Chapter 9: A Visit from Yvette

Yvette was wearing a light and flowing dress that looked more appropriate for wearing on a summer day rather than in some climate controlled ship, but I was not going to say anything. I was more interested in the motley assortment of humanity accompanying her.

Philippe was the first in the door after her. He was dressed, if you can call it that, in a loincloth and nothing more. He still seemed a bit unhappy, but it was clear that Yvette was continuing to support his inclusion in her harem.

The next two to enter were surprisingly similar in looks. Esther and Marie were both in their mid twenties and had short and curly hair. The only noticeable difference at first was that Esther's hair was a dirty blond, while Marie's was a dark brunette. They both had been given the short shifts I remembered from the first day, but did not seem to upset about the lack of clothing, even when Tina greeted them in her miniskirt.

The last adult was a young man, who I guessed was Nathan. He was big and relatively brawny, but his face and expression screamed that he was a bit of an uneducated bumpkin; an impression he only reinforced when he whistled at Bethany upon arriving. Yvette was not much more generous with his clothing as he had on a pair of cyclist shorts which looked almost molded to his skin.

As he walked in five children tumbled into the room, engaged in some version of tag. As soon as the door closed they looked around and separated. The youngest who looked to be about four immediately ran and hid behind Esther, while one of the boys took Marie's hand. The other three ran over to Philippe and started demanding his attention.

"I'm sorry about the kids. But I wanted everyone to have a chance to get out, and with things the way they are..." Yvette began.

I held a hand up. "Say no more. I talked with Sergeant Powell last night after our run in with Larry. I don't blame you for wanting to avoid the resident apemen."

Yvette laughed. "The term fits so well doesn't it?" She smiled at the blond woman with her and then nodded over to Philippe. "Permission to speak freely here is granted."

Tina burst out laughing as she heard that, which startled the children. However the girl near Philippe looked at her and smiled. "Why are you dressed? Are you like mommy?" she asked Tina.

Tina knelt down to look at the girl. "No, I'm actually like your father, but my master likes to see me in clothing. However, how about we get you and the others a game to play?"

The word game instantly galvanized the children and they all rushed around Tina, who looked somewhat overwhelmed by the response until Bethany rescued her and led the children into the game room. A moment later music could be heard and it was clear that Bethany was setting up the console for the kids.

Philippe paused for a moment, but then offered a bow to Yvette and followed the children into the game room. Yvette smiled as he went. "He's becoming so good with the children," she said lovingly.

"Well, what brings you here?" I asked. "Although a social call is nice, occasionally."

Yvette laughed and then sat in one of the chairs at the table we normally used for meals. "Part was just needing to get out of the pod for a short time. With five children needing to be entertained, it's hard to get a moment to relax. The rest was hoping that a moment with you might bring a change of pace. I do love my harem, but I'm afraid I did not select them for the mental challenges they give me."

I smiled as Meiko came up to hug me. "Well, it is nice to have you, but we haven't had time to prepare much for guests. Unless you want to try a few hands of bridge while the children enjoy the games."

Marie looked a little lost as she scanned the room. "I thought you had the rabbits?" she asked.

I nodded as I saw Nathan follow the path Philippe had taken into the other room. "It was my idea, but they are in a different pod for the trip. That pod will land next to this one once we reach Ishtar."

"Oh," Marie said in disappointment.

I shook my head. "I'll try to bring a couple over to Yvette's pod in a day or two, to pet. Right now Brenda is trying to breed as many of them as possible, so that we have a good base of babies to start with. Rabbits are apparently the only animal that humans have taken from Earth, and I haven't had time to really look into how this will work."

Yvette laughed. "We have a few too many adults for bridge, and I'm not sure anyone knows it. Anything else?"

I chuckled and led her into the game room where we found the children enjoying a tag-team wrestling contest on the console. The two boys who were clearly brothers were taking on their sister, along with the other boy, as the youngest girl tried to follow the figures around the screen. Philippe and Nathan were providing mostly bad advice and laughing.

Bethany smiled and asked what we should do. I remembered one of my more unusual games that had made it into the boxes, and immediately suggested it. Soon we had all ten adults sitting around a table, commanding hordes of killer rabbits as we fought to be the last to claim carrots, hoping we would get the winning one. The game had taken a bit of time to explain, but soon everyone was having fun.

The only bad sign was discovering just how illiterate Tina really was. She could recognize some words, but only a few, and finally everyone agreed to dissolve her spot and allow her to sit on my lap, and play my position, as I whispered the words from the cards into her ears. The knowing smiles I received from Bethany and Janice when Tina squirmed only seemed to add to everyone's amusement.

We did have a great time. Yvette proved to be surprisingly cutthroat throughout the game, regularly directing attacks on everyone, but saving her strongest attacks for Philippe and Nathan. But the game ended when Esther swooped in to grab the last and winning carrot.

