The Swarm Cycle Universe
Copyright© 2007 The Thinking Horndog

“Oh, wow! That line is huge. We’re never getting in.” Kevin was the eternal pessimist. Not in a really bad way. He wasn’t gloomy. He just generally figured things weren’t going to go as well as he would have hoped. Although, Les thought, he just might have a point this time.

“Nonsense.” Les stiffened his back a bit. It would be bad timing to have their plans fail. Kevin was kind of down already. “Herky works here and he said he would leave my name at the door with the doorman. He also said that security here is really tight, so the line might be long. Kerry obviously isn’t hiding anything bigger than a toothpick, but you and I will get scanned and patted down. From what he said, most of the security staff is either ex-military, like Herky, or ex-police.”

Ad Astra Per Aspera was the new place. The most popular nightclub in the area. So far Les had seen three different translations of the phrase in different local review articles, but it was something like ‘To the Stars Through Difficulty.’ It had a space theme to much of its decore and the waitstaff costumes, but it was a wierd type of space theme. More like ‘Barbarella’ on steroids, than ‘Star Trek’. Well, Okay, there were those newspaper pictures of a couple of staff women dressed as Orion Slave Girls, green paint, hair and all. The waitresses, and indeed the waiters, were all legally dressed, barely. No one was topless, which would have violated both the local health code rules for restaurants and the liquor control regulations. However, that did not mean that very much was covered. The minimum genital area was covered from view, with a thong, briefs, or a codpiece equivalent. Per city code, thongs were not allowed only by themselves, apparantly for reasons of hygiene, so clear or gauzy skirts were worn by many girls. Female staff wore pasties if their torso was visible. It usually was, as most of the outfits seemed to be made of gauze, clear plastic or some other transparent material. The story was that some had experimented with tassles, but those seemed to get pulled off way too often. The uniforms weren’t. Weren’t uniform, that is. Once one was inside, the only way to truly tell the staff was by their distinctive black slave collars with silver shooting stars.

Les and his two friends moved towards the head of the line quite quickly. The doorman seemed to be efficiently sorting the people; not into ‘Beat it’ and ‘Let them in’ lines, but into ‘Beat it’, ‘Let them in’ and ‘Ok, step over there and I’ll see what I can do’. He wasn’t taking tips, or bribes. Those were all directed towards a large, secure looking donation box with a logo for the United Way. The two bouncers at the door looked alert and capable. There was an obvious scanning device in the doorway, where more male and female security were visible just inside. The doorman had a rugged-case laptop on a secure stand by the door.

“IDs?” As the three pulled out their ID, leaving the guys wondering where Kerry had been hiding hers, the doorman jerked a thumb at the sign besides him. ‘CAP Cards only for admittance,’ it said. The guys pulled theirs out, but despite close observation, they could not quite figure out where Kerry got hers from, or indeed, where her driver’s license had disappeared to. Les figured he would find out sooner or later. Kerry had no secrets from him. At least, no physical secrets. The doorman swiped each card through a slot on the laptop and nodded. “These are harder to duplicate, and we don’t have to link with dozens of states worth of verification systems. We have you on our invitation list, Mr. Klein. You are allowed four guests. If I may be so bold?” He looked meaningfully at the holding pen of ‘Ok, step over there and I’ll see what I can do’ hopefuls.

“Uhh, sure, wait, am I responsible for them or anything?” Les was getting much better treatment that he had expected, even with a word from a good buddy. Heck he was getting better service and attitude than he had ever gotten at the door of a nightclub.

“No, but they will know that you are responsible for getting them in. If I may be a bit personal? You and the lady are together? And your gentleman friend is looking for female company? So, might I suggest a couple of ladies that will be moderately grateful, for a time at least? After that, your friend is on his own?” When Les nodded, the doorman called out two names off of the top of his head. “Louise and Randi?” Two quite decent looking women of around Les’s age came over up to them. “Les and his friends have offered to escort you in. No strings, but it might be nice to get aquainted for a bit.”

