Chapter 45

Kitten sat in one of the few spaceworthy vessels that had been repaired since her husband, and most of her sister wives had left, for the Epsilon Eridani system. In a cubicle beside her, rested her three daughters. She felt much more comfortable, when they were with her. Not that she begrudged Doris or Lam helping out to feed the children, but the Earth women were starting to run things their way, and disregard the millions of years of time taken, to finely hone the Tandra culture and instinct.

Take moments ago, she thought; Doris refused to concede the fact that the babies were as safe in the little ship they now rode in, as they would be in the moon base. Even gentle Lam wanted no part of 'her daughter's' child going out in a ship that was to deliver weapons, to the prize ship they had captured. This simple jaunt would only take a few hours to complete, and all would be back before the children's next feeding time.

The little ship had only a simple computer, and no AI of any kind. It was kind of fun to be so alone, and rely on such simple tools, as the machine around her. It could do only paltry ninety six gravities, and taking the ship to Epsilon Eridani would take months.

She knew from Earth television, that Human mothers routinely took their children in automobiles when on errands. She did not know if she could function well, if she had to put up with all the traffic she saw on Earth.

Almost an hour later, her instruments found the ship as it was slowing down itself, from its nominal four hundred gravities, to match course and heading with her. She waved at the young Tandra males and Human men, through the now transparent shield, and the missing hull plates, as they efficiently took her cargo of missiles, and again accelerated to the next missile platform in their scheduled route. They regularly came back to the moon base, to get a few newly manufactured hull plates installed, and change a portion of the crew for others that had not had the experience yet.

Kitten remembered the happy faces of the crew, and wondered how the others were doing, so far from home.

Captain Shingle took his duties very seriously, and so did his exec, Paul Santo. They scanned the most probable approaches to the system from the data they were given, but did not think that any enemy would cooperate. The computer had many programmes, but relied on being told what to do, still.

In the room with them, were an almost exclusively Chinese bridge crew. If truth were to be told, this crew was even more diligent and resourceful than any of the others they had trained on the long voyages since the expedition to Epsilon Eridani left. Charles and Paul had been able to mesh with them somehow, and the ship responded in some unfathomable way, and travelled many times its maximum speed. Granted this was outside the Mardaf Limit, but this was supposed to only happen with a bonded crew of Tandra and a functional AI. The fact that an AI was not present made the occurrence sound almost unbelievable. Mom had put many devices on the ship and asked them to do this feat many times.

Mom had also allowed this team to remain longer than the rest, to see how it functioned, and hoped to learn even more from the mix. Another watch with a mixed crew of Europeans did not seem to have the same effect.

At present, the crew were searching for any small object to shoot at, to test the accuracy of their weapons. Liang Peng currently had the watch, and nervously looked for targets both animated or hopefully only inert. A small carbonaceous meteoroid only a 300 millimetres across, was at the limits of their resolution at one light minute. He directed the gunnery officer with a long string of data, to lock onto the target and cast a nervous glance at the captain, before ordering a single burst of energy. The screen instantly showed one of the drone images as the meteoroid exploded into fragments smaller than dust.

The captain came up the shorter man, clapped him on the shoulder, and said, "That was a good shot Peng," turning to the gunnery officer, he said, "I see you compensated for our own movement as well, as the targets. Good shooting, both of you."

The two officers worked well, and they seemed to have an affinity for each other, that went beyond the normal mindspeak. There was a small problem with the fact, that many people onboard spoke languages that only a few others could understand. The Chinese language was really a group of languages that other Chinese groups could not usually understand. Tandra was becoming the de facto language of choice, and seemed to smooth out most of the problems once it was mastered.

Mathematics was a different matter, and the Tandra penchant for different mathematical protocols, caused more than one recruit to throw up his hands in despair. It took a very agile mind, to completely integrate all of the data bestowed on them, through the tutors. The segmented mind and the huge amount of data, not to mention the increased ability to concentrate, now put any person onboard, far ahead of any other member of humanity.

In their cabin, Paul was sitting on the back of Charlie's legs and was rubbing oil languidly into his lover's skin. "I have been studying Peng for quite a while, and see that he has changed a lot in many ways, since he was recruited."

"We all have changed, and I doubt if we are done yet. What way did you mean?"

"Most of the men were predominantly hetro when they came here, and now they seem to be able, or just have inclinations, to swing both ways now."

"That is because they don't have too many choices. I think there are only thirty or so females in the moon base."

