Chapter 8

I walked into the pod and looked around as everyone jumped and turned toward the door. “It’s just me, and you need to relax. I know it’s a big day, but everyone being nervous won’t affect the outcome at this point. She’s been in there for four hours now, which is promising, but she’ll always have a place in our home either way, and she can retest in a couple of years if she doesn’t make it this time. Is Virgil still in his shop?”

I can’t say my little speech helped, but at least everyone sat down again. Their nerves were understandable though, as I shared them. Riley turned fourteen today and was in the med tube in the master bedroom undergoing her CAP test. As the first of our dependents to test, I was hoping she’d score high enough to become a sponsor, but prepared to accept her as our concubine if she didn’t.

“He came out after the first two hours and spent an hour going over the kids’ math lessons before heading back to the shop,” Cindy said. “Did you get your situation at the brothel handled?”

I rolled my eyes and nodded. “It was just a couple of belligerent marines fighting over who would get to test-drive our newest concubine first. Their CO showed up thirty seconds before I did and broke up the fight, then revoked their off base privileges for three months for fighting in the brothel.”

“Serves ‘em right,” Cindy snorted. “Poor girl was probably terrified, standing there listening to those brutes arguing over who would get to pop her cherry.”

“That was never going to be a possibility because I haven’t processed her yet. I made that mistake once,” I sighed. “My first week here, I had a new girl dropped off late in the evening and a sponsor spent the night in her room with her. The next morning I came in and had to get her in a med-tube to repair the tears in her vagina because he was too big for her. Now the AI has instructions to block access to any new concubine until I’ve processed them. I use an analgesic lube and vibrator to relieve them of their hymen painlessly, then get them in a med-tube for the basic concubine augmentations before any sponsor gets to touch them.”

“Not very romantic, but I guess it makes sense,” Cindy shrugged. “You’re responsible for them until they get picked up by a sponsor, and you don’t really have any recourse if a sponsor gets a bit rough with them during an interview.”

“Well, I thought about asking Virgil to give them a first time to remember, but I knew he wouldn’t agree because he needs that emotional attachment. Then I thought about Jimmy, but we all know how that would have worked.” Cindy snickered in agreement. He was barely keeping up with the five he had. “It’s probably better this way. They get a reminder that their bodies are no longer theirs and it keeps their first time from being painful.”

“I’m just glad Riley won’t have to go through that. Virgil was so gentle with Harper and Olivia that I know he’ll make Riley’s first time amazing.” The cry of a baby brought a smile to Cindy’s face. “If you’ll excuse me, Alana calls.”

I watched as she walked away to take care of her new daughter. Seeing her like this made me believe we could have handled it if we’d had to have half the girls pregnant before we arrived because Cindy glowed when she had a baby to take care of. Despite getting up every two hours to feed the baby, there was none of the fatigue you’d expect to see from a new mother. She was even eager to crawl in bed with Virgil every chance she got, hoping to get pregnant again.

Knowing there was nothing to do but wait, I got myself a drink and found a seat where I could watch the kids play. Sakara was by my side a minute later, still crawling despite being six months pregnant, and Hazel slowly made her way over to claim my other side.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this,” she asked as she slowly lowered herself onto the couch. “I’m half tempted to ask Virgil if we can do the med-tube c-section next week just so I can go more than half an hour between trips to the bathroom.”

She leaned into me and I held her, knowing she was just griping. With two weeks left to go, she’d earned that right. I was actually a bit surprised by how well all the girls were handling their pregnancies. We hadn’t had a single case of morning sickness or any real complaints beyond the occasion gripe as the girls entered the final two months. I knew the med-tubes would help, but I never realized how much.

We were still curled up together when Virgil came back in from his workshop. Sakara moved so he could sit next to me but surprised me by not crawling into his lap as soon as he did. I glanced over and saw his hand on her leg, a signal for her to stay next to him, and gave him a curious look.

“The AI just informed me that Riley will be finished momentarily, so I figured my lap should be open either way.”

“You didn’t ask how she did?”

Virgil looked over at Cindy and shook his head. “Riley is an adult today. Would you really want me to take away the first big announcement of her adult life?”

“Sorry,” Cindy sighed. “You know I love being your concubine, but I’m hoping she doesn’t have to be.”

“I understand, but you have to remember that sometimes people chose their own path.”

He was looking at Harper, who blushed when Cindy looked over. She’d chosen not to retest on her birthday. Her announcement that she wished to remain a concubine hadn’t really shocked anyone, but Cindy was still disappointed.

We all turned as the bedroom door opened and Riley stepped out, naked as the day she was born. Her face was calm as she surveyed the room, finally settling her gaze on Virgil. She walked over and crawled into his lap before a huge smile split her face.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Each thanks was punctuated with a kiss. She must have kissed every inch of his face, the last one being a very passionate kiss on his lips, before she finally stood up, held out the card in her hand, and saluted him. “Ensign Morris, reporting for duty, Commodore.”

There were cheers from the family as they realized Riley had scored high enough to be a sponsor. “At ease, Ensign, and congratulations, but I’m not sure why you’re thanking me.”