The young women smiled and latched onto an arm apiece. Unfortunately, they had to let go to get through security. Kevin had to leave his fingernail clipper keychain at security. It had a small two inch blade on it. Randi had to get frisked by the female security person behind a translucent screen. Her bra apparently had some impressive underwire support structures that set off alarms. The bra needed them. Les could only see her from the chin up over the modesty panel while she was being screened, but he could tell that the bra had to come completely off and go through a scanner, before she was allowed to be put it back on. Security was being absurdly thorough.

Inside, the dance music was loud and the lights were dazzling. Kevin had obviously decided to bury the sorrows of his recent breakup with Jill by getting to know the new girls. The three of them were already paying no attention to anyone else. Kerry was trying to whisper something into Les’s ear, but he could hardly hear a shout at five feet. She finally settled on pointing to Louise and Randi with her chin, then running her tongue out and around her lips. Les couldn’t agree more. They did look good enough to eat. They also looked like the type that might really enjoy it and return the favor. However, tonight was for Kev. He smiled, shook his head and pointed his chin at Kevin. Kerry just smiled and nuzzled against his ear for a second. Then she grabbed him and took him out onto the dance floor.

After a couple of dances, with Kevin sharing both girls, it was time for the appointment that Les was supposed to keep with Herky. Les and Herky had been best friends since third grade when together they had faced down the ogre of Truman elementary, Charles ‘Chuckie 3’ Hanson, III. Hercule Chambers’s mother had loved Agatha Christie and her creations, especially Hercule Poirot. Poor Herky had suffered for that for most of his eighteen years before entering the Marines. One and a half tours and a nasty training accident later, he was out of the military, but he was still Les’s best friend. Les pointed to his bare wrist in the old ‘wristwatch/time’ gesture, even though he now only used his cell phone for it. He mouthed “Herky” to Kerry, who just smiled and grabbed Randi on her way back out to the dance floor.

The bar must have had some truly excellent, sound baffle design work in the walls because the sound levels dropped dramatically in here. Les’s engineering mind was still trying to figure out how it was done when he got to the bar and asked for Herky. The barman just pressed a button and a door opened at the end of the bar. He gestured for Les to go in and when he did, he found a small elevator. The barman pointed up, so Les hit the up button. When the door closed, the sound went away. It was not just lessened. It was gone. The elevator went up quite a ways. Les figured that it was very near to the roof of the converted, four-story industrial building. When the door opened, it was into a hallway. He stepped out and was greeted by a voice over an intercom. “Mr. Klein. Please turn to your right and go to the door at the end of the hallway.” A small light flickered twice over the door described. This was not what Les was expecting at all. As he walked to the end of the hall, he replayed his memory of the weird call from Herky on his voice mail. _____

“Les, look, I know this is short notice, but I need a big favor. I need you to go, tonight, to the nightclub where I work. Ad Astra Per Aspera. It’s over on South Industrial. Be there at or before 7:30. I’ll make it worth your while and you won’t even have to pay the cover charge. Bring your girl and another friend or two if you want. I’m working security there for a while. It’s a seriously clean and secure place, so no drugs or druggies, not that you probably know any well enough to think to bring them. I really need you to do this if at all possible. I have a big favor to ask of you once you’re there, but it’s the going there that is first priority.”

He and Herky had played phone tag for a couple of hours, but they had never actually talked to each other. Still, Les had committed to being there and he was informed that Kerry and Kevin would both be fine as guests. _____ He got to the door and as he raised his arm to knock, the door opened for him. There was no one at the door. However, there was a young man seated at a desk. He stood as Les stepped inside. “Come in Mr. Klein. I am John Shaftoe. Please call me John. May I call you Les?” As Les approached, he noticed the completely glassed in wall overlooking the dance floor from three stories up. There was still absolutely no sound from the blaring music. The two men shook hands

“You can call me Les if you tell me how you canceled that sound.” he said. “In the bar as well, I think.”

“Of course, an engineer would notice that. A good one would, at least. Force fields. This part of the facility is totally isolated from the dance floor by fields that don’t let any vibrations through the walls, the air, or even the floor. The bar area has some low power fields so that our people can hear the orders.”

“This is a Confederacy facility? That tech can’t have been released yet. I would have heard about it.”

“Yes. It’s a front for our real work. Can you guess what it is?”

