Chapter 6

The next day was Sunday. The weather was supposed to be almost unseasonably warm, so the girls all got together and asked the sponsors if they could all have a picnic in the park.

Both of his parents thought it sounded like fun. Max was all for it, so the kitchen was a beehive of activity as they fixed sandwiches and potato salad, gathered snacks and soda, and got everything packed up.

They were not the only ones with that idea; there were half a dozen families at the park when the Xander clan arrived. They picked out a nice spot, spread some blankets, and Max’s girls got out a Frisbee to play catch.

There were several groups of teens at the park as well. Most were mixed, boys and girls, and Max recognized many of them. There were also two groups of just guys, one set on the basketball court and another set, too far away to distinguish who they were, across the park near the other parking lot.

Max relaxed on the blankets, watching the girls and talking with his parents about the future. He told them that the twins wanted to try, and that he was going to need to go into The City to meet their parents. He wanted them to move in, and if they agreed, Max was going to push Cynthia for a decision.

They urged him to move forward, his mother certain that Cynthia just needed a nudge though she thought the nudge would come in the form of a hard cock.

“That woman needs to get laid in the worst way. Wait, I mean in the best way. She needs to see that she can love you, can have sex with you, without losing control of herself. Max.”

“Your mother is a smart woman, Max, and I wouldn’t bet against her.” His father agreed.

“No! Fuck off, asshole! Don’t! MAX!”

Maggie’s screams brought Max to his feet in an instant. He frantically looked for Maggie, seeing her being dragged off by several guys, Thea frantically trying to help. One of the guys reached out and punched Thea, knocking her to the ground and Max took off, running faster than he had ever run before.

As he got close, two of the five guys broke off and move to intercept him. He slowed just long enough to slam his elbow into the chest of one, sending him flying with a sickening crunch. He spun to the left, leaping high enough to slam his knee into the jaw of the second, feeling bones break as the man hit the ground like a sack of flour.

He was running again before the body hit the ground and took a flying leap, catching two of them as they released Maggie so they could fight.

The three, Max and two of the remaining teens, ended up in a pile on the ground and Max used fists, knees, elbows and kept pounding them until they stopped moving. The third and last guy got one good kick in, sending Max rolling across the ground with a feeling like something had broken in his side.

Ignoring the pain, he got to his feet in time face a second kick, this time catching the foot in his hands and yanking it upwards, his forward foot lashing out to smash into the boy’s other knee, making it bend backward with an ominous crackling sound and a scream of agony.

As the kid fell to the floor, his leg unable to handle the weight, Max twisted the foot in both hands, snapping the small bones in the lower leg.

Turning, ready to take on the next one, he was shocked to see that they were all down. Two of them were screaming in pain, but the other three were silent. Maggie was in a heap on the ground, crying and Thea ... Thea was back about twenty feet, not moving at all.

“Maggie, are you hurt?” he called, rushing to her side. She had a huge red mark on her face and was holding one arm against her breasts, the wrist at an odd angle.

“I think my arm is broken, Max!” she sobbed.

“Hang in there, baby, I have to check on Thea.” he said, kissing her on the head and sprinting towards where Thea lay.

He arrived just after his father did, dropping to his knees and reaching for her. His father caught his hand and Max looked up.

“Max...” his father started to say, his voice cracking.

“Dad?”

He moved next to her and reached to pick her up and froze, seeing what his father had already seen. Her head was sitting at an unnatural angle, a couple of the vertebrae at the back of her neck protruding and making lumps under the skin. Max bent down, laying his head on her chest, and she wasn’t breathing.

“NO!”

“Stand aside, son.” The voice from behind him was loud, the tone of command cut through his anguish, and when he looked up, the Confederacy Marine standing there had already dismissed him. He was pushed firmly aside and the Marine was kneeling down beside Thea, picking her up.

Behind him were two more Marines, weapons drawn, and a drone was hovering over an illuminated circle on the grass.

The Marine who had picked up Thea stepped forward into the illuminated area and disappeared while a fourth Marine escorted a whimpering Melanie over.

