Chapter 5: Alone and Afraid

"Now, sorry about that. It doesn't happen often, but we do get a few new citizens who aren't really ready for the responsibility they have accepted," the marine said. "Do you have all the CAP cards?"

I counted the cards Miki was holding. "I have Aine's already and Miki is holding five cards. That would be one for each adult coming with me."

"You have dependents?" the marine asked.

"My thirteen year old sister, a nine year old girl who I'm fostering and the four year old daughter of one of my ladies," I replied. "They were at the pickup with us so they are here."

"Lenore and Tatyana are keeping them entertained and distracted so they aren't looking at what's going on in the room. Lenore did ask that you get us out of here soon," Miki said as I took the cards from her and handed them to the marine.

The marine grunted as he took the cards. He barely glanced at them before feeding them into a slot built into the table he stood next to. A moment later a loud ping rang out.

"The cards check and the AI has confirmed that the ladies verbally accepted your offer to take them as concubines," the marine said as he pulled a tablet off the table and held it up for me.

"Can I request that I not live near Walter?" I asked as I took the tablet. "I wouldn't mind living near the others who were picked up with me, but I'd rather not have Walter as a neighbor."

"You are all going to be heading to the same planet and training colony," the marine said. "But since you are only the second person I've placed, I'll put you on a different ring of the cargo area."

Miki giggled. "And Mark's ladies will thank you for keeping Walter far away from us," she said.

I placed a hand on Miki's head. "Silence," I intoned pompously. "Let the citizens finish their business."

The marine offered me an approving nod. "Remember that," he said. "Meanwhile, the tablet will lead you to your pod home. The pod will be detaching from Glowworm when we arrive at your new home, so feel free to make it comfortable. There is an introductory meeting planned. They usually don't hold it until all the pods are filled so it might be a day or two before they have it. Your concubines will be confined to the pod."

"Anything else?" I asked.

I could feel that people were starting to line up behind me. The marine was looking over my shoulder. He shook his head. "There's a lot I could say, but not with the line forming. You should just head on."

He stepped to the side and waved to someone standing behind me. I took my hand from Miki's head and draped it over her shoulder before waving to the rest of my group with the hand holding the tablet. Ashley waved back and I could see them shouldering the bags as I stepped past the marine and into the passageway.

"Where are we going?" Miki asked.

"I'm trying to find that out," I said. "The tablet just says room Forty-Six. There is an arrow saying we head forward down the passageway."

"Wow!" Lenore shouted from behind me. "It's a lot quieter in the passage. How do they do that?"

"I have no idea," I replied as I walked forward following the arrow on the tablet's display. "Right now I'm more interested in finding the pod the marine said would become our home."

"Pod?" Aine asked disdainfully. "What are we to this Confederacy? Are we just some cheap cargo they don't care about?"

The arrow changed and was now pointing down a side passage. I noticed that there was a very subtle twist to the floor as we turned to head down the passage. Ashley must have noticed the same thing because she moved to stand to my left. "The floor isn't flat?"

"Might be a way to keep us oriented correctly when we reach our pod," I said. "We have no way of knowing how the pod is oriented in relation to the ship."

"Who cares," Aine moaned. "Why are we walking there anyways? They could teleport us to this ship, but we have to walk from that big room. Why not teleport us direct to our pod?"

"Because they didn't," Lenore said calmly. "Do you have to complain about everything?"

"Why not?" Aine replied.

I shook my head as we followed the slightly twisted passageway. I had a feeling that we had somehow rotated about ninety degrees. If I was right the floor was now oriented the same as the wall of the main passage we had left was. "Complaining won't get us anywhere. Besides, the walk is not harming us."

"I need a drink," Aine muttered.

"Not when we first get to the pod," I said. "We need to find out what the rules actually are and I'd like to get the children settled first."

"I'm your top girl," Aine said confidently.

Tatyana and Lenore both jumped forward to grab Ashley. I started to turn as Erica ran forward and pushed Aine into the wall. "You aren't that!" the young girl screamed.

"What do you know?" Aine asked as she tried to push the angry child away. I released Miki and put an arm around Erica's waist so I could drag her off the older woman.

