Chapter 31: SM03-Epsilon, Day 5

Steve woke well-rested, lying on his back with his sleeping partners, Antonia and Susan, draped face-down across him. Each woman had an arm across the other's back, with Steve's arms arranged below theirs. The women seemed to be cuddling each other as much as they were cuddling Steve. He didn't need to go anywhere urgently, so he lay there quietly and enjoyed the feeling of their breasts pressing against him.

All good things come to an end, it's said, and Steve's quiet time was no exception. Antonia stirred first, which woke Susan. Their eyes met as they looked across Steve's chest. Neither seemed to be upset that her arm was across the back of a naked woman, and they smiled at each other, then looked up and smiled at Steve.

"Good morning, love," said Susan. Antonia followed with the same greeting, and he answered in turn. "Since you're both awake, I'd like to sneak out and take care of some personal business. Do either of you need the bathroom urgently?"

Getting two "no"'s, he slithered out from under the women, rose, and entered the bathroom. He saw them snuggle up together as he left, and wondered briefly if there wasn't something going on that he wasn't aware of. Shrugging mentally, he continued into the bathroom, and settled in for his morning business.

He wasn't finished when the room voice spoke to him. "I have a private message for you from an unidentified source."

Steve cleared his throat. "Normally I would not want to be disturbed at a time like this, but since this is likely to be the only private time I get for the near future, I will make an exception. What is the message?"

An unfamiliar voice, quite human, began to speak. "You don't know who I am, and I'm using a voice not my own so that you won't try to figure it out. If I understand you and the women you're with, you're doing pretty well right now, but something nasty has come up, and you're the most likely candidate to be asked to fix it.

"You're going to be getting a call you don't expect, and you'll be reluctant to trust it, just like you're reluctant to trust me. But you can trust it, and me, and it's important that you follow your gut on this; quite a few lives depend on it.

"Just to show you that I know what I'm talking about, I'll tell you that you've knocked up everybody except Lisa and Tanya, and you missed Tanya only because the rubbers worked. She'll be safe the day after tomorrow at the latest. And for an extra bonus, Antonia's got twins; she had two eggs drop at once and you nailed both of them. Last but not least, Susan also scored the daily double; she had one egg, but it split, and she's got a pair of identical twins on the way.

"I know you pretty well, and I'm sure that you'll treat what I've said skeptically, but I assure you, I'm more like Garibaldi than the Oracle. Goodbye."

The room voice returned, and said. "That is the end of the message. There is no provision for a reply."

Steve sat puzzled, his 'business' forgotten. That last line had reminded him of something, but what? Suddenly, it all came together. He'd have said it was impossible, if it wasn't for the fact that he'd left two naked women in bed to come in here, and had a body that was twenty years younger than the one he'd had a few days ago, and had eaten several days of meals that appeared literally out of nowhere.

So if the voice was a 'Garibaldi', who was the source? Garibaldi had been security...

Steve's brain locked, and he refused to consider the possibility. He cleaned up, wiping the usual dirty bits with a washcloth, and returned to the bedroom, where he found his two lovers still lying in each other's arms, talking quietly. They were clearly comfortable with the intimacy, but neither was acting aroused by the contact.

Sitting on the bed, he pulled the two women upright, and into his arms. One arm around each, he looked down into their eyes in turn and said, "I just got an interesting message. I'm not sure if I believe it or not, but the source offered one interesting bit of news. According to my anonymous source, I'm currently holding two women I love, and four (yes four) babies. Just in case you're wondering, that's two sets of twins."

Steve would have continued, but it was difficult to speak over the squeals coming from the women in his arms. They kissed him soundly, and then each other, and the three-way hug that followed was a long one indeed.

"Room, can you confirm the information I received about these two lovely ladies?" Steve asked.

The room voice said, "Antonia is currently pregnant with two individual embryo/placenta sets. Susan is pregnant, with a single placenta forming; it's not entirely clear if there is one embryo or two, but the latter case is more probable. Therefore, you have at least three and probably four babies in progress with these two women."

