashed over their bodies again, making them shiver as if ice water was thrown on them, and the phenomenon disappeared.

Lisa's eyes darted everywhere, her hands shaking, "Mitch... what the fuck was that?"

Mitch shook his head in wonderment, "I don't know; it looked like a... I'm not sure what it was. I could see our lab through it, but... something didn't look right. The lights were out and the few things I could see on the counters were... not where they were supposed to be."




Through the Looking Glass



Lisa nodded and moved next to him, "I saw the same thing on my side. Items on our desks were... rearranged, shuffled out of place; almost as if the lab we saw... wasn't our lab."

"But it was our lab," Mitch muttered, thoughts flying through his brain and arranging the images he saw into order, "...or was it?" 

He went to his desk and turned on his computer, pulling the flash reader out of his pocket and plugging it in. Images of the lab from yesterday popped up, and Mitch checked the time code on the part when the reactor breached: 11:37 AM. Almost one minute later, the light wave raced out of the crack in the containment sphere and washed over the scientists, and Mitch's eyes went wide with shock as he froze the image.

"Lisa, look at this."

She peered at the screen, her face matching his expression, "The swirling light we just saw!"

"Yes," Mitch nodded, "The light wave from the accident; it looks exactly like the phenomenon we just saw!" He looked at the clock on the far wall and the time in the corner of the computer screen; 11:39 AM, "That... thing that just happened occurred at about the same time the accident occurred yesterday!" He checked his watch; 11:40 AM, "My watch is one minute fast; I set it to the time on the computer. Did that... 'thing' do something to the time?" 

"That photonic wave that hit us," said Lisa, her mind clicking ideas and thoughts into place, "it must have done something to us. But the doctors said that there was nothing abnormal in us; we were checked out, and we're fine."

"Nothing the doctors could detect, at least," Mitch countered, still going over the images on the computer screen, "I felt that... flush of energy go through me before the... whatever it was appeared; you did, too. And when it vanished, that same flush rushed back into us. Whatever this thing is... I think we're the ones creating it."

"But what was it?" Lisa got closer to Mitch and hugged him, "Mitch... this is scaring me. What's going on?"

Mitch held her close and comforted her, "Don't you worry, honey. It didn't hurt us, whatever it was. We're going to check this out with the equipment we have and come up with an answer. If it is what I think it is, we've got a whole new set of possibilities waiting for us."

Lisa lifted her head from his shoulder, "What do you mean? You know what this thing might be?"

He squinted in concentrated thought and stared at the spot where the swirling energy mass appeared, then quietly answered, "Maybe."

Mitch was going to continued, but was interrupted when Darrin strolled back into the lab with a very sour look plastered on his face.

"I just got off the phone with Sam Cooke, our state representative; he and I go way back. He knows about the N.R.C. and what they have planned for us. Guys... I'm sorry, but there's nothing anybody can do at this point. Brandford's got the whole thing tied up in Committee forums, and from the sounds of them they're determined to shut down this whole project; some bullshit about 'affecting the economic growth of the country' and 'possible inherent dangers of unknown effects'."

"He means 'affecting his own economic growth'," said Mitch with rancor dripping from his teeth, "That greedy, money grubbing bastard!"

"Mitch, I'm sorry," Darrin said, laying a hand on his shoulder, "but it's all politics now; they've got us pinned down with bureaucratic bullshit, and my friends don't see a way out of it. I'm sorry."

Mitch just nodded, not saying anything else.

"What do we do now?"

Darrin answered Lisa, "For now, we just go about like 'business as usual', except for the fusion project. Your team is going to be needed in other labs and departments, so for the time being you two have the whole lab here to yourselves. Continue with your other projects and don't worry about the subpoena that's coming; we'll deal with it when the time comes."

Mitch sighed, "Alright... thanks for trying, Darrin."

He patted Mitch on the shoulder and left the lab again, leaving the two scientists by themselves once more.

"Mitch, why didn't you say something about... what just happened?"

He turned to Lisa, and, "Because I want to make sure we know what it is before we say anything. In the meantime, we've got work to do."

For the whole day, Mitch and Lisa set up cameras and monitoring equipment all around the laboratory and readied the computers for the next time the phenomenon showed itself.

The next morning, the vortex reappeared at precisely 11:37AM and vanished exactly one minute afterward. Poking their heads through it, they both saw the lab inside the swirling mass, this time with the lights on and even saw two of their team members frozen in place, as if walking passed it without even giving it a second glance.

For two solid weeks, the pair of 'wizards' examined the strange vortex and its bizarre effects, studying it and the weird readings their instruments were recording. During that time, Mitch and Lisa performed direct contact experiments with the vortex, and came away with some rather unique findings.

First off, they had discovered that not only were both of them needed to generate the power to create the vortex, they both needed to be in close proximity to each other in order to do it; they measured it and found they needed to be no more than three feet from each other. Along with that, they found that the vortex could only be opened between 11:37 and 11:38AM, Lisa edging up to Mitch and creating the energy mass together eleven seconds before it closed at its scheduled time. The mass stayed stationary relative to their positions and would hold steady upon approach, but once they backed away from it, the swirl of light tracked their movements and kept pace with them for roughly five feet. 

Mitch deduced that it was the particles from the light wave that hit them when the reactor sphere cracked. The particles that created the energy inside were being held in place by a pseudo-quantum field thanks to an ionic pulse that reversed the electromagnetic charge of the particles. In that state of quantum flux, the particles were in a kind of alternate space relative to the 'normal' space the reactor occupied. 

When the particles were released when the sphere cracked, Mitch theorized that they tunneled their way through that alternate space and into 'normal' space, via what scientists call an Einstein-Rosen bridge (a theoretical 'wormhole', allowing matter to pass from one space or universe to another), and those particles and their energy were now somehow inside the two of them.

Since the initial test of the reactor ran for only sixty seconds, that's how long the particles would be able to generate that 'bridge', and at precisely that time every day due to some quantum theories, only half of which either Mitch or Lisa could fully understand.

Two interesting developments occurred during their investigation. The first involved what they saw beyond the vortex... or rather what they didn't see at times. On one viewing, Mitch and Lisa saw their lab once again with only a few things out of place when compared to their own lab. 

But the next day revealed something startlingly different; there was no lab in sight. The scientists saw an open field of bushes, tall grass and weeds, and a few trees scattered here and there... and it was raining, the sight of the drops frozen in mid-air making them grin. Lisa put her hand through the opening and, when she pulled it back out, it and her sleeve were wet and covered in rain water. A few other views showed somewhat of the same thing; one view was of farmland, the other was another field... this time with snow on the ground.

This lead to another discovery: they found that they could leave things from their 'dimension' in the one beyond the vortex (Mitch threw a pen through it and saw it bounce on the floor of the 'other' lab, disappearing with the closing gateway), and vice versa (Lisa's rain soaked hand and a flower she picked that was within her reach being the proof).

The second development was when Darrin walked in on them just as the vortex appeared. Mitch and Lisa were prepared to explain what was going on to him, but didn't get the chance. When the opening formed, Darrin stopped in mid-stride, frozen in his tracks and didn't make a sound. The pair didn't say a single word about the incident after the opening vanished and Darrin resumed his gait, oblivious to what had happened as if the phenomenon never occurred.

Mitch reasoned that this was why his watch was one minute fast. While the vortex froze everything around it, it also froze time for the minute that it remained open. Since he and Lisa were unaffected by the stoppage of time, the watch he wore kept running at its normal pace, 'adding' another minute to their dimension from their point of view.

Near the end of those two weeks, Mitch and Lisa put their theories and observations together. They concluded that the gateways were indeed just that: doorways, not just to other dimensions, but alternate dimensions. Mitch explained to Lisa the theory, that some scientists believe, that the universe isn't really a universe, but rather a multiverse; different universes running parallel to one another. They were seeing the same Earth, the same area of space they were currently in, and (from what they could tell) the same time and/or era. 

But each universe was different; alternate events were happening in them as a result of what Mitch described as a 'decision point'. Someone would make a decision or an event would happen that could either subtly or catastrophically change their existence (or not) and, depending on the choice or event, two different versions of reality would occur, both realities running parallel to each other. 

Some realities would be almost identical with the differences so infinitesimal that they would be considered 'unimportant' in the grand scheme of things, while others would be so radically altered that no outside observer would be able to recognize them. 

"Think of it, Lisa," he had said, "Billions of people making choices that could lead their lives in one direction or the other. All of those alternate universes where the choice was or wasn't made, things that happened or didn't happen. The same Earth but different realities, maybe even different histories; the number of alternates are astronomical... and we've found the doorway! We have the power to make the gateways that open onto other realities!"

The openings they created led to 'bridges' between the universes and when the gateways were opened, the dimension the pair was in would come to a halt until the gateway disappeared and the dimension line would resume its normal pace. Mitch guessed that anyone on the other side of the opening wouldn't know it was there either because it wasn't technically in their universe, and their dimensional line flow would cease until the vortex closed... if anyone decided to go through and stay there to observe it.

This was what Mitch and Lisa were discussing the next morning. They agreed that the only way to be sure that these passage ways were indeed 'bridges' to other universes... was to go through them. The potential for discovery and scientific knowledge surpassed anything they had previously worked on and learned about. 

But the ramifications were equally daunting, the chance of landing in a reality that wasn't exactly stable or desirable, or even altering events that shouldn't be changed, either by accident or on purpose by any action they took... or didn't take. Though the concepts were mind boggling, Lisa seemed eager to try. But, after giving it some critical thought, Mitch balked a little.

"Lisa, I don't know about this," he said, running a hand through his hair, "It's a daring experiment and the potential is so great I can't even begin to imagine all the things we could come across. But should we take the chance? If we wind up in a dimension that isn't exactly friendly... or even one where we won't be able to survive..."

"But Mitch, we can see whether or not the alternate reality is suitable," Lisa countered, "We can check it out and, if it isn't desirable, we just don't go through... or we go through and can come back if the place isn't..."

"Whoa; hold it," Mitch interrupted, "We don't know that for sure. How do you know the vortex will stay open for that full minute once we go through it? It could easily close on us once we're on the other side."

Lisa scrunched her face, annoyed that she didn't consider that possibility. That scenario frightened her, the consequences of 'not looking before they leaped', and potentially arriving in an unfriendly world that could either be a mere nuisance or an insane nightmare.

They were interrupted when Darrin walked in, this time with a concerned look on his face.

"Guys, the subpoena just arrived... and it's not good news. It's calling for your arrests."

"What?" they said, almost at the same time.

Darrin sadly nodded, "They're charging the two of you with 'unethical experimentation and inciting a terrorist threat against the country'. They view the fusion project as 'subversive' and want both of you placed into custody for questioning."

Mitch threw up his hands in frustration, "This is ridiculous! Of course they would consider putting the oil and coal industries out of business 'subversive'! I can't believe Brandford's stooping this low in order to save his own selfish ass!"

Darrin thumbed at the door, "The authorities are waiting outside for you; I told them I would escort you out and that you would give them no trouble. Mitch, Lisa... there's no alternative anymore; you have to go with them."

Mitch glanced at the clock on the wall and nodded, "Alright; we'll go with you."

"Mitch!" Lisa protested, "We can't just give in to them!"

"We don't have a choice... not here, anyway," he replied with a slightly raised eyebrow, hoping she would take the hint, and continued, "Darrin, before we go there's something you need to see." Mitch gestured at his computer, its screen flashing equations and diagrams. Lisa started towards him, but he waved a quick hand at her telling her to wait and slowly backed away from the desk until he was next to her.

Just as Darrin knelt over the screen, Mitch and Lisa felt the tingling of the quantum energy start to flow through their bodies.

"What am I looking at, Mitch?"

Before he could get a response, all of reality froze in place as the ring of light rushed out of the two scientists and formed the vortex. 

"It time to make the choice, Lisa," said Mitch, his insides starting to quiver, "For all purposes, our work here is finished; the cards are stacked against us and we won't be able to get out of this mess cleanly."

"If we do this," she replied, equally terrified, "there's no way we can come back to this universe, not in our lifetimes and not without a little luck."

"I know," he checked his watch; forty-five seconds left, "It's now or never; do we do it?"

Lisa eyed the opening with trepidation, but nodded, "We've got nothing left here..." and put on her daring grin, "let's do it."

Mitch nodded, then quickly walked over to the computer and yanked out the flash reader, pocketing it. With a sad look, he gently laid a hand on Darrin's shoulder and silently said 'goodbye' to his good friend, then turned to Lisa.

"Okay, 'Alice'; ready to go through the looking glass?"

Lisa matched Mitch's smirk, even though her insides were doing flip-flops, and answered, "Ready when you are, 'Mad Hatter'."

With thirty seconds left, the pair braced themselves in front of the vortex.

"Mitch," said Lisa, the worry evident in her quivering voice, "I'm scared."

He turned to her and took her hand into his, "I know... so am I." 

Hand in hand, they walked up to it, took a breath, mentally counted to three... and jogged through the swirling mass of light as the mirror surface melted around their bodies and fluctuated once they were through.

The energy washed over them like water for only a second or two, and suddenly they found themselves in the laboratory... but not their laboratory. They saw that all the lights were dimmed and the equipment was turned off once they got their bearings. A second after their feet made contact with the floor, the vortex winked and sputtered before shrinking down and its energy raced back into them with both of them turning around to see that the gateway was gone.

"You were right," said Lisa, checking her watch and looking at the spot where the vortex disappeared, "The gateway closed right after we stepped through. It didn't stay open after we passed through it; it still had ten more seconds to go," she got a look at the darkened lab, and added, "There's no going back now, even if we wanted to; the trillions of universes out there... it would take a miracle to get back to our own."

Mitch nodded slowly, "Well... we are committed, aren't we. It doesn't even seem real, but it is; we're in an alternate universe."

"We must be... because our clothes have been 'altered', too."

Mitch gave Lisa a quizzical look, then looked at himself and found she was right.

Lisa was no longer wearing the pink shirt and dark blue slacks she had on before their journey; she was now in the white blouse and black skirt she put on when they confronted Agent Foster two weeks ago, and the flats she had on were now heels. Mitch's white dress shirt and dark brown slacks were replaced with a light gray golf shirt and black jeans, and gray sneakers instead of his black gum soled lab shoes.

"How did this happen?"

Mitch turned to her and answered, "I'm not sure. Maybe... maybe when we entered this reality, it 'morphed' itself around us; including us in this universe and making us part of it. Maybe this is 'us' in this universe as we're suppose to appear."

"But, if we're here now... where are the 'us' that are suppose to be here?"

Mitch started to say something but, trying to jumble the events and happenings into something coherent and not succeeding, shook his head and said, "We need some time to think this through and come up with an explanation that makes sense. For right now, let's just take it one step at a time; we'll figure it out, eventually. To start with, let's get an idea of where we stand here in this reality." 

The pair explored their surroundings, finding things almost the same but with a few differences... 'almost' being the appropriate word.

Where the fusion reactor stood in their own universe, in this one there was nothing but box after crate after carton of materials and equipment in its place. Mitch and Lisa examined the contents of the crates, and their eyes lit up in surprise when they found the containment sphere inside one of them, untouched and still protected in bubble wrapping.

Mitch and Lisa were startled when the door to the lab banged open and Darrin walked in with a smile.

"Hey, you two; welcome home," he said cheerfully, then folded his arms and gave them a comical, mock scolding look, "You didn't have to cut your honeymoon short because of this; the reactor components are going anywhere."

Lisa and Mitch hit each other with looks of utter shock.

'Honeymoon'?

* * *

...to be continued.



Through the Looking Glass Ch. 02



Well, the story is off to a good start; folks seem to like it so far.

One comment I received mentioned something about the story resembling 'Sliders'. The honest truth? I had to Google that and search it on Wiki to find out what this person was talking about. I had no idea there use to be a TV show based on my story's theme, and I've never seen it. A shame, because it sounds like something I'd be interested in watching.

If this is the case, then I offer my disclaimer now: any similarity to any character, episode, and/or reference to any show along the lines of this story's theme is purely coincidental.

Okay, enough commentary; on to the next chapter. 

___________________________________

"I didn't even know you two were back. So, how was Tahiti?"

Mitch and Lisa were dumbfounded at first by Darrin's inquiry, but quickly adopted the notion that they belonged in the alternate reality and decided to play along for now.

"Uh... we got back just last night... and it was great, wasn't it Lisa?" Mitch fumbled out, again raising an eyebrow to her.

"Uh, yeah; fabulous," Lisa chimed in and shrugged, "just couldn't keep ourselves away though, you know?"

Darrin smiled and shook his head, "I wish I could have gotten hold of you before you left. I got word from one of our suppliers; it seems the shipment for the power conduits has been delayed. Something about a landslide that blocked off the roads; it'll take a day or two to clear 'em. So that means you two have two more days of 'honeymooning'."

Mitch purposely put on a surprised look and said, "Oh, man; we didn't have to come back early at all," he turned to Lisa, "How 'bout that, Hun?"

Lisa snapped her fingers, "Damn the luck, I knew we should have called first. I had a feeling..."

Darrin laughed, "Its okay, guys. It'll give you a chance to unwind and unpack before jumping back into the daily grind around here." He turned to leave, but stopped and said, "Oh, by the way, that new assistant you asked for will be here next week. Margaret Castle; comes highly recommended from Tech-One in Washington."

Mitch's eyes lit up for a second, then, "Uh, Darrin... make sure her background is thoroughly checked; we need top people on this project."

Darrin nodded, "Already in the works, Mitch; I should have an answer to that request tomorrow morning."

"Good... good, great. Well, uh... I guess we'll see you in two days, then."

"Okay," Darrin nodded and turned to leave, throwing over his shoulder, "Have fun, you two... but not too much fun; remember: bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go on Wednesday."

"Right," Lisa called out, "We'll be ready."

As the doors closed behind Darrin, leaving the two intrepid explorers alone in the darkened lab, Lisa blew out her breath in relief and then eyed Mitch in confusion, "'Honeymoon'? We're married?"

"Apparently so and just recently... at least here, we are," answered Mitch. He looked at his hand and, sure enough, his third finger was wrapped in a thick band of shining gold.

Lisa did the same and her jaw dropped at the sight of the golden wedding band and the engagement ring interlocked with it, topped with a sparkling half carat diamond. Mitch's expression matched hers when he saw the ring on her finger.

"I don't believe it," he exclaimed, "That's it!"

Lisa gave him that confused look again, "What's 'it'?"

"That's the ring; that's the one I picked out last..." Mitch immediately clamped his lips shut, but realized he had let his secret slip out. Lisa's eyes widened with curiosity as he continued, shyly, "Well... okay, that was the ring I picked out last month. I was going to surprise you with it after the first test of the reactor... to celebrate... well, you know..."

Mitch stammered the rest, unable to find the right words, but he didn't need to. Lisa understood exactly what he meant, and her eyes sparkled with moisture.

"You mean... you were going to..."

Mitch took hold of her hands and answered, "Well... yeah, I was," he looked at the ring and added, "I guess it's all academic now, but... what the Hell. Uh, Lisa... will you..."

He didn't get the chance to finish, for Lisa flung her arms over his shoulders and passionately kissed him. Mitch hugged her tight and returned her kiss with equal fire. He broke the embrace to see tears running down her cheeks and passed the huge smile on her face.

"Uh, I take it that was a..."

Lisa nodded back enthusiastically at him and answered with a tearfully happy, "Yes!"

Mitch smiled back and embraced her for another kiss as she wrapped herself around him and returned it with heart warming love. 

As Mitch paused to wipe away the tears on her face, Lisa said, "I love you, Mr. Parr."

Mitch grinned, "And I love you... Mrs. Parr."

"I like how that sounds," she beamed.

"Me, too." Mitch looked around and added, "Well, since there's nothing to do until Wednesday, we might as well go home." His eyebrows went up as he reached for his wallet (mentally noting that it too was different) and, checking his driver's license, breathed out a sigh, "We still live at the apartment; we don't have to drive all over looking for our home."

Lisa huffed out a laugh, then got serious, "Can we take a look around? I want to see how different this alternate universe really is."

Mitch shrugged, "Okay, why not?" They started for the door, but Mitch stopped suddenly, "Oh, wait a minute." He checked his watch against the clock on one of the desks and set it exactly one minute back to match the time in their current dimension. "Okay, that's done. We're going to have to set our watches back every time we go through the gateway."

"Right," Lisa nodded and set her watch as well, then turned with Mitch towards the lab doors.

The two scientists walked out of the building and towards the inner part of the city, leaving their car in the lot for the time being. As they strolled down the sidewalks, they peered at everything around them and noted the slight alterations.

"Didn't that used to be an ice cream parlor?"

Lisa directed her gaze at the small shop to the right of them, and nodded, "Yes, it did. It's a coffee shop here? Too bad; I loved their fudge mocha." She looked across the street and exclaimed, "Hey, what happened to that store?"

Mitch saw the clothing shop she was looking at and asked, "What about it? It's a woman's clothes shop."

"It's a man's store in our universe; that's where I got your shirts last Christmas."

Mitch's eyes lit up again, "Oh, that reminds me; the date," he looked around and then sauntered over to a newspaper kiosk, glancing at the front page, "Yep, that's today's date."

"So it is the same time period as our dimension; we're not traveling to different eras."

"No, we're not; it's the same time and date." Mitch perused the store fronts and buildings that lined the streets, and the people passing by as well, "You know, despite the small alterations, it really isn't all that different from ours, is it?"

Lisa shook her head, "No, not really; everything is still basically the same here. It feels weird; I mean, it's not our universe... but, in a way, it is."

"I know," Mitch agreed, "It's strange, isn't it? I'm still trying to figure out how our clothes changed."

Lisa picked up the thought as they continued walking, "Yeah, I can't figure it. We should have brought everything we were wearing along with us. The tests we did indicated that we could bring or leave things in the other universes."

"We should be able to," Mitch countered, "Unless... we no longer exist."

Lisa stopped their walk and the worried look reappeared, "What do you mean?"

Mitch tapped his lip with a finger, trying to formulate an explanation, "Stay with me on this one. You asked me about our... counterparts, the 'you' and 'me' that are suppose to be here. I'm thinking that since we left our universe of our own free will and, with no one to 'take our place' so to speak, we no longer exist in that universe. And, if we don't exist there..."

"You're thinking that we don't exist... in any of the universes," Lisa finished, "But, we do exist; we're here, and Darrin still knows us."

"No, no; that's not where I'm going with this," Mitch explained, "If we don't exist in our dimension, we don't exist in any of them... but, technically, we did and still do in a way. This dimension, and all of the other ones we jump into I'm guessing, alters its perception of us and includes us along with it as if we actually do belong here. I'm not sure, but perhaps it alters our perception as well, and shows us what life is like if we did belong here," Mitch stopped his train of thought and stared at Lisa, "Does that make any sense?"

"I think so," she answered, scratching at her head and then shaking it, "Man, a person's head could explode trying to over think this. So, if we don't really exist in the multiverse, that means we're not really displacing any other version of us."

"Correct... I think," Mitch shook his head too, "You're right about the exploding head thing. I want to get a good grasp on all of this, but if we overdo it we're going to go mad trying to reason every little detail out."

"I think you were right the first time: let's just take it step by step and figure it out along the way," Lisa agreed, then idly checked the ring on her hand, "If this morphed around us... then that means my ring might disappear when we 'jump' into the next universe. Mitch..." she started to pout.

Looking around, Mitch's eyes lit upon the very place he needed, "I want to try something; wait right here."

He jogged across the street and into a jewelry store, leaving Lisa looking puzzled. Fifteen minutes later, he emerged with a small shopping bag in his hand and crossed again to rejoin her.

"I've got an idea, but for right now let's head home; we still have some unfinished business to take care of."

Again, the puzzled look appeared on Lisa's face as the pair walked back to the car.

* * *

"Well, our tastes in furniture is better here than in our universe."

Mitch nodded at Lisa's comment as they looked around their apartment.

As the two entered their dwelling, they immediately noticed the changes that were made to their lifestyles. All of the furnishings were giving off the look of being brand new, without any clutter or small messes that could usually be found. Mitch's desk was immaculate with hardly any loose paper or folder to be seen, while Lisa's bedroom dresser was almost clear of any beauty products or bottles of perfume and what-not. 

As she scrutinized the beautiful dark sofa and chairs in the living room, she giggled and pointed at the desk, "Well, our chair is still here."

Mitch smiled, spying the desk chair they had sex in earlier in the month, "It wouldn't be any fun at that desk without that chair being there." He searched around until he spied the suitcases in the corner and moved towards them. Opening one of them, he found folded summer clothes, sun block, sunglasses, and an ugly, flowery Hawaiian shirt in shades of red and yellow.

"Please tell me I didn't wear this thing," he groaned.

Lisa laughed as she opened another case and saw somewhat of the same thing, including a garment that could be considered 'naughty' by some.

"Oh, have I got a surprise for you tonight," she grinned, "Since we didn't get to go on our honeymoon..."

"But we did," Mitch said, perusing his case and spying something black and satiny inside.

Lisa rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean. I think we should have a 'make-up' honeymoon." Her devilish grin lit up her face as she wiggled her eyebrows at him.

"I think... that's a wonderful idea." Mitch took Lisa in his arms and lovingly kissed her, "We'll do it tonight. I saw a fruit basket with a bottle in the fridge; it must be a gift from someone."

"Well, then it's a good excuse not to waste it," she smiled back.

They relaxed for awhile, getting used to their surroundings and idly checking drawers and closets. They found much of the same things that were in their own dimension, with only a few things here and there that they didn't recognize such as clothes and shoes.

Mitch showered later in the evening and prepared himself for the coming festivities, with Lisa doing the same afterward. They decided to surprise each other when the time came, so they cleaned up and prepared themselves in different parts of the apartment; Lisa using the bedroom while Mitch used the guest room.

Mitch wandered into the kitchen a few minutes before their scheduled meeting time to ready the goodies that were left for them by their colleagues, a 'congratulations' present consisting of small passion fruits and a bottle of champagne. He set out the delicious spread along with two glass flutes in the living room near the sofa, its pillows scattered on the floor in front of it, and then checked his appearance in the mirror behind it after lighting a few candles.

He was wearing the black satin he found in the suitcase; pajama bottoms and a long robe with a deep red sash. He smoothed his hair and checked his freshly shaven face one more time when he heard a 'ahem' coming from behind. Knowing what it was, he smiled as he grabbed the champagne, working to get the cork out, and turned towards the noise... and almost dropped the bottle when the object of his affection was within his sight.

Lisa leaned against the wall with an arm and posed for him, wearing a frilly black nightie that didn't quite cover the matching string panties she had on. It copied the red of his outfit with two tiny ribbons; one in her cleavage and the other topping the panties' hemline, with the black frilled patterns strategically covering the modest parts of her body. The long sheer robe she had draped over her shoulders hid absolutely nothing as she slowly pulled it off to let it slide off her body and fall to her feet. Her ensemble hugged every luscious curve of her form with her long red hair cascading down her back, and she purposely put a strut in her slow approach as she neared Mitch.

Almost on cue, when Lisa first appeared, the cork of the champagne popped, and a bit of sparkling liquid foamed at the top and oozed out to dribble onto the carpet. Mitch was so hypnotized by the beautiful woman in front of him, it took a second before he realized that the champagne was leaking out. He quickly grabbed a glass to stave off the flow as Lisa snickered at him.

"I take it you approve," she said, her green eyes shimmering in the light of the candles. She teased him with an 'innocent' look, putting her arms girlishly behind her back and biting her lower lip.

"I'll tell you... as soon as I pick my tongue up off the floor," he replied, pouring another glass of champagne and handing it to Lisa.

"You look very handsome and sexy," she said, taking the flute.

"And you look..." Mitch stammered a little, trying to find the right words, then lifted his glass, "Lovely, beautiful, stunning... they don't even come close to describing how gorgeous you look."

"'Gorgeous' works just fine, Mr. Parr," she smiled and tilted her glass at him.

He returned the gesture and replied, "Absolutely gorgeous you are... Mrs. Parr."

The flutes clinked together and they sipped the champagne in a toast to their love. Lisa edged closer to Mitch, aching to press herself against him, but he stopped her and said, "Wait a moment; I have some things for you."

Her gaze followed him into the guest room and a moment later, he emerged with three small boxes in his hands.

Handing her the largest of the three, he said, "Open this one first."

She did, and smiled at the small black disc; a digital stopwatch with a thin black lariat.

"This is for you to take to the other dimensions. It can be set to sound an alarm when it's time for the vortex to appear and beep ten seconds before it closes. It can do a countdown so you can set it to start at twenty-four hours and it will reset itself when the counter reads 'zero', or you can hit a button to reset it yourself if we arrive early. I want you to hold onto it and keep track of our time. It's also a test of our theory about taking and leaving things in other dimensions; I want to see if this travels with us."

Lisa kissed him, "Thank you; it's lovely, but I have a watch."

"In this universe you do," he countered, "but what about others? We could wind up in a dimension that doesn't have electronics or mechanisms... or even timepieces themselves."

She nodded, "You're right; there could be other Earths that don't have anything. Cars, trains, computers and watches, buildings... there might not even be other people."

Lisa started to get that worried look again, but Mitch eased her mind, "Let's not think about that right now. This is our time together, a special time and I want to make the best of it while we're still here." He brought up the other two boxes and handed one to Lisa.

She opened hers and smiled at the gold chain inside, lifting it and seeing the gold ring dangling at the end of it. Mitch pulled the same out of his box and wrapped the chain around Lisa's neck, letting the ring fall between her rounded breasts. She copied his move, and the two of them joined hands looking into each others' eyes with nothing but pure love.

"I love you with all of my heart and soul," whispered Mitch as he gently touched the ring in her cleavage, "With this ring... I thee wed."

"I love you with all of my heart and soul," Lisa repeated and copied his gesture with a tear running down her cheek, "With this ring... I thee wed."

Mitch smiled lovingly at Lisa and slowly wrapped his arms around her to draw her near. She in turn draped her arms over his shoulders and pressed her warm body against his. Their lips closed in and entwined in a soft, sensual kiss with their tongues playfully fencing; Mitch feeling the nipples of her breasts hardening and poking into his chest, while Lisa could feel the growing bulge of his crotch rubbing against her mound.

Their kisses were light, then playful... then fiery and full of lustful passion as they devoured each other with their lips and hands. Lisa pushed her body into Mitch's and humped her hips into his groin, lifting a leg to wrap around his thigh. He held her close to him, an arm around her back, and felt her boobs squishing against his chest with her rubbery nipples poking through the nightie fabric and brushing across his skin. His other hand traveled down her back to palm and cup one of her ass cheeks and smash more of her vagina against his hardening manhood.

Lisa broke the hot embrace, panting and with lust in her eye, and slowly pushed the robe off of his shoulders to let it fall away. With a wickedly naughty grin, she knelt down in front of him and loosened the string of his pajamas, stretching the waist band and putting her hands inside of them to seductively pull them over his hips exposing his buttocks. Mitch shuddered as he felt her fingers reach into the front of his garment and felt them being pulled down, his member catching the hem. Lisa ease it over the fat head of his prick and let the pajamas slide down his legs and pool up at his feet.

Her hands gliding up his thighs, Lisa licked her lips at the sight of his hard bloated cock, the tip oozing out a drop of slippery precum. His balls were heavy and full, Lisa testing their heft with a gentle palming, and the shaft quivered in response. She lowered her head and began her oral assault, Mitch sighing in content.

The tip of her tongue tickled at his ball sack while her fingertips softly caressed the bulging veins of his dick, making it twitch with every touch. After a minute or two of tongue painting his balls, Lisa flattened her wet weapon and achingly drew it up the stiff shaft, tasting the dollop of cum once she reached the head, then down again. Mitch groaned as his cock was slathered with spit, Lisa teasing the tip to make it produce more cum for her to enjoy.




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 02



Satisfied that he was properly excited, Lisa stopped her attack and rose up off the floor, taking his hand into hers and guiding him over to the couch. She gently pushed him back to have him sit naked before her, grabbing his hands as they reach for her and shook her head.

"Not yet, my love," she whispered, with a smile.

Mitch grinned as Lisa knelt down again in front of him, spreading his legs apart, and grunted as she took hold of his cock and rubbed it with slow, teasing strokes. He gasped as Lisa lowered her head into his lap and felt her sweet lips kiss and suckle his dickhead, making the rest of his prick jerk and twitch. 

Inch by inch, Lisa shoved more of his cock into her hot mouth, sucking and painting the shaft with tongue strokes. When she got as much as she could inside of her mouth, she slowly drew her vacuum-like lips up the stalk and made the swelling head spring out with a slurping pop, making Mitch's whole body shiver. Knowing he couldn't take much more teasing, Lisa gripped his cock and balls with that wicked grin on her face... and pounced.

Mitch inhaled sharply when he felt Lisa's mouth plunge down onto his dick, sucking and slurping on it with furious lust and making his hips rise off the couch. Her fingers tickled and squeezed at his scrotum as her lips and tongue enveloped his cock in hot moist love, urging the churning cum in his balls to come out.

The nerves in his dickhead being tickled by her tongue, Mitch could feel the sperm starting to bubble up inside his sack and start to build up in his shaft, threatening to squirt out. Hearing his breathing come out harder, Lisa quickened her pace and vacuumed his cock, her head bouncing up and down in his crotch like a piston.

Mitch, the wave of sperm starting to rise up in his cock, couldn't hold back any longer and his whole body stiffened up as he felt the first of the jets of cum leap through his dick.

Lisa felt his shaft throb and jerk inside of her mouth, her tongue swiping at the head with evil teasing, and squeaked in surprise as semen burst forth and splashed her gums and teeth. Sucking harder and faster, the squirts of cum kept leaping out of Mitch's cock as she tried to get every last drop out of him by milking his balls with squeezes of her hand. She heard him groan and grunt with convulsions as his hips shook with orgasm, and continued her assault until his balls were empty and his dick stopped squirting cum.

Mitch collapsed back into the couch as Lisa released his cock from her exquisite mouth, and he panted and quivered as she softly stroked his manhood to coax out any remaining sperm. He smiled at her, watching her wipe a rivulet of cum from the corner of her mouth and suck it off of her fingers, and sighed in contentment when she gave his dickhead a gentle kiss.

"Mmm, that was yummy," Lisa said in a sweet 'little girl' voice, "but you need to rest up and get re-energized because," she toyed with the tiny strap of her nightie, "it's my turn next."

They spent the next half hour feeding each other the fruits in the basket and washing them down with champagne. Munching on a dark chocolate morsel, Mitch watched as Lisa tasted a strawberry with teasing licks. His eyes were locked onto her mouth as she bit into the fruit and suckled it gently, a tiny ribbon of juice dribbling from the corner of her lips. He leaned into her and kissed and licked the nectar from her chin, making her purr.

Mitch rose from the couch and held out his hand for Lisa. She took it gently, letting him help her up and knowing by the sparkle in his eyes that it was her turn to be played with.

He slowly circled her, covering her body with his gaze, and stopped behind her. She could feel his warm breath on her nape as he nuzzled her neck, inhaling her sweet fragrance. He left soft kisses on her shoulders and worked the thin straps of her nightie over and down her arms, making her shiver and feel trapped. 

Mitch then started trailing those kisses down her back as he reached around and tugged at the front of her garment. With a light grip at the cups, he eased the nightie down over her breasts, slowly teasing her taut nipples as they rubbed against the rough texture of the fabric. Once her round globes were free, Lisa inhaled sharply feeling the nightie slip down her belly and over her hips, then landing on her feet in a puff of lacy black.

Mitch continued his kissing, nearing the soft mounds of her ass, and carefully tugged at the strings that held her panties in place. Lisa's breath started coming out in light pants as she felt the strings being untied and, with a gasp, felt the tiny piece of lace fall between her legs and join the nightie on the floor, leaving her bare. She shuddered feeling naked and vulnerable to Mitch, waiting with butterflies in her stomach for him to make the next move, and sighed with a smile when she felt his lips pressing more kisses into her butt.

Mitch savored the delicious taste of Lisa's luscious round ass, flicking his into the crack and making her giggle, then rising and running his tongue up her back to stop at her neck again.

"You are so delicious," he whispered in her ear, running his hands up and down her sides, "I don't need any sexual stimulants when I'm with you, because your whole body is an aphrodisiac." His palms glided over her tummy and up her torso, and Lisa mewled softly as her large boobs were softly and lovingly caressed by his gentle hands and fingertips.

Mitch guided Lisa back to the couch, easing her back to lie down and putting her hands above her head, and her eyes widened a bit when she felt the satin fabric of his robe sash being wrapped around her wrists. Mitch tied off the sash to a sofa leg, and then rose to gaze at the helpless, naked woman lying in front of him.

Lisa squirmed and tried to free her restrained arms, biting her lip and pouting, with Mitch enjoying every move and jiggle of her naked flesh, and eyed him curiously as he reached for the basket.

With a plump strawberry in his fingers, Mitch knelt before the nude beauty and gingerly dragged the fruit across her body. Lisa's belly quivered as he wiggled it into her navel, then leaned in and licked at the juice left behind. He then traced her breasts and repeated his tasting, making sure to cover as much of her boob flesh as possible. Lisa arched her chest up as she felt the fruit being dangled across her nipples, teasing them and making them harder.

Her body shivered as Mitch lowered his mouth to take a rubbery bud between his lips and started suckling her breast and removing the sticky nectar from it.

"Ooooh... oh, yes... yes, I like that," she purred as Mitch lustfully assaulted her swollen nipples, and playfully wriggled to try and free herself from her bonds. Mitch sucked and bit into her nipples, enjoying the flavor of her fruit juice covered flesh, then released them blowing gently on them to make her catch her breath. Smiling, he moved down her body and positioned himself at her feet, then started kissing his way up her calves and thighs.

Lisa was breathing harder as her legs were pushed apart, and her eyes saw Mitch leaning towards her crotch, with another strawberry in hand. Getting comfortable, he caressed her thighs and brushed his fingertips over the creamy flesh near her womanhood, then slowly rubbed the fruit over her mound and through the small patch of red topping her swelling labia. He took the strip of fur into his mouth and sucked on it, tasting the juice and making her moan with lust as she lifted her hips up to meet him.

Lisa panted with excitement as the strawberry was being wriggled around her wet pussy and she gasped when it brushed pass her hooded clit. Mitch teased her further by showing how much he enjoyed her taste as he licked and ate the fruit covered in her wetness. Finishing the morsel, Mitch dropped his head and readied himself for the tastier treat awaiting him between her legs.

Lisa's boobs rose and fell rapidly with her pants of love, and her body stiffened up when she felt his lips kissing her pussy. His tongue snaked around her pouting lips and stroked the outer edges, making her hips start humping and wanting more. With both hands reaching under and cradling her ass cheeks, he started devouring her.

Her body wriggled and squirmed, her arms tugging at the sash that held her captive; she was helpless and vulnerable to his every lustful whim... and she liked it. 

Suddenly, she yelped and her whole body lunged as Mitch's tongue found her clit as it nudged the hood up and started tickling the pink pearl it was hiding. Then she arched herself back and groaned as Mitch's hands fell away from her ass and felt two of his fingers eased their way inside of her velvet womb. She draped her legs over his shoulders when he started wriggling them against her G-spot, and gently humped at his mouth. Then she felt another digit working its way between her cheeks, and her eyes flashed with excited terror.

"Oh, God," she gasped, wiggling her ass and still trying to free herself from the robe tie, "Oh God, Mitch; no... no, not that, please! You know what that does to me... oh, God; don't... no!"

Mitch devilishly ignored her pleas as his finger slid inside her ass, making her lurch again and groan with animal-like passion. Working his digits around, he resumed his feast and attacked her cunt with fiery abandon.

Lisa, begging him with pleas, writhed about attempting to get away from the wicked tongue and evil fingers that were invading her nether regions, but to no avail. Mitch continued his oral assault, ignoring her pleading to stop and brought her to the edge of her sexually charged high.

Her whole body quaked with built-up heat and her eyes went wide as Lisa felt her orgasm coming close to the brink, and she grunted and groaned with every thrust of her hips.

"Uhh, uhh... oh, oh, oh... oh God, Mitch; stop... stop, please! I can't hold it back anymore! Oh, oh, Oh, OH, OH... OHHHHHH!"

Lunging her hips upward to meet Mitch's torturous tongue tickling, Lisa stiffened up and shrieked with wild abandon as her orgasm exploded from her wet pussy. Mitch's fingers mercilessly wiggled inside of her and rubbed against her tickle spot, her sphincter clamping down on the third. In a quick burst, her hot juices squirted out of her tingling cunt and splashed his face, urging him on and making her sob as a powerful wave washed through her loins. Lisa shook with release as the rest of her orgasm tickled its way through her cunt, and groaned with relief as Mitch finished his licking and allowed her to calm down, feeling her inner muscle grip his fingers.

Her body trembled as Mitch licked away the rest of her juices, lightly brushing her sensitive pussy lips, and he smiled watching her puffy clit pulse and twitch with the remainder of her cum oozing out. Lisa, gasping and mewling with her tits keeping pace with her breathing, lowered herself down onto the cushions and went limp, her legs sliding off of Mitch's shoulders with one dangling off the sofa side.

"Oh, shit," she said, breathlessly, "that was fantastic." She grinned up at him as he rose to untie her, "God damn you; you know I squirt when you tickle my pussy like that."

I know," Mitch replied with a grin of his own, loosening the sash and freeing her wrists, "I love making you cum like that; you're so sexy and hot when you squirt."

Lisa giggled as Mitch helped her up to sit back, "You just wait until I get my strength back; I'm gonna make you shake all over."

Eager to get back to the sexual play, Mitch and Lisa rejuvenated themselves on the remaining treats of fruit and chocolate, rinsing them down with the last of the champagne and topping off their mutual state of tipsy giddiness.

"This was so wonderful," said Lisa as she snuggled up to Mitch, throwing a leg over his, "I hope it will be this much fun in the other dimensions."

Finishing a grape and a swallow of champagne, Mitch nodded, "I hope so, too... but were not quite done with this dimension, yet."

He smiled at her and kissed her deeply, running his hands all over her nude curves. Lisa pulled him closer, entangling her tongue with his and moving her leg up to wrap around his hip. He broke the embrace and motioned her to stay put as he got up and blew out the candles. Then he bent down and scooped up the woman he loved, cradling her body close in his big arms, and stared lovingly into her moist green eyes as he carried her to the bedroom.

