Chapter 31

Within hours it was decided. Daniela, the girl raped by the large man in Brazil and Alicea would go into a tank to be changed just a bit but enough that their auras would put them with my family.

Tom and his son found that they to had to take a new wife. Tom was not only worried about this but he had to take the Mexican girl Oaxaca too. She was starting to get serious on one young lad. If this happened then Tom would lose a natural wife and regret it later. Oaxaca was important to us and was constantly monitored.

Mary continued to phone. This kept the long distance romance going even though they had not even seen each other in person. The image from a computer screen was the limit. Consti and some of the other wives would visit and Mary could feel how she fit in. The mental communication though was what she sought for these were the only people that she could do this with. When Tommy communicated with his mind it was even more thrilling for the girl. Tommy ensured that they never came close but even the mental variety made the two miss each other a lot.

Alicea came to me right out of the tank. I kissed her and held her close. She was not the same girl that went in but she was not really that much different. She was more focussed and her priorities had changed in small amounts so she was very similar to my wives. Two days later she ascended to the next level with the help of the wives.

Daniela had been waiting away from the house and now she took my time and love. The frightened and abused girl had left long ago and this one here was a tiger. Again in two days she ascended to the Seffra level.

This time would usually mean a break for me but Alicea needed me my wives said. This also meant that all of them needed me. I performed as I should but dreamed of our next trip out of the system to test the engines. There I would have a manageable number to deal with. All this though was hidden from the girls for fear that they get upset at me.

Daniela and Alicea had come out of the tank for the second time, for both had gone in at the same time. These two, their sisters Tatiana, Fatima, and Yelena went with me to our testing area. With only five wives it was easy to keep them happy and still get some work done. I took a small portion of the children to give me some piece of mind and let the wives focus on something besides me and work.

On the third of our engine tests, one of the engines blew up very spectacularly. It took the other engine and the large rock between them with it. We were using two engines to push in opposite directions. This kept the platform fairly stable though it did move. We were safely out of the way but it was like we were being attacked.

An investigation was started to see what had happened. There was not that much antimatter used in the lithium/lithium reaction to give the results we found. All thoughts of engine design now took a back seat.

During my absence Tom and Margaret had gone to Mexico and met Oaxaca. The now fifteen year old girl immediately dropped any idea of staying with her old boyfriend. At an attempt to prove a point the girl was given one of our telephones while Tom and Margaret left her. It took two weeks before she cried to be picked up.

Tom and Margaret talked to the family about their daughter but they didn't understand. When they drove off in a van with the girl the father was after them with his rifle.

Oaxaca used the telephone twice to say how sorry she was but the second time it was thrown in the fire and destroyed.

The girl loved her family and was distraught but wanted her new family and especially Tom more.

Similar engines in our supply were used to see if we could duplicate the result but it didn't happen. The tests now tried to get any of the engines to act the same way but we had to satisfy ourselves with just engine performance data.

Similar engines were made at our base while the tests and investigation continued. They were as close to the ones that had the odd effect as possible. We hurried home to get those units so our enquiry could proceed.

Fourteen new pairs of engines were employed until we found that part of the equation was to replicate the exact distance between the units. This meant that we had to find large asteroids and cut them to size. Theories abounded why this effect came into being but as most things it had to wait on additional tests and more information. This came very soon for when I got back there was a change in wives, children and a new load of engines.

We travelled as far as Vega this time for we ran out of large asteroids. The senior wives were very interested in this effect. It could also be that all of the younger wives had somehow become pregnant if they weren't already.

We tested the effect many times and we finally found it to be a critical placement of our large atoms used in the engines. An equally critical harmonic with two similar engines had to be present. This had the potential of being a weapon if we could place similar atoms close to two engines. I thought of the Suma and the Graskor immediately. Their engines were not the same and didn't change very much in the last fifteen thousand years. I started to see many possibilities before me. The delivery would have to be different for two of the enemy's engines would explode the way out test engines did. The source of all the power used was still a mystery and the best guess was that it had come from a higher universe.

This research cut back on engine development until it was nonexistent. We did make headway in the weapon and this was mainly attributable to the way our family was able to focus so well on one point at a time. We had to make Suma and the Graskor engines to test our designs.

