Chapter 496

The Prison Planet

“We brought you a gazillion pairs of panties, negligees, robes and the like,” Arlene said. “Oh, I so hope you like them. Kayla and I have some similar ones, and we love them, and ... so does our husband,” she quietly said while glancing in Jeff’s direction.

Jasmine hardly knew what to say. “Uh, you didn’t have to do any of that. I don’t even know you people, but I, uh we certainly appreciate everything. And ... I didn’t pack any sexy sleepwear. To be truthful, I never expected to become close to Morales, but ... things happened. Now, thanks to you guys, I’ll have something pretty to wear to bed, but I am going to pay for everything. I have no idea what all you have in those boxes and bags, but...”

“We’ll discuss it later,” Diana hedged, but Jasmine knew she was trying to put off the accounting, and vowed to herself that she wouldn’t let this beautiful woman get away without repaying her and the others.

“No discussion necessary,” Jeff’s women said in unison before they all looked at each other and giggled like schoolgirls.

As Jasmine stared at first one, then the other of the women, Diana tried to keep from giggling again. “Excuse us, please, but we tend to do that more often than you would ever believe. And ... as you can probably imagine, it sometimes drives our husband crazy.”

Jasmine saw her opening to ask about their obvious multi-person marriage, but Kayla broke in to remind, “The pizza. Shall we eat while it’s still hot?”

“Oh, and they do smell heavenly,” Jasmine said with an exaggerated sniff.

“What can I do to help?” Diana asked.

“Well, there are plates there on the shelf,” the anthropologist began while motioning.

“May, I?” Kayla, who was closer, asked. At Jasmine’s nod, the wives hastened to get the plates and pass them out.

The pizza turned out to be as superb as Whitworth had known it would be, since he had eaten at the small pizza place many times.

When they had all eaten their fill, there were two pizzas left. “Shall I put these in the freezer?” Morales asked Jasmine, his voice teasing.

“You bet. We can warm them and have pizza again later.” Turning to the others as Morales put on his weapons, she said, “Mr. Morales constructed a small rock box just outside the door to keep our leftover food in. It had to be made from something substantial to keep the animals out, big and small, and rock was all we had to work with. We can use the ice cave, of course, but for daily items, it’s much closer and more convenient. We keep some of the ice cream that I brought in it as well, although we’re eating that very sparingly. One of these days, we’ll have a wooden door on our little ‘freezer‘, but we were pressed for time when he built it, so, at the moment, we have to move a couple of rocks to access the inside. Come warm weather, we’ll have to walk back to the ice cave to get to all our cold food, though.”

Seeing Morales putting on his weapons, Jeff said, “There’s nothing out there, or the troopers would have warned me.”

Morales stopped to grin at him. “Assumptions on 2214 are dangerous. We always go armed when we go outside, no matter how short the intended stay.”

“I stand corrected,” Jeff replied with a smile. “Well done.”

Jeff was almost certain he saw the beginning of a blush on Morales’ face before he picked up the extra pizzas, and he and the wolves went out the door.

“He has done well for himself,” the General quietly said to Jasmine, “but are you certain you want to remain here with him?”

Jasmine let out a sigh. “When I’m ready, I would like to go back to present my dissertation for my doctorate, but please understand that my priorities have changed, and changed drastically. I have finally found the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. I had rather have a few more conveniences, which would certainly include both wind and solar power as well as building materials and the access to medicines. But please understand, I am happier here than I’ve ever been in my life. I love him, and doubtless, the feeling is returned. I know he did some bad things on Earth, but what are considered to be faults by our society there might well turn out to be only survival characteristics on this planet. But I am positive that, if need be, Morales would die for me, and I for him.”

Looking hard at the General, she continued, “Unless you promise me that I can return at my convenience, I will not venture from this planet.”

“Children...” Whitworth began, only to be cut off by a determined young woman.

“Women in primitive societies have been having babies since the beginning of time. As I said, I would love to have modern medicines and a few modern conveniences for my spouse, me and my children, but with or without, I will stay with him. Whether you believe it or not, he is a good man.

“With some equipment, we could have a homestead here with a farm to sustain us. Since I have been on assignment in the field so much of my career, I have been able to save almost all my salary. I could purchase a substantial amount of equipment to be used to work the fields your people have planted, and thus widen the variety and volume of foods that we could produce. But ... even if you will not allow me to purchase and bring back equipment, I will live my life here with the only man I have ever loved.

“In addition, I am willing to continue my studies here, and I think we all realize the importance of further study into just how Mr. Morales communicates so effectively with the wolves, and, to a lesser extent, how I am beginning to be able to as well. When my ... uh, partner comes back inside, I have yet more to discuss about something that Mr. Morales, and I to a lesser extent, have discovered in the ice cave.”

The General sat back before offering up his cup. “May I have another cup of that fine coffee?”

Jasmine grinned back at him as she came to her feet. “Yes, you certainly may, and as many more as you like.”

