Chapter 5

“Commodore, thanks for coming, but I wasn’t expecting anyone else.”

Rear Admiral Johnathan Foster looked over our little group and I could tell he was confused. I probably looked like hell, since Virgil had to pick me up and carry me into the shower this morning so I could get dressed in time for our meeting. Amy and Kate were in the standard concubine shifts, but from what I’d seen, were probably the only concubines on the ship.

“Sorry, John, but Amy brought the drive with the schematics and the case has advanced bio-metric locks. With Kate and Amy becoming concubines, Helen changed the protocol so it takes both of us to unlock it. Kate will be going over the chemical loading procedures for my equipment since she’s more experienced with it. I’m just the brains of the operation, they’re the ones that make it work.”

“That’s not a problem. AI we’ll need five sets of gear for the clean-room.” As they appeared in the replicator, John looked back at Amy. “I’m assuming your case won’t contaminate the clean-room when we open it?”

“No, the case is Virgil’s design,” she explained, “so we’ll just need a data-port to connect it to.”

“That shouldn’t be necessary. The AI will be able to read the data directly off the drive once it’s no longer shielded.”

Amy grinned as we got finished dressing. “We’ll see, but I’d advise having a data-port available just in case. This isn’t a normal data drive.”

“We’ll figure it out,” John said before waving me, Amy, and Kate into the airlock.

It took a minute for the air shower to cycle before the inner door opened and let us move into the lab. The lab was smaller than expected, but there was a second room where the techs we were here to teach were examining Virgil’s equipment. We just waited a couple of minutes before Virgil and John joined us.

As soon as Virgil stepped out of the airlock, his eyes went wide and he dashed across the room to hit the button that sealed the second room. “Please tell me they’re wearing those ship atmosphere suits, or their day is about to take a major downhill turn.” I looked at the partition window and cringed when I saw the room was filling up with a rolling cloud of yellow smoke.

“No, how bad is it?”

“It won’t kill them. They decided to remove my equipment from the vacuum sealed box without checking if there was anything in the mixing chamber. I’m guessing that final batch I was working on was still waiting to be moved to storage and it activated when they broke the seal.”

John shook his head. “I told them not to touch the mixing station, but they probably wanted to examine it more closely. Is there anything we can do at this point?”

“AI, can you vent the room without letting the gas escape into any other part of the ship?”

<I can vent the gas into space, but that would endanger the citizens working in the chamber. Their current situation, while unpleasant, is not life threatening, although I would recommend they visit the med bay as soon as possible once the gas clears.>

Virgil looked over at John, who shrugged and sighed. “AI, continue monitoring their status. If necessary, vent the room and call for medical. Actually, go ahead and call for medical. We’re losing the clean-room as soon as we open that door, so there’s no reason to wait. I guess we’re going to get a first-hand report on what it feels like to get caught in the cloud, and find me two new techs.”

“The clean-room wasn’t really necessary,” Kate told him. “All the chemical loading canisters are sealed and the couplings are designed to repel any loose particles to prevent contamination of the mix. Virgil is a bit of a perfectionist and all his equipment shows that.”

“We could use more people who actually follow directions,” John sighed, glancing back at the smoke filled room. “Hopefully this will be a lesson to them in not touching something they don’t understand. As we have to wait for the room to clear and my new technicians to show up, why don’t we take care of that data transfer?”

“This was designed to be in our docking port before unlocking, so we’ll just have to see how it works.” Amy grinned as she held out the drive. Virgil and I put our hands on the scanners and watched the data jack pop out of the one end. “AI, are you able to access the data?”

There was a few seconds delay before it responded. <Negative. I’m unable to connect to the device through the shielding.>

“That’s what I thought. Is there a data port we can plug it into? The drive was designed to require a hard line to get through the shielding.”

<One moment.> We watched as a data-port was constructed in a replicator bay. <You should be able to attach the drive now.>

Amy’s grin grew wider as she took the drive from us and attached it. She was enjoying this a bit too much, but after all, the next layer of security had been her idea. We waited several seconds before we got a response.

