Chapter 18

I was pissed off at Vicky and I told her so later that night, when we finally had our talk.

"I'm sorry," Vicky said, looking embarrassed by the situation. "I got scared when I saw you that way. I thought that you'd rape me. I thought that you'd get me pregnant. I don't want to be pregnant."

"I know that Vicky," I said with a sigh, feeling my anger abate as the girl's words sank into my mind, "but I needed you at that moment. I'm sorry I scared you, but running like that just made me angry. I ended up essentially raping my niece. Oh she was willing and compliant, and even enthusiastic but it shouldn't have happened that way. If you'd stayed, we could have worked things out."

"If I'd stayed," Vicky replied in a low voice, "you'd have fucked me good and hard and left your baby makers in me. I just don't want to be pregnant yet. When the works done, I'll accept my fate if I have to, but for now I'd prefer that you didn't knock me up."

"There are other ways for two people to find relief." I said suggestively. "We could have found something else to try other than fucking."

"You weren't in a talking mood," Vicky said with a sigh, "when I walked in on you and even if you were, you keep forgetting that you're not my type. It would have been one person getting the relief they needed and one putting up with it."

Her words hurt. I was surprised that they had. Deep down I knew she was a lesbian, and I had told myself that I accepted it, but her reply stung. My male ego cringed knowing that there was a woman out there who wasn't willing to throw herself into my bed when I called for her. Like I said it hurt. That hurt must have shown on my face.

"I'm sorry," Vicky whispered softly, taking a grip of my hand as she spoke, "I didn't mean to hurt you that way. I know that you wouldn't just use me like I implied. The way you held me yesterday and touched me, told me that you're a good man, a considerate man. But today your urge was too strong and it scared me. You've got to understand that. I trust you normally but this afternoon was too much."

I accepted it. I really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. I knew that eventually Vicky would give herself to my and I'd father a child on her, but I also knew that she'd never feel for me in the same way that I felt for her. It was strange but I was beginning to fall in love with all the women in our new family. Perhaps it was part of the conditioning that our 'benefactors' had imposed upon us. Perhaps they figured that with me being in love with these women would make it easier to breed the new human race. I didn't know. I did know that Vicky would never feel that way for me. It made me sad. It made me change the topic.

"Why'd you come to see me?" I asked glancing off when I asked the question. Night was falling and people were getting ready for bed. Tonight I'd be sleeping with Emma. My wife had pulled rank and everyone had accepted it. Tomorrow the stud would be available again.

"Why'd you pick me to go with you and your daughter on the next excursion," Vicky asked. "I thought I'd made it clear that I had a lot of work to do out at the construction site."

"You did," I replied without any hesitation, "however, I needed you to come on this trip with us. My daughter needs to spend time with me. If I brought someone else with us, they'd want an equal share of my time. I figured that by bringing you along, I'd be spared that. I could devote most of my time to Lizzy and it would make her happy."

"Oh!" Vicky gasped in surprise. "I hadn't thought about that."

"No," I agreed, "I imagine you hadn't. I also thought it would be a good break for you. While I entertain Lizzy, you could do a little exploring on your own. Maybe you'd see something that I hadn't or maybe you'd just find a nice place to take a nap. It was an idea."

"Oh!" Vicky said again.

"We will still have to have sex once," I informed her in a low voice, "in order to protect your secret, but I think that we can manage not to knock you up. However, if you'd rather stay away from me, I'll understand. I can easily pick someone else to tag along with us."

"No," Vicky replied quickly, glancing away from me again, "I'll go with you and your daughter. It'll be fine."

"Alright then," I said with a sigh. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

I turned and started to walk away from Vicky when she reached out and stopped me with a touch of her hand on my arm. I paused and looked back at her. Vicky leaned in to me and kissed me on the lips. It took me by surprise.

"I'm sorry Adam," Vicky said once more in a low voice. "I screwed things up today, thinking one thing when you intended another, and then pissing you off and hurting your feelings. I should have known you had your reasons for inviting me along on this trip, reasons other than a desire to fuck me. I do like you Adam. You're a nice guy and from what I've seen, a very considerate guy. I should have trusted you. I really am sorry."

"It's alright," I said, trying to sound conciliatory. "We can talk more about this tomorrow. Right now my wife is waiting for me. Good night."