“Sure. Meat market nightclub. Great security, with way too many on the payroll. CAP cards for ID. It’s a pickup op. Like the police sting operations where the perps with outstanding warrants get a winning lottery ticket notification or something.”

“Exactly, in fact an officer that was once involved with one of those had the idea.”

“What happened to Herky? Just part of the err, ‘sting’?”

“No, He’s caught up at a traffic accident scene. He’s fine, but he had a first responder’s kit and military training, so he was helping out until the paramedics arrived. He should be here in a while. Let me tell you how this place works. We have identified some people that we feel are of quality sufficient to recruit, however, they are just a tenth or so shy of a 6.5. In other words they are 6.4s, 6.3s, all the way down to 6.0s. Hercule is a 6.3. We work them for three months, at this club or other locations, for every tenth that they need to make up. There is also a sort of commision plan. He gets a couple of days off of his total for any high CAP score person he brings in. Someone such as yourself. There are plans for the future that will allow various specific workers and scientists to work themselves off of the planet with as low as a 5.5 and several years work in certain jobs. We came up with this way for a few military grade people to help us high-grade some other people, such as yourself.

“You have an 8.1. You may have noticed that the crowd outside and the people inside are, well, of all ages. Sixteen and up actually.This state would not give us a liquor license if we had them any younger. Still, they are mainly aged from eighteen through the low thirties. You have a sizeable pool of potential concubines. There are two groups. The staff here is also allowed to bring one or two of their close family and friends here as potential. One or two at a time that is. For example. The doorman that you met? Rodney has his mother here tonight. She is forty-one and he wants to get her away from an abusive husband. His stepfather. She’s allowed herself to be placed in a nanite enforced light trance, so that she can’t talk about anything that happens here to anyone outside. That’s to ensure security. She has no young children. We have ten women such as her and two men upstairs here tonight. Hmm, maybe I should say females and males. One of the young men is only fourteen and five of the women are in their teens. We have mothers, daughters, sisters, etc. Those under sixteen years of age come in the back door and never enter the club itself. Any questions so far?”

“How do you keep this quiet? I mean, it should be obvious if ten or twenty people go missing each night.”

“We organize a cover pickup at another location. Often no one is actually inside, but we drop some clothing or IDs and the wall shields are seen in place for a while. Also, we are not operating every night.

“So I guess that I am being picked up tonight.”

“Yes, but there is no hurry. You can select your potentials from the dance floor or from our people up here, bring them to this floor where you may test drive, interview, or whatever. Take your time. Last call is in just over six hours, at two am. The club actually closes at four. You can stay and play with the staff’s dependents and your choices until six. We can make some limited attempts to contact your other friends and family if you would like. In other words, a discreet phone call. If they show, fine; if not, too bad.”

“Ok. Well I am taking Kerry. She’s already agreed, and I will verify it with her in a bit. I don’t really want a guy, but I do want to help Kevin get out. He has a high five point something. He would be great for some lady sponsor. No real aggression. A cuddler. After that, well, I might take one of those girls. Louise or Randi. I haven’t had a chance to even talk to them or see their scores, though.”

“Right here. Remember the card swipe at the door? Ever wonder what an AI can find out about you with your entire CAP interview on file and half an hour of ruffling through the Internet and various supposedly sealed systems?” John swung his display screen around so that Les could see it. Randi and Louise were in a split screen display of CAP scores and subscores. Icons for education, family, friends, psych profiles, sexual history, even driving records with weaknesses and strengths. Louise had a lead foot. Randi was too timid.

There were also small icons for Kerry and Kevin. He opened Kerry’s to find that she was just as he had thought with a small margin for error. Kevin, he had known longer, but he was surprised to find that Kev would have problems in a threesome unless the women were primarily straight. Kevin hid that behind some male posturing about bi women being ‘so hot, but...,’ “Well, that’ll make it more difficult.”

“Not really,” John said. “In fact, I’m going to introduce you to another sponsor. A young lady. She might be able to work a deal with you. Hmm, did you notice this about Randi? She is not really very bi. She is very nearly a lesbian. Now, that may actually cause complications for her.”