By the time a preliminary weapon was first made, our children were starting to assist us in a meaningful way. The oldest was now eight and a much higher percentage of newborns were now male. This served to even out some of the disparity but I still thought that fifteen to one was a good ratio.

The children were also fitting in with the farm girls. These had mainly been formed into very informal families with the young men we found as a nucleus. The males had been elevated after some of their wives were. We now had a Seffra community. Later it was hoped that they would settle into permanent families but as yet we thought that they were just too young.

There were only two individuals that were still fully Human. There was just one girl. This was Ana-Margarida. Little Marco, who was younger than she was now living in a group marriage. Both Stephanie and Ronny were now among the pseudo married women but as yet none of them were allowed to have children. The single unimproved boy was of course David, Ronny's child.

Ana-Margarida was twelve now and doing her best to get my wives to accept her into their midst. When I came back from another test sequence I was informed that I was going to have a tenth wife. Even without reading another's thoughts I could seen Ana-Margarida barely controlled movements and knew that she was too excited to restrain herself.

I smiled at the inevitability of all this, and the now much taller girl jumped into my arms. Catrina just led us back into Borin and let what amounted to the first full sexual intercourse between us. This we knew would do the real binding of our beings.

Ana-Margarida was very experienced when it came to having enjoyment of a sexual nature. She removed my clothes and hers almost disappeared. I just laid back and let her have her way. She sucked me into her mouth and I allowed enough to expand to make her feel that she was working.

I coaxed her hips toward my head and sampled her mons. She had played a joke on me. She had caused the sweet essence of a fruit not found on Earth to flavour her vagina. I licked her opening but avoided her small clit as best I could for she was moving around very vigorously.

She was able to get to my abdomen and even lick around the base. She had done this on the other young males but they all had a sack holding their testicles while mine were safely inside me. The absence of pubic hair must have been good but not all the boys had much yet.

Ana-Margarida had her first orgasm as I attacked her clit without notice. This was a good one for her because she forgot about me. Her mother had to support her head so she could breathe. I continued now that I had help and the girl thrashed even more violently until she quieted in sleep.

Catrina moved her daughter and kissed her lips. Ana-Margarida had moved from being her daughter to her sister/wife with all that it entailed. For the last few years there was actually no difference for the girl insisted on being in on all our lovemaking.

Catrina pulled the girl around and placed her in my arms. I gave her a small kiss but she still had not recovered enough to know what was happening.

When she opened her eyes she just smiled and said, "I like waking up in my husband's arms." After a moment of cuddling her tingling clit reminded her of why she was here. She moved around on me and then felt between her legs to find my penis. Very quickly, as if I was going to leave, she sat down. In just seconds I was inside her and she groaned in contentment.

"I have waited a long time for this."

I didn't need to answer and soon she was moving very slow to savour each sensation coming to her. She had two more orgasms before she wanted to get the big one. She moved more forcefully and I pinched her small nipples to do my best to make this a memorable experience for her.

Her breathing and heartbeat increased as did her exertions. In just a few minutes it looked like she was going to orgasm. I could feel the wives put a block on her and now she had to work even harder. They fed her how much we loved each other and she now worked violently until I was worried that she would hurt herself. When the orgasm came she screamed her release into the confines of the cabin. Her vagina milking me to get me to release my seed into her.

It took long minutes before she recovered and had to do it all over again. None of my wives were satisfied with just a few orgasms and needed a great many to fulfil them.

When Ana-Margarida was too tired we changed places with me on top. She loved this too and I was able to treat her to all the things I did for my other wives.

Hours later Ana-Margarida got what she was after and I got off the bed to allow her to rest. I was pulled into another cabin for now the other nine wives were horny and needed some relief.

A half cycle later Ana-Margarida was fully one of us and now walked around with a smile for she now had a child within her. The elevation into the ranks of the Sefmen allowed her education to speed ahead. She had never been fully informed of how much this would be increased for fear of her trying to push herself too hard.

Our accomplishments as a family were increasing. An analysis proved it was directly proportional to what material we already knew and the closeness that each of us could work within the family. The material in this case was portions of knowledge that only one person had taken the time to learn. This was like a group of specialists in different fields getting together to tackle a problem.

The critical mass had not been reached but I could feel that it would come in due time, perhaps less than three years. Hopefully there would be no need for more wives.

