Chapter 500

The Prison Planet

When Jasmine had the grill positioned above the fire, she went over to one of her cook shelves to take down a big box of foil wrap as well as other foil sheets that she had obviously used before. Turning back to the others, she said, “We roast our potatoes in the coals wrapped in this, and as you can see, we’re careful to save the foil whenever possible. No store around here,” she finished with a chuckle.

Diana’s grin got bigger, but she didn’t mention that she had depleted the Retreat’s store of foil wrap as well as many other things when she found out they were coming for a visit. No, Jasmine wouldn’t run out of foil in the near future, nor, for that matter, any other type of kitchen wrap, either – far from it.

Normally, Jasmine and Morales had a single lantern going on its pole if they remained near the fire, but if they were working farther down the big passageway, they had a second lantern set up there. Jasmine knew that the Matthews had to be accustomed to much more light, and with a larger number of people spread out over a bigger area of the cave, she was worried. Turning to Diana, “Uh, you brought several lanterns. Mind if we use a couple to light up more of our living area?”

Diana smiled at her. “Everything we brought belongs to you and Morales. Use them as you please.”

“But...” Jasmine began, frustrated and embarrassed at how much the Matthews had brought. When Diana just smiled and shook her head, Jasmine gave up, called Morales over, kissed him on the cheek and gave him his instructions. As he smiled and started to turn away to do her bidding, she took his face in her hands and kissed him thoroughly, causing him to blush and Selina to giggle.

Diana took in the look of love that passed between the two and smiled.

Morales found his small sledgehammer and chose two ironwood limbs. After sharpening one end of each with his woodworking tools, he chose a likely place and pounded one peg in just past the shelves, and then the other on the opposite wall of the cave. With a lantern hanging on each peg, plus the two original lanterns on their poles, each putting out 1400 lumens, even the larger area they were now using was very well lit.

Both Jasmine and Morales turned to thank Diana and Jeff for the lanterns yet again, but she interrupted to say, “Most of my sister-wives have been wanting to go camping, but we were prevented because of threats that have now been ... nullified, so we already had most of this in the basement just waiting to be used. And ... like we sometimes do,” she said, glancing at her husband, “we bought way more than we would ever need.”

One of the last items that had been brought in by Jeff and Whitworth was loaded with smaller things and covered with dark plastic. After putting up the lanterns, Morales had noticed and pulled the covering partway off before stopping. “Jas, Baby,” he called out. “I think this is for you. Come look.”

“For both of you,” the Clan Queen corrected as she put an arm around her husband as they watched, the other wives and Selina also taking notice.

Jasmine glanced back at Diana who just grinned and motioned. Hurrying over to Morales, Jasmine just looked at him for a moment. When he motioned, she yanked the covering away, the young woman bursting into a sexy giggle when she realized what she was looking at. “Oh, my. We can definitely use that.”

The item was a galvanized metal tub, 30 inches by 60 inches with a depth of 22 inches. The owner of the small hardware store in Winter Park had suggested it when Diana described what she needed. She hadn’t asked what its original purpose was, but suspected it might have been intended for a stock watering tank. Whatever it had been designed for, she knew Jasmine would enjoy the tub.

Turning to Morales, the young anthropologist hugged him fiercely. “Now we can have a real bath.” Then after a second, “Think we can squeeze into it together?” she asked with another giggle.

Morales looked at it critically. “We’ll have to be very friendly, but I think we can make it,” he finished, blushing. When he realized the others had heard, the blush intensified.

Jasmine hugged Diana and anyone else who would stand still long enough. Laughing, tears of joy misting her eyes, Jasmine finally rejoined the others in preparing their evening meal.

Before leaving the Retreat, the other sister-wives had joined in to help Diana, Arlene, Kayla and Selina pack and ready what they were going to take with them to 2214. Knowing that Jasmine and Morales hadn’t had anything green in a while, the wives had prepared a salad, putting it into a large Ziploc bag ready to serve except for the different dressings that they included separately.

“Time to bring in your security officers,” Diana told the General.

Whitworth looked up with a frown. “They are troops on duty and will be relieved shortly. They can...” But his voice trailed off when the Clan Queen stood before him with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. “Those men have been out there for hours, and yes, I know that they are wearing environment suits and all that, but ... if they can risk their lives for us, then they can darn sure eat with us.”

Jeff sat back trying to hide the grin that threatened to take over his face, knowing that the General was caught between the infamous devil and the deep blue sea. If he defied Diana, he would have to answer to his wives when he got back to Earth. Pissed off wives seem suddenly to have no desire for sex whatsoever, as the General well knew.

“I’ll get them for you,” Jeff offered, diplomatically.

The two were brought in by their Colonel and introduced formally to Jasmine. They already knew Morales since he had brought them coffee several times.

There was no table, but the picnic atmosphere prevailed as they all sat around the fire to begin their meal. Jeff, as he did most of the time, said a short prayer over the food, which pleased Morales because it brought back memories of his mother.

