Chapter 19

Over an hour passed before little Lillian was missed. Hannah called for the older children to come to the communal cave to have something to eat and a quick headcount told her something was wrong.

"Isaac, where's your twin?" she asked.

The little boy looked round at the other children as if searching for his sister and then shrugged.

"When did you last see her?" Hannah demanded.

"She went in woods," Isaac replied in his baby talk.

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth! Watch the children would you while I go and find Lillian, she's wandered off again."

Hannah searched for half an hour without any sign of her little girl and then she stumbled across the spot where the wild boar had churned up the forest floor with its trotters. When she investigated more closely, she saw the blood that had spilled from the boar's side.

"Aaaaaiiiieeeeeee!" she screamed, falling to her knees.

Hannah immediately assumed that the blood was Lillian's and that some animal had attacked her daughter.

Adam and Thomas came crashing through the trees, their spears in their hands, alert for danger. When they saw Hannah on her knees, they rushed to find out what was wrong with her. Adam dropped his spear and knelt to put his arms round his twin.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked.

"Lillian, please no. Lillian!" wailed Hannah.

Adam followed Hannah's gaze and saw the tracks and the blood.

"Shit!" he cursed.

He got to his feet and reclaimed his spear.

"It looks as if something has taken Lillian. There's blood on the ground there," he informed Thomas. "Let's spread out and try to find her."

It didn't take the boys long to disturb the family of boars, but they didn't realise the significance of the mother with her litter and ignored them as they ran off deeper into the forest.

The search was only abandoned when darkness began to fall and by then there was still no sign of the little girl. Adam tried to comfort his twin as they followed Thomas back to the caves, but Hannah was distraught.

Elizabeth brushed Adam out of the way and took over the role of comforter when they arrived at the communal cave. Hannah was still sobbing hysterically and Elizabeth wrapped some furs round her and sat her down close to the fire.

Adam and Thomas also sat down, their faces glum at having failed to find the little girl. The older children looked on fearfully too.

Elizabeth crossed to one of the smaller replicator units.

"A mild sedative please," she ordered and then picked up the pill that appeared.

Hannah took the pill when Elizabeth held it out to her, washing it down with a drink of water. Elizabeth held her tightly and rocked her back and forth like she did with the children when she was trying to get them to go to sleep. It took fifteen minutes for Hannah to drift off and Elizabeth laid her out and covered her over with skins.

"I assume there was no sign of Lillian?" she asked Adam and Thomas.

"There were signs that she was perhaps attacked by an animal of some sort and we found blood," Thomas answered.

"Mercy! Oh that poor little girl and poor Hannah," Elizabeth moaned to herself.

It was an uncomfortable night, although thankfully the sedative helped Hannah sleep through it. The boys were back out searching for Lillian at first light, leaving Elizabeth to care for the other eleven children and Hannah.

She suddenly thought of Ben and Sarah and knew that they needed to be told as soon as possible.

"Hannah, you have to use the nugget to try to contact Ben and Sarah. We need to let them know what's happened and tell them to return as soon as possible," she said.

Hannah was still in the depths of despair and Elizabeth's words hardly registered.

"Hannah! You need to contact Sarah!" Elizabeth tried again.

When there was still no sign that Hannah had understood, Elizabeth took matters into her own hands. She quickly searched the other girl until she found the silvery-white nugget and then sat down by the fire. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on Sarah.

Ben woke first, spooned behind his beautiful twin and with his left hand holding one of her breasts. The mood from the night before was still with him and he remembered what he had suggested they do. He quickly grabbed his pouch in his right hand and then began to gently stroke Sarah's breast with the other. He felt her responding and her nipple hardened at his touch. The teat leaked a little of her mother's milk despite the fact he had drained her the night before.

With a grin on his face he dropped his head and began to trail kisses down Sarah's neck and then followed her spine downwards to where her muscled butt curved out. He carefully lifted her uppermost leg and bent it at the knee so he would have access to her sex and then planted kisses along the silky smooth skin of her inner thigh.

Ben felt the exact moment when Elizabeth linked with him. He was so caught up and focused on what he was doing to Sarah that he thought it was Hannah that was using the nugget and he couldn't help but smile at the show he was putting on for her benefit.