Mitch laid her down on the satin covered bed, and his eyes took in every curve of Lisa's body as she draped herself across the soft shiny blanket. She threw her arms over her head and crossed a leg over the other in a sexy pose as she eyed Mitch's hard cock jutting out from his groin.

Locking her moist green eyes to his blue ones, she whispered, "I want you... take me."

Mitch reached down and gently spread her legs apart exposing her already wet pussy, then eased his body over hers. Lisa drew him nearer, her hard nipples brushing against his chest and his cock rubbing against her swollen labia, and pressed her mouth to his. Their tongues entwined as Mitch shifted his hips and placed the head of his dick against her wet opening. Breaking the kiss and with a loving look, he smiled and pushed his pelvis forward easing his manhood into her velvet soft vagina.

Raising her knees up to allow him better access, Lisa's breath caught as more of his fat cock slithered inside of her and stretched her pussy walls. She then brought her legs up and wrapped them around his hips, urging more of him inside of her. Her gasps raised in pitch as his shaft inched its way into her womanhood and, arching her body and releasing a sobbing moan, felt the last of his cock bury itself inside her clenching hole.

"Oh, yeah," she said breathlessly, feeling Mitch's girth stretch her pussy, "Oh, God; you feel so good inside me."

"I love being inside you," Mitch replied in a muffled voice as he kissed her neck, "You feel good wrapped around me." He raised his head and looked into Lisa's eyes, "I love you so much... my darling wife."

Another tear left her eye as she said, "I love you," and tightened her legs around his hips, pressing more of him closer to her body, "Make love to me, my husband; love me all night."

And with that, they proceeded to consummate their marriage with fiery passion.

Mitch started slowly at first and gently picked up the pace as he slid his cock in and out of Lisa, her clinching pussy grabbing and hugging it with every thrust. She panted harder as he pumped her with steady lunges, letting out a moan or two as she hugged and clawed at his back. Her pussy made slick wet sounds as her sexual heat was building, and Mitch's cock twitched in response to her little sexy noises.

After a few more minutes, Mitch slowed down and withdrew from Lisa's wet hole and, smiling at her, gently turned her over and brought her up on her hands and knees. Looking over her shoulder and smiling back, she spread her legs apart and wiggled her ass at him, invitingly.

"Oh... oh... ohhhhh, yes," she moaned as his dickhead pushed her pussy lips apart and she felt his shaft slide into her again, "Oh, yes," she sighed, dropping her head down on a pillow, "Fuck me; fuck me hard."

Not needing to be told twice, Mitch buried his dick inside of her and held it there for a moment, then started to piston in and out of her, faster and faster. His thrusting hips made slapping noises against her ass cheeks as he humped her from behind, while she wriggled about and backed into him meeting his movements.

"Yes... yes... YES," she cried, "Fuck me hard, Mitch! Oh, shit; bang me good, baby!"

Lisa started moaning and releasing little yelps as Mitch pounded her ass, his cock wildly plunging her pussy and his balls slapping at her wet outer lips. She clutched at the pillow and tensed up as her pussy muscles started to spasm and squeeze he cock, and moaned as the orgasm caused her to shake. Not wanting to finish too soon, Mitch withdrew from her clinching hole and sat back on his legs to rest for a bit.

But, panting and sweating, Lisa looked behind her and then turned around to slowly creep up to him. Mitch looked at her with foreboding as she crawled up to him, licking her lips and with a wild look in her eye. She wanted more.

"I wasn't finished coming yet, buster," she growled at him, a wicked smirk on her lips, and pushed him back to lie flat, "Now you're gonna get it."

Mitch smiled as Lisa straddled his hips and rubbed her pussy against his hard prick, her slick inner lips sliding up and down his shaft. He grunted as she grabbed his cock to force it upwards and rubbed its head against her opening. Wiggling her hips, she felt his dickhead slip into her pussy and eased herself down to sink the rest of his cock inside of her.

"Ohhh, yes," she mewled as her ass plopped down onto his lap. Lisa rubbed her hands all over his chest, then laid her body down on top of his and said in a sultry voice, "I'm gonna make your balls explode." With that, she started humping his cock, the soft globes of her ass cheeks bobbing up and down.

Mitch groaned as his cock was being caressed by her pussy, feeling her soft wet walls squeeze his shaft. He rubbed her back and let his hands drift down to play with her bouncing ass cheeks, hearing her breathe harder as her hips pumped up and down and picked up the pace. Wet squishing sounds could be heard as Lisa humped him faster and her moaning rose in pitch and volume.

Knowing he was close to orgasm, and wanting her to come with him, Mitch worked his body up and rolled her over, Lisa immediately wrapping her legs around his hips. Scooping her up in his arms, he sat up and sat back on his legs and helped her ride his prick. Mitch felt his sperm starting to bubble up as he watched her boobs bounce and jiggle with every thrust of their hips.

Lisa arched back, his hard cock rubbing into her G-spot, and grunted, "Oh... oh... oh, God; I'm gonna cum... oh... ugh... ugh... come with meeeeeee!"

Mitch arched his body as well, grunting and groaning at the sight of his luscious, horny, red headed lover thrusting herself against his body wildly, and felt his cum race up his prick. With a loud groan, he released his semen and rode out his orgasm.

Feeling his cock twitching inside of her, Lisa plunged down onto his throbbing shaft and, letting out a scream of "YEEESSSSS!", let her own orgasm run through her groin. Her pussy contracted uncontrollably as waves of pleasure washed over her and gripped his pulsing member, milking it to coax his seed to come out. When she felt the first blast of cum splash her inner walls, she was unable to hold back and let the rest of her orgasm race through her vagina. Her whole body trembled as she yelped and panted, his cock pumping cum into her and urging her orgasm further.

Mitch raised his hips slightly and, with a final muscle tensing groan, launched the last of his semen into her pussy. Lisa leaned back, the last of her cum tingling around her vagina, moaned in content and let the final wave of her orgasm run through her.

Sitting back on his legs again, Mitch carefully brought Lisa close to him and cradled her in his arms, feeling her breath come out in exhausted pants as her whole body shivered with his spent cock still pulsing inside of her. Her pussy squeezed it a few more times, and that was that.

Mitch gently lower himself down onto the bed and laid Lisa on top of him, her body still quivering and both of them covered in a thin film of sweat.

"Oh... my God," she whispered, finally catching her breath, "that was great."

"Yes, it was," Mitch sighed back, caressing her face and smiling, "You are so passionate when we're together like this. Is it any wonder why I love making love with you?"

Lisa smiled back at him with a tear in her eye, "You are so loving to me; so gentle and attentive... and I love the way you make me cum."




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 02



Mitch brought her up to his face and gently kissed her, running his hand through her wild, unkempt hair.

"I love you."

Lisa smiled, the tear leaving her eye, "I love you."

Relaxing back onto the pillows, the satisfied pair snuggled together, touching and caressing each other, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Lisa squealed under the hot spray of the shower when Mitch reached down and pinched her round ass. She turned and gave him a scrunched faced look.

"Didn't you get enough last night?" she asked, not quite able to hide the grin that tugged at her lips.

Mitch chuckled, rubbing the soap into her shoulders and back, "I can never get enough of you; you know that."

She giggled, rinsing the suds off her arms, "You are such a horn dog."

"I can't help it. A beautiful woman like you... I'm afraid somebody will come along and try to steal you away from me when I'm not looking."

Smiling, Lisa turned around and draped her wet arms over his shoulders, hugging him and pressing her slippery body against his, "Not a chance, handsome. I'm more worried about some babe strutting up and trying to get her claws into you."

"No way," said Mitch, rubbing the remaining soap off of her body and rubbing her back to slide his hands down and cup her beautiful butt cheeks, "I've got all the 'babe' I need right here," and lovingly kissed her as the water cascaded down their skin.

After rinsing, the loving couple exited the bathroom and dressed, readying themselves for the day's events; mainly, the dimensional gateway that will open later in the morning.

Driving towards the lab, they decided to stop for a while and explore the city further. They discussed their plans for the next 'jump' as they found more differences in the city that technically wasn't theirs.

"That fountain is different," Lisa remarked as they strolled through the small park taking in the sights, with Mitch concurring. The granite horse, rearing back on its hind legs, stood proudly in the middle of the spray of water where before an elephant marked the location.

"I guess all the differences we've seen proves our theory," said Mitch, idly perusing the flower beds lining the walkway where there were suppose to be small apple blossom saplings, "One decision is all it takes to alter events and things in the dimensions, even if it's just mundane and ordinary."

"Or alter them drastically," Lisa warned, "I've been thinking about a few things while we've been here. The things we've seen aren't all that different from our dimension on the outside, but what about on the 'inside'?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, just because things we've seen are altered only superficially, doesn't mean other things haven't. I mean like things that aren't readily known to us."

Mitch stopped walking and faced her, "Like what?"

"Well... laws, for example. Something that's against the law in our dimension might be perfectly legal in this one or others, or vice versa. Some laws aren't enforced too much; you know: 'it's only illegal if you get caught' kind of thing. But what if laws are strictly enforced and I mean 'strictly'?"

"You mean like surveillance or 'thought police'?" Mitch rubbed at his forehead, "Jeez, you make it sound like George Orwell's "1984"; 'Big Brother' and all that."

"What if it is?"

Mitch saw that Lisa was looking at him with dead seriousness and had to shrug, conceding her point. 

"I suggest that if something doesn't look or even feel right about a dimension we jump into, we should check it out on a computer to know for sure where we stand. At the very least, head for a library and start reading the reference sections and the newspapers."

Mitch nodded, "Okay; that makes sense. Until we can get a grasp of the situation, we'll have to play along with whatever scenario pops up and be as unassuming as possible."

"Good idea," Lisa agreed, "Another thing: when we jump, we should make the jump in the lab, or as close as possible to it. We do work there after all, and everybody will be expecting us to be there from their point of view."

Mitch countered, "It might not work out that way sometimes; we'll have to be on our toes if, by chance, we're not employed at Ener-Dyne. But it's still a good idea, though; you're right."

Lisa thought for a moment, then, "Okay; how about this: we jump just outside the building, then go inside if it's a work day. If anyone asks, we'll say that we were... 'getting some air' or 'taking a break', things like that."

Mitch smiled, "That's smart thinking; they're never know the difference. Brilliant."

"Thank you, Professor," Lisa grinned back.

"But like I said," he offered, his smile fading, "we have to be on our toes and ready for whatever gets thrown at us. We could easily wind up near a place that's considered 'off limits', and get into serious trouble."

But Lisa hugged him for assurance, "Don't worry; we'll be ready. We're good at thinking quickly on our feet. We'll think fast, and then worry about it later."

Mitch hugged her back with a smirk, "Okay, Doc; whatever you say."

They both laughed and continued their walk, heading back for their car. Once back on the road, they steered towards the laboratory and took in the remaining sights before they left on their next journey.

"Pull over up there for a minute."

Lisa edged the car over to the side at his request, and Mitch jumped out, saying, "I'll only be a minute." He walked into an electronics shop that, Lisa noted, was suppose to be a music store in their universe. After a moment or two went by, Mitch came out with a small bag and returned to the car.

Lisa pulled back out onto the street and asked, "Okay, what goodies did you get this time?"

Mitch pulled out a small recording device, along with extra digital memory cards and a charger, and a small fanny pack.

"These are for me to take along," he said, dumping all of the equipment into the pack, including the flash reader he still had in his possession and a tiny flashlight in a fabric pouch with a belt loop, but held onto the recorder, "I'm going to make a record of our trip, so we can keep track of our movements." 

Lisa nodded and continued down the road to the lab as Mitch adjusted the controls on the small device. Clearing his throat, he spoke into it to begin the official record of their adventure through the multiverse.

'April 4 -- Doctors Mitchell and Lisa Parr; inter-dimensional travel experiment. Mitchell Parr, recording.'

'Our experiment began on March 21, two weeks prior to this recording. Due to an accident involving the research and trial run of a new energy source that utilizes the process of cold fusion, the two of us have been given the ability to travel from one dimension to another. Both of us have the power to create an inter-dimensional gateway that will allow us to pass from one universe to an alternate version of it. The dimension we now reside in is our first attempt at dimensional traveling; the jump into this dimension was made yesterday...'

As Lisa navigated the streets of the city, Mitch continued reciting their findings into the recorder and explaining the unique circumstances that led up to their discoveries and their rather bizarre trip through the multiverse. He dictated the details of the events that happened that led to their discovery, and made them as easy to understand as possible. He didn't want to inundate the recording with highly technical terms if he didn't have to, in case someone without the proper scientific knowledge happened to find the device, whether it was lost or they...

Mitch shook inward at that; he didn't want to think of that circumstance right now, but kept it in the back of his mind. It was a distinct possibility that the two of them, due to an accident or some unforeseen event, might... die. And the recording he was making would be a testament to their journey to whoever found it and he said as much at the end of the first log.

'If by some chance this recorder is found because we are no longer able to continue our travels... whoever finds this, please get it to the scientific community with all haste. We will try to document our journey with other means as proof of our discoveries, but for now this recording will have to suffice.'

'We will be making our next jump within the hour.'

Mitch clicked off the device and slipped it into the pack as Lisa gave him a worried look.

"You're expecting trouble, aren't you." It wasn't a question.

"'Expect the best, but assume the worst', or vice versa if you prefer," he answered, seeing the lab coming into view, "We have to be prepared for any situation, including... the chance that we might not make it to the next dimension." He let the words hang in the air for a moment, then, "But let's not dwell on it now; we'll just focus on the task at hand and gather as much information as possible," he reached for her hand and squeezed it, reassuringly, "I'm betting we're going to have a lot of fun with these trips."

Lisa smiled back at him, letting her own confidence surge again, as she pulled into the facility's parking area. The lot was empty of cars, with the exception of a few that belonged to the cleaning and maintenance staff.

Mitch checked his watch; it was almost time. Lisa hung the stopwatch lariat around her neck and made sure the device's timing was set properly.

"What do you think we'll find next?" she asked as the clock ticked down to one minute and beeped its alarm.

Mitch shrugged, "Who knows. I'm sure some of the other dimensions will be about the same, with a few alterations here and there. But I'm willing to bet that others are going to be... quite different in very interesting ways."

They both grinned in anticipation as they felt the quantum energies start to build up inside their bodies. In a burst of photonic power, the energy raced out of them and formed the spiraling vortex mirror, swirling and pulsing in front of them. All around the scientific pair, time stopped and froze everyone and everything in their tracks, an eerie stillness hanging in the air.

Checking one last time to make sure everything he had was secure in his pack, Mitch took Lisa's hand and asked, "Ready?"

She nodded eagerly, "Ready."

They held their breath for a second and then walked through the reflective barrier, its watery surface shimmering all around and dousing them fluid light. 

Mitch and Lisa emerged from the other side and found themselves once again in the parking lot of the science building, this time the lot full of autos. The gateway sputtered and shrank the second their feet hit the pavement and its energies rushed back into the bodies. They both shivered for a moment, then looked around to get their bearings as the dimensional time line resumed from its frozen state.

"So far, so good," Mitch remarked, noting that the lab was still there and, even though their clothes had changed again but only slightly this time, things for the most part looked relatively the same as before: quiet and harmless. He felt around his back and found the pack and its contents still attached to his belt line, while Lisa felt for the stopwatch hanging from her neck and clicked it to reset the countdown; their theory proven correct, so far.

She noticed the sign on the side of the building. It still said 'Ener-Dyne Technologies', but it had changed; the lettering font was slightly different and the usual bright green that colored it was now a royal blue with golden chrome edging the letters. 

"A few changes," she said, seeing a couple of trees in the wrong places and shrubs lining the drive instead of a fence, "but you're right; so far, it looks okay."

"And the pack and your watch are still with us; let's go inside."

Lisa got into pace with Mitch as they entered the facility and were greeted by a number of fellow tech people. They smiled back, reassured that they were recognized and were suppose to be there... at least Mitch was sure. When they entered the lab, his team greeted him with the usual rhetoric, but for some reason didn't quite warm up to Lisa. Mitch's eyes narrowed a bit when he saw Maggie working at the control console flashing her usual shy smile at them. But he simply went along with the events now going on about them and did their best to 'act normally'.

The pair noticed a few things out of their 'normal' places but, all in all, the laboratory was the same as before with equipment in the process of being assembled into the cold fusion test module. Apparently, the device in this dimension wasn't quite finished and ready for testing yet.

Just as they were ready to dive back into the job at hand, Darrin waltzed in and immediately headed towards the pair.

"Made it back in good time, I see," he said with his usual cheery smile.

"Uh, yeah; no problem," Mitch responded carefully.

"Have you seen Denise around?"

Mitch's eyebrow climbed a little, "Um, no I haven't." It wasn't exactly a lie; he had no idea who Denise was, so technically he really hadn't 'seen' her.

Then Darrin turned to Lisa and made her face drop slightly when he asked, "And who do we have here?"

Mitch started to stammer but Lisa picked up the slack, like him going along with the flow of events. 'Keeping on their toes' and 'thinking fast on their feet'.

"Dr. Lisa... McIntyre," she answered, extending her hand and coming within a hair's breath of saying 'Parr'.

"Ah, yes," Darrin replied and shaking her hand, "Our new assistant. Darrin Zane, facility director; welcome aboard, Doctor."

"Thank you, Mr. Zane."

But he waved his other hand and added, "No, no; none of that 'Mister' stuff. We don't stand on too much ceremony around here; call me Darrin."

Lisa nodded with a smile, "Thank you, Darrin. I'm looking forward to working with everyone on such a unique project; I'm ready to get at it."

"Great; just the enthusiasm we want here," he beamed back, "If your work is half as good as your background says it is, you'll be a fine addition to our team."

Just then, both of the pair's eyes lit up when saw someone walk into the lab; someone they didn't immediately recognize.

The woman was about the same height as Lisa, with a very beautiful face and a lovely figure to match. The white lab coat didn't quite hide the lines of her curvaceous body and contrasted sharply against her dark straight hair and her equally dark cocoa brown skin. Her chocolate, fashion model eyes locked onto Mitch and a smile appeared revealing her gleaming white teeth.

"Hi everyone; sorry I'm late," she said in a soft sweet voice, "Traffic was terrible coming back from the fabrication plant."

"On the contrary," Darrin countered, "you're just in time. Meet our new tech member; Dr. Lisa McIntyre, just in from San Francisco. Lisa, this is Dr. Denise Foreman, our mechanical genius."

"How do you do."

Denise took her hand, "Welcome aboard; Mitch has said great things about you. He loves your ideas for the project, and I'm looking forward to discussing them with you."

But Lisa smile dipped, not visibly but dipped nonetheless, when Denise turned to Mitch and, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, kissed him lovingly. 

Mitch wasn't sure how to react and just stayed as neutral as possible when she smiled at him after releasing his lips and asked, "Hi, sweetheart; did you miss me?"

* * * 

...to be continued.



Through the Looking Glass Ch. 03



Mitch wasn't exactly sure how to respond to the woman who had draped herself onto his body but, in a second, he remembered what he and Lisa had discussed earlier before jumping into the dimension they were now in.

So to Denise, the woman in his arms, who asked, "Hi, sweetheart; did you miss me?", he did what they said they would do: he stayed on his toes and thought fast.

"Uh... well, you know I did," Mitch answered with a smile.

Denise lovingly smiled back and rubbed her nose against his, snuggling close.

"Hey, you two," interrupted Darrin, he also smiling, "save it for the honeymoon; we've got work to do."

"Party pooper," Denise snickered back, releasing Mitch.

"Well," said Darrin, rubbing his hands together, "I think a tour is in order." He motioned to Lisa and added, "Would you like to do the honors, Mitch?"

"Sure; glad to," he replied.

"And you, Miss Foreman," Darrin pointed to Denise, "are needed to help with this mess," he then gestured at the pile of components that would be the cold fusion reactor prototype.

Denise rolled her eyes and moaned, "Now what's wrong?"

"The conduits for the fuel processors aren't lining up the way they're supposed to..."

As Darrin and Denise walked towards the jumble of parts and mechanisms and talked shop, Mitch and Lisa backed away and headed out of the lab. She turned to Mitch and started a question, but he waved her off and gave her a 'later' look.

Once outside the lab, Mitch pointed out various things to Lisa on the pretense of a 'tour' of the facilities. But when they reached a lounge that was unoccupied, the pair darted in and out of sight and earshot of their colleagues.

"Okay," Mitch began, "this is going to be a problem."

Lisa's eyebrows climbed up almost passed her hairline, and she hissed in a huff, "Gee, you think?"

"Okay, calm down."

"'Calm down'? She's your fiance in this dimension. How the Hell are we going to get around that?" She glanced at her left hand and, sure enough, her wedding bands were gone. "Damn it; I knew it," she pouted.

"Listen to me," Mitch said, grabbing her arms, "You knew something like this was going to come up... well maybe not this, but you know what I mean; differences in the dimensions. We just have to take it as it comes."

"That may be easier for you than it will be for me," Lisa countered, "When it's time to go home, you and... Denise will go to the apartment, if you both live together that is. But what am I suppose to do?"

Mitch started to speak but his lips clamped shut, realizing that she was right. He and Denise might be a couple living together, but that left Lisa, for all practical purposes, homeless.

"We'll think of something," he sighed, "Remember: keeping on our toes and thinking fast."

Lisa sighed back, frustrated, "Oh, alright. It's just... not being with you, and... you with... her."

Mitch smiled at her, reassuring, "It'll be all right; I promise. It's just for one day. Besides, whatever happens... it won't change anything between us; you know that."

Lisa smiled back and kissed him, then the two continued their tour ending at the lab. Denise and the technicians had the reactor test module half constructed and were in the process of packing up their tools.

"Hey, guys," she called out, waving a hand, "Finished with the fifty cent tour?" They both nodded as they approached the test area, and Denise continued, her hands resting aggravatingly on her hips, "Well, those engineers at the fab plant gave us the wrong size couplings on the fuel conduits. It'll take at least a day to make the right sized ones, so I guess we're finished for today... unless we've got other work to do."

"I don't think so," Mitch shrugged, "but we could go over the specs with Lisa and bring her up to speed."

Denise walked up to him and hugged him again, "We can do that at home, if you want; we've got all the specs on our computer," then turned to Lisa, "Where are you staying? We can pick you up for dinner."

Lisa balked for a second, but quickly fell into character, "Well... I don't have a place, yet. I guess I'll be staying at a hotel until I can find an apartment."

Denise's face dropped in skepticism, "'Hotel'? No way; I won't hear of it," she then turned back to Mitch, "She can stay with us in the guestroom until she finds a place, can't she?"

"You're sure you don't mind?"

Denise then gave him the look, "Of course not; we did the same thing for Maggie when she joined the team."

"Alright," Mitch agreed, relieved on the inside that that problem was solved.

Denise kissed him and set about putting away the rest of the tools and hardware. Mitch winked at Lisa and she smirked at him, her insides also untwisting at the thought of not being stranded.

"Did Denise give you the news?" asked Darrin as he walked into the lab.

"She did." Mitch replied.

Darrin huffed and continued, "If it isn't one damn thing, it's another. Please tell me this is all going to be worth it."

Mitch patted his shoulder, "It will be, don't worry. It's going to work."

"If you say so," Darrin sighed, "Anyway, it looks like we're done for the day. I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to dive into the project, Lisa."

"It's okay," she replied with a smile, "It's my first day; there will be others."

Then Darrin turned to the rest of the group, "Okay, everyone; that's all for today. Either head for the next project or head home; we'll see you here tomorrow."

The science techs filed out of the lab with Mitch and Denise heading for the exit, Darrin bringing up to rear and talking over procedures and paperwork with Lisa. Once done, he went off to his office and the trio walked out to the car lot with Mitch tossing the keys to Denise.

On the road, he and Lisa talked about the cold fusion process and the reactor module, the two already knowing about it but keeping up the pretense of her being 'new' to the team. Along the way, the pair spotted differences as they did before, the coffee shop in the last dimension was once again an ice cream parlor and the clothes shop that flipped from woman's to man's wares was no longer there at all.

Denise parked the car in the apartment building's garage, and the three of them went up to the couple's home. Lisa's stomach pinged slightly at the thought of the apartment not belonging to her and Mitch, but tried to dismiss it knowing that it was only for the duration of their stay in this universe.

"Don't mind the mess," Denise threw over her shoulder as they entered the dwelling, "I'm hopeless as a housekeeper."

"It's okay; I'm the same way sometimes," Lisa answered, noting a few pieces of clothing draped over a piece of furniture here and there.

"See?" she laughed, throwing a look at Mitch, "I'm not the only messy person in the world."

Mitch chuckled and said, "I'll show Lisa the room."

"And I'll called Wang Fau's and order some dinner."

He nodded and escorted Lisa to the guestroom. Once inside, Mitch lowered his voice and picked up their earlier conversation.

"Are you going to be okay with this?"

Knowing what he was getting at, Lisa shook her head, "No... but we don't have a choice. You two are a couple, so that means..."

"I know," he said, worried.

"But it's only for tonight," she added, "and for one night... I suppose I could... deal with it."

"I'll... try not to enjoy it too much, okay?"

Lisa smirked at him, "Yeah, I'll bet you won't. I've seen the way she's built and how she looks at you."

"Think of it this way: you might get a chance to even the odds when we jump into the next dimension."

Her smirk turned into a frown, "Who says I want to?"

Mitch looked at her sternly and answered, "Look, we can't disrupt the events in any of the dimensions we go to; we both agreed on that. If that means the two of us have to be... close to someone else for the time we're here, so be it. You, me, both of us; it doesn't matter. The main thing is that we'll still be together no matter what."

"Speaking of 'being together', you've forgotten something." Lisa held out her hand, waiting.

Mitch gave her a puzzled look, then his eyes went wide knowing exactly what she was referring to. He reached inside his shirt and withdrew the gold chain around his neck, his wedding band dangling from the end. Removing it, he handed it over to Lisa, saying, "Maybe you should hang onto this for now."

"Good idea," she replied, the smirk returning, "Otherwise you'd be doing some fast talking and explaining to Denise. Better give me the pack, too."

"Right," Mitch unhooked the pack from his waist and handed it over, "You make the next log entry; you can hand it back when we jump, or you can hang onto it."

"Okay, I'll do it later tonight." Lisa laid the pack on top of the small dresser along with his necklace, "I won't mention the fact that you'll be spending the evening with another woman." 

Mitch just shrugged with a smirk of his own, and the pair left the guestroom to join Denise.

"The food will be here in an hour," she said, hanging up the phone, "In the meantime, we can get acquainted and go over the fusion specs."

The three sat down on the big couch, with a laptop set on the coffee table, and talked about theories and mechanics for an hour or so. Denise loved the ideas Lisa had for the reactor and her views on fusion and their applications. They were all excited about creating a new energy source that would benefit everyone, and looked forward to seeing the reactions of their peers in the field of energy resources.

The food arrived and they ate and talked, still rambling about ushering in a new era of energy use and the technology it would create, not to mention the jobs that would be created in the process.

All through dinner, Lisa kept noticing the longing looks that Denise was giving Mitch. They were subtle, to be sure; the slight lift of an eyebrow, the curl of a knowing grin, the way her eyes widened a bit when Mitch looked at her. But Lisa noticed them just the same as if Denise had 'sex' written on her forehead. She recognized the small expressions; she had used them often when she and Mitch were working together in the lab. Lisa did her best to ignore the silent communication going on between the two, knowing that she and Mitch would be leaving in the morning when the gateway reappeared. But she couldn't help feeling a little jilted by this circumstance, maybe even a little jealous, and her heart ached a tiny bit.

Why should I feel this way, she asked herself. Why should I be that concerned? If they sleep together and have sex, so what? They're a couple; they're supposed to be doing things like that here. It's just sex, and besides we'll be gone by tomorrow and the whole dimension will probably revert back to its original state. Mitch will be out of the picture and she won't even have any recollection of their relationship... I think.

Lisa jumped a little when she heard her name and asked, "What?"

"I said would you like some dessert?" said Denise with a concerned look, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine; just a little tired," Lisa lied and rose from the table, "If you don't mind, I think I'll turn in and get some sleep."

"Sure, hun; no problem. In fact," Denise stretched, faking a yawn, "It's been quite a day for all of us; we'd better get to bed, too." The last part was directed at Mitch.

"Uh, right," he replied wearily, "We can pick up the tech talk in the morning."

Denise took Mitch by the hand and pulled him out of his chair, heading for the bedroom and said, "If you're still hungry, just pick at the fridge and help yourself; we'll see you in the morning."

"Right, and thank you guys for letting me stay; sleep well." The last of Lisa response was definitely directed at Mitch, giving him a not to subtle hint. She headed for her room, hearing Denise say, "I need a shower; find me a towel, baby?"

Lisa closed the door to the guest room and leaned against it in defeat. There was no way she could do anything to stop what was about to happen, and even if she could... she knew Mitch was right. Any deviation would alter events in this universe, and could have catastrophic results.

"But what kind of events could happen as the result of one relationship going sour?" she muttered to herself.

Almost instantly, images popped into her mind and answered her question. Scenes of famous couples and relationships in stories and history that, in another reality, could have caused time lines to come out differently than they already have.

Romeo and Juliet. Granted, they were just characters in one of Shakespeare's plays, but what if events had been different. What if Shakespeare was convinced to change the story, having the two feuding families quarreling for decades as the result of Juliet not being 'dead' and Romeo discovering this and marrying her? What if someone convinced the playwright not to write it at all?

Napoleon Bonaparte's life might have been altered drastically if he had married Désirée Clary instead of breaking off his engagement to her and marrying Joséphine de Beauharnais instead. The Napoleonic Wars may have taken an unknown turn, for better or worse, because of the wrong choice of brides.

John and Abigail Adams, his career as a Massachusetts congressman may never have been if it wasn't for his loyal wife's love and devotion.

Marie Curie, who could have easily given up her scientific work after the death of her beloved husband Pierre instead of carrying on the fight against disease and ushering in a new era of discovery in his honor.

These couples, and many more, floated into Lisa's mind, each one of them could have altered their dimensional time line if events had turned out different than what the history books said... or not.

But scientific reason brought her back to the here and now.

"Wait a minute," she whispered, "How do we know the time line could be affected? This universe morphed itself around us, including us in its existence. When we leave, none of what's happening now will have happened at all... or will it?"

Lisa fished the recorder out of the pack and began the next log, speaking quietly into the device.

'April 4- Lisa Parr, recording.' 

'We've crossed into the next dimension about eight hours ago; it is now nighttime here, and we are in our apartment. But things are different here as well, and not just superficial differences. Apparently, Mitch is engaged to another woman. They've let me use the guest room here, and I'm playing along with the charade of being 'new' to the science team.'

'I'm not too concerned about any romantic attachments the two may have, but I am concerned about what will happen after we leave. As far as we can tell this universe, and all the others we will travel to, adjusted its existence to include us. Will it adjust itself back the way it was before we arrived when we leave? There's no way of knowing, and I'm worried about disrupting events here that could have a serious impact on this existence. Should the woman in question find out about our travels... and our relationship... will it alter her life as she knows it?'

'Mitch and I will have to examine this circumstance further once we have the chance, but for now we will have to bide our time.'

Lisa clicked off the recorder and placed it back into the pack, wondering if she should have added her personal concerns about their situation. She shook off the thought, remembering that this was a scientific expedition; 'personal discomfort' didn't factor into it.

Getting ready for bed, Lisa realized that she had nothing to wear, not that she ever considered it before; until now, she slept in the nude with Mitch. But this wasn't her home, she wasn't his wife in this dimension, and again she didn't want to disrupt events by walking around naked through the apartment as if she'd been there for years. She idly wondered about Mitch and if he was naked too... then an awful thought occurred to her. What if they did have sex, and he...

But she was already bare, her clothes lying on the bed, and she needed to see Mitch before turning in. Not just because of her observations, but because her curiosity got the better of her as well; she was a scientist after all, she justified.

Peeking out of her room to make sure the coast was clear, Lisa quietly tip-toed out into the hallway. A flush of excitement ran through her as she edged closer to the door of their... no, not 'their'... his bedroom, knowing that someone could come out at any time and catch her completely nude. She had no idea that she had an exhibitionist's streak in her, and it excited her to the point of making her nipples stiffen and her vagina wet.

Once at the door, Lisa could hear the sound of water running; Denise was still in the shower and wouldn't be able to hear anything. Feeling braver, she knocked lightly at the door.

Mitch quickly opened it and stared agape at Lisa being naked in the hall.

"What the Hell are you doing?" he hissed, "What did I tell you?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered back, in case Denise could hear conversation going on in the room, and noticed that Mitch was naked too, "I had to see you... and warn you."

"About what?"

"Remember about taking and leaving things in the other dimensions? Well, if you two wind up having sex, and you come inside of her..." She let the rest of her observation dangle in front of him, raising her eyebrows.

"I'd be leaving my sperm inside of her, and... oh, shit." Mitch was honestly going to try and dissuade Denise from any sexual activity between them. But if he couldn't, and wound up impregnating her... he didn't think of that scenario.

"If you're going to do it, I suggest you use protection... or, at the very least, pull out."

Mitch twisted his gaze at Lisa, glancing at her hardening nipples and knowing she was enjoying this, "You're being awfully practical about this."

"Look, if you have to... then do it. Besides, there's a chance none of this will have happened after we leave. This universe will change back to the way it was, and nobody will be the wiser."

"We don't know that for sure."

Lisa cocked her hip, "There's no way to know for sure, so there's nothing we can do about it. But do you want to be responsible for getting her pregnant, then having to deal with the fact that she'll have no way of knowing who the father is? Or how the Hell she got pregnant in the first place?"

"Okay, okay," he said, conceding her point, "I get it. Now get back to your room before..." The pair heard the water in the shower turn off, and Mitch shoved her out of the room, his hand planted squarely on her naked butt, "...before she sees you like this."

Giggling quietly, Lisa skipped back to the guest room while Mitch quickly jumped back into bed. Just as the sheet smoothed itself over his body, the bathroom door opened and out walked Denise wrapped in a towel, again the light pink color of the fabric contrasting sharply against her chocolate brown skin. 

"Mmm, that feels much better," she purred, running her fingers through her wet hair. She saw Mitch looking at her and smiled at him, tugging at the towel and letting it fall off her body with Mitch's eyes glazing over at the beautiful sight.

Denise's body was almost exactly like Lisa's, with every curve in its proper place. Her breasts were a little larger and topped with dark brown nipples that started to stiffen, her slim waist and rounded hips suggested a deliciously curved ass, and her pussy was completely exposed with her labia and mound shaven smooth. Her lips protruded slightly as well as the clitoral hood, giving off just a suggestion of pink, and were damp with moisture.

Her ample bosom swayed a little as she slid into bed and cuddled up against Mitch, her leg slowly being dragged along his. Mitch stiffened up, trying not to be overcome by her naked body pressing against his, and Denise sensed it.




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 03



"You are so tense," she said, rubbing at his shoulder and chest, "Are you still worried about the tests?"

"Uh, yeah; I guess I am." Mitch did his best to think about his fusion equations, the test module, anything to take his mind off of Denise. But his body wouldn't listen, for it was responding to her caresses.

"Well," she grinned, "I know how to take care of that." Her hand drifted down his belly and gently fingered his cock, feeling it respond with a twitch despite Mitch's efforts. His member grew as Denise eased the sheet down to expose his body and she smiled when his stiffening cock came into view. Stroking it, she brought it up to its full erect state and licked her lips in anticipation.

"I've been horny for you all day," she said breathless. She lowered her body down and started swirling her tongue around Mitch bloated cock head, making it ooze precum.

Mitch was excited and ashamed at the same time. He wanted to be faithful to Lisa, but in this dimension Denise was his beloved. He was torn between taking the chance that Lisa was right and this universe would revert back to the way it was before they arrived and reject Denise's advances, or going along with events as is on the off chance they were wrong.

But he couldn't ignore Denise's talented mouth on his cock. She finished her tongue teasing and proceeded to stuff his length into her mouth, gently sucking and slurping on it. As she fondled his balls and moaned around his shaft, Mitch was close to giving into her sexual wants no matter how hard he tried to fight it. But her next maneuver was the deciding factor.

Denise, her lips still attached to his cock, slid her body around and placed it on top of Mitch. Giving him a lovely view of her luscious ass, she spread her legs to straddle his head and presented her pussy to him in a '69' position.

Mitch gave up. Watching Denise's beautiful ass writhe about as she suckled his hard dick and inhaling the sweet scent of her baby smooth vagina, he couldn't resist anymore. With his hands rubbing her thighs and traveling upward to her round butt, he parted the fleshy folds of her labia and started to lick at the nectar seeping out of her velvet soft pussy.

Denise gasped around his cock as she felt his tongue wiggle its way into her pussy and, doubling her efforts, she bobbed her head faster and sucked his cock with earnest.

Back in her room, Lisa laid on the bed with images of Mitch and Denise together and wondered what kind of activity they were going to engage in, if any. Would Mitch fend off her advances or give in to them? The answer came a few moments after she went back into her room.

Tilting her head to the wall, Lisa heard something that sounded like muffled talk coming from the other bedroom. She had no idea the walls were that thin in the apartment. The talk went on only for a moment, and was replaced with light sucking sounds. After a minute, wet licking and smacking noises joined the sucking, then female moaning.

Oh, my God, she though; she giving him a blow-job and, from the sound of it, he's eating her pussy.

Despite her mind protesting the erotic action going on, Lisa body reacted differently. Her nipples were swelling, her breathing quickened, and her pussy was becoming wet and hot. She scooted herself on the bed to get closer to the wall and listened to Mitch and Denise. She really didn't want to hear anymore, but she couldn't help what her body was doing. Lisa closed her eyes and pressed her thighs together, listening to lustful sex going on in the next room.

Mitch feasted on Denise's wet cunt, lapping at her tender brown labia and probing her inner pink folds with his wiggling tongue. She responded to his teasing by moaning around his cock and sucking it like a straw. A muffled groan pulsed around Mitch's shaft when he dragged his tongue over her swollen clit and made her thighs quiver as he tickled it with teasing licks. As her hips started to hump his face, Denise gripped his cock and suckled its bulbous head, causing his hips to buck.

Lisa heard the moaning sounds get louder, and her pussy started to tingle. She tried to resist the temptation of joining them in their lust fest, but her body demanded sexual attention. Against her will, her hands glided over her skin and started fondling her curves. One hand found one of her boobs and gently squeezed the soft flesh, her fingers brushing and pinching the erect nipple. The other drifted down her belly and snaked its way between her tightly closed thighs. Lisa wanted to keep them clamped together, but the sex noises that assaulted her ears willed them open, and her fingers slithered through her small patch of pubic hair and towards her tingling vagina.

Denise's eyes went wide as Mitch tortured her clit to the point of orgasm, and her body responded to his licks with grunts and squeaks. Her thighs jiggled under his meaty hands that slipped up to her ass and grasped her soft cheeks, his tongue slithering around her pink bud faster. 

She released his cock from her mouth, her little fist pumping it furiously, and panted as her hips stiffened up and pushed her pussy into his face.

"Oh, God," she squealed, "Oh... oh, God; yes... yes... ohhhhhhh, fuck!"

Her ass tightened and her legs locked and shook as her orgasm washed through her convulsing vagina, Mitch lapping away at her pulsing clit. Denise groaned as her inner walls clinched and forced out her juices, with Mitch quickly swiping it up and savoring the taste.

"Oh!"

Lisa immediately clamped her lips shut after she let out a squeak of her own when her fingers reached inside her pussy and found her clit. She heard the cries of pleasure from Denise and couldn't help diddling her snatch, trying to relieve her own pent-up frustrations. Her hands had minds of their own, one tugging at a hard nipple and the other rubbing her moist vagina with a fingertip tickling her pink button.

Lisa bit her lip, determined to keep as quiet as possible and wondered if the they heard her yelp. She knew she should stop, but the feeling of being a voyeur and the arousal that pleasured her was too much; she needed to satisfy the sexual cravings that ran through her naked body.

When Denise stopped moaning, Lisa purposely slowed down knowing that there was more to come and wanting this experience to last as long as possible. Focusing herself, she turned her attention back to the wall and listened.

"Oh, shit," said a breathless Denise as she turned her body around to face Mitch. She kissed him, tasting her own juices on his lips, "You know I love it when you do that to me."

Mitch paused for a second to consider his words carefully, for he didn't want to give her any mixed signals, then replied, "Well, when you have a gorgeous, naked woman on top of you... that definitely demands one hundred percent attention."

"And I love how you focus your 'attention'," she grinned. She shifted her hips slightly and rubbed her wet pussy into his hard cock, sliding it up and down the shaft, "But now, it's your dick's turn to receive a little bit more 'attention'."

Hearing that, Lisa whimpered; not because her fingers were still tickling her pussy, but because she wished it was her giving him 'attention' rather than Denise. She was so horny listening to the two of them with her body giving off waves of heat, her tits swelling with excitement, and her twat started to soak the sheet on her bed. She wanted to be the one to ride her lover's big cock, plunging down and enveloping it with her snug, wet hole and bouncing on his hips.

Her fingers started rubbing faster at her pussy when she heard Denise grunt and cry out, knowing she was lowering her hot vagina onto Mitch's member. She closed her eyes again and continued her aural voyeurism.

"Oh... Oh... Ohhhhhh," Denise moaned, sinking the last of her wet womanhood down on Mitch's cock. His rod twitched in response to her wet soft walls hugging it, and his hands caressed her thighs as she started riding him.

The bed squeaked a little and the headboard bumped softly against the wall due to Denise's lustful motions, but they were almost muffled by the sounds coming from her mouth. Lisa could barely hear the bed, but definitely heard Denise as she bounced on Mitch's cock. She wanted to stop her playing but her hand wouldn't listen, even when she squeezed her legs together her fingers kept going. She pressed her lips tightly together, not wanting anymore sounds of pleasure to escape and be overheard, as her own orgasm was building.

Denise leaned back on his legs, making his hard dick dig into her G-spot, and her body quivered in response with her tits jiggling with every thrust of her pelvis. Feeling his own orgasm building, Mitch released her thighs and rubbed his hands up to her bouncing boobs, cupping them and running his thumbs over the taut nipples.

