Chapter 6: Establishing a Bond Group

Clara’s announcement that she was moving in took me by surprise. I said, “I hadn’t looked at it from that point of view before. It seems logical for Bond Mates to live together, and I certainly don’t want to be separated from you any more than necessary. I have absolutely no problem with you moving in, but what about our Joining Ceremony, and your mother and our friends?”

“I talked with my mom as I packed my bag; that’s what took me so long to get here. She wasn’t expecting it, but after I explained what I had realized, she agreed that it made no sense to wait for some ceremony to begin living our lives together. We have her blessing. As far as our friends go, I am not going to worry about it. They will either accept our decision or not, and I am not going to let other peoples’ opinions control our lives. As we discussed, our Joining Ceremony is to announce to the world that we are a bonded couple. I don’t see why we need to wait for an announcement in order to begin our lives together; after all, we are the ones making the commitment and since we are already committed in my eyes, I want to be here with you.”

“That sounds good to me. I have a bunch of stuff stored in some of my dresser drawers that I can move into the office. We can clean out the drawers and you can use them for your clothes.”

“Jon, what would you rather do: clean out dresser drawers or make love to your Bond Mate?”

Pulling her into my arms, I proceeded to give her several long slow kisses, then said, “Honey, when it comes to personal relationships, I may be slow, but I am not stupid.”

We walked each other to the bedroom, undressed each other with more than a few kisses and touches being exchanged, and slid into bed. I looked at Clara’s naked body with awe as she looked at me. She was slender without being skinny and her breasts seemed very full without being extremely large; she was my idea of a perfect woman. We kissed and caressed each other’s body until we were highly aroused. As I moved my leg over hers, she spread her legs and welcomed me between them. When I was aligned with her opening, I gently started to enter her body and when my cock was a third of the way in, she pulled me to her while thrusting her hips upward. Feeling her start her thrust, I returned the thrust and felt myself fully seated in her warm, wet channel.

Clara lowered her hips back to the bed with mine following as we stared deeply into each other’s eyes. Lying there together, we enjoyed the physical feelings of being joined at the hips. Over our link, we shared the sensations of penetrating and being penetrated. This joining was one of love, not lust; there was a component of lust, but the primary emotion was love. In the spirit of love, we began to move to give each other the physical pleasure that comes from sex shared by two people who are in love. Over our link, I sent Clara my emotions and the sensation of my cock sliding in and out of her, and she sent me the feelings of my cock sliding in and out of her and her emotions. Clara quickly reached her peak calling out to me that she wanted my baby, for me to give her my baby. Burying myself deep in her, I reached my peak and spewed forth my seed; pulsing deep within her, I pumped my essence into her womb; we also shared the sensations of our orgasms over our link. As we came down from our sexual high, we lay there snuggled closely to each other and shared gentle loving kisses. We talked as lovers do and gradually relaxed until we fell asleep in each other’s arms. It was still night when the need to use the bathroom woke me and in moving, I woke Clara. After we relieved ourselves, we cuddled in bed and talked.

“I hadn’t considered the idea of us having a child right away Clara. I do want to have children with you, but I considered it to be something for our future. Do you really want us to have a baby now Clara?”

“Yes, I do. I am not sure why, but I want it very much and I don’t want to wait. In fact, I want us to have many babies. I can visualize you as a father holding our child, giving it love, and attention. I can see us with 5 or 6 kids at the dinner table.

“This is something new for me Jon. Until the past day or two, a husband and children were my plan for the distant future. I wanted to receive my degree and begin my career before I got married. Now none of that matters. The most important thing in my life is for us to be together and have a family.”

“Do you want to go off the pill and have a baby now or wait until later?”

“Jon, I’m not on the pill or any other form of birth control. I was due to start ovulating yesterday, and that means I may already be pregnant. Would you be upset if I am pregnant?”

I caressed her face with my hand and said, “No Clara that wouldn’t upset me. Your being pregnant with our child is not something that would bother me. We may not have planned the pregnancy, but our child was conceived in love and will be raised in a loving and giving family.”