Sarah began to moan softly as she emerged from sleep to feel the wonderful sensation of Ben's lips teasing the flesh of her sensitive inner thigh. She rolled onto her back and felt him duck under her leg to get into a more comfortable position and then resume the exquisite torture with his lips.

Ben was determined to make this experience a memorable one for both Sarah and 'Hannah' so he took even longer than normal as he slowly approached her glistening lips with his mouth. When at last his tongue flicked out to taste her slick juices, she moaned and arched her back to try to get more contact. Ben held her hips down so that he could control how much stimulation she was getting, but she bucked repeatedly in an effort to escape him.

The intense feeling of arousal he was getting from 'Hannah', Sarah's reactions and his own rampant hormones created a feedback loop and all three of them were taken to heights they had never experienced before. The girls exploded and Ben moved swiftly to bury himself inside Sarah while she was still screaming out her pleasure. He fell into a fast rhythm from the outset, trying to ensure that her climax had no opportunity of abating, but instead would climb yet higher still.

Sarah was reaching sensory overload, as wave after wave of pleasure washed over her and Elizabeth couldn't quite believe what she was feeling. Sex with Thomas had never come anywhere close to this and she was shaking with the intensity of the pulses shooting through her nipples and clitoris.

Ben felt as if he had somehow developed stamina and staying power he had never had before. He was relentless, driving into his twin over and over, feeling the explosions from Sarah and what he thought was Hannah. At last he felt his own peak approaching and he somehow managed to speed up even more for the final few minutes. He buried himself as deeply inside his mate as he could while his seed erupted and flooded her. He was dimly aware that the link had been broken and he assumed that 'Hannah' had had her fill for the moment.

Elizabeth couldn't take any more pleasure and she dropped the nugget onto the floor of the cave. She had been unprepared for the sensory experience using the metal had exposed her to. Sarah and Hannah had described how good sex was with their mates, but to actually experience it, to feel the heights that Ben had taken not only Sarah to, but her also - that was something else entirely.

She realised that several of the younger children were crying - no doubt looking to be fed some milk. Elizabeth was worried that her nipples would be too sensitive to breast-feed, but she knew she couldn't ignore the cries and got up to attend to the infants.

With a tot at either breast, she fed them for half an hour or so until she calmed down a little and the children settled. When she put them down to sleep again, she checked on Hannah. She thought there was some improvement and hoped that Hannah was feeling well enough to try to contact Sarah now. After what she had experienced when she had tried, Elizabeth didn't think she could take so much excitement again so soon. It would be safer for Hannah to try.

"Hannah, you need to try to contact Sarah and let her know what's happened. Both her and Ben should be here now to help us," she said, picking up the nugget of metal and handing it to Hannah.

Hannah looked at her blankly for a moment and then nodded to show she had understood. As Elizabeth watched, Hannah closed her eyes and her face screwed up in concentration.

"Nothing. I can't seem to make contact with them at all, I'll try again later," Hannah said in a dull monotone.

Elizabeth thought that the best therapy was to keep Hannah busy so she wouldn't dwell on the fact that Lillian was still missing.

"Why don't you start cooking something for us all to eat while I see to the rest of the children?" she suggested.

Hannah responded, but it was clear she was very much on autopilot and she kept glancing anxiously at the mouth of the cave. Adam and Thomas returned several hours later. They were exhausted and had nothing to report other than there was no sign of Lillian anywhere.

Once the boys had eaten, Elizabeth urged Hannah to try to contact Sarah again.

"That was weird," mumbled Hannah.

"What? What was weird?" asked Adam.

"I tried to link to Sarah and I'm sure I 'saw' Ben. It was only for a second and then I was blocked off somehow" said Hannah.

"Are you sure?" asked Adam.

"Yes. I mean no. Oh I don't know. I'm not sure, but I certainly can't see either of them now."

Ben was in the middle of retrieving some ore from one of the points of light on another continent when he felt Hannah form a link. He immediately opened his eyes and concentrated on not letting Hannah 'see' anything. The last thing he wanted was for her to see him moving things with his mind.

"Shit, Hannah just tried to link while I was moving some ore," he told Sarah.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I concentrated on blocking her being able to see anything and I think it worked."

"We need to finish collecting resources today if we want to start back tomorrow. Do you think you'll be able to keep her blocked off while you do what you have to do?" asked Sarah.