Chapter 8

Note: When the conversation is a telepathic exchange, it is indicated by italics font.

As they were leaving the dining room at Comrie after breakfast Adam said, “Briana, are your meetings always like this morning’s?”

“Sometimes, and sometimes they are more interactive. If any of us had been uncomfortable with the proposal we would have responded, or raised a question.”

“Interesting. Can we go to the ship? I want to visit the Intelligence department.”

“Sure, we can go now.”

“Just us?”

“Well, actually all of us need to go up to the ship. The others are scheduled for work today. What’s up?”

“Can it wait until we get there?”

“Sure.”

Briana and Adam joined the rest of their group for the ride to the ship. On arriving, their first stop was the observation deck primarily for Adam’s benefit. After a short pause they went to their quarters so those going to work could get ready. Before separating, each gave Adam a hug and a kiss.

“Thank you,” said Cass, “we sense what you are going to do when we leave. It is not something we could face.”

Adam struggled not to let his expression change, even so he was shocked that they were that close to him. As the women walked away, Briana took his hand as she gave him a kiss in which he felt all of his group participate, telling him of their love. Briana then led him toward the Intelligence department.

“Jason, Muireann,” said Briana, “this is Adam. He is Joyce’s brother, and currently with US TTC.”

“We’ve heard about you,” they said with a smile. “We are very glad to see that you have joined Briana’s group.”

“I have? How?” He looked at Briana with some confusion, and saw her warm smile.

“Adam, we saw it in your expression, but you came here for another reason.”

“Yes. I have some images in my mind. This will sound far-fetched, but considering your telepathic abilities is it possible to transfer them to your data systems?”

“Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem. Why do you want to do that?”

“I think they will help your project.” They looked puzzled. “Yesterday afternoon, our group fully opened up to each other with our mind-link, and spent a long time exploring together. While we were doing that, some of our clan told me about some memories they had locked away. They told me I could, or perhaps should, look as they were memories of when they were held and used as sex toys. I did, and was appalled at what I saw. My training gave me the ability to focus on the visitors they saw. Those images should, I think, be of help to your effort.”

“My, God, yes. Star, what is the best way for us to record images from Adam’s mind,” inquired Jason, with new urgency in his voice.

Bairre responded, “You need Aoife, Maeve and possibly Betsy to assist, as he needs to modify his psionic abilities so he can project images. Alternatively, Aoife can view his images and project them.”

“Okay. Ask them to join us.” Muireann had hardly finished speaking before Aoife and Maeve appeared next to them, startling everyone in the room.

“Hope we didn’t startle you too much. Are you ready Adam?” asked Aoife.

“Not as much as last time. You know?”

“Yes, Star shared the reason with us, so we decided to project ourselves here. Now, as a first step we need to look at your abilities, to see if you can do this directly, if you can it will give us better-quality images. Okay?” He nodded, and immediately felt Aoife and Maeve join his mind.

“Adam, you know Briana is here with us, as the two of you are fully mind-linked. This is also true for the rest of those in your group. However the others are focused on another activity or they would likely be here as well.”

“Wow.”

“Now for our reason to be doing this. See this area of your mind? You need to slowly increase your energy to it, along with your awareness of it. Here, look at mine.

“Okay, see this area that is a light green? This is where you push a thought outward, with the energy to project it. Now, send me one of the images you have. Okay. I have it. Let me project it, like this.” With that, an image of a man’s head formed in air, but it was not very sharp or solid.

“Adam, our systems,” said Jason, “can take that image and sharpen it up, however that can add errors. This is why it is better if you can project the images directly. Shall we try? Maeve and Aoife will try to assist.

With that, Maeve and Aoife rejoined Adam’s mind, to watch him prepare his first projection. An image slowly formed. Adam refreshed the image several times, until he said, “This is as close as I can match my memory to the projection.”

“Excellent,” said Jason, as Muireann had their system record three views and the holographic projection.