"Hold still there." Paul moved his strong fingers lower, to relieve the tension in the lower back. "I don't think that is it. Even the men that seemed to be getting some attention from the ladies are even hitting on each other. Like minds go together, and I think that is one of the reasons the Tandra genders tended to separate long ago. Our own love has grown; even if it had a few rough spots when we could actually read each others minds. Tandra men or women, I think, would tend to go with people that they are more comfortable with, and that is usually the people of their gender."

"I can see that now." Charley concentrated on the implications, and said, "Do you think in the long term, the Human race will act the same as the Tandra?"

Paul stopped his hands, and thought hard for a moment. "I don't know. Uncle Henry seems to like the ladies better, although that little Roger has more than sex appeal going for him. I have seen Uncle Henry eyeing your cute bum a few times."

"Really? Do you think we should share?"

Paul slapped his lover on his bare ass, and said, "Don't even say things like that. I have put up with you for quite a few years, and don't think there is room for any more." Paul was intrigued at one time, but saw that their relationship would suffer irrevocable damage, if they allowed themselves to wander.

Going off the subject, Paul asked, "How many people do we have to train yet? Last I heard there were literally thousands that want to get some experience on our ship."

"I hadn't looked at the figures for fear that I start to run scared. Much better to take this sort of thing as it comes."

Lam was in trouble. She had said that she wanted the babies, as they were decanted from the vats, in the lunar base. The children were grown to almost a year old by Tandra standards, making them newborn size for a Human. She had sat in a strange chair, and been cured of all her health problems just as her husband Duc was. Her breasts had been stimulated to produce milk, just as her daughter's had, but much more quickly.

She had accepted the feeding of Kitten's babies as her own, much like Susan had done. There were a lot of tears as Susan reluctantly gave up 'her' baby to her mother, just before she left. Susan had kept up the milk production to feed Roger and Bobby, till she had to leave on this dangerous mission.

Doris too, had undergone the treatment, and now fed a tiny baby as well. Now with the new arrivals, she did not know if she and Doris could keep up with increased demand.

'Mom', as Susan called the being in the mountain, had said, that she could make up a formula to feed the hungry mouths. It was hard to accept this, for she knew in her heart, that children should be fed a mother's breast, not from a container.

As much as she hated to admit it, her breasts were empty and sore. "Mom, you were right. Will you give me some formula for my babies?" She said, in Vietnamese.

Doris sat across from Lam, and felt that she had better luck in feeding her babies, for her glands produced more milk, but she saw that she too, would not be able to meet the high demands placed on her. She wanted help, but was hesitant to ask, because the small Vietnamese woman had appeared to be coping so well. The pain in her raw nipples was discounted, because of the great need.

The little babies were so quiet, and well mannered. It was as if adults inhabited their bodies. Their large eyes followed each of the adults around, as if trying to find out all they could, from the sight alone. She was quite shocked when one day she found that she to could speak with her mind.

Charlie, the child she bore, and Paul, had only laughed as she finally was able to master this task. Paul said, "Don't worry, Mom. Later, when you have lived with the Tandra for a while, you will really learn what it is to be able to communicate."

He and Charlie had been right, and she could feel the recently sated children nod off to sleep. She felt a contentment flood through her, mimicking the feelings in the infants. When she had innocently cast her mind out, and found her sons untold millions of kilometres from home, they just asked her to let them concentrate on their job of protecting the system, as best they could. Children were not supposed to outgrow their need for their mother. Her only consolation, were the new babies, that depended so completely on her.

Doris reminisced about the first day in the mountain, and found that she was the new mother of Clarice, and Michelle. The delightful girls had rushed her, and hugged her tight, saying how much they wanted to meet her. Carl explained how they, and both Moesha, and Kimberly had been rescued from those evil men.

She had only a few days to enjoy them, before they all got wrapped up in the preparations, for the expedition. She had demanded that her boys travel back to North Bay, and bring her patterns, material and sewing equipment to her. She wanted to make dresses for the four girls, and all the other youngsters, that they constantly hung around with.

She felt it shameful, that Henry and Carl had allowed the women, girls and even boys that looked like girls, to walk around nude, if they wanted to. They insisted that they had to continue wearing their own uniforms, as a way to instil discipline, in the men they led. This might be true, but all the cadets at the academy wore their uniforms too, and they seemed to have quite a bit of pride in doing so.

Moesha was busy; her four year old mouth was sucking on her sister Kimberly's clit and said in mind speech, "What do you think of Clarice and Michelle's, new mother?"