Denise's torso automatically arched forward at his nipple playing and, tilting her head back, she mewled, "Ooh... ooh... oh, yes; yes... oh, God; I'm gonna cum... oh, cum with me, baby... oh, oh, oh, oh..."

Lisa's face was twisted in frustration; desperately trying to hold back the orgasmic wave starting to crash down over her. Her nipples were so hard they hurt, her body was covered in sweat, and her pussy was inflamed with sexual heat. She could hear Mitch starting to grunt and moan; he was going to cum soon. Her fingers rubbed furiously at her burning cunt as she listened in on their final throes of passion.

Every muscle in his body flexed and tensed up as Mitch's cum began churning up his shaft. Forgetting all about any consequences that could disrupt the dimension, he gave in to his lustful state of mind and let his orgasm run through his groin.

Her whole body shaking in ecstasy, her hips wildly undulating against his, Denise couldn't stand it any longer. Mashing her pussy into his lap and squeezing his cock with her contracting muscles, she lurched and let out a shriek of delight as her orgasm clutched at her pussy and sent waves of pleasure through it. Her yelping intensified when she felt Mitch's sperm being blasted against her clinching walls, and let the rest of her orgasm wash down all over her leaving her quivering and breathless.

Mitch's cock twitched and pulsed at the sight of her luscious dark brown curves jiggling and shaking as her orgasm overtook her, and with a loud groan released the rest of his semen in orgasmic spurts.

She couldn't help it; she couldn't hold it back.

Listening to their mutual cries of lovemaking, Lisa buried her face into the pillow, clamped her thighs around her hand with the other pinching and pulling at her nipple, and let it happen.

Releasing muffled cries of pleasure into the pillow and hoping they didn't hear her, Lisa's hand blurred against her pussy, rubbing frantically and producing more juices. Her body stiffened up and, gritting her teeth and trying not to be loud even with the pillow's help, she came all over her fluttering fingers. It seemed to last several minutes as she listened to Mitch and Denise grunt and groan through the final waves of their mutual climax. The orgasm tickled through her cunt and made her clit wiggle and pulse with every cum spurt of her juices and, with one last contraction of her pussy walls, her climax ebbed and made her whole body shudder. A final soft moan filtered through the pillow as Lisa released her nipple and wet pussy, and calmed down letting her orgasm dissipate through her groin.

Almost exactly at the same time, the last of Denise's climax rinsed through her, and she slowly draped herself on top of Mitch. He could feel her body quaking as her orgasm subsided, and his cock twitched out the last of his cum, satisfied and exhausted. 

"Oh, wow," Denise whispered into his shoulder. She wearily raised her head and smiled, "God, I love fucking you; you are sooooo good."

Mitch caressed her face and smiled back, "You were wonderful, as always; I love watching you cum on me."

She kissed him tenderly and told him to stay put, easing his spent prick out of her wet hole and pushing herself off the bed. As she went into the bathroom, Mitch suddenly thought about what he said.

"'...watching you cum on me.'"

Oh, shit! I wasn't supposed to cum inside of her! Damn it! Oh, God; what if she gets...

Denise came out of the bathroom with a wet towel, and paused for a second to set a small plastic case on the dresser. She smiled at him again as she lovingly rubbed the towel over his cock and balls, washing him clean.

Lisa, still numb from her orgasm, could only hear stifled sounds that sounded like words but didn't register in her brain as such. Once she could get her legs to move again, she went into her own bathroom and cleaned herself. In the mirror, she could see herself flushed and sweaty, and her bottom lips still quivered slightly as she ran a damp cloth over her body.

Having finished her toiletries, Lisa wandered back to her bed with her legs still shaky. Lying down, she could hear the two amorous lovers settling down to sleep.

Denise tossed the towel into the bathroom, then pulled the sheet up to cover both of them as she climbed in next to Mitch.

"Mmmmm, you were wonderful," she sighed, nuzzling and pecking his cheek. She snuggled close to him and laid her head on his shoulder, draping a leg over his. "I love you."

Mitch gently kissed her forehead and held her close, whispering, "I love you, too."

She purred and got comfortable next to him as sleep drifted over her. Though his mind was flooded with worry about what happened, Mitch's body couldn't ignore the fatigue that pressed down on him as well and, a few moments later, faded off with her.

Lisa, scooting under the sheet of her bed, laid back and let her exhaustion overwhelm her body, too. In the end, the only thing that really bothered her wasn't that her lover was with another woman, but rather that she couldn't have been with him... or them. It was odd that she had thoughts like that; she'd never considered sharing Mitch with anyone else before, much less joining in a threesome, and the wicked thought scared and excited her both.

What would it be like, she though. Joining them in their love making, watching her please him the way I do. Getting close to her and... touching her, arousing her the way a woman wants to be; kissing her and having her touch me. Maybe even... going down on each other, tasting and groping each other, and letting Mitch watch as we...

Lisa stopped the thought and pushed it out of her mind; she'd had enough stimulation for one night. Letting the darkness of the room envelope her, sleep invaded her mind and body and allowed her to drift off in the quiet of the night.

* * *

Mitch carefully opened the small canister on Denise's dresser as she applied her make-up in the bathroom. After getting dressed, he remembered the plastic case from last night and, letting curiosity take over, wanted to know what it was and what was inside it.

Quietly popping the lid off, Mitch peered inside... and almost fainted in relief when he saw the small flexible disc ringed with a rubbery lip.

A diaphragm.

Thank Christ, he thought; that would have haunted me for years.

Placing the case back in its spot, Mitch finished arranging his attire just as Denise walked out, primped and primed and ready for the day.

"Is Lisa up yet?"

Mitch turned to her, "I think so; I thought I heard her rustling around in the room."

"I'll go check." She kissed his cheek and trotted off to the guestroom. She was halfway to the room when the door opened and out stepped Lisa, dressed and coiffed with her red hair pulled back and the pack snapped around her waist and hidden under her lab coat.

"I was just coming to check on you," Denise grinned at her, "Did you sleep well?"

"Like a log," she answered a little too quickly. 

"We're going to get some breakfast before we hit the lab; hope you like pancakes."

Mitch walked out and joined the two ladies, "Well, everyone ready?"

Denise nodded with a smile, Lisa doing the same but her smile had a slightly wicked edge to it that Mitch immediately noticed. He raised an eyebrow to her and ushered the gals out the door.

In the car, Lisa saw Denise let go of the wheel to reach down and rub Mitch's leg, grinning at him with the knowing look that almost all women used to convey their thanks for a wonderful evening of sex.

"So, where are you two going on your honeymoon?"

The question caught Mitch off guard, but Denise saved him from an almost assuredly embarrassing response, "We haven't decided, yet. Mitch wants Tahiti, but I want France." She then looked at Mitch, "You know you'd love to see me naked on one of their nude beach."

"You can do that on Tahiti, can't you?" he fired back, playing along.

"But I want to see the sights of Paris," she pouted back at him, "You said you'd take me there someday; you promised."

"Okay, okay," he consoled, waving a hand, "we'll talk about it later."

They pulled into a restaurant and seated themselves in a booth, pedestrians and slow traffic idling passed the window and going about their morning business. The three ordered their breakfast, and they ate and talked some more about their project, all the while Lisa giving Mitch subtle looks that told him she knew what went on last night. The looks weren't angry as far as he could tell, but rather... mischievous, maybe even amusing. They had a chance to discuss the late night events when Denise went to the restroom.

"So?"

Mitch looked at Lisa and shrugged, "'So'... what?"

She huffed, "C'mon, spill it. Was it good?"

"Lisa..."

"Just curious, is all."

Mitch thought for a moment, then, "It was good... but not as good as when it's with you."

"Good answer," she smirked.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, too."

Lisa's eyes widened and a blush seeped into her cheeks, "You heard me, didn't you."

"Denise was... preoccupied, so she didn't notice." 

"Yeah, 'preoccupied' bouncing on your dick." 

"But I heard you; you have a distinctive orgasm yelp."

Lisa stammered, blushing more, "I couldn't help it; it made me horny listening to you two go at it. So I... 'jilled off' to it."

Mitch chuckled in his throat, "I didn't know you got off to that sort of thing."

"Neither did I... but I liked it," she then got serious, "You came inside of her, didn't you."

Mitch nodded, but stopped Lisa from going into a lecture with, "Don't worry, she was wearing a diaphragm; I saw it this morning."

Lisa blew out her breath in relief, "You better be damn careful the next time..." then composed herself when Denise returned to the table.

Finishing their breakfast, the trio drove off and entered the facility's parking lot. They saw their team getting components ready for assembly upon entering the lab, and joined in fetching tools and starting their computers.

Lisa was pulled off to the side by Darrin for a few minutes, having her fill out and sign paperwork and receiving her official I.D. badge, while Mitch and Denise worked at the reactor fitting pieces together.

"Oh, Denise," Darrin called out, "those new couplings are here; they just dropped them off. They're in main storage."

Noticing the clock, Mitch piped up, "I'll go get 'em. Lisa, would you come with me? I didn't get a chance to show you the main storage facility, yesterday."

"Sure." Lisa clipped the badge to her lab coat collar, Darrin nodding in approval telling her that that made it official and that she was now a team member. She smiled back and followed Mitch out of the lab.

"It's almost time," he whispered, ushering her into the storage room. Once there, he looked into Lisa's eyes and asked, "Are you okay with... what happened?"

Lisa nodded, "I'm okay, really. You're right; things like that are bound to come up. We'll just have to deal with it when it comes, and it's only for one day."




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 03



Mitch smiled and kissed her as her timepiece beeped its one minute warning, then she stepped back and unhooked the pack from her hips, handing it to him. He fished out the necklace and hung it back in its proper place, then snapped the pack to his waist. 

Lisa checked her stopwatch and nodded, "A few more seconds."

They waited and, feeling the energy tingle through their bodies, the vortex rushed out and formed in front of them, its edges flashing and waving. Everything stopped around them, though the only thing noticeable was the absence of the noise from the air vents and blowers in the vast room.

"Ready?" asked Lisa, taking his hand in hers.

Mitch nodded and, together hand in hand, they walked through the mirrored surface of the gateway, its shiny surface covering them and melting behind their forms. Once through, the swirling light sputtered and shrank away to nothing.

* * *

The dimension unfroze itself, and motion resumed again leaving its occupants without any knowledge of the pair that had just left.

"Did he find them?" asked Denise.

Darrin was about to say something when someone walked into the lab, and instead said, "Speak of the devil. What took so long, Tom?"

The man in question was tall, slim but well built, and sported short black hair shaved and faded against his scalp. His sturdy jaw fanned out into a smile when Denise came into his view, his tan cheeks crinkling his dark almond colored eyes.

"I think those engineers like playing 'hide and seek' with this stuff," he answered in a deep voice, holding the new couplings in his grip.

"It's what they live for," Denise joked and wrapped her arms around him when he got near. They shared a loving kiss, then were interrupted by Darrin.

"Hey, you two; save it for the honeymoon," he said with a chuckle, "We've got work to do."

"Party pooper," Denise smirked back and stuck her tongue out at him, making Tom and the rest of the team laugh. He handed her the couplings and got back to the reactor, smiling at the woman he adored with all of his heart.

* * *

Mitch and Lisa emerged from the gateway still in the storage room and turned to see the spiraling light shimmer and shrink down, its energy folding up and rushing back into their bodies. Once the tingling sensation wore off, they both checked their surroundings and adjusted their watches. Lisa wasn't wearing one this time, so she checked her stopwatch still around her neck and set it accordingly.

"Okay," Mitch muttered, "it looks fine so far; nothing too different as far as I can tell."

Lisa nodded, "Let's check out the lab."

The scientists walked down the hall to the laboratory... and immediately froze in place after they entered it, both wearing shocked looks.

The team members were almost in their usual places at the computers and control stations, but the way they were situated was definitely not on par with what was usually seen in a professional laboratory.

Maggie, the slim brunette, was bent over her console typing at her keyboard with her skirt pushed up over her hips exposing her bare ass and legs. And right behind her with his pants hanging off his hips was Michael, humping her and producing slapping sounds with every thrust.

Another couple in the same position was near the finished reactor model, the girl's pants around her ankles and huffing as the guy behind her banged away at her pussy while she attempted to adjust a setting on one of the fuel processors.

And yet another couple was in the process of loosening their clothes when the woman said, "Lick me first; please?" She let her skirt drop to the floor and spread her legs smiling as the young man crawled between them and started lapping at her cunt, feeling and squeezing her ass and making her giggle as his tongue tickled her twat. She went on with her tech work on one of the work benches as if nothing was happening.

"Hey, guys; did you find the couplings?"

Mitch and Lisa let their attention snap back to focus when they heard Darrin call to them from the other end of the lab. They turned to him... and went back into their shocked state when they saw him. Or rather, them.

Recognition hit them when they saw what had to be Amanda Zane, Darrin's wife... on her knees in front of her husband with her salt and peppered head bobbing up and down, her tight skirt stretched across her wiggling butt that stuck out and hovered above her high heels. The sucking sounds coming from his hips left no doubt as to what she was doing.

"Well, did you find them?" Darrin asked again, his voice completely neutral.

Lisa just looked at Mitch with an expression that matched his confused look, and muttered, "Ohhhhh... kay."



...to be continued.



Through the Looking Glass Ch. 04



I'm not so sure 'going with the flow' is such a good idea at the moment, thought Mitch, seeing the unbridled sex going on around him and Lisa. He was almost positive she was thinking the same thing.

"Uh, no; not yet," Mitch stammered, answering Darrin's question and trying to be as neutral as possible despite the fact that his wife Amanda was giving him a blowjob right in front of the scientists. "We could go look through main storage again, if you want."

"Hold on a second," Darrin answered, pulling out his cell phone. As he talked into it, Amanda doubled her efforts and sucked his cock harder bobbing her head faster. Mitch and Lisa noticed the others around them were in the midst of finishing their sexual antics as well.

"Wait a minute," said Darrin as he paused his phone conversation. He pushed his hips forward and groaned as Amanda sucked and slurped around his cock. With a couple of huffs, Darrin bucked his pelvis and started coming into his wife's mouth, her muffled moans teasing his cum out. With one last longing suck, she swallowed the last of his sperm and gently cleaned off the remaining spunk and spittle with her tongue.

"Okay," sighed Darrin as he went back to the phone, "Let me know the minute they're ready; we'll have someone come and pick them up." He stuffed the phone back into his pocket as Amanda rose up off her knees and tucked his spent prick back into his pants.

"How was that?" she asked with a wicked grin.

Darrin took his wife into his arms and answered, "Wonderful as always, my dear."

After sharing a kiss, she said, "Good, because after lunch... it's my turn."

He grabbed and fondled her ass and replied, "Oh, you better believe it, lady."

She snickered with a smile and gave him a quick kiss before leaving.

Mitch and Lisa were... shocked, bewildered, amused? They weren't really sure; perhaps all of the above... and more.

"Well, the fab plant says that the couplings aren't quite ready yet; no wonder you couldn't find them. Give 'em a couple of hours, and they should have something for us."

Mitch was shaken back to reality when he realized Darrin was speaking to them, and answered, "Uh, right. Well, that explains it. Okay, so... now what?"

Darrin turned to the pair at the fuel processor, "Is that unit calibrated yet?"

"Just about," the half naked girl responded, "Just have to get...ugh... the regulators timed... ooh... and in sequence." She finished her adjustments on the unit just as the young man fucking her from behind was about to cum. She steadied herself and moaned, arching up on her toes and making her thighs quiver, as she bore down on his cock and came. The man shoved his dick all the way inside of her and grunted as he blasted her vagina, coating it with thick sticky blobs of sperm.

Sighing with a smile, she looked over her shoulder and blew the guy a kiss, saying, "Thank you."

"Thank you," he emphasized back, reaching down and pulling up her pants. He snugged them into place, then snapped and zipped them as she finished the proper adjustments.

Mitch and Lisa still weren't sure exactly what was going on in this dimension, but played it cool for now. Their thoughts were interrupted when Darrin called to them.

"Mitch, would you have a look at the main computer breakers? One of them doesn't want to cooperate. It's okay for now, but we're going to need it at peak output when we start testing."

"Uh, yeah; sure thing. Lisa?"

She nodded at his unasked request for her to join him in the breaker room. Mitch closed the door on the room just as the man on the floor rose, after he finished feasting upon the workbench girl's pussy, and unzipped his pants positioning himself behind her bare ass.

Once alone in the breaker room, Mitch and Lisa just looked at each other with incredulous eyes.

"Do I even want to know what's going on?" Lisa asked in a hushed voice.

Mitch looked over the breaker panels and found the one causing the problem. While he adjust it, he answered, "I'm not sure, myself. A sexually open society? People having sex wherever and whenever they feel like it, and it doesn't bother anyone?"

"Maybe they took that 'free love' and 'sexual revolution' thing more seriously than we did in our universe."

Fixing the problem with the breaker, Mitch turned to Lisa, "Possibly, but something must have triggered it in order to take it this far. We need to look into this later."

Lisa nodded, "Okay, but for the time being what do we do? You want me to drop to my knees, open your pants, and blow you?"

Mitch snickered at that and got a bemused look on his face, actually considering the offer for a moment. But he shook his head and replied, "No, you don't have to do that; we're not that far into this yet." They turned to leave the room, but Mitch stopped and thought for a second.

"You know, I didn't see anyone forcing their partner to do anything. In fact, I saw a couple of team members not engaged in any kind of sex activity. They were ignoring the others as if nothing was going on... almost like it was something that happens on a regular basis."

"Maybe it does," Lisa pointed out, "You're right, though; we need to check this out and find out what's going on before we start fooling around."

They both left the breaker room just in time to hear the gal at the workbench moaning and mewling from the pounding the guy behind her was giving her pussy. His grunting got louder as he stiffened up and started cumming inside her, and her legs and ass jiggled as her orgasm quivered through her body making her groan with pleasure. She paused to catch her breath as he knelt down to pull up her skirt, then turned to face him and planted a sexy kiss on his lips.

Watching the pair of lovers dressing, that's when it hit Lisa; the one thing that stood out more than just the casual sex going on: nobody was wearing underwear. Out of curiosity, she reached behind her and felt up the skirt she was wearing. Her eyes widened when, sure enough, she felt her bare ass instead of panties.

"Thank you," she said in a whisper, "I feel so much better now."

"Me, too," her partner replied with a grin, "You were great."

And just like that, the pair parted without so much as another word or even a final endearing glance at each other. He walked back to his computer terminal while she returned to her work at the bench, almost as if their fucking was part of their daily routine.

Once again, Mitch and Lisa just stared at each other, speechless.

Darrin walked back into the lab with his wife in tow and asked, "All set with that breaker?"

Mitch was shook back into the here and now, realizing that Darrin was addressing him, "Uh, yeah; it's good to go, now."

He and Lisa were trying to ignore the fact that Amanda was hanging all over her husband and trying to seduce him, nibbling at his neck while her hand was fondling his crotch.

"Great. Well, I'm going to lunch; I think everyone should do the same. We won't be able to do much without those couplings anyway," then he addressed the rest of the staff as he reached down and grabbed a handful of his wife's butt, "Take a lunch, people; see you in an hour."

The lab team filed out of the lab with Darrin and Amanda in the lead, some chatting and laughing while a few were following their boss's lead by groping each other, leaving Mitch and Lisa alone.

"Okay, something's definitely up with all of this."

Lisa just smirked at his comment and started to say something, but Mitch cut her off as he headed for his computer, "Don't even say it."

Lisa snorted at that and got next to him as he typed in some commands on the keyboard.

"Okay," he started, looking over the schematics of the fusion prototype, "according to this, the model is almost finished and should be ready for testing soon. The main program is set up and is currently..." He paused when he felt something grabbing him. Looking down, he saw Lisa's hand rubbing his crotch and asked, "Lisa... what are you doing?"

She simply shrugged and answered, "Well, 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do'."

But Mitch gently pushed her hand away, "I appreciate the gesture, but we've got to check things out first. You said yourself that things may look fine on the outside, but the inside may be different. We've got to know where we stand in this dimension before we join in on the festivities." Mitch typed up an outside web source and saw Lisa's frown in the screen's reflection. He turned to her and, reaching down, grabbed her butt and gave it a squeeze, "We'll play later; I promise."

Her smile came back as she idly thought about the kind of 'playing' they were going to do, and watched the screen as an information network popped up. The general headlines of the day's news flashed across the screen, and the top story 'Castration Victim Dies' caught Mitch's attention. Clicking and scrolling through the story, he read about a man who was a victim of a brutal sexual assault, the sixth in a series of attacks on men, and who had died do to some type of blood infection after his genitals were forcibly removed. He quickly changed back to the main screen, not wanting to read any more of the story nor did he want Lisa to see it.

What the Hell was that all about, he thought. 

Mitch typed in 'Current laws regarding sexual relations', and a lengthy document appeared that looked like something from the government on a federal level. It even had the official government seal stamped at the top of the page.

"Wow," said Mitch, surprised to see such a document let alone so much of one, "there's at least three dozen pages to this."

"Will this lead us to how this whole thing got started?"

He nodded to Lisa, "Yes, there's a 'history' subsection attached to it; that should be a good place to start. We'll come back to the document later."

Mitch clicked 'History', and the document was replaced with about three pages of background information. Mitch scanned the first few paragraphs... and his face went almost white.

"Mitch, what's the matter?"

He ushered Lisa to the screen and said, "You're not going to believe this," pointing to the words.

She read what he did and her face matched his almost exactly, "Oh, my God." She didn't want to believe what she was reading, but there it was in black and white. The text read:

'The Re-population Act was adopted and put into law in 1953, following years of debate between the nations of the world. Though some world leaders and their government constituents were dubious about implementing such an extreme act, fearing the general populace would reject such a measure, the majority of the world's powers deemed this measure 'the only viable way to re-populate the Earth and secure the continuation of the human species'.

'After 93% of the world's population was exterminated by the chemical...'

"What?" Lisa had to re-read that sentence twice before she clicked the 'background' highlight to find out what it meant. She almost regretted it.

'In December of 1948, just after the end of World War II, it was calculated that over 90% of the world's population would be infected by the chemical agents that were used by Nazi Germany to exterminate populated areas of the world. Six months later, their estimations were found to be correct; 93.4% of the population of the Earth was dead or would be dead within a year's time.'

'The consensus among the remaining government officials was that the Untied States, delaying their entry in the war, allowed Germany the time to complete its experiments involving heavy water and their V-2 rocket program. Nazi scientists convinced Chancellor Hitler that their rockets were not powerful enough to reach certain targets with any certainty of success. They instead proposed using chemical agents that would disperse through the atmosphere and infect a wider range of area without the costly use of atomic energy.'

'Unknown to the Nazis at the time, the chemical agents maintained their viability much longer than calculated and, with the atmospheric currents and trades winds to carry them, spread themselves over half of the surface of the Earth. The agents killed tens of millions, wiping out whole populations of countries within a matter of weeks, including the entire population of the European continent, effectively annihilating the Nazi Regime and its European allies...'

Lisa turned away from the screen, holding her hand to her mouth; she thought she was going to be sick.

"My God," Mitch muttered, shaking his head at what he was reading, "The Nazis tried to rid the Earth of everyone so that their 'master race' would be the only remaining species... and they destroyed themselves in the process." He continued where Lisa left off...

'After the attack ran its course, the residual effect of the chemical agents began to sicken those who were not directly affected and, within one month, the remaining populations of the war zones and neighboring areas began to die off. Two thirds of the African continent were devoid of human life within a two month period, and most of the Middle East and Asia were infected two months afterward including India, China, and Japan. Australia escaped the worst of the attack, suffering only 10% casualties, as well as southern Africa.'

'The chemical agents began to dissipate just after atmospheric conditions carried them to the west coast of the Untied States,Canada, and Latin America, infecting and killing over two thirds of those continents' populations before finally becoming inert, while South America managed to save almost half of their continent's population...'

"Jesus," Mitch whispered as he clicked back to the former page, "World War II lasted longer even after the battles were over. The Nazis were determined to win, even though they didn't know they had already lost when they launched those chemical weapons. And almost everyone suffered the same fate, even after the war was over."

Lisa, with tears in her eyes, asked, "How could they have let it get that far? Why didn't someone stop them? Why didn't the United States stop them?"

"It's just like I explained before: all it takes is one decision to change things, for good or ill," Mitch worked the screen back to the place where he left off and continued, "According to their history, Roosevelt delayed America's entry into the second world war for some reason. After his death in 1945, Truman declared war against the Axis just as Nazi Germany completed their V-2 rocket programs and used chemical warfare instead of nuclear to take over the world... and it backfired on them."

"And the rest of the world paid the price for their arrogance," Lisa spat out, thoroughly disgusted.

Mitch nodded, equally sickened, "So, in order to bring the population back up to viable numbers, they enacted this measure to re-populate the human species." He gestured at the screen and they both continued reading...

'After 93% of the world's population was exterminated by chemical warfare at the end of World War II, the remaining officials of the world's governments decided that drastic measures must be taken in order to ensure the continuation of the human species. To that end, the Re-population Act was drafted, laying out detailed mandates and instructions to the remaining populace.'

'Basically, the measure instructed women to become pregnant at their earliest opportunity and equally instructed men to impregnate as many viable women as possible. This would allow both sexes, regardless of any marital and/or religious status, to copulate and engage in sexual intercourse whenever possible...'

"You've got to be shittin' me!" Mitch just stared at the screen, dumbfounded, "The government ordered women to get pregnant and told the men to fuck any women they wanted... whether they were married or not, or despite what their religions said?"

Lisa was just as shocked, "So guys just walk up to a woman, and she just dropped her pants or lifts her skirt... and let's the guy bang 'em? All because the government said so?"

"Apparently so," Mitch went back to the document...

'Though the measure took a few years to take effect, almost 89% of the population were in favor of the act, despite protests from religious organizations and extremist groups. During the sixties, most people didn't object to open sexual relations in public venues, again despite objections, though strict enforcement of the laws regarding minors and sex acts that weren't considered 'productive' were implemented...'

Mitch and Lisa continued reading, noting the laws against any type of sexual behavior that didn't involve impregnation were strictly adhered to; any type of 'fetish' sex was not allowed in public. Moreover, the laws involving minors were enforced to the point of even harsher penalties against convicted male offenders, chief among them was physical castration. Female offenders would be rendered 'sterile', thus unable to receive government assistance.

This was the main reason people took to the measure so readily. The governments of the world offered assistance to any female/couple willing to extend their families beyond their usual financial means. Everything from housing to full medical coverage would be provided, including generous monthly stipends to help with miscellaneous expenses if their current jobs didn't pay well enough. A short time later, single men (who for whatever reason had a family, but no spouse) were added to the list of recipients as well as those whose children were adopted.

There was a small section dealing with homosexuality and how it would affect the mandate in the long run. But the government's conclusions were that it ultimately wouldn't be a threat to the re-population efforts. This dimension's scientists discovered, much earlier than their counterparts in Mitch and Lisa's world, that homosexuality was not an affliction or psychological disorder and didn't need to take steps to correct it. But homosexuals were not allowed to participate in any of the government assistance programs. After a time, two exceptions were allowed: those whose children (if any) were adopted, or those who volunteered to provide reproductive material to clinics, such as semen or egg donations for artificial insemination. 

Since there was no reason to fund most types of major military groups now that there was very little to fight about and not enough people and materials to fight with, the medical, housing, and social assistance industries flourished like no other, and after almost four decades the population of the Earth grew to more acceptable numbers.

"Unbelievable," Mitch uttered, "Women allowed men to fuck them whenever it suited them, and they saw no reason to stop even after the population reached a sustainable number."

"Wait a second," Lisa interrupted, scanning the paragraphs further, "That's not entirely true; take a look."

Mitch looked at where Lisa was pointing at the document and read on...

'In 1972, an amendment introduced by representatives of the Women For Equal Rights Association was added to the Re-pop Act, giving women more flexibility when performing sexual acts. Not only were they given the right to refuse sexual intercourse if they didn't want to participate, they were also free to engage men if they were interested. This enabled women to play a more active role in re-populating the Earth, being able to choose more acceptable partners. Proponents of this amendment took it a step further the next year by allowing oral sex to be added to the list of acceptable acts, citing that some women preferred not to become pregnant or couldn't because of physical and/or medical reasons.'

'An official census taken by the world council in 1976 revealed that the population of the Earth had reached the one billion mark, and that the Re-pop Act was a success and no longer necessary. However, the majority of the populace told their representatives that they wanted to keep the Act in place, citing crime and health risk statistics that were at an all time low...'




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 04



Mitch clicked the 'Health and Safety' section, and charts popped up showing the number of crime and disease cases throughout the decades.

"Holy shit!" Mitch couldn't believe the low numbers that were being projected; neither could Lisa.

"Crime rates in the majors cities have dropped in almost all categories to record lows," she exclaimed, perusing the numbers, "Assault, robbery, drugs... they're all in the single digits, worldwide! Especially rape and sexual assaults; it's less than one tenth of a percent!"

Mitch nodded, not able to believe it himself, "And take a look at the health statistics. Gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, herpes... they're all gone! There hasn't been a reported case of any of those diseases in the past twenty-five years! My God, even the HIV virus is almost extinct; there are less than 900 cases of AIDS in the world!"

"Of course," said Lisa, having some time to think about it, "With all the fucking going on, nobody has time to commit serious crimes; they're putting all their energy and free time into getting a piece of ass." 

"Yeah, but rape isn't about sex," Mitch countered, "it's about control and dominance, and they still have that tiny percent to deal with."

"True, but their 'deterrent' seems to have worked; the punishment for rape/sexual assault is the same for assaulting a minor." Lisa shuddered at the thought of someone cutting off a guy's... she immediately shoved the thought aside, not even wanting to think of how the female offenders were 'sterilized', and continued, "And sexually transmitted diseases are almost a thing of the past. I'm willing to bet anyone that wasn't cured of their disease was isolated from the rest of the general populace."

"And you would be right," said Mitch, scanning the rest of the paragraphs that dealt with health and general safety issues, "Anyone not completely cured of a disease was sent to special hospitals and clinics for further examination and treatment. About three dozen of them, all around Maryland and Virginia."

"What about people with AIDS?"

Mitch scrolled down the section and found her answer...

'In 1981, a virus that attacked the immune systems of humans was discovered and found to be fatal. Scientists dubbed this new virus the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and cited that this was the cause of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening infections and cancers to thrive...'

Mitch skipped over the medical text and explanations of how HIV was transmitted and the technical reasons it attacked the immune system, and went on to the treatment... 'There is currently no publicly available cure for HIV infection. Treatment consists of highly active anti-retroviral therapy, or HAART. This has been highly beneficial to many HIV-infected individuals since its introduction in 1986, when the protease inhibitor-based HAART initially became available. Current HAART options are combinations (or "cocktails")...'

Mitch raised an eyebrow at that; the treatment it mentioned didn't come about in their universe until the mid 90s. This universe's medical base managed to come up with the treatment within a few years of identifying the virus, due to its robust research and funding. He continued with the text...

'In an attempt to stem the feared tide of a full blown pandemic, the governing bodies of the world unanimously voted in favor of an isolation plan in order to keep the virus from spreading to the general populace. Despite protests from small yet very vocal civil rights groups, any person infected with HIV would be transported to the island of Kaua'i, the eastern most island in the main Hawaiian chain, and allowed to live in comfort away from populated areas. Extensive medical and research facilities were constructed on the island, with regularly maintained supply shipments, and the search for a cure is still ongoing...'

"Christ, it's like a leper colony," Mitch grumbled.

"Mitch, they didn't have a choice," countered Lisa, "If HIV was allowed to run rampant while they were trying to rebuild humanity, the extinction would have started all over again."

"Yeah, probably; but still... marooning them on an island and cutting them off from the rest of civilization?"

"They weren't 'cut off', Mitch. I know it seemed cruel to isolate them, but they were given every comfort and every chance at recovery. According to this," she waved a hand at the screen, "a Hell of a lot of money and resources was thrown at this disease, more than what we threw at it in our dimension... and it's working. These people are happy, comfortable, and optimistic that a cure will be found; Hell, who wouldn't be happy in Hawaii?"

"A gilded cage is still a cage!" Mitch snapped, making her back off a step. He immediately toned his volume down and calmed himself, "I'm sorry, Honey; I didn't mean to bite your head off like that."

Lisa hugged him and said, "That's not what's really bothering you, is it."

"No, it's not," he admitted, "It's the thought of all those women being brainwashed into thinking that forced fornication was acceptable. They were convinced that baring their asses and bending over so some guy could fuck them was the right thing to do... and nobody saw anything fundamentally wrong with that? Somebody had to have resented it."

"Mitch," Lisa said softly, "the human race in this universe was on the verge of extinction; practically on the endangered species' list. What did you expect them to do, just sit back and let humanity die?"

Mitch shook his head adamantly, "They would have re-populated the Earth eventually, without the need of some world government mandate."

"You don't know that for sure. Steps had to be taken in order to ensure the survival of the human species."

Mitch looked at her thoughtfully and huffed, "Yeah, sure. Making certain that everyone was disease-free, that every woman bore strong children, that everyone was 'perfect'... a 'master race'; sound familiar?"

Lisa scrunched her face at that, "It wasn't like that, and I know you know it. Every nation cooperated, regardless of race, color, or creed." She went to the computer and typed in 'General history of the United States'. She skipped over early history until she came to the section just after the Re-pop Act was adopted, skimmed through it, and then waved a hand at the screen.

"There, you see? Take a look. Everything that came about in our dimension during that time didn't happen here. Segregation, the race riots, even Dr. King's civil rights marches never took place because none of it was necessary. The wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and all the military actions in between never happened. Everyone was equal in everyone's eyes; they all put their petty differences aside for a higher goal... and it worked."

Mitch just stared at the words in front of him, astonished. Everything that decent people wanted, from equality to mutual world cooperation, came about. It took many decades to overcome the evils that humans did to one another during those turbulent times in their universe, some of which was still ongoing, and these people managed to eliminate the hate and everything it represented in less than two... because their survival depended on it.

He had to concede that Lisa was right: it worked, all of it.

"Okay," he sighed, "I guess it does work... here," but his face turned down into a concerned scowl, and the news story of the assault victims flashed into his mind, "but I can't believe there's not one person or group in this world that doesn't like what's going on."

"There probably is," Lisa agreed, "but the majority made their choice... and here we are."

Mitch's smile returned as he hugged her, "So... now what do we do?"

Lisa's wicked grin widened her face as she answered, "Well... I've got an idea."

With that, she dropped to her knees and undid Mitch's pants, yanking them down and exposing his cock. Her theory was correct, so far: nobody wore underwear here. Mitch leaned back against the desk and let her 'play', giving in to the whims and wills of this universe's people.

Lisa took his semi-flaccid cock into her warm mouth and gently sucked on it, twirling her tongue around the fattening shaft and swiping it over the head. Cradling his balls in her soft hand, she massaged them as his dick started growing and stiffening up. Releasing it with a slurping pop, she smiled watching the cock get bigger and harder and, once she was satisfied that it was ready for business, ran her tongue up and down the stiff shaft like she was licking a Popsicle.

Mitch enjoyed the warm wetness of Lisa's tongue on his cock, its rough texture stimulating the nerves, then arched forward a bit when her mouth engulfed the bloated head and suckled it. Her hand stroked the length as she nursed the glans, and the other pulled and squeezed his sack forcing precum to ooze from the pisshole. Her tongue quickly swiped the dollops away, making his hips shudder. 

Lisa moaned around his cock, feeling it respond to her tender sucking with twitches and pulses, and enjoyed the fleshy taste as she stuffed more of it into her mouth. Mitch grunted as she tickled and teased his balls, making his cock jerk more and urging more precum out.

Lisa's head started bobbing up and down, filling her mouth with more cock, when the lab door opened. Mitch froze for a second or two when he saw Maggie walk in and head towards her desk, and readied himself for some kind of confrontation. But Maggie merely opened her desk drawer, removed a bottle of juice, and walked out of the laboratory without giving the scientists so much as a glance. If she did notice the oral sex going on, it didn't show on her face.

Mitch started to wonder if all of the things they read about really were on the up and up, that people could have sex out in the open any time they felt like it and not worry about being chastised for it. But he had to put the thought on hold, for Lisa was doing a number on his cock and he could feel his orgasm beginning to well up inside his groin.

Lisa sucked and slurped all over his dick as if it was the last one available, and concentrated on stimulating the sensitive spot that would make him cum. Still squeezing his bloated balls, she could feel his cock jerking inside of her mouth and knew he was close. She reached around and grabbed his ass, pushing his hips towards her face, and bobbed her head faster.

Mitch knew he couldn't hold out any longer, not with Lisa's talented mouth and tongue urging the semen to blast out of his dick. Leaning back with his knees buckling slightly, he let out a loud groan as he felt the sperm rush up his cock. Lisa, feeling his cock twitch hard, buried as much of his fat dick in her mouth as she could and, flicking her tongue all around the head, let out a muffled squeal as the first jet of cum exploded from his pisshole. She vacuumed his prick as more blasts of sperm splashed her tongue and gums, and swallowed as much as she could. Her wild sucking allowed some rivulets of cum to leak out and run down her chin, but she kept going to make sure every last drop was properly extracted.

After much groaning and contractions from his crotch, Mitch released a satisfied moan as the last of his orgasm tickled through his cock with Lisa carefully licking away the remaining drools of semen from the thick shaft. Once cleaned, Lisa gently tucked the deflating prick back into its proper place after pulling his pants up, then stood up with a cum stained chin under a smile.

"I've always wanted to do that to you in the laboratory," she said with a smirk, wiping at her chin. She looked over her shoulder and added, "Who walked in on us?"

"Maggie," answered Mitch, catching his breath.

Her grin got wider, "Oh, God; I've always wondered what it would be like to fool around in here and get caught."

Mitch's grin appeared when he noticed Lisa's nipples hardening and poking through her blouse, "I see you enjoyed yourself, and I take it... you want a turn?"

Lisa nodded, "Yes, but not here," Mitch's eyebrow raised as she continued, "We should try it somewhere else; we haven't seen what's going on in the city, yet."

"Good point," he agreed, "Let's check in with Darrin first and see where we stand with those couplings."

The scientists left the lab and headed down the hall to their boss's office, passing a security desk and the guard manning it. Both Mitch and Lisa smirked when they spied a pair of bare legs and a naked butt peeking out from under the desk. Lisa tried to hold down a chuckle when they passed the guard, seeing his pants around his ankles and a bobbing head in his lap.

Mitch knocked on the door to Darrin's office when they arrived, and heard, "Come in," from the other side. He and Lisa walked in and, once again, steeled themselves from not putting shocked looks on their faces.

Darrin was standing behind his desk, talking into his phone to the techs at the fab plant, while his wife was lying on top of it in front of him... completely naked. Amanda's head was arched back with her mouth open and panting, while her huge natural tits were flopping back and forth with every thrust Darrin was giving her between her bent and spread legs.

"All right, fine; I'll let them know. Put a rush on it, though; we don't want to get behind on this project," said Darrin into the phone as he fucked his wife. Amanda started moaning louder when one hand darted up to squeeze a breast and pinch the hard nipple topping it, while the other slipped between her open thighs and diddled her clit.

"Oh, hi guys," Darrin said, hanging the phone up, "I was just going to call you two. I got the word from the fab plant: they've got a problem with one of their wiring fixtures; they'll need to replace a damaged hook-up. How bad is that: they need to change a part so they can finish the part we're waiting on." Darrin chuckled as he continued to bang his wife, who was now arching her whole body and grunting with the pressure building up in her pelvis.

"Uh, yeah; I can almost taste the irony," Mitch snickered back, feeling his own cock stirring again at the sight of lustful sex going on in front of him. 

Lisa smiled along with him, not able to take her eyes off of Amanda whose orgasm was on the verge of exploding all over Darrin's prick. Watching the woman's body stiffen up, her thighs quivering and her face scrunched up in sexual tension, Lisa felt her pussy getting wet, her nipples threatening to burst through her blouse. She wanted so badly to rub at the tingling that was starting to tickle her clit, but instead squeezed her thighs together trying to calm the burning sensation of sexual heat seeping from her vagina. She didn't want anyone to think she was some sort of voyeuristic pervert, despite the sexual antics going on around her and Mitch. The people of this universe took this type of behavior as the norm, and Lisa assumed that anyone just staring at such activities and being turned on by them would be labeled a 'deviant'.

"Well, it looks like the project is on hold until tomorrow," said Darrin, his breath coming out in pants; he was close to orgasm as well, "So I guess that's it for today. Unless... ugh, ugh... unless you two have other work, you're... ugh... you're done for the day."

Darrin pumped his hips faster into his wife's and grunted and groaned as his cum started churning up his cock. Amanda's whole body lurched and, wrapping her legs around her husband and drawing him into her, she cried out in release as her orgasm gripped her pussy and wouldn't let go. 

Darrin leaned back and growled as he shot her cunt full of cum, feeling its muscles grab his cock and squeezed more milky semen out. Amanda yelped and wriggled about letting the orgasmic waves pound through her pussy and, with a final moan, collapsed on the desk as the last of her come ran through her.

With one last grunt, Darrin let the remaining sperm leap out of his dick and leaned forward to brace himself, hovering over the shivering naked body of his beloved. He smiled at her, seeing sweat glistening on her skin and the sparkly sheen in her eyes as she looked at him with nothing but pure love, catching her breath and calming down.

"Oh, wow," Amanda said in a husky whisper, "you were wonderful."

Darrin lovingly smiled back, "Not as wonderful as you, my dear," and leaned forward to leave kisses all over her large breasts, making her purr.

Mitch, finally finding his voice after witnessing the 'sex on the boss's desk' scene, said, "Uh, okay then; I guess we'll see you tomorrow. C'mon, Lisa... Lisa?" 

Mitch had to nudge her out of her trance, for she was mesmerized by the spectacle that took place in front of them. The sight of her boss and his wife fucking like teenagers and the afterglow that radiated from them afterward made Lisa even hornier. At Mitch nudging, she turned and quickly ushered him out of the office.

Once down the hallway, Lisa grabbed Mitch and shoved him against the wall. She wrapped her body around his and smashed her lips to his mouth, humping her hips into him and rubbing her crotch into his bulge.

"Oh, God; I want you," she breathed out after breaking the kiss.