There was a tap at the door and John pressed a button that opened it. John and Les stood up as a woman stepped in. “June? I am John Shaftoe and this is Les Klein. He is a sponsor, the same as yourself. Les, this is June Edwards. She was just getting her briefing from one of my co-workers. Please don’t get embarassed, either of you, while I go into private details. Les, June is straight. She is here with two other women. One is also straight, her very good friend, Hope. June is willing to have her in her harem. The other woman is June’s sister, and she is not straight. She’s very bi. Muriel is not going to work out as part of June’s harem, but June still wants her someplace safe. Also, well, June needs a guy, so she only really has room for one female. June, Les has a buddy downstairs. Kevin is straight and he doesn’t really deal well with the idea of lesbians or even bisexual women. He is a non-aggressive type, smart, with good parenting instincts, and apparently a cuddler. The AI is suggesting that you get together and work out a trade. At least for the purpose of a preliminary interview.” John looked down at his console. “Should I ask them up?” June just nodded. She had blushed when the terms straight, bi and lesbian started getting thrown around and she was just now recovering. “Les, all four?”

“Sure,” said Les.

“Ok, a couple of servers will be contacting them and asking them to come up to rejoin you.” He handed them each a small device the size and shape of a PDA. “This is your CAP card reader. It does the same thing as the console screens that you saw, without all of the extra, non-card info. Just say ‘Astra’ out loud and then address the AI if you need anything or anybody else. Anything on your card reader can be displayed on the wall as well. If you will step through that door, we will have them join you in the waiting room. There are two side rooms for more private interviewing. Also, there is AI monitoring for each room. Refreshments can be ordered and there is a stock of towels, wipes, lubes, etc. as well as showers in the side rooms.”

Les and June stepped into the small conference room. It was furnished more as a living room or a lounge. Love seats and larger couches were spread around the room. There were no tables or single chairs. There were four doors; the one they had just come through, one into the hallway and two that lead deeper into the complex. Les noticed that as opposed to matching the rest of the decore, these doors were a bright green. ’Green Door.’ Something tickled his mind about that, but he just could not access the memory. In no time at all, June’s two companions had joined them and after a quick, names only, introduction to Les, June was sitting on a couch with them talking quietly. Muriel was reasonably good looking, dressed for a night on the town, and starting to look speculatively at Les. So was Hope, at first, but then she was concentrating on what June was saying again. June and Hope seemed to agree to something. They hugged, and brushed cheeks, and then June addressed the AI, claiming Hope for her harem. Les thought for a second. Ok, so how do two straight women do a test drive? Beep, wrong answer! Muriel came over to him.

“June says you might be willing to take me in?”

“Willing to check you out at least. Do you have your CAP Card?” After she dug it out, he put it in the reader. The info seemed to match what he had already seen and heard. Decent libido, bi tendencies, submissive, a follower mainly. He saw nothing off-putting before his companions appeared in the door.

“I’ll do the honors. June, Hope, Muriel, Kerry, Randi, Louise, and Kevin. Ladies, this is a pickup. Kevin, June is a sponsor and she has room for two people. She has her buddy, Hope, and she is still looking for a guy.” Les slipped up to Kevin and, as he clapped him on the shoulder, he whispered into his ear. “Kev, those two are pretty straight, so don’t go talking about girl-on-girl 69s or anything like that. You’re going to have to keep them happy all on your own.” He had decided not to let Kevin know that he had seen under his surface persona and knew about his personal, secret attitudes.

“Kerry, before we get underway. I need to know something and I think Kevin deserves to know as well.” Les stepped over to her and said, “Hold still.” he reached out and slid down both of the shoulder straps on her sleek, shimmery dress. The entire top fell down to hang from her waist. She was wearing nothing above the waist except a silver necklace. He visually and manually checked her thoroughly though, raising her naked breasts, turning her around. Then he raised her skirt and checked her ass. She was only wearing a thong, so he found nothing there either, except a small strap on her right thigh. Les turned her around again and raised the front of her dress. The silver front of the thong was visible as was the small elastic strap with a small pocket high on her right leg. He pulled out the contents and found a CAP card, a driver’s license, a debit card and three twenty dollar bills. “I knew she was hiding these someplace.” He said as he brandished them for Kevin to see. Everyone laughed as he blatantly slipped everything into his own pocket and then patted the outside of the pocket...