“Wait!” Max cried out as she was escorted into the circle. Max stood, his jaw set, and stepped forward, ignoring the signal to halt that the armed Marine guards were giving him.

It must have been obvious that they only way they were going to stop him was to fight, and they stepped aside, letting Max step onto the transporter pad.

Max stepped out into a giant medbay, filled with rows and rows of the medical tubes like the one he had used. He could see the Marine who had carried Thea backing away from a closing tube and the Marine with Maggie was helping her to climb into another. He started that way when a familiar voice called his name.

“MAX!” He paused and saw Holly, the girl who had helped him before, but he ignored her and headed towards the med tubes again. He had to know. He had to see them!

“Damn it Max, listen to me, they are going to be okay!”

That caught his attention and he spun around, staring at her in disbelief. “Her god damned neck was broken!” He screamed, tears running down his face.

“Max, listen ... I know. The blow to her jaw hit just right, and a weak spot on the C4 vertebrae gave way, causing her head to turn too far, too fast and it pushed the C5 into her spine.” Holly was calm, her expression serene.

“The C5 impacted the spinal cord, damaging it and that damage is what stopped her heart and kept her from breathing, but Max, we can fix it. From the moment that asshole hit her until she arrived here was less than three minutes. She would have to be without oxygen to her brain for ten minutes or more before we would even begin to worry. After twenty, we could save her, but with brain damage. This? We will have her back on her feet in a couple of hours, I promise you.”

Max wanted to believe her, more than he wanted anything else in his whole life.

“She’s going to be okay?” he asked, his face crumbling and his vision so blurry that he couldn’t see Holly’s face.

“She’s going to be just fine, Max. Better than fine. We are going to fix her all up, including those braces and a few other things.” Holly said, laying her hand on his arm.

Max sat down, not quite collapsing, but just letting his legs fold up under him. It felt like all the strength had left his body and it was all he could do not to lay down on the floor. He wiped his eyes so he could see the med pods.

“Max, you need one of those pods too. The AI tells me that you broke two bones in your right hand, one finger on your left, and you cracked your kneecap on one asshole’s jaw. You have three cracked ribs from where you were kicked, and as soon as the adrenaline wears off, you are so going to feel those. Let these Marines help you to a pod, Max, we’ll talk after.”

He felt strong hands under his arms, but he kept his eyes on Thea’s pod until his own closed and blocked out the world.

The pod opened after what seemed like just a few seconds, and he felt surprisingly rested. The pains he had been ignoring in his hands, in his knee and even his ribs were all gone. In fact, he felt strong, stronger than before.

He climbed out, his clothes gone, and his perspective was off. It seemed like the tubes had shrunk a little bit. He shook his head, then zeroed in on Thea’s tube and broke into a run. It was still closed and the red light was on. Did that mean it was just in use? Was something wrong?

He spun around and saw Holly waiting for him, standing next to a tall, powerful looking man in a military uniform. Holly was waving at him, beckoning.

As he walked up to her, she seemed to have shrunk and it clicked in his head. She hadn’t shrunk, she had done something to him. He held up a hand and ... it was his hand, but it wasn’t.

“What did you do to me? Wait, forget that for now, tell me about Thea.” He demanded.

“She is fine. The repairs will take another hour or so. Compared to her, yours were paper cuts, but I swear on all that I hold dear, everything is going perfectly for her, Max.”

She was being sincere, and she didn’t seen at all stressed. Somehow, he knew she was telling the truth, and it felt like a billion pound weight had been lifted from his chest.

“Thank you Holly.” he said simply.

“Aw hell, Max, even if it wasn’t my job, this kind of thing is why I do this. I love helping people. Now, this guy you have been ignoring is kinda important to you so pay attention.” she said with a grin, turning to the man beside her. “This is Pat Tilotson, and he is a lieutenant in the Fleet Auxiliary. He is the guy who started the forty-niner’s plan.”

Max turned to look at the man, and he looked familiar, as if he should know him. He reached and shook the man’s hand, studying his face.

After about thirty seconds, the man laughed and turned to look at Holly. “Told you he wouldn’t remember me. You owe me dinner, Holly.”

