Chapter 8

We set out to honor our promise to Ablic by capturing a male marine and convincing him to join us. We would then pair him up with Ablic and see if it was going to work out. Our virtual invisibility made this extremely easy to accomplish. Ablic was along, and she pointed out the man she wanted to try first. She had not yet reached the stage of growing the invisibility tendrils, so she had to stay back while the rest of us performed the actual capture.

Those of us who were the original four were naked so that our tendrils could do their job to the best effect. I left everything behind but my gun as I crept up behind Ablic's selection. It stuck the muzzle in his back and said, "My friend, I have a proposition to offer you. That is a gun muzzle you feel in your back and my finger is on the trigger. Don't make any sudden moves or I might be jostled into pulling the trigger. I am one of the people you are hunting, and I want you to come along with me. I think that you will like the result if you do join me."

As any sensible marine would do under the circumstances, he agreed to follow my suggestions. I had him sling his weapon and hang on to his nerves. AI then transported all of us to our home. Jack Michaels, the Marine, was flabbergasted when he was moved from his former location in the forest surrounding a swamp to a very civilized room with chairs, a table, and a wet bar. In fact, he was so startled that he did not react when I removed his weapon from his shoulder and asked him what he would like to drink.

I had to ask a second time before he answered that he would like a scotch and water. Ablic mixed it for him and handed it to him. He drank the whole thing is one massive gulp—it was not that big a drink. All of his attention was on Ablic because he knew her, had even slept with her on more than one occasion on the trip from Earth, and knew that she had been reported missing and presumed dead.

Ablic was still dressed in her battle uniform, but she removed that while Jack watched. Sue picked up the clothes as Ablic removed them, and Sue was still naked from the hunt. Being naked made it very difficult to follow her movements because she continued to change colors as she moved about. That was enough to confuse the eye to the point that Jack had to look away to keep from throwing up.

Ablic steered Jack to a comfortable chair and had him sit down. She then sat in his lap. Of course, that was dirty pool. Where is there a whole man who can think straight when a pretty woman sits naked in his lap. She could feel pressing on her thigh the proof that she had Jack's attention. "Do you remember me, Jack, from the times I spent in your bed on our trip out here? How would you like to repeat that very soon?"

Sue didn't give Jack a chance to answer before she stood in front of him and said, "Jack, do you know what has and is happening to your body?"

Jack gave a kind of befuddled negative shake of his head, so Ablic said, "Jack, come with us, and Sue will tell you what is going on and why it is impossible for you to return to Earth."

Sue and Ablic led Jack to the lab and gave him a full rundown on what had happened to his body so far and what he could expect. Jack could follow her explanation in its major points, so he could see the changes that had already taken place in his genome when Sue took a sample of his blood and displayed it on a screen.

Jack was really upset when he found out that he had been tricked and could never return to Earth. It was not that he had any special reason to want to return, it was just the chicanery that had been pulled on him. Anyway, when the explanation was complete, Jack had no qualms about joining our community and becoming Ablic's consort.

The moment he agreed to join our community, Ablic grabbed his hand and led him to her, now their, bedroom. The squeals and grunts of satisfaction could be heard through the door only a few minutes later. When I saw them a few minutes later, I could see that Sue and Sharon were happy that Ablic was now satisfied.

AI waited until I was alone before he brought up an important subject. "Andy, I know that you enjoy your little game of capturing Earthmen one at a time, but that is hardly an efficient way to do it. Why don't you let me transport several here at one time so that you can talk to them all at once. I think that I could bring in six at one time without overloading your ability to manage the situation. What do you think?"

"Oh, hell, AI, you are absolutely correct. I have been playing a game and not doing the job as I should have done it. The one thing that concerns me is that I don't want to take a chance on somebody getting hurt or on something getting damaged."

"Don't worry about that. Any normal wound will heal in a few hours, and my robots can easily repair any physical damage to our home. Furthermore, I can quickly flood a room with a gas that will paralyze the candidates before they could do any real harm."

"Okay, in that case, let's give it a try. We still have time to do it today. Bring in six candidates, three of each gender, and let's see what happens. Where would be a good place for the experiment?"

"I think that the same room where we first brought Jack would be a good place. I suspect that the bar will calm a few nerves."

"That sounds good to me. When can you do it?"

"Is now too soon?"

I nodded, and the next thing that I knew, I was standing in the lounge with six marines, all of whom looked completely confused. "Ladies and gentlemen, please give me your attention." In the process of transporting me, AI had dressed me in a simple gym suit so that I would be easier to see.

The Marines were all carrying live weapons, so I needed to take care of that situation immediately. "Please lock your weapons so that there will be no unnecessary accidents. You will be returned to your unit if you don't like what you are about to hear, so none of you are in any danger."

Mentally, I asked AI to bring in Sue to do the explaining. She appeared beside me, and AI explained to her what was going on.

Sue, too, was dressed so that she could be easily seen, and she said, "My name is Sue, and I was a marine who came in with the first group as did Andy, the man standing beside me. I am a fully qualified nurse, and I want to describe to you what has happened to your bodies since you landed on this planet. The first thing you should know is that your bodies have started to change since you landed and you can never go back to Earth.

"Your superiors knew of this, but they sent you here anyway. Now that your bodies have started to change, and that happened with the first bite of local food that you swallowed, you will die if you leave here for very long. Your bodies cannot live without local food, and this planet is the only source at the moment."

Nobody was surprised that they had been lied to, and I could see anger growing on several faces. That's when I interrupted with an offer of a free drink for anyone who wanted one. Sue and I quickly mixed up six drinks of several types and passed them out. As is usual with marines, it did not take long for them to drink what we passed out, and Sue continued with her little talk.

Sue explained what had happened to them and why eating local food had been the cause of the changes. She said that she could show them laboratory proof of what she had said, but the lab was too small for this many people to visit it at the same time. Therefore, she would show those who were really interested, but she wanted to keep that to a minimum. It turned out that Sue's talk had convinced them of what she said, so no trip to the lab was necessary.

I told them what we offered if they wanted to join us and become Wolfians. I also told them that they could return to the base if they did not want to join, but this was their only chance to join us this easily. We might take them in when they were abandoned by Earth, but I could not promise that we would. I gave them a few minutes to think about my offer and to discuss it among themselves before I asked for an answer.