"You know I want you, too," he replied, grabbing and squeezing her ass, "but not here. We need to explore the city and see just how far they've taken this mandate. What do you say; you up for a little exhibitionism?"

"Hell, yes," answered Lisa, the naughty grin on her face gave away her excitement at the thought of having sex in public. But she got a little serious and added, "but remember: these people don't consider it exhibitionism; we'd better not get too carried away, know what I mean?"

Mitch nodded, "Right, let's just stick with what these folks consider 'the norm'."

After making one final check on the lab and all of its equipment, Mitch and Lisa headed out of the building. As they neared the exit, Mitch took out the recorder and began the next entry...

'April 5- We arrived in the next dimension approximately five hours ago. As before, there are subtle changes in this universe as compared to the previous ones. However, there has been a major change in this world's history compared to our own.'

'Due to a decision that stalled the United States entry into World War II, Germany completed their experiments with their V-2 rocket program and the war lasted longer than what our history says. Using biological and chemical weapons instead of nuclear, the Nazis managed to wipe out over 90% of this world's population including themselves. In a desperate attempt to save the human species from becoming extinct, these people started a re-population program that allowed anyone and everyone to engage in sexual relations whenever and wherever possible, even in public, to impregnate as many women as possible.'

'Their plan worked, insofar as the population of the world regained its viability. But they saw no reason to stop their activities; given the fun and enjoyment it produces, I can see why. But their main reason for not stopping was the fact that the crime rates around the world have dropped dramatically, not to mention that almost all diseases have been effectively eradicated.'

'Having sex anywhere and anytime the mood strikes them, these folks have overcome some of the problems our world currently has. Prejudice, bigotry, hate, mistrust, and even wars are now a thing of the past here; these people are happy and content with the lifestyle they've chosen and in doing so, saved humanity.'

'But I still have a doubt. The governments of this world mandated this kind of activity, practically forcing women to have sex and get pregnant in my opinion. Though the strictness of the mandate no longer exists and everyone is satisfied to keep the practice going because it is now voluntary for both sexes, I can't help but wonder if there are people in this world who still disapprove of all the sex going on. Even though the people who protested against this whole thing in the beginning are either very elderly or long since dead, others that followed might still be carrying the torch. Lisa and I have yet to see any kind of resistance, but in my experiences... hate doesn't usually die that easily.'




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 04



'We'll look into it as soon as we've had a chance to check things out around the city.'

Stuffing the recorder back into the pack, Mitch left the facility with Lisa right behind him. They decided to leave their car in the lot and go on a sight seeing tour of the city, not sure of the 'fun' they would come across (and maybe even participate in) but were certain that the free wheeling sex going on wasn't just confined to the lab.

Sure enough, their theory proved to be correct. As they walked through the parking lot, they spied a couple going at it next to a car. The girl was halfway into the back seat, bent over with her dress hiked up over her hips, while the guy fucked her from behind with his pants around his knees. His thrusts produced slapping sounds against her bare ass, and the two scientists (as well as anyone within earshot) could hear cries of delight coming from the girl.

Still pumping his hips, the young man arched back and groaned loudly as he shot his seed into the woman's pussy. The girl bore down on the guy's cock and released a bone shaking moan as her orgasm ripped through her clenching vagina, making her legs tremble with release.

As Mitch and Lisa passed the pair of lustful lovers, they could overhear their after-sex small talk.

"Oh, fuck; that was great," exclaimed the woman as she adjusted her clothes.

The guy buckling up his pants answered, "It certainly was; you are definitely fun to fuck."

She smiled and planted a loving kiss on her companion's lips, "A perfect end to a perfect day. Thanks."

"Thank you," he replied, pecking her on her cheek. Without another word, the pair parted company and drove out of the lot. Lisa looked at Mitch and simply shrugged with a smirk, he matching the gesture a second later.

The dimension traveling team walked the streets of the city, anticipating more interesting activities; they weren't disappointed, even though there wasn't much sex going on... well, not too much.

They passed a woman sitting on a bench waiting for a bus, with her skirt above her hips and her legs spread. And in between, a man kneeling down and lapping at her pussy. She kept reading the magazine in her hand as her attendant licked at her wetness, but then lifted her legs in stiffness and, rolling her head back, grunted as she came all over the guy's face. Her face and body relaxed when he finished, just as the bus rolled up to the stop. Adjusting her dress, she kissed his cheek and said, "Thanks; I really needed that."

"You're welcome, miss; any time," the man replied, tipping his baseball cap. He walked away to continue whatever errand he was running as the lady boarded the bus, with absolutely no one giving the sexual act a single glance.

Lisa saw a man seated at an outdoor cafe table, sipping at a cool drink and reading a newspaper. Not an unusual sight anywhere else, with the exception of the pair of legs sticking out from under the table. Mitch caught the sight of a little bit of butt cheeks and some sprigs of pubic hair peeking out from under the gal's short and tight skirt hovering over her legs.

Lisa grabbed Mitch's hand and squeezed, saying, "Let's take a bus ride."

Mitch looked at her, seeing the mischievous grin on her lips, and knew what she had in mind. They walked to the next stop, seeing another couple engaged in sexy fun waiting as well. The man had his hand up the back of his partner's dress while she in turn had her hand down the front of his shorts. The frantic motion at his crotch told the pair that she was obviously jacking him off while he was fingering her twat, judging from the way her hips jerked and her ass cheeks clinched from time to time.

The bus arrived and the sex driven couple stopped their playing as they boarded, the gal adjusting her dress to cover her butt with Mitch and Lisa following.

The bus was somewhat crowded with passengers heading towards their places of business or home, and the scientists decided to stand along with a few others. The amorous couple at the stop went to the rear of the bus and found an empty seat once some of the travelers departed.

Lisa casually glanced in their direction to see the woman lift her skirt as the man tugged his shorts down passed his groin. None of the passengers near them bothered to look as the guy's hard dick sprang out and the girl positioned herself over it, her wet pussy ready to plunge down.

Just a few seats ahead of them, a gentleman was reading a paper as the woman seated next to him was bent over with her blonde head in his lap, gently sucking and stroking his cock while her hand was playing between her legs.

And just ahead of those two, a young brunette looked at the guy next to her and flashed a sexy smile at him, giving him a hint. The guy smiled back and nodded as he got up and let her scoot in the middle of the seat, slipping her shorts off. The man dropped his pants and moved between her parted legs, ready to insert his hardening penis into her.

Lisa couldn't stand it anymore. With all the sex going on around her and Mitch, her hand found her crotch and started rubbing into it. She looked over her shoulder at Mitch and winked; he took the hint. Lisa shimmied her skirt up over her hips and bared her ass, while Mitch unzipped his pants and fished out his growing cock. It didn't take long for him to get hard; seeing Lisa's naked butt in public and in front of strangers excited him.

Lisa started to breathe harder when she felt the tip of his dick squeeze passed her thighs and press against her already wet pussy. She was watching the two couples in front of them, flipping back and forth between sex scenes, making herself even more horny. She gasped as she felt Mitch's dickhead wedge between her moist pussy lips and, letting out a small squeak, Lisa leaned into his hips as his cock slithered into her hot hole.

No one, not a single person who wasn't engaged in some sort of sexual act, even glanced sideways at Lisa and Mitch nor any of the other couples fucking and sucking each other. They treated them as if they were invisible, not noticing the hot sex going and/or not caring... well, almost no one.

Lisa turned her head to see the lady who boarded the bus before them giving her and Mitch a curious glance as she bounced on her partner's lap, her long black hair waving about. She saw Lisa looking at her and got an embarrassed 'oops' look on her face, but when she looked again she saw Lisa smiling at her and gave her a shy shrug. The lady, still plunging herself on the guy's dick, smiled back and winked.

So, a little voyeurism is okay, thought Lisa; at least with people who are fucking... as long as they don't mind.

She heard small yelps from the seat in front of her and saw the young lady reclining in it grab the back of the seat, hanging on for dear life as her orgasm started churning through her pussy. The guy pounding her reared back and groaned through clenched teeth as he pumped her full of cum.

Lisa couldn't take it much longer; she needed to come and right now. Standing next to her and Mitch, who was panting with every thrust of his hips, was a young man wearing work clothes and a tool belt. Going on sexual instinct alone, she reached over to the guy's crotch and unzipped his pants. The man looked down to see Lisa's hand fish out his prick and, stroking it to get it hard, she engulfed it in her mouth and proceeded to blow him.

This time, a few people did take notice and the guy gently tapped Lisa's shoulder to get her attention. He succeeded when she released his spit shiny cock and looked up at him.

"Uh, miss," he began, a little embarrassed, "you really shouldn't do that; you could get in trouble."

The young woman in the seat next to him chimed in, "He's right; that's not legal. It's not on the list of acceptable acts."

Lisa's eyebrows climbed up to her hairline and realized they were right: only sex for reproduction, and a few other accepted acts, were permitted; threesomes were not allowed and were considered 'fetish' sex.

"Oh," said Lisa quite contritely, releasing the man's dick, "I'm sorry; I got carried away. I apologize."

"Oh, it's alright," the man consoled, "I appreciate the offer, though; that was nice of you."

Then the girl next to him leaned in and added, "It's okay, honey; it happens to everybody once in a while," then looked at the guy's bobbing prick and smiled up at him, "Would you like me to take care of that for you?"

"Why thank you, miss," the man replied, smiling back.

She gently took hold of his cock and, with a wink to Lisa, said, "Don't worry; I've got this," then stuffed his dick into her mouth and started sucking.

Lisa looked up behind her to see Mitch mouth the words, "That was naughty" at her, and she flashed an embarrassed grin back at him. While he continued to bang away at her ass, Mitch leaned over to the young man and whispered, "Sorry about that; sometimes my wife... well, you know how it is."

The guy nodded, "It's okay, man; I understand. It was nice of her to offer," then he looked Lisa over, approving of her shapely ass, and patted Mitch on the shoulder, adding, "You're a lucky guy."

Mitch smiled back, "I certainly am." He went back to Lisa with a fury and proceeded to give her pussy a thorough fucking.

Lisa started panting and mewling, feeling Mitch's cock piston in and out of her, as her orgasm reached its apex. Gripping the support pole tightly, she stiffened up and started squeaking through her clenched mouth. She peaked and her orgasm wildly ran through her cunt, her inner walls squeezing Mitch's twitching prick. Her knees started shaking as her orgasm tickled through her soaked pussy lips and, just when she thought she couldn't take anymore, felt Mitch's cock balloon up and start squirting her velvet hole with sperm. He grunted with every blast of cum as he emptied his balls into her, and needed to grab the pole for support once his cock stopped jerking inside of her.

Panting open mouthed, Lisa straightened up and weakly pulled her skirt down to cover her exposed ass. But halfway through, the lady next to them tapped her side and handed her some soft wipes from her purse and winked, still sucking on the man's prick. She nodded a thank you to her and discreetly wiped away the cum dripping from her pussy. She used another to wipe Mitch's cock clean before he put it back in his pants, then discarded the cloths in a small waste container hanging off one of the seats.

Once done, they heard the young man groaning softly as he came in the girl's awaiting mouth. Her throat undulated as she sucked and swallowed his semen hungrily and then, when she was satisfied the guy was finished, quickly cleaned off his member as the bus halted at its next stop.

He thanked the lady and exited the bus, with Mitch and Lisa following along with a few others including the two fucking couples in the front and back seats. More people got on, then the bus hissed and rolled away as the passengers that left went their separate ways.

"Oh, my God," whispered Lisa, still glowing from their sexual escapade, "that was thrilling. The couple in back were watching us."

"So was the guy up front," Mitch remarked, "I think he liked the view of your tits hanging out the top of your blouse."

Lisa blushed, embarrassed and excited at the thought of fucking and flashing people, "No wonder they kept this mandate going; everybody's horny... and they like it."

"I have to admit: maybe there is something to all of this. As long as nobody does anything foolish," he raised an eyebrow at her, Lisa knowing full well what he meant by it, that what she did to that guy was against the law here, "people seem to be okay with it."

"See? And you were worried," Lisa smirked.

They both walked for a while, taking in the sights and noting that, just in the other dimensions they traveled to, some stores and fixtures were different. The restaurant they ate in every now and then was still there, but it was built on the opposite side of the street, and the medical clinic on one corner was now twice its original size.

Lisa stopped in an apparel shop and bought a few things while Mitch waited and scanned the city seeing couples walk by, some simply strolling while others were fondling each others' crotches or butts. Lisa emerged from the store and showed what she purchased: a large, shoulder strapped hand bag that was black, plain, and unassuming so it would blend in without anyone looking twice at it.

"I also picked up this," she said, holding a device in her hand. It was a small digital camera, "We can document our journey with this as well as the recorder. I've got a charger and extra batteries and memory cards for it; those should last awhile until we need more. I also got this," she picked out a small first aid kit, "You never know when we'll need one."

Mitch nodded approvingly, then spied something else in the bag: a small container of wet wipes. He gave her an amused look and she shrugged, replying with a smirk of her own, "Just in case."

They both chuckled and continued their way.

The sun was starting to set, turning the twilight sky a deep orange, so the intrepid pair decided to head back to the lab to get the car. Their bus ride took them almost full circle, so it wasn't that far to the lot and Mitch suggested they walk the rest of the way.

They walked through a small park that used to be some sort of warehouse in their universe, using it as a shortcut, and took in the quiet surroundings. Trees and hedges lines the gravel walkways with a bench or two breaking up the greenery pattern.

Lisa stopped and embraced Mitch, giving him a romantic kiss.

"This has been wonderful," she said, "maybe we should stay in this dimension for awhile; it's a lot more fun than ours."

"Hold on, now," Mitch protested, "these people don't consider it 'fun'... well, some of them do I'm sure, but this is normal for them; they're use to it. If we start doing things that are against the law here, they'll bust us for it. We might even put the idea in some people's heads, and that could start..."

"Oh, come on; you can't believe that us fooling around the way they don't will start something, do you?"

"One act is all it takes to start something. Hell, revolutions have started that way, and if we disrupt the harmony around here..."

Lisa waved her hand, "Okay, okay; I get it. We could alter events that shouldn't be by doing things that aren't considered 'normal'; I see your point."

He pulled her close and looked lovingly into her green eyes, "But that doesn't mean we can't..."

Mitch never finished his sentence, for out of nowhere a hand reached up and covered his mouth, the cloth in it smelled of something awful. Lisa started to scream, but was stopped when another hand covered her face. More hands grabbed Mitch as he struggled with whomever was wrestling him to the ground, flailing his body about in an attempt to break their grips.

But something was wrong with his vision; it was fading. His knees buckled and allowed the attackers to push him down, his muscles starting to rebel as well. As he hit the ground, the last thing Mitch saw was Lisa falling and being caught by two others before his vision faded to black and his whole body went limp.

* * *

Mitch awoke with his head pounding, his stance slightly off balance and swaying. He tried to move his arms, but they wouldn't respond; his legs were in the same condition. Blinking his eyes to force them to focus, he got a look at his surroundings.

The room he was in was spacious though very sparse, the few furnishings that were there appeared plain and had a look of old use about them. There was a small table next to him covered with a pale green cloth, and there were objects underneath it judging from the slight lumps in the cloth. Part of the side wall was covered with a curtain, obviously with something behind it he wasn't meant to see yet. There was no one else in sight; he was alone. The dark, dank room looked like someone's basement or an old boiler room without the equipment, except for some sprinkler heads dangled from the ceiling in silence.

Mitch paused for a second to think. He was standing upright, slightly reclined, and... his mind finally snapped to attention when he realized the reason his limbs weren't working: they were shackled. Someone had secured him to some kind of framework leaning against a wall, his arms over his head and with a strap around his waist pinning him to the frame.

He frantically looked around the room again and spotted another table in the corner near him, and on it were his belongings; the pack, his watch, and his clothes along with the necklace with his wedding ring. He looked down at himself to see that he had been stripped bare.

Okay, he thought, stay cool and don't panic; panic will just confuse you. Concentrate on one thing at a time and go from there.

The first thing he did was test the strength of the bonds that held him captive. He could move his wrist inside the cuff around it, but couldn't squeeze his hand passed it, and the ones around his ankles weren't worth the effort; he knew he couldn't get his feet out of them that easily. He tilted his head back as best he could to see what connected the arm cuffs to him, but the screw bolts he saw were out of his reach.

Okay, that's not going to work. Where is Lisa? What have they done to her?

The thought of his love being subjected to the same treatment was interrupted when someone entered the room. The person turned on a light and the brilliance made Mitch wince until his eyes adjusted. He saw a clock on the wall: 4:17; he estimated that he, and probably Lisa, was unconscious for about eight hours. Then when another person came into the room, he focused his attention on them.

The pair were women, about the same age and height as Lisa. One with short blonde hair and a slim figure, and the other a short haired brunette with kind of a stocky build. There wasn't anything special about their appearance; they looked like average everyday women in normal understated clothes. But the look in their eyes every time they peered at Mitch gave him chills. Their eyes were cold, crisp, and had a spark of evil in them; they just stared at him.

Mitch decided to go with 'Plan B': try to make nice with the natives.

"Good morning," he croaked with a raspy voice. Neither of the ladies acknowledged his greeting, but he pressed on nonetheless, "Is there something I can do for you ladies?"

"You can shut up," replied the blonde. She reached up to check the shackles at his wrists while the other one checked the waist strap, then his ankles.

Mitch tried the brunette, "Why am I here?"

She ignored him. He tried again.

"Okay, which one of you used the chloroform on me?" He knew it had to have been an anesthetic that knock him and Lisa out.

The brunette halted her moves for a split second, but went on with her checking and still didn't answer.

Mitch sighed, "Fine, sooner or later somebody will tell me what's going on."

This time, the dark haired woman answered, "Nobody here will tell you anything."

That told him there was more than two of them, even though he already knew there were at least four or five of them that tackled him and Lisa in the park. 

He changed tactics and decided he was done being nice. He growled and thrashed about, trying to free himself from the bonds and made the pair jump back with a start. He knew he had scored a point; they were afraid of him.

"Where's my wife?" he shouted, his voice still hoarse, "What have you done with her?"

"She's fine," the brunette said, looking somewhat intimidated by Mitch despite the fact that he was immobile, "She should be waking up soon."

Another point scored, he thought. "I thought you said no one would tell me anything."

The blonde gave her partner a scathing look.




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 05



Mitch heard Lisa's question, but was still staring at the remains of the city, too shocked by what they saw to answer.

Buildings were worn and crumbling, abandoned cars were rusted and strewn about the streets, trash and debris scattered everywhere... and not a single person was seen... anywhere.

Looking behind them, they got a look at the building that topped the basement levels they had just emerged from. Done up in off white marble, with tall broken windows and a couple of pillars flanking the huge double doors, the overhang of the facade had the words, 'Historical Archive Society' chiseled into the stone. The rotunda in the middle of the structure was topped with a dome of copper, now dulled from its former shiny burnt orange tinge to a bland oxidized mixture of light and dark greens. 

Taking Lisa's hand, Mitch started walking down the sidewalk, mesmerized by the level of decay and the absence of anything living. They carefully picked their way around trash and junk that used to be people's belongings, and avoided areas where shards of broken glass and metal were splayed over the cement walks.

They passed store fronts with smashed windows and faded plastic signs and posters affixed to whatever solid surface was still intact. Doors to buildings, be they businesses or apartments, were missing or left open and plastic bags and crates of personal items were lying about in front of the structures.

The whole section of the city looked like a ghost town, unused and uninhabited... for years.

"Mitch?"

He finally turned to Lisa and answered her question, "I don't know. It looks like..." He wasn't sure how to describe what he and Lisa were seeing; he had never seen the like before, except in old photos of ruin cities after a war destroyed them. But the buildings didn't look like they sustained any type of damage from weaponry; none of them were hit with any bullets or shrapnel from grenades or bombs. They just looked deserted, as if abandoned years ago.

Mitch stepped ahead of Lisa and, taking a deep breath, shouted, "Helloooooo!" The echo of his shout ran down the street and bounced off the buildings, and he listened carefully once it died.

Nothing.

Lisa turned in the opposite direction and shouted, her cry bouncing back at her as well, with the same result. She edged back over to Mitch and curled her arm around his, shivering.

"Mitch... there's nobody here."

Mitch noticed something else. Not only did no one answer his call, not a single living thing was scared out of its roost. No birds, no dogs or cats, not even a single mouse. He looked up to see if anything flying could be seen, but the only thing drifting above them was a dingy sky. The light blue of the atmosphere had a tinge of light tan to it, and what clouds could be seen were tinted in sickly shades of brown and ocher.

"Let's keep looking," he said, holding Lisa close to his side.

They continued down the walk and peered into smashed windows and opened doors, looking for any sign of inhabitants and, so far, seeing none.

Lisa jerked her head to the side when she heard something; the sound of something fallen or kicked. Mitch heard it, too. It came from one of the rusted vehicles in the road. Hoping there was someone still in the city, Lisa darted towards the car she thought the noise came from. Mitch tried to stop her, but didn't reach her until she was already at the vehicle's side window.

He saw her face, frozen in shock, and her chest heaving up and down with every labored pant. He looked into the open window of the car, and saw...

In the back seat, two skeletons were lying next to each other. One was cradling the other, the smaller one obviously belonging to a child no more than seven, maybe eight years old. The larger of the two, a parent no doubt, was trying to protect their child from... what? The sound they both heard was the clatter of bones collapsing in on each other.

Mitch backed away from the horrid sight, but Lisa was still frozen in place unable to avert her eyes from the ghastly scene in the car.

"Lisa," he said, touching her shoulder. Then, more forcefully, he squeezed her arm and made her look at him, "Lisa..."

"They're dead," she whispered, a tear running down her face.

Mitch nodded, "I know, Honey; they're dead. Come away from there; c'mon, right now." 

Stiffly, she moved away from the car and let Mitch guide her back to the sidewalk. He idly noticed that the car didn't have any tires; in fact, none of them did when he looked more carefully and saw thin strands of wire around the hubs where rubber should be. Lisa clung to his arm as they went on with their search, tightening her grip when they came upon a few more skeletal remains lying in the street and across the walk. 

"There has to be somebody around here," Mitch remarked, still searching around the cars and structures, "They can't all be dead."

Lisa only heard half of what Mitch was saying, for she was still scared at the scenes laid out before them. Views of abandoned building and cars seemed endless as they made their way through the city, and the remains of people scattered about like so many leaves from a dead tree.

Mitch stopped in front of a store and scanned the interior, Lisa cautiously trying to see what caught his attention.

"Let's go in here," he said, heading for the open door with Lisa still clinging to him.

The store was a clothes shop, or at least it used to be. Empty hangers hung from walls and floor racks, with equally empty shelves along the back. Mitch went over to the counter and saw another skeleton lying on the floor behind it, old and partially crumbling. The register was open, but the only thing in it was change and what looked like tiny red and blue fibers.

"Hey," Lisa called out, getting his attention, "looks like we caught a break."

Mitch went over to her, seeing her point to the shelves. There were a few pairs of shoes and sandals still on one of them; the rest were empty. They both donned pairs of tennis shoes that were close to their sizes, and relaxed a little knowing they didn't have to worry too much about stepping on something with their bare feet and getting hurt.

Mitch felt a little more at ease when he heard Lisa snicker, and turned to her waiting for the reason.

"We look a little silly, walking about butt naked with only a pair of shoes on."

Mitch smiled back at her, "Well, you're the one with the exhibitionist's streak in her; now's your chance to show it all off."

Lisa laughed, feeling a little better about the situation they were in, but added, "I wonder why there aren't any clothes around."

Mitch shrugged, "I don't know. We were lucky to find these," he lifted a foot, indicating their shoes, "At least we'll be able to get around a little faster now; we won't have to worry about stepping on anything."

Lisa nodded, then said, "I think we should head towards the lab; we might be able to get some answers there."

"Exactly my thinking; let's go."

They left the store and proceeded down the walk again, this time heading towards the area of the park they tried to use the last time. It was close to the lab and, hopefully, they would avoid anymore grisly remains. As they walked, Lisa dug out her camera from her bag and started taking pictures while Mitch retrieved the recorder from his pack and started dictating...

'April 6- We've arrived in the next dimension a little over an hour ago, escaping from a gang of women who were against the sexual goings-on in their world. One of them, who was apparently raped, took it farther than just mere protesting and tried to injure me like she did with six others. We got away from them in time to jump into this universe.'

'However, it seems that we've jumped from one nightmare to another. In this dimension, it appears that Lisa and I are the only two living people here; so far, there has been no sign of any other human being, nor anything living. We've seen no people, no animals...' He paused to look around again, '...and no vegetation of any kind. The city looks deserted and left to rot, and the only thing we've encountered that shows that this city was inhabited are the skeletal remains of humans; dozens of them, so far.'

'We're heading to the lab in this dimension. If it's still there, hopefully we'll find the answers to all of this there.'

Mitch clicked off the recorder and stuffed it back into his pack just as he and Lisa came within sight of the park, or where it was suppose to be. 

But when they arrived, all they saw was an expanse of dirt and rock with indentations in the bare ground suggesting there was something there, but not anymore. A deep dent in the dirt indicated a pond that was now a large puddle, its exposed sides showing signs of erosion. Any life under the water line was gone, leaving only mud and gravel exposed at the pond's bottom. There weren't even insects buzzing around the still and stagnant water.

"I don't get it," said Lisa, confused, "The park doesn't exist in this dimension?"

Mitch started to answer, but stopped himself when he saw something familiar, "It was a park," and pointed towards what he saw. Looking more closely, they saw the rusted metal frameworks of three or four benches, their wooden seats and backs gone.

It finally dawned on Lisa.

'...like so many leaves from a dead tree.'

"There's nothing alive here," she said, her voice shaking a bit, "No people, no animals, and no plants. The trees are all gone, even their roots," she pointed at the various holes in the ground where trees were suppose to be, "There aren't any bushes or flowers or pond reeds," she looked at the ground around her, "not even grass." She looked at Mitch, the tears threatening to well up again and her breathing becoming erratic, "It's all dead."

Mitch reached for her and held her close, "I can't believe that; I won't believe it, until I have proof. Not everything could be dead; there must be something here that's still viable. There's still water here," he waved his hand at the small pond, "the sun is still shining through the clouds and, as far as we know, the air is still good. Where there's water and air and sunlight, there must be life; we just have to find it."

Lisa let his words calm her, and she started breathing better, saying, "Okay, then let's get to the lab and find out what's going on."

Hand in hand, the scientists walked through the desolate park and headed in the direction of the laboratory, still seeing remnants of decay with every block they traversed. Houses that lined the streets of nearby neighborhoods were nothing but piles of rubble, with glass, metal and ceramic pieces, and piping fixtures buried underneath as if the homes simply collapsed in on themselves. 

Nearing the area of the facility, they saw something that wasn't in the previous universes: a large church, grimy and unkempt like the other buildings they passed. 

Curious, they both wandered up the cement steps and paused for a moment before pulling on the huge metal door handles. The thick slabs of metal opened slowly, their hinges creaking with age, and revealed an entrance foyer. The pair cautiously entered the holy building and looked around, Mitch heading off to the side to check the staff's offices and Lisa edging towards the chapel. 

Dirt smudged the pieces of stained glass in the windows surrounding the chapel doors, oddly still intact and unbroken. The doors, also made of light metal, groaned open at Lisa's push... and her whole body froze on the spot after she took a few steps inside. Her eyes bugged out and she stopped breathing as her entire body started quivering.

Her head jerked downward when she heard a crackle sound, and something rolled towards her feet. When the object came to a halt, Lisa opened her mouth wide, but nothing came out.

It was a skull, sans jaw bone, its lifeless eye sockets staring up at her before it cracked and broke apart, disintegrating into chunky white powder. 

And the scream stuck in her throat finally leaped up and exploded from her mouth in a blood curdling shriek.

"Lisaaaaaa!" Mitch yelled out as he raced like a bat out of Hell from the offices to the chapel, his feet pounding down the corridor. He found her just inside the doorway, and she immediately jumped into his arms, wrapping hers and her legs around his body and didn't let go. Her whole body was quaking, and Mitch felt some drool from her open mouth run down his shoulder as she panted and cried in pure hysterical terror. He felt warm wetness on his groin and running down his leg as Lisa, terrified out of her mind, lost control of her bladder and urinated on him. Ignoring it, Mitch absentmindedly wrapped an arm around her waist and petted her head trying to calm her down, unable to tear his gaze away from the sight that dominated the chapel.

Skeletons of people were everywhere; dozens of them... hundreds, some of them side by side in rows, others scattered here and there, and all of them lying on the carpeted floor. There were a few others lying on the altar, one where the pulpit was suppose to be standing, and just behind them was a tarnished golden statue of Jesus, the arms spread out as normally seen during his crucifixion, leaning against the back wall as though it had fallen off its cross. 

Mitch knew what he was seeing. In desperation, people flocked to their places of worship and prayed to their deity of choice for salvation and deliverance from whatever it was that threatened their lives... and failed, their prayers not answered, their God not listening.

With Lisa still clinging to him and sobbing uncontrollably, Mitch backed away from the chapel and left the church, slowly shutting the doors and closing off the terrible sight of death.

"It's alright, now," Mitch whispered to her, "It's alright; it's over. We're outside now. Lisa... Lisa..."

She was still quivering, unable to let go of Mitch, and only hearing half of what he was saying. He felt him grab her legs and gently push on them, forcing her to release her leg lock on him and stand up.

"Lisa," he said, taking her tear stained cheeks in his hands and made her look into his eyes, "Lisa, look at me; look at me!" Her eyes darted to his and focused on him, "We're out of it; it's over."

"They're... they're... they're..." she panted, her eyes and nose still running.

"I know, Honey. I know; I saw it. You need to calm down."

Leaning away from Mitch's hands, Lisa paced a step or two and bent down. Breathing hard through her mouth, she realized that her hysterical crying made her sick and, gurgling and holding her stomach, she gagged and threw up all over the church steps. Mitch, letting her get it all out of her system, removed the wipes container from her bag as she gulped and coughed out more vomit.

Finally finished, Mitch pulled her away from the mess and cleaned off the remaining vomit and drool from her mouth and chin. He used another wipe to wash away the tear stains from her cheeks and wipe her nose. Once he was satisfied that she was okay for now, Mitch used another wipe on himself, cleaning away Lisa's urine from his crotch and legs, then cleaned Lisa using a wipe on her vagina and thighs.

Finished, Mitch took Lisa in his arms again and hugged her, rubbing her back and rocking her gently.

"I don't... I don't... I don't..."

"Lisa?" Mitch softly spoke, hearing her try to speak.

"I don't... I don't want... I don't want to be here. I don't want to be here, anymore," her erratic breathing returned; she was becoming hysterical, again, "I don't want to be here, anymore."

"Lisa..."

"There's nothing here; there's nobody here. I want to... I want to go; I want to leave," her words started to blur together; her tears started leaking from her eyes again, "I want to leave; I want to go home."

"Lisa!"

"I don't want to stay here; it scares me. Take me away, Mitch; I'm frightened! Take me away from here, please; please, take me away from here! Please!"

Mitch forced her to face him and shouted, "LISA!"

She was startled into looking at him, her lips trembling but her eyes focused on his again, more tears dripping down her face.

"Listen to me," he said in a calmer voice, "I know you're scared; so am I, but we need to be focused and clear headed. We need to get to the lab, do you hear me? We need to go."

Lisa nodded and sputtered, "We... we... we need... to go."

"That's right; we need to go," Mitch laid his palm on her wet cheek, "It'll be alright. We'll leave tomorrow morning, and everything will be fine. Okay?"

Lisa nodded as she got control of her breathing and calmed down after a few minutes of sniffling, then her face twitched into a small smirk with her cheeks turning red, and said in a small voice, "I'm sorry I peed on you."

Mitch tried to hold back a chuckle, but couldn't and said, "It's okay; that's the first hot water that's hit my body all day."

She let out a small laugh and wiped away her tears, "I'm sorry I got upset. It's just... all of this..."

"Don't be sorry. You were frightened and had every right to be upset. We're going to find out what happened, and maybe we can do something to fix it."

"Fix this?" Lisa waved her hand at the devastation around them, "How?"

Mitch sighed, "I don't know. I'm not even sure we can do anything. We'll find out what happened, and then go from there."

"Okay," Lisa agreed, then looked at the church, "Let's get out of here; I don't want to be here, anymore."

Mitch agreed wholeheartedly, and the two shuffled down the steps and away from the holy house, leaving behind the unholy scenes of death within it.

Trudging across barren lots of earth and in between empty buildings, Mitch and Lisa finally arrived at their destination, grateful to be near familiar surroundings.

The lab was still there, though different than what they were use to seeing. The sign on the front of the building still said 'Ener-Dyne Technologies', but the lettering was altered and looked older with a few of the letters missing. If the vegetation was different than last time, there was no way to tell. As with the rest of the city, the land around the facility was devoid of anything green.

The pair made their way down the gradual slope of the surrounding hillocks and walked up the main drive to the parking lot. Again, rusted out hulks dotted the pavement as they went up to the entrance, the glass doors shattered. Mitch stopped Lisa before they went in.

"We'll probably see more... remains inside. You know that, right?"

Lisa nodded and followed him inside, carefully easing around the glass bits still stuck in the door frames. They both needed to be careful, especially there. Even though their feet were protected by their shoes, the rest of their naked bodies weren't and neither of them knew what they'd find in the lab.

As Mitch predicted, they found a couple more skeletal forms on the floor of the main foyer, one of them behind the guards' security desk. He crouched over the remains and removed the guard's revolver and belt from it, trying not to disturb the bones.

Lisa watched him check the gun and asked, "Do you really think we're going to need that?"

Knowing what she meant, he answered, "Do you really want to take the chance that we won't?"

She shrugged a shoulder as he removed the bullets from the belt's pouches and dumped them into his pack, then headed for the main lab with Lisa beside him.

Mitch gently opened the lab doors and looked inside, aiming the gun in front of him. They both entered and couldn't see anything very well; all the lights were out and the window shutters were down. Mitch clicked on the flashlight and headed over to one of the windows, then pushed up on the shutter forcing it open. The outside light streamed in and gave them a better view, but they saw that it wasn't exactly their lab.




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 05



The equipment throughout the laboratory looked out of date, and judging from the dust that covered practically everything, not used in years. Computers sitting on desks and work benches were twice the size of the ones Mitch and Lisa (and almost everyone in their time) used, especially in scientific work, and there wasn't a single laptop to be seen. Everything had an obsolete look about it, as if this dimension was fifteen or twenty years behind the times.

Mitch glanced over to where their fusion prototype should be standing, but the only thing in that space was empty floor. Food wrappers and cups were on the desks, with jugs of water piled in the corner of the lab, most of them empty.

And scattered here and there among the work stations were more skeletons, all on the floor and some half decayed to dust.

"I see only four people in here," Mitch said, perusing the tables and benches, "and it looks like they all held up in here, away from... whatever it was killing everyone."

"Mitch, over here."

He moved over to where Lisa was standing, the remains of another person near her feet. She still had a nervous look in her eye, but she kept herself calm around the dead body.

"Find something?"

Lisa answered him by pointing to the table next to them. On the surface sat a strongbox, about as big as a computer tower and made of heavy duty metal and hard ceramic. Written on the lid was a message that read: 'All you need to know is in here.'

Mitch quickly reached for the latches, a rush of success leaping through him as he smiled at Lisa, "Good eyes, baby," and started to open the container.

"Hey, wait a minute."

Mitch stopped when the lid was halfway open at her remark, "What's the matter?"

"Look," Lisa knelt down and fingered the long white lab coat the skeleton was wearing. It was dirty and dust covered, but still intact. "We haven't seen any clothes around, anywhere. Even the... remains aren't wearing clothes. Why is this still here?" 

Not having an explanation, Mitch shook his head and went back to the strongbox. Opening it, he smiled at the contents.

"Jackpot."

Lisa stood up and peered inside the box with Mitch.

The heavy containment safe was full of files and folders, their tabs marked with report numbers and code letters. A few computer floppy discs were lying on top of the paperwork and a CD that looked old and a bit clunky was next to them. Mitch gingerly picked up the CD and examined it for any defects.

"This should be able to tell us something... if we can get one of these computers working."

Lisa agreed, "There's got to be a way to get some power in here," she looked around the laboratory, noting that every single light and computer control panel was dark, "They wouldn't have left these here if there wasn't a way to generate some electricity."

"Let's check the main breaker room," Mitch placed the disc back into the case and headed for the breaker area, with Lisa beside him. Once he opened the door, Lisa gasped upon seeing another skeleton lying on the floor and wearing another lab coat. 

"Lisa," Mitch said quietly, seeing she was nervous, "I saw a couple of lab coats on the far wall. Grab 'em for me, okay?"

She nodded and backed away, quickly getting away from the remains. But Mitch wasn't deterred by them; he saw what the body was lying next to.

A small, gas powered generator, with a can of fuel sitting on top. The power cables were hastily affixed to the breaker board, Mitch knowing that Lisa was right in her assumption. The can was almost full, and Mitch carefully filled the tank to the generator and flipped the starter switch. Giving the rip cord a hard tug, the machine sputtered. He tried again, and this time the generator roared to life and then idled to a more tolerable level of noise.

Out in the lab, Lisa stopped with a start as a few of the lights flickered and two of the computer towers clicked on.

"Mitch, it worked; we've got power."

Closing the breaker room door to cut off the noise from the generator, Mitch went back to Lisa and the work bench, taking one of the lab coats she handed him.

"I don't know," she said, slipping on the other coat, "I kind of like you better naked."

Mitch smirked at her, "These will protect us a little better in here; you behave yourself."

She snickered at him, and he took it as a good sign that she wasn't as nervous about their situation as before; she was starting to feel better. He also approved of her curvaceous body wrapped in laboratory white, especially the abundant cleavage she was showing off since the coat didn't quite button all the way up.

Removing the disc from the case again, Mitch inserted it into the machine's reader, then clicked the icon on the screen. A video window expanded, and Mitch and Lisa were surprised to see Darrin's face. But he looked different than how he normally did, at least in their dimension. For starters, he looked younger, his short gray hair was now a wave of light brown and thinning at the hairline. He didn't have as many wrinkles, but he still looked gaunt and thin, pale, almost sickly. Second, he was wearing a lab coat as if he was still working as a technician instead of the facility's director.

"Mitch," Lisa said, pointing at the lower corner of the video; the date flashed: 08/09/93.

"'1993'? That's almost twenty years ago." Mitch clicked the 'play' arrow under the image, and the video started...

'August 9- post-war log, day 14. This will be my final entry.'

'My name is Darrin Zane; I'm the chief lab technician here at Ener-Dyne Technologies. If you're watching this now, that means I'm dead. I'm hoping this record survives long enough for someone to find, because it is a testament to those who initially survived the attack.'

'There is a full record of what transpired on this disc, plus previous log entries as well as personal observation from myself and the remaining staff. This last entry is a summation of what happened, just in case the rest of the recording on this disc and the floppy discs doesn't survive.'

'On July 25, 1993, an extremist group from the Middle East declared war on the world, demanding that the governments of the nations surrender and convert to their religion and law. They aimed their hateful rhetoric mainly at the United States, but decreed that the whole world would suffer if their demands weren't met within 24 hours and said that God was on their side and would protect them. Because of previous attacks by this group, the world powers took them seriously and began an all-out assault on their territory.'

'In retaliation, their organization released a terrible weapon, one that involved biochemical agents that turned into deadly corrosive compounds when mixed with oxygen. Once the agents hit the atmosphere, it quickly spread over their target areas like wildfire and then across the globe. It dissolves and destroys any living organic matter it comes into contact with and, within a week, had destroyed most every living thing on the planet, including the people who used this weapon in the first place.'

'In the week that followed, a scant few survivors managed to contact one another, including ourselves, and discovered that the elements in the deadly agent would become inert within a month's time and be rendered harmless. The chemicals would release the oxygen it used back into the atmosphere and water but the damage has already been done, and there are no more survivors that we knew of as of three days ago when there were five of us left here.'

'We sealed off the laboratory, but the agent found its way inside somehow and we were all infected by the end of the week. Save myself, Amanda held out the longest and managed to help me put these discs together before she finally died. I will set up a generator in the breaker room if and when the power finally goes out before I'm unable to function anymore.'

'This will be my final message: to whomever is watching this recording, and if you can understand me, stay alive no matter what. Do whatever it takes to ensure your survival, because you just might be humankind's last hope. Don't make the same mistakes we made; don't let yourselves be destroyed as we have. This is your world now; don't waste it the way we did... please.'

'Stay alive, good luck... and farewell.'

The recording ended, the video window went blank.

Lisa just stood beside Mitch and cried, her tears running down her face and were clinging on her bottom lip as her mouth hung open in utter disbelief.

All Mitch could do for those moments was stare at the blank video square on the screen, then he turned his head towards the breaker room and whispered, "Darrin...", saying goodbye to his friend.

The two scientists stood there for a while, trying to wrap their minds around the fact that every living person... every living thing on Earth was dead. As far as they knew, they were the only living organisms on the entire planet.

Bringing himself back the here and now, Mitch shook off the shock as best he could and started digging through the files and folders in the case. Lisa reached in and took the floppy discs, loading them into a computer and clicking on the 'run' cycle.

Formulas and schematics of molecule combinations appeared, as well as diagrams and charts noting progression statuses. Lisa saw somewhat of the same when she glanced at a few of the papers in Mitch's hands, and then started reading the descriptive paragraphs next to the images on her screen.

"My God," she said, scanning the words carefully, "This stuff reads like 'acid'."

"Almost," Mitch nodded to her, perusing the forms in the files, "The agent that Middle Eastern group used apparently breaks down molecular cohesion in protein molecules, and another compound mixed with it retards the photosynthesis process and neutralizes chlorophyll. It literally lets plants whither away to nothing."

"And since most of our body parts are made up of protein, the agent dissolved the flesh and muscles right off of their bodies. Anything left over would..."

"...would decay and decompose like any dead body, leaving nothing but bones," Mitch finished. Then his eyes lit up in thought and mumbled, "The pews."

"What?"

He turned to Lisa, "The trees are gone, all the way down to the roots. The wood. That's why there were no pews in the chapel; they were made of wood and were dissolved along with the altar, and I'll bet the wooden cross on the back wall. And the pond in the park. The chemical agents reacted with the oxygen in the water and killed everything under the water line," he placed his hand on the pile of folders, "They must have gotten these files inside the case before the agent took hold, the sealed box protected them."

