Chapter 1: Pick-Up Loop Hole

Mother Superior sat behind her scarred wooden desk when Sister Chastity ushered me into her office. In for a penny, in for a pound!

"What do you want?" Mother Superior was not happy with me.

"I have a plan, Mother Superior," I said. "Here is my CAP card and a spreadsheet."

"Just tell me."

"I can take six people to the stars with me," I began, "but if they have dependents I can take all of the dependents to the stars with me."

The Confederacy had a program for us sponsors—a breeding program. I was going to jump-start the program. Mother Superior ran an orphanage. Technically, her orphans were her dependent children.

"The spreadsheet shows my plans for setting up a school," I said. "I've been tapped to teach at an academy. I'll be conducting research on the side. As you see, I'll need help--

"I do see that," Mother Superior tone was droll. "What did you want from us?"

"I have access to a CAP testing center," I said, "and if you will send some or all of your staff, there's a chance that they can make sponsor and you won't need me. If nobody makes it, I can accept a few of your staff as my concubines—and they can bring the orphans along as my dependents. I'll get them off-planet. You'll need some time to decide, I know, but--"

"We're not exactly Playboy porn stars," Mother Superior noted.

"Confederacy medical technology will take care of that," I said. "I'm not really sure what you mean by Playboy porn star, but I do have an idea of what I like. The emotional and intellectual will be more important. The physical can be fixed."

"Will you fuck your concubines?" Mother Superior shocked me. Her gutter language was unexpected.

"Of course," I replied. "That's what they're for—but that's not all."

"I want to know about the sex."

"First, of all, I'm going to be learning as much from my concubines as they will from me," I explained. "I'm a retired soldier, but I wasn't very sexually active. My job description could be 'military nerd, ' if you are generous. I was an instructor, satellite communications was my specialty. I worked with the Air Force Space Command even though I was a soldier."

"You're dodging," Mother Superior observed.

"I do intend to keep my concubines naked when possible," I said, "but even sponsors have to answer to those above them in their chain of command, to the Artificial Intelligences of the Confederacy, and comply with community standards. I might need to make my concubines conform to the local dress code, whatever that is. But--"

"Stick to the point," Mother Superior said. "Will your concubines have sex with each other?"

"Of course," I said. "I am not Superman. It's one of Murphy's Laws of Combat--'you are not Superman.' I'll need them to take care of each other because there won't be enough hours in the day for me to make love to six people, and we humans do need physical affection. That's part of the emotional I'm talking about—if my concubines don't have enough physical affection, they won't be fully human or very happy. Six concubines means I'll need one or two males. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'll have to sexually interact with any males. It's a domination thing. I'll need all of my concubines to have sex with each other."

"What about the children?" Mother Superior asked. "What about their sex lives?"

"The Confederacy basically says no sex with children," I replied. "No intercourse until adulthood—which is fourteen in the Confederacy for humans. Oral sex is permitted at thirteen. I've asked for clarification, but I'll have to wait for a specific Artificial Intelligence before I get a definitive answer. For example, I asked about sex play—children are going to play Doctor with one another. I hope that the AI don't rule that we have to seal children up in barrels and feed them through a bung hole until they're fourteen. It will make education very difficult for one thing."