Chapter 8

For Hortense Lanier, the questioning didn’t drag on at all. She was fully engaged in it and it let her keep her mind off her pregnancy (still in the early phase, anyway), as well as keep her challenged and busy. It was a thrilling sort of thing, to be honest. She loved every minute of the experience, and when she emerged from her testing process at about 1200 hours, seven hours later and just in time for the mess, it felt as if time had just flown by her. Walking over to the testing center clerk, she smiled at her and accepted the card that resulted before she saw her mother’s sponsor awaiting her again.

“He’s only been waiting for a little bit, dear. He still has a long workday ahead of him, too,” the clerk told her, her eyes bright as she winked at the handsome Civil Service officer, quite drawn to him ... he was even more impressive than her favorite man in her life, her male concubine, who just happened to be her stepfather, Beau (only sentimental attachment gave Daddy an edge), “your own day has taken a very different turn, of course.”

“I just wanted to see, before I ate, how you did, since I could come and go as I pleased, and then tell your mother, of course. I had an inkling that perhaps your fate wouldn’t be in my hands, after all. It seems that I was right,” Decurion McFadden told her, “besides, the first order of business after lunch is finding your concubines and your pod, my dear new fellow citizen. 6.6, not bad, and it entitles you to start a household of your own, which you have the right to run as you please. You’re not obligated to your mother, me, or anyone else but the Confederacy.”

“So ... you knew? Or at least guessed? You had faith in me, that I’d pass my CAP and become a volunteer?” Hortense beamed at the realization that her mother’s sponsor had believed in her.

“Yes, and it seems that you proved me right. Come on, let’s get to the mess and tell your family all about the great news of your new status as a Confederacy citizen!” Lyle smiled as he led a very ecstatic Hortense Lanier, a now a Navy volunteer, to her place in the mess next to them, her CAP card showing her passing grade as she waved it around.

“Congratulations!” the clerk shouted after them as they left ... she had already known that Hortense received the requisite score, but she had been entranced by Lyle’s masculine beauty and unable to keep her thoughts off him.

“Thanks!” Hortense gave her parting shot, while Lyle winked briefly at Seaman First Class Meredith Bernard as they left the center ... he hadn’t exactly missed the signs of her attraction, due to his growing confidence in himself these days.

“Maman, I passed it! I’m a volunteer! See? 6.6!” Hortense exclaimed as her mother hugged her excitedly, very pleased and proud of her, “I get to pick my own concubines, Maman, and I can’t wait to try them out! Oh, and Lyle gets to use them, too, along with me!”

“I do?” Lyle grinned widely at that.

“Yes, of course! You didn’t think that I would want to break our happy family up, did you? I love it so far! I would miss you guys too much, anyway. I want to co-sponsor with you, Kat, and Lydia, please!” Hortense said as she embraced and now kissed Lyle as well in front of everyone else.

“I am so very happy now, ma ami,” Noelle told her with a very warm hug for her elder daughter.

“And now I must pick my second concubine, as I had been waiting to learn whether or not I had to claim you, first. If you hadn’t passed, I would have, of course,” Lyle assured her.

“Thank you, but now we get three more people to add to the household. It’s best for everyone and very great news for the Civil Service to which you belong, since it’s fewer people in the pool, right?” Hortense commented as she ate her mess version of, fittingly, French cut green beans.

“Very true. I am thrilled even more at that, because we already have one slated for termination today, and another one next week if they’re not claimed, sad to say. Both male, as it happens, so one of them at least is probably doomed in any case. I have no need for another male, I can tell you that, and you probably only need one,” Lyle responded, trying to be calm about essentially writing off another human life, though inwardly, he was still new enough to his job that it really ate at him to have to recycle the concubines.

“I know that it bothers you, dear, but what else can be done? It is what it is. The Confederacy cannot keep constantly providing for these pool concubines without at least some direct benefit from them, and with the men, that’s harder to prove. Unlike you, they lacked many of the qualities needed to keep their sponsors happy with them much of the time. I chose well with you and you’ve never disappointed me, but that’s not necessarily true with this lot. They’re either in the pool because their sponsors were killed or else because their sponsors dumped them there for one offense or another, in which case they’ve proven that they’re slow learners, aren’t they?” Kat remarked, though she was clearly troubled by it, too, even now after all this time.

“All true and all of it stuff that I remind myself constantly. I will just try not to let my sympathy get the best of me. Anyway, given enough time, I might eventually harden my heart to it. It won’t be easy, but perhaps it’s inevitable, given the amount of death necessarily involved,” Lyle smiled as he kissed Kat and Karen both on the lips.

Shortly after this conversation, Lyle led a still semi-dressed Hortense to the duty officer first for her new uniform, which was ready by that point. It was a temporary outfit, pending the girl’s training and augmentation, which would make her somewhat larger at least. Even so, it fit her well enough for now, even if her pregnancy would require looser clothing later on in her early career. She was going to be Navy, at least, so her training was going to be mostly inside a carefully controlled environment. Her final phases of the orientation would definitely have to be after she gave birth and she would need to remain sterile for the length of all that. On the other hand, she had proven herself fertile, so when the time came to have another baby, the Confederacy knew that it could count on her to do it.

With that accomplished, Kat took over briefly and introduced Hortense to her new training instructors for now, as well as helping her select her augmentation program. It wouldn’t take effect yet, of course, but when it did, Hortense would have the body of an older version of herself, in her prime, healthy, and athletic enough for the Navy, if nothing else. Her direct superior informed her of her schedule for the near future before dismissing her back into Lyle’s hands for the third and final step of her first day as a citizen: picking concubines and finding her pod, which could then be connected to Lyle’s, Kat’s, and Lydia’s.

