Chapter 318

Deep Space

... There was quiet for a time before the AI continued. "You are the commanders. How shall we proceed?"

Dave and Evie looked at each other, then back at the screen. "Do it," they said in unison.

"Probe away," the AI instantly responded.

"Wha..." Dave started, but stopped himself.

"It was logical to assume that you would accept my suggestion. Therefore, I had already prepared the probe for launch."

"How long before we know something?" Evie asked anxiously.

"Approximately twenty-four hours."

"What?" Dave exclaimed, this time with a deep frown on his face.

"We are at extreme sensor range. If it is to have sufficient time to gather data while passing, the probe must be moving very slowly relative to the ship. The probe's velocity cannot vary, since it must appear to be a stray bit of flotsam from the asteroid belt. Therefore, it will take an equal amount of time for it to drift out of sensor range on the other side of the ship as it does to approach the ship from this side. After it has passed the ship and I am certain it was not detected or considered a threat, we will take an appropriate roundabout route to collect it. Using this procedure, we and it should remain undiscovered throughout the probe's travels."

"So, we're stuck here for at least another twenty-four hours?"

"'Stuck' is not the word I would have chosen, but it is essentially correct. In addition, should the probe detect properly operating warp engines on the ship, or a strong possibility thereof, leaving at this juncture would present a high risk of losing contact with the aliens. However, properly operating warp engines do not produce hull leaks, nor a ship that oscillates in and out of our current dimension."

With a smile, Evie looked over at her husband. "I think it just said we would be home for Christmas."

Dave nodded slightly. "Isn't there any other way to find out if their engines are operative?"

"Certainly. I could scan the ship."

"And..." Evie prompted.

"And I would surmise that within a few seconds, at most, we would also detect the alien ship charging its weapons, if not actively firing on us. And again, I warn you, our shields are not capable of deterring their weapons for any meaningful length of time."

"And our weapons?" Evie asked.

"Could possibly scorch the paint on their vessel, to use one of your Earth expressions, assuming ... our beam somehow managed to override their shields to even touch their hull, but of course, their hull does not require paint. Again, I advise you to remember your training. This is a scout; not a warship. Stealth and the ability to flee at high warp are our only viable defenses against an enemy of this magnitude."

"Shit," Dave growled. "I wanted to be there Christmas morning when Jeff and Diana opened their gift from us."

"We might still be, Baby. It doesn't take long to get home," Evie said, but her voice was almost as wistful as her husband's. Reaching over the console between them, she caressed her husband's cock through his jeans. "I'm not sore anymore, Hon. Want to pass some time away while we wait?"

"Anytime, Lover," he responded.

"And you," Dave, in his frustration, snarled at the AI, "just make damn sure you don't turn your camera back on, or whatever the hell you use to see us with in our quarters."

"Yes, Commander," the AI responded in its best imitation of humble. Then to itself, I will not turn it back on, since I never turned it off. Humans are so amusing to watch, particularly when they are mating.

The Retreat

Without bothering to ask if he wanted coffee, Jill poured a cup for Jeff. After handing it to him, she motioned with the carafe. Diana and Arlene shook their heads, but Bill and Kathy both nodded. Jill refilled their cups before refilling her own. Make-work to pass the time finished, she sat beside her husband to nervously wait for Eileen to awaken.

Bill felt that he owed Jeff an explanation. "I ... really don't know how it happened. She sat across from me in the pilot's lounge and we got started casually talking. First thing I knew, she was sitting beside me and ... I was really attracted to her. I denied it to Kathy," he said as he looked at his wife, "but thinking back, something must have clicked with us. Whatever it was, Kathy picked up on it I suppose, because she took Eileen down the hall and came back alone."

"I was jealous, obviously," Kathy interrupted to say. "She was arching her back to stick her breasts out in Bill's face, and it pissed me off. He wasn't mine then, but I had hopes, and I surely wasn't going to let her horn in on him, mine or not."

"But now..." Jeff prompted.

Kathy sighed. "Jill was good enough to accept me as Bill's second wife, and ... oh, I don't know. It began slowly, I suppose, but then I couldn't seem to get it off my mind. I knew that Bill needed another wife. It just wasn't right for a man – an Alpha – like him to have only two wives when you have fourteen." She stopped for a second as she and Jill smiled at each other. "That's not exactly what I mean. It's just..."

"And I feel the same way," Jill inserted. "I can't explain it any better than Kathy. It just... has to be."

Diana, sitting in her husband's lap, kissed him on the cheek. "Ever heard that before, Husband?" she teasingly asked. Then turning back to the others, "You two have just become his Queens – haven't you? Feel anything different?"

Kathy and Jill passed a look before they said in unison, "Absolutely," both breaking into quiet laughter.

Eileen, sitting slumped in a comfortable chair, opened her eyes, sat up straighter and said to Jeff, "I'm ready whenever you are."

There were chuckles from everyone.

"Why are all of you laughing at me?" she asked, indignantly.