June checked out Kevin’s card while he was still laughing and the three of them slipped off into one of the smaller rooms shortly after that.

“Kerry, I already invited you. Last chance to turn me down. Will you be in my harem?”

“Yes, Les.” Kerry slipped out of her dress and dropped to her knees, reaching for his belt.

“Not right now, Hon. I know you can do that. Very nicely, too. Okay, Ladies. Here is my situation. I get six. Kerry has accepted making it five more. When we go into our room, I will be checking Muriel out. My girls need to all be bi. Kerry is an omnivore. She eats anybody. Louise and Randi, I haven’t had a chance to talk to you, but I know you were picked out by the bouncer for your CAP scores. John, uhh, the boss pick-up guy that I talked to, said that Randi might not be interested, but I don’t exactly know why. Randi?”

“No, sorry. I just can’t be some guy’s slave. It just freaks me out to think of it. I like girls a lot more. And if a girl owned me I could handle that. I can even have sex with a guy, but not with him being the head guy in charge.”

A bit more talking and Les and Kerry were preparing to go in and test Louise and Muriel. Randi was sitting on the couch, looking frustrated. There was another rap at the door. Must be Herky, thought Les. When he opened the door though, it was a familiar looking woman in a security uniform. “John sent me.”

“Uhh, I don’t have a security problem. Do I?”

“Nope. Lesbian problem.” She grinned, and stepped past him to Randi. “Hi, Randi. John said you might be willing to try out for my team. I asked him after you went through the security checkpoint.” Now Les remembered. This was the woman that had taken Randi’s bra off. Randi was smiling again.

“And your team is?”

“Well, I’m one of the full Marines here. I’m still mostly normal sized, though, so I can pass while here on Earth. I get four. I have my sister and other two girls along with her thirteen year old boy. Uhmm, nearly fourteen now. He’ll get sex when we want it and not before. We leave the planet in two weeks, just before his birthday. The girls are looking for another bedmate. So am I. If you would like to discuss the issue...?” She gestured to the open door to the hallway.

“Yes, please.” Randi gave Louise a smoldering kiss and a last hug before they separated, Randi into the hall, Louise through the green door with the others. Inside were more couches and a huge bed.

Les let Kerry lead the way as he knew that she was insatiable. He managed to let both Muriel and Louise suck him before he climaxed with his prick in Muriel’s pussy. He invited her and she accepted, but he was unable to get Louis’s attention at that moment. She and Kerry were locked together in the number with two heads. After they finished he asked her as well. She also accepted, but they were all three blissful and a bit tired. He pointed out the facilities and mentioned that they could take their time. Kerry helped him get cleaned up first. After they headed in to the shower, he sat on the end of the bed and thought for a minute.

“Astra, the doorman was named Rodney. Is that correct?”

<It is.>

“John mentioned that Rodney’s mother is here. Is there some way that I can see her picture and her card info. You may as well display the other family members that are looking to leave, as well. Female only” A holographic screen popped into view near his couch. The first woman was non-ugly, if a bit plump. She had nice hair and a pretty face. The still image was of her dressed, walking into the building with her son. She was blushing and dimply. She reminded Les of that woman on the old 80’s TV show ‘LA Law’. The divorce lawyer’s assistant. She looked more cheerful though. Her name was Carly and she had a 4.8. She had three grown kids. “How many days has she been here.” He was looking at her card info as he asked.

<Three days, non consecutively.>

“She hasn’t been chosen, obviously. Can I get an idea of how many have talked to her, or uhh, tested her? And why was she rejected if that is known.”

<Rejected by four men. Two interviews went only to the verbal stage. They parted amicably, seeming to agree not to go any further. A third went as far as oral sex, but she seemed to have problems with his technique and he had problems with hers. The fourth used her in several different ways and was very abusive. When she protested, he said he already had his bitches picked and he was just getting ‘a little free stuff’ before he left.>

“Ouch. I like her numbers though and if she came back after that, it shows some grit. Ok, lets see the others in order.” He quickly eliminated the youngest girls. There were only two other women that were older than him. One was someone’s wife, who was apparantly being left to find her own way out. From her scores, he did not want her either. Another was the big sister of one of the employees. She had two little kids, but he just could not find any spark of feeling about her.

