Chapter 328

The Retreat

After a time of admiring their gifts, the women went to their suites to put them away before agreeing to meet in the kitchen, taking time out to dress and make themselves beautiful, of course. The men, knowing what would happen to them if they didn’t volunteer, pitched in to take the trash bags of wrapping paper and boxes to the incinerator and generally to put the living room back in order.

Matt, not having done it before, found himself having a ball on one of the riding vacuums while, Art, Bill and Jesse manned smaller vacuums. The others either moved furniture for the men vacuuming or returned it to its regular place after the area had been cleaned.

With the living room pristine again – at least pristine as far as the men were concerned – Jeff went to the kitchen, made coffee, and returned with a big insulated carafe of it, along with cups, cream, sugar, sweetener for those who wanted it, and freshly-warmed donuts. While most of the women preferred clothes and jewelry for their presents, the men received some clothing, of course, but they mainly received a preponderance of “toys.” Their toys varied from computer games to new pistols and rifles, and in Jeff’s case, a pair of matching single action .44 caliber frontier Colts with their actions redone by a master of the trade, and accompanying fast-draw holsters that could be worn singly or double on the western belt.

Diana, worrying that he might not have reloading dies for .44 caliber, had ordered those as well. They had money to buy all the ammunition they could ever fire, but Diana and Arlene knew that Jeff liked to load his own ammo, experimenting with the “perfect” load that would produce the most accuracy. There was no need to order powder and primers; Jeff had enough stored to last for a very long time, even with his experimenting. She had also ordered two thousand bullets of various weights and configurations from the same company he ordered his .45 caliber bullets from. (Projectiles, not the whole cartridges) She didn’t know how much .44 ammunition Jeff had in the magazine across from the firing range, so to get him started, she had snuck in ten cases several weeks ago, hiding them under cases of 9 mm ammunition so he might not notice them. Jeff had mentioned a replica of Winchester’s Yellow Boy .44 caliber lever action rifle, saying it was the best replica of the old rifle on the market. So, of course, there had been one of those under the tree with his Colts.

There was plenty of food on the breakfast bar, although there wasn’t as much variety as usual this morning. (The women wanted to “play” with their toys, too.) The men insisted on helping to clean up after breakfast, getting in the way more than anything else, but the women allowed them to, anyway. Then laughing together, they restacked the dishes properly in the washers after the men left the kitchen, very proud that they had “helped” their spouses.

The midday Christmas meal that the Southerners insisted on calling dinner was at one, and there was just about everything imaginable on the table. With every Alpha and his women there, and several of the big tables pulled together, Jeff said a short prayer thanking God for their blessings and the food. The Prime was honored with the job of slicing the first turkey. After he began, Diana and Susan sliced the other turkeys and everyone started passing around the abundance of food.

Eileen, caught up in the uplifting mood, ate with relish, and, at the same time, could feel the joy and love that seemed to flow around her. There was nothing sexual happening, but as emotions swept over her, she was hard put to hold back tears of joy, a joy more intense than she had ever felt before – a joy of living, of love, of being together with the ones that you loved. And yes, that included her. She realized that she did, indeed, love Bill. She had been attracted to him as soon as she saw him the first time. Then in Saint Louis when they sat near each other, she had experienced an almost overwhelming lust. The lust was still there, but now that lust was accompanied by an intensity of love that she had never imagined could exist.

Kathy reached to touch Eileen’s hand when she noticed her quietly crying.

“What?” asked a startled Eileen.

Then after a short pause, Kathy asked, “Are you okay?” as Eileen wiped her tears with the beautiful napkin that bore the Matthews Mountain crest.

“I’ve never been more okay in my life,” Eileen choked out.

“You’ve decided,” Jill stated more than asked, leaning over so she wouldn’t have to speak loudly, but with all the laughter and conversations going on, the chance of others farther down the table overhearing was slim, anyway.

“Yep,” Eileen responded in a shaky voice, then took a sip of her drink to try to get control of her emotions before she broke down and cried like a baby.

Bill noticed the tears, concern flashing across his face, but before he could speak, Jill nudged him with a foot and shook her head, then mouthed, “She’s happy.”

Bill, being an old married man, had long since learned not to try to fix a wife when she wasn’t broken. “If I can help...” he whispered to Jill, but when she shook her head again and smiled at him, he turned back to continue his conversation with the Sheriff.

“You guys sure you’re okay with this? I still have a hard time believing you would share.” Eileen worried.

Jill leaned over to whisper, “Honey, he can make the most fantastic love that you could ever imagine, or he can fuck you until you’re still seeing stars tomorrow. You won’t be taking anything away from us – except maybe some soreness,” she said with a chuckle. “But ... he’s an Alpha, so I doubt that Kathy and I will see any difference in our lovemaking with him at all. Now, you’ll be walking funny every morning just like us.”

Eileen was sure everyone at the table was watching her blush, but if anyone was, they didn’t comment on it.

Eileen, even though the meal was the most elaborate she had ever seen, was ashamed to realize that her thoughts had been centered on Bill while she ate. When the meal was over, she began helping remove the dishes from the table to help the other women, but Diana walked up to whisper in the pilot’s ear, “Not today. Kathy tells me you have been bugging Bill to show you the Ship. Arlene is on the way out there now to have Ship prepare a suite for you and Bill. Why don’t the two of you put it to use? Not everyone can say their first time with their future husband was on a starship. Something you can embarrass your grandkids with some day.” When Eileen’s face flamed, the Queen hugged her.

