Chapter 512

The Prison Planet

... Bathed and wrapped in each other’s arms, they were asleep almost as soon as they were under the furs.

Morning came far too quickly as far as the two were concerned. Groaning from sore muscles, they snatched on their clothes in the cold cave and hurried to relieve their bladders. Back inside a few minutes later, they began their day with Morales hurrying to get the main fire going since he had not awakened during the night to build it back up. While he was doing that, Jasmine, shivering, got the cook fire going as well and started a pot of coffee.

Knowing they would need a lot of food energy again today, she began peeling more potatoes than usual, the peeler a blur in her hands. After she put the potatoes and steaks on to cook, Morales oversaw them while she began scrambling a big pile of eggs.

“We’re going to need more meat today,” she reminded him a few minutes later as she began plating their breakfast.

“Crap,” Morales grumped. “That’s at least thirty minutes that I could be working on our outhouse.” After a moment, he chuckled and added, “By the time we manage to get married, we’ll be too exhausted to do anything.” He made the comment sound like a joke, but he wondered if it might well be true after all.

“How many wives did Diana say Jeff had again? Wasn’t it sixteen?” At Jasmine’s nod, he went on. “We have to get the outhouse built. All those women can’t be squatting in the woods. Granted we have a latrine – of sorts – but with the ground frozen, all we can cover, uh, things with is snow. They’re supposedly coming to help us get married, although I can’t understand why it takes all of them to do it. All we really need is a preacher,” he grumbled.

A grinning Jasmine commented, “Since we’re on 2214, we don’t have to worry about getting a license.” Chuckling, she offered him a plate piled high with food before taking the wolves their meal.

Finally, her plate in hand, she sat beside her soon-to-be husband only to realize that he hadn’t started eating yet. “Blessing,” he said, then with a grin, “and it’s your turn.”

With the humans and wolves fed, Jasmine fed the chickens while Morales went out to ready the chain saw.

“We still have to strip all of the last logs we cut,” the young woman said a few minutes later as she squatted beside her soon-to-be husband while he worked.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, sitting back on his haunches as he looked toward the partially-built outhouse, “but the wind doesn’t seem to be blowing much, so I thought we would give the stripping a try where the logs are. It will save moving them into the cave, then back out here – if we can stand the cold while we strip them. While we were cutting and dragging the logs, our bodies mostly stayed warm from the exercise, but just kneeling in the snow while stripping the bark off isn’t going to keep us very warm.”

“So, we’ll build a big fire. We can use the bark chips to help it along, and not have to worry about what to do with them after we finish.”

“Sounds like a winner,” he agreed as he grabbed a shovel, and the two walked toward the logs. Soon, he was clearing an area of snow to build a bonfire.

It took three hours to strip all the logs and flatten opposite sides, but finally they were done. After measuring, Morales began notching the logs before they manhandled each into place. With the chain saw to cut the end notches to fit the logs together, the rest of the walls went up a lot faster, and since the logs were much smaller in diameter and shorter than those Morales had used in the front wall of the cave, the two of them were able to lift the logs into position without any major trouble. With what they had done previously, they had the walls to full height by an hour after lunch. That left cutting the door out – but they now had a chain saw for that. They had found caulking and a caulking gun in the boxes, and they could use that to stop up the cracks. Then they would have to saw out boards for decking to support the plastic sheet across the rafters. Next would be digging the sod out of the frozen ground and putting it on top of the plastic-covered decking. But, both were worried that they would have to wait until spring to dig the sod. So much to do.

Knowing the Matthews would be back soon, they had to have meat, so Morales gave up and took time out to go get it. With the big ice chest slung over his shoulder and his new headlamp on, he kissed his bride-to-be and jogged toward the ice cave. He was barely out of sight when the wolves came to their feet and hurried to the door when the chickens made the weird alarm sound they usually made if they spied or heard a hawk or eagle – well, 2214’s version of them – flying high overhead.

Jasmine, rifle in hand, pushed the door open to deep shadow. She had barely realized what it was, when first Jeff, Diana and Selina, then a growing number of women appeared as Ship sent them down with her modified tractor beam.