Then Lisa got a thought, "Of course; all the clothing. Most clothes are made of cotton or wool, natural organic fibers," she shimmied her lab coat around and looked at the tag, nodding, "Just as I thought: polyester, a synthetic fabric, man made. That's why they're still here; the agents couldn't destroy anything non-organic."

"How much you want to bet these are synthetic, too?" asked Mitch, holding up a foot to show off his shoe, then looked at the soles and mentally slapped his forehead, "Rubber. The car tires. That's why the only thing left is the coiled wire for the steel belts; the rubber dissolved, too." 

"The houses. The wood frame work dissolved and let whatever was left collapse," then Lisa's scared look returned, "What about us? What if the chemicals are still in the air, and..."

Mitch grabbed her shoulders and eased her fears, "Whoa, hold on. Remember what Darrin said? The agents lose their potency about a month after being dispersed. All of this happened years ago; the chemical compounds those extremists used are inert, now. They're gone; they can't hurt anything, anymore."

Lisa sighed in relief and calmed down, but her face twisted in concern when she looked at Mitch. An angry sneer was painted on his face.

"No," he growled, "The agents can't hurt anything, anymore... there's nothing left to hurt!"

"Mitch..."

Ignoring her, he stalked about the laboratory with frustrated steps and continued his rant.

"They murdered everyone; they murdered every living thing... and all because their God told them to!" He found a ceramic cross knickknack on one of the desks and snatched it in his fist, "Their God wanted them to kill everyone around them, and they killed themselves in the process! What do you think of your God now, you fucking idiots?"

Mitch threw the cross away, the ceramic desk trinket shattering against the far wall, then stomped over to the computers.

"Mitch!" Lisa tried to calm him down, but he wasn't listening as he pounded on the keyboard and yelled at the screen.

"You were so sure you were safe from the very thing that killed you and everything around you, because you thought your God would protect you! You had no idea what you were dealing with! You killed yourselves and everyone else for nothing!" He slammed his fists down and cracked the keyboard, making a couple of the keys fly off and clatter to the floor, "You fucking maniacs! You slashed your own throats!"

He grabbed the keyboard and ripped it away from the computer, flinging it across the room where it landed in several pieces.

"Mitch, stop it!" Lisa yelled, grabbing his arm.

He stood there with her at his side, his fists balled up in anger and gritting his teeth, shaking in rage. The horrific image of bones littering the landscapes of the world flashed through his mind. Almost seven billion people, gone. Seven billion corpses...

"Mitch," Lisa faced him to make him look at her, tears welling up in her eyes, "Remember what you told me? We need to be focused and level headed. These people are dead in this world; there's nothing we can do to bring them back, and we're just going to have to accept that. There might be something else we can do to help, but not if we're going to lose control," her tears started rolling down her face, "Mitch, please; I can't deal with this by myself. I need you. Please... I'm really scared," she hugged him tight, her tears falling onto his shoulder, "please, don't leave me... please..."

Mitch, his own tears wetting his cheeks, hugged Lisa and held her tightly as she buried her face in his chest and started bawling. He cried with her, mourning the loss of life around them. The plant life, the animals, the people... gone, all of it. All of the killing unnecessary, all of it... for nothing. They held each other for a long time, the only sounds were of the generator humming in the breaker room and their combined sniffling.

Finally, Mitch pushed Lisa back to face her and wiped her tears away with his thumbs.

"I won't leave you," he said gently, "I promise; I won't ever leave you. I didn't mean to yell like that; I was just mad at the fools who caused all of this. I just had to get it out of my system; I'm alright, now." He took her face in his hands and said in a tender voice, "You are the love of my life... and I will never leave you."

Lisa smiled through her tears and wrapped her arms around his strong shoulders, bringing her lips to his and whispered, "I love you," before giving him a loving kiss. He returned it with passionate warmth.

"So... what do we do now?"

Mitch thought about her question for a minute or two, then answered, "I want to take another look around, maybe behind the lab. Most of the area behind us is fields and forests, or at least it use to be. I think there might be a couple of caves around the low lying parts by the river. Maybe something survived there."

Lisa pulled away to look at him, "You think so?"

"It's a possibility, and it's as good a place as any to start searching."

"And if we don't find anything?" she frowned.

Mitch shrugged, "If we don't... so be it. We'll just hold up until tomorrow and leave when the gateway appears."

"Okay," Lisa nodded, then looked around the lab, "If we're going, we should take some things with us; some food and water, just in case."

"Good idea. I'll see if I can find some more clothing or table cloths or something; it may get cold later." 

The pair split up and searched the lab and the nearby rooms for anything they might be able to use during their trip into the wilderness. Lisa packed seven or eight granola and energy bars into her bag, their synthetic wrappers protecting the contents inside. She wasn't sure if they were still any good, but it was better than nothing.

Mitch returned from the storage rooms with a couple of tablecloths, both polyester, and also found a cheap plastic lighter, saying, "I don't know what we're going to set fire to out there, but you never know."

Lisa stuffed the sheets into her bag as best she could while Mitch picked up two small jugs still filled with water, ready to go searching.

"We'll come back here before we go through the gateway," he said, looking around and hefting the jugs, "Are you ready?"

Lisa nodded and asked, "What do you think we'll find?"

Mitch shrugged a shoulder, "We'll know when we see it; c'mon."

Turning off the generator before leaving, the pair left the lab and, once down the back hallway, found themselves outdoors again. The breeze blew over them in waves of heat as they walked across the back lot, going around rusted car hulks and reaching the edge of what was suppose to be an open field.

Tiny clouds of dirt and grit billowed up and drifted over their shoes as they made their way across the expanse of tan soil. The field resembled a desert, minus the cacti and tumbling sagebrush, and all that they could see after reaching the top of the hillock behind the building was shades of beige and ocher. 

Lisa and Mitch walked for almost an hour, plodding across dirt and more dirt, and still saw nothing even remotely like a plant. Rocks and boulders were scattered over the terrain, any moss or undergrowth that was growing on them now gone. Coming near the top of another hill, Lisa had to stop.

"Mitch, we need to stop for a minute," she said, breathless, "We have to rest."

Though the clouds blocked the sun most of the time, Mitch peered up at the blue-tan sky seeing a few rays of light and heat streaming down on them, and agreed.

They sat down on a boulder half sunk into the ground and took a break from their trek. Mitch handed her one of the jugs, and she gratefully drank from it and splashed a little on her neck.

"I should have realized it would be hotter than normal," Mitch said after taking a swig of water, "All the trees are gone; no shade."

Lisa nodded, "And the light colored ground is reflecting the light and heat back at us; there are no dark green colors to absorb any of it."

Mitch nodded back in agreement, then looked around him at the perpetual, seemingly endless acres of dust and bare soil.

Slipping off her bag, Lisa tugged at the lab coat she wore and pulled it off. She poured a little more water on herself, the rivulets of liquid running down over and in between her boobs. Mitch decided to do the same, baring his body and sitting on the coat while sprinkling water on himself as well.

"Oh, that's better," Lisa said, setting her water jug down. Then she looked at him with a sad, serious expression, "Mitch..." She really wasn't sure how to say what she wanted without discouraging his quest for some sign of life.

But she didn't need to; Mitch already knew what was on her mind.

"I know," he sighed, setting his jug down, then rubbed at his forehead, "I know." He then tapped his lips with his thumb as he gazed across the vast tracts of... nothing. Not one tree, not a single bush, not even one miserable weed. "There's nothing left, is there? It's gone... all of it. I was hoping there would be something, just one God damn blade of grass; something. I thought for sure that..." He trailed off in his thought, feeling utterly defeated.




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 05



Lisa edged closer and hugged him, laying her head on his shoulder, "I know you did, baby. I was hoping the same thing; hoping that you were right, that there was something left... anything. But..." She looked out at the fields of gritty soil, then turned away from it and started crying.

"I didn't want to give up," said Mitch, his voice warbling, "It can't be all gone... it... it can't be..." He turned to take Lisa into his arms and cried with her. For the longest while, the two scientists sat there on the huge rock and held each other, trying to understand how the devastation around them was allowed to happen, and wept at the total loss this world was dealt.

Just as he thought about getting up and going back to the lab, Mitch's eyes popped opened at something. He thought it was his imagination, but he tilted his head and realized that it wasn't.

"Lisa," he whispered to her, "listen. Do you hear that?"

Wiping her eyes, she cranked her head around and held her breath for a second or two. Then her eyes widened; she heard it, too.

"Yes," she said, just as quietly, "I hear it. It sounds like... running water?"

Mitch slowly rose from the boulder and turned towards the sound, listening carefully, "It's coming from..." he shifted again, then pointed to the hill behind them, "...over there."

Gathering their things, they both trudged up the gradual rise of the hillock and, once they reached the crest... dropped everything to the ground and stared in complete shock.

There, at the bottom of the small valley between the hills of desolate dirt, was a stream. It widened out a bit, bulging where the sloping ground would permit it, and off to one side was a small lagoon no bigger than twenty or so feet. But Lisa and Mitch could only stare in awe at what was near the banks of the running rivulet of clear water.

All around the stream and lagoon, stretching about fifty or sixty yards... was foliage, healthy and thriving.

Beautiful shades of green, from jade to emerald to deep forest, lined both sides of the stream and encircled the lagoon in blankets of tiny clover leaves. Beyond the edges of flora on either end was just wet earth and muddy sediment, waiting to be sprinkled with spores or roots from the plants digging into them. A couple of trees, no bigger than twelve or fifteen feet high, dotted the scape of green and threw shadows over the delicate sprouts of clover and grass blades. The field of plants spread itself out and away from the waters for only about a dozen yards, with a few solitary sprouts of plants peeking through the soil beyond and trying to add to the blanket of green, but it was there... alive.

For a second, Mitch and Lisa stood there in shock at the beautiful sight of growing things, then grabbed their belongings and hurried down the side of the hillock. They skidded to a stop just at the edge of the carpet of green clover, almost afraid to get near it for fear of disturbing the delicate growth. Slipping off their shoes and laying aside their gear, Mitch took a careful step onto the clover patch with Lisa following suit and gently stepped over to one of the trees.

Happy tears were coming from their eyes as they reached for the young tree's trunk, no thicker than one of Lisa's calves, and ran their hands along the smooth bark. Then Mitch dropped to his knees and spread his fingers over the leaves of clover, feeling the small tips of green against his fingertips and palms.

"This isn't a mirage," he whispered, touching the plants with elation, "this isn't imagination. This is real; the plants are real. They're alive."

Lisa, crying for joy, joined him on the ground and felt the pretty leaves tickle her outstretched hands. She smiled at him, her tears traveling around her upturned lips, "They didn't destroy all of it; it survived somehow."

Mitch smiled back, then looked up at the sky baring his teeth, "You hear that?" he yelled above, "Can you see it? You didn't get all of it! You hear me, you maniacs? Life is still here; you lose!"

Mitch grabbed Lisa and hugged her, then pulled her along with him as they rolled around in the clover, laughing and crying at the same time. They rolled to a stop near the water's edge, Lisa lying on top of him, and laughed just for the sheer joy of discovery. She laid her head down on his chest, still crying happy tears, as Mitch held her close. He looked up again and whispered, "You lose."

After snuggling in the soft clover for awhile, Lisa sat up and, wiping her face, said, "It's beautiful." She took in all of the greenery around them, then asked, "How long do you think it's been here?"

Mitch sat up with her straddling his lap and scanned the area, "Well, I'm not sure; I'm no botanist," he pointed to one of the small trees, "These trees were probably young saplings a few years ago. They're... what, twelve or so feet high, now?" He then looked around at the clover surrounding them and shrugged, "Best guess? I'd say... ten years, maybe a little longer. It probably took that long for the plants to cover this much area."

"But where did it come from?"

Mitch shook his head, "I don't know," then laid his hand on Lisa's cheek, "It doesn't matter, sweetheart. It's here; it's real... and it's growing. It'll cover the planet again," he tilted his head in another shrug, "eventually."

Lisa raised her brow, "But that will take millenniums... eons."

"I know, but it's a start. This world has been given a second chance. And who knows, maybe there are other patches of life like this one somewhere on this Earth. We found this one; there might be others. This Earth will be green again, just like it was before... someday."

Lisa nodded, "Maybe it'll even create animal life, again. Cells combining and multiplying; it could start the evolutionary process all over again. Wouldn't that be something to see; the actual process beginning and forming?"

"I would love to see that," Mitch agreed, but sighed, "Unfortunately, even if we wanted to see it happen, we couldn't. It'll take at least 100 million years for the ecosystem to be able to sustain any animal species, and twice that long before any animals with any kind of intelligence will emerge. I'm afraid we won't be around that long," he gently stroked her face and looked at the thriving green growth, "But don't worry; I'm betting it will happen. It's got a good head start."

Lisa huffed out a laugh and smiled.

They rose off the ground and walked around the area. They discovered a few more plant sprouts that were different from the thin grass and clover, and Lisa was pleased to see actual flowers blooming on the other side of the stream. Tiny petals of lavender and white dotted the shore of the small lagoon, with bits of yellow and red peeking out from under the clover growth.

"Let's check out the other side," she said, running back to the edge of the clover patch to pick up her bag, shoes, and water jug. Mitch grabbed his stuff and followed her, walking up to the stream's edge and carefully stepping into the running water.

"Oh, that feels better," Lisa sighed as the cool water lapped at her feet, helping to stave off the heat of the day. The pair waded out into the stream, the depth being shallow and only coming up to their calves halfway, and worked their way over to the opposite side. The bottom of the stream was soft, and Mitch saw the tiny clouds of mud and silt being churned up by their footsteps. He thought he could see tiny strands of water reeds and algae along the rocks and dirt of the stream's bottom, but wasn't sure.

Arriving on the other shore, Mitch and Lisa headed for the lagoon stepping through more clover and soft grass. The large pool of water was clear enough to see to the bottom, and they saw more reeds and algae sprouting among the stones and pebbles lying below.

Lisa dropped her shoes and bag and proceeded to wade into the lagoon. The cool water licked at her feet as she tested the ground underneath, and felt tiny stones and sandy silt between her toes. Mitch, shucking his gear and shoes, watch her slowly glide into the rippling water and admired the view. Her calves disappeared first, then her thighs, and finally her round butt slipped under the water line, and she sighed as the coolness snaked up her body with the water stopping just below her breasts.

"How is it?" asked Mitch, creeping towards the water's edge.

"Wonderful," Lisa answered as she turned to give him a frontal view. The water lapped just at the underside of her full round tits, the coolness making her nipples bud. Leisurely, she arched back and submerged the rest of her body and dipped her head back to wet down her hair. She floated for a moment, enjoying the sensation of weightlessness, then rose dramatically letting the water cascade down her body. Her long red hair was slicked back and droplets ran down over and in between her boobs, one dollop of water hanging from a stiff nipple and her necklace ring glistening in the reflecting sunlight.

"Well," she smiled, tilting her head, "care to join me?"

Mitch didn't need to be asked twice. With his cock starting to stir, he let the water envelope him in cool relief as he waded out to join her.

"You're right, it is wonderful." Mitch cupped some water in his hands and splashed it on his face, letting it draw the heat away from his head, and ran his fingers through his hair.

Lisa reached for him and rubbed his chest, staring into his blue eyes and getting a gleam in her green ones along with a sly grin. Mitch raised an eyebrow at her, already knowing what was on her mind.

She looked around at the beauty around them and asked, "Can we... please? It won't hurt anything, will it?"

Mitch thought about it for a minute. Would making love here in this rare oasis really hurt anything here? Would it disturb the growth that was determined to thrive in the desolate, arid wasteland that surrounded it and damage any chance it had of continuing?

Mitch smiled at her and shook his head, "No, I don't think it'll hurt anything." He took her face in his hands, "If nothing else, if it doesn't succeed in taking root and spreading... let one more beautiful thing happen here before we go."

Lisa beamed at him, bringing her arms up and around his shoulders, and the two scientists kissed with loving passion. Mitch drew her closer to him, pressing her wet soft skin against his and feeling her taut nipples poke into his chest. Lisa gently humped her hips into his and feeling his cock growing and rubbing against her pussy, its fattening head brushing her pubic hair.

Mitch rubbed her body, the beads of water warming up against her heated skin, and let his hands drift down under the water and cup the cheeks of her ass. Their kisses were fiery and lustful as Lisa's hands did the same, pulling his groin into her.

Lisa lifted her leg to his hip and, taking the hint, Mitch grabbed her thigh from underneath to steady her. He took hold of her other rising leg and held her there for a moment as she shifted her hips over his raging hard on. Feeling his cock head pushing against her pussy lips, Lisa bore down and allowed the fat glans to penetrate her inner folds. 

Mitch held fast to her as she arched back slightly and, with pants of sexual heat, slowly sank her vagina down onto his hard prick. Lisa squirmed and twitched as his length slid into her velvet soft hole and finally, with a small thrust, she yelped as she buried the rest of his cock inside of her.

"Ohhhhhhh, yes," she sighed, Mitch's firm dick wedged deep inside her snug pussy. She brought herself up to his face and tenderly kissed him, their tongues dancing, then said, "Love me, Mitch; love me right here. Make love to me in this beautiful place."

Mitch smiled warmly at her and lovingly kissed her again, holding her close and helping her ride his cock.

The only sounds from the oasis were the bubbling laps of water from the running stream and the two travelers moaning and sighing in content as they loved each other in the clear cool lagoon. The rustle of leaves was there but only slightly, the few trees not sufficient enough to generate the wind rushed sounds of a full forest. The only other thing that was missing that would have completed the beautiful loving moment was the sounds of buzzing insects and chirping birds, both absent for the time being.

Lisa rode Mitch faster and started to make splashing waves in the lagoon, mixing and churning whatever soft soil was still present at the bottom. Her moans were getting louder as she rocked herself on Mitch's member, enjoying the sensation of his hard shaft rubbing against her inner walls. Its bulbous head kept brushing her G-spot, sending electric sparks through her groin, and she felt the churning rush of orgasm start to build up inside. Between the coolness of the water seeping into her vagina and the heat from Mitch's prick, Lisa knew she couldn't stop the orgasm from coming forth.

Mitch watched her breasts bounce and jiggle with every thrust of her body, her nipples dancing wildly and her tummy fluttering. Her gyrations became harder, her breathing coming out in pants of frustration as her orgasm grew, and he knew she was almost there.

Humping at his pelvis like mad, Lisa quaked and thrashed about. "Oh, oh, oh, oh, yes... oh, yes! Oh, God; yes!" she cried out and, her whole body lunging and not being able to hold it back any longer, she released a loud and long, screeching groan as her orgasm overtook her and flooded her pussy with tickling fire.

Mitch felt her pussy muscles tighten up and clamp down on his throbbing cock, Lisa grinding her hips against his and yelping in delight as her come fluttered through her. Her body stiffened up and she let out a guttural groan as the last of her orgasm flushed through her pussy.

Her chest heaved up and down making her boobs wobble and sway, and she pulled herself upright with Mitch's help and her body sagged against his, exhausted.

Wading back to the shore line, Mitch cradled Lisa against him and carried her to a thick patch of clover and gently laid her down. The green leaves caressed her skin and haloed her wet hair as she stretched and got comfortable.

"Oh, that was wonderful," she sighed, watching Mitch lower himself down to lie next to her, "We have to do that more often."

"Absolutely," Mitch agreed, taking in the view of her wet soft body. To him, she looked quite comfortable in the outdoors; her naked form, with her red hair contrasting with the emerald green of the clover, seemed natural in the openness of nature. Like a blooming flower, she complimented and melded with the foliage perfectly.

"You look so beautiful in this place," he said, reaching for her and touching her thigh, "Naturalism and nudism agrees with you."

Lisa smiled back, "I like being naked outdoors; I never realized it before, until now. It's liberating; you feel so free, so relaxed... and it's erotic when you're with someone you love."

She peered into his eyes as his hand traveled up her leg, and she sighed when he felt his fingertips tickling her pussy. She returned the gesture by reaching over and gently took his still bloated cock into her hand, fondling and stroking it.

"You need to cum," she said, matter of factly after hefting his ball sack and finding it full. She made him lie back and hovered over his groin, licking her lips in anticipation. Her lips came down and wrapped around his cockhead, her tongue flicking at the piss hole.

Mitch groaned and enjoyed the sensation of Lisa's mouth around his manhood, its velvet softness inching its way down the shaft. She nursed his prick with loving care as her hand slid down her stomach and wormed its way between her legs. She moaned around his cock as her fingers found her clit and started wiggling her digits over it, teasing the delicate bud and making her pussy moist.

Releasing his dick with a slurping suck, Lisa looked at Mitch with hot lust and said, "I want you, again," and stood up to back away from him, inching her way towards the lagoon.

Mitch smiled at her, watching as she slyly dipped her body into the cool water again and wiggled a crooked finger at him, beckoning him to come and get her. With his cock throbbing and properly teased, he wasted no time in entering the water and grabbing for the horny woman waiting for him.

Mitch got behind her, rubbing her back and shoulders, and nuzzled his prick in between her ass cheeks. Lisa bent over and spread her legs for him, her nipples hard and erect as she waited for him to slip inside of her. He rubbed his glans up and down her slit, teasing it further with her soft vaginal lips, and made her gasp as he nudged the head into her pouting pussy. Her inner muscles immediately tugged at his member as it entered the tight hole, and she moaned in content when his shaft was all the way inside of her.

Mitch reached around and scooped her breasts into both hands, squeezing the soft mounds of flesh and teasing the nipples with his fingers. With steady thrusts, he fucked her from behind, Lisa responding by pushing her hips back to meet his lunges.

The water around the pair started churning and splashing over them as Mitch's humping intensified, spurts of liquid squirting up between them and landing on Lisa's jiggling butt.

Mitch fucked her faster and harder when he felt his sperm start to rise up in his cock, and Lisa urged him on with her moaning and pleading.

"Oh... oh, Mitch; yes... yes, yes, fuck me hard; fuck me! Oh... oh, God! Cum with me, baby; cum inside me! Oh... oh... oh, fuuuuuuuck!"

"Oh... oh, shit! Oh, yeah; I'm cumming with you, Lisa! Oh... ugh... ugh... aaaaarrrrgh!"

Arching back with every muscle in his body locked into place, Mitch growled loudly as his semen raced up his cock. Feeling it twitch and pulse inside of her, Lisa's body stiffened up and shook with release as her orgasm peaked and clamped down on her fiery cunt.

She squealed in ecstasy when she felt the first squirt of Mitch's cum splash against her pussy walls, and they reacted to it by clenching his prick and milking it for more.

Mitch grunted with each blast of cum being forced out of his cock, and he banged away at Lisa's ass to empty the rest into her greedy and hungry pussy.

A sobbing moan blurted out of Lisa's mouth as the last of her orgasm rinsed through her groin, making her tingle and quiver all over. Mitch released a satisfying groan as the last bit of semen leaped out of his dickhead, making him shudder in response.

Their heavy breathing was the only sound coming from the grove of green, other than the bubbling stream water, as they finally calmed down and collected themselves. The waters washed away any remaining cum from Mitch's cock, and Lisa wearily frigged her fingers at her pussy to help drain and wipe away the majority of semen in her vagina as well as her own juices.

Mitch scooped up Lisa into his arms and carried back to the shore, she snuggling against his body.

"That was amazing," she muttered, holding fast to him as he lowered her to the ground, "I never knew making love outdoors could be so... exciting and stimulating."

"It must be something in the water," Mitch replied with a smirk.

Lisa raised an eyebrow at the lame joke and gave him a smirk of her own, "Oh, that was bad."

They both laughed and laid down together for a while, letting the warmth of the day dry their bodies and relaxing in the comfort of the soft clover laden field.

Mitch turned his head and noticed that the sky was getting darker; the sun was setting and turning the cloud cover from a tan-white to a brassy bronze. Lisa sat up and stretched as Mitch started spreading the tablecloths they brought with them over the ground, one to lay on and the other to cover with if the temperature dropped. He reached for his pack and fished out the recorder while Lisa found her camera and started snapping away at the scenery while she still had some light. Mitch idly picked out a couple of snack bars from her bag as he dictated into the recorder...




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 06



"Oh, shit," Lisa huffed quietly as she stood next to Mitch, gazing at the vexillum, a flag-like banner, hanging on the wall in front of them and boldly displaying the emblem of the Roman Empire.

Mitch, still leaning close to her, whispered, "Told you it was going to be interesting." He then nodded at the guard behind the desk before them, acknowledging his salute.

"Good morning, Dr. Parus," he greeted in crisp Latin, then turned to Lisa, "Lady Parus, good day to you."

They weren't really that surprised to hear the Roman language coming from the guard; they almost expected it. What surprised them was that they actually understood what he said.

Mitch, taking a chance, cleared his throat and said, "Good morning," in Standard English. The guard bowed slightly and returned to his seat, obviously hearing Latin coming from him. Lisa simply nodded a greeting, not saying a word, and the two of them walked away and headed for the laboratory.

"He spoke pure Latin," whispered Lisa as they neared the lab doors, "He understood you?"

"Apparently, he heard Latin and not English," Mitch hissed back, "Maybe that's been arranged for us by this dimension, too."

The scientists entered the lab and took in their new surroundings.

All around the room, from the walls to the equipment, Mitch and Lisa saw what looked like a scene from a movie. The inner structure had the look of old architecture with its polished brass fixtures and marbled tiles and columns but, given the sights of modern computers and shiny floors and work tables, it was plainly new. It looked almost like a greeting room for Roman senators and statesmen to meet and discuss important matters of state. Off to the side, the test reactor sat waiting for more run-throughs, the controls and system fixtures gleaming in gold and bronze with the reactor sphere giving off a aura of shiny silver. 

"Ah, Mitchum," came a voice from behind them; it was Darrin in almost the same outfit as Mitch was wearing, his shirt being off-white and more formal looking with the 'toga' fringed in red, "Lyssa; everything in order, I trust?" He, too, spoke in Latin.

"Uh, yes; as far as I know, everything's fine," Mitch answered carefully.

Another lab tech walked up to the trio and said, "Excuse me, Darius. We just got word that Senator Collico will be here around 3:00 this afternoon."

"Good; thank you, Makala," Darius turned back to Mitch, "Well, we can relax for a bit, three or so hours at least. In fact," he glanced at his watch, "it's about time for the meal break, anyway; we might as well go now." He turned to the rest of the science team, "Okay, everyone; that's meal break. Get something to eat and relax; we'll start up the reactor in about two hours."

The team members, dressed more or less the same as Mitch and Lisa, filed out of the lab chatting about this and that, with Darius throwing back, "You two coming?"

Mitch broke out of his stunned silence and answered, "Uh, no; we're fine. Just going to do some fine tuning for awhile."

Darius nodded and left the lab, leaving the two scientists alone and surrounded by what they could only describe as a dream.

Mitch looked at Lisa with a cocked eyebrow and said, "This is all screwed up."

"Not in this dimension, it isn't," she replied, taking in the lavish fixtures of their laboratory. After taking it all in, they both looked at each other and said at the same time, "Computer," and marched towards their work desk. 

Mitch stood behind the chair as Lisa seated herself in front of the computer and typed in commands that would bring up their day's roster. Like the language they heard and apparently spoke, the text was written in Latin but Lisa and Mitch could read every word as easily as if it was in English.

"How is it we can understand this?" she asked, waving her hand at the screen, "I only know a few words in Latin."

Mitch rubbed his chin, "Well, the dimensions incorporate us into their worlds; maybe they adjust our hearing and speech, as well as our brains' language centers."

"That's convenient," she quipped, bringing up the proper computer data and idly noticing the keys of the keyboard were marked with Latin symbols here and there along with Roman numerals. "Okay, according to this we've successfully completed all of the major testing for the reactor. This last run is just for show, apparently; a senator is coming to see the results. He must be the one Darrin... Darius was talking about."

"Well, it's nice to know it actually works this time," Mitch remarked, glancing at the reactor with a smile, "Yeah, Michael said he'd be here in three hours... Damn, I mean Makala." He rubbed his forehead, "We're going to have major headaches before the day's out."

"Tell me about it." Lisa shrank the data down to the 'Tool Bar', then typed in a web browser. Once up, she looked up a general information site and typed in the 'Search' square, 'Earth History'.

"Okay," said Lisa, getting comfortable as the data she requested flashed on the screen, "from what I remember of our history, the Roman Empire was starting to decline between 400 and 500 A.D."

Mitch nodded, "Right, and it finally ended in the mid 1400's when the Turks defeated the last legions of the Empire and took over their territory."

Lisa scrolled passed the paragraphs of ancient history involving prehistoric times and the times of the Egyptians and early civilizations, until she finally found what she was looking for, "Here we go: 'The Rise of the Roman Empire'."

The narrative started out basically matching the history of their own universe, with legions of soldiers and bastions of colonizers expanding the Empire's territorial boundaries and statesmen setting up seats of power. Lisa's eyes narrowed in on the era she mentioned a moment ago and shook her head, puzzled.

"Wait a minute; this isn't right." She perused the paragraphs with confusion...  'The year 476 is generally accepted as the formal beginning of the Empire's vast movements to dominate the entire European Continent. That year, Orestes (Honorius' grandson) refused the request of Germanic mercenaries in his service for lands in Italy. The dissatisfied mercenaries, led by Odoacer, revolted and were defeated by the western legions sent by emperor Romulus Augustus, who replaced Orestes upon his death. Defeating the armies of Germanic, the Empire expanded their borders to encompass almost all of Europe, and this event has traditionally been considered the beginning of the Roman Empire's 'Great Expansion'.'

"That's not right," said Lisa, still confused, "The Empire was divided between the east and west. The Germanic armies deposed Orestes and captured half of their territories, including Italy. There was no 'great expansion'; that was the start of the fall of the Empire."          

"Apparently not here," Mitch commented, reading further down the historical text and his eyes widened, "My God, they didn't waste any time with the Turks." He continued with the paragraphs describing the engagement of the eastern and southern cultures...

'During the Muslim Conquests in the 7th century, the Empire gained its possessions in Africa and added vast tracts of lands to their territories, including the Arab-Islamic Middle East. The destruction of cities and ports of foreign powers and most of their ancient treasures, total discontinuity of leadership, and the division of the lands of rival states was a blow from which the great nations near the Empire never fully recovered.'

'In 1061, the Ottoman Turks banded the remaining forces of their neighboring nations' armies together in, what many consider, a last ditch effort to topple the Empire. That year the eastern part of the Roman Empire was under constant attacks from the Turks, led by Mehmed I, and futile skirmishes continued for the next five. Even though Mehmed I kept trying to conquer Constantinople and would attempt to declare himself the Emperor, Roman forces continued to turn him and his armies back. In 1067, he was finally captured and summarily executed and, even though this capture was in some ways far less catastrophic to the remaining forces than the sack of their main stronghold, the Ottoman Turks are usually considered the last main enemies of the Roman Empire until the end of the fourteenth century. After defeating the forces of the Asian territories, the 'expansion' continued unchallenged, and the glory of its success survives to this day.'                 

"Constantinople never fell in this universe," Mitch muttered, staring at the screen, dumbfounded, "The Turks were defeated, and the conflict happened four hundred years earlier than in our universe; they never had the chance to take over."

Lisa nodded, "And the Empire continued to expand across the globe and absorbed all other cultures into theirs." She skimmed through the later years of the great society, seeing names and dates corresponding with events that didn't happen in their dimension, "It took over three centuries to conquer Asia and the Far East, China being the most difficult."

"What about us?"

Lisa, knowing what Mitch meant, scrolled down to the period of expansion involving North America. She raised an eyebrow at what she read, and wasn't sure whether to be surprised or not, saying, "You're not going to believe this," and pointed at the monitor...

'In 1492, Emperor Columbus dispatched five ships of the Empirical Navy, along with a dozen supply ships, from the province of Spania in an attempt to establish new trade routes to South East Asia, specifically the former countries of China and India. Their journey was interrupted upon arriving at a new continent (specifically a major island group along the southern tip of the mainland), one that was unknown to exist at the time and populated with nomadic tribes that the leader of the expedition dubbed 'red barbarians'. Attempts to engage in trade negotiations ended in failure as the tribes considered the Romans 'invaders', thinking them slave traders, and immediately set upon them in force.'

'Sending a ship back to Spania to inform the provincial government of their discovery and the resistance they had encountered, the legions of the expedition held their own for the time being without too much effort. Approximately two months later, a fleet of warships and dozens of colonizing vessels arrived only to find that the original Roman soldiers had already defeated the combined forces of native tribes and claim their lands as their own. The next year, Roman forces sailed to the mainlands of the northern and southern continents to establish ports of interest, and by the end of the first decade of the 16th century had taken control of all of the southern continent and major portions of the eastern and lower coasts of the north.'

"My God," Mitch uttered, "The early explorations of Spain and Portugal, the Conquistadors, the early settlers and colonists from Great Britain... none of it happened here. It was all under Roman control."

Lisa perused the paragraphs that followed, and said, "The British never colonized the United States; there was no 'American Revolution', no Louisiana Purchase from France, no territorial disputes with Mexico. And every single Native American tribe... was wiped out," her voice lowered in a shocked whisper, "The American Indian is now an extinct species."

Mitch slowly nodded, seeing other remarks about other cultures, "So are the tribes and groups from Southeast Asia and Australia; there all gone. The native Negro population of Africa was reduced to..." he blinked, making sure he was reading it right, "...less than fifteen percent; about the same for the Asian populace. The Arabic population is practically non-existent."

"What kind of people would do this?" asked Lisa, still shocked by the numbers.

Mitch laid a hand on her shoulder and answered, "The same kind of people that colonized the 'New World' in our dimension, only the Romans in this one took it a few steps further."

"'A few'?" Lisa gasped, "This... 'Empire', wiped out entire civilizations all in the name of their 'expansion', and didn't even blink!"

"Nations have been doing that since the beginning of recorded history, Lisa. At one time, Egypt controlled half of Africa and most of the Middle East. Our Roman Empire controlled the entire span of the Mediterranean and over half of Europe for centuries before being toppled. England, France, Spain, Portugal, dozens of other nations had their aggressive colonizing periods; they all seized lands and resources for themselves and pushed aside the native populations. The American Revolution was one of the first to break that kind of iron grip, and even after that they went on to dominate North America and take control," he glanced at the screen with sadness, "But here, the 'Revolution' never happened; there were no British Colonies to revolt against their mother country. Every colonization was under Roman rule, and they captured the world."

Lisa tapped in another command to the computer, and a political map of North America sprang up, with the United States dominating the center, but what she and Mitch saw wasn't what they expected.

"'The Empirical States of America'?" Mitch gazed at the map with disbelief, with Lisa equally puzzled by the radical changes to what used to be their home.

One third of the 'states' were gone, insofar as the states they were use to seeing merged in some places and were no longer represented on the map. There was no 'North' and 'South' Dakota nor were there two Carolinas; just Dakoa and Carlinus, with Virginia and its 'West' sister state simply called Ginia. The province/state of Texia encompassed New Mexico, Oklahoma, and half of Arizona along with a good portion of Mexicilia just passed the Rio Grande. The province of Califia took the other half of Arizona, along with Nevada and the lower half of Oregon. There were no New England states; the entire area from the upper tip of Maine to the opposite corner of Connecticut was now Manus. New York, as well as the four states below it, was now called Yoric and seated where Maryland should have been was the capital city of the E.S.A. called Roma Ayin, officially established in 1790.

Lisa looked that up and found that Ayin is the sixteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, telling her and Mitch that this capital was the sixteenth seat of power created by the Empire to rule over the northern continent. All of the world nations' presiding 'Caesars' ruled over the provinces of their territories and the provincial governors who were in charge of them, but answered directly to the Grand Empirical Senate and Emperor of Roma Prime, simply and still called Rome, still located in Italy where it had been for centuries.

"Interesting changes," Lisa muttered while she typed in a command that would bring up the current laws of the land. An official site popped up with the vexillum displayed at the top of the page, and she glanced through the statutes basically hitting the highlights.

"As far as I can see, nothing is that different than the laws we're use to. Punishments for breaking them, however, are a little more severe. They seem to be pretty lenient when it comes to the minor stuff, but the more serious crimes..." she looked through the list of punishments and shuddered, "everything from public flogging and pillorying to impalement and burning at the stake."

"Whoa," said Mitch, seeing public hangings and crucifixions were also on the list, then raised an eyebrow, "You've got to admit: those are some pretty good deterrents." 

"It's beastly," she scowled, but then checked another set of statistics, "but they are effective; crimes rates here are less than half of what they were in our universe." She scanned the entries further and inhaled sharply when she reached a certain level, "My God, Mitch; look."

Mitch hunched over her shoulder and read the paragraphs, unable to believe it himself...

'Though many attempts over the centuries were made by humanitarian groups to banish the practice, slavery is still considered a viable trade and commodity among most major metropolitan areas of the world.'

'However, certain legislation and amendments to the Empirical Laws and Mandates Scriptures have been introduced over the course of the last century to ease the repressive nature of slavery, thus making it more 'humane'.'

'By the mid 1970s, slaves were permitted to vote in accordance with voting and registration laws in their respective provinces. Many benefits and entitlements were given to slaves and their purchasers, such as medicines and surgical benefits and monthly stipends once they reached a certain age, as well as tax easements for their owners in order for them to offer said benefits. The ruling Caesars, in agreement with the Grand Empirical Senate, established a government funded program guaranteeing monthly payments and medical benefits for slaves who have ended their service due to age and/or infirmity.'

'Recently, some representatives of the Grand Senate have drafted a proposal that would lead to the final abolition of slavery, as many supporters in their respective provinces see it as 'unnecessary in this day and age'. Though the proposal has been introduced on the Senate floor, a committee has yet to be formed to study it and its long term effects on the general populace and economic futures.' 

"I don't believe it," Lisa uttered, astonished, "They've turned slavery into a corporation, dressing it up as a 'business'."

"Well, slavery was a major business at one time, and very profitable too."

She looked at Mitch with a contemptible glare, "I can't believe you actually approve of this!"

"Now hold on; I never said that," he fired back, trying to calm her down, "What I meant was the slave trade here has taken its natural course. Slavery started out as brutal and sometimes sadistic, treating slaves like animals. But in this twenty-first century it's evolved, becoming progressively more advanced and humane, and less evil if that's possible."

"How the Hell is owning another human being 'less evil'?"

"Well, look what they've done," Mitch waved a hand at the screen, "They've given them basic human rights, including the right to vote and proper citizenship, not to mention fair wages and medical benefits, even social security after they retire. That's a Hell of a lot more than what slaves in our universe ever got."

"Well, yeah; but it still doesn't make it right. You said it yourself: 'a gilded cage is still a cage'.

"And I agree with you; it isn't right. But it's not our right to try and change it; that has to come from the people in this dimension, not us." 

Lisa stood up and embraced Mitch, shivering slightly.

"Honey, what is it?"

She looked into his eyes and answered, "I don't know. I've got the strangest feeling that something isn't right about all of this, and it scares me because I don't know what it is."

Mitch held her close and rubbed her back, "Lisa, it'll be okay. It's just for a day, and we've had it tougher than this. We'll be all right. In the meantime..." He reached around for the pack under his tunic and pulled out the recorder, with Lisa fishing for her camera. As she took pictures, Mitch entered the next log entry...

'April 7- We've arrived in the next dimension about an hour or so ago, and it is radically different from what would be considered the 'norm', meaning the universe we're use to.'

'In this dimension, their Roman Empire never fell and is now the major ruling government body of the world. Every continent is under Roman control and has been for nearly three centuries, but despite the differences in attitude and structure it isn't altered that drastically on a basic level. Laws don't differ that much from what we're use to, but some of their punishments are more on the brutal side meant to deter further crime.'




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 06



'The architecture is a stylized version of what someone would see in a typical gladiator movie, as well as the clothing people are wearing. Almost every aspect of Roman life has been upgraded to modern standards, and twenty-first century technology is present, their advances typical of a progressive and ever changing world culture.'

'However, the past atrocities of the Roman Empire we knew still exist in this dimension, chief among them is slavery. Even though it has been advanced to 'corporation' status with wage and health benefits, the practice of owning slaves is still prevalent in this society. Although, so far, Lisa and I haven't seen any evidence of slaves being treated poorly or unfairly. In fact, we haven't seen anyone that would be considered a 'slave'... yet.'

'We'll keep investigating, but for the time being we'll try to be as 'unassuming' as possible and go along with events as they occur.'

Mitch put away the recorder as Lisa took a few more pictures, then stashed her camera. He stood there for a moment, admiring the view she was giving him.

"Have I told you you look beautiful in that?" He motioned to her flowing outfit that seemed to cascade over her shapely body.

She looked down at herself and grinned, "I just wish it wouldn't show off so much skin." she indicated the abundance of cleavage she was presenting, along with the amount of leg and hip exposed, and hissed, "I'm not wearing underwear under this."

"I know," Mitch smirked, drawing near to her.

Lisa cocked an eyebrow and grinned, "I know what's on your mind; you behave."

"I can't help it; that dress..."

Mitch gently took Lisa into his arms and lovingly kissed her. Her arms came up and wrapped around his shoulders, as he slipped a hand between the delicate chains that held the dress folds in place and felt around until he found and cupped her bare ass cheek. She squirmed against his as he fondled her, and her tongue started dancing with his.

They were both shocked back to behaving when the lab doors opened, the team member filing back into the room with Darrin in the lead.

"The senator will be here in less than an hour," he announced to the room, "I want all systems ready for the demonstration."

The techs and assistants scrambled to their proper stations as Darrin approached the married science team, Mitch barely able to remove his entangled hand from Lisa's dress in time.

"Okay, you two ready?"

Mitch nodded, "Uh, right; let's get it revved up."

He and Lisa went to the main control console, its golden and silvery instruments shining and blinking for attention. The layout was a match for their original console, except for the uniform colored buttons being replaced with metallic hued controls.

An hour went by, then everyone in the lab was startled by fanfare music coming from the foyer of the building. Two elaborately uniformed soldiers entered the room, swords drawn and held in front of them in salute. Two formal looking men, dressed the same as Mitch and Darrin but more studious and 'official' looking strolled in and one of them spoke, "Sirs and Madams, Lords and Ladies, his Empirical Honor Collico, Imperial senator of the province of Califia."

