Chapter 39

We were warned about one race in particular regarding not showing weakness. They were called the Halim (pronounced HA-LEEM), and were vicious beings. Keeli knew of their visits to Earth, and the things they had done. She told us that it was just the beginning. According to her, the only reason Earth hadn't been conquered was that there was nothing there they really wanted.

They just stopped by on their way through to have some fun with us. On the bright side, they were cowards and most of their technology was stolen from races weaker than them. We told her about our recent activity in the Sol system, and she said this might be enough to interest them if they discovered it.

Her advice was to hail the next Halim ship to enter the system and challenge it. She was very serious as she said "if they defy you, the ship must be convinced you are stronger than they are. If there are more than one you must leave but a lone survivor. At the very least they would be more cautious. At the best, they would avoid the system in the future."

She recommended stationing a fleet there, but we just didn't have the manpower to do it. Faith's suggestion of using a single ship manned by senior cadets based on Mars along with holograms to fool the Halim into thinking it was an entire fleet seemed the best solution. It should be a good training exercise at least.

We were interrupted by Aleea who ran out of the bedroom and launched herself into her sister's arms, announcing that Keeli was going to be an auntie soon. She knew she was impregnated during our first go-round. The other five were just for fun.

Lea suggested that it was time to 'make an honest alien out of them' and when we explained what that meant to the aliens in question I thought they were going to molest me again. After they finally let me breathe again, Rhonda said she'd make the arrangements.

Rhonda's position hadn't changed much since being chief of staff. She was now the "Presidential Chamberlain," and was in charge of everything to do with running the palace, along with preparing my daily schedule.

Our nuptials weren't the only ones that day. A group wedding was arranged and all were dealt with at the same time. The party lasted all night. I think Jhompor was the happiest being there. She had joined the Hawk and the Falcon and was the first Borealan in their history to have two husbands.

I don't know about the rest of the grooms but for me, things were going to have to get more organized. I now had thirteen wives and even with the enhancements, I was still only human. Besides the pleasant exertion, I still had work to do also and time was one thing that couldn't be enhanced or lengthened.

At breakfast I stated my case. They not only understood my dilemma but had anticipated it. They had already worked out a schedule of my "workload," and submitted it for my approval. It was confusing but much less strenuous than I had feared. They had somehow worked it out so I would be with two of them per night but it would be quite some time before it would be the same pair. It sounded interesting.

As soon as we got that problem settled a new one came up. The subject of our impending adoption arose, and of course everyone just had to go along. Tina was the lone exception. She felt that she was on the verge of success with her anti-matter experiment and didn't want to leave it. Connie and I were the designated adopting parents because of the legalities, and technically, the others weren't needed.

They felt otherwise, of course. That wouldn't have been a problem ordinarily, but our two newest wives would have a hard time fitting in. There weren't too many sloe-eyed, pointy-eared, blue babes walking around on Earth. They weren't going to be left behind. though. I admit I didn't put up much of a fight about it.

With that settled, we then discussed the actual adoption, and decided as a group to adopt an older child. These were often the hardest to place, and needed us the most. As a coincidence, it helped us just as much. If we could find compatible teens who we could integrate into our new society they would help our manpower problem much sooner.

Lea's sham marriage was still in effect, and she planned to pursue the same idea to help even more. For security we decided to use Hog Cay as a base, and planned to leave within the week.

We were using the (now repaired) Sussmann one again. This ship was in a class its' own, and had been designed by our children. It was equivalent to a cruiser in size, and had the same armament as one. It was much more luxurious than any warship needed to be. Because of the personnel shortage, it had been designed to require only thirty-five crew members.

The remaining slots were to be filled with first and second generation returnees who volunteered to become adoptive parents as well. With that settled, and after the empty slots were quickly filled, we spent the next few days making sure all the business details were attended to, so we would leave no urgent matters unattended when we left.

This required very little time, since everything was already so well organized. I was beginning to feel like I was destined to be a figurehead. With so many efficient and dedicated people around me, there was little for me to do. The time before we left was also spent incorporating Borealan technology into our ship, and the corresponding devices for communication on Vanir. We'd be able to test it on the trip, hopefully working out any bugs as we found them.

The trip was uneventful until we approached the Sol system, and had to cloak. Earth had managed to build a couple of ion drive vessels and launch them. We passed them unnoticed, and continued on our way.

I was concerned about an accidental collision, since we had planned to leave the ship unmanned. My fears were proven unfounded. Aaron assured me that the ship was quite capable of performing any necessary maneuver to avoid problems. We took two cloaked shuttles to the cay, and arrived without incident.