<The encryption algorithm on this drive is quite extraordinary. We believe we could decrypt it given enough time, but the key would make the process far more expedient.>

Amy’s smile lit up the room as Virgil and I walked over and placed our hands on the scanners again. <Retrieving data. That is unique. The encryption is keyed to the bio-metric scanners, requiring both scanners to be activated and approved before unlocking the encryption. May we store a copy of your encryption protocols for study?>

“I didn’t realize you had to ask, and who is we?”

<We are a consortium of the AIs currently in range of research vessel Marie Curie. The protocols are the intellectual property of Commodore Morris. Copying them without permission would be akin to stealing, which is in violation of our programming.>

Amy looked at Virgil and grinned. “I believe our project intrigues them. What do you say, Doc, should we let them play with it?”

Virgil smirked. “I don’t think that will be an issue. Even with the protocols, the drive will require Helen and me to access. AI, you may keep copies of the encryption protocols for study among yourselves.”

<Acknowledged and appreciated, Commodore. We have retrieved the schematics and data pertaining to your current research, so you may remove the data device at your leisure.>

“You created an encryption protocol a team of AIs couldn’t crack,” Admiral Foster asked. “That’s impressive. How is it you didn’t score over a 6.5 if you’re that intelligent?”

Amy shook her head as she disconnected the drive. “Doc created it. I just helped him integrate it into his drive and link the key to the bio-metric scanners. Kate and I are good at helping Doc make connections between whatever crazy level his brain works on and the one the rest of us operate on, but we’re not innovators. My only real qualification was being able to translate his notes and map chemical compound chains on a computer.”

“I’d say that’s still a very useful talent. I looked over the reports on this formula and couldn’t make heads or tails of what you sent us.” The airlock cycling interrupted John and he looked back to see a med tech walk in with a stretcher. He just rolled his eyes as he reached up and pulled his mask off. “The AI will let you know once it’s safe to enter the room without contamination. It’s not supposed to be dangerous as much as extremely unpleasant, but they’ll both need a full scan just to be sure. AI, suspend the clean-room protocols for this room. While we wait, can you give me the layman’s description of how this stuff actually works?”

“Are you familiar with Diazinon?”

John looked confused. “The insecticide? You can’t be serious?”

Virgil snickered. “No, that would actually help them, it’s just an example you might have been familiar with. Diazinon is a multi path neurotoxin. When you ingest it, breathe it in or get it on your skin, it blocks the nerves from sending a signal and there’s a chain reaction that travels along the nervous system, locking it down. You ever step on a Lego?”

“I’ve got fourteen kids between my four concubines, so yes, way too many times actually.”

“You notice the pain so quickly because that’s how fast your nervous system transmits data to your brain,” Virgil explained. “A neurotoxin blocks that transmission. One of the more dangerous ones, tetrodotoxin, does it by blocking the conduction of sodium ions into the neuron which prevents the nervous system from carrying messages. If your nervous system can’t carry messages, your muscles don’t move, like the ones that allow you to breathe. The Sa’arm’s nervous systems are different from ours, but this compound affects them in a similar way, blocking the conduction of phosphorus ions. Their armor, hide, whatever you want to call it, is thick, but it’s still biological so there are still nerve endings running through it. Once the compound hits the nerves, it travels through the nervous system, instantly stopping all transmissions.”

The med tech was ignoring them as he studied the tablet that was monitoring one of the crewmen stuck in the cloud. You could see it was settling already, but I wouldn’t want to try going in before the room was completely clear. It was quiet as we waited, but we couldn’t really do much else. The whole purpose of our meeting was to teach the idiots trapped in the room how to use Virgil’s equipment to mix his formula, so we were kind of stuck until the room cleared and the new techs showed up.

“Honey, did you need us here for the next part,” I asked. “It seems we’re going to be delayed for a while. I still needed to take care of that little issue and I did tell the kids I’d spend time with them at the beach.”