Ronny lived with us for the most part but everybody shifted around and stayed where they wanted. It was never important for they were always safe. Ronny had been a responsible member of our society and we were very proud of her and her achievements. The small adjustments Sandra had done were minor. The environment that she was in was what caused her to do as good as she could.

Her mother Sara had remarried and even phoned regularly to talk to Ronny or David. The calls became less frequently as Sara found that her daughter was changing. At first she had sounded like she was on drugs or worse but over time Sara found her daughter maturing. David talked to his grandmother but couldn't say too much about where he was. What he studied though was the same as other schools. It was only the depth that the child was learning that would astound his grandmother.

When Ronny was eventually elevated and it was done by me and my wives. She was not a virgin but she was not the girl that I had once met in Victoria. All the males had been elevated by this time other than her son. Sandra said to her, "You have made me proud of you. Any mother would be proud of you now. I know your next family will be stronger than most."

Ronny felt good and returned the hug. She knew that her son was lost in many ways for he looked to Sandra or one of my wives as a mother. This did allow Ronny a true second chance without the burden of a past mistake.

The family settled down in the next two years. It had been eleven years since my coming to the system and wondered where all the time and gone. The luster of sex never got too dull but we settled into a routine that allowed us to learn more. The sixty three people at the Seffra level did great but most only had four years of education out of twenty if they stayed at this level. Nobody else was elevated for fear of our society losing its focus.

Tommy and his family had done wonders with the dark crystal but had still not found out how certain things were done. This also meant that we were no closer to fabricating more units.

Tom Sr had come up with some innovations in the hull and structural members but as yet only forty percent of the surface was covered and much less of the internal components.

We had settled on a possible engine design that was fourteen percent better than the best the Seffra could produce. I was still not happy and delayed the final construction of the engines as long as possible, hoping for a breakthrough in our research. Borin now sported the new engines along with the dual compensators. This was a half-way measure for we would find out about the engine and possibly come up with a better design. Her speed now was marginally better than what Soldoy could do.

Our other weapon was a small and very fast missile. Depending on our enemy one of two missiles would be fired. They would home in on the enemy's external engines. Once there it would place itself in a nodal position that would feed off the engine harmonics and soon cause the engines and their associated power supplies to explode. We had tests with multiple engine configurations but none had been tested in battle. None of us wanted to go out and test it either. The source of the energies produced was still not known though we used the effect. The effect on the enemy ship would be much more than the simple destruction of their engines though.

We were spurred into action one day when Pat'uch said, "I have found that there is a ninety three percent chance that a satellite will be launched in the next four months. Its purpose is to remap the lunar surface in preparation for a joint exploitation."

We were quite shocked and searched through the data and could find no fault in the figures. The ramification of this disclosure was that the Humans would see large scale changes to the lunar surface since it was mapped during the Apollo series in the sixties. We also didn't understand how this project was going ahead so quickly. Usually years were taken before the first piece was fabricated.

With a considerable amount of effort we could camouflage our two domes. Our mining activities would be seen but it would take no more than just a glance to recognise the changes. We had harvested the regolith so that our efforts looked like what would normally be seen on the moon. Now they would see the crater walls much lower and the bottoms of the same craters lower again.

Other crater walls had been removed to facilitate the easy transportation of the harvested rock. These would all have to be repaired. The cost in lost production would be very high and I kicked myself once again for not employing an uninhabited system.

It was possible that our ship would be missed but the odds were not that good. A cloaking shield required a great many projectors placed all over the hull. The hull though was not complete and wouldn't be for at least seven more years. It might be possible to propel the ship further out of the system but it was not structurally sound yet. Many of the ribs were only attached at one end and had no bracing between them. Another possibility was to construct the temporal and inertial compensators that I developed for Borin. These would be connected directly to the keel for strength.

Our whole community now worked to see what was possible. If we worked hard we could either brace the weak members or make use of the multipurpose compensator. Both would take time to finish. Some of the ships that mimicked Borin's lines could push the hull out before the people of Earth had a chance to see it. This would only happen when the moon was directly in their line of sight so our movement could not be seen. We were now large enough to be seen by Human telescopes.

I ordered Pat'uch, "Search your records for the possibility of one of the Human satellites seeing our ship."