The game had lasted several hours, and both Nathan and Philippe were more than a little buzzed from the alcohol I had allowed them to consume. My ladies all kept to juices, as did Esther and Marie. Yvette had a couple glasses of wine, but had switched to water later in the game and was still relatively sober. Of course the children had long since grown bored of their games, and had actually spent some time watching us play, with Marie and Esther happily hosting their children in their laps.

Because of how long the game had lasted, Yvette suggested that it was time to head out after we finished. Everyone agreed that it had been great fun, and I received a cheer from the children when I suggested that we might do it again in the future. I could see Philippe blush as he admitted that the idea of a game room had not occurred to him.

Yvette's family took their time getting ready to leave, and I noticed several quiet conversations between my ladies and her concubines as I put the game away. As I did Yvette walked over to me. "I know you don't want to stand out, but we are going to need a leader, and I think that right now you are the best choice," she told me.

"Why not you?" I asked.

Yvette actually sighed and looked down. "Because I don't have any ideas. I can't see the patterns you already have. I was an office manager. The person who accepted the orders from above and made sure they got carried out. I guess if I had the right personality, I'd be a decent sergeant, but I don't know how to lead. Look at my harem. Nathan and Marie would vanish instantly if they had the chance."

I looked over at her concubines, who were waiting by the door. Philippe had his usual look of sullen love and awe, and the clear love in Esther's eyes was unmistakable, while Nathan and Marie kept their eyes down on the floor. Finally I shrugged. "I don't really care to lead, but if that's what I have to do to protect my ladies I will. I've already started looking into setting up where the pods end up. The AI has agreed to drop our pods to the west of the colony center, and to have only one passage between our cluster of pods and the center itself."

Yvette laughed. "See, you just went out and did something. I bet you have an idea for the rabbit pod and yours as well."

"I do," I admitted. "Although I don't have much more."

Yvette just shook her head. "And you asked about the empty pods. Want to bet that no one else has?"

The AI immediately responded. "Volunteer Bernard Russell from the front of the ship has asked, but issued no orders about the empties. There have been no other queries."

Yvette just smiled as I shrugged. "Very well, call me the leader if you must. I'm just going to protect and love my family."

Meiko chose that moment to walk up and plant a kiss on my lips as Yvette laughed and walked to the door. "And you do it very well," she said as the door opened to let her family out. With a quick glance down the hall to verify that it was empty the gang proceeded to exit, thundering off towards Yvette's pod.

Silence descended on my pod for a moment as the door slid closed and Janice flopped into a chair. "That was fun," she said with a sigh. "We need to do that more often.

"It felt a bit like an invasion," Bethany replied. "But I agree, it was fun, especially the game. I'd never seen a game like that before."

I smiled, but then had a thought. "AI, say I wanted a pod converted into a kind of recreation hall. Say, six bowling lanes, three or four console game setups, enough tables and chairs for forty people and a small bar, can that be done?"

"A recreation hall?" Janice asked.

Bethany laughed. "It makes sense. All that we did here, we could do there, and as it's not in someone's pod, it becomes neutral territory."

"But bowling?" Tina said. I noticed she was looking down as if ashamed, but figured the question needed to be answered first.

"It's the only indoor sport that doesn't need a high ceiling or lots of space," I replied. "Volleyball or basketball would be better, but you'd need a pod set up with a high ceiling. I was guessing that there is a limit to the size a pod can expand."

At this point the AI finally responded. "Calculations are complete. A pod can be reformed to the size you indicate, but for safety the changes would need to occur once the pod is on Ishtar. Due to power requirements it would be about seven days to have it ready for use."

There was a general cheer, but I walked over and put my arm around Tina. "What's wrong my love?" I asked.

Tina turned into my chest and sobbed. "I'm so dumb. I couldn't even play the game with you."

I held Tina close and ran my fingers through her hair. "You did play with us. You sat on my lap and played very well," I whispered to her.

"But I couldn't read the cards," Tina moaned.

Bethany came and joined me in hugging Tina. "We promised you we'd fix that," she said. "And we will."

I relaxed my grip and Bethany gathered Tina in. She smiled at me and then glanced over at the replicators. I caught the gesture and called out. "AI, please allow Bethany to obtain any reading material she needs in order to improve Tina's skills."

Tina looked up and I gave her a gentle kiss as Janice walked over to join us. "You'll learn. I promise," I said as Janice also hugged her.

Bethany pulled Tina back towards the game room and smiled. "I'll get her started today. You should probably sneak a little studying in," she told me.

I watched Bethany, Tina and Janice walk into the other room. Meiko gave me a shy smile and then kissed me. "Go," she said. "Just leave me some paper and I'll see about drawing up some changes to our home."

I laughed as I obtained the requested paper and pencils from the AI, and then entered one of the empty chambers on the floor where I found the sleep-training cylinder the ship had created. After a short introductory lesson from the AI, I set it to give me a one-hour primer on Marine military equipment and started the process.