Chapter 80

MAJ Howard:

The look on Myra's face was absolutely priceless! I couldn't contain myself and laughed aloud! I'd no idea that Vera had failed to reveal my position, but upon sober reflection, it made sense.

As for Myra herself, I was delighted! She was aggressively sexual -- and delivered on the promise in fine fashion. But she brought something else to the table, too -- the clear indication that she intended that there be a relationship between us that exceeded the boundaries of the master/slave setup. I found this ... refreshing.

Myra got a grip and said, "So, you're like the number two guy at the place we're going?" She favored Vera with a glare as I nodded.

Vera was unfazed. "It didn't seem politic to reveal that. Think about it -- we're not looking for gold-diggers. Now we know we didn't get one. Does it matter, from your perspective?"

"No." Myra turned to regard me thoughtfully. "No, it doesn't. But it tells me you need a lot more TLC than I thought you did. I bet your job ain't fun..."

I was totally nonplussed by her response; I'd have never predicted it! "It has its off days," I admitted. I gazed at the woman in mild awe; she was just ... perfect! Turning to Vera, I said, "I don't know how you did it -- she's already irreplaceable! If you can find another by the time we reach orbit tomorrow, I'll interview -- I have two slots until we reach communications range of the colony, after which I'll have four, because I intend to release the pair I have there. They just don't measure up..."

Myra looked bothered, but Vera said, "I can try."

"What's wrong, Myra?" I asked.

"I didn't know I might be dumping someone out..."

"I picked up these two from the Civil Service just before we left for Earth," I told her. "Frankly, they mean nothing to me -- and after having met you, it's clear they never would. I need what you bring to the table -- but if I can rescue a couple more women of your quality..."

Myra smiled. "That's sweet, Honey!" She turned to Vera, "Can I help? I know a couple of women..."

Vera flicked a glance at me and I shrugged assent. "By all means!"

"You should move your family in by the evening meal -- I intend to take it with the family," I informed Myra.

Myra accepted the comment for the directive it was. "We'll be ready, Earl. I'll make sure the kids understand that you need your space."

"Thank you." I waved at the door. "Unfortunately, I have work to do."

Vera asked, "Do you have any preferences in a second candidate?"

I shrugged. "Complimentary color? Myra should be First Sergeant."

"Any particular shade?" Vera grinned at Myra, who looked confused.

"Use your own judgement. The color thing isn't a hard and fast criterion. I'm just looking at genetic diversity."

Vera nodded. "Let's go, Myra. You've got ideas?" They headed out.

Myra:

I was dazed and confused coming out of Earl's office. "First Sergeant?"

"It's a military thing," Vera explained. "Basically, the Major indicated that you were gonna be on top of the harem -- Head Bitch is what I call it. You probably ought to understand where he's coming from." She got that look on her face that said she was probably talking to an AI. "Military organizations have officers and enlisted men. The Major is an officer. He's a bigwig leader, is the best I can describe it, several levels up the totem pole. Officers are all like business executives -- big-picture types in suits that run big organizations, although the lowest officer grades are probably more like middle management. Enlisted men go from sergeants -- who would be managers and supervisors -- to privates, who are worker bees. A First Sergeant sits at the top of the enlisted structure in a fairly good-sized unit. So the Major is saying that you are to be his Head Bitch or straw boss."

I nodded slowly, thinking about it. "Am I gonna get used to this?"

"From the impression you made, I'd say you are going to be good for the Major -- you're going to smooth some of the rough edges and make him generally more human. He's a man accustomed to making harsh decisions -- and it shows," Vera replied, nodding. "There will be an initial period of adjustment, after which everything is gonna be fine." She eyed me. "You had some ideas?"

"Well, I hung out with a few others, you know? We kinda went back and forth, so I know a little bit about a couple of them..." I told her.

"Yeah, okay. Birds of a feather?"

"Yeah. I think so. It's one thing tellin' a man what he wants to hear and another sittin' around with the girls, talkin' about how long it's been since you've seen a dick and how nice it would be..." I replied. "We have a group, kinda -- the 'untouchables, ' we call ourselves. We spend a lot of time swappin' shit, you know? If you was to do for them what you did for me, Earl might be interested..."

Vera nodded. "You may be right -- I may want to meet the 'untouchables.' There might be some serious candidates in that pool. Tell me about them while we head back to your place."

