Chapter 27: JA01-Eta, Day 5, continued

The two women who'd seen Steve enter were still speechless when another woman walked into the room. "What was that noise?" she asked. She stopped dead when she saw Steve, and then said, "My God. A man. Please, let him be a real man. I'm sick of looking at that faggot and all these damned dykes."

Steve saw the other women flinch. One of them spoke, her voice low and dangerous. "Karen, you bitch, shut the fuck up. If you drive him off, I'll kill you."

Steve flinched in turn. Well, the source of the stress levels was pretty obvious. He looked up as more women walked into the room, drawn by Karen's words. One of them walked up to Steve, and said, "Welcome to our home. Please don't mind Karen. She's got a bit of cabin fever. We get so few visitors lately. Please, come in and have a seat."

Steve allowed himself to be led to the large furniture setting in the middle of the room. He sat in the indicated chair, across from the couch, where the women who'd welcomed him settled herself. A couple of the other women settled in beside her and cuddled up, while a third knelt at her feet. The kneeling woman was dressed in a white shift like the one that Li had dressed Ko in when Ko had been her slave.

The woman introduced herself as "Lucille Tucker, but everyone calls me Lucy."

Steve glanced at the slave, and said, "Everyone?"

Lucy laughed, and said, "Well, almost everyone. Can I offer you some refreshment? Breakfast?"

Steve said, "I've eaten, thanks. A glass of ice water would be nice, though."

Lucy touched her slave's shoulder and said, "Two glasses of ice water, Sarah." Sarah rose gracefully, and went to the replicator to fetch the requested drinks. When she returned, and gave Steve his glass, he (mindful of the slave mentality) raised his glass to Lucy and said, "Thank you," completely ignoring the slave who'd served him.

Lucy introduced the women who were cuddled up to her as Stacy Anderson and Rebecca Smith. Rebecca ("Call me Becky") had been one of the two women who'd first seen Steve. The other (who'd slapped Karen down) was named Anna Rosenbaum. She'd settled into a love seat, and was soon joined by a slender blonde named Laura Braun, who cuddled up against her as soon as Anna was settled in.

Nancy Robinson and Beth Adams completed the introductions. Sarah wasn't introduced further, but Steve figured he'd get that detail later. "Karen" didn't introduce herself either; she just sat in a chair to one side and glowered at the rest of the room.

"So what brings you to see us, Steve?" Lucy asked, "It's not that we're not glad to see a new face, but we've been cooped up here for a while with no contact from our 'hosts', and suddenly you show up unannounced. I'm sure you can see why we're curious."

Steve decided that a harsh shock was appropriate at this point. "I was contacted this morning by one of the aliens, who said that one of us had named him 'Zookeeper' in what I can only assume was a deliberate insult. Somebody must have been really pissed. Anyway, 'Zookeeper' told me they'd been having problems with suicides, and two of the people in this group were stressed out to the point that they might kill themselves, and would I mind terribly seeing if I could do anything to save their lives?

"When they put it that way, I could hardly refuse. So here I am."

Steve turned to face Karen directly. "Judging by my reception, I suspect I know what the problem is, and I can see what's causing Johnny's stress levels. What I don't know is why you haven't chained this bitch up out back where her barking won't bother anyone."

Karen had gone very, very pale as Steve spoke, and even his deliberate insult at the end didn't seem to penetrate. She shivered, and said, "Suicide? He's going to kill himself?"

Steve nodded, "That's what had the aliens concerned. They were afraid their precious species-preservation program would fall apart if the men started killing themselves. Ironic, isn't it? Johnny isn't going to be breeding any of you whether he's alive or dead, is he? And it really pissed you off that he wouldn't turn straight just because you waved your admittedly attractive ass at him, didn't it?"

The back-handed complement went right past Karen, but the contempt in Steve's voice and the truth of his accusation stabbed her right in the gut. Her face crumpled, and she burst into tears. She turned away from everyone and buried her face in the chair back.

Notably, not one of the women moved to comfort her in any way. A couple looked distressed in their own right. The woman who'd introduced herself as Beth was one of them.

"Karen wasn't the only one," Beth said, "she was just the only one that was mean about it. I flaunted my charms at Johnny a few times too, but I got the message loud and clear, and dropped the subject. But I didn't defend him when she went off on him, so I'm to blame as well. Tell me what to do, and I'll do it. Whatever it takes, please help him."