Adam spent the next several hours recalling the images of individuals and groups that had visited the camp where Cass and the other women were held.

After they had finished recording the images, Adam was so exhausted he could hardly stand. Briana walked with him down to the dining room to get some refreshments, and then to their quarters to rest. They spent the rest of the afternoon laying cuddled together, enjoying each other’s company.

Adam and Briana woke when the rest of their group entered their room as it was time to freshen up for dinner. Cass kidded Adam and Briana about lying around all day, while they worked. Together, they exercised and freshened, while making sure everyone shared contact.

As they were preparing to leave, Charlotte said, “Being with this group is now the most comfortable I’ve felt in a long time.” The others nodded, in agreement with her. “That is not to say I was uncomfortable before, it just seems that, as a group, we are now more complete. Hmm ... Not sure that was worded well.”

“We understand your intent, and we agree,” responded the others. Charlotte’s face broke into to a big smile and she began to kiss and hug each of her loves.

“YES, I love all of you,” she said in their mind-link, while opening her emotional sensations more fully to their group. “I will always love all of you.”

“Charlotte, we feel the same for you as we feel for each other.” Adam was surprised by the intensity of the emotions, as not much more than a day had passed since the time that he had begun to sense their emotions and thoughts.

“Let’s spend the evening cuddling here after dinner,” said Adam.

“Yes, we would love that.”

“The Gods and Goddesses have blessed us by bringing us together,” said Adam. “The warmth and love I feel with all of you, for all of you, is beyond anything I have ever dreamed about.” They each hugged and kissed before they left the room for dinner. As they walked down the corridor to the dining room, a whiff of pheromones could be detected in their wake.

They arrived at Dóchas’ dining room just behind Sarah’s Clan, who had brought their babies with them. When Joyce saw Adam, she went to him, carrying two babies, and quickly gave them to him and Cass to hold. As they were holding the babies, Joyce introduced Adam to all their children. The children quickly took to him, giggling and clapping as he touched or caressed them. They reached for members of Briana’s group in a way they had not done before. Joyce and Janet noticed it first, and grinned.

“What am I doing wrong?” asked Adam, as Briana and Cass looked around at the babies, and started to grin.

“Nothing is wrong. We think the babies have just decided that all of you are a close part of our family. They will go to anyone who shows an interest in them, but, tonight, they are reaching for all of you. We may be reading too much into it, since the youngest are only about a year old.”

“I don’t think you are,” said Judy, with Karen, Janet and Jill nodding in agreement.

Dinner was spent chatting and playing with the children. Erin’s and Tara’s babies were actively crawling around, and were able to pull themselves up to stand for a few moments, before sitting back down. Alison’s were also quite adept at crawling while the younger ones were quickly gaining on them. When the older ones stood, the younger ones watched them intently, clearly anxious to join their sisters and brothers.

When it was clear everyone was done eating, Tara stood, saying, “Let’s tidy up before our evening meeting. Although, I don’t think it will last very long tonight.”

Once everyone was seated, Alison said, “Arrangements are in place to begin moving the returning women to Comrie. If things go as planned, this should be complete by the end of the week. Tom and John are planning on splitting their time between there and their home, for the time being.”

“The activities,” said Jason and Muireann, “at the armory continued at a fast pace today. MacFarland’s team has developed a plan for greeting the employees on Monday morning when they arrive at work, which should go very smoothly. We have located some images of individuals who made use of the facilities where some of our family was held. These should help us identify some of the participants in the ‘flesh peddlers’ operation, which will point us to the leaders; at least that is our hope.”

“Our project to develop a newer version of our AIs is well ahead of schedule,” said Ciar. “If we don’t have any emergencies in the next month or so, the first one will be ready for evaluation in no more than six weeks.”

“Any questions or other comments,” asked Tara. After a few moments, she said, “Let’s relax.”

Tuesday morning, several National Guards members were shocked to receive a message from their employers. It said that if they weren’t back to work by the following Monday, their positions would be filled by others. If that was the case, due to low turn-over, there would likely not be a position for them for some time.