Kimberly moved a little, and hugged her knees to her chest, to give her sister better access to her favourite spot said, "Yes, harder, There. I think she is nice. I know she loves each of us, and would kill to protect us, just like Daddy or Uncle Carl would. She just has funny ideas. If I want to play, like we are now doing, it is not nice to stop us like she did."

"Yes. She wanted to spank me, when I was sucking on Roger, and letting Bobby try to push into my bum. We weren't hurting anyone, and she screamed and screamed. I felt so bad. The thoughts that came from her, made me feel so ashamed, and mommy said we were doing nothing wrong."

"Ya, she said that Aunt Doris was just old fashioned, and needed to live with us for a while, till she understood how things worked here. Suck harder there... yes, like that. Stick your fingers in, and move them around."

"Like this?"

"Oh... ya. I love when you do that. Moesha, I just want to say, that I love you, and I am so happy that you are my sister."

"I love you to. Now just stay still, I have a surprise."

"What?" Kimberly said, as Moesha slipped a small lubricated dildo into her, and gently stroked in and out. She hit the small clit, at the end of every stroke.

In the same room, and on the mats beside the Human girls, Topaz, Kitty, Cloud and Moth rested their heads on each other's thighs. They were all tired, for they and been doing the same as the other girls, but had used the larger dildos, to get them up to size, for when their husband came back. He had treated them like babies, and not done nearly enough to make them happy. Most of the time their orgasms occurred as they saw his image in their minds.

Moth, the youngest at three, asked, "When do you think he will give us babies of our own?"

Topaz the oldest of those present, explained as only an eleven year old could, "You are much too young. Amy is only a year older than me and she is already carrying his baby. You will have to wait for six long years."

Moth started to cry at the impossibly long time. Topaz saw that she had hurt the girl. Her conscience hurt and she pushed her over onto her back, and kissed her lips and continued down her now chubby belly, then between her legs. "Don't worry; it may be a lot sooner, if we can do what Amy did." Moth was beginning to forget what she was crying about, as she felt her long clit sucked up into the bigger girl's mouth, and laved with her pointy tongue.

Moments later the child relaxed from her orgasm in Topaz's arms. Topaz thought of Moth as part of her family, bound by the big Human male Henry, into a very strong unit. She was sorry that she had said such words to hurt a person she loved so much. Her tongue traced the same path again, trying to bring joy, where she had brought pain so recently.

Duc walked through the lunar complex with Bobby in one arm, and Roger in the other. The load was very manageable, even for his slight build, because of the much lower gravity.

Being with the boys helped Duc understand more of what the Tandra were like. He had been very proud of his people's heritage, and then equally proud of his adopted country. The Tandra on the other hand, were far beyond either one of them in culture, law and ethics.

The ethics were a little hard to understand, sometimes like now. The people in this section were not part of the academy, and walked around naked, just as the girls did in the Earth base. To tell the truth, he thought, he could not tell the genders apart. He had only seen the little girls naked, and everybody looked alike. Two males were in a corner, one was behind the other, stroking his penis into the other. Within seconds he had recovered, and their places were reversed.

He knew from the tutorials, that this was common and accepted, but he only remembered this happening in the small village of his youth, but never in the open, where adults could see. He remembered doing much the same as the males here. There were three boys that spent years with him, till they were drawn away by girls. They always seemed to return for some fun though, even when their girlfriends or wives tried to keep them pleased.

As usual, four boys that looked four years old, but actually were about twelve, started to follow him. Nobody was hostile, since Henry came through this place and cleaned it up. It was much like the old time western movies where the sheriff straightened up the town before moving on.

He looked at the boys, and his heart melted again, at their beautiful features. He must have broadcast, for they came closer and one actually reached up and touched his arm this time. When he did not object, he put his hand on Duc's arm, and held gently. The touch made the mindspeak much clearer, and he knew that they had seen him for many days, and wanted to know him better.

They had seen how four other boys, had been taken in and loved, just as Roger and Bobby now were. Older males usually took them in for a while, and did many things to make them feel nice.

Duc got small snippets of data, suggesting that they wanted more than some of his time. They seemed sad, that Roger and Bobby got a lot of attention, while they got none. In fact, all their lives, they knew nothing but the volatile machine intelligence, and the fleeting attentions of the older boys and men.

This made Duc pause in his thinking. The boys were just like the boys back in his home village, and no Tandra here would object to him making love to any of them. Lam, Doris and maybe his daughter Susan might frown on him taking some fatherless and motherless boys home to love, and make love to. If he did anything, there was no way to hide it, when everybody could mindspeak so easily.

