Chapter 22: Unowned Concubines

Eric's two concubines turned as we entered and one reached out to turn off the game. I could see a bit of fear in their eyes, and so stepped over to the couch to sit down while looking them over.

They were both attractive and young. The closer one was in her mid-twenties with long brown hair and large breasts. Her eyes followed me cautiously as I sat down, but she said nothing. The farther one might have been eighteen, but most likely was sixteen. She was boyishly slender although her firm breasts gave her some curves. Her hair was ragged, and appeared to have been in a boyish cut before the pickup and have grown out without the benefit of regular care. She seemed even more frightened, and moved to back away until I sat down. She stopped her feet at that point, but the near panic remained in her eyes.

Tamara saw all this and spoke. "Sorry James. Bethany and I knew that Eric had not treated them well, but we thought Christine would be fine here."

"Is that her name?" I asked as the other woman looked on quietly.

Tamara nodded. "Yes, the older concubine is Lisa, the terrified girl is Christine. I think Lisa should tell their story though."

Lisa nodded, but before she could say anything Christine gave a small sob and ran into her arms. She clutched her like a drowning man grasps a piece of driftwood and held on as Lisa began to speak.

"Sorry, it was worse for Christine," Lisa said as she began. "Eric chose us during a pickup at a restaurant in Iowa. He seemed like a charming guy, but he was afraid, always afraid. He actually was interviewed by some marines while we were on the ship that picked us up. I guess someone wanted to verify his scores. The next thing we knew our pod had separated from that ship and was transferring to the Wisp."

Christine gave another cry of fear and clutched harder, causing Lisa to gasp. Meiko seemed to realize the problem because she walked over and with gentle gestures, managed to get Christine to free Lisa and throw her arms around Meiko, who retreated back to the wall, half carrying the terrified girl.

Lisa watched this with a surprised look in her face, but then turned to continue. "Well, after the transfer things got worse. First the briefing left Eric feeling lost and alone. He came back bitter about being abandoned by his friends and left to dwell like a mole. He tried to call some of his friends who were picked up at the same time. Most were far too busy settling their own households in to talk, and he became convinced that he had been abandoned by all his friends and had no one to support him. After that the nice man we first knew slowly faded out."

"I'm sure the antics of Ruth and her friends didn't help," I said.

Lisa laughed bitterly. "He was convinced they were going to kill him. And his fear and anger grew. Sex became painful as he stopped caring about Chrissy and me, and soon I was just trying to shield the poor girl. She was a virgin when we were picked up and enjoyed the first few days, but as Eric became less and less outgoing, he started to hurt her.

I could see that Meiko had gotten Christine calmed down, but the girl almost stared forward and flinched as I spoke. "Well, that explains some of his hostility when we arrived. I guess he had been unable to handle the stress."

Lisa nodded. "He failed completely at that. And Dennis made sure his paranoia only got worse. That's part of why Christine is so scared. Dennis would call and taunt us, telling us all about the tortures he loved to put concubines through. Near the end of the voyage here we were forced to listen as one concubine died from the play of Dennis and some others."

Brittany gasped, but then sighed. "I shouldn't be surprised. I watched Larry beat my mother to death, and heard him and others bragging about hurting their concubines. They think it's great sport."

Lisa turned to look at Brittany. "Wait! You belonged to Larry?"

Brittany smiled. "No, I became James' concubine on my fourteenth birthday, the happiest birthday I've ever had. His love is the greatest present I'll ever receive."

"Except for the baby I'm going to make with you someday," I whispered unconsciously.

Brittany gave a cry of joy that had Tina and Janice covering their ears in surprise. She rushed forward to jump in my lap and look me in the eyes. "You mean it! I can? You aren't just teasing me!?" Brittany blurted in a rush.

I smiled and kissed her forehead. "I wanted you to be ready when it came, but yes. Someday you and I will make a baby inside you."

Brittany gave another trill of joy and kissed me before shifting over to the leg of the couch and stretching her legs across my lap where I started to caress and massage them. Lisa looked on bemused as Christine stared in shock.

Lisa seemed lost for words for a moment. Finally she nodded and continued. "Things seemed to get better once we were on the ground. Dennis stopped calling and Eric could walk about outside the pod, but the damage was done. Eric trusted no one and feared Ruth and her friends too much. It was surreal when he did come back from events like your welcome meeting or the incident where Ruth tried to break in. He was full of praise for what you accomplished and yet bitter that it had to be done. By the time of the "Landing Day" party he was convinced that the situation couldn't get worse. But then, he never came back from that party."

"I'm sorry," I said softly. "The hit he took was instantly fatal."