Turning back to Max, he grinned. “Max I was a professional football player, but unless you were a big NFL fan when you were about five, I don’t suppose you remember me. I played for...”

“San Francisco.” Max blurted. His father was a football fan and he distinctly remembered his father cussing about this guy. “You played for the Forty-Niners!”

“That’s right! I guess I owe Holly a dinner after all. Anyway, I am the one who came up with the plan to put a close watch on a sampling of high-scoring students, to see if by helping in specific areas, we could push them over the hump into the next level.”

“And you called it the Forty-Niners? So there are forty of us, all scoring under 9?” Max asked, shaking his head.

“That’s it exactly. See, some were close, but were low in one area or another. One kid in California had a self-esteem issue, thanks to a shitty father figure, and we arranged for him to mentor a special needs kid in his school. That was enough to move him from 8.9 to 9.2. You, on the other hand, had empathy problems because of your stunted growth so we fixed that, and you have not only overcome those issues, you have substantially improved your scores in other areas. What happened today, while not planned, moved your score up again.”

“Wait, again? You mean it went up before?” Max asked.

“Yep. Here, your card got spit out when the machine dissolved your clothes. Take a look.”

He took the proffered card and his score was blinking.

<If you run your thumb over the score to acknowledge the change was recognized, it will stop blinking.>

Max jumped a bit, the AI voice startling him, and did as it said, running his thumb over the number. It was steady now, and the score was 9.6. He groaned softly, rubbing his forehead.

“Huh. Usually people are happy when their score goes up.” The Lieutenant said.

“Yeah, but I haven’t filled the slots I had before this, now I have two more!” Max said, shrugging his shoulders.

Holly was giggling, and he looked up at her with a wry expression on his face. “Is that kind of like that old internet meme? First World problems?” he asked, grinning at her.

“So, what is the final goal of the Forty-Niners, sir?” he asked, looking back to the older man.

“All of you have specific skills that we need. We want to create a think-tank. We want young, flexible, and intelligent minds that we can bounce problems off of. We don’t want older folks or experts, we want people without preconceptions, without prejudices. Smart people. Thirty-eight of the forty have improved past the 9 mark, Max.”

“So ... are we waiting for the other two?” he asked hopefully.

“No, they actually dropped in score. They are out. The rest of you? We need you, Max. You are already part of the Confederacy, that implant doesn’t come out again, but we are giving you a choice. You can have seven days to wrap up your affairs, or you can stay now.”

“Send me back. I have others who I need, other concubines who have accepted but were not ready. My family as well.” Max said without hesitating.

“Okay, we can do that. I can’t give you a date and time, not yet, but we will contact you as soon as we can before the actual pickup. It may not be more than an hour, but it is an hour more than most people get.”

He nodded, grateful that he would get any warning at all, his thoughts on his family down below. Then another though occurred.

“Holly, what did you do to me in there?”

“We just finished what we started. You have been fully boosted, and your nanites are active. You are stronger and faster, the equivalent of our Marines, scaled down for your smaller overall size. Your implant is fully active as well, so you will have contact with us from wherever you are. We aged you to eighteen while we were at it, like we will with all of the Forty-Niner group, to allow you to interact with adults as equals.” Holly told him, calling up a hologram of his current body.

He looked like himself, just a more mature version. A couple of inches taller, a little broader and more muscular, but still not too terribly different from a few hours earlier.

“Max, while we have your ladies in the tubes, do you want any changes made?” she asked.

He thought for a moment, then smiled. “For Thea, her braces. Make her slimmer and a little taller; she wanted larger breasts but not too much. Can you show me?”

A hologram appeared and the changes he suggested were displayed. She went from plain to sexy in moments.

“Nice. Does she have any issues that need to be fixed?”

“Just a slight vision issue and the braces. What about Maggie?”

“Nothing beyond making sure she is healthy. If she wants something more, we can do it later, right?”

“No problem.”

“Hey, Lieutenant? What about those guys I fought?” Max asked, wondering if there was trouble waiting back at home.

