Chapter 11: Meeting More People

Lenore ran over to join us. I nodded to her and then offered my free hand to her. She took it and we started walking towards the exit. It was sliding open when I heard a voice behind me. "Oh sure. You'll take the virgin to medical, but leave the girl who would do anything to have your cock in her cunt."

I shook my head. "Aine, I have no clue where all the anger comes from, but its not very becoming of a young woman. I'm going to tell you now. I'm done with the nasty comments and the constant attempts to put down the other ladies with me. They are wonderful women and should be treated as such by everyone, including you."

"That's not fair! I'm supposed to be worshipped by a man! That's what I had until that stupid show and everyone was told that some aliens were coming," Aine shrieked. "My man dumped me!"

"Not my fault," I said. "And while I can't fix that, I'm willing to work with you. However, the AI has ordered me to take two women in for medical checks."

"But I'm on birth control! You can't get me pregnant until after I see the doctor here!" Aine said.

"It may happen," I said. "However, how about you actually try getting to know Miki and Ashley. I've said many times that you need to take some time to become friends with everyone in this home."

"Friends? Friends, stab you in the back and steal your man. Friends tell the hunk down the street that you secretly had an abortion and that the child was his. Friends get caught dealing drugs and lie to the cops about how you helped them obtain the drugs," Aine hissed. "I don't need friends."

I had to fight to avoid giving Aine a very condescending look. Miki was standing behind her and giving her a look full of pity. My Asian lover shook her head sadly and then waved for me to head to the door.

I turned and walked out of the living room. Lenore and Constance dashed through the doorway just behind me. It closed a moment later leaving us alone in the hallway.

I looked around. "Where do we go?"

"Head back to the main passage," the AI instructed. "Once you are there follow the yellow line on the wall."

"Yellow? Why not use red?" I asked.

"Red is used exclusively for battle," the AI said. "I understand that your naval officers demanded that."

"Interesting," I said. "Well Lenore, Constance, do you have any requests while we walk to the medical bay?"

"Are you going to make lots of changes to us?" Lenore asked.

"Yuck," I said firmly. "Lenore, I love you, Ashley, Miki and Tatyana for your minds and hearts, not your looks. And you are all beautiful women who don't need any changes. If I do anything it would be to look in your looks so that time and gravity won't make your skin and breasts sag. I like young firm bouncy breasts."

"How would you know?" Constance asked.

"I'm a teenage American male," I said. "If you want to believe that I haven't found a way to view porn on the Internet you can believe that, but I assure you that I've watched my share of professionals going at it. I found that I hate fake breasts and I don't really like looking at large breasts that hang down once the bra comes off. Give me small firm titties."

"Mine are hardly small," Lenore said.

"No, but they are still firm, and I love your sensitive nipples. It's fun to watch them poke out after I nuzzle your neck," I said.

Lenore laughed. "You're such a pervert at times."

I just nodded and watched as Constance stopped walking. I pretended that I had not noticed and continued walking until we came to the main hallway. It was quiet and I just stood and listened while looking at the yellow stripe on the wall.

"What are you stopped for?" Lenore asked.

I held up a hand as if I was asking for silence. "It's so quiet," I said in a deliberate whisper. "You'd think a ship like this would have someone running in the halls, but it's quiet. I'm not sure I like that."

"Why?" Lenore asked as Constance caught up to us.

I pointed for us to follow the yellow stripe. "Think about what everyone is here for. The people taken as citizens are expected to become soldiers and fight against the Sa'arm. But when you fight in a battle do you want to be fighting with strangers at your side? There is a reason that so many war films talk about bands of brothers."

"And you wonder if that will be created," Constance said.

"I wonder how it could be created if everyone hides in their individual pods for the entire journey. I'll never get to know them if I never meet them," I said.

"Well, you know some of them," Lenore pointed out. "And I'm sure they'll come to any gatherings you try to organize."

"If we end up in the same unit, I will agree on that count. The AI hasn't given us any indication that we will be in the same unit. All we know is we are all going to the same training station," I said.

"What can you do?" Lenore asked as the stripe stopped at a door.

We walked to the door and watched as it slid open. A man wearing a grey uniform with a caduceus emblem on both shoulders met us. "Yes, you are?" he asked.

"Citizen Mark Parker, I guess. I was told to bring two of my concubines down for their medical screening," I replied.

"Ah, yes," the man said smoothly. "Come inside, we have two tubes that are about to open. Your concubines will be next."

The man stepped back from the doorway. I waved for Lenore and Constance to enter ahead of me. Lenore deliberately put a wiggle in her stride as she led me into the room.

When we got inside I looked for the man. The room was octagonal in shape. Long cylinders were pushed up against six of the walls, with the one we entered and the one directly across free. I looked for the man and found that he was looking at the two cylinders that were farthest from the door.