Captain Dole, the National Guard Company Commander, the Governor and the newspaper reporters all reassured them that their contributions would be remembered. They pledged to do everything they could to make sure they remained employed, and that they should not worry about their current civilian jobs.

That afternoon Captain Dole received a call from a Mr. óCearbhail. After introducing himself, he said, “I am one of the principals in Galactic Intrusion Security Services. One of the services we offer is protective services. The reason I’ve called is that I heard that the members of your unit were concerned about future employment.”

“It is a concern. This morning most of the unit’s members received notices from their employers. These basically said ‘return to work on Monday or forfeit your position’. It was also indicated that they may not have an opening available for sometime after being released from this call-up.”

Mr. óCearbhail responded with, “Please assure them that GISS is very interested in employing them. If it would help I can have a letter sent to you confirming this offer including the contact information.”

“I think I can do that,” replied the Captain. “The letter would be ideal but in the meantime, can you give me the details verbally?”

“Sure.” After providing the information Mr. óCearbhail added, “If you need more information or think we can help please contact us.”

“Thank you for the call.”

“You are welcome.” When the call ended, Rusty leaned back in the chair and smiled.

Once Captain Dole confirmed that the company was real, he passed the initial contact information he had to the unit.

Later that day, in a meeting with Clarence he said with a smile, “Did you hear what happened this afternoon?”

“I am afraid to ask.

“A Mr. óCearbhail from GISS called.” Clarence looked puzzled. “They offered everyone in the unit a job. Obviously they have to meet some of their requirements, but it sure helped morale.”

“I imagine so. So who is GISS?”

“From what I found on the Internet, they offer site, computer and personal security services. Mr. óCearbhail is listed as the principal and the references are valid.”

“Okay. Since it is an uncanny coincidence, I think I’ll have someone check it out. By the way, good job on pronouncing the last name, most would just say O’Carroll. Many have trouble with the pronunciation of Irish names.”

“My grandmother was Irish,” responded Captain Dole. “She wanted all of us to speak it and we did to a limited extent.”

It was Wednesday when the story of the software companies’ presidents enslaving employees made the headlines. The fact that they were used by their former coworkers and friends as sex toys made the story even more sensational. The editors of the two papers decided to run all the stories with bylines that included all four reporters. Each paper focused on different aspects of the case while still providing a complete story. Included were large pictures of the missing former employees. The pictures brought in several leads, but many were too old to be of any real value.

MacFarland held a press conference on Thursday morning, which was carried live by all the TV networks. At the press conference, he indicated that the two company presidents were being held on multiple counts of murder, slavery, mutilation, rape, torture and numerous other charges. Several company managers were charged as accessories to the sex slave operation along with multiple charges of torture, rape, mutilation and soliciting. More charges were expected to be filed in the coming weeks against the, as yet, unidentified participants in the activities at the companies, and the presidents’ estates.

MacFarland thanked the Governor for activating the local National Guard MP unit to assist with the evidence recovery and protection. The Guard unit had been asked to assist because he had heard that they were looking for some realistic training. Their drill weekend happened to correspond with his office’s need for assistance, and he was extremely pleased with their commitment to the effort. Many of those called to duty had some difficulty with their current employers because of the sudden call up. He noted that those issues had been resolved, thanks both to the newspapers and a private protective services firm.

When asked whether the company president’s would be released on bail, he stated that it was the court’s decision, although he had submitted a brief to the court opposing their release. His position was that they would try to flee and they had the means to accomplish it. In addition the crimes they were charged with committing were horrendous and had destroyed many lives, before they had a chance to blossom.

The crew on Dóchas and at Comrie had watched the press conference, with a mixture of pleasure and sadness. Pleased that prosecution of the ‘flesh peddlers’ seemed to be progressing, and sad for the missing victims.