"Yes, Captain." In a moment I heard, "There has been some projects where I have not been able to get in easily. I did not pursue the matter. It is possible that they are doing this clandestinely. This further supposes that they are hiding this information from other Humans. This could also be done to hide the information from us."

This put a different slant on things. "Infiltrate all those areas but now you have to be much more subtle if they are thinking that we are here in this system. Check their data files to see if they have discovered our ship."

"Yes sir."

I gave more orders. Most had to do with people that we knew that were still on Earth. It was quite possible they were being monitored. If this were so then it would be easy to find.

We worked with the information we had gathered about the Human satellites including those used for astronomical purposes. Launches in the last year were investigated to see if they had launched a device stated to do one thing but actually did something else. I was very angry at myself for not monitoring the activity on our neighbouring planet more.

Six minutes after giving Pat'uch the order he said, "Captain, I have photos and intelligence reports. Some departments in various countries in NATO have been given copies of this information under a very strict security procedure. The enlarged photos show a portion of our hull that had been allowed to rise above the horizon. It was captured by a supposedly commercial satellite that went much further out in its orbit than it was said it would. All this predisposes that we have already been traced to this location."

This all meant that we had been found. The satellite should never have been able to do this unless we were already suspected to have our base here on the moon. Pat'uch's supposition that we had already been detected was valid. Our protection of the Russian reactors and the information of who was behind the attack could have originally given somebody the idea Our communications that could not be traced along with our telephones and computers may have alerted others. Even my original plan of selling near perfect diamonds could have alerted the authorities.

"Pat'uch, go through all the people accessing our phones and computers. See if they have been put to the test by a group of people trying to find out about us. Send probes to find the Japanese diamond merchant Mr Iwasaki. Send other units to find Mr Noguchi who was given a rejuvenation treatment. Finally find the Russian, George Mason. Check through his records to see what he may have said to his superiors." Basically I was going to investigate how close the Earth authorities were onto us.

"Yes Sir."

With the possibility that the telephones and computers had been targeted it was probable that some parents would be asked to find out information from their children here on the moon.

Tadeu had come to us for a year but had decided to stay on. She had visited her parents many times, as had the other girls. They had always remained loyal and came back without divulging any sensitive data.

Our community was questioned and in this new light they reported questions being asked that had not been asked for years. Pat'uch after seconds confirmed that this was the case. All of our telephones and computers were still in their respective villages but now they were in large substantial buildings that had not been there six months ago. The amount of activity on the devices had shot up significantly.

Now it was just a matter of seeing how much they knew and how they were taking our visit or rather my visit to this system.

In the next hour we found that the Humans knew quite a bit. They had pictures of Sandra, Megan and Marina from the Russians. They had some old pictures of the farm girls and what they would look like today. All of Catrina's family was listed along with Tadeu. Damita, her granddaughter Herminia and great grand daughter Alita were there as well. Tom, Margaret and Tommy had been found through pictures of their daughter or sister.

Tommy was very worried about Mary and ordered reinforcements to the probes monitoring her. Similar units were now sent to Andreaea, the singer in Florida.

Most of this would have to be investigated by people for probes were very crude and were not too useful at reading anything but surface thoughts.

The people were needed here though to continue our project and to hide it if that was still necessary. I knew now that our preparations would be useless. Men and weapons would come to the geographical centre of our activity and try to take what information from us if they could. Even the craters near our home would be found and the dome investigated even if they couldn't see it. Our defences were more than adequate but the ship in orbit was vulnerable to an attack. One possibility the Humans had would explode a nuclear device close to the vessel. Our defences would remove this direct threat but a large mass of energetic particles coming from the atomic explosion would pass the ship. Not only were our suits not designed to take this abuse but decontamination of the structural members would take literally years to accomplish.

I knew the outcome but I had to still have a meeting with the forces on Earth. There was always a chance that something was overlooked. The mental meeting immediately started with our own forces. This included even the ones that had been asleep. We had always known that one day we would have to go public and many interesting concepts had come out of our discussions. Similar meetings must have discussed what would happen if and when Humans found out positively that they were not alone in the universe.

The consensus turned out to be that we just contact the Humans at a diplomatic level. They would still want to have some information about us that will confirm what they have already found out. A 'live and let live' approach was the best we could hope for but the grasping Humans would want far more than that.

