Chapter 547

The Retreat

... Cox was still grinning as Jeff pulled into the inside garage. “What?” Caldwell quietly asked.

“Better than we even hoped for. Much, much better,” she whispered as she squeezed his hand.

As soon as they drove into the inside garage, the inner door to the Retreat proper burst open and Arlene, Kayla, Nat, Nicki and Whitney hurried down the steps. After introductions, they all, with Jeff helping, grabbed the call girls’ belongings, barely leaving them with one small item each to carry.

As they entered the Retreat proper, Diana addressed her daughter, “Put the two Lieutenants in a double suite.” Turning to the Lieutenants, she continued as they all walked down the hallway, “Just follow my daughter and she will get you two set up in your suite. Take a shower, rest for a while, whatever, then meet us in the living room at your convenience.” After glancing at her watch, she continued, “It’s almost five now, and supper will be served at seven tonight, so you have some time to kill. Should you want something, there are a variety of snacks in the cabinet by the refrigerator, and it is stocked with an assortment of soft drinks. If you decide to swim, there are new swimsuits by the pool. There is a map of the Retreat in the drawer of the coffee table in the living room of your suite, but the easiest way to find your way around is to ask the AI. You can call it by saying, ‘Computer,’ with emphasis on the word as I just did.”

The nearest screen in the hallway came to life with the AI’s image. “Yes, Diana. How may I assist you?”

“I would like to introduce Lieutenant Cox and Lieutenant Caldwell,” she said as she indicated each of them in turn. “They will be staying the night and will require your assistance from time to time.”

“Certainly, Diana. Good afternoon, Lieutenant Cox and Lieutenant Caldwell.”

“Uh, thank you,” Caldwell, astonished, managed to respond.

“Will that be all, Diana?”

“For now. Thank you,” she finished as the screen went dark.

“We’ve heard of your AI, but I never expected it to be so...” Caldwell stumbled out.

“Lifelike?” Diana offered with a grin. “One of my sister-wives who assisted with the programming is a true genius, and another of my sister-wives is a genius with computer code. Not to mention the work that her daughter has also done toward the AI program, and in addition, my own daughter, too,” she said, nodding to Arlene, “who has added to the project as well.”

“We are just directing it at present because it’s writing its own code now,” Arlene inserted. “Come on, you two, and let’s get you set up in your suite.”

Turning to Ashley and Christine as they walked beside Jeff, Diana continued, “We’ll put you two in a double on the same hallway as our suite. I’ll introduce you to the AI when we get there.”

A few moments later, Diana, Jeff, Kayla, Nat, Nicki and Whitney escorted the young women into another double suite just as Arlene, having shown Lieutenants Cox and Caldwell to their suite, jogged up.

“Just put everything down in here for now,” Ashley directed as they all entered the living room of the suite. “I suppose that we will be with you only a short time, right?” she asked Jeff.

The Prime chuckled as he put his box of items down. “Anxious to see Mr. Morales, huh?”

The two young women glanced at each other, both blushing, before Christine answered. “You have no idea.”

“Oh, but we do,” Diana said as she nodded to indicate her sister wives. “You want to be with your Alpha, just as we do ours.”

“We never fully realized until he was gone without a word,” Ashley responded with tears in her eyes. “We thought we had lost him forever.”

Jeff spoke up. “Remember, Ladies, this is one gigantic step. It’s a one-way trip to a primitive lifestyle. Oh, doubtless, the General would approve your leaving if you really wanted to since you aren’t prisoners, but you can bet that he would frown on your trying to go back and forth.”

As Diana motioned the call-girls to seats, and she and Jeff also sat, she said, “I half-expected General Whitworth to be extremely hesitant about the two of you going to twenty-two fourteen, but he barely grunted when I mentioned it.” She didn’t see the half-smirk on her husband’s face as she continued, “Well, anyway, he tentatively agreed as long as we use Ship to take you there, which we would much prefer.”

After walking over to the small refrigerator, she recited the types of soft drinks inside and asked what they preferred just as there was a knock on the door of the suite. When Jeff opened it, Laura pushed a serving cart in with a big insulated carafe of coffee and an assortment of snacks.

Chuckling, Diana added, “And also there just happens to be a carafe of my husband’s main drink, too – coffee, of course.”

Drinks served, Diana sat as she continued, “There is much to go over, and that’s the reason I rescheduled supper at seven instead of our normal six, but first, let’s get you introduced to the AI.”

Later as husband and wife walked hand in hand down the hallway, Jeff let out a sigh. “Think this is going to work?”

Diana, already holding her husband’s hand, hugged herself against his arm. “They obviously love him, but this is going to be a very drastic change from what they’re used to, if that’s what you mean.”

“Two big-city girls suddenly dumped into living in a cave on a planet basically devoid of human life other than a few prisoners scattered well away from them, and having to share a cave with a woman they have never met. Sure,” he said while stretching out the word. “That’s a recipe for a perfect life,” the Prime sarcastically added while chuckling.

