The Timefull Cruise

"How much uninterrupted time do we have now?"

She turned around in my grasp and put her arms over my shoulders. "About thirteen hours."

"Mmm."

XVIII

The Navy ship arrived early the next morning and we watched, along with the other passengers, as several military men came over to the cruise ship in a launch. The Captain met with them at the rail and after a very brief discussion, they all proceeded to the hold.

As the minutes ticked by we realized something had gone wrong with our plan. No work was being done on getting the hoist up and working.

"Damn!" I swore. "I think they are going to 'defuse' the device. I wouldn't have thought that they believed they had enough time."

We saw the Captain headed out of the hold and to the bridge and we called to him. He waited for us to approach with a big smile on his face.

"No concerns!" he comforted us. "Apparently it wasn't a bomb but some top secret machine that had accidentally been put aboard my ship. The inventor is some bigwig and he's telling them by radio how to shut the thing down. The Navy people were very excited and said that we did exactly the right thing in contacting them."

My heart sunk. I glanced at Penny and saw her face fall.

"Uh, Captain? We'd like to meet these Navy guys who know so much about the strange thing. Can we get into the hold and talk to them?" Penny's eyes went big and then she calmed somewhat.

"I don't think that would be possible. They wanted me to order everyone from the hold until they turn off the device. Then they'll remove it to their ship."

"Tell them to tell their expert that Pennsylvania Nick is on board and would like to talk with the inventor, Wallace Park, please," requested Penny in an oh so sweet voice.

"Couldn't hurt, I suppose."

He led us to the hold and then asked us to wait by the door while he went in to make our request.

Penny looked at me desperately. "You'll need to take out the Navy people so I can activate the time device. Please be careful this time. I really don't want to lose you again."

The Captain returned and held the door open so we could enter the hold. Penny and I stepped in and saw four Navy men by the device. It looked to be three sailors, all armed, and an officer. There was some sort of fancy radio on a crate behind them. They glanced up at us and then returned to their work, following the instructions that a man was giving them through the radio.

As we approached the men and the device I heard the officer speak up. "They're here, Dr. Park."

"Who's here? Speak plainly man! Oh, do you mean Penny is finally there? Hello, Penny. It's me, Wally," said the radio voice.

"I hear you Wally. So this isn't a bomb?"

"Good heavens, no. Why would I put a bomb on a ship? No. No. It was all a mistake. This is my latest invention. I bet you can't guess what it is, dear."

I cringed at this man calling my wife 'dear'.

"It's a time machine, Wally." Penny motioned for me to move closer to the Navy men.

"-how in the world? You're smarter than I thought, Penny. Yes, you will make an excellent wife for me. Think of it, being the hostess at my dinner parties as the great minds come to meet me...Hell, world leaders will be coming to meet me. You'll be known as the wife of The Great Wallace Park."

"I told you I would never marry you, Wally. Especially after you hit me that one night." My hands balled into fists, but I somehow kept my cool. I concentrated on the fact that Wallace wasn't actually there, so I couldn't strangle him could I?

The sailors all looked at Penny.

"That's all in the past. You'll do what I say from now on, dear. I'm sure of it."

"No I won't, Wally. While I've been on this cruise I've met someone, fallen in love and married him." The sailors all turned to look at me. One smiled at me and the officer and another gave me the thumbs up sign. How could I make my move when their attention was on me now?

"A marriage on a cruise ship? That marriage isn't binding. I'll have someone annul it. Then you're free to marry me, Penny. You know you don't have a choice. I'm what every woman wants. I'm rich, powerful and soon to be famous. My birthday will be a national holiday! I'll be on stamps!"

Penny gritted her teeth. "You don't have what every woman wants, Wally. You beat women. You berate and abuse your underlings. You treat people like dirt. You're breath smells. You're arrogant. And you've got a very tiny dick. At least now I've met a man who satisfies me in bed."

The radio was silent for a few seconds and then there was a string of expletives. "Navy guys! Arrest Penny! Lock her up! No better yet, bring her aboard your ship and hold her until I get there. I'll teach her some manners."

The officer walked over to the radio. "I'm sorry, sir. We've been ordered to follow your commands to turn of this device and we're almost finished. But my orders don't include kidnapping ladies so you can beat them."