As I finished talking, I slid my hand down to her breast, cupped it, and caressed her nipple. When she moved her hand to the back of my head, I slid between her legs and began making love with her again. I spewed at least two loads of my seed into her fertile womb before we rolled back to our sides. As we lay there, I whispered into her ear that if she wasn’t pregnant now, I believed she would be by the end of the week. I had a very happy woman in my bed that night as we fell asleep again.

The next morning we hugged and kissed, and Clara was a little tender from our prior evening, so we deferred further lovemaking until she recovered. Truth be told, the flesh in the area of my pubic bone was rather tender. Over breakfast, we discussed her attending college.

Clara wanted to pursue her nursing degree and career, as she had said earlier. But now, she could see how big of a job we had ahead of ourselves. She did not see how she could finish her degree and serve as the Co-President of the Foundation. I told her that a similar question had come up during one of the sessions I had with the 12 ladies. I explained my thoughts on providing students with support, and we discussed how that might work in the real world of a 40-hour workweek. Undoubtedly, some of our Advisory Council were having the same problem that Clara faced. We needed to address this problem at our meeting today. I could visualize the ladies attending their classes, as needed, while fitting in their Foundation hours around their class hours. Now that I had taken the time to think about the situation, I realized that any higher education was potentially useful for our future civilization, so their education would be important. If necessary to get their degrees, the ladies would have to work less than a 40-hour workweek, but in the end, the Ark Foundation would be the beneficiary of their education.

As we were finishing breakfast, Bob and Sharna contacted us.

Clara spoke up, “You mean we may be able to live more than 500 years.”

Sharna replied, “Yes, you understand correctly. Unfortunately, when we started the enhancements we had to adjust your reproductive systems to make you sterile until the enhancements stabilize, and that will take another two to four years. We overheard you talking about children last night and decided we should let you know what we have done to save you from severe disappointment later.”

I could see storm clouds in Clara’s eyes and as the tears started to flow she said, “I want the two of you to know that I am extremely upset by your making changes to my body without consulting with me first.

“In our society, that is highly unethical behavior and I think Jon feels the same as I do. There may not be anything we can do about the changes you are currently in the process of making, but from now on we want you to check with us before you start making other changes to our bodies regardless of how beneficial you may think they are.”

Bob joined in with, “We are sorry that what we did is upsetting to you. Our former Bond Mates didn’t seem to have any problems with us enhancing them, so we weren’t expecting it to cause the two of you to react in the way you are.”

I decided to rejoin the conversation and said, “I don’t know what things were like back then Bob. However, human society has changed in many ways since biblical days. One of the changes seems to be a higher sense of ownership of our bodies with a reluctance to just comply with what others tell us to do. The second change is that with people living longer lives, some people feel that a very long life would be a bad thing. They feel that life will become meaningless, stale, and boring after a hundred years or so and they don’t want to live a long boring life.”

At the end of that conversation, Clara and I cleared our breakfast dishes from the dining room table and continued the work we had been involved in before we went to dinner last night. We were so upset that we shut down our links with Bob and Sharna. They had to learn that our partnership with them did not give them the right to control us in any way they wished. I felt that this was an especially important lesson for them to learn, for to be truthful, Bob and Sharna were capable of controlling us in any way they wanted. Their ability to impose a compulsion on us gave them the power to make us do what they wanted us to do.

When Clara finished the last of the files, she helped me with learning how to use Project. She was very familiar with the program from using it in her mother’s business, so she showed me how to create a schedule for the Ark and Ark Foundation. She listed the different major tasks and then began breaking them down into smaller subtasks defining the duration of each subtask or the components of a subtask. She linked the subtasks and components together creating any necessary dependencies that applied; usually each successive subtask was scheduled to start when its predecessor ended. However, in a few instances, a subtask could be started at any time before, or after, another subtask ended or started. The subtask could also be setup to not start or end until after a group of subtasks was complete. The combinations in which the dependencies could be applied seemed endless. When Clara completed the schedule, she saved it to a file, and then she saved it to a second file called Test Copy. Test Copy was the file I would use to learn how to use Project.