She grinned as she crawled back into his lap. “Because I’m one hundred percent positive that your influence is the reason I scored a 7.1. I did alright in school, but I never really got into the sciences until you started teaching us math and chemistry. Your teaching is the reason it clicked and I found I had a talent for both subjects. It’s also the reason I was given the duty assignment I received.”

Riley turned to Kate and smiled. “The AIs can acknowledge that you’re capable of being in charge of the production facility, but they want a citizen at the reins. Over the next month, I’ll be learning everything I need to know about how to run the facility. This won’t change what you’re doing as much as make sure Virgil doesn’t have to deal with ordering your materials and doing quality testing on the product. It’s also my job to make sure he has the materials he needs to keep working without any distractions. Basically, I’m Virgil’s command staff, so the little stuff he had to do is my job now.”

Virgil glanced at me and smirked. “Who does that remind me of?”

“I know,” I said as I leaned in and hugged Riley. “She’s taking over part of the role I did for you on Earth. Her being naked in your lap suggests she wants a bit more intimate relationship than we had on Earth though.”

Riley blushed and nodded. “I know I’m expected to choose my concubines and get my own pod, but this is my home and my family. Can I ... stay with you?”

“Of course you can stay with us, the question is how,” I asked. “Do you just want to stay for a couple of years as our lover then move on with building your own home, or...?”

She bit her lip and shook her head. “As your partner, both of you,” she whispered.

“Sweetie, you don’t have your implant yet. You’ll need to speak clearly so the AI can hear you.”

She sat up straight and reached out to touch me and Virgil. “I want to stay in your home as your partner.”

I smiled at Virgil. “You speak for both of us, my husband.”

He leaned forward and kissed her lips. “We’re happy to accept you as our partner.”

<Acknowledged. Ensign Riley Morris has officially joined her household with the household of Commodore Virgil Morris and Centurion Helen Morris. Forwarding records to Colony.>

Riley smiled as she turned to address the children. “Officially that makes me your sponsor, but in practice, it’s not going to change much. I’m still going to be your big sister Riley, I’ll just have to be more responsible now.”

Greg blushed and nodded when she looked at him and I smirked. “There are going to be some changes in my relationships with the concubines, but we expected those to change today. The only difference is I’m your sponsor now.”

She was looking at Cindy, who walked over to kneel in front of Virgil and put her arms around her daughter. “You’ll have to forgive me if I still mother you a bit, but I understand you’re my mistress now. I was hoping and praying for this, and I’m happy to accept my place as your concubine.”

Riley whispered something in Cindy’s ear, making the older woman blush, but she was still smiling and nodded before they kissed like lovers. After they separated and Cindy moved back to her seat, Riley glanced at the clock before she turned back to Virgil and me.

“I know we have a party planned for my birthday, but we’ve got an hour before Jimmy and his girls are supposed to be here and there are a couple of things we should probably discuss in private.” There were a few snickers and Riley rolled her eyes. “Not that, at least not yet. I’m going to need more than an hour to recover from that discussion if what you’ve all been telling me is true. There’s just some personal business I need to discuss with them now that we’re all sponsors.”

“Riley’s right. There are things Virgil and I discuss privately because we have to decide what we want to do before bringing it to the family. We’ve tried to give you as much input as we can, but we’re the ones ultimately responsible for the decisions,” I reminded them. “You all have plenty to do to get set up for the party.”

I stood and helped Riley off Virgil’s lap before leading them to the bedroom. As soon as the door closed behind us, she stepped into my arms and kissed me with as much passion as she’d shown Virgil earlier.

“Um, I didn’t want you to feel left out, but I should probably get some clothes on before I ask the two of you to take me to bed.” She went to the replicator and got dressed in a basic navy day uniform before joining us on the bed. “Okay, where to start? Um, it would probably be best to start with Greg. He’s going to be a little frustrated for a few days, so can you maybe take it easy on him? We’ve been discreetly helping each other take the edge off for a few months now.”

“We know.” Riley looked shocked, but Virgil shook his head. “We weren’t trying to invade your privacy, but the AI watches everything. It informed us when you started to move past the kissing and petting each other through your clothing stage. A thirteen-year-old is allowed to do pretty much anything but vaginal sex, but it’s a gray area, and I don’t do well with those, so we decided that we’d keep that separation between dependents and concubines. We trusted your judgment and told the AI to let us know if you got far enough that we needed to intervene.”

“Thank you for trusting me,” Riley said. “The AI told me the rules, even if it didn’t tell me you were aware of what we were doing, but I wasn’t going to let it go that far. I told Greg my ground rules before we even started kissing. We could touch and bring each other to climax with our hands, but that was it. He was very respectful of the boundaries I set, and he knew we’d have to stop today, but I’m worried the next three months are going to be frustrating for him.”

“It will, but it’s something he’ll just have to deal with. I’m glad you brought it up though, as we’ve already discussed accepting Greg as our concubine if he doesn’t score high enough to become a sponsor,” I told her. “We were going to let the other concubines vote on it, but I can’t imagine any of them would say no at this point. Beth might not want to have sex with him, but I think she’d want him to stay with us.”

