Chapter 563

The Prison Planet

Jasmine, Morales, Ashley and Christine trudged up the long hill in front of the cave, then on past the solar collectors.

“Oh, boy. It’s going to take a while to get used to snowshoes again,” Christine said as she recovered from almost tripping. “We only had one afternoon of using them when we were in our teens.”

“You’ll get used to the rhythm after you do a few miles in them each day,” Jasmine assured her.

“Miles?” Christine worried.

“She’s screwing with you,” Morales returned with a chuckle. “That’s only if we go hunting on the plains.”

Christine, as with Ashley, was all too aware of the rifle slung over her shoulder. And yes, she knew all the parts, ad nauseam, and just how they worked because of the tutelage of both Jasmine and Morales, but she was still uncomfortable with the thing. Both had told them that the rifles were their lifelines. Without them, they would be battling the enormous beasts of this planet with crossbows. The rifles were bolt actions instead of autoloaders, but they were still worlds faster than cocking a crossbow, not to mention that jams for a bolt action were almost unheard of if you used the correct motion, which was easily learned. She had to admit that once she got past the fear of holding an unloaded rifle, it did have a certain feel to it that she was beginning to ... respect, she thought the term might be. Having grown up with Ashley, she knew that she was probably feeling the same. Maybe we can do this, after all.

They stopped while Morales explained the solar collectors and pointed out the mechanism that kept them directed toward the sun.

A wistful look passed over Jasmine’s face. “I hope Jeff will be back soon with whatever he needs to get things going for us. I can’t wait to have hot water and a sink to wash dishes in.”

“Baby, that can’t happen until spring,” Morales reminded her, “but we should have lighting once he has the battery units and the wiring in.”

“It surely would be nice to have heat in our outhouse,” Jasmine agreed.

“Okay, we’re here,” Morales said a couple of minutes later as he threw down hides for them to put their equipment on. “Who’s first?”

Wisely, Jasmine and Morales stopped the training before the girls’ shoulders became too sore, but Ashley had a red spot on her cheek, and Christine’s nose was sore because they had each flinched at some point just as they had pulled the trigger. Since their cheeks were not fully in contact with the weapon when it fired, the stock had “slapped” them. That one slap each made them more careful about holding the weapon properly, though.

They had fired enough to “wear the new off” as Morales referred to it, and were no longer terrified of the rifles. Amazing him, they had even started to compete with each other a little, although it was challenging to score their targets because each had missed entirely on several occasions. Closing your eyes when you pull the trigger tends to do that.

Again, Morales was thankful for the paper targets, stands and the spotting scope Jeff had given them, not to mention the thousands of rounds of ammunition and the reloading gear.

Where the girls couldn’t notice, Jasmine and Morales passed a glance while shrugging. At least the women had stopped the startled squeak when their rifles fired.

Jasmine stepped close to comment, “You know that they’re going to have to fire their rifles some without ear protection. Otherwise, when they have to fire in a hurry and without ear protection, they’ll think their weapon exploded.”

Morales chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve heard about people doing that. It might be worth having to clean the rifles after they drop them in the snow just to watch, though.”

After gathering up their equipment, they began the short trek back. “Are you two laughing at us?” Ashley asked with a smile. When man and wife turned to glance back at the girls, Ashley went on, “I suppose we can’t blame you. We were quite miserable, right?”

“No, you weren’t,” Jasmine insisted as she and Morales stopped and turned fully to Ashley and Christine. “Since neither of you has ever done any of this, it’s just something that you have to learn from the very beginning. You probably thought that you would never have to touch a gun in your whole lives, but here, it’s a necessity if you’re going to live and contribute to our ... household.

“Unfortunately, learning to shoot and to do it well is an absolute must here on 2214, since there is no telling when either of you will be called upon to save one or even all of us from disaster. You might keep that in mind and remember that Morales had to learn to shoot a crossbow and a compound bow to survive when he came here – and without ever having done anything like that before. He had a few short weeks in a prison cell to learn before being dumped here cold turkey. You have the advantage of beautiful rifles, plenty of ammo and someone to teach you. Never forget that either of you might be our only hope of survival should an attack happen when Morales and I can’t respond at that instant, and sometimes an instant is all you have.