“And the science part of it bores you to tears?” Virgil pulled his mask off and smirked at me. “Why don’t you take Amy with you? Kate and I can handle the rest of this as we’re down to just the chemical side of the work now. We’ll catch up with you at the beach once we’re finished up here.”

He collected kisses from Amy and me before we left and I had the AI lead us back to the teleport nexus so we could get back to the moon base. I could see Amy was curious, but she waited until we got back to our quarters before she said anything.

“So, what was this little issue that had you blushing?”

“We had a little problem last night,” I sighed as I moved back toward the master bedroom. “Not to say we didn’t enjoy it, but the augmentations were too much for me. Once I started cumming, I couldn’t do anything but lay there and let Virgil have his way with me. It felt amazing, but I prefer to be an active participant when I’m making love to someone, so I’m going to dial back the sensitivity.”

“Could we do mine too,” she asked. “I think a fifty percent increase would have been fine, but doubling the number of nerve endings and making them all twice as sensitive was just too much.”

“We both had high sexual responsiveness scores to begin with, so we may have overdone it. Most of the girls were in the 7.8-8.2 range, but we were just over nine. I should check if the scores have been adjusted to reflect that now. Artemis, do the sexual sections of our CAP scores reflect the physical modifications we made yesterday?”

<You’re referring to the sexual responsiveness score. Yes, they were updated when the sensitivity augmentations were finished.>

“Would this have caused anyone’s CAP score to climb high enough that they should be retested for sponsorship?”

<Negative. The effect of that specific sub-score decreases as it climbs. Concubine Sakara Morris and Concubine Beth Morris will increase by .3 to .4 overall, but the increase for your other concubines will be less than .02.>

“Could you display a before and after for each of the girls, myself included? I think a few of us may have gone a bit too far.” He projected them through my implant and I sighed. Most of the girls had jumped up to the 9.0-9.4 range. Sakara had gone from a 5.1 to an 8.8, and Beth had jumped from 3.5 to 6.5. Amy and I were both capped at 10, meaning our responsiveness was off the chart. “Is Beth’s score a reflection of the fact she’s still developing sexually?”

<Affirmative. There was also an issue with her pituitary gland that was the source of her delayed puberty and that was repaired during her initial medical check. She will experience a growth spurt over the next year that should bring her in line with your other concubines. You shouldn’t notice any side effects beyond an increased appetite to fuel the growth.>

“I’m sure she’ll appreciate that. Are you also able to adjust the sensitivity increases in Amy and myself to bring us down to a 9.4 responsiveness score?”

<Affirmative. If you’ll climb in to the sleep trainer tubes in the master bedrooms, we can have the adjustments completed in five minutes.>

I just looked at Amy before we split up and moved to the master suites. As intense as last night was, I wasn’t prepared to do it again any time soon. Once I got out of the sleep trainer, I realized we might not be the only ones with this problem.

“Artemis, can you tell me where Ensign Sanders is currently?”

<Ensign Sanders is in the beach recreation dome. Did you wish to be connected to him?>

“No, I’m heading up there momentarily. I’m assuming sponsors can dress however they like, but is there a standard form of dress?”

<Nudity is the standard, although some choose to wear swimming attire. I have a selection of styles available for replication if you wish.>

“Let’s just go with a standard black bikini, moderate coverage.”

Amy came in while I was changing and gave a wolf whistle as I adjusted myself. “That’s the one thing I really miss from before I became a concubine, being able to wear things that showed off my body. I know being nude shows everything, but you can’t really highlight anything, like how great your ass looks in that bikini.”

“Maybe once we get to Copic, we can figure out how to get the pod AI to replicate some sexy outfits for around the house,” I mused. “I really would love to see all of you running around the house in sexy lingerie again.”

“That might be harder for Greg to deal with than us just being nude all the time.”

I just snickered as we walked out of the apartment. There really wasn’t anything about our living situation that wasn’t going to be hard for Greg to deal with. He’d probably go through a couple boxes of tissues a week, but he’d be fine in the long run.