“The green armbands they were wearing are used by Earth First terrorists. We don’t know if they were actually in contact with the terrorists or were just pretending, but two of them are dead, one is paralyzed from the neck down, and the other will never walk again without major surgery and a lot of physical therapy. We gave the local authorities video of the attack from the drone, and you have immunity since you are in the Confederacy military now.” Lieutenant Tilotson said calmly.

Max just nodded, then looked down at himself. “I am going to need some clothes.”

His parents along with Melanie, Amanda, and Sarah were still at the park and talking to the police when Max and Maggie reappeared along with a Marine escort. Max was dressed in a uniform now, with Ensign bars on his shoulders, a stinger on his hip and, as soon as he was on the ground, the Marines returned to the temporary pad and teleported out again.

“MAX!” his mother dashed over, throwing her arms around him and sobbed. “Oh God, Max, you scared the hell out of us!” she cried, then pulled back, looking up at her son’s face.

“Thea?” she asked, her voice trembling with emotion.

“She is going to be fine, Mom. They are fixing her up.” Max said, smiling down at his mother. He pulled her to him and hugged her tight, kissing her on the top of her head. When she pulled away again, she ran right to Maggie, kissing and hugging her daughter tightly.

Max was bombarded by two other bodies, Amanda and Sarah hugging him and telling him how happy they were to see him.

“Son, what happened?” his father asked, laying his hand on his son’s shoulders.

“We should talk later, Dad. Let’s get the ladies home.”

“Sir, we need to talk to you.” A uniformed police officer said, stomping up to stand in front of him.

“No, you don’t. You were given video of the theft of my property and, when I objected, an attack on a Confederacy officer. That carries an immediate death sentence not subject to appeal. That two happened to live through my rescue is of no consequence. I could go right now and kill them in their hospital beds.” Max said, growling at the officer.

The man gulped, but didn’t back down. “We have laws, you know!”

“Then as an officer of the court, you should learn them. Now, unless you want to lay hands on me as well, I suggest you stand aside so I can take my family home.” Max had learned, among other facts, that the federal government had already passed laws matching those used by the Confederacy Military. Any attack on a citizen by a non-citizen was a death sentence.

Max turned, gathering his family together.

Once they arrived home, Max took a half hour to explain what had happened and what he had learned. His family was shocked by the identity of the people who attacked Thea and Maggie, but excited about the news of an extraction. Afterwards, Max went up to change.

He stripped off his uniform, setting it aside, but tucked the stinger into the back of his jeans as he dressed. Maggie was sticking close to him, still upset over the attack, but she smiled whenever he looked her way.

“Are we going to get Cynthia and the twins, Max?”

He nodded, smiling. “We are going to see if they still want to go. If they do, they are coming home with us today.”

His father agreed to drive him, first to Cynthia’s and then to The City.

Max knocked on the door and, when Cynthia Yale answered, he stepped up to her, took her in his arms and kissed her with everything he had. He put his heart and soul into the kiss, and when she swooned, she held her while she recovered.

“Max! My god! What’s going on? I wasn’t ... I mean, I haven’t... “she stuttered, her face flushed and her nipples were hard against his chest. She wasn’t wearing a bra and he could feel them, hot against his skin through the t-shirts they were wearing.

“Cynthia, things have changed. I want you. I need you, but I need a decision. Come with me, bring Mandy, and come with me to the stars.” Max pleaded.

“What’s happened? Max? Talk to me!”

“Cynthia, we are leaving soon. I can’t say when, but within a week I will be gone and taking my family with me. I want you to come, to be part of that, but you need to decide if you love me enough, trust me enough. I need to know now.” Max said, stroking her back.

She looked up at him, then grabbed his head, crushing her lips to his again. When they parted, both of them breathing hard, she smiled. “Do I have time to pack a bag?”

They stopped back at the house again, this time to drop off Cynthia’s car, her daughter Mandy, and Maggie, who had become fast friends with the little girl. Cynthia, a huge smile on her face, refused to let go of Max’s arm so she came with him to The City.

The drive was almost an hour, but Max used the time to call Toby, explaining about the attack and about the extraction.