“He feels the same way,” Riley chuckled. “We’ve talked about it some, and he loves her, but it’s not sexual in any way. That does bring up the other thing I needed to discuss with you, concubines. I was going to keep a spot open for Greg, but I guess I don’t need to now, so I’m supposed to pick four of my own, and I was hoping you would help me choose them. We don’t want anyone who wouldn’t fit in with the family and I only have a vague idea of what to look for.”

“Of course we’ll help,” Virgil laughed. “I’m sure Helen can make a few suggestions, considering she knows every unallocated concubine on the planet.”

“There is that,” I smirked. “You’ll have to give me some idea of what you’re looking for though. Age, sex, submissiveness, parenting skills? Once we have a general idea, we can help find the most likely candidates.”

“Well, I was thinking we might want to add a man,” she offered hesitantly, looking at Virgil. “I’m not saying there have been any complaints about the quality of the time the girls spend with you. It’s just that there are twenty-one women in the house, plus all five of Jimmy’s girls, and just one of you. I imagine I’m not the only one who would like male attention more than once a week, even if it’s not from you.”

“We’ve discussed that on occasion, we just haven’t really looked,” Virgil chuckled. “I’m not going to be offended if you want to get a male concubine or two to help carry the load. You can take a couple of the other concubines along to help with the interviews if you want. What else would you like?”

Riley sat down on the bed and was quiet for a minute. “I thought about this a lot before we were picked up. My economics teacher even did lessons on how a sponsor should balance their concubines for an efficient household. He had us chose the type of people we’d want for a two, four, and six concubine scenario. Someone like my mom or Kelly was my first choice because I wanted someone with experience raising kids and a man who would be a decent father. For the four-person, I added another experienced mother and a woman closer to my age. At six, I picked up a second man and a younger woman to maintain that balance.”

“We’ve got a lot of experienced mothers here,” she said, looking up finally, “But I think adding one more would still be the best choice. We need at least one more man since Greg will become our concubine in a few months, but I’m pretty open on the other two spots.”

“You seem pretty sure that Greg won’t score high enough to be a sponsor.”

Riley shook her head and sighed. “They say the CAP test reflects a person’s desires as much as their abilities. Greg’s not going to score well because he doesn’t want to fight or be in control of anything. His grades show he doesn’t apply himself, and he isn’t aggressive at all. Saying he was respectful of my boundaries was an understatement. I literally had to take my shirt and bra off, then pull his hands up to my breasts after giving him permission to touch them every time we messed around.”

I glanced at Virgil and saw him nodding. “That was our assessment as well. We just wanted to hear your reasoning behind why you felt that way.”

“So you’re looking for one mother type and at least one male. How would you feel about taking on a concubine that hasn’t received any training at all?”

Riley gave me a curious look. “What do you mean?”

“I had a new girl enter the brothel a few hours ago after CAP testing,” I explained. “Her father must have told his friends that he was sending her to the brothel because I had two marines in there less than an hour after she arrived fighting over her. I haven’t even processed her into the system yet, but if you want to go in tomorrow, I can let you meet her before we process her.”

“Maybe you can save one,” Riley asked, giving me a sad smile. Apparently, I’d complained a little too openly about how much I hated having young girls come into the system. “Can you tell me anything more about her?”

“Not really. Her files are locked down until I go in tomorrow.”

“I’ll meet her, but we’ll have to see how she’ll fit in before I’ll commit. You know I’d love to save a girl my age from going through the whole brothel experience, but not at the expense of family harmony.” She stopped and gave me a curious look. “Do you actually have a new girl or were you just checking to see if I’d jump to save one?”

“Both. New sponsors regularly pick brand-new concubines when they’re available, usually because they feel sorry for them, and end up with problems establishing order in their homes. It’s not really anyone’s fault,” I sighed. “New sponsors have as many problems adjusting as new concubines do, and they don’t get an adjustment period out here. I guess you won’t actually have to worry about that since you’re joining our household, but I’ve gotten into the habit of lecturing new sponsors.”

“Considering what you do for a living, that makes sense,” she smirked. “I’ll take any advice you can give me on who would be a good fit though.”

“Well, I do have one suggestion who would fit your mother type, and she’d fit in with our family. Giselle is a thirty-eight-year-old mother of seven who arrived with the same colony transport we did. I barely had the brothel open before her sponsor showed up and traded her in for a sixteen-year-old, but he kept her daughters as his dependents. Her oldest daughter turned fourteen six months ago and is already pregnant with her old sponsor’s child.”

“That’s ... horrible...”

I agreed in a way, but I shook my head. “That’s a mother’s love. She won’t say anything about it, but I think she made a deal to get her daughters off the planet. Her daughters are happy, and from what I’ve seen, he’s actually a nice guy. He just didn’t want a concubine twice his age. She gets interviewed at least once a week and gets complimented on her skills every time, but the potential sponsors always end up choosing someone younger.”

Riley looked thoughtful as she nodded. “That actually sounds like something my mother might have done if she hadn’t met you. I think I’d like to meet her because it sounds like she’d be a good choice. How about the men? I know there’s only a few available but maybe one of them would work out?”