With the second copy on the screen, she had me sit at the keyboard. She had me change the duration of several tasks and observe how the schedule was affected. She had me start a subtask 30 days after its predecessor ended and watch for how the overall schedule was affected. She went through several scenarios of how a subtask’s Start Date, End Date, and Duration could affect the schedule to include linking the start of one task to the ending of other tasks and she worked me through other types of dependencies. During this training, we created a circular dependency that was impossible, a chicken and egg dilemma. She taught me how to interpret the screen to locate the logic error and how to break the circle.

We eventually broke for lunch, and afterwards, we reactivated our links with Bob and Sharna and prepared for the Advisory Council meeting at 2:00 PM. During lunch, we had discussed Sam’s use of the program to track the construction schedule. What I wanted to know was should we put all the details of his schedule in the overall schedule that we would maintain. Clara said that sounded excessive to her, and it would probably be better if we inserted the completion of each silo, or silo level, as a subtask in the master schedule and let him worry about the detailed construction schedule that would lead to the completion of that part of the Ark.

I would eventually learn how big a construction schedule was for a huge job like the one we were starting. Thank God Clara convinced me to track just the key milestones from the schedules of the various Ark Foundation departments. Once the construction, provisioning, and habitation efforts kicked into full gear, the task of maintaining their respective schedules became a full-time job for the respective department’s scheduling group. If we had tried to update all of those details in our Master Schedule, we would have been completely overwhelmed. In fact, updating the status of the milestones we did track became a significant effort.

We eventually added milestones for the acceptance of each level of each silo. That would allow the Provisioning effort to determine when they could accept delivery of the materials that would be stored in each level’s storage rooms.

I got to thinking about what other Foundation departments would need detailed schedules and how we could tie their schedules into the Master Schedule. The thought of all the things that could affect the overall schedule made me very thankful Clara put that program in our shopping cart. I wonder how the other programs will help me do my job better; I need her to teach me the new programs as soon as possible. It was very evident that we needed to be highly organized if we wanted to complete this effort before the meteoroids arrived.

Our Advisory Council began arriving shortly before 2:00 PM. As they came into the house, I directed them to the dining room table for a beverage, told them to prepare a nametag, and to find a place to sit. Once everyone had arrived and they were seated, I began the meeting with the topic of college.

“Ladies, I have been considering the level of support that the Ark Foundation will provide to college students. At this time, I feel that all areas of knowledge are potentially beneficial to the Foundation, so the Foundation will provide financial support to you to help you pay for tuition, books, lab fees, etc. We will also allow you to schedule your work hours around your class schedule.

“What I need from those of you who are in college is information on what degree you are pursuing, the number of credit hours necessary to complete your degree, the number of credit hours you have accumulated, your class schedule, your current grade point average, and any other information you feel is appropriate.

“The financial support the Ark Foundation provides will require you to achieve a specified level of achievement, which will be determined in the future. Our future HR Department will enter your information in a scheduling program and post a work schedule so everyone will know their coworkers schedule. We will have to establish some type of time card system to track the number of hours our employees are working.”

Before moving on to the status of their current work assignments, I offered to answer any questions they may have. Most of the questions dealt with the details that had not yet been worked out, so I deferred replies to most of the questions.

Their progress reports on the tasks they had been assigned were pretty much what I had expected. The ladies had no experience in what had to be done to configure a building for occupancy or all of the departments that were necessary in a business, but they were learning quickly. Thankfully Clara had some experience for I was almost as clueless as the ladies. Clara and I would work with them after the meeting, and we would all learn as we went. Sam’s four helpers had met with Sam and had started on the tasks he assigned. The arrangements for another seminar were well underway, but needed my input. As we had talked, I realized that some of the ladies were very uncomfortable with the type of work they were doing.

I told them, “Ladies I sense some discomfort amongst you. I know that some people have a natural affinity for this type of work and some people can become competent through experience; however, there are a few people who will never be comfortable and competent at the work you are doing. If you are uncomfortable at your current task and believe that a different task would fit you better, then arrange a swap with someone and let Clara and I know. At this moment, these are the only tasks open, so I am asking you to continue doing the best you can do for in a month or so. In a month or two, additional tasks will be available and one of those tasks may be a better fit for your interest and abilities.”

