Chapter 501

The Prison Planet

... Jasmine stared up at her lover’s face for a second before letting out a sigh. “Yeah, I suppose. So, how do we go about it?”

Hearing the group coming back, Morales hurriedly answered. “We’ll talk after we’re in bed.”

When everyone had returned, Jasmine spoke up. “We usually get up with the dawn. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m almost ready for bed, but first, I suppose, we’re going to have to determine how we should go about bathing.”

“Uh, us guys can go outside for a bit,” Morales offered.

“No need,” the Clan Queen broke in to say. “I saw a screen setup on the net when we were accumulating supplies for a camping trip we were planning for sometime in the future, so I bought the thing. It consists of two sets of expandable poles and a lightweight material that can be stretched between the poles to give enough privacy to bathe.”

“We have a tub that we can use now,” Jasmine reminded with a smile.

Diana glanced at her sister-wives before locking eyes with Selina for a second. When Selina nodded back, the Clan Queen went on. “As far as my group goes, I think we’ll just take a sponge bath tonight. The tub is something that we should leave for just the two of you,” she said with a wink that caused Jasmine to blush and fight a giggle.

The privacy screen’s poles had a spike that fit on the end of the expandable poles with a protrusion on the side of the spike that allowed a person to push the spike into the ground with a booted foot or drive it in with a hammer. Instead of a circular enclosure that the privacy screen was designed to make, Diana decided to have it set up in a slow curve that several people could stand behind at the same time.

At the Clan Queen’s direction, Jeff pushed the spikes into the ground, expanded the top section of the poles, inserted them into the spikes, and the enclosure was ready for the material to be strung.

While Jeff was doing that, Morales put several buckets of water on the fire. A while later, the water was warm enough for bathing.

The men retired to their seats farther down the room. Within moments, there were occasional giggles from the other side of the enclosure as a female stood in the bathing pan and another poured water over her. After soaping up, she was rinsed the same way.

Morales had made a fresh pot of coffee a few minutes prior, and he managed to rescue the percolator and cups before the women sealed the area off. All three men preferred their coffee black, so they didn’t have to worry about sugar or creamer while the females bathed.

After a few sips of his coffee, Jeff went over to the pile of supplies and began pulling out air mattresses. Diana had chosen camping mattresses equipped with battery powered pumps, so it didn’t take the three men long to have the mattresses out of their packages, inflated and ready for use.

Turning to Morales, “I know you two have your own bed there,” Jeff said, nodding, “but if you wish, there’s a mattress for you guys as well.” Then as he continued to read the brochure that came with the mattresses, “If the advertisement is accurate, the mattress will hold air indefinitely, and ... would probably increase your comfort,” he tactfully added.

Morales chuckled as he replied, “‘Probably’ isn’t the word. Most anything would be better than that pile of leaves and grass covered with skins that we’re sleeping on. Now, how do I do this,” he said as he knelt by the bundle that Jeff pushed toward him.

When the mattress was inflated, Jeff handed Morales a bottom sheet and helped fit it on the mattress. When that was on, and the top sheet was in place, Morales covered the now much softer bed with their sleeping furs.

“These are very nice,” Jeff said as he helped Morales put the furs in place. “It’s hard to realize that all that beauty came from such dangerous beasts.”

As he finished smoothing out the furs, Morales looked up at Jeff. “I certainly agree that they’re beautiful ... but, as you say, they did come from very deadly animals that were intent on killing my ass. We’ve seen tracks from several other saber-tooth tigers as well as more tracks that seem to belong to the cat family, although my tracking skills aren’t up to identifying the animals that made most of them. We worry about the wolves being attacked, as well as Jasmine and myself. Lobo and Lila would fight to the death if we were attacked by one of those things, but they would be outmatched in strength and size. As we’ve said before, they aren’t just this planet’s version of wolves; to us, they’re our closest friends.”