"Well, let's see. There's Winona Kapahu; she's one of them big islander pineapple women. She's like the Incredible Hulk to start with -- probably six foot two and big-boned -- but you gotta add two hundred pounds to get the idea. She's sweet, though -- placid, you know? Calm," I told her. "Then there's Carol Gross. The name pretty much matches her; she's a bigass strawberry blonde. Her old man Herman died a couple of years back and Carol says she added probably a hundred pounds not exercisin' since -- and to hear her tell it, exercisin' was mostly sex. She said Herman was a beanpole, but he had a dick damn near a foot long and fucked like the Energizer Bunny -- until his batteries died one day and took him with them..."

Vera chuckled. "THAT's a tale..."

"Then there's Fulmala -- she's a real dark-skinned Indian woman. She gave the group its name. She calls herself a Desi, whatever that is, or an Auntie. Indians have arranged marriages -- did you know that?" I prattled on. "Her old man just put her on the street one day when he decided he liked American women better. She's probably the most decent lookin' one of the bunch of us -- she's got big droopy hooters and some flab here and there, but she don't weigh two hundred, even. She's real shy, though." I thought about it. "In fact, we got three or four real shy ones."

"I CERTAINLY want to meet the 'untouchables'!" Vera said. "Lead on..."

Vera:

One look at the 'untouchables' and I knew that I had a goldmine. There were about eight of them gathered in a little sewing circle at the edge of a new playground module, and they ran the gamut -- big, small, oddly-shaped, homely, some physical issues -- you name it. Their kids were an amorphous mass, running here and there and screaming and yelling and generally venting a lot of youth and exuberance, like they were supposed to. Myra was a source of amazement among them -- one of them had made the grade? Hope was born in more than one set of eyes as Myra related her changed luck -- a carefully-edited version that didn't mention the Major's actual position. When Myra finished with, " ... and we're looking for someone else to wave in front of Earl!" she had everyone's full attention!

Next, she introduced me around to various of the women who were present -- and I had the AI provide me with scores and maintain a running tally that sorted and ranked them. Half of them could have filled the Major's second slot; I was going to have to cherry-pick. I sent Myra off to get her family moved, and got down to making a selection. My first choice would have been Winona Kapahu -- but she had a mate named Daniel -- a big islander, just as she was -- and the Major had expressed reluctance to accept a male early on. I went back and forth between the Indian woman Fulmala and Carol Gross -- and settled on Carol, on the theory that if the Major rejected her, her improved looks would make her salable to someone else; Fulmala could carry that particular ball on her own ... Carol had two kids, both girls, their ages basically matching those of Myra's boys, and her pink, freckled skin delivered the jokingly requested contrast with Myra's dark chocolate hue; besides, it was clear to me that she and Myra got along the best. After some perfunctory interviews, I showed Carol the Major (nude and with an erection, as I had shown him to Myra) and asked, "Are you interested?"

Carol said, "Huh! You're darn tootin'! Is the Pope Catholic?"

"Okay," I replied, "What did you look like at, say, eighteen? You saw Myra as she is now -- were you anywhere close? We're not talking swimsuit model, here, the man likes a little padding, actually."

Carol frowned and pulled her lip. "I still wasn't pretty..." The AI threw it up in three dimensions and she was right -- she was still a plumper. There was a good deal less of her, but at five foot five, she weighed two hundred or so.

"How did you... ?"

"Get married?" She cocked her head and smiled crookedly. "If it's sex, I do it -- and I love it -- and I don't care WHAT the fuck it is!" She caught the look on my face. "Omigawd! A kindred soul!" She sidled up to me and asked quietly, "How many guys have you done at one time?"

"I don't know," I replied. "I lost count. There was this after-prom party ... They stuck me in a pickup camper and they just kept coming..." I pinged the AI, 'Take off another forty pounds... ' The depiction started to settle out and not show so many rolls, although it was still roly-poly.

"Gee, I wish..." Carol said wistfully, eyeing the image.

'Drop twenty and make the bust and ass rounder and less blocky, ' I told the AI. 'Bring up the nipples to around the horizontal axis.' They would still point outward to the sides some, but I wasn't shooting for perfection -- just something believable.

"I'd give my left ovary to look like that," Carol sighed.

"You'll be REAL GOOD to the man if he hooks you up with that, right?" I asked.

"Are you shitting me? I'll want to sleep with his dick in me somewhere!" Carol erupted.

"Save some for Myra," I chuckled. "She likes hers, too, you know."

"I'm gonna eat her pussy every day for setting me up with this deal!" Carol swore. "Yours, too!"

"Well, let's see if it flies..." I got Major Howard on video. "Myra was a real source of candidates; if you could take four and would accept one mate, I think I could fill your harem!"