Bill walked over to kneel in front of her chair as he took her hand. "We're not laughing at you. We've all been where you are, and most of us have said generally the same thing, if not exactly the same thing you just did. It's over with. The block is in."

"But..." she hesitantly responded as she tried to determine if she felt anything different. "I ... don't think it worked with me."

That brought another round of chuckles, albeit a bit more subdued.

"As I said before, you will not feel the block unless you began to divulge something to someone who is not blocked," Jeff reminded. "The block is a result of adapted alien technology. It, in its original configuration, was engineered by a telepathic race, and now that it has been modified for humans, monitors your thoughts. By the time your thoughts about a subject are converted into speech, it has already determined if you are in forbidden territory, and keys the nausea if you are. Please trust me on this: don't try to push it. If you feel the nausea, stop. The nausea progression isn't linear, but is probably closer to exponential; In other words, it gets bad very quickly."

From the look on Eileen's face, he realized that he had probably gone too far with his warning, but just as he started to try to explain, Diana spoke up.

"The only person around here hardheaded enough to challenge the block is my esteemed husband, and he did that because I, through my own stupidity and arrogance, pushed him into it. He loved me enough to continue to fight the block to try to explain something he should never have had to explain. I should have taken him at his word. But anyway, he was able to do it because he's a Prime. It isn't supposed to be possible, but to tell me what I insisted he tell me, he fought it. I will, forever, be ashamed of myself for pushing the love of my life like that."

"But ... who insists on these block things? Why do we have to have them?"

"The General," Jeff responded, "and you haven't met him yet. The programming of the block has been extended to cover our family because of the interconnections." When Jeff noticed the frown on Eileen's face, "We'll tell you everything, but it will take time simply because there is so much to tell. It's obvious that you're worried, and I certainly don't blame you, but please try to trust us until we are able to bring you fully up to date with everything about..."

" ... The Matthews clan," Arlene inserted with a grin.

"The Matthews clan," Jeff finished.

"Come on," Arlene said coming to her feet and grasping Eileen by the hand. "How about helping us fix supper? It's a great way to get to know all the wives here."

"I've never been much of a cook," Eileen shyly said as she stood, "but I'm certainly willing to help."

"First off, you need to know a few things about Alphas," Arlene continued as Diana, Kathy and Jill followed Arlene and Eileen out the door. Eileen managed one glance at Bill who winked and nodded at her.

A few minutes after the women entered the kitchen, the other wives started coming in. Within moments, the kitchen seemed to be a madhouse of women hurrying back and forth with multiple conversations going on at the same time.

Arlene reached to pull a big vegetable chopper out of its garage in the wall behind one of the counters. Just as she moved forward, another woman walked through the space Arlene had just vacated. Within a few minutes, Eileen had seen multiple instances of this as the many women walked back and forth preparing the meal. The females never bumped into each other as the happy chatter went on. It was as if everything had been choreographed.

Arlene showed Eileen where they washed the carrots in one of the sinks, then how they ran them through the peeler before feeding them into the vegetable chopper. Just as the last of the carrots rolled out of the chopper, Nat picked up the big bowl of carrots and dumped them into a large pot of water on the stove, all the while chatting with Nicki, who was preparing celery.

Eileen's mouth watered as the smell of yeast rolls baking permeated the kitchen. Hope and Jennie pulled a dozen pies from a side oven and put them on a rack to cool. Diana and Laura had a stack of steaks that looked to Eileen as if it were half a cow's worth. Eileen was more than a little overwhelmed by the large commercial restaurant equipment and the bustling hive of activity surrounding her.

"But ... uh, it was as if she knew we were going to finish the last of the carrots at that very instant..." Eileen stammered.

Arlene let out a little laugh. "Oh, you catch on quickly. She did know when the carrots would be ready to go, so she came by to pick them up."

"But ... but ... How could..."

"Part of being an Alpha's wife," Arlene answered, mysteriously. "I knew we were about to finish with them, so she did, too." At Eileen's look, Arlene went quickly on, "Oh, we're not telepaths, but we sometimes ... feel – for lack of a better word – what our sister-wives feel, and sometimes even what our husband is feeling. Oh, it's complicated, but once Bill has made love to you, it won't be long until you'll feel a lot closer to all of us. And, of course, Little One still has to enhance you. That will help your awareness and many other things about your body too. There wasn't time before supper, but as soon as we finish eating, Daddy and Little One will take care of your enhancement."

"'Daddy?' Uh, I haven't met him, and what's this enhancement? I'm not sure that I..."

"Oops. Forgot that you haven't been told about that yet. Well, I guess now is as good a time as any, but please don't freak out on me. My father is ... Jeff – my husband." At the look on Eileen's face, Arlene went quickly on, "After Little One enhances you, your body will be perfect in every way. No more aging, no more sickness of any kind. No possibility of a child not being born perfect. No physical reason to worry about incest. Absolutely none."