“Max, let him use my house.” Cynthia said, kissing him on the cheek. “I am staying with you come hell or high water.”

Toby thought that was a brilliant idea. He would be minutes away, with his new family, and could be at Max’s house for the pickup. Thanking Max for the call, he agreed to get his people together and moving.

Max also considered calling Lane Wallace and Mia Sanboron, but decided to wait until he got the call from upstairs and hope they made it on time.

The address was a neat little house, not as large as their home, but well kept on a nice, quiet street. Max had called ahead to let the twins know he was coming, but just told them that he had important news.

When they pulled up the front door opened and the twins came running out, excited and smiling until they saw Cynthia hanging on his arm. They slowed, still smiling, but obviously confused.

“Lisa, Laurie! I am so happy to see you! This is Cynthia, and she agreed today to be one of my concubines.” Max told them, anxious to see what their reaction would be. If they were going to freak out, then he might not want to bring them.

“Oh! The other one that was undecided?” Lisa asked, the confusion fading away.

“For a minute, we were afraid you changed your mind.” Laurie said, then paused, “You didn’t, did you?”

“No way. I want you two to come with me to the stars, but there is a hitch. I have already been inducted into the Confederacy Military, active as of today. They are going to extract me and my family soon, so I need a decision from you ladies. If you want to come with me, to join my family and be my concubines, you have to come with me today.”

He could see that he surprised them, but they didn’t look upset. “Today, next week, I am ready, Sis.” Lisa said, looking at her sister.

“Me too. We should tell the folks.” Laurie said with a grin. Turning, the two ran back into the house leaving Max and Cynthia standing in the drive.

“They are gorgeous! Why do you want me when you have girls like that, Max?” Cynthia asked, her face troubled.

“Better to ask why I want girls like that when I have someone like you, Cynthia. I need you to balance their youthful enthusiasm. You are going to be the mother for my family, the person that keeps the family together, and the teacher for our children, all of our children.” Max told her, leading her towards the still open front door of the house.

Cynthia stopped, tugged on his arm until he turned to look down at her.

“I was fighting it, but if you keep talking like that, I am never going to let you out of bed. Hell, I feel like tripping you right here so I can get at that huge cock.” she growled, her eyes practically glowing.

Max leaned down and nipped at her lips, catching the lower one in his teeth and pulling just a little. He growled at her, causing her to laugh and latch on to his neck.

“Max, you ... god, I am so fucking wet.” Cynthia whined, rubbing her stomach against his groin.

“Soon, baby. Soon.” he promised, and led her inside.

The twins parents were older, and they were all smiles when Max walked through the door.

“So, you are the one that is taking these two?” The man growled, trying, but failing, to act angry.

“That would be me.” Max said, nodding.

“Hot diggity damn! Good, no take backs!” he replied, laughing heartily. “I got damn little hair left, and the thought of these two dating has been making the rest of it turn gray and fall out. They are your problem now!”

“Fred, you hush.” his wife said, and walked over to Max, kissing him on the cheek. “He talks a good game, but he loves all the girls. We are happy, though, that they found a good sponsor. Sarah has nothing but good to say about you and the girls are thrilled. Heck, you are Mary’s son, so that was enough for me anyway!”

“You’ve met my mother?” Max asked, surprised.

“When Sarah started sneaking around to date a married teacher, I introduced myself. I was concerned, but your mother is a sweet lady and she explained. Sarah is happy, so that is all that matters.” she told him.

“So, the girls yelled something about having to leave now, that you are getting extracted soon?” Fred asked, looking towards the stairs where, Max assumed, the girls had gone.

“Yes sir. I joined up a little early, but they are giving me some time to get my act together. I really didn’t want to leave without your daughters. Oh, and forgive my manners, this wonderful woman is Cynthia Yale. She is my physics teacher. She is going to run the household, continue to teach the girls, and be the one who manages the children we will have.”

“Bless your heart!” Agnes said, giving Cynthia a hug and a kiss. “My work is done now but yours is just starting. Do you have children already?”

“A daughter, Mandy.” Cynthia said, smiling and pulling out pictures from her wallet. The two women began talking about kids and other topics men tend to avoid, so Max wandered closer to Fred.