A well dressed middle aged man walked in, his attire adorned with gold clusters and bejeweled signets of authority, and the two soldiers presented their swords forward as he passed. A young woman, slim and lithe with extremely long straight black hair stepped in time behind him, holding an electronic notepad. Her outfit almost matched Lisa's, except for the absence of a dagger, and a loose gold collar hung around her neck with a stamped tag dangling from the front.

My God, thought Lisa as she bowed along with Mitch and the rest when the senator entered, and already knowing what the neck ornament meant. She's a slave.

"Samson!" Darrin exclaimed and approached the gentleman.

"Darius, my friend!" Collico invited him into his arms, and they hugged as old friends often do, "You are well, I trust? How is Amada?"

"Just fine; she sends her love," Darrin answered with a smile.

"Valin wants to know when you two are coming out to see us; you know the girls love seeing their Uncle Dar and Aunt Ama."

"Tell her next month during the holiday; I promise." Darrin ushered his friend through the lab, introducing the team. Then he approached Mitch and Lisa and gestured to his friend, "Samson Collico, Califia's senate representative. Samson, these are our two scientific wizards and the heads of our newest project: Doctors Mitchum and Lyssa Parus."

Collico extended his hand, "A great pleasure, Doctor."

"An honor, Senator," Mitch replied, shaking it.

"Lady Lyssa," he kissed her hand.

"A pleasure, sir," she beamed with her most winning smile.

"Darius has told me great things about you two. If this project is as successful as he claims it will be, a whole new era will thrive within the Empire."

"Shall we get started?" Darrin pointed to the team members around the room, and they all moved with the precision of a ballet troupe to their stations. Mitch and Lisa started the pre-fire sequence just as they had before, and the machine hummed to life with the reactor sphere glowing silvery white.

The test went as planned with no mishaps, the reactor sending the new alternative energy to a turbine and the group shut it down once the test was complete, smiles on everyone's faces at another successful test run.

"By Jupiter; astounding!" said Collico, impressed, "All that power generation with only a small percentage of energy needed! Fantastic!"

The lab team broke out in applause, with Mitch and Lisa smiling at their success.

"Didn't I tell you?" asked Darrin, nudging his friend, "Absolute genius!"

"Genius and a half!" Collico patted the two scientists on their shoulders, "Well done, indeed; congratulations! Wait until I present this to the Grand Senate; it'll blow the roof right off of the Senatorium! All the gods will favor you both for this!" He turned to his aide, "Tella, I want you to gather all the information on this project; I want to be able to give a full presentation to the Senate within the month."

The girl with the notepad nodded, "Yes, Senator."

As Darrin and Collico walked about the lab and praised the science team, Tella edged up to Mitch and Lisa and whispered, "Congratulations, Doctors; may the sun bless your work," and then scurried away, jotting down notes and gathering tech info from the team members.

Lisa raised her brow at that and muttered, "What was that?"

"I'm not sure," Mitch hushed back, "Did they have sun worshipers in the Roman Empire?"

"If they did, it wasn't recognized by Rome as a religion."

They talked among their team for a while, shaking hands and accepting their congratulatory praises, until it was time to call it a day. The lab techs left the building, followed by Mitch and Lisa, and headed home. The two travelers walked a bit into the parking lot until they stopped abruptly when a man got out of a very plush and expensive car and addressed them. A tall, dark skinned young man of possible Arabic descent wearing the same type of collar and tag that the girl Tella was wearing.

"Lord Parus, Milady," he said, very politely, "Ready to go?"

Mitch wasn't really sure how to acknowledge, so he simply nodded. The young driver opened the door for them, allowing Lisa to enter first, then jumped back into the front seat.

"Home, my Lord?"

Mitch just nodded again, acutely aware that this man was a... no, 'their' slave.

Pulling out of the lot, the driver picked up a mobile phone and spoke, "This is Kennis. Lord and Lady Parus are on their way home for the day."

Mitch and Lisa strained to hear the response, but managed to pick up, "Very good; I'll inform Madga to prepare dinner."

"Thank you, Denai; blessed be the sun."

For the most part, they rode through the city in relative silence, gazing at the magnificent structures of stores and buildings all decked out in both the classic and stylized Roman designs. The cars weren't too different from their counterparts in Mitch's and Lisa's universe, though Lisa smirked a bit when she saw a few license plates stamped in Roman letters and numerals.

The car went passed what was suppose to be their apartment building and continued for another twenty minutes before slowing. The vehicle crept up to a pair of parting gates that opened onto a very well-to-do estate in the countryside, with trees and flowers shrubs lining the drive. Mitch and Lisa were in awe of the sight of their 'home', with white colonnades and large windows that made the dwelling look like a smaller version of the White House.

Kennis opened the car door for them and allowed them to enter first, the doors being opened for them by another person inside.

"Maggie," Lisa quietly gasped, seeing their 'science tech' standing before them and bowing slightly. Her long brown hair dipped over her eyes as she tilted her head down and said, "Lord Parus, Milady; welcome home." She wore a poncho-style tunic that was belted at the waist and dropped just above her knees, showing off a generous amount of bare skin along the sides. As with Kennis, she too wore a gold collar.

She took an educated guess and replied, "Thank you... Madga."

"Your day went well, my Lord?"

Mitch spoke up, realizing she was speaking to him, "Uh, yes; very well. Senator Collico was very impressed with our work."

Another young woman, again with a neck collar, strolled out from a side room and extended her hand to take Mitch's over garment, and his eyes lit up when he saw it was Denise wearing the same revealing outfit.

"Your cloak, my Lord?"

Snapping out of his surprise, he unhook the garment and handed it to her, Denise bowing and leaving the foyer.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour," said Madga, "Would you care for coffee, my Lord?"

"Uh, yes Madga; please bring it to our bedroom."

She nodded and backed away as Kennis stepped up, and, "I shall inform Collin to prepare your chambers for your evening pleasures while you are dining, my Lord."

"Yes, thank you Kennis; please do."

Mitch watched him go towards the stairs as Madga returned with a small tray with steaming cups. She headed for the same stairs with Mitch and Lisa following, Lisa giving him a 'What the Hell is all this?' look. Mitch returned it with a quick shake of his head and a 'Not now' look of his own. On the second floor, Madga paused and opened a pair of wide doors and sauntered into a spacious room; the master bedroom, complete with large canopy bed, vanity mirrors, and a dresser that looked like it came from a king's dressing room.

"I will call when dinner is ready," said Madga, setting the tray down then bowing and backing out of the room. 

Once the doors were closed, Lisa was about to explode into a tirade but Mitch stopped her with a finger to his lips. He quietly stepped over to a door to the side and listened, hearing someone arranging things in the next room; the opposite door emanated no sounds and was quiet. 

Taking the hint, Lisa lowered her voice to a hiss, "I don't believe this; we're slave owners?"

"Now calm down," Mitch hissed back, holding her arms, "In this universe, apparently we are."

"We would never condone this kind of thing, much less participate in it."

"Normally, no; of course we wouldn't," Mitch ran his fingers through his hair, "You have to remember that the dimensions morph themselves to include us."

"So it's showing us who and what we really are here? I can't believe that; I won't." Lisa turned away, frustrated and sickened at the thought of actually owning another human being, "'Owning' servants, treating them like cattle..."

"Now hold on," Mitch interrupted, "you don't know that for sure. As far as I know, I'm still the same person I was when we left our dimension and you know damn well I would never treat anyone like that. Neither would you."

Lisa huffed, still fuming inside, "Is there any way we can change this... arrangement while we're here?"

"For all we know, we may already have. That website said that most former slaves stay with their former owners because they already have good wages and benefits; maybe we've done the same here. Our situation may be just like hiring a butler or maid, or a chauffeur; they don't act like 'slaves' to me."

"Maybe," Lisa sighed, "it's just the thought..."

"I know; I don't like it, either," Mitch reached out and hugged her, "But for the time being, we should just act casually and not think of them as 'slaves'. Remember: we can't do anything that will disrupt normal events here."

Lisa kissed him, "Oh, alright; I'll go along with it, for now. But if we're suppose to be tyrannical overlords here, I won't do it no matter what this dimension wants."

"Neither will I." Mitch kissed her deeply and smiled, "Shall we change for dinner? Would that be appropriate?"

Lisa shrugged, "Why not? As long as we're here..."

They both explored the wide closets and found many garments, from ordinary (if one would call simple togas and wraps ordinary) to stylish (elaborate gowns and dress suits adorned with gold and jewels). Mitch and Lisa decided that something understated would be fine; after all, it was just dinner. 

Mitch chose a nice wraparound tunic of off beige with dark slacks and black sandals, the shirt showing off the center of his muscular chest. Lisa picked out a simple toga wrap in light blue, the waistband of the garment the only place where it was held to her body. The remainder wrapped around her torso from the back, draping over her left shoulder to hold it in place over her boobs and leaving that side bare, and flowed below the band down to her ankles in the front and back showing off her legs and hips.

To make sure they didn't attract attention, they both removed their necklaces and Lisa's stopwatch and placed them, along with the pack and bag, in a dresser drawer. As they sipped at their coffee, they admired each others' appearance in the large mirrors.

"I like the way your shirt shows off your chest," said Lisa, running her fingers over his pecs. 

"And I like the way your outfit shows off... everything else," Mitch replied seductively, almost drooling over her barely covered body. Just as he was caressing her exposed skin in an attempt to feel her up, there was a knock at the door.

"Curses, foiled again," Mitch sighed, with Lisa snickering at him, "Come in."

Denai entered, her soft chocolate brown cleavage presenting itself when she bowed, "Excuse me, my Lord; dinner is ready."

"Thank you, Denai; we'll be right down."

She nodded and left, with Mitch putting his hands back where they were on Lisa's body, "Where were we?"

Lisa giggled as she felt his palms feeling their way under her skirt flaps and grabbing her bare ass, "Stop that; I'm hungry."

"So am I," Mitch bend down and nibbled at her neck, making her smile and snicker.

She reached down and fondled the growing bulge in his pants, whispering with lust in her eye, "Later, baby... later."

Frustrated, they broke apart and headed for the dining room, Mitch watching her butt cheeks peek out with every step and gave one a quick pinch when they got to the bottom of the stairs, making her squeak.

"Behave," she hissed as the two walked through the grand house. They found the dining area and were amazed at the elegant decor. The table, easily twenty feet long, was solid oak stained a deep rich brown with high backed chairs to match. Mirrored artwork surrounded them on every wall, with a large china dinnerware hutch dominating one of them and two lower long cabinets directly opposite.

Denai pulled out the chair at one end and gestured Mitch to sit, while Kennis offered the chair next to it to Lisa. Madga pushed a cart into the room, bearing plates of Caesar salad (naturally, thought Lisa with a slight smirk) and a wine carafe. The attendants left the pair to eat in peace, giving them time to talk further.

"You know, I think you may be right," said Lisa after swallowing a mouthful of greens, "They don't act like 'slaves', more like servants in the movies. They don't seem to be afraid of any reprisals from us; they're definitely not cowering in fear of us. Maybe we're not the typical 'slave owners' everyone automatically thinks of when you think about it."

After taking a drink, Mitch nodded, "Yeah, maybe we already have done something to change things here."

They finished their salads and Mitch called for Madga, the lithe brunette entering with the cart, "You are ready for the next course, my Lord?"

"Yes, Madga; the salads were delicious."

She smiled a shy grin, "Thank you, my Lord."

As she cleared the plates, Mitch spoke to her, " Madga, may I ask you something?"

"Or course, my Lord."

"How long have you been with us?"

"Almost six years, my Lord."

Mitch nodded, then looked at her carefully, "Tell me, are you happy here?"

Her eyes widened a bit and seemed almost afraid to answer, "Of course, my Lord; you have never given me any reason to be unhappy. If I may, why do you ask?"

Mitch cleared his throat and pressed forward, "I have heard that a few of our representatives in the Senate are pushing a certain mandate through that would grant freedom to you and the others, and abolish slavery for good. Would this be something that would please you?"

Madga balked a little, not quite sure how to respond, but Lisa laid a hand on her arm and said, "It's alright, Madga; you can tell us. Would this please you?"

Her bottom lip started to quiver as she slowly nodded and muttered, "Yes... yes it would, Milady. It has been something I've dreamed of ever since I was young."

Mitch looked at her thoughtfully, "You've been a slave for a long time, haven't you."

Madga nodded again, a tear in the corner of her eye, "Since I was nine; I've known nothing else. You and Lady Lyssa are the first ones who ever treated me well." The tear rolled down her cheek.

Mitch fumed inside, imagining what she had to endure since childhood and didn't like what his imagination conjured up, and grumbled, "That won't do." He rose from his chair and wiped the tear from her face, saying in a very gentle and fatherly voice, "Madga, would you please call the others in here?"

"At once, my Lord," she bowed and hurried to the kitchen.

Lisa stood up, "Mitch, what are you going to do?"

"I am not going to tolerate this any longer," he groused, "mandate be damned."

"What about all that 'disrupting the normal flow of events' stuff?"

"I don't care, anymore," said Mitch, a steely resolve in his voice, "If something gets changed, so be it. If it doesn't, then 'no harm, no foul'."

The rest of the servants entered the dining room behind Madga and stood side by side, with Kennis saying, "You sent for us, my Lord?"

"Indeed I did," said Mitch, pacing in front of the group, "I called you all in here for four reasons. First: I want to ask you what I asked Madga about the slavery abolition bill that the Senate is planning. Would this be something that you would be in favor of?"

They hesitated for a moment, then the group nodded shyly, uncertain as to the intent of their 'owner'.

"Good; I'm glad to see you favor this proposal, because Lyssa and I favor it as well." That brought shocked looks from the servants. "Secondly: you are no longer to address me as 'my Lord'. It makes me sound too... 'regal', if you know what I mean; I am not the Emperor." A few quiet chortles came from the group, making Mitch and Lisa smile, with her adding, "And you don't have to call me 'Milady', either; that makes me sound old." This also produced snickers.

"Third," Mitch continued, "the main reason you don't have to address us in that manner is because, as of now... you are no longer slaves." With that, Mitch got behind the group and unclasped the collars from their necks, with Lisa joining in and undoing the girls' necklaces. Once done, the males gawked at Mitch, with the young ladies almost in tears as Mitch gathered the collars and dramatically tossed them into a waste can.




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 06



"I don't care if they pass the mandate or not; I won't let the government tell me what I can and can't do with the people who work for me. As of right now, you are all free."

Madga beamed a bright smile as tears rolled down her cheeks, Denai joining her with a choked sob of joy. Kennis and Collin laughed in surprise and clasped hands in friendship and congratulations, and all of them thanked Mitch and Lisa profusely at their generosity.

"That's quite alright; I'm happy to do this for you," Mitch shook their hands and returned the excepted hugs from the girls, then, "And finally: have you eaten yet?"

Caught off guard a bit by the question, Denai answered, "No, my Lord... um, Dr. Parus. We were just about to sit down to eat, after Madga served your meal."

Mitch shook his head, "Well, we won't have any of that tonight. Bring your meals in here and join us; we'll celebrate your new freedom."

He and Lisa followed the staff into the kitchen and helped them bring the dinner items to the dining room, Mitch returning with more wine and glasses. They all enjoy their meals and conversation, mostly about what the four servants would like to do with their new found freedom. Kennis and the girls asked Mitch and Lisa if they could stay and work for them. Mitch agreed on the condition that they not only accept a raise in pay, but they also were to be referred to as 'caretakers' of the manor and not 'slaves' or 'servants'. That brought smiles to them as well.

They continued their talk in the living room after dinner, relaxing after a superb meal. Collin went on to say that he would like to stay on as well, but only for a short time. He wanted to go to school and study in order to improve himself, to which Mitch approved wholeheartedly and offered to help him with obtaining grants for his tuition.

Evening approached and the staff rose from their chairs, offering their hands to the scientists with Madga saying, "Your pleasure chambers are prepared; are you ready?"

Mitch and Lisa stood and let the staff guide them upstairs, not having the slightest idea what they were talking about. But, considering they called them 'pleasure' chambers, they had a feeling it wasn't going to be bad.

They entered the bed room, with Mitch being lead to a door on one side and Lisa towards the other. The girls ushered Mitch into a tiled room, complete with wash basins, brass water fixtures, and a massage table with a tray of ointments next to it. Mitch guessed that Lisa saw the same thing in the room she was escorted into by the young men.

Madga and Denai stood on either side of Mitch and removed his clothing and, once he was nude, prodded him over to a stand up wash basin. The warm water glided down his form as the girls sponged him clean with thick lather. Once rinsed, he was then guided to the table where he laid down on his stomach, Denai selecting bottles of oils from the tray. Before starting his rubdown, the girls untied their tunics and laid them aside leaving them naked as well, Madga's porcelain white skin in sharp contrast to Denai's dark brown complexion.

Mitch felt his cock starting to stir as the girls poured a very fragrant ointment into their palms and proceeded to massage it into his body. The thick liquid seeped into his skin as they rubbed him from his shoulders to his calves, and made his skin start to tingle. Madga gently rolled him over and started rubbing his chest while Denai worked her way up from his lower legs.

Mitch's penis started growing as they neared his groin, the sight of two naked and luscious women tenderly stroking his body making him excited. But it was also something else, something he couldn't fully understand. When the girls finally reached and delicately stroked his cock and balls, it of course responded with growing stiffness. But something didn't look right; his cock seemed... bigger. Bigger than what it usually looked like, and his balls felt heavier. Was it because the small size of the girls' hands made it appear that way, or was it something else?

His mind was clouded with... he wasn't sure how to describe it. Euphoria, perhaps? Ecstasy? Horny? Maybe all of the above, but definitely horny, judging from how big and hard his cock was.

Suddenly, Madga stopped and pouted, "You are not pleased, my... Doctor?"

Mitch was surprised by that question, "Yes I am, very pleased. This feels wonderful."

Denai cocked an eyebrow, "Then why do you not stimulate yourself with us?"

Mitch thought about that for a second, then it finally dawned on him: they were preparing him for Lisa, so they wanted him sexually stimulated and ready for her. That meant they wanted him to heighten his senses with them, first.

"Oh, of course; I'm sorry," he said, gazing at the beautiful naked nymphs at his sides, "It must be..."

Denai smiled, "The enhancement oil has that effect, it can sometimes be potent." With that, she leaned forward, presenting her large tits for him. Taking the hint, Mitch raised his head and gently took one of her swollen nipples into his mouth, suckling it with lust and making her moan as she continued to rub his chest and stomach. As he stimulated her, it dawned on Mitch that Denai's boobs were larger than what he remembered from the other dimension, much larger. Could the oil be affecting them, too?

Madga sighed with a grin when she felt his hand travel up her leg and softly knead her ass, her fingers brushing over his swelled prick, and giggled when Mitch tickled her anus with a fingertip. A drop of precum ballooned out and his cock jerked in response to her touch, Madga lowering her hand to massage his scrotum to produce more.

As Mitch and the girls fondled each other in preparation for his evening with his wife, Lisa was receiving the same treatment in the other room.

She shivered after entering the bath lounge when Kennis and Collin undressed her, her nipples instantly becoming erect once her gown was removed and leaving her completely naked. She stepped into the basin and was given the same shower treatment as Mitch, her pussy contracting slightly when Kennis brushed it with the soapy sponge. 

Lisa was then laid down on the massage table, again receiving the same kind of tender rubbing her husband was enjoying. Her body flushed with excitement, feeling the hands of two handsome and muscle toned young men touching and caressing her. The aromatic oil penetrated her soft skin and assaulted her nostrils, making her relaxed and extremely horny, as the pair continued their rubbing.

They turned her over and Lisa started to blush, not just because she was exposing her hard nipples and moist pussy, but also because she was having an effect on the two men as well. She saw their tunic waist drapes start to make tents in the front, their cocks growing and straining against the fabric. She felt her boobs swelling and her nipples get even harder when Kennis's prick stood straight out and hung his tunic out like a towel. Collin was in the same state, his tunic hanging out even farther, and Lisa's vagina felt like it was on fire and tingling with every beat of her heart.

She couldn't help herself. Raising her hand, she reached for Collin and started to feel under his tunic. Her fingers brushed against his cock, and she pulled back quickly, ashamed.

"I'm sorry," she said to him, breathlessly, "I don't know what made me do that."

"It's all right, Mil... Miss Lyssa," replied Collin, correcting himself, "It's the enhancement oil; it does that to you and Dr. Parus."

"Is that what it is?" she asked. Her eyes widened when she looked down at herself and saw that her boobs had grown to giant proportions. They were almost twice as big as before, with her aureoles swollen to the size of small plums and her nipples so fat and stiff they almost hurt. Her pussy was so wet she formed a puddle under her butt and thought she was going to slip off the table, and her clit tickled for attention.

Kennis and Collin removed their tunics, and Lisa gasped at what she saw. Kennis had a cock that wasn't thick, but it was long with the head bobbing and, when Lisa wrapped her hand around it, was as hard as marble. Lisa practically drooled when she grabbed Collin's enormous dark shaft, her little fist almost unable to wrap around his thick girth. They both groaned and smiled in content as their hands and tongues caressed Lisa's body, her fists slowly pumping the two cocks on either side of her. She moaned and purred as their tongues swiped across her taut nipples and their fingers probed the depths of her pussy and asshole, getting her ready for Mitch.

The inner folds of her pussy clinching at their fingers, her clitoris swelling and wiggling in heat, Lisa thought she was going to explode. But then the hands withdrew from her tingling body and gently raised her off the table.

"You're ready, Miss Lyssa; Dr. Parus will be waiting for you," said Kennis, gesturing to the door in the corner, one that didn't lead back into the bed room. Feeling like she was floating, Lisa let the two huge men guide her to the next room with the feeling of wanting her entire body ravaged and thoroughly fucked.

The next room was another tiled area about the same size as the prep rooms, but with a raised platform in the middle covered with soft cushions instead of washing fixtures. Dozens of candles were scattered everywhere, throwing soft light and flickering shadows all around the room, and at the opposite end was Mitch, his naked body covered in an oily sheen like Lisa's and with Madga and Denai on either side of him, naked as well.

The two were led to the platform and helped onto it, Mitch and Lisa drawing nearer to each other. He felt a hand on his shoulder; it was Madga.

"May we... sir?" she asked, staring at Collin with sex in her eyes.

Not sure at first, Mitch then realized what she was asking of him. The oil must be affecting them as it did he and Lisa, judging from their stares at the two young men and the erectness of their mutual body parts. He smiled and nodded to them, their grins widening, and they kissed his cheeks in thanks, Lisa squeezing Kennis and Collin's hands at their unspoken request and nodding with a smile as well.

Denai seductively strolled up to Kennis, who immediately took her in his arms and lustfully kissed her and let his hands roam over her brown shiny skin. Collin picked up Madga, and she wrapped her arms and leg around him with his cock peeking out from under her ass cheeks as she used it as a perch. Scooping Denai up into his arms, Kennis followed Collin and Madga out of the room to one of the bath areas, leaving Mitch and Lisa alone in the twilight lit room of romance.

The two scientists looked into each others' eyes with warm love and hungry lust, their gazes scanning the others' aroused body.

"Holy shit," Lisa hissed when her eyes fell onto Mitch's cock, it's length and thickness on the huge side.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," replied Mitch, lustfully gazing at Lisa's enormous breasts, her salmon colored nipples puffy and waiting to be teased.

Lisa edged closer to him, "What is this stuff doing to us?" She referred to the oily sheen on their skin as her breathing came out harder.

Mitch panted, "Some kind of aphrodisiac, maybe?" His bloated cock wobbled at the approach of Lisa, a huge blob of precum oozing from the tip. Lisa reached down and rubbed it into the head, making the shaft jerk to attention.

"Definitely some kind of enhancement chemical," she said, practically drooling over his erect phallus, "you're huge." She took it into her hand and stroked the length, feeling it twitch and pulse.

"I like the way it 'enhanced' you," Mitch breathed out, not able to take his eyes off of her gigantic boobs.

Lisa crawled closer, "I am so fucking horny right now," she gripped his cock tighter, "I want you. I want your big dick inside me. I want you to fuck me until I beg you to stop."

Hearing her talk like that made Mitch flush with arousal, his cock nodding in response to her lustful demands. He reached for her and took her into his arms, Lisa baring her teeth and hissing her breath through them. Their lips met in playful kisses, their tongues teasing each other, then Lisa wrapped her arms around his shoulders and smashed her mouth against his. Mitch returned her hungry kisses with fire, devouring her with his mouth and hands, and feeling her oily boobs slip out to her sides as they smashed into his chest. They groped and fondled one another, moans of pleasure coming from their connected lips, as Lisa humped against Mitch's hard prick making it slick with her juices.

Breaking the kiss, Lisa couldn't hold back her lust. She pushed Mitch back to lie flat and crawled up his body, turning around and presenting her ass and very wet pussy to his face. Mitch licked his lips in anticipation of tasting her delicious cunt, glistening with her excitement, as Lisa took hold of his cock and proceeded to give it a tongue bath.

"Mmmmm," she moaned, running her tongue up and down the shaft, "it taste like chocolate," then started sucking the head.

Mitch tasted it as well as he eagerly dove into her wet folds and lapped at her quivering pussy lips, "And a hint of strawberry," he said, the words muffled by her swelling vagina. He licked and probed her womanhood with his fluttering tongue, making her hips wiggle and push more of her pussy into his talented mouth.

Lisa's moans sounded stifled as her mouth worked its way down Mitch's cock. She knew there was no way she could fit all of his fat prick into her sucking mouth, but she managed to get as much as possible. Sucking and slurping, she groaned around his hardness as Mitch wiggled his tongue against her bulbous pearl.

"Damn, Lisa," panted Mitch as he paused, "your clit is so big, it's actually twitching; I can feel it on my tongue." He went back to tickling her pouting bud, more of her wetness coating his chin.

They went at each other for almost half an hour, the pressure in their groins building and tingling for release. Finally, Lisa gasped as she released Mitch's cock from her spittle covered mouth and wriggled away from his torturous tongue.

"Oh damn, Mitch," she panted, running her hand through her hair, "What is this stuff doing to us? We should have come by now." She caught her breath, then widened her eyes when she looked at his groin, "My, God; your balls!"

Mitch looked down and huffed in surprise. His scrotum swelled to the size of a grapefruit, accommodating his growing testicles. Lisa gently tested the heft of his sack with her fingers and asked, "Does it hurt?"

Mitch shook his head, amazed that his balls could hold so much cum for he could feel the churning semen bubbling in his nuts, "No, it doesn't. I don't know how this stuff works, but you'd better get ready to be filled up... or extremely glazed."

Lisa eyed him with excitement and worry as he crawled over to her, a hungry gleam twinkling in his eyes. She gasped as he pulled her towards him to lie back, her arms over her head and grabbing the frame of the platform. The move made her huge tits wobble as Mitch spread her legs and tucked her knees into the crooks of his arms to hold them open, her drenched pussy splayed out and convulsing in eagerness.

Staring at his huge rod with trepidation, Lisa started panting and pleaded in a small voice, "Mitch... oh, God; go easy. Be gentle; please, be gentle."

With a wicked grin, Mitch grabbed his cock and rubbed the head up and down her wet slit. She humped back instinctively, readying herself to be impaled. Her mouth dropped open as the fat glans spread her pussy lips apart, and she shivered as she felt it enter her moist inner walls. Lisa grunted and panted as more of his large member snaked its way inside of her, her body quivering with lust making her tits jiggle with every labored breath.

"Oh... oh... oh God, Mitch; no," she whimpered, wiggling her hips into his groin, "No, it's too... ugh... ugh... it's too big... ugh... ugh... UGH!"

Her last grunt popped out of her open mouth as Mitch pushed his hips forward and buried his gigantic cock into her warm wet hole. Trying to catch her breath, Lisa wriggled about involuntarily humping his dick as the last of it sank into her.

"OHHHHH!" she cried out, "Oh, God damn; I'm so fucking full! Oh... oh, shit! You're gonna split me in half!"

Mitch growled in content when her pussy walls expanded and allowed his cock full access, then pulled out a bit and slid it back inside making her sob open mouthed. 

"Oh, shit; you are so fucking tight," he groaned as her pussy muscles grabbed his shaft, "I can't help it; I have to fuck you good."

Lisa's breathing came out in desperate pants and gulps as Mitch started humping her, thrusting his cock in and out of her and stretching her pussy to the limit.

"Oh... oh... OH... OH, GOD!" she cried out as his dick plunged into her. She brought her arms down and grabbed her tits, tugging at her swollen aureoles and bloated nipples, and arched her whole body towards Mitch as he sank his entire length into her and squealed, "YYYYEEEEESSSSSS!"

Mitch released her legs from his arms, which she immediately wrapped around his waist to pull him closer, and buried his face into her massive boobs, Lisa letting go of her nipples to offer them to his awaiting mouth. She writhed and squirmed, yelping in delight, as he sucked on her fat buds with wild earnest.

They changed positions constantly, wanting to experience different sensations of penetration while the effects of the enhancement oils were still active. Lisa was ecstatic when Mitch bent her over and took her from behind; he went so deep she was sure she could feel the head of his cock push against her cervix and tried to slip pass the tight little orifice.

Catching their breaths when they paused for a moment, Lisa brushed her mussed hair out of her eyes, then started playing with her pussy. Her clit actually wiggled in response to her diddling.

"Oh shit, Mitch," she grunted through clenched teeth, "We've been at this for almost two hours. I can feel it building up inside my pussy. Oh, God; I'm so close. I need to come so bad, I'm going to explode."

"Same here, baby; my balls are so full, they're going to burst," Mitch panted back, tenderly hefting his engorged sack that was at the point of overflowing. His cock wobbled and jerked as if it had its own mind, tugging at the rest of Mitch to get back into Lisa's hot pussy.

"Okay, that's it," Lisa huffed out, pushing Mitch back, his bloated dick swaying like a tree limb in the wind and was so engorged it was almost purple, "I can't stand it anymore. My pussy's on fire, and your hose is going to put out the flames... right now!"

With that, she straddled his hips facing away from him and grabbed his cock, wedging its head into her pussy lips. With loud grunts, she lowered herself onto the pulsing slab of man meat that twitched in response to her fluttering pussy walls. With a guttural groan, she sank down onto his hips and buried the rest of his dick inside of her, her inner muscles clutching it greedily.

His sensitive cockhead being rubbed and squeezed by her wet folds, Mitch moaned in wanton lust as he watched Lisa bounce up and down on his cock, squeaking in pleasure as she rode him reverse cowgirl style and making her ass cheeks jiggle. Her body started to shake as she leaned back and braced her arms along side of him, giving him the opportunity to reach up and grab two handfuls of her mighty tits.

Getting a little more leverage, Mitch pushed his hips up in time with her plunges getting as much of his dick into her as he could. Lisa's face scrunched up as the pressure of her orgasm was coming to a head, her pussy tingling with fire and her clit visibly pulsing and ready to release.

"Oh... oh God, Mitch!" she yelped, her eyes as wide as saucers, "your cock... ugh, ugh... your cock is... ugh... getting... bigger!" She could feel her pussy walls being stretched out further as Mitch's grunts became louder and intense. She threw her head back, shaking it back and forth with her red hair thrashing about wildly. She needed to come; she couldn't hold it back any longer. Feeling Mitch's cock swelling and jerking in her pussy, and knowing he was going to come as well, she ground her twat into him, pushed her flaming pussy forward to rub her G-spot against his hard prick, and shrieked, "OH, OH, OH, OH... MIIIIIIIITCH!"




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 07



"Over here!"

Mitch and Lisa turned towards the sound of someone shouting at them, dragging their attention away from the thundering sounds of machines rumbling down the battle scarred road of what was once downtown Birchwood.

"C'mon; get in here!"

The dimension traveling scientists hurried over to what looked like a disguised entrance to their now half destroyed laboratory building. The pair darted inside, being ushered in by the one calling for them, and paused to wait as the individual shoved a slab of plaster board over the hole.

"C'mon, this way," he said, grabbing them and practically dragging them towards the stairwell that lead down to the lower levels. He shoved at Mitch and Lisa, prodding them to hurry down the steps, "Hurry up; we've got to get below their IR!"

They picked up their pace, taking two or three steps at a time, and scrambled down to the very bottom of the stairwell. Catching their breath for a second, Mitch finally had the chance to engage the man who was trying to hide them from... whatever it was rolling down the road above.

"Michael?"

The young man turned to both of them and smiled, finally recognizing their surprised faces, "My God, it is you!" He hugged them both, laughter huffing out of his mouth, "I thought you two were dead. We tried to find you; we looked everywhere!" His eyes widened, suddenly realizing what they were running from and said, "Get in here, quick; they can't spot us down here."

The trio bolted through the heavy door Michael opened, and someone else on the other side closed it again.

"Denise, start tracking."

The young, dark skinned gal flashed her fingers over the keyboard in front of her, "Tracking online."

Mitch and Lisa only got a quick glance at their new surroundings, for their exploration was rudely interrupted.

"Get your hands up and don't move," barked the individual manning the door. He brought out a paddle-like device and started moving it along their bodies, the box at his hip beeping in time with his motions. The paddle acknowledged something with an electronic whine, and the man stepped back placing his hand on the weapon in his holster.

"The pack and the bag, on the table," he ordered.

Mitch and Lisa complied, laying their belongings aside and giving Mitch the chance to see who it was giving them the strict security treatment.

"Agent Foster?"

"It's just Foster, now; there is no more F.B.I."

The government agent that headed the warrant serving and confiscation operation of their fusion project continued his scanning, passing the scan wand over their heads last.

"They're clean," he threw over his shoulder. He then dumped the contents of their packs onto the table, with his hand racing to his holster again, "He has a weapon," Foster picked up the revolver and questioned Mitch, "Where did you get this?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he answered neutrally.

Foster got into his face, "You trying to be funny, Doctor?" he started to draw his gun, "I ain't in the mood for funny."

"It came from another dimension," Lisa chimed in, "So did we."

Foster raised a cocky eyebrow at her, "Oh, so you're trying to be funny now, huh? You should tell your husband to put your mouth to better use."

"Foster!" Michael rounded on him and got nose to nose with him, "I told you to drop the 'tough guy' act. How the Hell are we suppose to gather new recruits if you keep alienating everyone?"

"We don't need weaklings in this little group of ours, especially ones that don't take this seriously. That will get somebody killed."

Michael nodded to Foster, then quickly brought up the business end of a long survival knife and pressed the point under his chin, "That's right, Foster: we don't have weaklings here... including me. Remember that. You said they were clean," he motioned to the gun, "would you deny them protection?"

Foster slowly placed Mitch's gun back on the table as Michael lowered his knife and sheathed it, "Make no mistake, Foster: these people are friends of mine. Is that clear?"

Foster nodded slowly, "Clear." and sauntered over to his monitors lining the wall next to the door.

While the heated exchange was going on, Mitch and Lisa had the chance to look over themselves more carefully. They were wearing regular street clothes, jeans, T-shirts, and the like, but they had the look of being worn for quite awhile, with small tears and holes in them as well as dirt stains here and there. 

Michael turned to the scientists, "Sorry about that, guys; Foster gets a little carried away with the security procedures, but they are necessary. We can't afford to take chances, not now."

"'A little'?" mumbled Lisa, seeing Foster eye the pair with scrutiny as she stuffed her things into her bag, shouldering it.

Mitch gathered his belongings and, as he snapped his pack back into place, asked, "What 'chances'? What's going on?"

Michael raised an eyebrow at him, "Where have you two been? You honestly don't know what's been going on?"

Mitch sighed, "Look, it takes too long to explain; suffice to say, we've been in hiding for awhile. We've lost track of what's been happening."

"Michael," this from Denise, "we've got sentries coming; two hundred yards and closing."

"Track 'em," Michael had the pair follow him to a table in the corner with a laptop sitting on it, "We've kept a journal of what's been happening, including all of the reports and updates right up to the point where they stopped. Everything you need to know is on there, but look through it quick. They track intermittent signals and can home in on the source," he reached over to a timer and set it for a countdown, "You've got ten minutes. When the alarm beeps, flip the laptop down and shut it off." With that, Michael headed to another console of monitors and controls.

Mitch clicked the computer on and started the log program, with pieces of blog entries and official site paragraphs and images appearing.

"A 'super computer'?" said Lisa, quickly perusing the articles.

Mitch nodded, "Yes, something about a major breakthrough in computer science." He stopped at a certain section and read...

'In 2002, in response to the ongoing threat of terrorist attacks, the United States implemented a highly experimental computer program to counter such occurrences. In cooperation with other nations, this program was transmitted world wide to other computers working in tandem with the military forces of allies working together to combat the threat of terrorism.'

'In 2004, experimental units consisting of drones and automated attack vehicles were put into use by the U.S. and its allies. Within one year, these automated units successfully defeated the majority of terrorists' organizations and extremists' regimes and destroying their centers of operation. All of the operations conducted by the U.S. and coalition forces proceeded and were accomplished with a minimum of ally casualties.'

"Wow," Mitch muttered, "they took out almost every terrorist group in the Middle East by using an artificial army. Enhanced Air Force drones, unmanned armored assault vehicles..."

"And the attacks were controlled by computers," Lisa added.

But Mitch shook his head, "No, that can't be. Computers only do what you tell them to do; they can't think for themselves. Somebody had to be calling the shots." He skipped down to another report...

'Following cybernetic attacks on their computers, the U.S./Coalition upgraded their equipment and software with what some scientists call the 'Fluid Logic' system, in 2008. This new software system allowed the 'super computers' to anticipate and analyze potential threats and devise proper solutions to counter said threats, in effect allowing the computers to 'think' and 'reason' to a certain extent. It was hailed as a 'success', as it neutralized attempts by hackers and other entities to take control. Law enforcement officials voiced their interests in the program some time later, theorizing about how this technology could be used in certain hardware for patrolling and securing crime ridden areas.'

Mitch scanned the rest of the official papers and found nothing else, "That's it; there's nothing further from the media or news outlets. The reports just stopped."

Lisa started looking through some of the personal logs made by people here in the facility and others they've managed to download.

"There's a lot of speculation about what happened afterward, things like government takeovers, the military and law enforcement taking control of the country, even theories about the country being defeated and secretly run by other powers and attacks from space. Which one is right?"

Mitch scrolled down the entries and found one written by Michael...

'December 5'

'We've just received word from the base at Miami that the last of the strongholds in their region has been destroyed. One by one, these robot controlled areas are falling and losing their grip on their territories, but we still have a long way to go. The teams we're coordinating with here on the West Coast say that there are only seven major strongholds left, and are confident that they can be taken out.'

'It's the dozens of smaller compounds I'm worried about, plus the hundreds of others across the country. Some of them are not sticking to their original parameters; they're beginning to alter their agendas. Not a lot of them, but some. We can't figure out why.'

Mitch skipped down to the last entry made in the log, noticing the clock next to him and Lisa flashed two minutes remaining...

'March 25'

'The last major stronghold on the West Coast has been neutralized, their war machines shut down and rendered useless. As far as we can tell, there are only five or six small compounds remaining active, most of them running on their last bit of steam. According to reports, there are only about two dozen strongholds still in operation around the country. This is a good sign that we will defeat the machines and take our country back.'

'But the remaining compounds are proving more and more difficult to defeat. Their machines have been improving their performance with what little they have left, and the one near us is adapting to our efforts to take them out. We've lost four bases already and countless fighters; we're one of the last in this city.'

'We must find the source of the signal that is being transmitted to the machines and shut it down if we are to have any chance of...'

The alarm beeped at them, and Mitch quickly closed the laptop shutting it off.

"My God," uttered Lisa, "Computers and machines tried to take over the world?"

Mitch nodded, "And they discovered how 'inefficient and imperfect' their creators were... and set out to get rid of them."

He turned to the rest of the room to find Michael; he needed more answers. But he and Lisa hung back for a few moments as the group of fighters were busy at their stations, monitoring the area surrounding their base and scanning for activity. It gave them the chance to look around and get a handle on the situation they were currently in.

The room was the large sub-basement at the bottom level of the building, mostly used as a storage area and emergency shelter in their universe. But here, it became home and a safe haven for the people still maintaining the facility, all of the equipment and storage items brought down there and utilized for other purposes besides science.

Controls and computers lined the walls, along with charts and graphs of the city, and a huge plasma screen TV dominated the scene pulling duty as a main surveillance screen with statistics and indicators dotting the view of the outside.

"They're almost here, Michael," said Denise, adjusting the view on the screen and sounding nervous.

He put his hand on her shoulder and said, "They won't find us, not down here."

Mitch and Lisa neared the main console, checking the screen carefully, and Mitch asked, "What's coming?"

Michael simply pointed to the far side of the screen that focused on the road, and the scientists gazed at the area carefully to make sure they were seeing it clearly.

There were four of them, rolling down the cleared roadway and meticulously scanning the immediate area, all about the same height as an average man. They looked like something out of a movie, with their heads, arms, and torsos resembling a robotic automaton and with looks on their metallic faces suggesting something evil. Extra pieces of equipment were graphed onto their forms, some scanning devices while others had the definite look of weapons, but similarities to their human form ended there.

An extra pair of limbs were attached to their sides, with grappling devices on the ends, and just underneath their waists where legs should have been were beveled trapezoid shaped, chassis-like compartments with wheeled treads along their sides. Their whole menacing appearances were enhanced with the large Gatling guns straddling their waists and tubes protruding from the fronts, indicating projectile launching weapons.

The miniature tanks were closing in on the building, making everyone tense up.

"Easy guys," Michael reassured, "Their IR can't get through the shielding in the walls; you know that. We're too deep for them to see us, anyway."

"Doesn't make me feel any better," Denise said in a hushed voice, watching the machines roll passed the facility and scanning it along the way.

Mitch quietly walked up to Michael, "You said their IR can't get through the walls," Mitch remembered something about the walls of the sub-basement/shelter being lead lined for protection against radioactivity in a nuclear war, "These things use infrared to track their surroundings?"

Michael nodded, "Most of the time, yeah. They have conventional scanners and motion detectors, but it's easier to find us by detecting our body heat."

"These things aren't very bright, though," Foster added, still keeping a concentrated eye on Mitch and Lisa, "They can be fooled; we've got a few tricks up our sleeves to confuse them. The building is painted in white reflective, as well as others around town. The sun's heat bounces off the surfaces and reflects it into their 'eyes'; they can't track too clearly that way."