“Can you send Carly in here?” Les jumped up and got his clothes back on. Then he made sure that the girls were still crowded into the shower and would stay there for a bit.

When Carly arrived, Les greeted her in the outer room. He sat down to talk to her for a couple of minutes. Carly was forty-five, about five foot two inches tall, with short brown hair and brown eyes. She was endowed with a Rubenesque figure and a few extra pounds were spread here and there over that. Les asked after her CAP card and she blushed as he accepted it. Her main score of 4.8 was nothing to either shout or cringe about, but she had few really low spots and high spots. She seemed to be a great mother, with a sub score in the sevens. She also seemed to be a social creature, part of the herd, not a leader. Low on the dominance and submision scale, he figured that she would fit in with few problems. Then he checked out her sexual scores. he was not expecting much, but it seemed that she was somewhat openminded, a ‘try anything once’ type. Also, she was horny as hell! Her libido was in the mid-sevens. Her skills were lacking, but that seemed to be for several reasons such as previous partners and early repression.

“Carly, I know you understand the situation. Sex slave, mother to my children, do what I want, when I want, how I want it and to whoever I want. Right?”

“Yes. I understand.” Carly had a soft, almost melodic voice. Les figured that it would not bother him at all to listen to it for long periods of time. This last year, he and Kerry had been checking and rejecting various prospective partners in, mainly, mental exercises. One of the criteria that they had was being able to listen to the woman’s voice without cringing. Fran Drescher didn’t have a chance with her Nanny voice.

“Do you read to your kids? Never mind. They’re grownups. Just a stray thought. Uhh, where was I? Oh, yeah. Girls. Do you like them? As sexual partners I mean. I’m going to have six girls. Women. So far the youngest is twenty-two. The three I have are definitely bisexual. Are you going to be able to live with that? Are you going to flourish in that environment?”

“Uhh.” Carly seemed flustered.

“Carly. Listen for a moment. I don’t want to force you into something. I want a happy home. If you are going to come along but only have sex with me out of a sense of duty, like it’s a job, or if you are only with the girls because I say you have to be, then you won’t be happy. I can live with it if someone isn’t that good in bed. I don’t want to live with it if that person isn’t happy in bed. I can’t have a reluctant lesbian. It would feel like rape. Same for a straight girl. If I make her do it with the others, that’s rape. You need to decide if you want to try with them.”

“Ok. I have seen some good looking women before that get me thinking, uhh ... Some look better than most of the guys that I have been willing to ... Can we start slow?”

“Sure. They’re in the other room. Let’s introduce you and then we’ll kick them out here and we can take the comfortable room. We’ll call them in in a bit.” Les led her to the green door and inside. He pointed to the couch near the bed and then went to the bath room door. As he opened the door, the twin sounds of a shower and a woman having an orgasm spilled out. Les looked over at Carly whose eyes had gotten quite big. He winked at her and then shouted into the rest room. “I sent you in there to get cleaned up. Who said you could have sex without me? Astra, turn off the water in the shower.” He heard Carly giggle and took that for a good sign. The water shut off and the girls spilled out of the bathroom soaking wet. Kerry and Louise were wearing shower caps. Muriel, with her short curly hair, had not bothered. “Line up. Ok, I need to find out who was having sex. Obviously the wet one is the culprit.” He reached down and felt each pussy in turn. All three girls groaned or moaned and pressed themselves into his hand. There was so much water from the shower that no one could have used wetness as a real criteria for having had sex. “Wet pussies. Obviously oral sex. Wet breasts. Sucking on nipples again, I see. Wet everywhere.” He gave a melodramatic sigh. “Can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?” He heard another giggle from the couch. “I have to test drive Carly here and we don’t want to hear any more sex noises.” This time he winked broadly at the three girls. “Go out into the front room and stay on that first couch.” He took them to the door and pointed to the love seat next to the door. There was room for two girls, if they were friendly.