Lucy was also looking upset. "I knew he was unhappy, but I swear before the Goddess that I didn't know it was that bad. I'm bossy and pushy, but I'm not violent. If I were, I'd have bitch-slapped Karen into next week, but just yelling at her didn't make any damned difference. Maybe she'll get the message now.

"You said there were two people suffering here?" she continued. "Obviously the other one is female, but were you told who it was?"

"No, but I've got a good guess. I count nine women here, and there are ten in my household. Is anyone missing?"

Lucy flinched again. "Andrea. She spends all her time in her room now; I haven't seen her since lunch time yesterday. She seems to avoid me in particular, but she doesn't talk to anyone. I think she may have talked to Johnny at first, but they've both been basket cases..."

She stopped abruptly, tears in her eyes. "We've been idiots, haven't we? Thank the Goddess, I hope you're in time. I'm going to talk to Johnny; I think you need to see Andrea first."

Steve nodded, "Sounds like a good idea. Now keep one thing in mind. I'm 100% straight. Never considered sex with a guy, never even saw a guy I thought was 'hot'. I'm no homophobe, though, and I've had plenty of gay and lesbian friends. I've got a lesbian couple in my home, living as part of our extended family. You've obviously got a couple of family groups going here, and I don't see any signs that anyone's been forced into anything, so I don't see anything to criticize. I'm here to diagnose the problem and recommend solutions. Johnny's problem seems obvious, and we'll just have to see if I've done anything to help, and if there is anything else I can do."

Steve paused, and said, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I want to help Johnny with his problems, I don't want any of us to make any promises my dick can't keep. I'll know more when I talk to him."

Steve looked over at the still-sobbing Karen, and decided that she needed a distraction before she completely collapsed. He walked over to her, and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her around to face him. He put his hand under her chin, and forced her to face him.

"Listen to me, bitch. You are going to be Johnny's little pet for a while, if he'll have you. You'll fetch for him just like Sarah does for Lucy, without the fringe benefits. You'll do what he says, when he says it, and you'll smile the entire time. You'll spend hours on your knees begging him to forgive you. You'll eat a plateful of his shit if he tells you to. And if he doesn't want you, then maybe I'll try to show you the error of your ways. I've got two pets at home, but you won't enjoy my attentions the way they do.

"Now go to your room and clean up. I want you to wait until I call for you, or until I leave, before you come out. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir," said Karen through her tears. "I'll do whatever you want. Please, please, tell me you don't hate me."

Steve looked at her coolly. "You're not worthy of hate. Only pity. Now go."

Karen left, and Steve looked at Lucy. "I don't like doing that, but I think if we break her down far enough, we can bring her back as someone who's not nearly so hateful. We'll have to be careful, though. I don't want to save two and lose a different one."

Lucy tilted her head at Steve, and said in an inquiring tone, "We? What do you mean, 'We'?"

Steve smiled. "I've got a home full of women brought up that a man should be in charge, so I 'run' the place, by agreeing with whatever the women decide. It's obvious that you run this household, even if you're screwing only half of the women. So unless I get a raging case of stupid, you're going to have to clean up whatever I do to Karen to knock her loose from her previous thinking. Once we've got the critical patients stabilized, we'll discuss what to do about her."

Lucy nodded. "I'll talk to Johnny. We got along OK before he started pulling into himself, so I think he'll talk to me. You look after Andrea. There's something weird going on with her."

Lucy pointed out Andrea's room, and then took off to visit with Johnny. Steve walked to the indicated door, and buzzed for admittance. "My name is Steve Miller. Can I talk to you, Andrea?"

There was no response, but when Steve reached for the touch plate again, the door opened. He entered, slowly, not wanting to further distress the occupant. He found her lying on her bed, her eyes red. She looked at him with a combination of fear and hope that he found oddly familiar.

"Thank you for agreeing to talk to me, Andrea," Steve said, in a quiet tone he hoped was comforting. "That is your name, right? I'm told you've been upset lately. The aliens asked me to come here because two members of the household were under extreme stress, and they were worried that something bad would happen. They told me Johnny was one of them, but they didn't know what the second person's name was. It's you, though, isn't it?"