“I ... I don’t know what to say...”

“Sweetheart, we’re all married to Alphas, or at least living with one, all except the girls, of course. But even they know what is going on, and all three are waiting to be old enough to be someone’s wife. When an Alpha calls his mate, it’s all over but the shouting, as Mom is prone to say. Even she succumbed to her Alpha – my husband – and she’ll tell you he is the best thing that’s ever happened to her. So don’t be ashamed, instead hold your head up and be proud that you’re going to mate with the man you love.”

“I know. It’s just that it’s so quick.”

Diana let a sexy giggle slip. “Been there; done that. And ... I have a daughter to prove it. My man picked me out to be his mate when I was thirteen. Made love to me and deliberately got me pregnant, and according to him, he did it to assure that I would not get away from him. He claims I’m the Clan Queen. There is no woman happier on the face of this Earth. Now get your man to show you the Ship, and screw his brains out. All of us will be rooting for you. I can guarantee you that.”

Jill and Kathy each grabbed one of Eileen’s hands and practically dragged her into the hallway. At the first alcove, Jill, told her to sit. “We’ll go get him and tell him you are waiting for a tour of the Ship.”

The Prison Planet

Morales, nude and barefoot, made his way carefully along the steeply sloping bank. Despite his care, he had gone to his knees more than once to keep from sliding into the water before he reached the container. The long boxlike object seemed to mock him as it sat with one end precariously lodged on a spit of embankment and tethered by the rope to keep it from traveling farther downstream.

Wading into the edge of the churning water, he grabbed a convenient handle and pulled, managing to get one end of the thing a couple of feet onto the steep bank. Dammit, if the water wasn’t up so much from the storm, I would have a couple of feet of beach before the slope started, he thought as he gave one last heave, pulling with every last ounce of his strength.

The container seemed fairly secure for the moment, so he hurried as best he could back to the tree and freed the rope. Worrying that the container would slip back into the water and escape farther downstream, he made his way back as quickly as he could, keeping a tree in mind that he could quickly loop the rope around should the thing began to move.

His worry was needless because the container didn’t move at all, but he felt better when he had the rope secured around a tree not far up the bank. Back at the container, he wiped away some of the mud and grit to try to read the printing on the sides. With some effort and by comparing what he could see of the printing on both sides of the thing, he finally decided that it was a resupply case for an expedition to 2214-XR.

Shit, he thought as he inspected the latches, I wonder how old this thing is. He sniggered aloud when he realized that the pompous General had lost one of his resupply cases. “Well, your loss is my gain,” he said aloud. “Now, let’s see if I can get this thing open. Knowing my luck, though, it’s full of water and anything in it is spoiled.”

The latches were simple enough and there were six of them. “Shit, they really meant for this thing to stay closed,” he muttered as he flipped the last one open. Raising the lid proved to be something altogether different. As he put more effort into it, his feet went out from under him and he slid the few feet into the edge of the stream.

“Fuck!” he yelled out as he came to his feet in knee-deep water, slinging mud from his hands. While he was there, he washed the worst of the mud off his ass and legs. Grabbing a rock about the size of his head, he slammed it into the muddy bank beside the case, burying the rock about half way. With a foot propped on the rock so he could stand without busting his ass again, he grabbed hold of the top and lifted. Grudgingly, it seemed, and with a hiss of escaping air, the top gave against reluctant hinges. Once the top was open far enough, he put a shoulder under it, and with his hands to help, pushed upward until the top was half open.

To his amazement, the inside of the case was dry and contained a double row of containers that were a dull olive color. The containers were stacked two high from the front almost to the back, where there was a bigger container of the same color. Each container was sealed with a locking system similar to the case itself.

He opened the nearest container to the same hiss of escaping air to discover it was stacked completely full of canned food. (All of the containers containing food would hiss like that when they were opened.) On the other side of the case he opened another container at random, this one containing bags of freeze-dried foods. Finally, logic took over. I need to get this into my cave. Looking up the hill, his thoughts continued, I can’t risk leaving this ... case or whatever it is out here overnight, and it’s going to take a while to get it up this hill. “Damn this mud,” he railed aloud as he closed the two containers he had opened, then pushed the lid down on the resupply case, systematically locking it again.

With one of his rare smiles, almost trembling in his excitement, he weighed his options. I could empty everything out and take the inside containers up the hill one at a time, but then I would still have to bring the case up somehow. But trying to carry these heavy containers and get myself up this muddy hillside over and over would be a bitch, then I would still have the case to bring up. Or... The smile turned into a grin as an idea struck. I could pull the thing up the hill with my block and tackle, but no way will that reach all the way from the cave. “Shit. Nothing is easy,” he snarled.

Inside the cave a couple of minutes later, he stood looking at the block and tackle on its shelf. Shit. There aren’t enough trees in a straight line from the stream to the cave to pull the thing straight up the hill in twenty foot segments, and damned if I’m going to drag the thing all over the hillside when I can hook a rope to a tree just outside the cave and pull the bastard straight up the hill. Hmmm, I can let out a section of rope far enough down the hill that the block and tackle will reach the rest of the way, pull the case up as far as the tackle will pull it, tie things off, shorten the rope, hook the tackle back on and do another pull. It will take a while, but it’s doable.