“I know I sound cavalier about this, Max, but I love those girls more than life. If I didn’t think you would take care of them, I would have met you at the door with a shotgun.” Fred said casually, his eyes on the stairs.

Max looked over in surprise, but smiled, nodding his head. “Good.” he said. “Good.”

The girls were ready to go in minutes, each of them with nothing except for a small bag, each of the bags emblazoned with Wichita Falls Senior High Coyotes. Moments later the group was on the road again.

The house was in an uproar when he got back and he soon found out why. He was tackled in the front yard by a slimmer, slightly older, and slightly top heavy but braces-less Thea.

“MAXMAXMAXMAXMAXILOVEYOU!” she screamed, covering his face in kisses. The twins and Cynthia stood aside laughing while Maggie came out carrying Mandy, Amanda with David, Sarah and both of his parents.

“Help! I am being attacked!” Max cried from the ground, tickling Thea and laughing.

“Oh god, Thea. I was so scared for you.” he told her, crushing her to his chest.

“They told me, Max. I just remember being scared, they were taking Maggie, and I couldn’t stop them, then I got hit and it all went black. When I woke up, I was in this medical bay, and I really freaked!” she told him, laying her head on his chest.

“Holly was really sweet, and when she showed me what you had done ... I mean, the video of you attacking and then this hologram of me? I swear to god I came all over the floor.” she said, laughing.

They got to their feet, and the women were all laughing and hugging, dragging the twins inside. Sarah had grabbed their bags, and Mandy had run to her mother. Everyone was smiling.

Inside, when things calmed down, Max found a seat on the couch. Thea was on his lap, the twins were on each side of him and Maggie and Cynthia were sitting on the floor, leaning back against his legs.

He went through the whole story again, and remembered this time to tell them the best, or maybe worst, part.

“I have one other problem.” he said, adopting a hangdog expression and sighing as the room went silent. “My score went up. It’s now a 9.6 which means I have to find three more.” he told them, as if it was the worst thing in the world.

“Maximillian Andrew Xander.” his mother called out and Max knew he was in trouble. “I don’t care how big you get, I will still turn you over my knee. That was NOT funny! Not today.” his mother fumed.

Max snuck a peek at his father, who was trying to hide his laughter. “Daaad ... Mom is picking on me!”

After dinner, Max gathered his group in the room upstairs and got everyone sitting on the bed.

“Okay, serious time now. I have to find three more, but I don’t have a clue. Maggie and Thea, you were going to look in your concubine classes at school. Any luck?”

The pair had a couple of girls they thought might be worth looking at, but no men that they thought would fit.

“Max, why are you looking for a man? I didn’t think you swung that way?” Cynthia asked, getting giggles from the twins.

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t. But if I have eight female concubines, there is no way I can be fair to all of them. I may have to be gone for a while, working on projects and so on, what then? I thought another man, if I could be sure he would not try to challenge me and get himself killed, would give you girls someone else to love when I can’t be there.” he told her.

She just stared at him. “Max, you are my master now and, as your concubine, if you order me to the school tomorrow and tell me to fuck the entire male staff, I will do it.” she said, glaring. “But be perfectly clear on one thing. I don’t want another man in my life and I definitely don’t want another man between my legs. I want you.”

Max stared at her in surprise. This was the woman who was afraid of opening up? Of letting her sexuality free?

He looked up at the others and saw them all nodding. “Wait, do you all feel like this?”

They did. They all did. “Would they always?” he wondered, shaking his head.

“But, there is no way I can keep up with eight women! I mean, I can get them to boost my stamina again, but the flesh can only do so much!” he insisted, trying to get them to listen to reason.

“My sister can turn any of you inside out with her tongue.” Lisa said, licking her lips, “And I am better. We don’t need another man.”

“We brought toys.” Laurie interjected, grinning when Maggie leaned in to lick one of her nipples.

Max threw his hands up in the air. “Okay, you win, but when we get up there, I don’t want to hear any whining about it. I swear to God I will tan the ass of the first one who complains.” he growled, scowling at them.