“Not to mention being the second and third wives to a first wife whom they have never even met. Under normal conditions, a formula for disaster,” the Clan Queen added, but she was smiling.

When Jeff looked over at her and frowned, she went on with a giggle, again amazing him, “Then, on the other hand, they’re going to be living in a cave with the man who grew to love them and continued to do so while they supported themselves through college by plying their trade. A trade that had certain aspects that he was all too well aware of, but he ate his male pride while probably thinking that with his poor education and lack of major funds, they would never continue to associate with him after they graduated from college. You heard them, though. He never pushed them for sex, even in the beginning when he supposedly paid full price for each of them. Consequently, they wound up doing far more with him than he paid for – far more, including their having fallen in love with him. They had every intention of being his women forever, but things went bad for him, and they lost touch. Unfortunately, they didn’t get around to sharing their thoughts with him before trouble stepped in and he wound up on the prison planet.”

“Still,” Jeff worried, “they know nothing about living so primitively...”

“Oh? And what about our plans once you have power inside the cave, huh?”

“Well,” Jeff said, a little embarrassed, “I did plan to plumb and wire the cave. I know that Dave will help me if need be, and Morales surely isn’t a slouch himself. The wiring can be buried in the walls and floor easily enough, and the same for the plumbing, of course. The walls and floor are dirt, after all. With refrigeration, a couple of freezers, a well pump and a heating system, life could be a lot easier for them.”

“Not to mention a washing machine, dishwasher, clothes dryer and so forth,” Diana added. “Bottom line, those young women back there,” she said motioning behind them, “and Jasmine will soon have modern conveniences, but they will still be living in a terribly isolated environment.”

“That’s what I’m worried about. When the new wears off, what then?” he asked.

“Has the ‘new’ worn off your marriage to me?” she asked, her voice purposely without emotion, which triggered Jeff’s ‘Oh Shit’ alarm.

The Prime knew that he was suddenly on very dangerous ground, indeed. “Di,” he quietly said, “please don’t try to equate what they have with what we have. You know damn good and well that I love you even more today than I did the day I married you, but those two in there don’t have the same background, and we don’t have any way to evaluate their love for that man on twenty-two fourteen. They’ve spent most of their lives in one of the biggest cities in the U.S., and this is going to be one hell of an environmental shock to them, no matter how much they want to be with Morales.”

“Maybe they’ll like the camping environment. Some of your wives have never been camping, but they loved their visit to twenty-two fourteen.”

“Yeah, but you know that Christine and Ashley must have always bought their meat from a shop or a big grocery store, all prepackaged in plastic. Wait until Jasmine or Morales downs a buffalo and has blood halfway to his or her elbows while cutting the thing up. What about those young women back there,” he said while jerking a thumb behind him, “having to help hoist a shoulder of meat into the rolling case, or carrying a chunk on their backs to get it to the cave or on into the ice cave? I suspect that few people that have spent their lives in a big city ever really think about where that meat actually comes from, or what happens in a slaughterhouse before the meat gets to them all wrapped nicely in packages. I guess we’ll see if love really does conquer all.”

“He’s an enhanced Alpha,” Diana reminded. “If they already love him, that love is going to be multiplied when they come near him. And ... when they’re enhanced, too, it will only make things even more intense for them.”

“So, what time do we leave for the prison planet tomorrow?” he asked.

“What?” she answered, shocked as they entered the living room and she sat in his lap. “Tomorrow? No way,” she returned almost flabbergasted that he would even think such a thing.

“But you heard them. They want to see him ASAP,” he insisted.

“Certainly they do – after – they’re ready,” she returned as she kissed him on his forehead.

“But...” he stammered out, “they’re so anxious to see him.”

“They can’t go without gifts for both Morales and their future sister-wife, particularly her. And the gifts for Jasmine have to be perfect. They want to start off on the right foot with her. It’s vitally important to them. Remember when they went to the bathroom and I followed along?”

“Well, sure.”

“I gave each of them a credit card with full instructions to spend without restraint. They will come to twenty-two fourteen bearing gifts, housewarming and personal. These young women know precisely how to conduct themselves. After all, part of their duties was as escorts to parties and other functions in well-to-do society. They weren’t strictly prostitutes, but that was a – shall we say – very lucrative sideline to their escort jobs. Oh, and Jasmine, of course, gave me instructions to buy gifts for Ashley and Christine from her.”

“But they wouldn’t expect...” Jeff wound down when he realized that his wife was looking at him with that look that said, loud and clear, “Men.”

“So, you’re saying that they will need to go shopping tomorrow?” At her nod, “Di, think about what’s going on. We have to expect the worse from Tanaka. Even though Ashley and Christine aren’t part of our family, if he is having the access road watched, he’ll know that they came from here. It’s entirely possible that he has given orders to kidnap or attack anyone coming from the Retreat, just to hurt us. Bottom line, anyone leaving here in one of our Escalades should have an escort, and I assume you’ll be going with them, right?” At her nod, he went on, “So, I need to notify Security with how many of you are going and an itinerary so they can set up a functional plan.”