Chapter 463

The Retreat

Since all of the Alphas and their wives had come for the wedding, Jeff used the opportunity to call for a meeting. With the overnight guests already in their suites, and the other guests headed back to Security headquarters or their homes, the extended Matthews Clan gathered in one of the meeting rooms.

Jeff spent thirty minutes or so standing before them as he brought everyone up to date on the aliens and the status of Earth’s defenses, before he changed the subject. “On many occasions, we have had discussions about enhancement, but with only Ship and Little One able to do the job, we’ve never determined a fair way to decide who is to be enhanced and who isn’t as far as the public is concerned. I absolutely refuse to enslave Little One into continual enhancement – even if she would consent to do it – and Ship, being her own master, has already informed me that her primary objective is to quote, ‘Protect my Prime and carry out your orders’. She says she will obey me, but also said quite bluntly that she was not interested in spending twenty-four hours per day saving the lives of people she doesn’t even know. In other words, she wants nothing to do with this because it would take away from her prime objective, and she strongly advised against starting any such program involving the public.

“I prodded her about the other Healers that have all gone inert, but she says their abilities are far less than Little One’s, and they have certainly not developed their own energy source like Little One has. As best I can determine, her original intent was to produce more Healers like Little One, but that didn’t happen. They’re AIs that have little initiative, and certainly are not self-aware individuals like Little One. After her failures, Ship decided to use them as her version of a battlefield medkit – and only that. When I tried to delve deeper into the subject, she said that since her instructions were to build the most advanced battle ship she could devise, she had assumed that she would have a complement of – well – her version of Marines, I suppose. I received a mental picture of what appeared to be heavily armed warriors. Since that does not seem to be on the agenda at present, she has allowed the other Healers to be...” With a sigh, he went on, “Again, the mental image seems to indicate stopped, or inert, but don’t hold me to either term.

“But, now: Little One. As I’ve mentioned in the past when this subject has come up, if I position her in a hospital emergency room, she could, doubtlessly, save lives, but at what cost? She can help only so many. What about all the other emergency rooms, cancer wards and so forth throughout the country? Who am I to decide who lives and who dies? Nor, do I have to mention what would happen should the politicians or the ultra rich ever find out about her. Present company excepted,” he said as he grinned at Frank Wainwright. “Little One can’t be everywhere at once, and Ship says that she has basically given up on duplicating Little One. Apparently, she was an experiment that took on a life of its own. Keep in mind that no matter how overwhelmingly great Ship’s mind is, she is still alien. Sometimes, her mental projections leave me without a clue, so I’m summarizing what I think she means.

“Following the bear attack and Little One’s subsequent enhancement, she was able to open a dimensional power source, and with it came a boost in Little One’s intelligence and abilities. As I’ve mentioned before, she seems to be adamantly against my leaving her for more than short periods of time, the exception being at night. She frequently chooses to stay in the bed drawer we devised for her, but even then, she’s only a few feet from me. She knows if I leave the building, and when I return, she ... chastises me for not taking her with me.”

“Might be that she’s trying to get away from the screams of your women at night,” Evie inserted with a grin.

That produced several chuckles from the extended family.

Jeff blushed and, a bit flustered, quickly went on. “I, uh ... have discussed with Ship the ‘reactivation’ of the other Healers for our off-planet exploration teams as well as my own team. Those Healers could stabilize the wounded until they could arrive at advanced medical care. I’ve also considered having one in the cockpit of all our interceptors when the aliens arrive. But none of this is carved in stone. I’m just bringing the family up to date on what’s going on and my thinking. I certainly don’t know whether things will work out the way I envision them or not.”

Jeff paused to finish the last of his coffee and held the cup out as Arlene refilled it yet again. “Thank you, Wife,” he returned while smiling at her. There was a pause as Arlene, Susan and Ann refilled coffee for the others before the Prime went on. “The primary reason I called this meeting, though, is to discuss Mike and Marie. More specifically, their enhancement.”

“So,” Dave asked, “he’s an Alpha?”

Jeff didn’t respond right away. Then finally, “Nooo. Not per se. But, I think he’s ... close. I’m beginning to wonder exactly what an Alpha is...”

Frank Wainwright grunted out a sigh. “I know several CEOs that claim to be Alpha males. And ... they have certainly become wealthy and control large businesses, but most of them have no scruples – none. Unfortunately, women seem to flock to them, anyway, and they – the so-called Alphas – seem to continue to gain power and prestige.”

Jeff nodded. “Yeah, I know. And I suppose they are Alphas, just not our kind of Alphas. But back to Mike. I, at first, thought that an Alpha was born an Alpha, and to some degree, that is still true, but ... possibly there is more to it than that. When I first met him, I didn’t feel the instant Alpha recognition that usually occurs when I’m in close proximity to another Alpha, but the more I’m around him, the more I think he’s... different. I just wanted to tell the group about that, and also to inform all of you that I’m going to enhance them, provided that they agree to the blocks, and none of you have strong feelings against my doing so. Trying to keep our secrets from anyone whom we closely associate with quickly becomes a hassle, so the blocks will be necessary, and in addition, they will both be encountering the public on a regular basis, which again makes the blocks an absolute necessity. Any objections concerning the enhancements?”

Diana raised her voice. “I know you aren’t asking our permission, but I like both of them and I hate the thought of them leaving – at least, leaving the area.”

