Chapter 8

And then, the Earth being small, mankind will migrate into space, and will cross the airless Saharas which separate planet from planet and sun from sun. The Earth will become a Holy Land which will be visited by pilgrims from all the quarters of the Universe. Finally, men will master the forces of Nature; they will become themselves architects of systems, manufacturers of worlds.

— Winwood Reade, 'The Martyrdom of Man, ' 1872.

Every muscle in Sophia's body ached as she worked through the Tai Chi regimen with the rest of her class. Everyone in the class had emerged from their third round of augmentation the day before and they could be heard moaning and groaning as they stressed and stretched their sore muscles and joints. She even hurt where the gi she was wearing rubbed skin stretched tight over newly bulging muscles. Sensei Yamato moved among the students offering encouragement or criticism as needed.

"You must stretch your new muscles and learn your new balance. You are now living in someone else's body; you must make it your own." The diminutive Master Sergeant told them.

At five foot three inches, Master Sergeant Yamato was tiny for a marine, but still almost a head taller than his students. When Sensei Yamato was picked-up for service, he refused the standard Marine size augmentation, opting only for strength and agility improvements. When his choice was questioned by his superior officer, Yamato proceeded to best six fully augmented Marines in hand-to-hand combat. Colonel Walker had found Yamato cooling his heels in an administrative position because his unit commander didn't feel he was big enough to fight. Walker made him a much better offer.

"Concentrate on feeling your muscles move. Feel the new positions of your limbs. Work toward the new balance." He said to them. "The harder you work now the quicker the soreness will leave you. Remember, we start Aikido and Jujitsu training again in two days."

Sophia's brightened at the thought of resuming the faster martial arts. She, like most of the students, had really taken to the martial arts training that they were being given. The original intent of the training had been to help them adjust to their smaller bodies but, after a couple of minor occurrences between the students and a few of the marines on board the transport, it was also realized that the students would need to be prepared to defend themselves in a world where everyone, from humans to Sa'arm, were bigger than they.

All of the students had taken the martial arts sleep learning programs so they all had mental proficiency with the techniques. The daily classes with Sensei Yamato were now teaching them to use the techniques without thinking about them, making them second nature. Reggie and Aaron had both excelled at karate and the other striking forms of combat. Sophia had taken especially well to weapon Katas and was already an expert with the bo. She was really looking forward to next week when they would start Kenjutsu, the art and science of the sword.

"Excellent!" Sensei Yamato said as the Tai Chi routine ended. "Change clothes now and meet me at the gym in ten minutes. We are going to run 3 miles today and do light weights." Sensei Yamato bowed to the class who returned the gesture.

"That man is going to kill me." Aaron complained as he walked smoothly alongside Sophia. As promised, Confederacy medical technology had completely repaired his bad knee.

"It's not as bad as the first two rounds after they dropped our height. That was excruciating, even with the pain meds."

"I think it's my skin that hurts the most this time." Aaron replied.

"The med tech said that our skin would be expanded by the nanobots by tomorrow, so that should stop. It's my joints that are bothering me." Sophia said.

"That must be the bone reinforcement." Aaron responded. "It stills seems wild that we actually have titanium and carbon fiber reinforcement in our bones and that they actually weigh half of what they did before. I bet you could break a baseball bat over my head and I wouldn't even get a concussion."

"Do you want me to try it?" Sophia asked, her blue cat's eyes twinkling in silent laughter.

"Uh, no. Not really." Aaron said with a laugh.

They reached the recycler and stripped out of their practice uniforms, dumping them into the recycler to be remade into something else. They moved on to the replicator, which produced running shorts and T-shirts for them. After getting dressed, they followed their fellow students to the gym. Master Sergeant Yamato was there ahead of them, also wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Yamato now took on his other persona, drill sergeant in charge of the physical fitness of the Swift program.

"Three miles on the treadmills, ladies and gentlemen. After that, the AI has your workout routine for you. I will be here to help with weight-lifting technique," he told them.

They had just picked out a couple of treadmills when Reggie showed up and took one next to them.

"Where have you been?" Sophia said in an innocent voice.

"I bet he's been talking with that young English lass again." Aaron chided.

Reggie blushed. "Her name is Camilla and she is really nice."

"Aww, Reggie has a crush on her." Sophia said. "And here I thought that all the women he had at home would be enough for him."

Reggie refused to rise to the bait, concentrating on his running and refusing to look over at Aaron or Sophia.

"Speaking of all the women at home, we have to sit down with them about their augmentations. They're starting to drive me crazy wanting to know when they get to go to medical." Aaron said.

"It's not just the women. Kyle has been bugging me too." She replied.

"We have three hours between simulators and meditation tonight. We can at least start then." Reggie added.

Sophia said, "Sounds like a plan."

