Chapter 65

How could it possibly matter since the whole fucking government died? Wait, that wasn't actually what happened. The leaders of the government died. Most of the ones just doing their job for the government hadn't died when the leaders did. I'm sure most of them died eventually, but it probably came when random portions of the population started dying in stages.

After all the specific groups died on cue it seemed the rest of the people were just thinned out at random. The strange thing about it was the living kept doing their jobs or picked up other duties. Displaced workers had naturally gravitated to burying dead bodies.

And the machinery of the infrastructure had all been quietly shut down in stages. I remember hearing about them shutting off the nuclear power plants. Ours here hadn't been shutdown though. Maybe it was because they ran on automatic. That didn't make sense to me though. How could a sickness know they ran automatically? How in the hell did it know or care about the others which didn't run automatically.

Nothing made any sense unless someone or something was intelligent and engineered the whole plague. There was a thought for you. Something was intelligent. Next thing you know I'd be outside looking up to try and spot UFOs turning off the power.

This was giving me a headache. I felt I needed to try and figure it out, but I could only do a little of it at a time. I was chasing my tail trying to decipher a puzzle I was sure I didn't have all the pieces for.

Clair came into my study then and provided an attractive break. She'd just eaten and was about to go get dressed for the day. I felt a little thrill at catching her in her good morning uniform. I knew she wore it for me, but it had been a while since I'd seen her in it.

I took her in my arms and thought to myself I had time on my hands. I kissed her deeply and my hands roamed to her lushly rounded bottom and began exploring. Clair was tiny and I was nearly bent double to reach her. I lifted her and she wrapped her legs around my waist to hold on.

I moved toward the couch since I hadn't discovered yet if I could let the arms down on the Aerons Chair. Just as I reached the couch I got a message and the beeping started at my desk. I sighed and set Clair down.

Brenda wanted me in the control room. I made my apologies to Clair and headed Brenda's way. The last summons I'd had was the start of the attack on our Hawkeye. I went down into the guests quarters and through the tunnel to the command center. When I got there Brenda and Jasmine were calmly looking over the various screens and readouts.

"What's up Brenda?" I asked.

"Seven is at the hotel and she wants you to come in. She said she had some things you need to decide," Brenda said.

It was a little odd she'd called me to the command center to tell me and hadn't just put it in the message she sent. Brenda and Jasmine were being strangely quiet now too. I looked at Jasmine and she couldn't help grinning.

"Why you little bitches, you were watching me and Clair weren't you?" I asked, and couldn't help sniggering.

"Yes. I was afraid you were going to make my relief late showing up," Brenda said, and giggled.

"Well I was going to detain her for sure," I said.

"Nancy warned us about letting you get started too early in the morning too," Jasmine said, putting her bit in.

"I might have known I had Nancy to thank for any form of coitus interruptus," I said, and laughed.

"Seven actually did want you at the hotel sooner than you were going to make it at your rate," Brenda said, and giggled again.

I hated to miss the Clair fuck, but I was actually happy Brenda and Jasmine still felt free to tease me and foil my plans. To me it was a good sign the indoctrination hadn't caused a big change in them.

Jasmine hadn't had the whole treatment, but I was sure Brenda had received more than she really needed while she was subject to Grimes' tender mercies. I laughed it off and gave Brenda and Jasmine some good morning attention as they waited for Clair.

When Clair arrived I gave her a little more sugar and walked back to the house with Brenda, squeezing and pinching her ass all the way. Brenda went to the cafeteria to eat and I grabbed Nancy who was still in the kitchen.

"Hey sweetie, how about letting me take you to a big fancy hotel for a little bit?" I asked.

"I might as well Jack, it's as close as I'm ever going to get to you taking me out somewhere. All you want to do now is eat the breakfast I cook you and then abuse my poor pussy," she said, teasing me again.

"Who said I wasn't going to abuse it at the hotel?" I said.

"Nobody. I can be talked out of my panties if you try."

"You need to put on something better than a damned T-shirt to go in front of your new followers though. Go put on a real shirt at least," she said.

"Ok. Come on and pick something out for me."

We headed for my bedroom and Nancy looked around in my closet a little. She asked if there was any chance I'd wear a suit and I vetoed it at once. She picked out a nice long sleeved dress shirt and a better pair of jeans. I put them on and pulled on a pair of my custom made cowboy boots.