The beach was everything the girls claimed it would be. Having grown up in California, I’d seen my share of beaches, but this was perfect. It was hot enough that I was comfortable wearing a bikini without feeling like I was going to melt if I ran down the beach, and the white sands weren’t so hot that you couldn’t walk on them. Moving down to the water, I found it was the perfect temperature for swimming or playing.

“This is just perfect. The only downside is we have children running around, so I can’t just pull you down and make love to right here at the water’s edge.”

Amy grinned as she stepped into my arms. “The little cabins across the beach are available to sponsors who wish to enjoy more intimate time with their concubines. You just need to ask the AI and it will direct you to one that’s available.”

“It wouldn’t be the same,” I sighed. “Imagine laying back on the warm sand, the sun shining down on your body and the little waves lapping at your legs as I’m lapping away at your pussy.”

Amy shivered in my arms. “That does sound nice. Rumor has it the beach is off-limits to dependents after 22:00, but the local marines have basically taken over the area and turned it into a concubine swapping orgy spot.”

“I think we’ll pass. They’d know better than to try molesting another sponsor or her property, but an orgy in the background would ruin the ambiance of the place. That doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun though.” I pulled away, taking her hand and dragging her along with me as I skipped through the shallow water. “When was the last time we just let our hair down and relaxed? I’m not talking about us dragging Virgil out of the lab and making him spend a day around normal people, but actually getting away from work and everything?”

“The weekend you asked Kate and me to be your concubines,” she said, smiling as she recalled our last vacation. “Four nights in a mountain cabin with no phones or electronic devices of any kind. We had a lot of fun that weekend, but we were a little surprised you made it.”

“Was I really that bad?”

“No, but we could tell you were anxious,” she laughed. “We understood about Virgil by that point though, so we would have been fine if you’d decided to leave Monday morning, but you stayed with us. I think that one day was what convinced me that I was important you to as well.”

“You are important to me. I won’t say I wasn’t worried about Virgil though,” I said, pulling her in for a quick kiss. “He didn’t leave the lab all weekend, sleeping on the couch in his office and using the shower in the lab. I don’t think he would have remembered to eat more than once a day if I hadn’t hired Sarah to bring him meals.”

Amy started laughing. “I remember her. She was always trying to hook Virgil up with her granddaughter, saying how she would make a perfect concubine for him. Every time she came into the lab for anything she’d look him over and remind him her granddaughter was still available. I found it hilarious how she only did it to Virgil though. A couple of the other researchers offered to take her granddaughter off her hands, but she’d just snort and say Virgil was the only one man enough to handle her.”

“That’s because her granddaughter was already spoken for,” I smirked. “Sarah agreed to stay and have her granddaughter take extra chemistry, computer and data entry classes until she either turned eighteen or we were ready to be picked up. Charlotte was technically the first of Virgil’s concubines, but she wasn’t formally brought into the group until she graduated.”

“So all her teasing was just another one of your plans to help Virgil get used to the idea of having concubines?”

“Yes. I’m not sure how much it helped,” I chuckled, “but Sarah was the ideal person to do it. She was past the age she could become a concubine herself, so Virgil didn’t feel pressured by her talking about it. Even though she was pitching her granddaughter as his concubine, it was an abstract concept because the girl wasn’t right there offering.”

“I get it,” Amy nodded. “He was so stubborn about the whole idea, but he seems to be adjusting to actually having concubines fairly well now. The fact that there are no conflicts where he’s having to force the whole property issue is probably helping though.”

“That was the whole idea behind prescreening his potential concubines and arranging for them all to get to know each other first. I got lucky with Beth and Lisa, they’re both submissive enough to blend in with the group. They also saved me from having to test the waters on whether we should have a male concubine in the group at the pick-up.”

Amy snorted. “Honestly, picking up a male concubine probably would have helped. How many times did Virgil step between one of us and some guy who was making sexual comments about us? He just thought of us as your friends at the time, but he was still willing to protect us. Imagine how he’d feel if it was someone he felt responsible for?”