The sailors were all standing and watching their officer. I reached out and grabbed a hand gun from one of their holsters. The sailor let out a yell, so I shoved him away from me.

"Back off, all of you!" The four Navy men stared at me for a second and then began to back off. "Penny, get to work on the device."

Penny was in motion before I had started talking.

"What the Hell is going on there?" squawked the radio.

"The woman's husband has taken a gun and is holding us prisoner while the woman works on the time device, sir," explained the officer.

"What? Shoot him! Shoot him and that slut! That's an order! Kill..."

Thunder echoed in the hold as I put a bullet in the radio. But the split second it took for me to aim at the radio was enough time for the Navy men to duck behind boxes and pull their guns. Realizing Penny might get shot while they were aiming at me, I ran a short distance away from her.

"Keep working on the device, honey."

"Bradley! Take care of the girl while we keep him occupied," ordered the officer.

I rose from cover in time to see the unarmed sailor advancing on Penny, who was bravely trying to adjust the time device for our escape. I took aim and fired at Bradley. He went down. But before I could duck I was struck by two bullets.

I dropped my gun and slipped to the floor. Before my eyes closed, I saw Penny staring at me and mouthing 'not again'. I heard the officer order Penny away from the machine and then I heard nothing more.

XIX

As I stood watch by the door I heard Penny moan. "Not again. Not again." Then there was a brief silence. "Gerry?"

"I'm here honey. What's the problem?"

She ran across the hold and flew up the stairs and into my arms. She shook in fright as I held her.

"When did you change, Penny? And what's upset you?"

While hugging me tightly, she told me the story of going through two cycles and seeing me die each time.

"We tried our plan twice and I died both times?"

She nodded sadly. "And we are not going to try again. We'll just keep repeating the two wonderful weeks of the cruise forever. We'll find a way to make it work as we age and with a baby. Somehow we'll find a way."

I thought about it. I couldn't push this without upsetting Penny even more. On the other hand, maybe after a few cycles she would want to try thwarting her ex-boyfriend again. Or maybe we would come up with a better plan. Did this ship pass by any remote tropical island paradises where we could sneak off and disappear to?

"Okay, Penny. We won't try again. But I still want to marry you and I want to do it this cycle, understand?"

"I love you so much, Gerry."

"I love you too, pumpkin."

"What kind of nickname is pumpkin? Am I round and orange?" she asked, cheering up.

"Well, these are round, but they're more ivory than orange," I teased, cupping her breasts. "What say we head back to our cabin?"

She regained her composure. "You're good for me, Gerry. But we should get the wedding in motion if we want it to happen this cycle."

I sighed in mock exasperation. Penny grabbed my hand and pulled me along. We found a crewman who would take us to the Captain and a few minutes later we were standing outside the bridge with the Captain congratulating us.

"You seem as happy about this as we are," I told the Captain.

"Oh, indeed I am. This will keep everyone on the ship busy for the next few days and a wedding is a joyous occasion so the passengers will all be in a good mood." He rubbed his hands together in what seemed uncharacteristic glee.

"And we can pay for the ceremony and reception..." I added.

"Nonsense. You are doing me a big favour. There will be no cost to either of you." He tapped his bearded chin in a thoughtful manner. "I will make the announcement at dinner tonight. We may not have all the necessary supplies. Certainly I don't think we'll find a wedding dress on board, young lady."

"Oh, we'll make do," said Penny with an air of prescience. I didn't see a wedding dress among her stuff when she moved in to my cabin.

The Captain bid us on our way and once we were alone, I questioned Penny about the wedding dress.

"One of the ladies brought a collection of rather unique dresses on board. Apparently she never goes anywhere without them. One of them is a wedding dress, well sort of. I think she may have been an exotic clothes designer, an exotic dancer or a porn star. Anyway, you'll like what I end up wearing." She punched me in the arm.

"Now I'm going to spend all my time wondering what this dress looks like," I complained.

"You'll be too busy to think about it. We both will be very busy."