“Welcome,” Jasmine said as she put her rifle back on the pegs while wondering how she and Morales would ever get the outhouse done with visitors taking up their time.

“Where’s Mr. Morales?” Jeff asked, having noted the work they had done on the building.

“He took a chest and left for the ice cave to get more meat,” Jasmine returned as the rest of them came inside.

“Surely not for us?” Diana broke in to ask. “We brought food so you won’t have to cook for us. We didn’t come to upset your schedule, but rather to help, and ... I brought a video for you to watch so you can pick out your wedding dress. I also have a video so Mr. Morales can choose his tux, too. And ... Jeff brought something that might help with the roof to your new building, plus some insulation and other things.”

Jasmine smiled at the Clan Queen. “That sounds wonderful. Thank you so much. Uh, we have the sides up, the smaller logs cut that we’re going to use for rafters, and the bark stripped off them, but Morales said we were going to have to take time off and saw some planks out for the roof decking. We planned to use a sheet of plastic on top of the decking to stop the rain, then cover the plastic with sod – if we can dig it out of the frozen ground.”

“I brought a couple of items that might expedite things, then,” Jeff said. “Uh, how long has Morales been gone?”

“He left a couple of minutes before you guys arrived.”

“If I hurry, I should be able to help him bring the chest back, right?”

“I’m sure he would appreciate that. We were expecting your family, so I suspect he will completely fill that big chest. With it full, it can be a real struggle through the rough areas, even for two people. He wouldn’t let me go with him because there was so much I needed to do here.”

“I’m going to help him,” Jeff said as he turned to jog down the cave, soon making the turn into the side tunnel that would lead to the ice cave, darkness already closing in around him.

After a moment, Jasmine suddenly exclaimed. “He didn’t take a lantern with him. Does he have a flashlight or something? I didn’t see one,” she worriedly told Diana.

“My Prime does not need one,” Selina proudly inserted before Diana could respond.

“But it’s pitch black in there,” Jasmine insisted. “There is no light. Remember how it was when we all turned our lights off at the same time?”

“And... as Selina just said, he’s a Prime,” Diana responded, as if that explained everything to a frustrated Jasmine.

A few minutes later, Jeff called out as he neared the area where Morales kept the meat. Hearing him, Morales responded while turning to face the sound, his headlamp illuminating the Prime. When Jeff stopped in front of Morales, the man stared, then frowned.

“Where in the hell is your light? Did you break it or something?”

“Didn’t stop to get one,” Jeff said with an odd look on his face.

“You didn’t ... Shit, Man. How in the hell did you manage to work your way through all those boulders without a light?”

Jeff knew he had screwed up. Now, I’m coming across as some kind of superman or something. Shit! I don’t want that. With a sigh, he responded, “Look. I have ... other ways. I told you I was an Alpha, and, in addition, I have some help, too. Ah, crap, this isn’t going the way I wanted it to,” he said, his frustration showing. “Remember, I said that I thought you were becoming an Alpha. I just ... want to wait for the process to complete – if it does. Before too long, we’ll all sit down together and I’ll go over everything in detail with you. There’s nothing magic about what I just did,” he said as he mentally thanked Little One for her assistance.

From the look on Morales’ face, he wasn’t exactly pleased with Jeff’s explanation.

Trying to change the subject, Jeff offered, “Let’s get the meat you came after and go on back. I brought some things that I think will be helpful, plus possibly expediting some of your projects.”

Morales chuckled. “You have already brought something that has made things one hell of a lot easier – that big-ass chainsaw. That thing walks through hardwood like it is made of butter. Sincerely, Jeff, Thank you.”

The Prime grinned back at him. “You’re thanking the wrong person. Diana, and from what she says, the hardware store owner, are the ones to thank for that and most of the other things as well. I did bring some things today, though.”

“Well, it used to take forever to cut down and section out even one of those hardwood trees by hand. We would have been all day just cutting the ones to finish the outhouse walls, but Jas and I got it done in just a few hours with the chainsaw. You and Diana really, really helped us. Thank you.”

As they continued to talk, Morales began cutting the meat from the halves and quarters hanging in the ice cave. Each time he would cut a slab of meat off, Jeff would stack it in the big ice chest. Stopping for a second, Morales looked over at Jeff. “Might be time for a barbeque, huh?”