“Look,” Jasmine said as she strove to make them understand. “What I’ve been trying to tell you isn’t just some platitudes. When you look at it objectively, we have been fortunate, particularly Morales, since he’s been here much longer. What if we had missed when we shot the saber-tooth, or earlier when the snow leopard attacked? Probably,” she said as she leaned against her husband, “one or both of us would be dead. Both of those animals moved far faster than you probably realize is possible for such large beasts. If they attack, you have one chance – maybe. You need to be able to take the safety off, aim and fire in a couple of seconds. Morales and I can’t protect you from everything. In addition, these animals are smart. They seem to wait until they are downwind of us so the wolves can’t smell them. But somehow, the wolves managed to alert us in time. That warning gave us the extra second or two that we needed to survive.

“To use terminology that you engineers will better understand, there is going to be a steep learning curve with the rifles, but the result has to be perfection. Morales and I had to learn to point-shoot with the encumbrance of the scopes. Oh, don’t get me wrong. The scopes make those wonderful rifles what they are, but you, just as we did, will have to learn to point-shoot for near targets. In other words, for animals attacking. You two need to go over in your mind everything you have learned today, and do it many times. Think about how you sighted, your breathing and the trigger squeeze. See everything happening in your minds. We’re going to do this every day, and sometimes twice a day, if the weather permits – and maybe if it doesn’t. Then, you’re going to clean the rifles, reload them and have them ready to go at a moment’s notice. Those weapons are tools for our survival. End of soapbox.”

If Jasmine had thrown cold water in their faces, the girls would have shown less shock.

“If you love him, learn well,” Jasmine added.

Ashley and Christine passed a glance before Jasmine turned back to them. “We’re sorry – No more little girls who are afraid to learn to shoot. We’ll learn,” she said as Ashley nodded her confirmation.

“That’s what I need to hear,” Jasmine said as she hugged both of them.

A couple of minutes later, just as they were nearing the cave entrance, the wolves sat to stare almost straight up. An eye blink later, Ship had darkened the day as she hovered just above the giant trees.

“Looks like we have visitors,” Morales said as he waved.

“How does Ship do that?” Jasmine asked no one in particular. “There’s no rush of air, no sound, nothing. Suddenly, she’s just here.”

“So, why don’t you ask her? Jeff talks to her.”

Jasmine chuckled. “I’m afraid to. She might tell me and make me feel like an idiot because I probably wouldn’t understand a thing she was saying.”

“Well, Baby, if you couldn’t understand her, guess how I feel.”

A second later, the Matthews group started appearing on the pathway near them.

The Retreat – A Few Hours Earlier

“You don’t have to...” Jeff began, but Tosha quickly went on.

“Oh, but I do. Besides, I want to. I enjoy associating with your wives, and now’s my chance to give back a little after all you and your family have done for me. And,” she said with a giggle, “don’t you start with the pheromones. I want to be able to concentrate on what I’m doing when we get to the kitchen.”

Jeff took her hand as they turned to walk on down the hallway. “Colonel...” at his frown, “Uh, Jeff, I know that the AI watches everything, and you said that most of that information was available to everyone here at the Retreat, right?”

“Nothing of a private nature, but if you’re asking if anyone is watching now, you can just about bet that my wives are, and anyone else here at the Retreat who wants to as well. Since we’re just walking down the hallway, I doubt if any of the other Alpha families would bother – separately. But ... most of the women are working on breakfast, and the guys will be either in the living room drinking coffee or in the dining room doing the same thing while they wait. You can bet that we’re on the screen in the kitchen, but that’s probably all. Worried?”

“Scared spitless,” she very quietly agreed.

He just grinned at her.

As soon as Jeff pushed the swinging door open and ushered Tosha into the kitchen, she was mobbed by the women, which was practically every female in the Retreat. With a smile, he headed on down the hallway to the living room to check in with Dave.

After hugs and greetings from all the women and girls, Tosha told Diana that she had come early to help prepare breakfast, if that was permissible.

“Certainly. What would you like to do?”