Thursday afternoon, Earth time, Sarah’s Clan and the Intelligence department met, to go over the activities at the Armory, and to review the project’s status. Jason said, “Rusty, thanks for arranging to have the security firm call the National Guard Commander about future employment for his men, if they needed it.”

“Well, it is a bit of a risk, but it should work out.”

“Security firm,” asked Sally, looking perplexed.

“Sure, I had the Chairman of the Board for Galactic Intrusion and Security Services call and tell Captain Dole that, if his men had problems with employment after this was done, they should contact GISS.” He sat there, grinning.

“You didn’t!”

“I most certainly did! It is entirely within the purview of Mr. óCearbhail to do that and I did it using my best Irish brogue.”

After the laughter died down she asked, “Do the women know about this added service for Galactic Intrusion and Security Services?”

“No, not yet. It was going to be a suggestion, once they had their plans in place. It is a nice fit. Besides, if they don’t want to do it, we have some other contacts we could use.”

After both Sally and Terry thought about it they said, “You’re right.”

“When this settles down, many of those involved in this investigation may need to find new jobs,” said Sarah and Aoife, looking at each other while they spoke.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because politicians do not like to have ‘men on white horses’ in the public eye very long, as it takes attention away from them.”

“Two of the managers,” said Muireann, “at the DOJ who have called MacFarland for information, or with warnings, appear to be linked to the ‘flesh peddlers’. At this point, it could be coincidence. It is mostly intuition, but there has been Internet traffic between the DOJ and the ‘flesh peddlers’ prime proxy address. We have also found records of phone calls to the same European phone numbers that called the government official about the resort island.”

“We are currently comparing phone calls between those locations, to see if we can identify other potential participants,” said Shannon. “We are considering having a bot implant a tracking chip on both managers. Both like to frequent bars right after work, and several are quite crowded, so the bot should have an easy time of it.”

Sarah’s Clan nodded their heads, agreeing to the plan.

“How well are the chips working with MacFarland and O’Toole?” asked Joyce.

“Very well.”

“Let’s look through the patterns in the data that you have found,” said Alison.

With that, the group spent the rest of the afternoon looking through the patterns. As they did so, they tried several query techniques that uncovered some new matches.

When the chime sounded for dinner, Sarah’s Clan complimented the department on the progress they had made. They took special care to note that, while it probably didn’t seem to them like they had made much progress, in reality they had accomplished a lot. Sarah’s Clan gave each a hug, before they left to return to their quarters. Just before leaving, Judy admonished them to make sure they ate and got enough rest, as she didn’t think the large bags under their eyes looked very good.

As they walked back to their room, Sally asked, “Rusty, why did you intervene with the offer to the National Guard members?”

“Well, there are quite a few reasons. All the soldiers are about college age. Their employers are most likely small organizations, where someone being gone on short notice can create a lot of problems. They probably haven’t worked with the company long enough for the company to have invested much in them, so replacing them is pretty easy. Most importantly, we don’t need any of them worrying about tomorrow, until this settles down a bit.”

“Been there? Ugh.”

“Yes. Actually, on both sides.”

When they opened the door to their rooms and saw the babies were waiting with their arms out-stretched, all thoughts of other issues disappeared. They gathered them up, and then found a comfortable place to sit while the babies nursed. Maeve and Aoife were surprised, as they felt their tits release milk when the babies they were holding started to suckle. Their spouses noticed the change in Maeve and Aoife immediately.

“It looks like we have more help,” said Sarah, as she smiled at Maeve and Aoife.

“I noticed my breasts seemed firmer and tighter today, but I didn’t realize I was lactating,” said Maeve.

“I agree,” said Aoife, “but I like it.” Her face took on a blissful look, as she carefully held a baby to each nipple. She now knew why the others had a look of bliss on their faces when the babies nursed.

