Chapter 48

Sunday morning, Diana and Evie sat in Evie's living room, much as they had a couple of days ago. "I didn't want to leave when Jeff came back from his run, but I just felt ... that he was going to say some personal things that he might not want to say in front of me."

Diana took a sip of her coffee while trying to say the right thing and not hurt Evie's feelings. "We don't keep any secrets from you and Dave. But Jeff tends to have a bashful streak in him for certain things, despite having seven wives. When we really want to get his goat, one of us will walk into the bathroom when one of the girls is aiming his dick for him while he's peeing. I swear he turns the brightest red you could ever imagine. Of course, he has sex with all of us either watching or taking part, and it doesn't bother him a bit, but let one of his older wives walk in when one of the girls is doing the dick aiming thing and he's toast."

"Oh, my. I haven't done that since we were on our honeymoon. It embarrassed the crap out of Dave then. I wonder how he'll react, now?"

"I'll bet he'll have a stroke when Linda does it and you walk in on them," Diana said, almost straight-faced.

Evie looked a bit flustered. "Diana, I think you're jumping the gun a little, now. I'll admit that I've thought about it. And I guess the healer's magic has changed Dave, or maybe enhanced, is a better word. Both of us are so healthy now that it's almost unbelievable. And I really do like Linda, and I think Dave does, too. But he's scared to admit it to me for fear that I'll get jealous and hand him his head. But I'm not ready to admit that I'm considering a second wife for him. I mean, I was raised..."

"Do you know what you just said?" Diana asked, grinning.

"Oh, you know what I meant. It's just a turn of phrase..."

"Uh huh. And have you fantasized about your husband making love to her? Fucking her?"

"Diana, you're embarrassing me to death."

Diana leaned back farther, turning to face Evie, propping her back against the arm of the couch they were sitting on. "I think that you just answered me, my pretty little friend. You might as well admit that you're wife shopping for your husband. Does he suspect do you think?"

Evie leaned forward, covering her face with her hands, giggling. "I can't believe that we're having this conversation. I thought you were going to tell me what the healer told Jeff," Evie said, desperately trying to redirect the conversation.

Diana reached over and turned Evie's face toward her. "It's not going to get much better when we talk about that," she chuckled, "It might even get worse."

"Oh, shit." Evie said, her eyes wide.

"Okay, here goes. Remember, I'm paraphrasing Jeff, and condensing things. I'm going to ask him to go over the whole thing again with me just to help me remember the details. But I'll try to cover the gist of what he said. Also, Jeff said that he needs to talk to you himself about some aspects of this.

"He said that while he was with Madison he had told the healer that he had a lot of things to ask her about the alien society which created her. He did this as he was putting her on Bill's chest, so I guess she had plenty of time to think about things before their run. Anyway, Jeff has been keeping her with him almost every day. She's become a 'friend' and it seems almost natural to have her as part of his mind as he works, or does things.

"She's learning more about communicating and is having less difficulty in translating her thoughts and thought processes into something that Jeff can understand. One of the reasons that she wants to stay with Jeff is to allow her more direct association with our surroundings and the people that Jeff interacts with. She knows practically nothing about our world first hand, although she has been able to tap into some of our communications, TV, etc. But words are still very difficult for her to translate, since her makers and society used telepathy exclusively. That makes translation, as we know it, impossible. She can sense our spoken words when we talk to Jeff and each other, but without Jeff's mind as an interface, our words are very difficult for her to understand.

"Jeff says, as he has repeatedly told us, that he is gradually getting better at the process of 'translating', for lack of a better word, his own thoughts and words into something that they can mutually understand."

Reaching for her cup on the coffee table, she took a sip, then leaned against the back of the couch in a more comfortable position, yet still turned a little toward Evie. "The irony of this is my calling myself the 'boss bitch.' The implication, of course, was that I was being bitchy by bossing everyone around. Since I'm the first wife, I tend to still run things just as I did when there were only Arlene and me. Odd how the parallels go, though. Anyway, back to the healer's society.

"Jeff says that the pictures — if that's the correct term — that the healer has shown him of the beings, people, that created her, look a lot like us. They're bipedal, have two arms and hands, have two eyes, a nose, mouth, ears, even hair similar to us, and, most importantly, they have something identical, or almost identical, to our male and female sexes, long dependency periods for the young, and many other things which make their social organization and psychology similar to ours.

"Their self-aware healers are even psychologically female somehow, which is why Jeff has always referred to ours as 'she.' Although there are striking similarities, no one would ever mistake one of the healer's creators for human. Their size is, or was, very similar to ours, but although they have all the right parts, so to speak, their eyes are bigger, for instance, their ears shaped differently and smaller, they have four fingers and two thumbs on each hand. Oh, everything is different."

Taking another sip and thinking for a moment, she continued, "Their mouths are smaller than ours and shaped differently. They make little sound; may not even have vocal cords in the sense that we have. Their eyes are receptive to a little broader spectrum of light than ours are. I think he said that they were able to detect some of the near infrared, and maybe other wavelengths also, but Jeff isn't sure.