The only excitement was when we departed the shuttles and appeared seemingly out of thin air on the front lawn, surprising the caretakers. Once they got calmed down, and over their disbelief of Keeli and Aleea, we got settled in for the evening.

Before we got too comfortable we made a few calls. The first was to one of our lawyers to see about setting up the adoptions. This didn't take very long, but there was a long list of people we wanted to touch base with. Sally was next, and wanted us to come to Washington as soon as we were able.

The new communications would be of great benefit it seems. According to her, Earth was in deep shit. As usual, religion was the reason. The Islamic fanatics were still at it. It looked like they were being even more of a pain in the ass than ever.

This time instead of being content with blowing themselves up, while killing as many innocents as possible, they were exporting the tactic to every non-Islamic nation they could. The end result was a brewing religious war. After the third such attack in America, the public sentiment was to conduct what amounted to a new version of the crusades.

To further complicate matters, our old intelligence tactics were useless. They evidently were conducting all of their meetings face to face, avoiding electronic communication entirely. In addition, they also had figured out how to make some pretty nasty devices.

The first of these was mustard gas and had been used twice so far. The first was in Spain and the second in France. Both attacks had been in enclosed places with hundreds of people affected. No one had a clue where the lab was so no action could be taken.

Action had been threatened, however. Israel had flatly stated that one if more attack were to take place, the Palestinian hope for a home in the holy land was doomed. The place they now called home would be taken over by force, and the residents expelled. They had finally had enough.

We were still in the middle of the call when Loki made his appearance. He didn't have any new information but he did offer a suggestion. "Have any of these people been captured" he asked?

Sally told him that several suspects had been apprehended and some of them were definitely involved. The problem was that no one with the capability to "read" them could get access, and conventional interrogation techniques had been useless. Even the countries who we knew used more "stringent" means than America had no luck getting them to talk.

I was silent for a moment before the obvious dawned on me, and I laughed. Naturally, everyone thought I was nuts until I voiced my thought.

"Sally hasn't met our new friends, so she will need to be brought up to date on the details of what I think will work. That said, what do you think of the possibility of some of these suspects mysteriously disappearing into thin air?"

Once Sally calmed down I explained the concept of teleportation to her. She was enthusiastic, once the shock wore off, and agreed that the cay would be the perfect place to bring them. Since it was already 3 AM, it seemed we might as well do it now. Some minor planning was involved, but we soon had the GPS coordinates we needed and began.

Kathy, Gene, and George were to transport to three cells in Gitmo and quickly return with the suspects. I didn't even bother to protest, lest my wives hurt me. I did do the questioning, though. We found out more than I'd hoped for.

By noon the following day, several mosques were piles of smoking rubble. Quite a few individuals suddenly came up missing, also. Many of them were so called "holy men". The usual outrage ensued, but this time there was no statement from the aliens claiming responsibility.

Sally also offered Israel the technology we had used to build our wall in return for them not leveling the Palestinian territories. Thankfully, they accepted this as being a reasonable alternative.

This took all of two days, and we hoped it would be a good start. The following day we made an appearance at the Sussmann library, and we were very impressed. Even with the last minute announcement of our visit, the crowd was huge.

We ended up spending most of the day at the library. Afterwards, we headed for the capitol with Sally, who had come to Kentucky to meet us. Air Force one was the same plane we had introduced, and very comfortable. It seemed strange that aircraft without wings replaced the old style so quickly, but I suppose the cost savings made it very practical. The fuel savings probably paid for them fairly quickly, making the airlines more profit.

We stayed the night in the White House for the first time in years. It felt a little strange at first. I didn't get a lot of time to think about it, though. After dinner was over, Sally and Kim informed me that my wives had loaned me out for the evening.

Kim almost sounded like she was kidding, when she added "if you can walk tomorrow, we want to go to the cay and meet your lil' blue hotties! It's a shame they couldn't come with y'all but I guess people would have freaked out some."

While Sally played with my ass she suggested that we reveal ourselves soon, and open an embassy. We could recruit in the open then, and increase our numbers sooner. Before I could respond we were at her room. They didn't want to talk for a while. It's just as well. Everyone seemed to be doing something with their mouths that would have made talking difficult.

The next day, Connie and I visited several orphanages. We halted our search at the fifth one. There we found a fifteen year old boy who had spent most of his life either there or in foster care. He had always been returned, and for the last five years they hadn't even tried to place him. In fact, we had to ask them to introduce us.