The salads were soon history and the thick buffalo steaks had been cooked to order with baked potatoes to go with them. In addition, Diana had brought real butter and sour cream for the potatoes as well as a variety of other garnishes if anyone so wished.

The men, of course, received the larger steaks, but Jasmine assured them that there was more meat ready for the grill, should they want more. Whitworth, Jeff and Morales did, and with prompting by Diana, so did the General’s security guards.

After much pleading, Morales told the story of his buffalo hunt, sprinkled with just the right amount of deprecatory comments about himself, but giving Lobo full credit for everything he did.

Diana noted that the huge wolves were listening intently while eating the same food everyone else did, except they had two steaks each to begin with. Selina was unable to eat all of her steak, so she divided it between Lobo and Lila, the wolves licking her face like happy puppies. The chickens were standing in their area waiting, and received an abundance of leftovers in their eating troughs that Morales had cobbled together out of scrap wood.

“Time for dessert,” Diana said as she nodded to Jeff who hurried out the door. Jasmine, already warned, began passing out small plates. When Jeff came back inside after retrieving the two large key lime pies from the “freezer,” Kayla was ready to cut each person a generous piece.

With the meal finished and a cup of fresh coffee in hand, the General turned to face Jasmine. “Ms. Conners,” he said with obvious sincerity, “that was a truly great meal.” The others, including the security people, quickly joined in even though Jasmine tried to pass on the compliments to the Matthews women because of what they had brought.

When the General’s security detail had left after thanking everyone profusely, Selina climbed into her Prime’s lap. “I love this place,” she whispered into his ear. “Please allow us to come back, should we be invited.”

“That’s up to Mr. Morales and Ms. Conners, but I am enjoying the trip, too,” he assured her.

Morales, with his excellent hearing, had overheard. “You are always welcome in our home, and...” he said with a chuckle, “you don’t have to bring anything the next time you come. Besides, with the column thing to research, I imagine you will be here frequently. And, we certainly look forward to the visits.”

Jasmine quickly agreed, and with emphasis. “Saying that you’re welcome just isn’t enough. Please come as often as you can.”

Whitworth joined in to say, “We still have a lot to discuss on this trip.”

During the meal, Morales had placed a bucket of water on the fire to heat. Now that the water was hot enough, he brought out a dishpan and began preparing to wash the evening’s dishes.

Diana went over and put a hand on his shoulder. “Women’s work. I’ll do that.”

An odd expression passed over Morales’ face. “I guess it’s because we love each other and are always together, but we frequently share the cooking as well as the cleanup.”

Jeff spoke up. “That’s what I keep telling Di and my other wives, but they run me out of the kitchen when I try to help,” he grumbled.

Diana looked a bit embarrassed. “It’s not that we don’t want your help, Baby, but we just ... like to have some girl-time, I suppose. We enjoy working together, and well, you know how we function...”

“Like the proverbial well-oiled machine,” he finished for her while taking his wife into his arms. Turning back to Morales, the Prime continued. “Uh ... my women seem to have some type of mental connection – some internal radar or something. Once you see them all working together as they move back and forth in that kitchen, yet never bumping into each other and always seeming to know when someone else is going to hand them something, well ... it’s truly amazing.”

Jasmine came up behind her lover, hugged herself to him and whispered into his ear. Blushing, he gave up and went to sit with the men as the women began cleanup.

When everything was in order again, Jeff took his Clan Queen aside. “How are we going to sleep tonight? We all have sleeping bags...”

“ ... that will zip together, and the air mattresses have Velcro strips that will allow them to be attached to each other.”

“Uh, what about Selina?”

“She’ll sleep with us, of course. We’ll all be wearing pajamas and she can sleep on the opposite side from you, if that would make you feel better. That should preserve her honor – and yours,” she teased. “Although we all know there would be no safer place in the world for her than sleeping in your bed.”

Jeff kissed the top of her head and whispered, “I wonder if Morales and Conners will sleep together with us here.”

“Well, of course, they will,” his Clan Queen answered matter-of-factly.

As is frequently the case when there is a group of people, particularly married couples, they eventually separated into two groups by sex. The women had pulled several of the short logs into a circle near the cook fire, and the men had grouped farther down the room. Although the men were discussing various things in normal tones, the women sat closer together, frequently talking in hushed tones with occasional bouts of louder giggling.

At first, Jasmine had been cautious about the subject matter as well as her wording because of Selina. Diana, realizing what the young woman was doing, said, “Selina is a genius and probably knows more, intellectually, about sex than the whole group of us put together. No ... let me rephrase that, she definitely knows more than all of us put together. We protect her from the basic sex conversations, but that does not mean that we can’t discuss things in general. To give you some idea of her intelligence, she has practically stocked the local library with advanced texts she has read – think memorized and integrated into her knowledge – on most any subject you could possibly think of. She is, indeed, a child in body, but her mind is that of a true genius.”

“My Clan Queen is embarrassing me,” Selina quietly said. Then turning to Jasmine, “If my presence is restricting your discussions concerning your feelings toward Mr. Morales, I will go sit with the men,” Selina volunteered.