In the six weeks that they had lived on the Manfred von Richthofen, the concubines, led by Ann's sense of style for interior decoration, had transformed their living quarters into a home. Each sponsor had a bedroom decorated to their tastes with a king-sized bed, an office area and an attached bathroom. Each concubine had their own small bedroom with the exception of Ann and Marty who shared one and Tammy who shared with the children. They had also created a den for relaxing, watching videos and playing games. Just inside the front door they created a formal living room for receiving guests. They had plans to add bedrooms for the kids, a nursery, and separate offices for Aaron, Sophia, and Reggie when they reached the Colony.

Sophia, Reggie and Aaron were lounging on Aaron's bed waiting for the first of the concubines to arrive to discuss their individual augmentations.

"AI, you have the basic modifications we discussed for the concubines locked in, correct?" Sophia asked.

"Affirmative. The female concubines will all receive throat expansion, gag reflex suppression, enhanced libido, enhanced sexual stimulus response, kegel muscle strengthening, increased depth of penetration of the vaginal opening and an increased tendency toward bisexuality. The males will receive enhanced libidos, enhanced sexual stimulus response and a quicker recovery time between orgasms." The AI responded.

Before they could respond there was a knock at the door.

"Open door." Aaron said.

The door opened to reveal Wanda standing outside. Aaron waived her in.

"Sit with us honey." Sophia said, patting the bed between her and Reggie.

Wanda climbed up on the bed with them, giving all three a kiss before settling down.

"AI, display an image of concubine Wanda." Aaron said.

A slowly rotating holographic image of a naked Wanda appeared over the bed in front of them.

"Tell us what you want Wanda." Sophia said.

"I want to look younger, about 19, and I don't want to have to shave my armpits or legs ever again. I like my tits the size that they are, but I want them to be firmer with larger nipples. My ass needs to be firmer too." She said. Then she added, "If you want me too, I can be shorter so that I'm your height."

"Reggie, Aaron and Sophia all said, "No!" at the same time.

"We have to be this size to fly the Swift. No one else should have to be this height." Reggie explained. "Just because you are taller than us doesn't mean you bother us or that we want you to change."

"Make the changes requested by Wanda but keep her height unchanged." Aaron told the AI.

The image of Wanda changed slightly.

"Here's what I would change." Aaron continued. "I want to keep the neat triangle of pubic hair above your pussy. I would also like to have the length of your inner lips longer so that I can see them poking out of your pussy. We'll give you stronger kegels and make it so that you can take any cock in the family without pain."

"I wouldn't add anything to that." Sophia said.

"Me either." Reggie said.

"Is that OK with you?" Aaron asked her. His reply came in the form of a blistering kiss that threatened to turn the meeting into an orgy. Aaron managed to get away from Wanda and send her for the next person.

Jessica appeared next. The only thing that she really wanted was to have her brunette hair be longer and to be prettier. They spent quite a bit of time making small adjustments until she was happy. Reggie thought that she looked a lot like Denise Richards when they were through. They decided to keep her C-cup breasts, firm them up, and trim her overall shape into one that looked more athletic.

Tammy arrived next, a look of utter fear on her face. She was crying softly when she got up on the bed.

"What's wrong?" Reggie asked her.

"Nothing, I'm happy. Just make me look nice, OK?"

"We will sweetie."

"AI, show us the image of Tammy."

Aaron said. "Make her 3 inches taller, 38 bust, 26 waist, 36 hips."

Tammy's image grew taller but shrank inwards to create a voluptuous hourglass figure.

"Firm up her tits and make them the same size. I think she would look good with larger areola and nipples that are slightly upturned." Reggie told the AI. "Flatten her stomach and shrink her butt just a bit.

"Shoulder length curly blonde hair, blue eyes, thinner nose and fuller lips. Porcelain complexion, pale pink areolas, bald pussy and no hair from the neck down." Sophia said.

The image that was spinning slowly before then now was of a beautiful, blonde bombshell, almost Marilyn Monroe like in appearance.

"What do you think Tammy?" Reggie asked, "Do you like it?"

"Can that really be what I look like?" Tammy asked, tears flowing from her eyes.

Reggie said, "Yes. Do you want to change anything?"

Tammy just shook her head, tears of joy running down her face.

"That's it. Lock in these changes along with the other usual improvements." Sophia told the AI.

Tammy gave them all a hug and a kiss before dashing from the room, her chubby butt shaking all the way.

"I'm going to miss that bubble butt." Aaron said wistfully.

"You'll enjoy her more when she has a self image she's happy with." Sophia replied.

"I know."

The next concubine to come in was sixteen year old Kelly.

"Officially you are my concubine but Reggie picked you so we'll ask Reggie what he thinks first." Aaron told her as they watched her image rotate.

"I don't want to change anything." Reggie said, gazing at the platinum blonde beauty. "Physically I think she's perfect."

"Me too." Said Sophia.

"I agree." Aaron said. "What about you, Kelly? Do you want to change anything about yourself?"

Kelly thought for a moment before replying. "Just a couple of things. I would like to have green eyes and if possible I'd like to be tan without having to sun. My hair looks awesome when I have a tan to set it off. I've heard women talk about how sensitive their nipples are but mine aren't. I would like to have sensitive nipples so I can enjoy it when they are played with. And..." Kelly hesitated.