Humans I have found are very curious. Their memories are not very good. A thief is caught red handed was put in jail. In a few years the supposedly 'rehabilitated' person released then promptly elected to a responsible position by the same people that put him away the first time. The wiser thief now makes sure he is not caught again but still continues his old ways.

The vast majority of voters, or blind people, have no real conception of what their rulers are really like. They see staged scenes where compassion or some other worthy attribute is displayed and they think the leader good. It is as if their memories can only hold a few events and the new data pushes the old incriminating data out the bottom of the stack.

The top political positions are only gained by people willing to sell their souls to get where they wanted to go. A better description of the situation would be to liken it to hell where the bureaucrats were lower level demons.

The countries with only one political party presented their own representatives to the voters. Whether it was a Communist or a Capitalist country the effect was all the same. At the higher levels of government only the thieves and amoral leaders were able to gain a position of power. Window dressing was always applied to show that others had a chance to gain this position but they were denied by the majority of the voters. None of these marginal candidates had a chance against the well oiled political machinery run by those in power.

The only time this is not true is when a revolution takes place. This brings former power brokers and enemies together to fight the new kid on the block and put him back where he belongs. If the revolutionary succeeds it is soon found that they bend to the same vices as their predecessors. Graft is very hard to refuse and there are so many ways of hiding it.

Sandra commented on her country's former political leaders. Some had retired or quit under a cloud of controversy. They were never brought to account for their actions for fear that they actually would do what was asked of them. They knew how all the rest of their party had performed illegal activities. The opposition had their own ways of acquiring the benefits of being in power and being useful to the rich and influential. Most would want to have the corruption buried deep but it always oozed upward and hurt the very people they were supposed to protect. The horrible point was that her country was little different than any other.

It was postulated that if we came in clandestinely most countries would rather not admit to knowing of our presence because of the disruption of their populous. The countries making weapons, producing gold or oil or in fear of their fall from power would spread the information about us in hopes of making money or allowing them to stay in power

Coming in openly would cause a very major disruption in every country. Most of the strongly opinionated individuals would try to fit us into their conception of their religion. We were all quite sure we would not be classed as angels but more likely as the demons that haunted their own souls. The countries with a higher standard of education would handle us better but their own underachievers that depended on religion for their crutch would still oppose us.

There was only one rational way to proceed.

"Dingwall here."

"Hello General. My name is Leif Karamoonta. Do you have a few moments to speak to me?"

There was a long pause then the general said, "How did you get this number?"

"General, you have been investigating me for the last thirteen months and before that there was a low level investigation going on since I got to your quaint neighbourhood. During that time you have found that there is not much I cannot find out if I want to do so."

Again there was a long pause then, "What is it that you are phoning about Mr Karamoonta?"

"I didn't become aware of your investigation until two hours ago. You and your people have been doing a very good job of hiding your tracks. My most sincerest compliments go out to you and your men.

"Since your satellite has caught a glimpse of the ship we are building, it is moot whether we make ourselves known now or not. I am now asking your ideas on the matter. To come out openly will cause a great deal of turmoil. To come out secretly would lead one or more of the countries in the know to use the information for their own agenda. They could gain an advantage over the rest when they themselves tell the world and denounce us."

The general thought for a few seconds and said, "I will have to talk to some others about this."

"That's fine. You would find out more information in coming months but you would still not know much. For the record, I was only twelve years old when I came to Earth. My body is very close to what a Human would have. Our mind is very superior and we can control our bodies to a very great degree. I happen to fall in love with two Humans and I started a family when things had settled down. In the meantime I have expanded our group but it is just over a hundred and twenty at the moment. We have a goodly amount of children but those did not directly come from your planet. My objective is to recruit more people to build and crew the ship you saw. I will send them out to explore the galaxy much as what my own people are presently doing. I will continue to make ships and send them out until I get tired and then somebody else will have to continue."

When the general figured I was not going to continue he said, "We had lots of ideas but not that one. It does fit in with the way you and your people act. I imagine our people are going to ask about trade. This could be mutually beneficial to both of us."

"I am sorry general but you have nothing to give me. I may give you some things that will make life easier but nothing that can be turned into a weapon I am afraid. This will have to be viewed as a token of friendship but I fear that many will try to bite the hand that feeds them."