"But they're starting to catch on," Michael interjected, "They've figured out that somebody painted the buildings that way on purpose, so they're concentrating their search efforts on those structures; they know some of us are hiding near them. There's ten of us down here; we've got three more groups hiding in other places. There used to be more, but..."

Foster jumped back in, "We still have other tricks; they're easily distracted by heat sources and sudden movements. We use mirrors to make reflections to distract them and draw their attention away from us. We have flash grenades; the heat from them scrambles their vision for about thirty seconds, but we don't have a lot of them so we use them in emergencies only. The animals that still hang around here throw them off the track too, but not for long."

"When they get this close," said Michael, pointing to the screen, "it gives us an advantage."

Lisa looked surprised, "You want them to get close to you?"

He nodded, "Absolutely. The closer they get, the more dangerous it is. But the closer they are gives us that many more opportunities to study them and track their movements." Michael reached for a keyboard and punched in a series of numbers, a corner of the screen acknowledging his commands, "These things all run off a specific signal to their central processors," he pointed to the head of the machine's schematic, "Each one has its own frequency, but they all originate from one source. But the signal they receive is so wide spread, we can't pinpoint its precise location."

"Michael," Denise interrupted, "Otto is receiving; the signal's being processed."

"Come with me." Mitch and Lisa followed Michael to the back part of the basement to one of the storage closets... and they both were startled into back stepping when he opened the door.

"Don't worry," Michael assured, "It's not active; the main processor is still receiving a signal, but we've deactivated the unit."

One of the tank-like sentries dominated the small room, sitting quietly with cables and hookups attached to its components leading to computers and its weapons stripped away.

"Mitch, Lisa, meet Otto," said Michael, offering a hand toward the mechanical monster, "Don't let his demeanor bother you; he's harmless."

Not quite convinced, Mitch stepped up to the metal beast and examined it, "You actually keep one of these things down here?"

Michael nodded, "Otto has been a virtual fountain of information. He's taught us a lot about how these guys are put together, their strengths, weaknesses, armament... but most importantly the signal they receive. Like I said before, they can trace electronic signals so we can only use him for about ten minutes. But those ten minutes could lead us to the source. Denise?"

He directed his unasked question to her, and got a frustrated answer, "Damn it! They're using a different scrambler frequency, overlapping with two others; they're on to us."

"Fuck," said Michael, pounding the side of the door, "shut Otto down." The computers surrounding the robot shut off one by one and fell silent as Michael continued, "They're using a scrambler to disrupt the signal so it can't be traced. Whatever is controlling the sentries knows someone is trying to home in on them; they're starting to catch on to us."

"I don't understand this," said Lisa, keeping a weary eye on Otto, "where did they all come from? Who made them, the military?"

"The originals were made by the military, some of them were bought by police departments for patrols and riot control," said Foster, "We took them out quick, knowing their weaknesses. But others started showing up, different sizes and configurations, different constructions; we think some factory complex created them as replacements."

"Machines creating themselves?" Mitch asked, astonished.

"More like 'repairing and upgrading' themselves," Michael answered, "The new ones we've seen aren't really 'new', they're old models with replacement parts. We've seen them scavenging the city for damaged sentries and anything else they think they can use. The damaged ones are recycled; they use as much of their undamaged components as they can... but it's not enough." Michael invited Mitch and Lisa to take a closer look at Otto. They looked it over, peering closely at the components on its body, and cringed at what they saw. 

Mitch looked at its head and pointed, "Is that what I think it is?"

Michael nodded sadly, gazing at the top component of the metal beast.

A human skull, hollowed out and fitted with scanners and computer pieces. Its silvery surface gave it the look of having been covered or dipped into liquid metal.

Mitch looked again at the main section of the body and saw ridges along its torso, tightly packed together and covered with the same metal coating, and odd shaped support and control rods along its arms. His face went white when he realized what they were.

Bones. Human bones.

"That's not all," said Michael, opening a panel in the front of the ridged torso, made up of ribs. Lisa peered inside the chassis... and nearly gagged at the sight.

Half of its inner structure was a collage of wires, conduits, and other mechanical gadgets like a typical machine would have, along with computerized components to run them. But the rest was a gruesome array of arteries, veins, nerves, and internal organs all held in place by strands of muscles and sinew melded together in a grotesque configuration out of somebody's nightmare.

Lisa had to turn away from the sight, on the verge of throwing up all over it.

"What did I tell you," smirked Foster, "weak."




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 07



"You weren't exactly the epitome of calm when you first saw this," countered Michael as he closed the panel, "so shut your hole."

Foster's smirk disappeared as Mitch shook his head, trying to get a grasp of all of this and failed.

"Why are they doing this?"

Michael ushered the two away from the machine as Foster closed it off in the closet, "We started seeing them about six months ago, and we knew the reason why right from the start. They've had ample opportunity to make more of themselves the past four or so years, but without the right parts and materials to do it they've had to improvise."

He pointed to the screen again, showing close ups of the sentries now rolling away from the building and continuing their search. The close images showed the same coverings on their forms as Otto.

"Raw materials," said Michael in a sickened tone, "That's all we are to them now. They've run out of parts and material to make more sentries so, just like us, they make do with what's available."

"So these things are looking for humans to use them for spare parts?"

Denise answered Mitch's question with, "Not all humans; just men."

Lisa saw the scared look in her eye when she explained it and asked, "What about the women?"

Denise started to shiver, "We don't know what happens to them. We've checked out Otto and found that the human parts in him come from three or four different people, but the organs, the bones... all of it is male. The sentries take everybody they can get their hands on, but only the men are used for parts; we don't know what they do with the women."

"Lately, they've been taking just the women away and leaving the men alone, or killing them if they get in the way," Michael added, "We don't know why."

Mitch rubbed his hand over his brow, and Michael saw the fatigue in his eyes, saying, "There's a lounge in the back. Get some food and rest for awhile; we can talk some more later."

"Wait a minute," Foster interrupted, "you're just going to let them into our group and eat our food because they're friends of yours?"

"Foster," Michael said slowly, his patience with him obviously strained to the breaking point, "these two have more brain power than all of us combined; they can help us. We've got enough food down here to last us another year or two, so I'm not asking you anymore," he got into Foster's face again, an ugly sneer on his lips, "I'm telling you: back... off." He turned back to the scientists, "Go on, rest up."

Mitch and Lisa walked to the back of the basement, knowing Foster's eyes were drilling into their backs, and went into the lounge area. It looked more like a kitchen, with a few chairs and tables off to the side and a long couch pushed into the corner. Lisa found a couple of small water bottles while Mitch picked out a few snack bars from a cupboard, then both of them sat wearily on the sofa.

"Well, what do you think?"

Lisa paused for a minute, then, "Well, we certainly can't just sit around and do nothing. We have to help; they'll expect us to."

Mitch agreed, "I'm not sure what we can do yet, but something will present itself. Maybe I can help them with that signal they're trying to track down."

"That Foster guy doesn't like us very much, does he?"

Mitch grinned at Lisa, "I don't think he likes anybody that much." He reached inside his pack for the recorder and clicked it on...

'April 8- We've left the dimension where the Roman Empire is in control, but we feel that their reign won't last indefinitely. We've discovered that Christianity is once again spreading its words and teachings to the populace, hopefully for the better. It will take some time, but we wish them all the best for a brighter future.'

'But the dimension we're now in is straight out of some kind of futuristic horror story. Machines have taken over, and are determined to stay in power. Humans have been fighting them for years and are on the verge of taking control of the planet again, but the machines won't give up that easily. They are hunting for humans to use as spare parts to keep themselves running, and have destroyed most of the cities of this world to attain that goal.'

'We're here in what's left of our lab building with others who are continuing the fight against the machines; we will help them, if we can. But something about all of this is not right, something I can't figure out. We'll keep looking into it.'

Michael walked in just as Mitch put his recorder away and said, "C'mon, I'll show you around. Lisa, Denise will be here in a minute to show you where you guys can sleep; there are extra rooms down here."

Mitch followed Michael out to the basement hideout while Lisa stayed and relaxed for a moment, thinking about how the machines in this universe managed to take control. She was sure that there must have been an original order from their creators that somehow got scrambled, and made the robots turn against them. Was it because of a glitch in the system? A directive that got re-programmed by mistake? Or did the machines and computers suddenly develop...

She shook her head, knowing that wasn't possible, not with the technology available even in her universe.

The lounge door opened and Lisa stood up, expecting Denise. But she froze when someone else entered.

"So how was Rome?" asked Foster, sauntering over to a table in between him and Lisa.

She scowled at him and muttered, "You were listening in on us?"

"I wouldn't be a good security officer if I hadn't," Foster started rounding the table, "So... you two have been hopping around other dimensions; I thought you were bullshitting me, unless you're writing some sci-fi novel to sell to Hollywood."

"It's complicated," Lisa retorted, "you wouldn't understand it."

"Why? Because I'm not an egghead?" Foster got close to her, slowly draping his eyes over Lisa's body, "If you're pulling something here, I'll make sure you two get... disposed of." His eyes dropped down to her bust line, and he smiled, "You're just the right type: built, soft... sexy..."

He didn't get to finish his description. His head was suddenly jerked back with a hand from behind, and in the other was a blade splayed across his neck.

"Thought you had your eye on me for that, Foster," said Denise in a very menacing voice, "but then again, you already know you're not my type."

"You take a lot of chances, you little dyke," Foster fumed.

"So do you, little man," Denise pressed the blade into his throat, making him flinch, "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

Foster laughed in his throat, "Are you jealous? Do you want her for yourself?" He then grimaced as the blade nicked him.

"You've got a big mouth; one of these days, somebody's going to shut it for you." Denise released him, Foster fingering the new cut on his neck, and added, "Get lost, Foster; she's not interested."

Grousing, Foster left the lounge in a huff leaving the two women alone.

"You'll have to excuse him," said Denise, replacing her knife, "he's a neanderthal, but he's a damn good security officer. He's got instincts and he knows what to look for; must be his F.B.I. training. Hi, I'm Denise."

Lisa shook her hand, "Not exactly a 'people' person, is he."

Denise smirked, "Don't take it personally; he doesn't like anybody."

Lisa snickered, "That's what Mitch said."

They both laughed as Denise walked with Lisa out of the lounge and down a narrow hallway, a few doors here and there breaking up the smooth walls.

"These are where we keep our ordinance," Denise said pointing at the doors, three on each side, "Guns, ammunition, some body armor, and heavy stuff mostly grenades and a few rocket launchers. We can't use the big stuff too often; we've only got so much."

Lisa was guided around a corner of a T-section as Denise continued, "Back that way is where we store the basics: food, clothes, medicine; there's a triage set up at the far end." She then pointed forward, "And here are the private rooms; there's about twenty of them. There about as big as a regular bed room, but they're decent enough places to crash for a couple of hours." She stopped at one with the number '7' on the door and opened it, allowing Lisa to enter first.

The room was big enough for two people, with a big bed, dresser, a stand up locker in the corner and a small table and chairs.

"Each one's got a bathroom," Denise pointed to a small door in the far corner, "sorry there's no bathtub or shower; we use a community shower at the end of the hall. I'll tell Mitch where you are and send him to you when he's done talking with Michael."

"Thank you, Denise," Lisa said with a smile, "and thank you for letting us stay here. Mitch and I have already talked it over; we want to help, if we can."

"We need all the help we can get; thanks," said Denise, returning the smile. Before she walked out, she added, "Oh, one more thing: if you do use the shower, don't be alarmed if someone else walks in to use it, too. We clean up when we can, so we're not shy around here; just go in, do your thing, and ignore anyone else."

Lisa nodded, a slight blush on her cheeks, "I'll remember that; thanks."

Once alone, Lisa sat on the bed and went over some of the things said in the control room, trying to get some kind of a clear picture in her head.

"They were originally built for military use, then used by the police," she muttered to herself, "Then, all of a sudden, they developed an agenda of their own and started taking out humans. But... no, that can't be."

She shook her head, again thinking how that wasn't possible. She knew Mitch would agree with her, already stating that robots and computers can't think for themselves no matter what kind of technology was inside them.

She got up and started pacing the room, ticking off what the machines were doing. The exterminations, the material gathering, the kidnappings...

"They're following some kind of programming," she mumbled, "Somebody gave them their original orders. Did those orders get scrambled somewhere down the line and made them start taking out everyone instead of just the 'enemy'? Or did someone alter the program afterward? The computers and machines couldn't have done it; they can't alter their own programs. Somebody..." 

Lisa jumped a bit when Mitch walked into the room, a bundle of rolled up paper under his arm.

"I've talked to Michael," he started, laying the poster size rolls on the table, "I told him we want to help."

"Good," Lisa answered as she helped Mitch unroll the papers and flatten them out, "I told Denise the same, but I'm not sure what we can do."

"This is a good place to start," Mitch pointed to the papers. They were photo image maps of the city, with red dots and circles marking important areas. "Michael copied these from images taken from satellites that are still working. This one shows where all of the hidden bases are and where people are hiding; we're here," he pointed to a circle around what was left of the lab, "the others are scattered along the outskirts of the city."

"How many people are here?"

Mitch shook his head, "There's only about forty in the city. There are hundreds more, but they're far away in the hills and mountains where it's safe. Michael doesn't dare let any more get this close; if those machines see a huge amount of people running around..."

"I know," Lisa finished, her stomach quivering, "What are these other maps?"

Mitch flipped the top one over, exposing the next map, "This one marks all the buildings that have been painted in that white reflective paint; the red ones are hideouts and blinds, the blue ones are fake to throw off the machines," he flipped to the next one, "and this is the one that Michael wanted me to take a good look at."

Lisa stared at the map of the city full of grid lines and markers as Mitch continued, "The circles are where the machines are concentrated, about two or three at a time. And the blues marks are what they seem to be guarding. They're signal towers."

"The machines receive their signals from those?"

"Not specifically, no. These towers transmit the signal and spread it out over a vast area, over the whole city, but the main signal itself..." Mitch shook his head, "They can't get a lock on it; the towers send out the signal and overlap each other. It's too spread out to get a fix on."

"There's got to be a way," said Lisa, perusing the map, "Do the towers receive the signal at the same time?"

"I don't know. Michael has a computerized image of the signal being sent out, but we can't use any computer systems for longer than ten minutes."

Lisa sighed, staring at the red circles and blue dots sprinkled over the map and trying to see some kind of pattern. She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, failing to get a clear picture in her head.

"I can't think straight right now," she said, rubbing her neck, "I can barely wrap my mind around the shit that's happening."

Mitch rubbed at her shoulders and said, "Why don't you go take a shower. Some hot water always relaxes you and helps you think."

She turned and hugged him, "You want to come with me?"

"I'll be there in a few minutes. I want to look these over more carefully; there's something I'm missing here, I'm sure of it."

"Okay." Lisa stripped her clothes off and searched through the locker, finding a big white towel. Wrapping herself in it, she left the room, saying, "Don't be too long," and headed down the corridor to the bath area.

Pushing the swinging doors open, Lisa found an expanse of white-blue tile and benches with shelves lining the walls. A few bottles of soap were here and there along with body wash sponges, and the room was partially filled with steam with water running in the background. Through the dense vapor, Lisa could make out the bodies of two other people and, remembering what Denise said, hung up her towel and ignored them as she made her way to a shower head.

Lisa turned on the water and let the warm liquid run down her body, purring as the heat from the spray eased the tenseness in her shoulders and back. The water matted down her red hair with hot droplets running down her face, and she stood there for a few moments to let the shower engulf her body and let her mind escape from the bizarre dimension she and Mitch were now in. As she started lathering up, one of the other bathers spoke up.

"Oh hi, Lisa."

Lisa turned to see that it was Denise, in the process of soaping up the person she was with under the shower.

"Oh, uh... hi."

"I knew you couldn't say 'no' to a hot shower," Denise grinned, running a sponge over her partner. Lisa raised an eyebrow when she peered through the steam and saw that her shower friend was a woman, someone she didn't recognize, her dirty blonde hair and well toned body drenched in water and suds.

"This is Cynthia," Denise offered, "she runs the cameras and motion sensors for us."

"Hi," she chirped, flashing a winning smile.

"Hello," Lisa smiled back, gazing at Cynthia's beautifully chiseled form, her muscles toned and defined with a set of abs slightly six-packed and a butt that looked as hard as granite, "You look amazing; I wish my body could look that good."

Cynthia grinned, "I wish my body looked like yours and Denise's," she hefted Denise's large boobs in her hands, "Between the two of you, I look like a boy."

Denise just laughed, rubbing suds into Cynthia's small but perky breasts topped with extremely hard nipples, "You've got nothing to worry about; your tits are just right, baby. Michael likes 'em just the way they are." They both giggled as they rinsed the soap from each other, the suds standing out against Denise's dark brown skin, caressing their curves and snuggling close.

Lisa got a confused look, "Oh, you and Michael? I'm sorry, I thought you and Denise were a couple."

Cynthia shook her head, "Oh no, Michael and I are together. Denise and I... well, we like to play every now and then. Denise is bi, and she know how to satisfy a woman when a man isn't available. Michael doesn't mind; in fact," she dramatically paused and leaned over to whisper, "he likes to watch."

That made Lisa blush and giggle. The girls snickered and continued their mutual rinsing, Denise paying special attention to Cynthia's pouting pussy top with blonde fur and making her sigh with pleasure.

Then Lisa asked, "So you're not..." She paused, not wanting to insult Denise.

"A lesbian?" she finished, then leaned the same way as Cynthia did, "I just tell Foster that so he'll leave me alone." and the three of them laughed again.

Lisa ran the sponge over her curves, all the while peeking at the two girls next to her. She knew she shouldn't, but couldn't help it. Denise lovingly caressed Cynthia's hard body, running her hands over her breasts and tight ass, Cynthia returned the favor by gently stroking Denise's budding nipples and fingering her bald vagina.

Lisa bit her lip as she watched the two amorous ladies kiss and fondle each other, their beige and chocolate skin melding together, and shocked herself when she found her hand snaking down to pet her pussy. She flinched as if she had touched a live wire and went back to her showering, ashamed for invading their privacy.

But as she rinsed the soap away from her face, Lisa felt a hand rubbing her shoulder and, thinking it was Mitch, purred at the touch. But when she looked, she saw Denise massaging suds into her arm and back. Checking the rest of the area, she noticed that Cynthia had left.

"Would you like some help?" she asked, touching Lisa's skin with her fingertips. She balked a little, not sure how to respond, and Denise picked up on it, "Lisa, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be so forward. It's just... well, you're so beautiful and... I know this may sound stupid, but... somehow, I have the feeling that we've met before."

Lisa kept a neutral face, knowing what she was referring to, and stammered, "No, it's my fault. I... I shouldn't have been staring at you two; that was rude. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay," said Denise, laying a hand on her arm, "The way you looked at me... it told me that you... you know me from somewhere. But we couldn't know each other; we've just met. I don't know, maybe it's déjà vu ."

"Maybe," Lisa started to blush again, "but it's just that... I've... I've never..."

Denise moved her hand up her arm to her neck, caressing it, "Never?"

Lisa shook her head, then Denise tilted hers slightly, "Ever thought about it?"

Lisa grinned, the blush on her cheeks getting redder, "Once." It wasn't exactly a lie, but she felt it better that she didn't tell Denise that it was her she thought about that one time.

Denise held out her other hand and Lisa placed the soapy sponge in it. She turned around and let Denise start soaping up her back, rubbing the tension out of her muscles. Lisa inhaled as she felt Denise's hands move down to her butt and lather her cheeks, slowly and gently. Lisa pushed her hips back to her without thinking about it and let her linger there for a while, feeling Denise's finger slip between her soft globes and rub up and down her crack.

Lisa found herself leaning back against Denise when her hands came around to the front, sliding up her belly and reaching her boobs. Soapy fingers squeezed at her tit flesh, and Lisa gasped as fingertips brushed across her hardening nipples. Breathing harder, she reached back and fondled Denise's round butt cheek and making her moan softly.

They faced each other under the spray of the shower next, Denise licking her lips as she gazed upon Lisa's beautiful large boobs. Lisa placed her hand on Denise's hip and pulled her closer, both of their nipples coming close together.

Without even thinking about it, Lisa looked into Denise's eyes and gently pressed her lips to her mouth. Their bodies came together, their breasts smashed against one another and each girl grabbing and squeezing the other one's butt. Lisa humped her mound against Denise's, her strip of red hair tickling Denise's bald pussy, with Denise thrusting back and moaning into Lisa's mouth.




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 07



Lisa broke the kiss and gasped as Denise's hand slithered down her stomach and wiggled in between her thighs, finding her moist slit. Her delicate fingers probed the sensitive lips and found the budding clit topping them. Lisa returned the favor by wriggling her fingers against Denise's smooth pussy and teasing her pink pearl, and the two of them arched their bodies in pleasure as they masturbated each other.

Denise quivered and let out a series of small gasps as her pussy was forced into coming, her clit tickling and pulsing with every contraction. With Denise's fingers quickly fluttering over her own hot cunt, Lisa arched up on her toes and groaned as her orgasm gripped her vagina and made the inner walls clench, her juices mixing with the water and washing down her legs.

Both of them shivered as they calmed down, then looked lovingly into each others' eyes and kissed with tenderness.

"That was wonderful," whispered Lisa, "I've... I've never done that before; I never knew it could be so..."

"Sensual?" Denise answered, rubbing her hands over Lisa's body to wash away the rest of the soap, her nipples still hard and rubbery, "Did that make you feel better?"

"Yes, very much so," Lisa helped rinse away the suds still clinging to Denise, but blushed, "But now... I'm really horny. I wish Mitch was here."

As if on cue, Mitch strolled into the shower area wrapped in a towel. His eyebrows went up when he saw the two ladies washing each other, and pulled off his towel to hang it up. 

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

The girls giggled at Mitch's question, then Denise answered as she walked by him to leave, "Actually, you're just in time," and lightly slapped his bare butt as she passed, causing his eyes to widen.

Now alone, Mitch got under the shower with Lisa and asked, "What was that all about?"

Lisa immediately wrapped her self around the man she loved and smashed her lips against his, humping against his growing cock. She broke the kiss with a wild look in her eye and hissed, "Just shut up and fuck me, now."

Mitch braced himself against the shower wall with his arms as Lisa climbed onto him, wriggling her hips to get the head of his now erect cock wedged up to her extremely horny pussy. Once in place, Lisa wasted no time getting him inside of her as she pushed her hips down and plunged onto his prick, yelping in delight as it filled her up in a hurry. Mitch steadied himself as best he could, making sure not to slip on the wet tile, but Lisa was making it difficult to keep his balance. She lifted herself up and down on his body wildly, thrusting his dick into her cunt and didn't let up as her orgasm built up.

Releasing a hand from the wall, Mitch grabbed her ass and helped her hump against him, squeezing her soft flesh and urging her on. She humped faster when she felt a finger being inserted into her asshole and started squeaking.

"Yes, yes, yes... oh, yes... oh, I'm gonna cum all over your cock." Lisa's body writhed against Mitch and felt his dick start to inflate; he was going to cum, too.

With her cunt grabbing and squeezing his cock, Mitch reared back as his sperm climbed up his shaft. Lisa released Mitch and reached back to grab the shower head and, holding on for dear life, slammed her hips forward sinking his cock deep inside of her. With a struggling groan, Lisa's orgasm grabbed her pussy and forced it to squeeze Mitch's pulsing member, milking it for the semen she knew was coming. Mitch grunted as jets of cum leaped out of his dick and sprayed the clenching walls of Lisa's womanhood.

After the throes of their mutual climax subsided, Mitch made sure he had a good purchase of Lisa's body as she let go of the shower nozzle and eased herself to the tiled floor, Mitch's fat prick sliding out of her and leaving a trail of cum on her pussy lips.

"Oh, man," she huffed, absently wiping the sperm away under the shower spray, "I feel better, now." As Mitch wiped at his cock, Lisa lathered a sponge up and proceeded to wash him quickly, for the hot water was becoming a little cooler than before. Once rinsed, they both grabbed their towels and headed back to their room.

Mitch wrapped his around his waist, but Lisa continued to dry her hair with hers, walking down the hallway uncovered.

"Don't you think you should cover up?" he asked.

With a gleam in her eye, she asked, "Why?" then yanked his towel off of his hips, leaving him bare. She giggled as she ran back to the room naked, with Mitch hot on her tail and spanking at her bare butt. Once in the room, he forced her on the bed and proceeded to tickle her, punishing her for being a bad girl and making her squeal and laugh insanely.

Mitch joined her in bed and pulled her on top of him, then the two lovers passionately kissed as they snuggled down into bed.

Before drifting off, Lisa asked, "Did you get anywhere with the maps?"

"I may be onto something," he answered with a yawn, "I'll need to look at that image Michael has in order to be sure."

"I hope we have enough time before we leave," she yawned back, then snuggled close to him and sighed as sleep took hold of her.

Mitch drifted off with her, and the scientists laid together in peace as the quiet covered them...

* * *

...and Mitch awoke, startled and wide eyed when he heard the explosion in the distance. Lisa abruptly woke up when Mitch jostled her in bed.

"Wha... what's going on?" she asked, trying to get the sleep out of eyes.

"Something exploded; get dressed!" Mitch threw Lisa her clothes and the two of them dressed quickly, Mitch snapping on his pack and getting his gun ready.

Peering carefully out of their door, Mitch saw a couple of others run down the hallway. Readying their own weapons, they barked orders and called for others to join them. He and Lisa left their room and ran after them, only to skid to a halt when they got to the stairwell junction.

The well was filled with debris, blocking off their exit with pieces of stairs and concrete blocks, and the dust filling the air told them this was where the explosion happened.

"Mitch, Lisa; over here!" It was Michael, waving them towards the control room. They nearly collided with Foster and three others coming out of the ordinance rooms, loaded down with weapons and ammo, and hurried inside the control center.

"Cynthia, cameras!"

She turned to Michael, "Half of them are gone; I'm workin' on it!"

Another explosion echoed through the deep chamber, this time well above them, but still producing falling dust.

"I've got a picture!" she shouted again, adjusting controls on the monitors, "Got a signal from a camera across the street!"

The image cleared, jumping with static from time to time, and showed them the outside of the building. Everyone held their breath as they were shown what was attacking them.

Sentries surrounded the facility; twelve in all and all facing the sides with the exception of the back, not being able to get through the debris littering the area. They were firing projectiles at the remaining structure in an attempt to topple what was left and force its occupants out.

"They found us!" Michael yelled, pounding the desk, "Billy, Cynthia, and Jen; on the roof! Start tossing flash bangs; two minutes! Foster, take the east side; I'll go west! Mitch, Lisa; with me!"

The group immediately flew apart to their designated areas, Mitch right on Michael's tail with Lisa behind him. The roof group ran to the back of the hallway and started climbing a ladder, taking two or three rungs at a time, while Foster, armed with one of the machine's Gatling guns, led his group to a side stairwell; Michael and his team taking the one opposite.

At the top, Mitch and Lisa were with their group in a small foyer with Michael peeking through the dirty window in the outer door. It wasn't quite morning yet, the dawn just starting to warm the sky with orange haze.

"Mitch," he hissed, and he crept up behind him at his beckoning, "When I give the signal, jump on them and disable them. They'll be disoriented for about half a minute, so work fast," he patted his nape, "There are cables and wires back here, one of them leading to their central processors. Just yank them out and that will shut them down."

Mitch nodded, and the rest of the team readied themselves at Michael's command. Checking his watch, he held up his fingers and counted down from five... four... three... two... one...

In a burst of light and booming sounds, the flash grenades that were tossed from the roof detonated, then faded just as quickly.

"Now!"

Michael and the group poured out of the foyer and outside along the side of the building, dodging debris and pieces of the facility, and rushed the mechanical monsters ahead of them.

There were four sentries, all basically looking the same with metal and human parts fused together, and all of them were showing signs of having trouble. The machines whirred and clanked about, waving their arms and heads around attempting to get their bearings. But the flash grenades did their damage, frying their optical sensors for the moment and leaving them blind and unable to reorient themselves.

Michael quickly jumped onto the nearest one and grabbed for the back of its neck, Mitch doing the same to the next one. Mitch found a mixture of metal wires and what looked like human nerves and, forcing himself not to gag, grabbed as much of the hideous mess as he could get in his hand and pulled. Sparks flew out of the neck and the machine trembled and convulsed for a few seconds, then went limp, its arms dropping and the hum from its insides fading. Lisa disabled a third one, coughing and gagging when she grabbed a handful of nerves and blood vessels, her results matching Mitch's.

But just as Denise managed to take out the fourth one, another machine rolled around the corner with its arms and weapons pointing directly at them.

"Take cover!" Michael shouted as he hefted his weapon. The others dived behind whatever they could use as cover as Michael took aim and fired. The automatic rifle in his grip started spraying bullets all over the metal monster rolling towards them and, when one round found its head, the machine spewed sparks and jerked about as its processing unit fried itself leaving it brain damaged.

But another one took its place. And another.

They all heard gunfire coming from the other side of the building, Foster and his team having their hands full, then suddenly heard it coming from behind them. Michael turned to see two of the roof team firing their weapons at the oncoming machines, one of them flailing about and smashing itself into the wall.

"Denise!" Michael shouted, Denise already knowing what he wanted. She raised her gun and fired at the other one's head, her bullets bouncing off the metal glaze covering the skull. But one of its arms came up and shot what looked like electricity out of its claw, enveloping Denise in a haze of white-blue. She yelped and fell to the ground.

"Denise!" Lisa bolted from her cover position and raced towards her friend, attempting to pull her to safety. But another bolt lanced out and caught her full in the chest, making her convulse and drop to the ground as well.

"No!" Mitch ran out from his hiding spot, despite Michael's objections, and drew a bead on the machine's head. The monster whirled about and aimed its guns at him, but Mitch squeezed off all of his rounds into its head, the last bullet finding its target. The head sputtered with electric flashes, and the machines crumbled and stopped moving.

What Mitch didn't see was what was headed his way: three more of them, all of their weapons hot and ready to use.

After taking out the machines on the opposite side, Foster and what was left of his team rounded the corner to the front and saw the three remaining monsters heading for the other side.

"Hey, metal butts!" he shouted, readying his own weapon.

One of them turned to face him and was ready to gun him down, but Foster was faster. His Gatling gun released a wave of bullets that perforated the machine's chassis, sending sparks and pieces of its exterior in every direction.

But the one directly behind it quickly picked up where its companion left off. Its twin guns blazed with bullet fire as the team scattered and dove for cover, Foster and another member not quick enough. Pieces of their bodies were flying everywhere as the spray of ammo slammed into them and cut them down where they stood.

The remaining one of the three rounded the corner and fired off grenades from its front, the launching sounds echoing down the side of the wall.

"RUN!" The shout from Michael came too late as the grenades went off in loud blasts and making debris rain down all over. Mitch was dragging Lisa out of the way when one of them went off near him and sent him flying into the building's wall, then slamming him into the ground.

He saw stars, then haze... then black.

* * *

Mitch jolted awake, the awful smell of the ammonium nitrate wafting up his nostrils. He blinked the afterimages out of his eyes and saw Michael and Cynthia hovering over him. He tried to lift his head and immediately regretted it, the pain lancing through his skull like an arrow.

"Easy," said Cynthia, checking his eyes, "you've got a concussion; just lie still for a minute."

Mitch blinked again to clear his vision and carefully looked around. He was in the triage unit Michael showed him yesterday, or rather what was left of it. Vials, bandages, and other supplies were scattered everywhere among the glass and debris with not one single cabinet window intact.

He eyes widened when he remembered what happened.

"Lisa..." he croaked, the dust from the explosions choking his speech.

"They took her," said Michael with a pained voice, "and Denise. Jen and Billy are still with us; they took out everyone else."

"I have to find her," Mitch coughed out, "Help me up."

Cynthia grabbed his arm and assisted him in sitting upright, as Mitch saw the small gash on her cheek and Michael's bare arm bandaged and stained cherry red. Cynthia left the room and headed for the control center, leaving Michael alone with Mitch.

"Don't even think about it," he said to him in a sad tone, already seeing the look in Mitch's eye, "Even if we knew where those things were we'd never get passed them, not with our forces down. The other hideouts have been hit, too; there's nobody left."

"We can find them," Mitch groaned, sliding off the gurney.

"How? We've been looking for months... years."

"With the maps you had me look at... and the flash image you took of the signal," Mitch steadied himself against Michael and said, "I think I know how to find them."

Skeptical, Michael nodded and said, "Okay, show me." He helped Mitch to the control room, deliberately going slow so's not to tire him out. They passed chunks of debris and equipment, idly glancing at Billy as he sifted through the rubble to find as much weaponry as he could, and entered the control center.

The lights were dim but they could make out what was left of the monitors and consoles that were still working, and a young lady with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail (Mitch assumed this was Jen) darted around different control panels as Cynthia tried to coax power out of them to get the cameras and monitors working again.

Michael guided him over to a table where the maps were laid out, and Mitch rifled through them to find the right one he needed.

"Where's that computer image of the signal?"

Michael stared at him as if he grew a third eye in his forehead, "You've got to be kidding! We barely have any power to run anything, half of the center is trashed, and I don't even know if we can bring up the file let alone run in on a working screen!"

"Get a screen working; any screen!" Mitch said, "Find that image; I have to see it!"

Michael huffed and walked away, scanning the remains of his command center and shuffling through discs and flash readers littering the desks and floor. Mitch glanced at the clock that was, miraculously, still working: 7:24 AM. He only had four hours left to find Lisa, or they would be trapped here for another day. And, judging from what Michael and the others had told him about the circumstances in this dimension, one day was one too many as far as he was concerned.

"Michael," this from Cynthia, typing away at her controls, "I've got a few of the cameras working again; we've got images." She punched some controls and the main screen flickered to life, a few distortion lines crossing the field of vision. They all looked and Jen was the first to speak.

"There's nothing out there. The streets are empty; they're gone."

"No," said Michael, shaking his head, "they're only gone on the streets we can see; they could easily be patrolling the ones we can't." He went back to his searching, and smiled when he found the disc he wanted.

"Here it is," he said and walked over to Cynthia's console and loaded the silvery disc into the computer. The big screen blinked and replaced the outside picture with a new one, this time the satellite image of the city.

It looked exactly like the map in every detail, with the exception of the thin red, concentric rings that fanned out from every blue dot on the screen, looking like water ripples. They spread out and covered the entire city, overlapping and merging with one another.

"How much of this image do you have?" asked Mitch.

Michael answered, "About ten minutes."

"Can you overlap it into a continuous loop?"

Michael punched a couple of keys on the board, "Done, now what?"

"Give me a minute," Mitch scanned the image, looking for... what?

"You've only got nine," Cynthia threw over her shoulder.

"She's right," said Michael, gazing at the image as well, "They think we're all dead. If they catch a signal coming from down here..."

"I know, I know," Mitch said, impatiently, "I just need a few minutes to look."

He scrutinized the flashing image, willing it to give up its secret.

"C'mon... c'mon, damn it... it's there, I know it is."

Michael caught Mitch's mumblings, "What are you looking for?"

"A pattern, there's always a pattern."

"Mitch, we've been looking for months; we can't see any pattern."

"It's there!" Mitch grimaced, then shook his head, "I'm sorry, I'm worried about Lisa. I have to find her; we've only got..." he glanced at the clock and...

His eyes lit up as he watched the second hand tick away the seconds.

What was that Lisa was saying about the signal? 

Mitch thought back to last night and remembered, '"Do the towers receive the signal at the same time?"' she asked before.

"Michael, speed up the image."

At Mitch's request, Michael hit another key and the rings of red fanned out quicker.

"Faster."

The speed increased, the red lines starting to blur.

"Faster."

The rings almost melded together at their epicenters and started to wink like beacons.

"One more time."

Michael kicked up the image to its top speed, and the view blurred to a kaleidoscope of pulsing waves, jumping slightly when the image reset itself when it ran out of time and creating an optical illusion of the beacons rotating around...

"...like a clock," Mitch uttered, "That's it, that's the pattern. Michael, slow the image down, way down."

Michael complied, and the view slowed to a crawl showing each blue dot being hit by the signal one at a time, one followed by another close to it, then another after that.

"Connect the towers with lines heading towards each other as they register the signal."

Tapping more keys, Michael made lines of blue appear from each tower and trace a path towards the middle of the map, giving the appearance of an irregular bicycle tire and its spokes. Michael zoomed in on the point where all of the spokes joined at the center and enhanced the picture.




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 08



Hello fellow Lit readers, and thank you for the comments and interest in this work. I apologize for keeping you waiting for the next installment. I'm involved in another project and it's taking up a lot of time. I just hate it when 'real life' gets in the way of your fun, don't you?

Well, I think you get the basic theme of this story, so now... it's your turn. I have quite a few directions I could go with this, but I'm curious as to what dimensional antics you'd like to see our heroes travel to. If you have a suggestion for a chapter, just leave it in the 'comments' section; I always check them. If your idea has promise, I'll write a chapter using your suggestion. Make sure you leave your username so I can credit you for your idea.

I only ask two things: (1)As always, your idea must follow the rules and guidelines of this forum. And (2)I know I've added a few weird things in my chapters, but let's not go off on a tangent with this. No flying space monkeys or strange ray beams that turn people into celery stalks, okay? Heh, heh, heh... let's try and keep this 'on the ground' so to speak. I look forward to seeing your suggestions.

Okay, enough talk; onto the next chapter. Enjoy.

_______________________________

Mitch scanned the surrounding area, but didn't see any hint of a city where Birchwood was suppose to be. Small hillocks of tall grasses and creeping vines were scattered everywhere where there should have been houses.

"I don't understand," he mumbled, still searching for signs of inhabitants, "The city was never built in this universe?"

Lisa saw the same thing he saw: mounds of foliage, and larger groupings of greenery beyond, "I don't see any hint of a house, a building... not even a road."

"C'mon," said Mitch, taking her hand and guiding her down the hill to the vast field of green ahead. Once there, their view was the same: nothing but mounds of green, one after the other. Mitch paused and stared at the small hills, confused.

"Something's not right. These hillocks don't... look right."

Lisa urged him to continue walking and said, "Maybe this is what the area looked like before the city was built. In this dimension, maybe they haven't..."

"No, that's not what I mean," Mitch said, staring at a particular vine covered mound, "Look at the hills: they're all... uniform. Stacked next to each other, right in a straight line. That can't be natural; it must be... whoa!"

Lisa lunged after Mitch as he pitched forward and landed with not so graceful thud, grabbing at his foot and wincing in pain. She dropped beside him and reached into her bag, pulling out the first aid kit.

"What happened?"

Mitch gritted his teeth, "I tripped over something; stubbed my toe."

Lisa looked it over and spray some cold compound on the sore digit, relief spreading on Mitch's face as the pain was numbed. She set the kit aside to rub his foot... and produced a clinking sound, making both of them look at the kit on the ground.

"That wasn't a rock," Mitch said, pushing up off the ground and crawling over to the kit, with Lisa brushing the tall weeds aside. They both moved and pulled at the grasses until the object Mitch found with his foot was revealed.

A tricycle, rusted and in pieces with the hard plastic wheels cracked and crumbling off the hubs.

Mitch dug through more of the grass until he hit their roots and found what he expected to find: pieces of asphalt mixed with the soil. He rose from the ground and trudged through the weeds to an unusually shaped mixture of shrubs and vines. Lisa joined him and helped him clear away a section of leaves, and gasped when an object underneath presented itself: a car, old and rusted through to the point of collapsing in on itself.

"No wonder we couldn't see it," he said, looking around at the evenly spaced hills of brush, "nature covered it with growth. The city's still here."

"But what happened?" asked Lisa as she made her way towards one of the large green hills.

Mitch followed her and answered, "I don't know. Was it a disaster of some kind? A plague, maybe? Or maybe they just abandoned the town and left it to rot."

"But why? What could have happened to make everyone just pick up and leave?" Lisa edged closer to the mound of green and started pulling at the leafy vines, "A war, maybe?"

"Maybe," Mitch helped her uncover what they knew must be a house, their suspicions proving correct when a front door appeared with house numbers nailed to it. He looked at Lisa, and she nodded knowing what he had in mind. Carefully he pushed the door open, producing squawks from the rusted hinges, and the pair peered inside.

The living room that appeared was dark, despite the light from outside shining through the doorway, but they could see that the home had been deserted for years. Dust and cobwebs were everywhere, with some of the creeping vines finding their way inside through the broken windows.

The floor boards creaked in protest as Mitch and Lisa gingerly stepped into the room, with her nervously jumping slightly when a few mice scurried across the old worn carpet and ran off to hide. 

"Take a look at this stuff," Mitch said, scrutinizing the furnishings covered under a layer of dust, then turned to Lisa, "What's wrong with this picture?"

It took her a moment or two as she scanned the room, but Lisa realized what Mitch was talking about, "There aren't any modern appliances here; no plasma television, no electronic games, no computers..." she glanced at an end table and gawked, "A rotary phone?"

"Exactly," Mitch nodded, seeing the framed photos on the far wall, not one of them in color, "Whatever happened here happened a long time ago," he took in the whole room and added, "Best guess? I'd say nobody's been here for... sixty, maybe seventy years." 

"But where did they go?" asked Lisa, looking into the kitchen beyond and seeing an old refrigerator with a equally old gas stove, both dusty with their white enamel flaking off, "Mitch... you don't think..."

"Hold on, we don't know anything yet," Mitch ushered her towards the door, "Let's check out the rest of the city; maybe we'll get some clues as to what happened."

Leaving the dilapidated home, they both set out towards the town and marched passed the mounds of foliage, trying to see any hint of structures beyond the green. Tall towers of vines and leaves appeared once the old neighborhood was behind them, and they knew they had reached the downtown area of Birchwood.

"My God," Mitch muttered, seeing the same overgrowth all around the main street only on a larger scale. Buildings were covered in growing plants with vines coiling around every road fixture, right down to the fire hydrants, "the whole city's deserted."

"Mitch," said Lisa, carefully scanning the building fronts, "does the town seem... smaller to you?"

He wasn't sure how to answer as he and Lisa stepped onto what was suppose to be the sidewalk and started brushing aside some vines clinging to one of the buildings. Lisa managed to uncover part of a window, but suddenly jerked her hand away.

