Chapter 129

After the meal I disappeared into my office with a cup of coffee. Dieta tried to get me to take one of the new unmated Neanderthal women in for an interview and I told her they would be treated just like any other unmated woman in our camp - explaining I hadn't traded for them for me, but so they could come here to live and I hoped some of the other men might want to take them as mates. She was disappointed at first and then she perked up considerably.

"Do you mean they will be exactly like other unmated women here? A man will have to approach them and ask them to be his mate or one of his mates if he has one or more all ready? The women will get to set a mating price for her and then we will have a regular mating ceremony?" she asked.

"It is exactly what I mean. They should be treated as any other unmated woman in this camp, though I think they will get a little more attention than some of those who are already here."

"They are already getting more attention. Raalto and Racaato are sniffing around them like male wolves already, and even Caato and Barago are paying them all the attention they can without being obvious. Colonto isn't even trying to hide his interest," Dieta said, and laughed.

"Can you keep a secret - not from my other mates, but from everyone else?"

"You know I can," she said.

"If you tell any of my other mates, be sure they know to keep it a secret too. Tomorrow, Grotondo is going to another Neanderthal camp to trade for more of their women on my behalf, and all the women he trades for will be coming here.

"He thinks there will be seven unmated women and three mated women who have lost their mates - two of them have children. He is also going to trade for many young girls who will become women soon. He thinks there may be as many as nine girls who should become women next year and only three boys in that camp will be likely to become men soon."

"Oh, John, I can't believe it. Some of the women have children? You must ask one of them to be your mate. We are all dying to have some children here with us, please John," Dieta said, actually begging.

"But Dieta, Jaada will be having a baby soon and maybe someone else will too."

"Yes, but you have so many mates, John, and Jaada will only have one baby, two at the very most and that is unlikely. The rest of us won't get very much time with the baby and there have not been many babies born here lately.

"I didn't even realize it until Jaada told us she thought she would be having one soon. My babies are grown now, as you surely know, since you fucked both of them last night. It has been so long since I held a little one," she told me, pleading still.

"Well, maybe I should give you another baby of your own then," I said, caressing her ass a little.

"I wish you could, but I think I am too old to have a baby now," she said.

"How old are you Dieta?"

"I am almost twenty-nine summers, John. I am too old to have another baby now, even though I wish I weren't," she said.

"I'll bet I can get a baby started in you, but even so, if one of the women with children will have me I will try to take one of them as a another mate, just for you. You realize we don't know how old the children might be. What if they are too old for you to hold a lot?"

"I guess we should wait and see then, but if they are still young ones you will remember you said you would take one," she said, not wanting to let it get lost in the shuffle.

"I said I would ask her. I will not take any woman who doesn't want me."

"As if there were any chance of it happening. The others and I will trust to our luck for that. Once she sees your dick and Margeeta and the others tell her what you can do with it she will be begging you to take her as a mate," she said.

"We will see what happens, but I don't think you should tell even my other mates about this. I want to ask Jaada if she has any reservations before I try to take one of the widows with children as another mate."

"Ask Jaada anything you like. She has worried for weeks because there isn't a young one in camp she can practice holding. Even Jaada will be pestering you if the women's children are still babies, wait and see," Dieta told me, and smiled her widest.

Dieta left me then and I went into my office. I didn't want to bother Argent, but I had to know more about which women he had switched back to reproductive capability.

He answered as soon as I typed in a message.

"John we are elated over what you have done in the past few days. We couldn't have hoped for such a wonderful outcome," he said, at once.

"Yeh, yeh, yeh, and you can't tell me why it was so great. I don't even care anymore, well maybe a little, but it isn't what I wanted to talk about. Now, I know about Jaada, but I have to ask if there are others who are pregnant. I don't need to know who or even if the pregnant ones are my mates, but I do need to know how many are now fertile if you can tell me."

"Of course I can tell you, John. There are currently three women who are fertile, but you should know there will always be three fertile women until you get them all pregnant.

"You do remember none of the men were reactivated don't you, and any pregnant women will be carrying your child?" he asked.

"Yes, I am the one who asked for it."

"You asked us to only activate three women at a time and the first three women we returned to fertility are all pregnant, two of the next three are also pregnant and one of those we reinstated afterward is pregnant now too," he told me.

"What do you mean? Are you saying as soon as one gets pregnant you activate another one right away?"

"Of course, isn't it what you wanted? We can tell within twelve hours when a woman is pregnant and as soon as we know we activate another woman," he said, and I'll swear I could tell he was smiling about it even though our conversation was via text messages.

"I should have known you would be very prompt, extremely prompt. I hope not all of them are my mates."

"No they aren't, but of course your mates make up the majority," he said.

"Thanks for the small favor anyway. The next question is whether any of my mates are too old to have children?"

"Even without any interference from us all of your mates can still conceive and will be able to for years yet. Dalia is your oldest mate at thirty-one and Shelalliea is thirty-one also, but a few months younger than Dalia," he said.

"What about Dieta?" I asked, since she was on my mind.

"What about Dieta? What do you want to know about her?" he asked, and I thought he might be stalling.

"Can she still get pregnant?" I asked.

"Without a doubt and Geera too. As I said all of your current mates are still able to get pregnant and if they weren't able to for some reason we could remedy any problem they had."

"Good. The only thing is I don't want them all to end up pregnant at the same time - not all of my mates anyway. Please try to string them out a little."

"We have already done it John. We have a schedule prepared already and even if they all end up technically pregnant at the same time you won't notice it so much," he told me.

"What in the hell does technically pregnant mean? A woman is either pregnant or not, isn't she?"

"Well, it is true, but usually no one knows for at least six weeks or more. That is what I was referring to. Since we know within twelve hours we have a slightly different way of looking at it," he explained.

"Now I see you fully intend to let every one of my mates get pregnant as soon as you can satisfy yourself you have cleared my objections, if only through a technicality. Well good. I don't mind it a bit. I just want to make sure at least some of them will still be able to give me a little attention over the long haul."

"We will make sure of it for you, but you can help us out by taking a few more mates," he said.