One of the regrets of my late arriving riches was it was too late to buy me a pair of Charlie Dunn boots. He died a few years before I hit the big time. I never got to see Bo Jangles dance either, but I did get to see Jerry Jeff Walker sing about it a time or two. That was then and you know the rest...

I finished dressing with the big buckled belt with Jack on the back and Nancy and I headed for the airstrip. Gloria was there and had the Sikorsky warmed up and ready. She took us to the hotel and set us down on the heliport. We all took the stairs to my new suite.

"Well you low down long dicked bastard. You did all this just so you could have a penthouse to stockpile more pussy. I'm starting to be ashamed I even know you," Nancy said, starting in on me right away.

"Now Nancy, it isn't like that. A dead man set this all up and I'm just trying to take over what's left," I said, trying to settle her down.

"Who do you think you're trying to shit Jack? I know you, remember?" Nancy asked, and laughed.

"It's the truth. I asked Jonathon if they had a place set up for me here and this is where he brought me," I said, trying to sound innocent.

"And I suppose those carpenters over there taking out walls and making room for more beds are all just a coincidence?"

"As a matter of fact, those plans were already made. I asked if it was going to cut them short of rooms and I was told it wouldn't," I said.

"Rooms hell, it's probably going to cut them short of available pussy knowing you. How many women does Jonathon think he can cram in here for you?" she asked.

"I didn't ask."

"Looking at the size of the place I guess you didn't have to. For fuck sake, are they going to make the whole floor one big pussy pen for Jack?"

"Mostly, I did change the plans a little though. I had them keep a big connecting bedroom next to my bedroom, it should be enough room for all my Austin friends and a couple more," I said.

"Well why didn't you say so in the first place. I don't mind being one of many as long as I can be near the top of the list. I think I'll save you a blowjob for later," she said, smiled, and then elbowed me in the ribs.

Seven came up and found us then took us to the broadcast studio. It was set up in a large meeting room on the second floor. I could see it was the same studio we had seen in the last days of CNN. One of the familiar anchor babes was seated behind a desk and it looked like they were getting ready to start.

"I thought it wouldn't air until ten am."

"It won't, they're going to tape it to make sure it's right."

We watched and there wasn't much to it. The anchor babe read off a group number and a location number and said affected personnel should report at once. It seemed anticlimactic to me and I said so.

"It is a little mundane. The effect shouldn't be though. We should get about three hundred people in by this afternoon," Seven said.

"What groups are coming first?" I asked.

"Service staff for the hotel. Cooks, helpers, servers, and cleanup people. Construction and repair people, some of the food and supply salvage crews will be coming too. Don't expect them to look like ordinary workers though. They're all former combat trained troops.

"Their job assignments just happen to be hotel staff and other things. Nearly all the people who come in will be similar. They will be troops first and have other jobs too. It was done on purpose.

"They were selected for their abilities and then secondarily trained for other task which had to be covered. It was done in case things ever came to a tooth and nail fight to the finish," Seven said.

I had to admit it was a good idea. I guess if you had the whole world to choose from you could afford to be picky. I laughed to myself again as I thought about Carlisle's last days spitting out hellfire and brimstone over the airways.

They got the shot on the first try and later it was broadcast right on time. Then we waited, but not long. The first arrivals started getting to the hotel within the hour. I guessed they were sitting on go waiting for the signal. All but two who we expected made it before three pm.

Seven assembled them into a large meeting room. Introduced me to them and then did the reference switching and other mental housekeeping things. When she released them she invited them all to come by and meet me. I felt like a goddamned congressman or something - shaking hands and making Howdy noises.

All for the plan I guess. It got me wondering where the plan led eventually. I hadn't ever really questioned Seven about the particulars. I'd been so busy implementing it I didn't really know where it was actually leading. I took Seven and Nancy into an empty office to talk.

"Seven, now that we have the plan in motion, what is the plan? Where does it all lead?"

"We have a little problem there Jack," Seven said.

"What kind of problem? I thought you knew the whole plan," I said.

"Well, I know how to implement the things I was told, but the main endgame wasn't revealed to me. The extent of my knowledge is gathering all the pieces, so to speak. I know how to get and keep things in motion to gather all your assets," she said.