“Well, Mom had a great recipe for hotcakes, but I’ve never made enough to feed more than four people at the same time.” That led to a conference on expanding the recipe in addition to some guesswork as to how many hotcakes they would need. Tosha was astonished at Arlene’s estimate, but the young wife assured her that nothing would go to waste – these were Alphas, after all.

What have I gotten myself into? Tosha worried as she began mixing the ingredients in the biggest mixing bowl she had ever seen, but Selina assured her that they were increasing the mixture correctly. Then came the biggest skillet she had ever used, but again, there were others there to assist and assure her.

“Your hotcakes will be the last to go on the breakfast bar and will remain perfect under the heat lights, not that they’ll be there long, anyway,” Hope, Art’s young wife, told her with a smile.

Terri and Alice, Eric’s girls, were there to take the hotcakes to the bar as they came out of the skillet. Amazing Tosha, the hotcakes turned out as good as she hoped. The near rave reviews made her blush, but she felt that they actually meant them. Just before the meal was over, Dave managed to beat Jeff to the last hotcake left on the server, with both men laughing.

Even better to Tosha than the compliments was when Diana told her that she was going to put the recipe on Ship’s menu as Tosha’s hotcakes.”

As they were finishing cleaning the kitchen, Diana asked Tosha if she would like to go for a ride.

“Well, sure,” Tosha hesitantly replied, “but I’ll have to inform Sarge that we need an escort.”

“Not for this,” Diana returned with a twinkle in her eyes. “I know that you have cold-weather gear at Security Headquarters, but we acquired some for you, anyway, in case we’re outside a bit. If you haven’t guessed, we’re going to 2214. I need to check with Jasmine about the wedding, and if she and Morales are ready, Jeff will probably wire the cave while we’re there. Want to go?”

Tosha got a minor surge of adrenalin because she had read and watched videos about the prison planet and knew, of course, about the Matthews’ excursions there. “I get to go with you? But, I don’t want to be a nuisance if you already have plans for the day. I can come back another time...”

Diana grinned as she interrupted. “Oh, hush. We want you to go with us, and it could turn out to be for a couple of days, at least.”

“Besides, we planned for you to go,” Kei said as she came up to hug Tosha. “We’ll have a ball.”

As the others went about their business, Tosha dried her hands and turned to Kei. “You’re not jealous ... I mean, you and Jeff are still newlyweds.”

Kei winked at Tosha. “Now, why should I be jealous?” she asked with just that hint of an accent that made her sound soo sexy. After a slight pause, she went on, “Even with the short time that I have been part of the group, I have felt the change beginning. There is something about becoming a sister-wife with Diana. No one is ever left out, and we have access to our husband any time we need a hug or some special time with him. But ... it is more than that. When he is with one of us, we all tend to feel it.”

Susan, who had been listening, offered, “Kei is new to the harem, but she’s already beginning to feel what the rest of us know. More and more, we sense each other’s orgasms, even when we aren’t touching. It started with Diana, but all of us are slowly being included. And as she implied, there is more. A person can’t be jealous of themselves, and well ... somehow, we seem to have become almost one person. Oh, we all have our personalities, but we are so close that we can sometimes ... feel or somehow sense a sister-wife’s emotions almost as our own. We can’t do that with you, yet, but we’re hoping that you will be one of us soon. When our Prime takes you, you will literally become one with us.”

Tosha, discreetly wiping her eyes, hugged Kei, then Susan. “You don’t know how much I appreciate what you’ve just said. I hugely enjoy being around all of you – and especially that big guy over there,” she said, nodding toward Jeff, who had just walked into the kitchen with an empty coffee cup in his hand while unsuccessfully trying to look dejected.

Joyce was there to fill the cup and give him a kiss. “Are we ready?” he asked after taking a sip.

A resounding “no” produced an about-face by him to the giggles and laughter of his wives. “I shall be patiently waiting in the living room,” he announced as he hastily left.

When the laughter had died down, Tosha couldn’t help but say, “I’ve wanted to go to the prison planet since I began hearing you guys talk about it. I’ve watched all the videos, but I never thought I would get to go to another planet.”

“We all love to go there. We love Jasmine, and I think we have all come to respect Morales’ determination to survive, even before we got to know him,” Diana responded as she made certain everything was again perfect in the kitchen before she ushered Tosha out and down the hall toward their bedroom.