Backprop

Gemini's retrofuturistic 2040.

Below on this blog page is Chapter 0 of a science fiction story called "The Metamorph Project". Chapter 0 was written after Chapters 1 - 4 and a start had been made on Chapter 5. This is a good example of my habit of often "writing backwards": realizing that there is an earlier part of a story that should be told. In this case, Chapter 0 provides interesting backstory for Marda and foreshadowing for the Reality Change that Marda herself will initiate by traveling through time back to ancient Rome. Will that Reality Change terminate the Reality that produced Marda, fulfilling the Myllerite prediction that the world would end in 2040?

Chapter 0. The Drive to Make History.

Time was short. Stacy had been driving non-stop for 33 hours. She'd let her old '33 selfdriveFX deal with the high traffic parts of the trip, but with nothing to do but worry, she had done most of the driving herself, occasionally getting into one of the wired lanes that allowed a car to recharge its battery while traveling. Now the glowing lights of the Triversity could finally be seen ahead, leaking over the hills that surrounded the campus and Stacy checked the current time for the seventy ninth time in the past hour. The last hour of the long drive from Key West to just short of the Canadian border. 

Her thoughts kept returning to her mother's domineering ways and heavy-handed plans for Stacy's future. However, Stacy's vision of the future did not include marrying some man just because her mother thought it would be nice for Stacy to be married before the end of the world arrived.

Stacy and Thomas in Florida.

Of course, being honest with herself, Stacy admitted that Thomas was pleasant to be with. Just like Stacy, he did not believe the the end of the world was immanent and he simply wanted to go along with their parents wishes for the sake of family tranquility. He'd told Stacy, "I do enjoy spending time with you. We might even fall in love some day."

In the end, Stacy had told Thomas, "I can no longer delay my return to New England. I'm quite excited to be starting my graduate research project. So..." She took a deep breath, "...you can join me at the Triversity or go off to your favorite vacation destination. If we both disappear then maybe our parents will think we eloped."

Thomas has only laughed. "No, I'll stay here. There are people who need me." Stacy knew exactly what he meant, including the unspoken fact that Stacy did not need Thomas. Thomas helped people who were caught up in the Myllerite movement and were suffering psychological trauma from that mass psychosis. "I know you are sane and as much as I'd enjoy a vacation with you, you can take care of yourself. And besides, you'll be busy with your historical research. You won't want me distracting you from getting established in your new project."

During the long drive north, Stacy could tell herself that she and Thomas had shared a kind of vacation together in Key West and she hoped that her mother could be satisfied with that and the illusion that Stacy liked men. The truth was, Stacy had always preferred the company of women, something which was not accepted by the Myllerites.

She let the poem she had composed during the drive north play through her mind one more time...

Highway 123.

Stacy Pasimov at thirty-three,
Grad student of history.
Her '33 a car, electric and sleek,
From Key West north, for 33 hours to seek
Triversity where the old truths lie,
Beneath the vast, star-strewn, New England sky.

The self-drive hums, a gentle, silent guide,
As morphic resonance stirs deep inside.
For Stacy, now in her 33rd year,
Fate's soft pull, dispelling all her fear.
The three-and-threes converged, a cosmic thread,
That wove her future from the past unsaid.

The AI car possessed a knowing mind,
A subtle push, a force of its own kind.
It sometimes took a scenic bend,
As if to show her where the past would end.
A whisper in the data stream, a ghost,
A new future, she would somehow host.

Stacy jumped out of her car and half ran from the parking lot to the old concrete Physical Sciences building, a ghostly white relic of the previous millennium, built back when the Department of Machine Intelligence had been founded by Archal Mardib in 1977. The elevator took Stacy the the 11th floor and her mind could not stop itself...

The eleventh floor, the elevator sighed,
And Stacy’s mind, with numbers, now complied.
The thirty-three hours, the journey, and her age,
Divided by eleven, turned a new page.
Three, a new constant, the journal's name a sign,
"Three Dimensional VLSI," in morphic design.

Marda and Stacy.

 At the end of the corridor close to the stairwell was the old office that had once been the heart of Three Dimensional VLSI, a scientific research journal that had been launched with funding stolen from a DoD grant to Archal during the Cold War. Dr. Fontaine had somehow found the old office and it had become the research center for Stacy's senior thesis. Stacy opened the door and there she was: Marda at work, sifting through the records and correspondence of Three Dimensional VLSI.

Marda glanced at Stacy and said, "You are late."