Once the babies had finished feeding, everyone freshened up for dinner. As they entered the dining room, Maureen’s and Siobhan’s Clans joined them, as did Adam, the groups with him, and his friends. After a few kisses and hugs, each of them picked up a baby, then moved to find a place for dinner. Sarah’s Clan and the nannies were left to watch the others take care of their children.

Joyce said, “Did you notice that some of the women are feeding our babies?”

“Not just some,” said Sally, “all are letting them nurse, if they want to. It is easy to see by the looks on their faces, that they enjoy it as much as we do.”

“At first I was concerned,” said Karen, “but, as I watched, my concern evaporated. It seems there is a benefit to both the baby and the woman.”

“There is,” said Star, startling them. “For our breed, the interaction of nursing causes the milk to become richer in nutrients. Nursing also triggers the woman to release some additional pheromones. Both of these acts benefit both the baby, and the rest of the family group.”

“The richer milk, pheromones, and mind-link,” said Judy, “we think are the keys to the spontaneous changes that began in Maeve and Aoife before they spent time in the incubators. The composition of their treatments was altered by the autodocs, to take into account the changes already occurring in their bodies.”

“So, is that why we are progressing faster than the others who received the treatments at the same time?”

“We think so.”

“Karen, when was the last time you had a physical?” asked Erin.

“With the other nannies, just after we moved to Comrie. No, it was when we relocated to Dóchas. Why?”

“I think, you should talk to Judy about another one. It looks to me like your body is changing some as well.” Judy, on hearing her name looked at Karen more closely.

“Yes, I can see what has prompted Erin’s comment. Are you drinking much of our milk?”

“Quite a bit. All of us like milk and did so before we came here. The milk we have here is much better than on Earth.”

“Why don’t we give you a physical tomorrow?”

“Okay. You know I really wouldn’t mind looking like all of you. I had thought about asking for the genetic treatments, but felt I should focus on the babies.”

“By the way, where are Betsy and Connie?” asked Jill. “I haven’t seen them all day.”

“They went to the Mars settlement,” said Star. “Erica went with them.”

“Sorry, guys,” said Judy, “I should have said something earlier. They hadn’t been with Amy and Jim in quite a while, so Gail and I kind of prodded them to go. We feel we are acquainted enough with the treatment procedures here so that, with the assistance of the autodocs, there should be no difficulties. The family groups setting up the Mars settlement have completed their housing, so it’s less like camping out.”

“Good! They need a break. I don’t think they have taken one since their episode with the virus.”

“I think it is about time for us to spend a day with the babies and each other, as well,” said Claudette.

“I second that,” said Tara.

As dinner was ending, Nancy and Bob came over to their table. “Joyce, I think that, when Adam leaves to return to duty, Bob and I are going to go visit the four couples at school. Adam’s question about them has tweaked my curiosity.”

“Good. I think all of us would like to know how they are doing.”

Amy and Jim were waiting just outside the airlock for Betsy, Erica and Connie. The facilities had not progressed sufficiently to have an automatic airlock for the shuttle. As soon as they stepped through they were hugged, even before they could remove their pressurized suits. This had been the longest they had been separated in a very long time. Amy and Jim assisted them, in removing their suits.

Once the suits were off, they tightly embraced each other again, letting all the pent-up emotions flow between them.

“It is so good to have you close enough to touch,” said Amy, and Jim nodded.

Betsy looked carefully at Amy, and then said, “So when is the baby due?”

“What?” said Amy. “I’m not pregnant!”

“I’m not so sure about that. We can check it out later. How is everything else?”

“Things have been going so smoothly, we have been concerned that we’re missing something, or that we were going to run into a ‘brick wall’. Let’s show you around, then we can go relax before dinner. When they reached their quarters, they sat so that they were touching each other.”

“Jim, I noticed the structures haven’t made much use of the natural cave yet,” said Erica.

“The cave is a puzzle. The ceiling doesn’t have some of the characteristics you would expect to find in a natural cave, which is rough and rugged surface with deep fissures. Besides, the walls and ceiling have the characteristics of being quarried, although there are some rough spots. The floor is nearly perfectly flat, with a slight slope toward the valley outside. So we are not sure what to make of it, we are currently evaluating its stability.”