"They're obviously far more technologically advanced than us — or they were, whichever is correct. Jeff isn't sure how old the healer is. He said something about that she may have been in suspended animation of some sort until shortly before he found her — or she found him. I know that there is an awful lot that he can't tell me. He keeps dancing around subjects as he talks to me. Stops frequently as he tries to tell me things. It's obvious that he won't tell where he really got the healer, or the circumstances. It frustrates me out of my mind.

"At times, I'm pretty sure that he thinks the healer came from a society that lived many millennia ago. He also says that he isn't sure that the healer even came from our dimension. She tries to show him things about 'fold space' as he has named it, that they have both become frustrated at their near inability to converse with each other about. He says that he isn't sure whether she is talking about a means of traveling through space or dimensions, or both.

"I wish I had read more science-fiction. From Jeff's implications, I assume that the military doesn't know much about the healer's society, if anything. But, if they did, this would be obvious 'shoot me now' military secrets we're discussing. I think the healer is bringing out in you what she has brought out in me. You need to know what is happening to you, and to us, but you should not mention any of this to anyone, other than Dave, without permission from Jeff or me. And Jeff is going to talk to Dave about this, and some other things. Our lives, yours and Dave's, really do depend on your keeping all this a secret."

"Oh, my," Evie quietly said. "That's ... I don't even know what I'm trying to say..."

"Getting back to the science, at least we can rely on Jeff. If anyone can understand it, he can. Oh, he certainly isn't a theoretical physicist, but then again, he is a true Alpha Male. Which brings up the healer's society. Their society seems to have been based on the Alpha Male concept. I suspect Alpha Males in evolving protohuman societies may have been more important than evolutionary psychologists realize because the healer is clearly 'awakening' dormant atavistic traits in Jeff rather than changing him into the equivalent of the Alpha Males in its alien society.

"She, the healer, by what Jeff can understand, was or is in a very select group of healers primarily designed for the military elite and the most elite Alpha Males in their society. Jeff called these select groups Alpha Primes. The other healers were designed for a lower level of their society."

"What was the healer's society called?" Evie said, her coffee forgotten.

"I asked Jeff the same thing, but he's frustrated about not being able to put a name to their society, or their planet, or planets, as the case may be. And even 'planets' may be thinking too small about their society. It's possible it was, or is, far larger than just a few planets. The healer readily shows him the concepts she uses that would presumably be what they use instead of names for such things, but Jeff, at least at this point, is unable to unravel her thoughts. Again, he runs up against the way telepaths think and communicate as opposed to the way we do."

Diana smiled at her friend. "Remember, Evie, that Jeff has reiterated over and over that his interpretation of what the healer is showing him is only an approximation, at best. He's certain that there are many things he is missing and or misunderstanding. So as I try to give his interpretation, please keep what I've said in mind."

Evie took a sip of her coffee and frowned. "My coffee is cold. Would you like some more?"

"Yeah, sure," Diana answered, distractedly, her mind on a mental image of a world so different from her own.

A few minutes later, again seated on the couch with fresh coffee and chocolate chip cookies, Diana continued. "The several worlds that Jeff seems to think they have are drastically different, but there is a level of ... consistency between them. Apparently space travel between their planets is almost second nature with them. Much of their food comes from planets used almost exclusively for farming, which to me means they have, or had, a lot of planets, not just several. There are industrial planets, and some others that he can't figure out what she means. They are, at least to some degree, omnivores, but he thinks that isn't completely correct. There are well-defined strata to their society and there is some concept of 'overlords' as Jeff has interpreted the information."

Diana took a bite of cookie, then after a moment, "Now comes the part that I want to convey as nearly to Jeff's words as possible. The elite Alpha Males, which he calls Alpha Primes, rule over other Alpha Males of lesser ... stature, both in their military and in their society in general. These lesser Alpha Males rule over other 'people' under them. It sounds something like genetically based stratification into the equivalent of social 'classes, ' but with telepathy, or some combination of telepathy and pheromones, allowing the Alphas to somehow dominate the others.

"Although the Alpha Males who rule over the military are a separate group to the Alpha Males who rule over the society, there is some sort of interaction between them. Alpha Males who are Primes are few, have far greater status, and apparently power, in their society. According to the healer, she recognized Jeff as a prime, even though he is not a telepath. Jeff says that he tried to downplay this, but she is vehement that she is correct in this and that any healer or Alpha Male in her society would feel this immediately. If the healer can 'feel, ' or somehow immediately identify, a human Alpha Prime, there has to be some sort of biological relationship between these aliens and humans. I.e., their biology is almost certainly based on amino acids similar to ours, and they probably have the equivalent of our genes. We might even be able to eat the same foods."

"Wow," Evie said. "If he's one of these 'Primes, ' there's no wonder people do what he 'suggests.'"