In her thickest Southern drawl, Stacy said, "Traffic was a bitch from D.C. to Springfield." Stacy felt her heart thudding as she gazed at the cute features of Dr. Fontaine, the youngest professor at the Triversity. Stacy was hopelessly infatuated with Marda, but maddeningly, Marda seemed completely oblivious to that fact. Stacy asked politely, "Find anything interesting?"

Two weeks previously, just before her graduation, Stacy had discovered the key to decrypting the secret archives of Three Dimensional VLSI. But then Stacy had gone home to Florida, telling herself that her senior thesis had been approved and she was done researching cold war cloak and dagger secrets.

Marda stretched her long legs under the desk and gestured towards the AIcomp display that Stacy had grafted onto the old PDP computer that held the archives of Three Dimensional VLSI in its ancient magnetic storage medium. "I found the name of the Pentagon General who shut down Three Dimensional VLSI. I'm going to have to travel to D.C. and dig into the old Pentagon records from the 1980s."

"Good luck getting anything out of the spooks." Stacy again checked the time. "Let's go. We can still make the showing at ten."

Marda laughed and asked, "Are you serious?"

Stacy shut off the display, took Marda by the hand and yanked her professor to her feet. "You promised to go on a date with me after I graduated and tonight is the fated night."

Marda complained, "I can't believe you expect me to sit through that silly science fiction film. I have work to do."

Stacy stated the obvious, "All you do is work. I'm going to finally change that." Half jokingly she added, "After-all, time is almost up."

Marda knew well that Stacy had been infected by a horrible meme. Stacy had been raised by her mother, one of the ardent cultists who believed with unshakable faith that the world was going to end in the year 2040. And now it was 2040. And holding Stacy's hand, Marda could sense the intensity with which Stacy believed that the end of the world was immanent. The told herself: the curse of telepathy... knowing what lurks in the minds of others.

As they rode together in the elevator down to the ground floor, Stacy took hold of Marda's arm and pressed her soft breast against the girl's arm, making sure to poke her with a stiff nipple that pressed outwards against the thin fabric of her shirt. Stacy said, "You'll enjoy this flick. It is fun. I've seen it three times already." Stacy brushed her lips across Marda's cheek. They exited from the elevator and crossed the lobby.

"Well... two and a half. Thomas got quite sexually aroused by Chronisthen and her big bouncing Hollywood boobs. Just ten minutes into the film he had a killer erection and he asked me to give him a blow job, causing me to miss some of the best parts." Although Stacy had to admit to herself that playing with Thomas' pretty penis had been the best part of that evening with Thomas. Stacy's mind could not hold still...

 Chronisthen Tyrannus, a futuristic film,
The year two thousand forty, dark and grim.
Stacy had watched it thrice, the paradox she knew,
Of a femtozoan sent back, to murder and undo.
A temporal paradox, a mother's demise,
A new future written, behind Chronisthen's eyes.

Stacy wondered: Was time a tyrant? Did information back-propagate to the past from the future, allowing the future to be known in advance? Certainly her mother had believed that to be true. Myller had written extensively about his visions of the future, founding a whole new religious movement.

Marda asked, "Wow... an hour-long blow job?" They had reached a car in the parking lot with Florida plates. "I once tried to give a guy a blow job. I could not make him come. While I tried... only half an hour of trying... he have me two sweet orgasms by playing his tongue over my genitals." Marda got into Stacy's car and complained about the clutter of fast food wrappers on the floor at her feet, "You are such a pig, Stacy. Don't you understand the concept of the trash can?" Grateful that the car was a convertible, Marda flipped the switch and the roof retracted. Now that the car had its top down, Marda only felt slightly sickened by the smells rising from the greasy food wrappers.

"Sorry, I drove straight though from the Key. Oh, and watch out for that cup. I peed in it."

As the car pulled out of the parking lot, Marda threw the urine-containing paper cup out the window in the direction of a nearby flower box and she thought vaguely about nitrogenous fertilizer for the plants. Stacy scolded, "Hey, don't litter."

"Don't ask me to sit here holding a cup of your urine."

Stacy told Marda, "After the movie I'm taking you to my place and I'll expect you to give me oral sex, so don't be squeamish about my bodily fluids."

Marda giggled. "My, you're a horny vixen. You know I don't turn 21 until next year."

Stacy had never understood Marda's miraculous career. B.S. in physics at age 12, Ph.D. in technology history at 15, two postdocs and then professor of history at the Triversity. Stacy had accidentally enrolled in the first course taught by Marda and then arranged to do her senior thesis work with Marda as her first research student. Stacy told Marda, "Watching this film is just an excuse to get you out of that dusty old office. Did you just sit there in that little room for the past two weeks?"