"Ow!" She shook her clenched fist, a rivulet of blood trickling from her palm. Mitch immediately dug the first aid kit out of her bag, glancing at the broken window pane and seeing a drop of red clinging to a pointed edge.

"Hold still, I'll get it," he wiped the blood from her gashed hand and spritzed some antibacterial spray onto the wound, making her wince as the antiseptic stung her palm. Placing a wad of gauze in her hand, he said, "Hold this until it stops bleeding; I'll clear a path inside."

Lisa held her fist tight as she watched Mitch clear away the rest of the stubborn vines from the window. Once clear of plants, they both looked inside and saw what appeared to be an old restaurant. Digging some more, Mitch found the door and they both entered the establishment, being careful not to step on anything harmful with their bare feet.

As before with the house they explored, there wasn't much light. But there was enough to reveal tables and booths lining one wall and some counters directly across, with an antique cash register perched atop the worn counter top glass. Part of the back wall had a long counter with stools in front of it, and behind it were shelves of glasses, dishes, kitchen utensils, and other restaurant paraphernalia. Old racks of crumbling books and magazines were set up here and there, along with stand alone shelves, and everything was draped in webs and dust.

"This is a old drug store," Mitch uttered, peering at the antique surroundings. 

"It is?" Lisa looked at the area again, puzzled.

"Yeah. Most pharmacies just handle prescriptions and medical supplies nowadays, maybe a few convenience store items. But once upon a time, stores like this were considered gathering places," he pointed at the dirty counter, "That was a soda counter. The soda jerk would serve drinks, ice cream sundaes, malts, even coffee and small sandwiches to people taking a break from shopping or waiting for a prescription to be filled by the pharmacist."

Lisa raised an eyebrow, "'Soda jerk'?"

Mitch shrugged, "Well, that's what the guy manning the counter was called. He would 'jerk' on the fountain handles to add carbonated water to whatever anyone was drinking and turn it into a soda," he saw her looking funny at him and added, "Yeah, I know; it seems weird, but that's what they offered to folks. This place would be the equivalent of a convenience store or a coffee house back in the..." He stopped, his face being pulled down in a frown, "Oh, God. This means our guess was right. There hasn't been anyone here for around seventy years."

Lisa's eyes lit up, "And that would explain why the town seems smaller. If nobody's been around, that means there was nobody here to build anymore stores or houses."

"How much do you want to bet our laboratory isn't here, either?"

Lisa nodded, "Or the warehouse where the park was the last time? I'll bet half the stores and shops aren't even here," she gazed at the quiet soda shoppe with a sad look, "But it still doesn't answer the question: where did they go?"

Mitch thought for a second, then, "The library should be here; it was built around 1910. We'll take a look in there, if we can find it through all of this growth."

They exited the old shop and plowed through the weeds and grass, carefully stepping around mounds of leaves that were obviously covering something in the road and on the walkways.

The pair headed towards a large, squared off hill of greenery, Mitch saying, "If I remember it right, the library should be that one."

But right in the middle of the 'street', both of them froze at the sound of something grumbling. Turning slowly, they saw something they somewhat expected to see but weren't ready to deal with.

A mountain lion, narrowing its gold eyes at the duo and baring its sharp teeth in a menacing growl.

"Mitch..." Lisa clung to his side as his hand reached into his pack.

"Easy, I had a feeling we'd run across some wild animals," he whispered, bringing around his gun. He pulled Lisa behind him and stared down the animal holding out his palm, "Nice kitty..." he raised the weapon and pointed the barrel at the big cat.

"Mitch, don't."

"I don't want to hurt him either, but if it's a choice between him or us," he clicked the gun's hammer into place, "I vote 'us'."

"Just fire off to the side, scare him off." Lisa watched nervously as the large feline slowly paced back and forth, edging closer to the pair.

"Somehow, I don't think he's the type to be easily scared," Mitch said, aiming for the the lion's head as it drew near, "Down... stay! Get back!"

The growling cat ignored the warning and crept towards the scientists with only one thing on its mind: food.

Mitch, making sure Lisa was protected behind him, steadied his arm and started to squeeze the trigger. The cat kept advancing; Mitch finger curled tighter around the trigger, and...

The pair were both startled when a haze of lavender light suddenly surrounded the animal, freezing it in its tracks... then lifting it a few feet off the ground. Mitch quickly took his finger off the trigger and studied the strange glow all around the cat, its body unmoving and making no sounds. A tight beam of purplish light lanced out from the field, and both Mitch and Lisa tracked it back to its source just behind them and saw...

There were four of them, slightly taller than he was and wearing some type of bib outfits colored in light and dark browns... which contrasted sharply with their skin. For the most part, their skin pigment was the color of the sky with spotted patterns of blue siding their faces and their arms and shoulders, each one of them a different hue from navy blue to turquoise.

The one in front, sporting shades of dark purple, was holding a box-like device tipped with a tube emitter and that produced the beam of light aimed at the lion. With a four fingered hand, it adjusted the mechanism and caused the animal to rise up and be placed in another location, all the while the one next to him/her held a similar device but tipped with a small pyramid glowing red. That one threw out a beam of red that ran over and traced the animal's body. 

Once down, the being nodded to another and switched off the device, his partner doing the same. The lion began circling itself once it was released from the field, confused and not understanding what had happened. Another being held out a wand-like piece of hardware, and small white bursts of light shot out and touched the ground around the cat, setting off sparks and crackles around its paws. It growled in fright and took off like a shot into the underbrush behind the covered buildings.

Too afraid to move, Mitch and Lisa continued to stare at their rescuers and took in the rest of their appearance. Mitch wasn't really sure what to do, nevertheless he lowered his gun and clicked the safety on.

The four beings had strange faces, humanoid in appearance but slightly off from what was (to Mitch and Lisa) the 'norm'. Their mouths were thin and wide topped with noses that were small and appeared flat against their skulls, and their eyes looked like the eyes of a fly with segmented lenses tinted red. Their hair, if that was it was, hung down in different lengths and had the look of seaweed fronds, colored the same as their skin patterns but darker.

The four beings slowly walked up to the pair of scientists, the one in the lead brandishing his 'holding' device. Mitch tightened his grip on the gun as they neared, and the 'leader' sensed it coming to a halt and motioning to the two others with the wand weapons to stand down. He/She hooked the device onto a belt clip, then nodded to the one with the red tipped box.

The being slowly stepped forward and held out the device to the scientists, Mitch seeing a small view screen on its face. An image of the lion was shown to him, then the view of its musculature, its internal organs, and finally its bones. The humanoid then motioned to the device, then to Mitch and Lisa.

"I think I understand," Mitch said quietly, "It's some kind of scanning device; it examines and records things for them to study. They want to scan us." 

Very slowly, Mitch made a show of putting his gun back into his pack and then nodded as he held out his empty hands, showing them that he wasn't a threat.

The 'leader' again motioned with his hand at the ones with the weapons, and both of them holstered the wands and stepped back. 

Mitch then nodded to the one with the red device, holding his nude body out for the being to examine. He/She nodded back and switched on the box, producing a beam of red that passed over Mitch's form scanning and measuring every part of him. After a moment, the beam ceased and the box beeped at its owner who smiled and nodded. Then he/she tilted her head and offered a hand to Lisa.

"It's okay, honey," assured Mitch, "it doesn't hurt. They're just curious and want to find out what we are."

Lisa stepped up with a few twinges in her stomach, but nodded at the being to give him/her the 'okay'. Again, the red beam lanced out and played over her body, Lisa watching as the light rippled across her naked curves.

After the scanning, the 'leader' brandished another box device, this one smaller and topped with a sphere glowing a dull green. Switching it on, he/she spoke into the device, but the words came out as a jumble of grunts and guttural noises mixed with a few clicks and chirps. Then the being pointed the box at the scientists.

"I'm sorry," said Mitch, shaking his head, "I don't understand what you're saying."

"'...what you're saying'." Mitch started a little when the device through his words out, then chirped a few times. The being nodded, adjusting the controls, and waved his fingers in a beckoning motion, wanting more from the pair.

"Oh, I get it," said Lisa, "That's some kind of language translation device. It records what we're saying, and I think it's trying to translate our words so they can understand us. They want us to talk to them."

"'...want us to talk to them'." Lisa's words were copied and the box bleeped again with the tiny sphere glowing brighter, the 'leader' nodding and smiling, then speaking again to them. But it came out as, "[Blaatie cun understand what I'm saying bon?]" in a deep grunting voice.

Mitch nodded carefully and answered, "One more time; I only understood a few word you said."

Lisa chimed in, "Yes, we'll keep talking; we want to communicate with you."

"'...want to communicate with you'."

The device beeped quickly with its sphere shining a brilliant lime, and the being smiled and hit a few controls on its side. Through a side slot, two small gray disks were spit out into the humanoid's palm, and he/she offered them to Mitch and Lisa. Then he/she mimed pressing the disk against his/her head just behind his odd shaped ear, then pushing a fingertip to it.

Mitch understood and copied the movement, pressing the disk to his head and, feeling the tiny stud near an edge, depressed it making it click. 

"I think it's working," said Lisa, seeing a little green status light come on, then did the same with her disk.

Both of them felt a tiny buzz behind their ears as the small devices whispered a whirring sound, and the lead being nodded and spoke to them.

"Can you understand what I'm saying, now?"

"Yes, I can," said Mitch, smiling.

"Yes, we understand you now," answered Lisa with her own smile.

"Excellent," the leader exclaimed, stepping forward, "I apologize if we frightened you; that was not our intent."

Mitch nodded back, "It's all right. I'm sorry if we were a little hesitant. We've never met beings like you before."

The being with the scanner moved up and spoke with a softer voice, "Is your species native to this world?"

"Yes, it is," answered Lisa.

"Then you represent the dominate species that inhabited this planet?"

Lisa balked a little, "Well basically, yes. There are other species here that are less developed, some with the same intelligence and others greater than ours. But, for all practical purposes, human beings would be considered the dominate species."

"'Human'?"

"Uh, that's the name of our species: 'human'."

The soft spoken being nodded to the leader as he/she entered something on his/her device, obviously recording the 'human' name, then spoke again, "How are you addressed?"

Mitch thought for a moment, then realized what the being was asking, "Oh, my name. My name is Mitchell," he gestured to Lisa, "and this is my wife, Lisa."

"'Wife'?"

Mitch turned to the other being, "Uh... 'wife', that means we are a couple. We're mates, and I'm her husband."

"Ah, life companions; I understand," the being said, nearing the leader, "We our also joined together as life mates."




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 08



The leader nodded, "I am Demm, commander of the star cruiser Groton. This is Luna, she is my... 'wife', and chief science officer."

"How do you do," Mitch said with a small bow, "Please forgive us if we seem too curious. It's because you are the first beings we've met that are not from our world."

"This is our first trip to this world as well," said Demm, "but we didn't expect to find your species here. How did you arrive on this world?"

"Well, it's complicated," Mitch started, "Lisa and I are scientists and have the ability to travel from one dimension to another, so this Earth really isn't the one we came from."

"'Earth'?" asked Luna.

"Yes, that's the name of this planet," Lisa answered, "In fact, 'Luna' is the name of our moon."

"'Moon'?"

"Uh, the natural satellite that orbits this planet."

"Really?" Luna smiled as Demm entered that information into his device.

Mitch suddenly got a puzzled look on his face when what Demm was saying registered in his mind, "Wait a minute, what did you say about 'not expecting to find us'?"

"We did not expect to find your species on this world. Our initial scans of this planet did not detect life forms such as yourselves, only lower forms of animal and plant life."

Then Luna spoke, "We have discovered fossilized remains that resemble your skeletal structures, but you two are the only live 'humans' we have found here."

"...oh," Lisa groaned, putting her hand to her mouth. She turned to Mitch and let him take her into his arms and hug her.

"You are distressed by this," said Demm with a pained look, "I am sorry."

"No, it's all right," he responded, petting Lisa's head, "we've encountered a world like this a few days ago."

Lifting her head from Mitch's chest, Lisa asked, "What happened?"

Demm shook his head, "We do not know," he lifted the green sphere tipped device, "but, with your assistance, we can now find out. The translation matrix has successfully incorporated your language; we can now interpret your language from the artifacts we have uncovered. Will you help us?"

Lisa wiped the tears from her cheeks and nodded, "Yes, of course; we'll be glad to help." Mitch nodded with her.

"Come," Demm smiled and waved a hand, "our main camp is this way."

The group walked along somewhat of the same path that the main street used to occupy, but Mitch stopped and pointed at the old library.

"We were going to check out that building when we first got to the city; it's a library and it contains books and information we may need."

But Demm shook his head, "Not necessary, Mitchell. We have already scanned the contents of that structure; all of the information is stored in our portable computer nodes. You will be able to access it from there, and help us translate your written language at the same time."

"Wow," Mitch muttered, "that's a time saver; alright, let's go."

The group continued its trek through the foliage, winding between plant covered obstacles. Along the way, they asked questions of each other.

"What is your species called?"

Luna addressed Lisa's question, "We are the Krellin. Our home world, Krell, is some three hundred and sixty hyptocamps from here."

"'Hyptocamps'?"

Luna thought for a moment, "How do you measure interstellar distances?"

Lisa shrugged a little, "Well, our species doesn't have interstellar travel, at least not the humans from our dimension. But we measure space distances in light-years," she went on when Luna looked puzzled, "oh, that's how long light travels in a year for us. A 'year' is how long our Earth travels around our sun once, 365 days. And a 'day' is how long Earth revolves once on its axis."

"Ah, I understand now," Luna tapped her scanning device and entered the information, then nodded, "then, by your measurements, Krell is approximately seven hundred and ten of your light-years from Earth."

"Wow," she uttered, "We've discovered evidence of other planets around other stars, but we didn't know if there was any life on them. Some have suspected that there were other life forms out in space, but you are the first we've ever come in contact with."

Luna smiled, "I am honored by that. Demm and I have only had this type of contact twice in our travels."

"Are there other life forms like you and me out there?"

"Oh, hundreds of different intelligent species," Luna nodded, "we suspect thousands more in the undiscovered and unexplored regions of space. Our species, and dozens more, are part of an organization called the Grand Alliance, and our primary mission is to explore the galaxy." As they walked through the brush, Luna continued, "May I ask you something, if it is not too intrusive?"

"Of course, Luna."

Perusing the curves of Lisa's naked body, Luna asked, "Your construction differs from Mitchell's. Is this how you differentiate between your genders?"

Lisa looked down at herself and nodded, "Oh, yes; I am the female of our species."

"And Mitchell would be the male, like Demm," Luna returned the nod, "I thought as much, but I had to be sure. There are a few species that have opposite constructions and sometimes more than two genders; some take offense at being addressed incorrectly." Luna paused, then asked another question, "Do all humans go about without protective garments?"

Lisa thought about that, then realized what she was asking and blushed a little, "Oh, you mean clothes. Uh, no; humans, for the most part, don't usually walk around in the nude."

"We find it more comfortable and relaxing to be without garments," Luna gestured at her uniform bib, "We only wear these to protect us from the elements of the worlds we visit... and so as not to upset the local populations, as well. Some find the non-use of garments... unacceptable."

Lisa agreed, "There are many in my world that consider showing off certain parts of the body... rude and disrespectful of others' feelings, at least out in the open and in public." 

"Then you do not normally go about unclothed? If you and Mitchell are uncomfortable, we can provide garments for you."

"No, no that's all right; I don't mind if you don't."

"Actually, it is preferred," said Luna with a little shyness, "it is easier for us to study your forms. Your body is beautifully constructed."

Lisa blushed, "Thank you."

"Mitchell is also well constructed; do you enjoy his form?" She saw Lisa pause a bit at that question, then, "Oh, Lisa; I am sorry. I did not mean to pry into your personal affairs; that was rude of me."

"No, it's okay Luna," she replied, patting her arm. Luna's skin was very warm and soft to the touch, "You want to know all about us; asking questions is the way to do it. Actually, I very much enjoy Mitch's form and he enjoys mine, that's one of the reasons why we're a couple. And yes," Lisa leaned in, whispering, "he is well constructed... very well constructed."

Luna leaned in too with a smirk and whispered back, "So is Demm."

The two women giggled as Mitch and Demm lead the way to the camp site and conversed as well.

"I believe they are talking about us, Mitchell."

He nodded at Demm, "Do your women talk like this with other female species?"

Demm lifted his head in an eye rolling gesture, "Sometimes, I think it is one of the universal constants."

Mitch chuckled, "You can add human females to that list."

"I heard that."

Mitch looked behind him to see Lisa giving him that 'look' that women seem to always give men, and said, "Oops." making Demm laugh, a hearty deep chuckle.

"Just out of curiosity, why are you here?" asked Mitch, "In our dimension, we've barely begun space flight. In fact, we haven't even left our star system unless you count the probes we've sent over the years. We're obviously not as advanced as you are; why us?"

Demm answered, clearing away some low hanging limbs and vines, "Our initial scans of this world indicated that there were no sentient life forms present on the surface, only animal and plant life. We are surveying this world as a potential site for a colony. The materials and resources here would make this planet an excellent location for an outpost station, used for refueling and resupplying ships. Your world and its companion planets mark the galactic northern edge of known space; this is an ideal area for long range scanning for further exploration."

"Really?" Mitch raised an eyebrow at that, "I feel kind of honored by that. So your people want to use Earth as a way station of sorts, a 'jumping off' point from known space into the unknown to explore it."

"Precisely, we and dozens of other species who have joined together in a quest for knowledge."

"Wow," said Mitch, astonished.

"Of course," Demm added with caution, "we will need your permission to do so; it is your world, after all."

But Mitch waved him off, "There won't be any need, Demm. Lisa and I will be leaving tomorrow, and this Earth really isn't ours to claim. Use it as you see fit; at least someone will be here to appreciate it," he sighed, "Besides, I don't think the people who were here would mind, in fact I think they would have been thrilled to meet others from different worlds." Mitch chuckled a little and added, "You know, it sounds a lot like a TV show I use to watch when I was a kid."

Demm looked at him, puzzled, "'TV'?"

"Uh..." Mitch patted his shoulder, "I'll explain it later."

The group plowed through the area where the park should have been and came across the slight valley where the scientists' laboratory would have been standing if it had been built, Mitch's and Lisa's hunch being right. In the crevice below was the site for the Krellin's exploration camp.

As they walked down, Demm asked, "If I may ask, why are you and Lisa without garments?"

"Well, it's a long story," Mitch replied as he and the group entered the camp.

There were two other Krellins there, tending to machines and utensils scattered around a heating unit in the middle surrounded by foldout seats, and sitting next to the camp was a large craft of dark gray-purple metal with two pea pod shaped engines. The two beings were startled for a minute, obviously worried when two unknown animal species walked into camp with their fellow Krellins, but Demm put them at ease and told them what was going on.

After introductions were made, Mitch and Lisa were invited to sit with the Krellin and talk, mainly about what the two scientists were doing on a supposedly uninhabited planet. Mitch told them the story of how he and Lisa were able to travel from one dimension to another, describing the circumstances and events that occurred during their visits. The Krellin listened with interest and curiosity, hearing of the fascinating and sometimes frightening events that took place.

"...and every time we jump into a new dimension, our appearance changes," Mitch went on, "sometimes we're dressed normally, other times we're dressed oddly. And sometimes," he gestured at his naked body, "not at all." 

"We detected an inter-spatial anomaly a sort time ago. Was this your 'gateway'?"

Mitch looked at Demm, surprised, "You detected the portal? I didn't think that was possible; it doesn't come into being in normal space-time."

"Interdimensional-continuum distortion is one of the main components involved in interstellar travel. At first, we thought it was another Krellin vessel but, when the reading appeared on the planet surface, we knew it must be something else. That is what brought us to your initial location." 

"Well, the 'bridge' that's created doesn't allow us to travel distances, it only brings us to the exact same point we left in the last dimension to this one, and so on. We can never predict what will happen to us when we jump; we just go along with events as best we can and deal with the situation as we go."

Luna gasped, "How unnerving... and exciting at the same time."

"Indeed," said Bram, their group's chief engineer, "very daring and bold. Were all humans this way?"

Mitch nodded, "For the most part, yes. Some preferred to examine situations before moving into them, while others just charged right through them. But almost all humans have that instinct within them, that compulsion that drives them: the need to know, to learn."

"That is a trait we have in common, along with other intelligent species," said Noly, a female Krellin who specialized in biological studies, "the need to explore, to experience new things and gain knowledge from them."

"Exactly," Lisa chimed in, "humans have always been curious and strive to find the answers to questions that came up, even if it took years... well, at least the humans in our dimension."

Noly got a sorrowful look and put a hand on her knee, "I am so sorry that there are no others of your species here, Lisa. It is regrettable."

Lisa patted the being's hand, "Thank you, Noly. All I want to know is what happened and why."

"That is something we may be able to find out," said Demm, pointing to a portable structure off to the side, "We have recordings and artifacts in there that may give you the answers you seek."

With that, the group rose and headed for the structure, with Mitch and Lisa in tow. Once inside, they saw tables and computer banks lining the walls, almost all of them filled with items and the computers analyzing them. It was somewhat warmer than usual, and Mitch and Lisa gaped a little when all of the Krellin removed their bib garments and hung them off to the side, revealing their nude bodies. The colored patterns that accented their skin also accented the females breasts and their (and the males') genitalia.

Luna nudged Lisa and indicated her husband's rather thick penis and large scrotum. Lisa whispered, "You were right; very well constructed." and the pair quietly giggled again, with Luna blushing an unusual shade of turquoise.

"Now," said Demm, getting down to business and turning on an oval view screen set on the middle table, "we have scanned everything we have uncovered so far, but have only been able to identify some of the items to an extent," the view changed from certain recognizable objects to written text, "The information from your... 'library', I believe you called it, is also stored here. Once we have deciphered your written language, we can search for the information you need. Mitchell, would you read some of what is written here?"

Mitch peered at the screen and started reading a chapter from 'Gone With the Wind', while Demm adjusted his translation device to record him and at the same time scan the words he was reading aloud. The device beeped and clicked, matching the letter symbols and their accompanying sounds, then finally bleated out a string of blips indicating that the translation was complete.

"The matrix has translated your written language," said Demm, nodding in approval, "We can now translate the data we have collected," he then motioned to the image of the writing, "Is this text considered part of your history?"

Mitch nodded hesitantly, "Yes, but only as a form of entertainment. This book contains elements from our history, but the story itself is a work of fiction."

"Ah, so this 'slavery' it speaks of... it did not happen?"

Almost ashamed, Mitch replied, "I'm afraid it did happen in our history. Slavery has been in our recorded history for nearly six thousand years, possibly longer. One of the more infamous times it happened was in a land called Egypt, the people there enslaved another because of their different religious beliefs."

"Was this practice ever stopped?" asked Luna, hopefully.

Lisa nodded, "Yes it was, but not until about a hundred and sixty years ago. People who had a different skin color than Mitch and I have were enslaved for many years before it was finally abolished. That's one of the historical elements from that book; it describes a war that took place that ended slavery and united a nation, the land mass where we are now."

Demm nodded sadly, "We, too, have had our share of slavery in our history, and it was based on different skin tones," he indicated his accent colorings, "Those of darker colorings were suppose to be 'superior', while others of lighter tones," he motioned to Bram, who had shades of off-green on his skin, "were thought to be 'inferior'. Idiotic. I thank the Creator that we got passed our ancestors' backwards thinking." Demm shook his head at the stupidity of it.

Bram nodded to his commander, "Agreed, our ancestors were so foolish. Judging and enslaving others because of their appearance? Ridiculous. Thank the Creator it's..." he checked the calculations on one of the computer screens and nodded to Mitch, "...almost five of your centuries in the past."

Mitch understood, "We still have people in our dimension who consider others of different skin colors 'inferior', and I wholeheartedly agree with you: idiotic thinking."

Demm turned back to the main screen, "Well, now we can find out what happened here, if any events leading up to all of this was recorded."

"While they are working on that," said Luna, inviting Lisa over to another long table, "you can help us identify these items."

"I'll certainly try," she answered, perusing the plethora of artifacts scattered over the table, "but I might not know what some of these things are. Everything here was made before I was born and some of it isn't used in my dimension anymore, but I'll do my best."

Lisa worked with Luna, picking up items and parts of machinery to identify, while Mitch scanned the information gathered from the library on another screen after Demm showed him how to use the controls. He told Demm to focus the search on periodicals and newspapers, after describing what those were, but magazines and papers were hard pressed to find. Any exposed paper would have dissolved to dust over the years depending on the circumstances, but Demm and his team managed to find some that were somewhat preserved and intact.

Mitch then told Demm to search for anything that had to do with medicine and science first, then try to find a headline that seemed urgent about the matter. Since nothing of what they've seen so far looked as if a conflict or natural disaster had occurred, Mitch figured a medical or biological emergency could be the reason for the absence of humans.

Luna picked up an object from the collection on the examination tables and asked, "Is this some sort of industrial device?"

Lisa smiled, "No, that was used for preparing certain foods and drinks; it's called a blender."

"Hmm," Luna pointed at another piece of metal, its handle worn and cracking, "and this? It looks like a weapon of sorts; Mitchell has one."

"That's because it is a weapon," Lisa frowned, carefully picking up the old and tarnished pistol, "This is a gun, I think they called it a 'Policeman's Special' .38 revolver. It was used for protection against anything that threatened the user. It fires metal projectiles using a small chemical explosion, and it can inflict great damage to anything or anyone it's used on. Law enforcement people and soldiers in the military used variations of these weapons, and in the wrong hands these can be very dangerous."

Luna's red eyes widened at that, being careful not to touch anything that looked similar to the gun. Another item was pointed out by the being, and Lisa giggled a little.

"Uh, that's a brassiere," she said, surprised to see a garment intact, "It's used to... to support... uh..." Lisa cupped her breasts and hoisted them a little.

Luna blushed a bit, "Oh... it is a female garment." She stared at Lisa's boobs, "Yours do not need supporting."

Now Lisa blushed and laughed, "Well thank you, but the bra isn't just for support. It also keeps my breasts from bouncing around; that can be painful for some women. It also accentuates the curve of them, making them more attractive to men."

But Luna shook her head, "You do not need such a garment; you are attractive just as you are." She put the bra against her body and said, "This garment does not fit me properly," and sighed in concentration. Lisa's eyes bugged out when she saw Luna's light blue breasts swell up and expand to fit into the bra's cups, "There, that's better. Is this how they are suppose to look in this garment?"




Through the Looking Glass Ch. 08



Lisa stammered for a moment, then, "Uh... yeah, that's right. Bras come in different sizes for different size women."

Luna cocked an eyebrow, "You cannot augment the size of your mammary glands?"

"Well... yes we can, but not on command," Lisa uttered, not entirely sure how to explain breast implants, "Human female breasts swell a little during sexual intercourse and when they're nursing their newborns, but we can't make them bigger the way you can."

"There are not many species that are able to alter their appearance the way we can," said Luna, sighing again and making her boobs contract to their original size, "We only augment parts of our bodies for coupling enjoyment."

Lisa smirked a little at that, curious as to what kind of 'coupling' the Krellin enjoy, as Luna placed the bra back on the table. But Lisa was startled next when Luna grabbed her wrist as she reached for a tarp-like cloth draped over another table.

"Lisa..." she said in a shaky whisper, "don't."

She looked puzzled at Luna, then scared not entirely sure she wanted to know what was under the cloth.

"Those are the... 'fossilized remains' I spoke of earlier. You may look if you wish, but..."

Lisa snatched her hand away from the table, slightly rattled at the thought of what the Krellin uncovered and feeling her stomach tighten up, saying, "That's alright, I'll... take your word for it."

Luna noticed the gauze in her palm stained a dark red and said, "You are injured. Bala?"

One of the female Krellin, the team's on-site medic, came over to the two others with a kit. She removed an odd looking probing device and asked Lisa to show her the wound on her hand. Examining it, Bala clicked the device on and a blue light lanced out of the tip, which she waved across the gash. Lisa's palm tingled as the skin was pulled and knitted together, the dried blood flaking away, and healed without a scar once she finished.

Amazed, Lisa smiled and nodded to Bala, saying "Thank you." and decided not to tell them that it wasn't necessary; her wounds, as well as Mitch's, would heal once they crossed over to the next dimension.

"I may have found something of interest, Mitchell," said Demm, adjusting the controls of his computer, "This article mentions something about a disease." He then transferred the image over to the screen in front of Mitch.

He looked at the old newspaper section displayed, its front page dominated by the words, 'Epidemic Deaths Triple Within Year' in bold print. Lisa and Luna joined them at the screen as Mitch read through the headline article, the date on the paper was obscured but the last two numbers that could be seen were, '...44'.

"Typhus?" said Lisa, bewildered, "Is that like typhoid?"

"No," Mitch mumbled, scanning through the print, "it's completely different from typhoid, but some of the symptoms are the same: high fever, chills, rashes, delirium. Typhoid was transmitted through contaminated food and water, and then through carriers of the disease. Typhus was carried to humans through fleas, lice, and mites, mostly in overcrowded jails and prison camps during wartime where conditions weren't exactly on the 'clean' side. Third world countries were the most susceptible."

"But they developed vaccines against those old diseases, didn't they? I was vaccinated against them when I was young; so were you."

Mitch nodded to Lisa, "Yeah, I know; every kid was. But apparently not here, either that or the scientists who developed them never..." Shock plastered Mitch's face as he looked at the headline again and the partial date, "'44, during World War II..."

"Is this conflict significant?" asked Demm.

"Yes, it was. Allied countries stopped a dictator and his regime from taking over the world. Some important vaccines were created in Eastern Europe during that time where a major part of this war took place..."

Lisa joined in with Mitch's train of thought, "The Nazis invaded Eastern Europe, as well as other countries around them."

Mitch nodded, tapping a finger against his pursed lips, "If I remember correctly, the Nazis forced scientists to create vaccines for them; I can't remember who. The vaccines were smuggled out of the occupied areas and distributed throughout Europe and Asia. But in this dimension..."

"They didn't force the scientists to make anything, they... killed them," said Lisa, aghast, "The vaccines were never developed..."

"...and the diseases were allowed to run rampant," finished Mitch, equally appalled, "It started with typhus, then maybe with typhoid. After that, rubella, malaria, measles... there was nobody left that came up with vaccines in time to keep them in check," he leaned against the table, "The diseases ran wild, and everyone... ...oh, God."

Lisa wrapped her arm around his and laid her head on his shoulder, her eyes shut tight in frustrated disbelief, "...oh, no."

"I am sorry, Mitchell," said Demm, gripping his shoulder in support, "We have seen results of this very situation on other worlds."

"Are you and Lisa in danger from this?" asked Luna, the worry in her voice was plain.

Mitch raised his weary head and shook it, "No. Lisa and I were vaccinated against these diseases when we were children. We still carry the anti-agents in our systems; we're immune."

Lisa wiped a tear from her face and turned to Luna, "What about you? Are you in danger?"

Luna shook her head 'no', "We scanned your world for any bacterial pollutants and viruses that may be harmful to us, it is standard procedure before investigating a planet. We have inoculated ourselves against them and are safe from their effects."

"If there was any way to change this, we would assist you."

Mitch smiled at Demm, "I appreciate that, I really do. But Lisa and I promised ourselves that we wouldn't interfere with the history of whatever dimension we travel to. We've already done this in a few other universes, and I don't know what the outcomes will be; they could hurt rather than help," he stared at the paper headline, then shook his head, "No, what's done is done and if this is the way it's suppose to be in this dimension... so be it."

"Mitch is right," Lisa added, wiping away the last of her tears, "there's nothing we can do to change this even if we wanted to or had the ability, but we can still help you. We can give you an idea of what we're like and what we could have accomplished."

"Thank you," said Demm, "You have given us much already, but you could fill in any gaps in our investigation."

Mitch stuck out his hand, which Demm took into his, "Done."

Demm suggested that Mitch and Lisa eat and rest for a short while before diving into the artifacts found by the Krellin, to which Lisa agreed with earnest. Noly inputted the data taken by Luna on the scientists' metabolisms and ordered a nourishment processing unit to replicate the appropriate foodstuffs.

Mitch and Lisa wandered about the camp area to stretch their legs and relax, fascinated by the space craft and the technology around them. After taking a bite of a nutrition square that tasted like fruit, Mitch pulled out his recorder while Lisa snapped some pictures with her camera.

'April 9- I was right about the goings-on in the dimension we were in; somebody was manipulating and using the robotic nightmares that were attacking the surviving humans. I, along with members of a resistance group, managed to put an end to the one running the show. The survivors can start rebuilding and getting on with their lives without computers and robots lurking behind every corner.'

'We arrived in the next dimension a few hours ago, and it turns out to be a mixed blessing. The good part is that beings from another world are here; actual extraterrestrial, sentient life forms somewhat similar to us with a few exceptions. The bad part is that Lisa and I are the only two human beings alive on this Earth; everyone else apparently died from a disease epidemic about sixty-odd years earlier.'

'The beings, called the Krellin, are here to investigate and survey our world for scientific interests and possibly to establish an outpost colony. We have no objections to this, since we will be leaving tomorrow and this Earth is now uninhabited. The Krellin are friendly and eager to learn about us, and we've established a good rapport with them. We are just as eager to learn about them.'

'After we rest for awhile, Lisa and I will help them with their survey. They have uncovered a number of relics that they want us to identify, and I believe this will give them a better understanding of what human beings were like here.'

Turning off the recorder, Mitch munched on his 'fruit' square and watched Lisa clicking away at her camera and storing the images. Again, her nude body melded with the outdoor scenery perfectly, and Mitch could see she enjoyed being naked in the wilderness. She finished with her picture taking and joined Mitch near the heating unit.

They relaxed in the warm sunshine, observing Demm and his crew going about their business and discussing plans for further investigations of the Earth in the present universe.

"You know, I've been wondering about something," said Lisa, pointing to the small disk below her ear, "Why do we need these disks to understand the Krellin? We didn't need them before."

Mitch crinkled his brow in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"When we were in the dimension where the Romans ruled, we both understood the Latin they were speaking and they understood us, without any kind of translation device. Why do we need one now?"

Mitch thought about it for a minute, then, "Maybe because our brains responded to our languages only. All the languages we know of came from right here on Earth. English, Russian, German, Spanish, even Latin; whether we understand them or not, we know in our minds that they exist. To my knowledge, no one has ever heard a language from another world, so maybe our brains can't comprehend it and can't translate it or let us speak it. It's only a theory, but it's a logical guess." 

Lisa nodded, then turned back to the Krellin and snickered, making Mitch look at her quizzically, "They seem comfortable walking around not wearing anything, I wish we were more like that. I'll bet we'd have a lot less problems in the world if everyone was naked."

Mitch shook his head, "I think the climates would say different, especially winter. And besides, everyone might be screwing around too much to get anything done."

Lisa laughed as she observed Demm and Luna speaking closely with one another, as couples often do, and her cheeks reddened a little when she asked, "Did you see the size of Demm's... unit?"

Mitch scrunched his face, "I'm not in the habit of comparing... 'unit' sizes with other guys."

"It's as thick as my arm," she said, wrapping her fingers around her wrist and idly wondered what it looked like fully erect, if beings like Krellin males got erections, "I bet Luna enjoys it."

"All right, enough," Mitch scolded, then reached over and tickled the underside of her bare breast.

Lisa giggled and squirmed away from his teasing fingers, "Quit it, you're making me horny." Mitch could see that, because her nipples were starting to bud.

After resting for a while, they returned to the main tent structure with Demm and Luna. Mitch and Lisa immediately dived into the relics the Krellin had found and helped them identify the various items.

"This," said Mitch, pointing to the inner components of an electronic device, "is... well, what's left of a device called television, that 'TV' I mentioned earlier." The screen for the most part was surprisingly intact, but the rest was a mixture of broken tubes, frayed wires, and corroded electronics, "This device would broadcast sounds and images using radio waves, mostly news updates and entertainment programs."

Demm nodded, "We had something quite similar to this in our distant past. We still have a few of these devices on display in our archives. Did all humans have this technology at their disposal?"

"Well, at the time, no. Television was available, but it didn't become really popular until after that war we talked about. During the war, only some people had television, but after it was over almost everyone had one within a decade or two."

The two scientists spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening identifying unearthed treasures, from tools and household kitchen appliances to machine parts and toys, including a baseball bat. They first thought it was a primitive weapon of sorts, and Mitch had some difficulty explaining the game to the Krellin who didn't seem to quite catch onto the concept. 

When the sun finally dipped below the horizon, the group gathered around the heating unit, still discussing human attributes and customs. 

"As a physician," Bala started, "I am curious about your species' physiology. May I ask about a certain physical trait, if it is not too personal?"

"Of course, Bala," answered Mitch.

"How do humans reproduce?"

Lisa choked a little on the water she was drinking, but recovered quickly, "Uh... well, usually through sexual intercourse."

"You mean physical coupling?"

"Yes," said Lisa, going on to explain the process of how a child is conceived, with the Krellin listening in intense fascination, "...and after the fetus has incubated inside the womb for about 270-odd days, the female pushes the baby out of the womb through the vaginal opening. The baby takes its first breath of air and starts its life with its new parents."

Bala nodded, "Quite similar to how our young are reproduced, but the incubation period is only about half the time of yours. We Krellin also engage in coupling for enjoyment. Do humans practice this coupling for pleasure, too?"

Lisa blushed a little, feeling her body respond to the intimate and stimulating conversation, "Yes, we do. And most do it as often as possible when they're young adults."

"Is there a certain way a coupling would be successful in producing offspring?"

Mitch shrugged, "Well, humans engage in sexual intercourse in different ways, different body positions. But as long as the male's sperm is deposited into the female's womb sufficiently enough, conception of a baby is almost guaranteed barring any preventative or medical reasons."

"That is what prevents me from becoming pregnant," Lisa piped in, "I have a device inserted in my uterus that prevents pregnancy."

Luna nodded, "That would be the small artificial object my initial scans detected. You do not wish to bear offspring?"

"Well, Mitch and I have discussed it and decided that we should wait until we're ready to take on the responsibility of raising children. But he's right: pregnancy is almost guaranteed if the coupling is successful." 

"Would you demonstrate how this is accomplished?"

"Bala," Luna warned, after seeing the somewhat alarmed look on the scientists' faces, "that may be too intimate an action for Mitchell and Lisa to perform. Humans may consider the act of coupling private; other species do."

Lisa chuckled a little, "Well, most humans do, yes. There are a few that enjoy having sex where they can be seen by others, it heightens their excitement. Most humans enjoy watching others having sex but, for the most part, they do it by watching recordings and images of it."

Luna tilted her head and asked, "You and Mitchell have visually recorded your coupling activities?"

Mitch laughed, "No, we haven't. Those types of images were commercially available to humans to watch in private. Some enjoyed this type of entertainment while others considered it 'obscene'."

"I do not understand why coupling would be objectionable," said Alik, one of the security beings they first met in town, "From what you've explained to us, the violence in your history would be viewed as obscene, but some did not object to it. Yet, humans did not approve of viewing coupling acts, even though it is more pleasurable."

Mitch nodded sadly, "And I agree with you. Sometimes I don't understand it either, but that's because humans can be a complicated species. Personally, I'd rather watch humans having intercourse than watching them try to kill each other."

"Humans can be confusing," Lisa agreed, "but not all of them are like that. We are a good people; at the very least, we want to be." She sipped her water as the Krellin took in what they were saying and continued, "We still have fun, though; we did in another dimension... well, until we had to leave." Lisa went on to explain what she and Mitch did in the universe where open sexual relations were permitted, up to a point, and how it apparently came about.

"That would be stimulating," said Luna after Lisa finished, "and much more preferred over violent acts."

"Well, they seemed to enjoy themselves," said Lisa with a smile, "and you're right: much more preferred over violence."

"What is this 'oral sex' you mentioned?" asked Bala.

Lisa giggled, "Well, it's when you stimulate your partner with your mouth."

"Like this?" Demm leaned over to Luna and kissed her warmly, Luna smiling at him with nothing but love.

"Well, that's part of it... but it's more... um..." Lisa then got a wicked grin and looked at Mitch with a gleam in her eye. Mitch could see her nipples budding when she asked, "You want to show them?"

She didn't give Mitch a chance to answer. She got up out of her seat and stood in front of him, offering her hand. Feeling his cock starting to stir, Mitch took it and joined her in front of the Krellin. He took her into his arms and kissed her with passion, their hands roaming all over their bodies.

Luna brought out her scanner as Lisa finished kissing Mitch, then lowered herself down to kneel in front of him and licked her lips at the sight of his dick.

"This is how a female stimulates a male with oral sex," said Lisa, almost clinically as if she were making a documentary. She took Mitch's semi-limp penis in her hand, gently stroking and caressing it, then proceeded to give it a tongue bath. Her wet weapon flicked and slathered all over his cock, and the Krellin watched in fascination as it grew to its erect length.

Finished with bathing it, Lisa parted her lips and allowed Mitch's hard prick to slip between them, and she gently suckled the fat head making him moan with pleasure. Then she let the shaft slide into her mouth and, cupping and kneading his balls, started bobbing her head up and down.

Luna scanned the pair during their demonstration, running the red scanning beam over them and recording their bodies' reactions.

"Interesting," she remarked, feeling a peculiar tingling in her body, "quite similar to our species. The nerve endings in the gland at the tip of Mitchell's phallic member are being stimulated, and reproductive cells are being created in the testicular nodes. The glandular node below them is producing fluid." She flipped the readings over to Lisa, "Her body is responding to the stimuli as well. Her mammary glands have increased in size, and her coupling receptacle is producing moisture. Both of their body temperatures have increased, as well as their circulatory and respiratory rates," she took her eyes off the device to view Mitch and Lisa and said in a husky voice, "but I have never seen coupling stimulation achieved in this manner."

With her free hand, Luna reached down and took hold of Demm's penis, gently stroking it as her breathing became more labored.

"Luna, stop that," said Demm, feeling his cock starting to fatten.

"I cannot help it," she responded, feeling her own genitalia starting to tingle, "this activity is stimulating my reproductive system."

Mitch and Lisa only heard half of the exchange between Demm and Luna and ignored Luna's playing for the most part, for they were too distracted by their own stimulation. Mitch huffed and moaned as Lisa's mouth and tongue danced all over his cock, her teasing fingers coaxing out the cum that was sure to burst forth from his balls at any moment.