He seemed very sullen and belligerant while the nuns were there, so we asked to speak to him alone. We were shown to a small room, and they left shaking their heads sadly. After half an hour spent in vain trying to get him to open up, Connie suggested we take a trip off the grounds. Even this was met with a shrug of his thin shoulders.

I thought I might be on to something when I asked if there was anyone else he'd like to invite, though. He actually looked at me then, and asked "where we goin'?"

Connie jumped on that and told him we'd go anywhere he wanted to, provided it was quiet enough for us to talk.

He actually smiled then and said "my sis is here too. Could we maybe get sumpin' good to eat, maybe? Her an' me both likes steaks, but all we get here is burgers! Bad 'uns, too. Dang things is leftovers 'bout to be throwed out from th' stores."

After a brief discussion with the nuns, Jimmy and Janata (his sister) were allowed to go with us. They both wanted to go to Outback, having seen the commercials. Neither had ever eaten there, but I assured them the food was pretty goob. Heck, I liked it myself!

After devouring appetizers and a large steak, they finally opened up over desert. It seems that they had never been placed together and each set of foster parents had returned them, because they didn't care for that idea. Jimmy seemed to be the spokesperson, and warned us that if we fostered only one of them, there would be problems.

Both were shocked to learn that we would have it no other way. That was nothing compared to the reaction when they discovered who we were. I thought Janata (please call me Jan!) would faint when she heard. Jimmy (Jim) was incredulous. They were black, and he had some preconcieved ideas about discrimination.

"Why would some rich and famous white folk wanna take us in?" he asked. You be doin' your civic duty or sumpin'? We don' want no charity, done had 'nuf o' it!"

He wound down when I pointed out that he was embarassing his sister. I explained a few things to them then.

"First", I said "I'm not looking for temps, here. If we take you two in, it will be as our children. You'll be expected to do everything our other children have done, and will, do in the future. You'll be expected to learn, work, and get along with the others. We will ask nothing of you that is not asked of anyone else. In return, all we will ever ask is that you respect us, and not betray the trust we will be placing in you.

Connie continued from there. "You must also never tell anyone about where we live or what goes on there, unless we say that you can. It's kind of a secret."

That only served to make them suspicious but at least Jan finally spoke up. "Y'all ain't inta' nuthin' illegal, is you? I done been someplace where they was sellin' drugs an' such. We don't want no part o' that no more!

The pictures blew them away. The first was the palace, which we described as our "house". The second was of Vanir from a distance, showing the two moons and suns. The third was of the ship we had arrived in.

I'm not sure they believed us, but I had hope when Jim asked

"can we really go to school an' learn stuff? They don't teach us much here, an' I don't like bein stupid like we is. Rate we's goin', we be lucky ta get some job inna fas' food joint when we get kicked outa the home on our eighteenth."

"You must not understand", Connie interjected, "we're not talking foster home here, we're talking adoption. There won't be any kicking out. You'll both have the chance to get any education you want, and with some of the best teachers you could ever hope for."

We went to the bar and had a beer while they talked. When we returned, Jim said "If you want us, we'd go. Got nothin' to lose anyway. Least we find out how th' rich folk live for a bit. Be nice if it was like y'all say, though. Ain't never had no family, neither one o' us, 'cept each other. Sho' would like to see what that felt like, fo' once.

Connies said crypticly "you ain't never seen a family like the one you just bought into, Jim. I guarantee it. You'll have more family than you ever dreamed of."

It brought a smile to his face, but no questions.

The paperwork was started as soon as we returned, and thanks to our celebrity status, we were even assigned as temporary guardians while it was being processed. Sometimes fame was good for something.

They went ape shit over the ride in the aircar, but the look on their faces when meeting Keeli and Aleea was priceless. We got some great pictures of that. We probably should have taken more at the beach. Until they got used to the nudity, they were all eyes.

That only took a few minutes, though. It took longer for them to get used to something else. We discovered they couldn't swim, so the girls decided to teach Jim, and insisted that Brian and I teach Jan. I'm not sure about my mates, but I tried to be careful where my hands went. Somehow I still ended up with a handful of nubile young breast or ass cheek on occasion.

It wasn't my fault, though. I caught the little vixen at it a couple of times. I suppose she thought I didn't mind when nothing was said, so I shouldn't have been surprised at what happened. We were walking back out of the water when she "accidentally" tripped me. This accident also involved a nudge that put me on my back, whereupon I found myself with a fourteen year old female body pressed to me from head to toe. This caused the unavoidable, of course.