"What if I did? I can't believe the fantastic technology that was described in the pages of Three Dimensional VLSI. Even to this day those 3D nanocircuit assembly methods are all classified top secret."

"Well, forget about your work for the rest of this evening. After the movie I'm taking you to my place and I intend to ravish you. I'll expect your full attention to be on pleasuring me."

Marda asked, "Is this your last fling before the end of the world?"

"Exactly. I fell in love with you a year ago and you have been so mean... ignoring all of my flirting."

"I never noticed that you were flirting."

"You can't be that clueless."

"So, what is this god-awful science fiction film about?"

"It is complicated. You'll see."

With Stacy's talk about oral sex and the fact that Stacy was wearing a very thin transparent blouse that failed to hide her erect nipples, Marda was bubbling with sexual desire. For an instant, Marda imagined Stacy as a woman of the past, a woman satisfied to be with men. Marda began contemplating the possibility of making love to Stacy and she slipped her right hand inside her skirt and felt her wet labia. "I heard it is a butchering of Oedipus Rex."

"That's right... but I did not think you knew anything about pop culture."

"I tried looking it up some reviews of the flick when you told me you were taking me on this date. You know what? This is the first date I've been on in five years..."

"Are you serious? Don't tell me you are a virgin."

"Fine, I won't describe my sex life in those terms. Anyhow, with all the big vibrators I've worn out over the years, I don't feel like I qualify to be described as a virgin."

"If you like vaginal sex, I'll let you play with my vibrator collection tonight, but I intend to let my tongue distract you... I intend to make you forget all about your penis fantasies." Stacy reached over and put her hand up under Marda's skirt and was pleased to feel how wet Marda was. "Anyhow, the film is about a very sexy girl named Chronisthen who travels through time, going back into her past to have sex with her grandfather."

"Ew, how disgusting."

Femtozoan studies.

"Keep an open mind. When sent into her past, Chronisthen is transferred out of her own body and does not know she's having sexual relations with her grandfather, nor does she know that she gives birth to her own mother."

"What do you mean, 'transferred out of her own body'?"

"The film never really explains that. There is some mumbo-jumbo about femtozoans."

Marda giggled, "What is that, futuristic artificial spermatozoa?"

"I don't know. If you ask too many questions you won't be able to enjoy the contorted plot. Its a mind-bending time loop with plenty of hot sex scenes."

"I hope you don't expect me to give you a blow job during the movie." Marda started trying to open up Stacy's pants and check to see if the glans of her clitoris was a stiff as her nipples, but they had arrive at the movie theater, located in a shopping mall five miles off campus. Stacy took Marda by the hand and led the way inside. They bought snacks and a robot behind the counter told Stacy, "I hope you and your daughter enjoy the movie. Is she really over 21?"

Marda replied, "She's not my daughter."

"Oh, sorry." When making the online reservation, Stacy had used the identity of her sister, Lucy Pasimov to purchase a ticket for Marda. Due to the X-rated content of "Chronisthen Tyrannus" and the conservative laws of Vermont, tickets could only be obtained for age-certified customers. "She appears quite young and that triggered my age estimation routine to flag her as possibly being under age."

Stacy told the robot, "Take your asinine age estimation routine and shove it up your ass."

Seated in the theater, Marda asked Stacy, "So, I'm breaking the law by being here?"

"It is not a law, it is part of the insane conservatism that has infected this country. I don't respect the new Blue Laws and we need not worry about them."

The movie began and Marda was almost instantly lost and confused. As best she could piece the disjointed plot together, it was all about a contorted time travel scheme that would prevent the insane President Piebald Chump from getting a second term as president. Chump's illegitimate daughter, the titular Chronisthen, traveled back into her past where she was impregnated by her own grandfather. The makers of the film seemed obsessed with filming the pregnant Chronisthen having sex in as many creative positions as possible. During the film, Marda and Stacy each had a hand up under the other woman's skirt, playing with their hot wet genitals.

Towards the end of the film, Chronisthen impregnated her own daughter by using sperm cells that had been generated from her induced stem cells by a reproductive medical procedure in the future. Her frozen sperm had been sent into the past with Chronisthen. Thus, Chronisthen became both her own grandmother and her own father.

Between all of the on-screen sex and the fact that Stacy had massaged Marda's vagina with two playful fingers during most of the duration of the film, Marda was exceptionally horny by the time she arrived inside Stacy's home. "Wow this is a palace."

"I hope you don't resent the fact that my mother is wealthy. She insisted on buying me the fanciest house in town."