Jeff nodded. “I agree. As far as I’m concerned, there’s just something about Mike that makes me want to keep him around, and Marie is certainly nice, too.” Jeff paused for a moment before going on with, “When I came out from under that machine, Mike was lying on his belly watching me. He had to have seen me put my back against the bottom of the borer and raise it up. He knows that I shouldn’t have been able to do that. I saw the look on his face then, and I’ve seen that same look several times since then. Dammit, I know he’s going to ask sooner or later, and I do not want to lie to him. I also really like Marie, and I want to keep the two of them close to our extended family.”

As he glanced around him, Selina caught his eye and winked. Smiling back at her, he asked the group, “So, any objections?”

There were no negative responses, and several other positive ones. “Okay. As soon as I can, I’ll approach the subject of the block with them. If they give me permission to do it, I’ll have Little One enhance them at that point.”

Frank Wainwright glanced at his wives and, when they smiled, he turned to Jeff. “After you talked to me about a job for Hall, Margaret and I had the CEOs from our various companies send their lists of job openings. Until your announcement, my decision would have been a tossup between Denver and Houston. Both are excellent positions, but with your comments, it looks like the Denver position will be the one. If, of course, Mike wants the job. It pays considerably more than what you told me he made with the boring company, and the Denver company has excellent benefits. Oh, by the way, he tried to talk to me at the reception, but I put him off until after his honeymoon. No use his worrying about a new job and screwing up his and Marie’s honeymoon in the process.”

“Thanks, Frank, and you too, Ladies,” Jeff responded as he nodded to Wainwright’s wives. “Okay, it’s getting really late,” he continued as he looked around at all of them. “If there isn’t anything else pressing, I suggest we get some sleep.”

Diana waited until Selina had left the room before goosing her husband in the ribs and saying loud enough for all to hear, “As if us girls are going to bed and sleep after a wedding? Weddings make us horny, remember, Husband?” she finished as she stood on tiptoe to kiss him.

With laughter and giggling prominent, the families who lived at the Retreat headed for their suites while the visiting families went to the suites they normally used when they stayed over. Most didn’t actually sleep for the next couple of hours. The thought of his early-morning run didn’t even cross Jeff’s mind when he was finally able to put his head down on a pillow – well, to sleep, that is.

The Prison Planet

... Twenty minutes later, they had the first section cut to length and the ski rig under the front with Lobo harnessed and ready to help Morales pull. Jasmine was in the back ready to push. Morales, in a good mood, yelled out, “Mush, you huskies, mush, “ while waving his arm as if he was using a whip.

“Too much TV when you were a kid,” Jasmine gasped out, but she was laughing so hard she could barely add to the effort.

Since the log section wasn’t big and the hill sloped toward the cave, they made the trip without incident. After pausing for a drink of water, they returned to cut the next section. Thus went the morning until they had five log sections lying side by side in the cave.

“That will work for now,” Morales said while beginning the flattening of one side of the first log, all the while surreptitiously watching Jasmine’s breasts sway under the fatigue shirt as she began preparations for a late lunch.

Why did she bring bras if she wasn’t going to wear them? Morales asked himself as he glanced in her direction from time to time. From her washing, it’s obvious she changes panties every day, but there’s only one bra on the line. There’s no doubt she isn’t wearing one this morning, either, because her breasts jiggle or sway a bit every now and then. Is she teasing me? Is she coming on to me? She’s made it clear that she isn’t going to do anything sexual with me, but, dammit, like the guy said in that movie, she’s sending conflicting messages. Unconsciously shaking his head, his mind continued to worry at the subject. Get your thoughts away from your dick, Idiot. She wouldn’t fuck you on a bet. She’s just proud of those tits and likes showing them off. I wonder if the thing with her boob sticking out of the top of the sleeping bag was really an accident. But it sure was a nice view. I guess I’ll never get that image out of my mind. Hell, I hope I never forget, because it will be something to jerk off to when she’s gone. But dammit, her sleeping bag is so close that I don’t dare take things in hand. She would hear me for sure. Hmmm. I wonder if those noises she made last night were a dream or ... Best not think about that, he scolded himself.

He had just finished flattening the opposite side of the log when Jasmine called him to lunch.

After he washed up, they sat to eat. “Jasmine,” he started, “uh, you mentioned that you hadn’t come here to be the ‘chief cook and bottle washer’, and please understand that I’m certainly not complaining. Hell, you’re twice the cook I am, but you’re still spending a lot of time cooking for me...”

She winked at him and subtly shook her head, obviously cautioning him not to say anything in front of the cameras, but then went on with, “Well, I have to cook for myself, too. I’m going to continue to help you on some of your projects, and, one day soon, I hope you will assist me in exploring farther into the main cave,” she said while nodding on down the passageway. “I brought one roll of paracord, but that certainly won’t be enough. Do you have more rope, or will we have to mark our route some other way?”

Morales took time to swallow the bite in his mouth as he thought over what she had said. “I used some strong fishing line to mark my route back the other time I explored. I suppose the General’s intention was to stock me for life, and I guess he did, but for whatever reason, I have many thousands of feet of it. I hooked the reel to my belt and let the line feed out behind me. We can do that again. Once the first spool is used up, we can simply tie another section on and keep going. I think we should still rope ourselves together, but even then, I’m going to be uncomfortable not having a safety rope. If we step off a ledge or whatever it’s called in a cave, there isn’t anything to stop us like we had in the ... uh, other part of the cave.”