The yearning within him was very strong though. In any case, his resolve to not touch the boys this way was even stronger. The new babies took up much of Doris and Lam's time, while he had Roger and Bobby. Both of which, were still young, and either wanted or needed to be breast fed like the babies. He loved both of them, but wanted some interaction with older children, more able to understand his ideas and attitudes.

The four boys he met, when he first came to the moon, were back with his wife, learning what was required of them with the tutors. He had grown to love them, as his own sons in many ways. Lam was very pleased, when he gave the boys names of their relatives.

The boys here followed him to the end of the normally blocked tunnel. When his presence was made known, a screen parted to allow them to egress the wide expanse of tunnel behind them. The other side opened up to a gigantic room, fully a hundred metres high, by at least four hundred metres in diameter. There were no trusses or supports, in this small independent dome. A metre above the floor, and along the walls, floated pads, that were covered with rich black loam. In a very small proportion of them, green life was seen. At the moment, they were stationary, but they did move around to get even illumination.

Duc walked to the centre, where the only vibrant life was visible. The new boys followed him in, and stood in awe, of the scene before them. He placed Bobby and Roger onto an adjacent pad, while he took the pack from his back, then took our some small hand tools.

He explained as best as he could what he was doing, and why, to the boys that followed him, as well as his charges. The new youngsters could not see to well, so he picked them up, and sat them beside the others. They all stared in wonder, as a cultivator loosened the soil, around some Dunn cane.

Another plant that was best translated as a kia-berry had been in storage on Earth for millions of years, after having come from the extreme end and the other side of this galaxy. Duc was very honoured to be given such rare gifts. The leaves were dark green and the plant grew almost two metres high in the weak lunar gravity. Dark red berries slightly bigger than a golf ball hung from all along the plant, and under the fleshy leaves. Green, yellow and purple immature berries grew right beside them.

Duc found two deep red berries that were just starting to soften. He carefully picked them, and walked over to 'his' boys. They eagerly stood up and stretched out their hands, to get the fruit as soon as possible.

Duc opened his pack again, and took out a crystal plate. He carefully cut the fruit up into small pieces for their small mouths. There were no seeds, for they were like seedless grapes, and propagated by cutting or runners. Hands eagerly went out to take the fruit till he said, "Boys, you must remember what I said, last time. Eat slowly, and savour the taste of the fruit. There is no reason to swallow it so fast, that it is gone."

The admonished boys went slow for the first piece, and started jamming more into their mouths. So much for boys listening to his words he thought. Bobby was very young, and Roger was still stunted mentally, but improving steadily.

Turning to the others he said, "There are more berries. I know you are not used to eating food this way, but would you like to try some?"

The boys could read the pleasure, the other boys received, from the rich red fruit. Their thoughts were jumbled up, but he knew that they very much wanted to try some.

Duc selected a more mature fruit, and cut the berry into quarters this time, and placed the pieces into their hands. Long thin fingers, carefully took a piece of fruit, and each gave a tentative taste. Large Tandra smiles covered their faces as the pieces were crammed in.

Duc watched as the boys demolished their portions, and he turned to pick more fruit from the plants. The boys were polite, after being told what he expected, and they each ate only pieces allotted to them.

After many berries, Duc pulled out a large clean cloth and wiped the young boys' faces of juice that ran from their mouths, down their neck, and onto the small chests. Turning to the others, he sensed a yearning for a similar contact. He approached the first, and gently tilted the child's face up, and washed what he could, of the juice. It had started to dry, so he took water bottle, and dampened the cloth before he cleaned each boy, probably for the first time in their lives.

Each was given a drink of water, and Duc turned to get back to work. The sated boys watched him cultivate the soil on the two metre by thirty metre pads. When he was done one side, the pad elevated, and then rotated so he could do the other side as well.

When he was done the with the platforms of berries, he worked on a type of plant that gave different flavoured leaves on each stem. This plant was great for salad, and many other dishes.

Two more pads sported Dunn cane. It was a very tall plant, much like bamboo, except many times closer together. Mom promised that the stems would provide a good tasting beverage, in their hollow centre, and the fruit was much like rice, and hung in clumps from the stems. One pad, could feed many people, because of the plant's productivity.

The final type of plant produced large gourds, similar to pumpkins, but grew to a length of almost two metres, and about as big around as his thigh. The fruit was green now, but promised to be very nutritious, when ripe.

Duc had taken over only ten of the pads, when Mom had directed him to this room. It would be too difficult to try to bring many more into production, and his needs were not that great.