There was a whole staff of advanced robots that acted as servants for Stacy in the big house and that managed the extensive grounds of the mansion. Soon enough, Stacy had Marda in her bed and would have fulfilled her promise to ravish the girl, but then Marda took a call on her ComRing. "Dr. Fontaine here." Marda's voice had a tremor as Stacy sucked on the erect glans of Marda's clitoris. Stacy had her favorite vibrator stuffed up inside Marda's hot wet vagina.

Stacy was vastly annoyed by the call and by how long Marda talked to the person who had called. At the end of the call, Marda allowed herself to experience a delightful orgasm."

Taking her mouth off of Marda's genitals, Stacy demanded, "Did you really have to take a call while I was terminating your virginity?"

Marda giggled, but she was quite distracted by the call. Marda knew that it was her turn to pleasure Stacy, but she said, "This is so strange. I've been invited to visit something called the Metamorph Project."

"What is that?" Stacy straddled Marda's head, positioning her dripping wet vagina above the mouth of Marda.

"I was just promised that they have some king of 'predictive history' technology."

Predictive history.

"Predictive history? What the hell does that mean?" Stacy was trying to press her stiff clitoris between Marda's pink lips.

Marda licked the hot glans of Stacy's clitoris once and then replied, "I don't know. I must say I'm intrigued."

"Well, I'm horny and you owe me an orgasm."

"I don't know how best to do this. Maybe we should get another toy out of your vibrator collection."

"Oh, bother." Stacy called out, "Get over here, Ann."

Emerging from the shadows at the corner of Stacy's large bedroom was one of the newer model sexbots. In the dim light, Marda saw that the cute Ann robot was equipped with a big erect penis. While Stacy pressed the glans of her clitoris against Marda's massaging tongue, the robot thrust her penis in and out of Stacy's vagina from behind. 

After Stacy experienced an orgasm, Ann turned her attention to Marda, taking the big plastic vibrator out of Marda's vagina and replacing it with the special vibrating robotic penis that top of the line sexbots were equipped with. For the first time in her life, Marda experienced an actual penis inside her vagina, although it was 'only' that of a machine. After achieving her second orgasm, Marda lay there on the bed between the now sleeping Stacy and Ann. Marda was amused that the robot had ejaculated a sweet artificial semen into both Stacy and Marda. Aster tasting the robot's semen and finding it quite pleasant, Marda told the sexbot, "Tell me what you know about the Metamorph Project."

The robot replied, "I find no records or data related to a Metamorph Project."

Viewing history.

Noticing that Marda was not drifting into sleep, Ann began manually stimulating Marda's genitals. Even while enjoying the machine's sexual massage, Marda could stop thinking about the Metamorph Project and Tyhry, the man who had called her, inviting Marda to visit the headquarters of Metamorph Project. Marda began fantasizing about the meaning of 'predictive history' and she knew that she would visit the Metamorph Project. Marda had a hand on Stacy's arm and she could still sense the odd connection that she had to the woman, a tingling vibration which she had first noticed a year earlier, the first time that Stacy had come to office hours and they had shaken hands.

Now Marda reflected on Stacy's odd past. Stacy's mother was a leader of the Myller Cult, which anticipated the immanent end of the world. Marda wondered: What if it really were possible to predict the future?

Marda had always been fascinated by history. It drove her crazy to know that there were hidden mysteries about the past, parts of human history that had been lost in the mists of time. Marda felt certain that the research published in Three Dimensional VLSI had led to an important advance in computer technology, something that the military had funded and then had covered up. Sometimes Marda imagined being able to go back in time. In those fantasies about meeting Archal Mardib, Marda imagined learning the secrets that Archal had taken to her grave. And why had Archal died at the absurdly young age of 55? Or had she? Was it possible that Archal had been "disappeared' and sucked into some secret military research project? Marda whispered to Ann, "I'm still horny. Can you suck my clit?"

Archal Mardib

The answer to that question was 'yes' which the robot demonstrated with skill and enthusiasm. The robot's tongue was able to vibrate in a most pleasing way, just like the machine's penis which Marda played with while the robot brought Marda towards another climax. Marda contemplated the idea of a close, long-term relationship with Stacy and Ann the sexbot, but rejected the idea. How would she get any work done?

Marda could not take seriously the idea that the world would end. She wondered: what would Stacy do when the predicted date of the end of the world came and passed? Marda giggled as the sexbot's tongue tickled her genitals. After Marda experienced another delightful orgasm, she got on top of the sexbot and took Ann's big firm erection back into her vagina. Then finally Marda drifted into sleep, wondering about the location of the Metamorph Project. Marda had already decided to return Tyhry's call in the morning.

Next: Chapter 1 of The Metamorph Project.

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