"No kidding?" The Major looked surprised.

"No kidding. They all have visual shortcomings, but when you look beyond, the package is pretty decent," I declared. I forwarded the display of the objective Carol to the Major and told her privately, "He's seeing THAT," pointing at our local display. "The AI is going to make your face match that when you talk to him, too -- he'll never see you as you are now if you pass this interview." Carol nodded, absorbing this; she was reasonably quick, according to her CAP scores...

Major Howard:

Vera's candidate was a sweet-faced woman with freckles and very light red hair -- or maybe she was blonde with a reddish tinge, I don't know much about these things. As with Myra, the display was that of an eighteen-year-old; I tried and failed to age her mentally. "How old are you?"

The woman looked disconcerted. "Thirty-two."

Vera grinned. "Don't let him rattle you!"

The face said she was heavy -- but then, so did the three dimensional simulation rotating before me. On the other hand, she wasn't much bigger than Myra. The package was very ... round, I guess; she wasn't a beach ball or anything, but she was fully fleshed and had curves. The hands and feet were nice and the freckles added something; her nipples were VERY pink. Vera had followed the color change instruction, given in jest or not. There was a thin fluff on the baby-fat pudenda; I decided to make mention of it, "Your pubes are pretty thin..."

The woman, Carol, looked embarrassed. "They always have been. Personally, I think they're a waste."

"I do too," I agreed. "Let's take them off." I hadn't ordered that alteration in Myra -- and I wouldn't; I generally don't like to feel like I'm robbing the cradle and having sex with a pre-teen. But in Carol's case, there was just enough there to make her look shaggy, so she was better off without.

"So, what did they tell you about me?" I asked.

"They said you're very formal," Carol said carefully, watching me.

I chuckled. "Stiff, probably, I bet. I'm used to a certain set of protocols; it will be yours and Myra's job to teach me to relax at home. I don't do that much, but Myra seems to have a handle on things." Changing the subject, I asked, "You have children, I assume?"

"Two little girls," Carol supplied.

"You seem nervous. Why don't you tell me about yourself," I invited.

"Well, I'm a sow," Carol announced, "But you can see that, can't you?"

"Actually, I wouldn't go beyond describing you as a little thick, based on this," I replied, waving at the projection.

"But you know it's worse," Carol insisted.

"Vera has convinced me that if I never see it, it is irrelevant. Based upon Myra, I have to agree with her," I replied. "Vera has also convinced me that a little padding is a good thing, and that big-boned girls tend to have a lot more gratitude when they get attention."

Carol smiled -- something at last a bit more relaxed and genuine. "That Vera is a wonder," she said, eyeing Vera. "We seem to have a lot in common."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I like my sex," Carol muttered.

"I like it when my women like their sex," I retorted. "One reason Vera is out hunting for me is that I seemed to have a knack for picking decorative women who acted as though sex is a chore. I really despise that."

"Well, you won't get that with ME!" Carol declared. She paused for a second, then took the leap, "I do two things, Mister -- raise kids and fuck. I love doing them both, but fucking probably tops the list." She cocked her head. "You like anything special?"

"I like enjoying it," I replied. "I've probably done just about everything heterosexual -- but it's all in how it's handled."

"Believe me, Mister -- I won't have any problem being enthusiastic -- or grateful. In fact, I might be a little demanding..." I must have frowned, because she instantly backed off, "But I know who is in charge."

"I tend to be very clear on my wants and needs," I declared.

"You'll get it, whatever it is," Carol insisted, "I promise!"

Historically, feminine promises had a poor track record, but there was no doubt that she was sincere, so I didn't bother to mention that fact. "You get along with Myra, I take it?"

"Oh, yeah -- Myra's the bomb!" Carol replied enthusiastically.

"Good, because you'll have to share, and for now, she has the lead," I replied. Shifting to Vera, I said, "I've seen enough. When can we do a formal interview?"

"I would say after dinner," Vera replied.

"Very well. I look forward to meeting you in person," I told Carol.

"It's mutual!" Carol bubbled. Vera closed the connection.

Carol:

I left the girls with Fulmala and went down to Medical -- and they worked miracles! They stuck me in one of those tubes -- for only a second, it seemed like -- and when I sat up I ALREADY knew I was different! "How long was I in here?' I asked the medic.

"Two hours and forty minutes," the medic replied. "Aside from removing the body mass and some reshaping, you really didn't need much. We didn't change your skeleton or anything, just soft tissue. Oh, there is some age regression going on in your skeletal structure, but it will continue on its own until complete..."