Chapter 16: A Meeting of the Sponsors

The next morning I woke in bed with all five of my concubines. I am not sure when I collapsed in bed, but they had arrayed themselves around me during the night. I snuck out of the room to get breakfast and clean up. The pod has a self cleaning feature, so other than putting the various games away, there was little cleaning necessary, and by the time that my ladies were stumbling from bed, I had the pod clean and breakfast on the table.

"Yesterday was fun!" Tina said enthusiastically as she ran up to claim a hug and kiss from me.

I held Tina close. "It was, but there was one thing wrong with it," I said.

"What?" Tina asked.

I quickly pushed Tina against the wall of the pod and slipped a finger into her naked pussy. "I didn't get to fuck any of you," I whispered lustfully into her ear.

Tina sighed and moaned back, "Oh master!" before grabbing my cock and lining it up with her pussy. We fucked with passion and abandon against the wall until we both came with a moan.

"Well, you haven't forgotten," Bethany said from behind me when we finally slowed down.

"Forgotten what?" I asked.

Bethany laughed as I turned to look at her. Behind her I could see Meiko, Brittany and Janice kissing and caressing, but she strode up to me naked and gently put her arms around me. "You haven't forgotten to show us just how much love and lust you have for each of us," she said as she gave me a kiss.

I wanted to pursue the idea, but remembered that according to the AI all pods should be connected shortly, so with a sigh I released Bethany. "AI, how is the tunnel expansion going? Can all the sponsors now reach this pod?"

The AI spoke back. "Yes, all tunnels are pressurized ahead of schedule. Progress on the main tunnel to the colony center has commenced and connection to the reactor should occur in eight hours. The tunnel will initially have only the middle pressure door operational. The remaining doors will form after additional power is available."

I sighed as Brittany and Meiko both stiffened. "Please put priority into getting the additional doors formed. Meanwhile, can you announce to all twenty sponsors inside our zone that we will have an informal sponsor-only meeting at this pod in one hour."

"Awww..." Bethany said. "That means we don't get to play."

I sighed. "I know, and I hate it. I could have the replicators make a strap-on for you ladies to use."

"No!" Janice and Tina shouted as Meiko and Brittany exploded from the floor to push me against the wall shaking their heads.

I was staring at my ladies and trying to figure out the problem when Meiko took a deep breath and spoke. "James, you don't understand. Yes, I love sex now! I need sex, but not just any sex. I need you and your cock. Some plastic or rubber contraption would perhaps take the edge off, but it wouldn't be you. It wouldn't fill me with your man-juice! And more importantly, it would lack your love. We all want you more, but we know that you have to be there for others. Just be here for us, and fuck us often."

I could feel Brittany's arms go around me and see the truth of Meiko's words in the eyes of my older concubines. I nodded with a sigh. "I just never want you to feel like I don't give you enough."

I was Janice's turn to laugh and speak. "So one night in seven I don't wake up with a wonderful feeling in my sore pussy. I think we all can live with that situation."

I just shook my head and took the scraps of my breakfast to the recycler. My ladies still had to eat, but they ate quickly and quietly, slipping off to the bedroom to come back out dressed in blue mini-skirts and white halter-tops. They were in a discussion with Bethany on how to handle the incoming sponsors and moving some of the chairs and tables around to create a meeting area when the AI spoke. "James, Terrence has arrived early and brought Brad with him, shall I let them in."

Tina immediately headed for the door smiling. "When Tina reaches it, open the door, and she can escort them to the meeting room," I replied. "Brittany, how about you and Meiko take a quick break and check on the rabbits."

They nodded and left the pod, exiting the room only a moment before Terrence entered leading a young man in his early twenties and a college coed dressed in a Tennessee Volunteers cheerleader outfit. The young man looked a little ashamed. "I'm sorry, but I just couldn't bear to be without Candi."

I sighed. "I guess she can work with my ladies, only why that outfit?" I asked.

Candi smiled and then jumped up and cheered. "Go Vols!"

Terrence and I laughed as Bradley shook his head. "I just love college sports and Randi and Candi agreed to be my personal cheerleaders. Right now Randi is back at the pod wearing the colors of LSU."

The laughter continued as Bethany came out to see Candi standing with us. She smiled and walked over to the girl before whispering something to her and then escorting her back to the game room. I smiled. "I see Bethany is organizing everything. Don't worry Brad, she'll probably just get Candi to help with serving once everyone shows up."

Brad stopped to think for a moment. He was looking at Tina who had returned to the main room and was waiting by the door. He turned to look at me. "You have four concubines?"

Just then Janice walked in from the game room and joined Tina in waiting by the door. "Five," I said, unnecessarily.

Terrence was looking in awe at Janice and her long ponytail. "I don't remember her," he said.

Janice gave an awkward curtsey and smiled. I was about to start introductions when the AI spoke. "James, more sponsors are arriving."

"AI, here's what we should do. Tina and Janice will be greeting sponsors at the door. Allow them to have privileges to ask for the outer door to open to greet sponsors," I said. Tina and Janice immediately nodded and left the room, heading for the outer door of the two-pod complex.