Bed made, Morales cautioned the men. “When the fire burns down at night, it quickly gets cold in here. Usually, I get up and put wood on the fire, but when I’m tired, I’ve been known to sleep all night. There isn’t a lot of insulation between us and the cold, so I’ll try to wake up and warm the place up about halfway through the night.”

“We assumed it would be cold in here, and our sleeping bags are designed to handle it,” Jeff assured Morales.

“I’ve slept outside in weather this cold. Granted, it wasn’t pleasant, but I survived with the same sleeping gear I brought,” the General commented.

Before Morales could answer, the women, including Jasmine, came out dressed in pajamas – warm ones, not the sexy ones worn at the Retreat. “Your turn, Guys,” Arlene said, “but ... you need to heat more water. Sorry about that,” but she didn’t sound very sorry.

Chuckling, Jeff grabbed up a couple of buckets and went after more snow to melt.

As he walked back in carrying the big buckets packed with snow, he was mentally planning on a water tank supported on a steel framework where melted snow would allow a larger supply of water than just the buckets. Smiling, he thought that Helen would be eager to have her class weld up the framework.

While the men were waiting for the snow to melt and the resulting water to warm, the women pulled the now inflated mattresses together and secured them with the accompanying Velcro straps. With that done, they spread out the sleeping bags and zipped them together.

The General had chosen an area to the side for his mattress and sleeping bag in order to give the others as much privacy as he could.

Jeff’s wives and Selina were ready for bed in another area while leaving Morales and Jasmine to use their regular place for their bed.

The men, unlike the women, bathed one at a time. Morales, not having any pajamas, slept in his fatigue pants, as did the General. Jeff slept in his under shorts.

As they were preparing for bed, Selina turned to the Clan Queen. “My Queen, if you do not object, I would enjoy sleeping with Lobo and Lila tonight.”

Diana almost did a double take. “The wolves?” she asked inanely before she could stop herself.

“Yes, My Queen. I really would enjoy sleeping with them, and it would also provide a modicum of privacy for you, your sister-wives and your husband.”

Diana looked at Jeff who just grinned back at her.

Arlene chimed in with, “Hey, that sounds like a neat idea.”

“But they’re...” Whatever Diana was going to say died in her throat when she realized the wolves were looking at her. Is that an expectant look? Do they really know what we’re talking about? she thought. No, it can’t be, but...

“They seem to think it is a grand idea,” Selina prompted.

When Diana caught her husband’s glance, he just shrugged.

For the life of her, she couldn’t come up with a reason why not. “Okay, but you must promise me that you will tell me if you get cold, and you will come and sleep with us.”

“Certainly, My Queen. That is logical, but it will not be an issue because of the warm sleeping bag, our position in relation to the fire and the warmth that Lobo and Lila will also provide.”

As soon as Selina started unzipping her sleeping bag from the others, the wolves were up and obviously happy. When she put the bag down, the wolves positioned themselves on either side. As soon as she was inside, they snuggled close, each giving her a lick on a cheek.

Morales, chuckling, wished everyone a good night and turned all the lanterns off except the one in the front of the cave that he adjusted to its lowest setting.

Not long after, the wind picked up, howling around the rock above the cave, a light snow beginning to come down.

Hearing the wind, “Those men outside...” Diana began, her voice worried.

“I sent them back,” the General assured her from across the big area. “No need for someone to guard us when we have Mr. Morales’ thick wall and door to keep us safe. My troops will be back with the morning light.”

Jeff lay with Diana on his right and Arlene on his left with Kayla sleeping to Arlene’s left. When Diana slid her hand down to squeeze her husband’s dick, she found Arlene’s hand already there.

Jeff gently pushed both their hands away, hoping the erection they had started would disappear.

Both women pinched him, but snuggled close and were soon asleep.

Jeff lay awake for a few moments as he listened to his family’s breathing change. I’m almost positive that Morales and Conners will discuss what happened today once they think we’re all asleep. Hell, I really want to listen, and with Little One having enhanced my hearing, I could do just that, but they have been good to us and don’t deserve my prying.