Erica continued to try to scratch and kick Aine as I pulled her away. The girl's heels bashed my shins as I spun around. "Calm down!" I shouted.

"She's saying bad things about you and the others!" Erica screamed.

"So she said them," my sister said quietly as she came over and put a hand on Erica's shoulder. "We know the truth so her words mean nothing right now."

"And who the fuck are you?" Aine asked.

I looked over at Matti. Anger burned in her eyes, but she just reached out and gathered Erica into her arms. Once they were embracing I let go of my grip and turned around to face Aine.

"It would make things much easier if you did not insult my sister," I said in a careful monotone. "In fact, I'd advise you to listen more and speak a lot less."

"We have two ears and only one mouth," Lenore said cheerily. "There is a reason for that configuration."

"You mean it isn't so we can listen to two people at once?" Ashley said with mock innocence.

I heard groans from Miki, Tatyana and Constance. Aine just turned to glare at Ashley. As she looked away, I glanced at the map. It appeared that the door we needed was only a few feet away.

"Where is the door exactly?" I asked absently as I started scanning the wall of the passage.

A door sized panel of the wall slid out of sight to the left. It was about twenty feet down the hallway. Erica immediately shouted. "Is that the doorway?"

"No, someone just decided to open up a panel to space," Ashley said sarcastically. "Why don't we go see and perhaps throw Aine through."

"Keep it nice," I growled as I moved ahead of all the ladies. "One of the things I won't accept is fighting just to fight. I don't need everyone screaming at each other. If you can't get along, someone will have to go."

Ashley gasped. I turned around to look at her and could see her face slowing becoming pale. "Mark," she whispered. "I'd never..."

"Leave it," I said sharply. "We can have this conversation once we are inside and not potentially blocking the passageway. Let's all get inside and then we can talk."

I spun around and walked to the opening in the passageway. As I approached I could see paneling that made it look like the opening was two doorways set next to each other.

Behind me I could hear movement as I reached the opening and finally took a look inside. There was a small alcove about six foot by six foot just on the other side but past that point the wall on the left side stopped. I stepped into the alcove and a chime rang out.

"Citizen Mark Parker, welcome. This pod shall be your home until you are killed. Please enter the large room on this floor," a voice called out in a computerized monotone.

"What about my ladies and dependents?" I asked.

"They should enter at this time. Please be aware that once they enter the door will not open for them without your express consent," the monotonous voice replied.

I nodded absently as I walked through the alcove. Once through the second opening I turned to the left. The room revealed was surprisingly spacious. A large sofa rested near the middle. It faced the wall to my left. On the left and right of the sofa, smaller loveseats were set up facing each other, creating an area to sit and talk. The color of the pieces of furniture was garishly green, but they looked comfortable. I moved to sit on the sofa in the center.

"Remind me that I want to replace the furniture," I said absently. "This color clashes with the room."

"With the room?" Lenore said as she followed me into the area. "That looks like something a cat might barf up."

"It's not that bad," Erica said slowly. She spoiled the moment by immediately giggling. "It's worse."

I sat down and Erica ran over to sit on my right thigh. She was followed by Angelique who insisted on climbing into my lap and sitting on my left thigh. Matti giggled as I put my arms around the two girls.

"Sister? Is this your idea?" I asked.

Matti sat down on my left and leaned on my shoulder. "You need protection," she said calmly.

I said nothing as the six women who had agreed to become mine found places to sit on the couches and love seats. Aine frowned openly as she noticed the children taking up my lap. She finally sat as far to my right as possible, taking up the end of one of the love seats.

"Mark?" I heard Ashley said. "How big is this place?"

"We'll find out after we have this meeting," I promised.

"Why have a meeting at all?" Aine asked churlishly.

I looked over at the red headed woman. She was sitting on the arm of the loveseat to my right. Her legs were spread wide and she put a hand between her legs and played with her pussy as she stared directly at me. There was a challenge in her eye.

I turned away from her to look at the others. Miki, Tatyana, Lenore and Ashley were all glaring at Aine. Constance was sitting as far from me as she could and appeared to be cowering. Her legs were pulled up so her knees rested against her breasts. Her feet were on the cushion of the couch as she leaned away from us.

"Constance?" I asked. "Would you feel better wearing something?"

Chapter 6 »