"Outer door?" Brad asked.

"We saw the other pod door," Terrence said. "Remember the two concubines we passed as we entered? The rabbits must be over there."

I was about to answer when Tina stepped back into the room. "Sponsor Xavier is here." Following her was a blond man in his early thirties. He seemed more than a bit out of shape, but smiled warmly as he saw Terrence, Brad and I standing there. We waved and he walked forward.

"I'm guessing that I'm looking at our leaders," he said, holding his hand out to shake.

Brad shook his head. "I'm just a grunt. But these two probably know something. Especially him," he said pointing to me.

I shook my head and smiled. "I'm hoping that we won't have to worry too much about leaders and such, but for now, I guess I'm one of the driving forces," I said. I would have continued but Janice stepped into the room

"Tiffany and Tamara are here," she said as the twins ran into the room and demanded hugs from me. I could hear Xavier's gasp as he noticed the twins but Terrence merely laughed.

"I see they are going to be trouble," he said as I grabbed one of the twins and hugged her. "Good to see you again, girls. It got rather lonely trapped out in the red ring."

The twins giggled. "At least"

"You had"

"All your concubines."

"We only"

"Have one"

"Male concubine"

"So it"

"Was a"

"Long two"

"Weeks for"

"Some of us!" they chorused.

Terrence and I had expected the outburst and merely smiled. Xavier was standing there with his jaw open as Brad looked back and forth between them. Finally he looked over at Terrence and wailed. "Do they always do that?"

The twins smiled. Finally, the one on the right giggled. "No, we can talk normally, but it was fun to see your face. I'm Tiffany, and my sister is Tamara." She held her hand out and accepted the bemused handshake from Brad while Tina walked in.

"Sponsors, Tasha, Tyson, Fred and Eric are here," she said, leading four individuals into the room. Greeting everyone became the key and while I wanted a moment to chat with Tasha, more individuals arriving made any kind of private meeting impossible.

The last person to arrive was Yvette, who walked up to me and whispered in my year. "I had the AI alerting me as each person passed my pod. All are here."

The twenty people were mostly standing around awkwardly. A third man was standing near Terrence, and I heard the name Ed mentioned so I guessed it was the third man who had been out in the red ring. Shawna was standing near Donna, but most of the men I did not know, and I had been too busy to more than smile at Louis when he arrived. I waved Tina over and whispered to her about checking on Brittany and Meiko, telling her to let them know that I would probably want a rabbit brought out later to show the sponsors. She nodded and rushed off as I tapped the wall to get everyone's attention.

"Everyone, I know this is uncomfortable because we don't have chairs for everyone, so if you can be quiet I'll try to make this initial meeting short."

The room quieted down and I smiled. "Thank you. I know many of us have just met, but if things go well, we will get to know each other very well in the future. And I do apologize from tearing you away from your concubines, but this room isn't big enough for a full eighty-five people."

"Eighty-five?" someone exclaimed. "How do you come up with that number?"

Yvette smiled and I nodded for her to continue. "Simple math," she said. "We have twenty sponsors, with forty-five concubines and twenty dependent children on our side of the door."

"Door?" a female voice said. I recognized it as Tasha's from my brief greeting.

"Let me get to that in a moment," I replied. "First, welcome to Ishtar. I know most of you were at the briefing and are wondering why only twenty people are here when the main briefing was much more crowded. The reason is unfortunate, and has to do with why we are on Ishtar."

There was a slight buzz of discontent, but everyone stayed quiet. I could see Tasha standing by herself looking thoughtful. No questions were being asked, so I continued. "Now, some of this is speculation, but not all. The basic situation does meet what was stated in the briefing. The Confederation Military does want us to monitor a resupply and repair center, but that facility is in orbit around an airless planet in a closer orbit to our new sun. They also are hoping that we can create a sensor net to scan this sector of space for Sa'arm activity. Both of these activities can be performed from a command post here on the ground."

I could see several people looking at each other in speculation. Before the question could be asked, I answered it by continuing. "Yes, for those of you about to ask. This is a two-person job and takes minimal training time. The military did not need a full colony here. Unfortunately, the military decided to use us in an experiment. Some of the people they pickup prove unworthy of their original CAP rating, and do not work out in line units. This colony is composed of one hundred citizens that the military rejected for that service. The AIs demand that any volunteer at a pickup be taken, but the military chose to dump us here rather than attempt to train us."

"You mean we washed out already?" one of the men cried out.

Terrence sighed. "That is exactly what happened. Although, there appears to be two different reasons people were rejected and sent to Ishtar."

I nodded. "Exactly and that's a great way to point out the situation we are in now. All of you remember the last two weeks on the ship with Ruth and her friends stalking the corridors and promising mayhem on anyone they encountered. She and her follows represent thirty of the one hundred people on this planet. We also have a Manuel Matos who has organized twenty-seven members of the colony to be his force in attempting to take control."

Someone must have been fast at math because someone immediately shouted. "What about the twenty-three that would be left after that?"

Yvette shook her head, but Donna responded. "We tried to contact them. They refused to have anything to do with any others. On the rare occasions I could get one to answer they refused to listen and ended the calls."