Willing himself, the Prime was soon asleep, too.

Jasmine knew she was far from quiet when Morales gave her orgasms, and apparently, he realized it too. After unbuttoning the top of her new pajamas, he only kissed her nipples once before pulling her into his arms to lovingly kiss her mouth. Even then, the kisses were just tender expressions of his love for her and not packed with the passion of their episodes of the last few nights. The cave was quiet. Eventually, they could hear the deep breathing of people soundly asleep. Morales pulled one of the top furs over their heads in hopes of muffling their conversation even more.

“I think they’re asleep,” he quietly said into Jasmine’s ear.

“So, are you thinking the same thing I am?” she asked, equally as quietly.

“You mean about the General’s idea of sinking a shaft down into the ice cave?”

“Yeah. I...” she said, hesitating, “think it would entail a lot of work and might well endanger our ice cave. Imagine what our lives would be like if we couldn’t freeze meat.”

“My thoughts exactly,” he assured her. “We would be back to having to jerky the meat, or else salt it down to preserve it. That’s fine to an extent, but it becomes a hassle over time.”

“But the alternative...” Jasmine began, leaving the sentence undone.

“ ... is that science team, or whatever they’re called, traipsing through our home over and over. The expression about being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea seems to fit,” he finished with a sigh.

“So, what do we do?” she whispered into his ear.

Morales hesitated. “You know what we have to do. But, I think the General will respond better to you than to me. Hell, I know he will. I’m a prisoner, after all.” When Jasmine tried to say something, he touched a finger to her lips. “Why don’t we have a sit-down with him in the morning and lay our cards on the table.”

“Oh, we are full of idioms tonight,” she returned with a hushed giggle.

“Jas,” he responded impatiently.

“Okay. Just the General and us, or do you want to include the others?”

Morales thought for a moment. “Diana, Jeff and the others brought all those things for us, most of which we haven’t even looked at yet. It’s obvious that she, and the other women, for that matter, have a lot of pull with the General. But,” he said, “I think we need to conduct it as a real meeting. Jas, this thing could really screw up our lives. Granted, I don’t know much about other planets and dimensions and all that stuff – mostly just what you’ve told me and what I’ve read from the database in my laptop – but judging from the way the Colonel and General are acting, this is going to be something big. Something that those scientists are going to think is really big, maybe. Consequently, our letting them come through our area could, very well, get out of hand. We need to have an ironclad agreement with the General to keep the number of people – scientists and the like – down to something bearable for us and our animals. Maybe a trip to the column area in the mornings and a trip back in the evenings.”

Jasmine thought for a moment before fighting back a giggle. “Obviously you haven’t been around a scientist when he or she gets a nose into something new – at least new to them.” Morales had tensed up and had just taken a breath to defend his thinking when she spoke again. “I was thinking about a contract, but ... I don’t think we should be quite that formal. Remember, the General is a stickler for keeping his word, and I’ve brought that up to him. I think we need to work with that aspect of his personality in mind. Suppose we ask him to keep the team to a maximum of six at any one time – an ironclad maximum – no matter what. And we’ll emphasize that to him and get him to agree. They should bring in everything they are going to need for one day and if they forget something, they can bring it the next day. They’re used to working off-world, so they know how to plan, and most are probably used to taking everything with them that they could possibly need. We’ll give them the dimensions of the narrow spots and even send them a video. If they bring heavy things, or things that are too big, it’s their problem.

“Come to think of it, we should also emphasize that the equipment that is brought in should only be something that can be carried by the group through a rough and narrow passageway, and nothing that requires mechanical means to move it.”

“Hmmm,” he quietly said, “I agree with the equipment, but you know they will want to move some of those rocks and boulders to make it easier for them to go back and forth, especially if they’re carrying heavy equipment by hand.”

But Jasmine was shaking her head under the furs. “No. Absolutely not. Just think about it. That ... thing – whatever is controlling the column place – what if it decides to shut down access?”

“Shit,” he hissed out. “Do you think it can?”