“I wasn’t really thinking about it from that angle,” I mused. “My concern was more how he’d feel about sharing all of us with another man. Male egos can be fragile, and I didn’t want him thinking I needed a boy toy right after I told him I wanted us to join our houses. I know now that he would have been fine with it, but I wasn’t sure at the time.”

Amy gave me a questioning look and I shrugged. “We talked about Riley and Greg last night. Riley is ten months from testing and Greg will be going in three months later. If they don’t score high enough to be sponsors, we have the option of keeping them as our concubines. Riley was a given, but we want to see how Greg fits in with the family before deciding. Virgil did make it pretty clear that the sharing thing wasn’t an issue though.”

“I know we don’t really have a choice, but could you consider the other concubines’ opinions before adding another man to the group,” Amy asked, quiet enough that no one but me would hear her. “Greg seems like a nice kid, and I’ll sleep with whoever you tell me to, but I really don’t like the idea of anyone but Virgil getting me pregnant.”

I reached up to caress her cheek before pulling her in and kissing her. “As far as I’m concerned, Virgil is the only one getting anyone pregnant. We were going to decide if we were willing to keep Greg, but I was going to ask Virgil if he would let all of you vote if we actually do. Do you really think Virgil or I would force you to do anything you didn’t want to do? Some things we just have to accept, but as Virgil pointed out the other night, we’ll treat all of you like family as much as we can.”

“Sorry ... It’s just ... looking around here, at what some sponsors have done with their concubines, it really hits you how much control they have.”

Following her eyes, it was clear what she was talking about. The marine in question had done the standard tall boy routine, enhancing his cock so it was a foot long and as big around as a beer can. That wouldn’t have been concerning if not for the four concubines with him. They were all identical and about the same size Beth was. I imagine he’d enhanced them enough to take his cock, but it would have required extensive internal alterations as the head of his cock would be up in their rib-cages. Even with the alterations, I couldn’t imagine he let them enjoy it considering the size differences.

“We can feel sorry for them, but it’s not my place to tell any sponsor what to do with their property. It’s clear he’s an abusive asshole, but you know Virgil and I are nothing like that. We would never alter you without your consent or try to give you away.” I turned a bit and gave her a sly smile as we started walking again. “Of course, that doesn’t mean I might not try to trade you to Jimmy for a night if he offered the twins in exchange.”

Amy turned and gave me an amused grin. “I guess I walked into that one, but I wouldn’t really mind. He seems like a nice guy, and he’s not bad looking, but I’m not the one he was checking out yesterday. Sakara was the one he was staring at and almost drooling. I’m just not sure Virgil’s ready to share his kitten quite yet. He was off enjoying her by the time I arrived, and she was right next to him all day.”

“That’s her choice as much as his, and he’s already spoken with her, so she understands his rules. I also don’t think he’s ever going to be willing to share us with anyone we’re not close to. You know how private Virgil is,” I reminded her. “Think back over the past few years. I was firmly in his family zone, but you, Kate, Lexie and Janet were right at the border between friends and casual acquaintances. He was friendly to you, but there was still that bit of separation because he didn’t want to let anyone get close to him. You watched him pull the four of you in and actually work to get to know you so you would be family to him.”

I gestured up the beach to where the rest of our group was enjoying themselves. “When we got extracted, he accepted responsibility for all of them, forcing him to pull them into his friend zone. I picked Cindy and Camilla that first night because they were about where you four were the first time you were intimate with Virgil so it wasn’t as much of a stretch to pull them in a bit more. He really surprised me yesterday though. I wasn’t expecting him to start pulling the other girls in so soon, but I think the four of you helped him realize that sexual intimacy can help build that bond more quickly.”

“So you’re thinking he won’t be up for any kind of sharing until he’s build up some form of friendship with the other parties? That actually makes a lot of sense, and I’m relieved as well,” she replied. “None of us mind the idea of sharing, the group wouldn’t work if we did, but we were a bit worried about how casual some of the sponsors are. I know you and Virgil aren’t like that, but I doubt many of these guys were like that before they got extracted. That seems to change people.”