And we were very busy. I was thinking that with the short preparation time the whole thing would be a rather subdued affair, or maybe I just hoped it would be, but things grew to such an extravagance and elaborateness that I felt out of my depth. Penny seemed to be handling everything well and at some points she was ready to answer questions that would have baffled me. She had been through this twice before, though.

The night before the wedding, some of the men came to collect me for the stag. Penny balked and burst into tears. As I held her, she told me she would be okay as she brought herself under control. She tried to push me off with the men, but I stood my ground. Something was troubling her deeply and I would not leave her until it was sorted out. The men watched us impatiently.

Then some of the women came to collect Penny for her stagette. Penny was clearly in no shape for a party and I was damned if I would leave her alone. I offered our apologies to everyone, but told them that Penny and I were unable to attend the parties. One of the women made a comment about pregnancy hormones, at which point the men bid me good luck and left. The women left shortly thereafter.

"You should have gone, Gerry. Apparently Nicole did...will do a very sexy strip for you. And she and Carl need the money so badly."

"Sorry. Who are Nicole and Carl?" I asked, perplexed.

"Nicole is that blonde with the bottom you find so tempting, who brings the dessert tray around the dining hall."

"Ah." I would have enjoyed her stripping for me. Not only did she have a perfectly pinchable bottom, she had a pretty face and a good figure. Penny and I had learned in an earlier cycle that Nicole and her boyfriend enjoyed some pretty rough and intriguing sexual games.

"Carl is the rather handsome, blond haired, assistant chef. We've only seen him once or twice. He strips at my bachelorette party. From what I remember, he does a good job but isn't quite as enthusiastic about making his audience happy as Nicole was. Although the first time, the two of them put on quite a show for us ladies."

"Oh," I said, trying not to show disappointment.

"You can still hurry after the guys if you want. I'm feeling better," she said as she dabbed her eyes.

"No. What do you want of me tonight?"

"I just want you to hold me tonight, Gerry. Sometimes..." She put her face in her hands.

"Go on," I quietly urged her.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in this whole world that is real."

"I'm real."

"I know you're real. I know everyone else is real. It's just that...it's just that as we've been going through these cycles I've become used to the idea that it doesn't really matter what we do or say as it will all be wiped out when we use the time machine again. It's hard to be concerned about others when you know that what you do will be rewritten, no matter how terrible or how nice."

"I have to admit, I've been feeling a little the same way deep down inside. When the Whitehouses accused us of cheating at cribbage that one cycle, I was sorely tempted to punch Fred in the nose. It did run through my head that afterwards we could just run down to the time machine to make everything right again."

Penny nodded in agreement. "And that way of thinking is wrong, so wrong. These others are living, breathing, thinking people. And we've made them relive a small part of their lives over and over again simply so we could have some fun. And then earlier today, it crossed my mind that perhaps we should try to stop Wally again and if something happened to you I could simply go back in time again..." She sobbed again and I hugged her tightly.

"Ah. And you realized that you briefly thought of me in the same way that we've been guilty of thinking of the others."

"Yes. And I can't simply stop using the time machine or Wally will get his hands on it. Then what will become of you, my husband? And what will he do to me? I'm trapped on this cruise ship in the middle of the ocean with all you zombies!"

I held her. There was nothing I could say to comfort her. When she stopped crying, we stripped down and climbed into bed. We fell asleep late that night, with Penny's head on my arm and my other arm draped across her. She was huddled up against me in the foetal position.

XX

There was a knocking at the door and a woman's voice called for Penny. We dressed quickly and then my betrothed opened the door. There were a number of older women standing outside our cabin. A few looked at me and tsked. The one who seemed to be in charge grabbed Penny by the arm and pulled her out into the hallway.

"Come on dear. It's time," she commanded.

I was not given a moment's peace leading up to the actual ceremony until right before the bride showed up. That gave me some thinking time. Were Penny and I doing the right thing? Could we keep on living through cycles or should we take our chances with Wally. I still thought we should go through with our plan, but Penny was adamant that it had failed twice and there was no point in trying again until we had a foolproof plan.

When Penny walked down the aisle toward me, she took my breath away. Her dress was not the chaste or princessy thing I thought it might be. Instead it was something from a burlesque show. The top barely covered her breasts and had no visible straps keeping it held up. The skirt had a long train and seemed covered in lace and white, silk roses on the side, but in the front it rose up to just below Penny's panties. I had a clear view of her slim, white nylon covered legs and a tempting glimpse of thigh appeared each time she took a step forward.