Diana cleared her throat, "The healer says that Alpha Males to some extent, and Primes to a much greater degree, are able to perceive things like trends, or future events much more effectively than others. They are natural born leaders in the literal sense because they sense things, or more like make connections about things, which others aren't aware of even when they have the same apparent information. And these Primes and Alphas definitely have better grasps of concepts and are able to see things that others only vaguely understand. If you think about what I said about Frank and Dave also being Alpha Males and then factor in this ability, it's easy to see why men like your husband and Frank succeed. They see opportunities others don't. This is why Jeff bought up several fledgling companies that suddenly boomed with their new products that he helped to develop. How he was able to visualize his 'radar, ' develop the integral pieces, then assemble them into an almost perfect working model, with very little experimentation."

Evie stared at Diana. "Dave has repeatedly bought land and housing tracts that I used to argue with him about. He always makes money on them. Much of which we've used to expand the company. He's tried to tell me over and over why he can see that's it a good deal, but his logic eludes me. Do you suppose..."

"I certainly do; I'm almost positive of it. And he may be using more than just logic. I don't think it was a happy accident that Jeff picked Dave as his contractor, and that they then became close friends so fast. Like called to like, I suspect." Diana absently sipped at her coffee. "Another thing is that the Alpha Primes are far faster than the other Alpha Males, let alone their society in general."

"That's why he can draw that gun almost faster than you can see it," Evie said. "That must be the reason. But what about the women?" she asked, suddenly realizing that they had basically not even mentioned them.

"Well, now we're back to the Boss Bitch that I kidded about to start with. Each Alpha Male is in charge of a family. But remember we're substituting Earth words for a concept that's mostly a parallel to something in an alien society. Well, he — the Alpha Male — is the ultimate authority in the family, but his mate is the real leader of the household."

"The 'household?'" Evie said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you're thinking the same thing I am. Their social structure is definitely based on something like our 'families.' The Alpha Male's household, depending upon his level as an Alpha Male, among other things, has varying numbers of females attached to it. They have harems, to be blunt. Some are quite large. Each of these households is ruled, under the Alpha Male of course, by the Queen Bitch," she said, trying unsuccessfully to keep from blushing.

Evie leaned back and snickered. "So our 'Boss Bitch' is really the Queen Bitch..."

"Not yours," Diana quickly interjected. "Remember your husband is also an Alpha Male, although not a Prime. While the Queen Bitch of a Prime enjoys some degree of status over the sister-wives of Alpha Males, there is no direct line of authority over them, and Queen Bitches of Alphas have no enhanced status relative to the sister-wives of other Alphas. Queen Bitches are equals among themselves. But Queen Bitches do have authority over the other wives of their own Alphas and Primes.

"So yes, under the healer's society, I would be the Queen Bitch to my sister-wives. And much authority goes with that ... concept. But just as strongly, responsibility — real effective responsibility — goes with the Queen Bitch. She is responsible for her sister-wives. Both for what they do, and their well-being in every sense of the term. In addition, she strongly feels when they are happy, excited, depressed — well, all the emotions. And her responsibility encompasses this. If a sister-wife is depressed, for instance, it is the Queen Bitch's responsibility. A responsibility that she must undertake, not just by their society's conventions or rules, but also as a psychological and maybe even a physiological necessity.

"Her husband's pleasure is her responsibility, and she is adamant about attaining that. She, largely, supervises the bringing of other females into the household to be his wives. When her husband is pleased, she quite literally basks in his pleasure. To a large degree, she and her husband's minds, especially with emotions, are interlocked. This also, to a somewhat lesser degree, is true for her sister-wives. This is generally in response to an unconscious trigger sent out by her Alpha Male. When they fall in love, the love response triggers a part of the Alpha's brain that in turn interlocks with the Alpha Female. This can either be the result of a sexual encounter, or through mere social interaction of the Alpha Male and the new female.

"The Alpha Males produce pheromones. This is especially true of Primes. That's another reason why I am convinced there has to be a biological relationship between humans and these aliens. Jeff is clearly producing pheromones which affect people around him like he says alien Primes affected other aliens.

"Jeff is learning to control his, and without control it can be embarrassing. In an enclosed space such as our weight room, or a smaller dining room at a restaurant, an unattached female hasn't got a chance. But mates of other Alphas are little affected by this phenomenon. But I did say, little affected."

Diana could see the wheels turning in Evie's head, but chose to ignore the blush. "We know that Jeff is a projecting telepath. There is no other conceivable reason why we could know — Arlene and I especially — that Jeff was in dire trouble that morning. This is the reason that we know where he is, and now beginning with me — are starting to know generally what he is doing, and sometimes who he is with. I suspect that eventually all my sister-wives will attain this ability."

"This is some deep stuff, Diana. But..."

"And you, my friend, I strongly suspect, are soon going to be experiencing some of this yourself, maybe already are."