I shook my head and sighed. “It does change people, but it’s far less than you’d imagine. The problem is you only hear about the extreme cases that go overboard and do something crazy with their concubines. That’s what Virgil was so afraid of, and that’s why we don’t have to worry about him changing. He didn’t want that power, so he’s not going to abuse it. Sure he’s going to finally let his dom side out and start enjoying himself a bit more, but he’s afraid of going too far, so he’ll always have that to temper his actions.”

Gesturing toward the closest marine, I waited until she turned her head toward him. “You also need to remember, that physique doesn’t happen easily. The med-tube does some of it, but turning someone into a walking wall of muscle requires heavy doses of anabolic steroids.”

“I thought the med-tubes would clean out any drugs in their system?”

“Who said anything about drugs,” I asked. “You’ve got more schooling in chemistry and biology than I do. What are steroids?”

She stopped for a second before she caught it. “Artificial testosterone.”

I nodded. “The med-tubes aren’t injecting steroids, they’re just stimulating certain glands to ramp up normal metabolic controls. It comes out to the same thing, though. The Marines grow just as if they were mainlining testosterone, and some of them have the same trouble dealing with it that Earth’s athletes have when they take steroids. Possible negative mental effects include paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability and aggression, delusions, impaired judgment and mania. The implant is supposed to monitor it, and the AI is supposed to alert their trainers if there’s a problem brewing, but that doesn’t always work. That’s the basic marine package they all get as soon as possible after arriving, and some of them don’t handle it well. I want you to really look at his concubines. Sure, they both look like porn stars, but they’re happy porn stars. Most sponsors take care of their concubines, even if they do share them with other sponsors.”

An excited screech announced the end of our conversation right before I was mobbed by a group of excited children. I spent the next two hours building sandcastles, chasing frisbees and playing in the water with my dependents. Even with my rejuvenated body, I was exhausted by the time Cindy called the kids over for lunch. Grabbing a bottle of water, I flopped down on the sand as our housemother organized the mob.

“How the hell do you keep up with them? I was getting tired just watching that.”

I chugged half the bottle before looking over at Jimmy. “What makes you think I was keeping up with them? I’m about half-dead at this point, especially after the night I had last night.”

He grinned and glanced over at Jasmine. “I think I know what you mean all too well.”

“That actually brings up something I wanted to mention. Have you been looking into any augmentations for your concubines?”

“My girls have been talking to yours about what they had done, but we haven’t really had a chance to discuss it yet,” he replied. “I don’t really want to change anything, but was going to sit down with them tonight and go over what they might want. I’m guessing you have a suggestion?”

“If you’re asking for advice, I would say let them get the standard package and body hair removal at a minimum,” I said shaking my head. “I actually just wanted to give you more of a warning than anything, and only because I remember how high Jasmine’s responsiveness score was. Be careful with the augmentation to increase the density and sensitivity of the nerves in her pleasure centers. I had to go in and dial down the sensitivity this morning because it was so intense that I couldn’t do anything but lie there and let my husband have his way with me. If you want her to be an active participant in bed, you may want to hold off on that augmentation.”

He glanced over at Jasmine again with a confused look on his face. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

There was clearly something going on there, but I didn’t know him well enough to pry into his sex life quite yet. I had to wonder if she was already at that point though, and he was used to his partners just lying there. Some girls seemed to think that looking good and cumming when you were getting fucked was enough. She was attractive enough to fit that profile, and it would explain her low loyalty scores. I’d been through a few girlfriends like that, and it rarely turned out well.

“So, how are your girls adjusting to everything so far?”

“Oh, well enough I suppose. Jasmine loves being naked, but I guess she’s got the body for it,” he sighed. “I’m not sure I appreciate the way she keeps eyeing every man on the beach though. She says she’s just enjoying the view, but it’s only been two days. I knew she was a slut when I picked her up, but I didn’t think she was going to be so blatant about it. Is there any augmentation we can use to fix that?”