The ceremony seemed to sometimes go by with glacial slowness and at other times sped by far too fast for me to remember it. When I was finally allowed to kiss my bride, it lasted for less than a minute, although many of the spectators told us later that we kissed for at least ten minutes. I just didn't believe them. Time really is subjective.

Then it was off to the reception in the dining hall. Penny and I sat at the Captain's table, along with some of the officers. The food was excellent and the first officer regaled us with tales of her travels around the world.

Penny jostled my elbow as the desserts were brought around. I looked and saw a frowning blonde offering Penny and I a variety of treats.

"Nicole," I asked, "what's wrong?"

She started and then looked at me. "Oh, Mr. Omit. I'm sorry, sir. Nothing is wrong. Are you enjoying the reception?"

Penny grabbed the girl's hand. "Something is wrong, Nicole. What is it?"

"Please, just select a dessert. I don't want to trouble you on your wedding day."

Penny and I each selected something and thanked her. Nicole continued on with her cart.

"Gerry, I bet it's the money," Penny whispered to me.

I looked back at Nicole, who still looked unhappy. "You may be right. You said she needed the money and that's why she danced...was willing to strip at my bachelor party?"

Penny nodded. "You told me that she and her boyfriend were paid three thousand each. They both needed it to pay off their loans."

I stared at Nicole thoughtfully. She seemed nice and she certainly had a lovely body and pretty face.

Penny nudged my arm again. "I think we should give them something."

"I agree. Let's find her or Carl after the dinner and give them a cheque."

Penny nodded, smiled at me and then went back to eating her dessert. The thought occurred to me that if we gave Penny a cheque now then it would disappear at the beginning of the next cycle. I covertly mentioned that to Penny.

"Then we give them another cheque during our last cycle, but I don't want anyone here to be unhappy on my wedding day least of all a nice young couple like Nicole and Carl."

I whispered that I was going to retrieve my chequebook and then excused myself and left the table. I was back soon enough and a short time later dinner ended. The Captain advised those who were interested to retire to the dancing rooms. He looked at Penny and I curiously as we continued sitting. When he came over to enquire if everything was all right, I told him we just wanted a few minutes alone before going dancing. He nodded his head and left with everyone else.

"I saw Nicole head into the kitchen, yet I haven't seen her come back out," said Penny.

We rose and headed for the kitchen. One of the servers surprised us at the door. We told him we were looking for Nicole; he smiled and then offered to retrieve her for us. Soon enough, the perplexed woman met us just outside the kitchen.

"Ah, Nicole," I began. "I understand that you were going to dance at my bachelor party and your boyfriend Carl was going to dance at Penny's."

"Yes. Well, actually I had a whole strip routine that I practised with Carl. Each of us was going to put on quite a show. We were getting paid quite a..." she stopped embarrassed.

"You could really have used the money, couldn't you?" Penny inquired.

"Yes. But we'll find something else to help pay off our debts."

I looked at Penny and she returned my look. "Nicole, we feel it wasn't right that your hopes were all built up and you made an agreement and then we were responsible for you losing out on that windfall."

"It's not your fault, sir. Nor yours, ma'am."

"And it's not yours either. Gerry, write out the cheque," ordered Penny.

Nicole's mouth dropped open.

"How much were you to be paid, Nicole?" I asked innocently.

"Three thousand each..."

"Well, it is our wedding day and we are feeling generous," I glanced at my bride and received a nod in response, "so consider this a gift." I wrote out a check for ten thousand dollars. I showed it to Penny and she handed it over to Nicole.

"But-but we can't pay you back."

"It's a gift," I reminded her.

She looked at Penny and I with a little fear. "If you want something from me, then I'll have to give you the cheque back."

"There are no strings on this. It's a gift. Well, there is one string: we want to see you and Carl stop frowning," stated Penny.

"Really?" There was the hint of a smile on her face.

"Yes," I said.

"I...I...thank you so much." She ran back into the kitchen shouting for Carl. Penny and I left hurriedly, heading for the dance.