“You know, Petty Officer Benson really liked what he saw, and I don’t just mean in terms of your military potential, either,” Kat teased her with a hug as she let Lyle take charge again.

“Yeah, I could tell!” Hortense giggled in a rather unmilitary way before remembering her new status.

From there, Lyle led Hortense to the Civil Service area, where they walked in on the recycling process, as a concubine named Allen was recycled as scheduled, something that made Lyle a bit queasy, as it did with Hortense, to say the least. Allen’s screams of terror and pain as he was put into the converter were enough to make anyone disturbed and unnerved. Even so, Centurion O’Keefe wouldn’t let anyone, especially Lyle, block out the sensory experience.

“You need to witness this, as do all of the staff, all other volunteers present, and definitely all of the concubines. Allen had plenty of chances to prove worthy of selection after being dismissed for his ‘obstinate ways, ‘ as his ex-sponsor put it. He should have known when he signed up to be a concubine, that he was a sexual plaything of his sponsor, a chattel, to be perfectly blunt, a sex slave. That’s the law. That’s just how things are. That his sponsor was a bisexual bloke who wanted to bugger him now and then was irrelevant and immaterial.

“His last chance, though, was when he tried to spurn Andre’s advances and wouldn’t even let me peg him. He had too many hang-ups about anal intercourse to be healthy for a concubine. Even though it doesn’t cause reproduction, the sponsor has the right to command a concubine to perform anally if they wish it. Evidently, Allen was willing to do anything else to survival, just not take it up the bum. Well, now he’s likely to be in tonight’s supper, so just bear that in mind, folks. Today, he had his final test, his final chance to show that he would be willing to obey unconditionally, and today he failed yet again, when he didn’t bend over and offer his arse freely to Andre, me, or even Sandy,” Fiona warned them all.

“Let that also drive it home, boys and girls, that if you’re in the pool and a volunteer, man or woman, wants your body, let them use it! The only difference between you and the chosen concubines, aside from their more secure future, is that you’re everyone’s bitch. Well, not your fellow concubines, but other than that, you’re fair game. They can use you as they wish and STILL not select you, but it’s safer to comply. Also, if I hear or see that you fuckers are pestering disinterested sponsors, your asses will be recycled yesterday, am I clear?” Andre now followed up with his own rant, but it certainly added the desired effect, “Make your pitch in an appealing way, not a pushy or aggressive one.”

“The moral of the story, guys, is just shut up and do as you’re fucking told, okay? Obey! Submit! Surrender! You’re fuckmeat and you might as well accept that. You’re all fuck toys, you concubines!” Sandy drove home her message in Hortense’s and Lyle’s presence by grabbing a male concubine’s junk and stroking him for several seconds, rather roughly, too, digging her nails a bit uncomfortably into his scrotum without actually breaking the skin.

The male concubine, whose name was Steve, squirmed and winced as he felt Sandy’s rough handling, but he didn’t actually try to stop her or speak directly to her about it. Seeing his response, Sandy then gestured for Hortense to play with his genitals, which she did, though softer and more gently, making Steve sigh with pleasure and relief as he grew rather hard indeed. Sandy then started fondling the guy’s ass, especially his buns, though her finger slid down his crack, making him shiver in response. She slapped his cheeks a couple of times and he gasped, but didn’t cry out. Hortense then turned to Lyle, just to see what he would do. Lyle simply slapped the man’s dick to get a response, but while Steve gritted his teeth in reaction to the pain, he didn’t lash out at all, nor did he move to cover the tormented body parts.

“Very good! Honest responses, but no resistance and no attempts to escape the pain. Up to us what we do to him, but I don’t recommend too much cock and ball torture, for obvious reasons. You don’t want to damage his equipment, as that would make him utterly useless around here,” Fiona noted as Andre and she started playing with Steve’s nipples to test him further.

“Bend over and cough,” Hortense told Steve while snickering.

Steve did just that, at which point Hortense simply slipped a finger into his asshole without any additional warning, though he must have had some idea of her intentions from her command to get into that position. Hortense began aggressively poking his asshole with her fingers, one by one, pleased that his butt was kept nice and clean, too. Steve endured it all, even when Hortense slapped each of his buns with her free hand. When Hortense began actively playing with Steve’s ass, though, he started to really get into it, his dick growing very hard indeed.

“Someone doesn’t enjoy cock and ball torture, but loves ass play, I think! Well, monsieur, I’m not going to take an untested boy toy, so keep it up, because I’m not done with you. Sandy singled you out and brought you to my attention, before I could even make my rounds, and so far, baby, I am impressed! I definitely want more of your derriere, you cute little piece of man flesh! I like how petite you are for a guy, too. Were you always like this, androgynous and slender, hairless like this? Did your former sponsor simply like his twinks nice and sleek?” Hortense demanded of Steve, who shuddered as he stammered in response.

“I didn’t quite get that,” Hortense said as she slapped his ass again.

“No, ma’am, it was my mother. She claimed me as hers and used me anally a lot. She had the augmentation done in such a way as to make my anus my primary erogenous zone and she had all of my body hair permanently removed. She owned Dad and me, and she made me let Dad use my ass whenever it appealed to her. She also owned my sister, but that was because Ellen was already of age, whereas I turned 14 just a year ago, and so I became her third concubine when I failed the test. Dad didn’t really want to have sex with me, but Mom told him to do it, so he did, and pretty soon, he started to enjoy it.