“So, do you think someone was here before us?”

“Considering the inside that would explain what we are seeing. However, we haven’t any other evidence to support that idea.”

“Have you talked to Sarah’s Clan or the Dóchas Engineering department about this yet?” asked Connie.

“No. We have been holding off, as we see the issues they are dealing with as having long-term significance for all of us. The new AI for the settlement should help us examine the geology in greater detail, which should provide us with some clues.”

“Did you hear about the experience Maeve, Aoife and Sarah had?”

“Yes. At first we were very concerned, so we went and looked at what they have found of old Celtic writings on Earth. They are correct; our old spoken language is very similar to what is known as Earth’s ancient Celtic. The differences are not as great as those between the Irish and Scottish forms of the Celtic language.”

“Wow, I wonder what that means for all of us?”

“They are with us. There are some hints of similar messages being given to our race a long, long time ago. This was a significantly before we fully developed our telepathic communication.”

“Amy and I have discussed this a bit,” said Jim, “and we don’t see them as a God-like entity and they don’t either, although, to a primitive culture, they would seem God-like, well actually so would we. Whatever, it is good that our paths crossed when they did. We shouldn’t over analyze what we’ve observed, even if it is tempting to do so.” They each had a sense that the concept was correct.

“I think those on Dóchas will be really pleased, when they see how much progress has been made,” said Connie.

“We hope so,” said Amy. “As you likely noticed, settlement structures are being built along the cliff face adjacent to the cave entrance. If it turns out we can use the cave we will enclose the opening and link the cave to the settlement. If not then we will expand in to other direction along the cliff face. Being able to use the cave, will allow us to begin building ships sooner.”

“Good,” said Connie. “Let’s go to the clinic, curiosity is nagging at me.”

“Okay, but I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed.”

When they arrived at the clinic, Betsy ran diagnostics on the autodoc, and then placed Amy so that it could evaluate her. The autodoc took a long time to complete the scan. It was so long that Betsy thought it had malfunctioned, which, in itself, was unusual.

They all gathered around the console, when the report began to scroll across the display.

“You may want to verify this,” said the autodoc, “but it appears that Amy is two months pregnant, with twins. The delay is because we ran the tests three times, thus the probability of error is less than 1 in ten thousand.” Amy’s eyes filled with tears of happiness.

“Betsy,” said the autodoc, “I have advised the Medical-AI on Dóchas, and she strongly suggest that we evaluate everyone. The initial analysis indicates that all of you maybe fertile again. This is most likely due to the genetic treatments you received.”

“Can you do the evaluations now?” asked Connie.

“Yes. Just step up on the platform,” responded the autodoc.

“Amy, have the settlement’s AI ask the original crew members stop by here on the way to dinner,” said Betsy. “There should be enough time to do almost everyone before then.”

The first to arrive after the announcement were worried. They trusted the autodoc, and knew that if it was very serious it would have been handled differently.

When everyone was there, Betsy said, “The autodoc just made an unusual find when she did an update on Amy’s physical. It is nothing serious, as you have guessed. Based on our initial observations, we think it would be best for everyone to have update their physical. In part because it has been a longer than it should for some of you.”

The physical evaluations of everyone were nearly complete when the chime sounded for dinner. “Why don’t those of you that are done go get ready for dinner. We will finish up here before we join you in the dining room.” Everyone indicated they liked Betsy’s proposal, and left to freshen up.

Once all the evaluations were complete, the autodoc began the analysis, as it did so it shared the information with the Medical-AI on the Dóchas. The results were surprising, and they would please many of the original crew.

Everyone had just sat down to dinner, when the autodoc contacted Betsy. “Betsy, our evaluation indicates that Connie, Erica and you can again have babies, whenever you initiate the release of the eggs.”

“How?”