Jeff grinned back and agreed.

After the ribs, Morales began working on roasts, steaks and stew meat.

“Uh,” Jeff said, worried that he might have overstepped his bounds, “I ... also brought some things that should help with your outhouse. I know I should have asked your permission first, but well...”

“We don’t exactly have instant communication whenever we want to talk,” Morales filled in. “If you’re worried I’ll be pissed for your having brought something to help, well, I’m a bit on the stupid side when it comes to getting into trouble, but I’m not dumb enough to turn down something that will make life a little easier for my fiancée and me. Whatever it is, I certainly thank you and wish I could repay you in some way. What did you bring?”

“You don’t owe us anything. I just brought a few sheets of plywood and the screws to use in attaching it to your rafters with your new drill, plus some metal roofing to go on top of the plywood, and ... I brought several sheets of board insulation for the inside that should cut down on the cold seeping through the walls. I also brought some of the batteries for the secondary battery bank to supplement the ones Diana already sent so that you can put in an electric heater in your outhouse. The delay was because I had to have them shipped out from Denver. Before long, and with the solar chargers, you should have enough power for lighting in the cave as well as heat and lighting in your outhouse. Plus, as time goes along, we should be able to add a wind generator to round out your power source.”

Morales stopped to stare at Jeff until he again began to wonder if he had overstepped. “I...” Jeff began, but Morales motioned for him to wait.

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, for I certainly do, but why are you doing this for us? I’m just a prisoner. Oh, I know that Jasmine is a wonderful person and has obviously made some close friends, but...”

Jeff let out a sigh. “I can’t really explain other than I can help, so I’m going to. Please believe me; I have no intention of belittling you in any way. Hell, Man, if anything, I am very impressed with everything you have been able to do here. We watched you on the videos and, well, rooted for you almost from the beginning.”

“You watched from the beginning?” Morales asked.

“Well, not exactly. We started when the Sergeant in charge of keeping up with the prisoners on 2214 mentioned you to the General. First thing I knew, we were watching you, and we eventually went back and watched some of your earlier experiences. You didn’t just sit and gripe about what happened to you, but even from the start, you worked toward making a secure home for yourself. My wives got into watching what you were doing and had done, and to make a long story short, here we are. Please, don’t take any of this as us ... uh, looking down on you. On the contrary, all of us, including the General, I suppose, have been very impressed with your ingenuity and perseverance. The plywood and the other things will just give you more to work with. Please let us do it.”

Morales grinned at him. “Remember the expression about not looking a gift horse in the mouth? If I can make a better place for the woman I love, I’m damn sure not going to object to the things you bring. Jas deserves to have far more than I could ever give her, so all I can do is say, thank you. I appreciate it more than I could ever say.” Since his voice broke a little at the end, he covered it by turning back to cutting more meat.

On their previous visit, Diana had given Jasmine the names of each of her sister-wives, and knowing they would be visiting, Jasmine had made an effort to memorize them all. Now, she just had to match the names to their faces.

As soon as Jeff’s wives began removing their coats, even though they were all dressed warmly with variations of thick pullovers, and were wearing jeans or fatigue pants as well as boots, it became obvious that they all possessed eye-catching bodies to go with their beautiful faces. Jasmine had been stunned with the perfection of Diana’s, Arlene’s and Kayla’s faces; now there were thirteen more wives who were also perfection personified.

As soon as Selina entered the cave, the wolves rushed over to lick, bump against her and whine their greeting. Laughing, she hugged their necks and whispered into their ears. To add to the melee, the hens, squawking their welcome and led by Junior, had come over to greet Selina despite the number of strangers in the cave.

“May we?” Nat, Nicki and Whitney said as one as Nicki held up a big percolator they had brought with them.

Jasmine had worried about her percolator not being sufficient to make enough coffee for everyone, so she was delighted when she saw the new one, but she wondered how the three had spoken so perfectly together. Almost convincing herself that it had just been a fluke, she shrugged mentally and answered, “Water’s in the bucket there, and the coffee is on the shelf over there,” she said, pointing. “Help yourselves, and thanks a bunch for bringing the extra percolator.”