Susan was still in shock, but Antonia's eyes narrowed. "These women?" she asked, archly.

Steve grinned. "Yes, 'these women.' It seems there are a few other babies on the way as well, if my source is correct."

Susan's head turned abruptly, and her expression changed from a vacant stare to a piercing one. "A few other babies? Exactly how many children are 'we' expecting?"

Steve replied, "Ten. Four from the two of you, plus one from everyone else except Tanya and Lisa. Tanya didn't want to get pregnant, so we used condoms. Apparently Lisa didn't catch. If she wants, we'll try again today." Steve carefully failed to mention that women rarely got pregnant without having sex with a man, which Lisa didn't want. Of course, now that he thought about it, it might be possible to convince the aliens to help with artificial insemination, if Lisa wanted a baby without using the traditional delivery method.

Steve looked at Susan and asked, "How are you doing this morning? I know you said last night you were too sore to play, and I want to make sure you're feeling better this morning, even if you don't want to make up for what you missed last night."

"I'm fine," she said, "but you're right that I don't need to 'make up' for anything. Yesterday afternoon was plenty of fun for me, especially because I didn't pass out this time. I love cuddling with you afterwards."

Steve kissed her cheek, and said, "I love cuddling with you, period." He turned to look at Antonia, and said, "How about you, Toni? Any discomfort from last night?"

Antonia shook her head, "No, I must be getting used to that baseball bat you're swinging. I'm not even tender. Of course, I'm not horny either. Starving, but not horny."

Steve smiled, then changed the subject. "Anyone interested in showering with me? Free back rubs, and I wash hair and massage scalps."

He got two eager acceptances, so he let them take care of their toilet needs, then the three of them climbed into the shower. He resisted the temptation to bend either of them over and plunge their depths, but he did cop quite a few feels while he washed their backs and hair. They in turn brushed against his cock quite a few times while they cleaned his back.

After everyone was clean, rinsed, and dried, they dressed and headed out to breakfast.

The three lovers found the rest of the household already eating. Steve decided to get the news out of the way before he ate, so he announced his news before Antonia or Susan could steal his thunder. There was a great deal of pleasure in the news, and some sympathy for Lisa. Steve didn't say anything, but let Lisa bring up the inevitable "Then I guess we'll have to try harder" before one of the other women could.

Steve fetched breakfast for Susan and Antonia, then settled down to his own meal. Once he was finished, he leaned back, and surveyed the beautiful women that surrounded him. How could he be this lucky?

The room voice interrupted Steve's relaxation. "I have a message from the ones you call 'the aliens'," it said, "to be delivered once you had completed your morning meal. They beg you to contact them, as there is a problem with some of your fellow humans, and they desperately wish you to advise them on the proper solution."

Steve noted the use of terms like 'beg' and 'desperately' and wondered exactly what he could extort out of the aliens that he didn't already have. Deciding to worry about that question later, he looked at his wives, looking for a sign that any of them wanted to comment. Seeing nothing, he spoke to the voice, asking, "Who is the message from?"

The voice replied, "The alien names are not translatable into your language; the first human to speak to him assigned the term 'Zookeeper' as an identification tag. That human strongly recommended restricting yourself to voice contact; he reported that the sight of the aliens was disturbing."

Steve shrugged, and said, "Whatever, we'll do it your way. Voice connection to 'Zookeeper', please."

The flat emotionless voice that had narrated the video showing the destruction of the Earth spoke next.

"Thank you for speaking to us," said Zookeeper. "We have a problem and we need the advice of a human to determine a solution. We are prevented by privacy constraints and the instructions of the authorities from performing anything but the most superficial review of the conditions your people live under. We have been receiving statistical summaries from the room monitors on the general stress levels and reproductive success rates among the groups you have been assigned to, and have noted generally positive results.