The Retreat

Kei stopped Jennie and Melissa in the hallway. “Hi, guys. Have you seen Diana? I have just received something from my lawyer that I would like to discuss with her.”

“Sorry,” Jennie said, but hesitated.

“She’s been blocked,” Melissa prompted. “Besides, she’s been watching the vids, too.”

“True,” Jennie responded before turning back to Kei. “Di, Arlene, Kayla and Selina have gone with Jeff and the General to visit Morales and Jasmine on the prison planet.”

Kei hesitated as she processed what Jennie had said. It was one thing to watch videos showing what two people were doing on a supposed other planet. Oh, she believed that the videos were real because she trusted the Matthews and they said they were. But ... it was an entirely different thing to find out that her friends were now on that planet. This strained her ability to believe them.

“They are...” she began, but couldn’t seem to get the rest of the sentence out.

The girls smiled at the young architect and hooked their arms through hers before herding her into the kitchen. “Sit,” Melissa said, pointing to the smaller of the kitchen tables while she went farther into the kitchen. Bringing back a tray with a pitcher of tea and glasses filled with ice, she put them on the table. As Jennie took over and poured their tea, Melissa continued, “You can bet that the General’s wives will have a video of what’s going on soon enough, and when they do, we’ll get a chance to see it, too. Jeff said they’re supposed to be gone only one day, but our sister-wives took sleeping bags with them, and with all the other things they took, I would bet that our husband didn’t even notice.”

“But ... they just...” Kei began before changing her mind. “Uh, how did they get there? To the planet, I mean. I know they mentioned some portal thing, but isn’t it supposed to be at the General’s base? How could they be at the planet so soon, or did you mean that they are on their way?”

“Oh, we’re sure they are already there,” Melissa assured her. “We heard Ship translate, so they were at the base almost instantly.”

“Ship? Uh, you told Edi and me about some alien ship, but, well, I...”

“ ... took it with a grain of salt, as our husband would say,” Jennie finished for her as she returned with a plate of freshly baked cookies that she put on the table, then sat and slid the plate closer to Kei. “You were busy with all the projects – Midville, our school and all the other things – and there just wasn’t time to tell you everything. In addition, telling something like that just isn’t enough. To really believe, you have to experience. But Kei, we weren’t trying to keep anything from you. Once you were enhanced and blocked, we had no reason to keep secrets.”

“We’ll have to introduce you to Ship,” Jennie added.

English was not Kei’s native language. Even though she had been born in the U.S., her parents had not been, and they didn’t use English exclusively at home. They never learned to use contractions properly, and to a large extent, Kei never picked it up, either, although she managed on occasion when she deliberately tried. Having noticed the unusual way they referred to the ship, and always wanting to make her English sound more natural, she questioned Jennie about the terminology.

The girls locked eyes for a moment before Melissa answered for them. “We don’t refer to her as the ship, because she insists that we call her by her name – Ship.”

“But...”

“I suppose you could say that she’s a sentient AI, but Kei, that would truly be a gross insult, because she’s so much more. Her brain is manufactured, well in a sense, I suppose, but, as our husband would say, truth be told, we don’t have the foggiest notion just how that race built her brain – built what is essentially her. She insists that she is female, but her builders were telepathic, so there’s a tremendous gulf of uncertainties in our understanding of her, not to mention the ship she’s built around herself.”

“But Kei,” Jennie broke in, “she’s alien. Oh, she seems to be a wonderful person, and she says – demands – that Jeff is her Prime. She obeys him and none other, well, except those others he designates. She’s ... a dimensional starship/battleship, and we’re certain that only scratches the surface of what she’s capable of.”

Kei hesitated before asking, “You said something about ‘translation’. I am not familiar with the word in the obvious context you are using it. What did you mean, please?”

“Did you hear the ‘thunder’ earlier?” Melissa asked.

“Well, come to think of it, I suppose I did hear a muffled rumble in the distance, but I did not pay much attention to it.”

“That was Ship translating with everyone on board. In the next instant, they would have been high over the General’s base. She also has an inertialess drive, so you can bet she was at the base in the next few seconds after the translation.”

“But...” Kei got out before her jumbled thoughts stopped her again.

Jennie continued for the two, causing Kei to look from one to the other as they continued their conversation as if only one of the girls were speaking. “We’ve never even seen the portal, but Jeff has used it many times as he and his team went on missions to other worlds.”

“How do you do that?” Kei asked them.

“Do what?” the two answered in unison, not even realizing what they had been doing.

“You ... shift from one person to the other without, uh, even hesitating. You just carry on the thought from one sentence to the next as if there is only one of you speaking.”

Grinning, the girls glanced at each other, then in perfect unison, “We don’t even realize it most of the time. When you marry our husband, you will probably be able to do it, too.”

Jennie continued without the slightest hesitation, “If we concentrate, we can carry on a conversation while alternating words, but our husband has set his foot down about that. We think it’s hilarious, though, especially when there are several of us doing it, but our husband