There were no chairs so I stood in the middle of the room and waited for the man to turn back. He seemed a bit unhappy about something as he began walking along the left side of the room looking at the cylinders.

"Someone always manages to find a concubine with serious medical issues," he muttered. "At least this time it's a simple fix."

"Do you need me to come back later?" I asked.

The man seemed to suddenly realize that I was in the room. He stood up and spun around to look at me.

"No," he said. "Your concubines will be taking the two pods over there." He was pointing to two cylinders on the right side of the room.

"Anything I need to know?" I asked.

"This is just preliminary checks. We won't do cosmetic work, and if someone needs major medical treatments they will be stabilized for later. The Glowworm will have to check more than three hundred people and we can't afford to tie up the pods during the initial checks," the man said.

I nodded. "That makes sense."

I was going to say more, but alarms on the two cylinders the man had indicated rang. The man did not seem hurried. He made his way past me and looked at a panel on the side of one of the cylinders.

Whatever he saw pleased him because he smiled and then touched a button next to the panel. The cylinder opened up like a tanning bed. I almost expected there to be a loud hiss or cloud of steam, but the lid just seemed to levitate away as the man stepped back.

"Citizen Noah Goldman, you can stand up now," the man said.

"What was that?" the man said as he sat up and turned so his legs were hanging over the side of the cylinder. "That thing is claustrophobic."

"More like it makes one feel confined, I'd say," I said. "The word you refer is a noun talking about a person afraid of confined spaces or an adjective about a person, not an object."

"Smart ass," the man said.

"Guilty," I replied with a shrug as the room attendant activated the lid on another cylinder. "I have to admit that those things make me a bit nervous."

"I felt nothing," Noah said. "But it was uncomfortable because it was so closed up."

"At least you are done for now," I said stepping forward and holding out my hand. "Mark Parker."

The man nodded and jumped down to the ground. "Noah Goldman. So are you here for your turn in these torture devices."

I shook my head. "I just brought two of my concubines down for their turn. I guess I get to wait a bit longer."

A blond woman rushed to Noah's side. She was naked and shaking like a leaf. The woman put her arms around Noah and cowered. "Oh Noah, that was horrible."

He absently patted her on the head. "I'm sorry, but it had to be done."

"But it was horrible. I couldn't move and I felt things moving all over me," the woman said.

I tapped Lenore on the shoulder. "Why don't you and Constance talk to the attendant and get into the pods."

"It had to be done," Noah said again. "You heard the announcement at the same time I did. Now we should probably return to our home. It might be a disaster by now."

"Why would it be a disaster?" I asked.

"My other concubine isn't confident about keeping four children under the age of nine under control," Noah said with a frown.

"I should ask if Matti is willing to play babysitter," I mused.

"Your concubine?" Noah asked.

"Oh, no. Matti would be very upset if I tried to claim her as a concubine. I couldn't anyway she's only thirteen, but she's got some experience watching children," I said.

"You don't look old enough to have a daughter that age," the attendant said. "Oh, your concubines should be in the pods for about fifteen minutes."

I nodded. "Thank you for helping them. As for my age, Matti is my younger sister, but I was declared her guardian a year ago. When I got picked up, she came along."

The woman holding onto Noah looked at me. "So you brought your concubines in then?"

"Two of them," I replied. "The others are still back in our pod."

Noah looked surprised. "You must have still been in school. How did you score so well?"

"That I couldn't say. I never tried to figure out how I had been scored," I admitted. "I just try to do the best for my friends and family. I understand that right now doing that requires that I be loyal to the Confederacy. I expect that their testing somehow tracked that."

"Loyalty?" Noah asked.

I noticed that the attendant was glaring at us. I waved towards the door. "How about we chat outside? I get a feeling that we are in the attendant's way."

Immediately I turned and walked to the door. It slid open. "Thank you," the attendant called out as I stepped through the doorway and into the silent hallway. I walked a few steps and then turned to look at the door.

Noah had followed me closely. His concubine continued to hug him from behind, hiding her body against his back. Noah had a look that combined anger and confusion as he looked at me.

I nodded. "I'm not trying to avoid your question. Let me attempt to explain. We were asked to fight for the aliens. Looking at the level of their technology that doesn't make sense unless they are somehow emotionally unable to handle conflict. But think about what that might mean to them. If they can't handle conflict, they must be terrified by humanity. The CAP scores and testing are a way to try to control the humans who have access to their technology."

Noah looked surprised. "So they want to avoid having someone who might want to fight against them."

"That's what I believe," I said. "But obviously the CAP score also looks for people who are able and willing to fight. You could have a very loyal person, but if they are a complete coward, they would not make a very good citizen."

"Like me," Noah's blond concubine said. "My friends kept telling me that I was too loyal."