I provided the guidance needed for the seminar group, while Clara worked with the other two groups. I finished quickly and joined Clara and the six ladies. We gave the group configuring the building the concept of visualizing what was necessary to go from an empty building to a building fully equipped for operation. The group defining the Foundation’s organizational structure caught on very quickly, but most of them were not familiar with the structure of a fully staffed business. That was okay for I wasn’t either; at least Clara was familiar with her mother’s business and that helped a lot. Somehow, we would manage to muddle through.

The group applied the concept to defining the Ark’s departments by visualizing the activities commonly performed by businesses. It worked a little better for most people who interface with businesses have a vague idea of the departments a business needed. It was late afternoon by the time everyone had left. We had nothing scheduled, so I decided it would be a good time to introduce Clara to Amir and Delbar; it would also give us the opportunity to sound them out about a position with the Ark Foundation.

When we arrived at their grocery store, Amir and Delbar were busy with customers. Clara and I grabbed a shopping cart and started to get a few things I was out of, and a few items that Clara wanted me to try. As we moved through the aisles, I could see Delbar had noticed that I had a woman with me. She was radiating curiosity and it was apparent that she was fighting with herself to not abandon her current customers.

Delbar was almost done ringing up her customer’s groceries, so Clara and I wandered over to the meat counter where Amir was working. Delbar suddenly appeared at my elbow, so I said hello to her and Amir, and I introduced Clara to them. After they greeted her, I told them Clara was my new wife. I think Delbar was surprised, but happier for me than my own mother would have been if she were still alive. She wanted to know how I had gone from uninvolved to married in just a week or so. What she actually wanted to know was why I had not told her I was dating and engaged to be married. Clara and Delbar wandered off chatting and from what little I heard, I think Delbar was telling Clara how to train a man to be a good husband. That was my first indication that introducing Clara to Delbar may not have been the wisest move on my part. To be truthful, I never regretted introducing them, but that introduction would eventually make my future life very interesting.

I gave my meat order to Amir and talked with him while he put it together. I asked how the grocery business was going. Amir told me it was a little slow and money was tight, but people had to eat, so they were making out okay at the moment. I told him that that was good, but if he and Delbar had some free time on their hands, I knew of a part-time position that would be perfect for them. I briefly described the type of help the Foundation needed, and he told me he didn’t think that they had enough time to manage the market and provide that level of help. I asked if his daughter Sara might be interested in helping out at the market and then either he or Delbar could work for the Foundation. He said he would talk it over with Delbar and let me know what they decided. They did join us eventually.

I pushed my cart over to the checkout counter and Amir came over to help me; it seems our ladies were still going strong and ignoring us. By the time I got our purchases in the car, Clara had said goodbye to Delmar and was sitting in the passenger’s seat. I headed home and we discussed what to fix for dinner, Clara was cooking tonight and it sounded as if I was in for a treat. By the time we had put everything away and snuggled a bit, it was getting a little late to fix the meal Clara and I had discussed, so we settled for leftovers.

As we were finishing the dishes, we heard a car pull up to the house. We weren’t expecting company so we went out to greet our visitor; it was Mary. Clara called on our mental link and informed me that Sharna had listened in on Mary’s thoughts and found out that Mary was very upset. She wanted to be my companion and she decided to approach me now for she was afraid that I would forget about her. Clara told me that I needed to make up my mind immediately as to whether or not I wanted Mary as a Bond Mate. That is what Mary wanted and to postpone that decision would be cruel to her feelings. If I did not want her, then I needed to end all forms of relationship with her for she would be miserable around me if she couldn’t be in my life. I immediately suspected that Bob and Sharna had some type of influence on Mary’s feelings; Bob activated our link and told me privately that if they had affected her in that way it had been unintentional. We greeted Mary as she left her vehicle. I decided to let Mary make the first step, so I asked her if we could do something for her. I could make out the start of tears in her eyes and moved to console her. Something just happens to me when I am around a crying woman.