There was silence and I continued. "Yes, it's going to be the twenty of us, and that's about it. Ruth and Manuel both appear to be only interested in taking our concubines and making us work like slaves, and the other twenty-three refused to talk to us. However, we do have a few things in place. First, I'll let you see what we have. AI, display the area of Ishtar where the colony is as well as the colony center."

Obedient as always the AI dutifully displayed the landmass containing the colony and the location of the colony center. I could hear a murmur of appreciation when everyone saw the location. I could hear someone whistle and smiled before continuing, "Doesn't it look like we could put some green there, and have a tropical paradise? This is where we are going to be. With a short exile down here, underground, while the air and water are made safe. Now, I discovered that we had some options on pod locations. AI, please add in the pods of the eighty colonists who are not here, as well as the tunnel paths connecting them to the colony center."

Once again the holographic display changed, this time showing a half circle of pods appearing on the eastern side of the center. The intricate web of tunnels connected to the center in three locations, and I could hear some concern. "We're part of that?" Someone asked.

Yvette and the twins giggled while I smiled. "No. We are not part of that," I replied. "AI, please add in the twenty-eight pods in this section of the colony."

The holographic display changed again, showing the final twenty-eight pods and their single connection to the city center. Most of the conversation seemed appreciative, but then there was a squawk of protest. "Why are there double pod setups?"

The twins giggled and shouted, "We're guilty," in unison. The rest of the council broke out in laughter over this. I just waited for the noise to die down before continuing. "Thank you. Yes, the twins have one of the double pod setups. They are going to be a single household and it made sense. The other pod is just across the hall for a reason. Tina, signal Brittany if you would."

Tina smiled and turned to shout out the door. A moment later Brittany and Meiko entered carrying rabbits. Each was doing their best to be gentle, but making sure everyone could see the rabbits. Before I could say more Brittany spoke softly. "You were right James, that one doe lost her litter last night. We found some blood evidence in her cage."

I sighed as some of the sponsors reacted in shock. "She'll recover," I replied. Then I spoke a bit louder. "As you can see the other pod has a number of colonists who need a bit of care. Right now we are still hopeful that we will get several litters of babies in the next week or so, but that still means probably ten weeks before I can provide you with your own rabbits. We do have to be careful with them, as the military knows about them, and I understand there is a huge interest in obtaining some of them from us. They are the only animals the AIs have ever allowed to be taken from Earth."

I could hear a ragged cheer and some of the sponsors approached Brittany or Meiko to look at the rabbits and pet them. I allowed the short break as Yvette and Terrence approached me.

Terrence was the first to speak. "Good move on the rabbits, it gives us all a break and reminds everyone here that you are thinking ahead. What's next?"

Yvette laughed. "I'm guessing we'll get the details of the other pods and then plan for a general meeting and celebration once the recreation hall is open."

Most of the sponsors had taken a moment to pet the rabbits and after the one Meiko was holding started kicking my two concubines retreated from the room to return the rabbits to their cages. The mood was a bit more cheerful and I could see the twins had bracketed Tasha and were distracting her with questions.

"Okay, let's get back to business," I called out, quieting the crowd. "So you have seen the layout of our pods. You can see the single path to the colony center. It's unfinished, but when complete it will have three heavy pressure doors blocking the route and preventing the free entry of others in the colony. This should keep the Ruth's of the world outside and you and your concubines safe. However, to guarantee that I had to make a promise to the AI."

On the holographic display the seven extra pods started flashing. "Earlier I mentioned that we are expected to help maintain the resupply base and monitor the sector. This is supposed to be run from a command post in the colony center. However, with the number of sadists and other nasty people in the colony, I doubt any of us want to have to wander into the center of the colony to work. The AI has granted us a concession. The Wisp was carrying seven empty pods, and as you can see, all are now connected to our tunnels. These will transform over the next few days into units we can use. The primary one for our immediate purposes will include the actual main command post for the colony. As long as we maintain a two-person watch there, we never have to leave our section. It also will contain a fully stocked armory, although the AI has warned me that use of the heavy weapons in the tunnels is not recommended."

There was a bit of nervous laughter as everyone could see the armory pod glow red on the display. One man quietly murmured, "Good plan," before I could continue.

"Now I guess I'll cover the others," I began. "We will have a fully operational medical bay, so we can again avoid going to the colony center. We do need some people to take sleep training on how to monitor the equipment, but if all goes well, any physical or cosmetic enhancements you want performed will be possible within two weeks."

"Next, we have a pod that contains two planetary defense lasers. If you took any training courses on Confederacy Lasers you'll know they aren't the weapons of choice, but with the atmosphere being so corrosive projectile weapons would not work well. These are the best alternative. Unfortunately, they are crew mounts. Someone sits in a chair at the back of the laser and aims it. Battle armor will protect that person for five minutes, so if we ever need these the drill will be as follows; armor up, mount the laser, ride the laser to the planet's surface and into the atmosphere, fire one or two shots and descend back under the ground. I will not demand that anyone volunteer for this duty and promise to take it on myself, but it might save us some day."