"Good night," I heard Vicky whisper in reply as I walked away.

The night did prove to be good. Emma didn't wear me out with any wild sexual escapades. We cuddled and kissed and touched and then made love softly and tenderly. Then we went to sleep. I got a good rest that night.

What can I say about the next day? It went by fast.

My sexual activities were limited again by the fact that the women that I'd slept with the day before all reported that they were pregnant. Amazingly they all turned out to be carrying girls. Once more the number of girls shot up and the number of boys stayed where they were. It was obvious to everyone what the future would be like if the trend kept going the way it did.

Naturally, I spent half my time taking care of the new mothers-to-be and the rest of the time was spent recovering from my exertions. In fact, to the disappointment of many, I didn't end up in bed with anyone new. Oh well, it gave them something to look forward to on my return.

We left after breakfast. Lizzy was ecstatic to be out and away from the settlement. She was so excited that she was mounted up and honking the horn before I'd finished my morning coffee. Vicky on the other hand was a little reserved. I cornered her for a moment before departure, just to make certain she was okay. Yes was her only response. I left it at that.

I decided to take them back towards the rift valley instead of going off and exploring elsewhere. The truth was that I had no inclination to search anywhere else. When asked about it over supper the previous night, I'd just shrugged my shoulders. It had been Jane wanting to know where we were going. When I said I was heading back to the rift valley, several people had asked why. The only answer I was able to give was 'because'. It wasn't readily accepted.

"What do you mean?" Sally asked, voicing everyone else's thoughts.

"It's a feeling that I have," I told everybody. "I thought about trying a few other spots, particularly where the lake feeds into a stream heading south. However, whenever I do, my mind turns back to the valley. I know it's probably our 'benefactors' playing games again. They've got their agenda and they're sticking to it. They want me to explore towards the west so that's where I'm going. Not because I really want to, but because they want me looking there. Does it make sense?"

It did.

The drive proved uneventful, which was what I had expected in the first place. We found the trail through the tree line and into the forest and finally out onto the plains. Instead of 'Knob Heads' grazing about, we came upon a group of deer. They were ordinary looking white-tailed deer just like we had back home. There were about thirty of them standing around in small clusters just munching away on the grass and ignoring us.

We did find sign of the 'Knob Heads' though as we drove on. A half a mile from where we spotted the deer Vicky spotted the carcass of a 'Knob Head' lying off under a copse of trees. We parked and went to investigate. We all went over to it armed. Vicky took point with her rifle at the ready.

"What do you think?" I asked Vicky as she knelt down beside the remains. The animal seemed to be smaller than any of the 'Knob Heads' that I'd seen during my first trip through this area. It also had fewer 'knobs' sprouting out of its forehead. My guess was that it was a younger, less mature creature that had somehow gotten separated from the rest of the herd. It had been prime pickings for some big predator.

"Probably the same as you," Vicky said in reply, standing slowly as she spoke. "It was a youngster. Somehow it got separated from its herd and a big predator got to it. I'd say that it hasn't been dead that long. There's a lot of meat still on it and there's very few insects buzzing about. We might have disturbed whatever killed it."

"Do you think we're safe?" Lizzy asked, glancing about anxiously as she spoke.

"Yeah," Vicky answered her in a calm tone, "I think were safe. In fact, I think this reaffirms your sister's theory that the aliens are protecting us. No big predator would abandon a kill like this because a few humans show up driving ATVs and carrying carbines. The animals on this planet don't know us yet. They wouldn't be scared."

"So the predator left," I interjected, "because our 'benefactors' wanted to keep us from getting hurt. After we're gone, something will probably be back to finish off this critter."

"Probably," Vicky agreed, taking a good look about, "so maybe we should move out and let it get back to what it was doing. The last thing we want to do is to start attracting attention. The aliens might be keeping the critters at bay, but sooner or later they won't be. I'd rather be further away from whatever did this, than we currently are, when and if the aliens decide that we have to make it on our own. Let's get going."

I didn't argue with Vicky and neither did Lizzy. The three of us were back to our vehicles in a matter of seconds and then we were gone. An hour later we were at the same campsite that I'd used with Beth and Bethany. While I set up the tent trailer, Vicky and Lizzy stood about and took in the sights. They were both impressed with what there was to see.

"Wow!" my daughter said when I finally rejoined them. "It's fantastic Daddy."