Chapter 4

When Theresa came out of the pod she looked shaky. When she got the news that she'd had cancer she seemed ready to faint. It took her more than a couple of seconds before she looked at me and asked "Now what?"

She needed some reassurance, so I answered her with "You're getting the cure, hon, so you are going to live and be healthy." While she sat there, I pulled her up into a hug and found her clinging to me.

A little bit of history, all right? Just so that you have some idea of where I am coming from, OK?

I always thought that I was the clingy one in my relationship with my ex-wife, driving her up a wall because I wanted to spend so much of my time cuddling with my hands on her body. This was a very different situation, suddenly feeling like I was the strong one.

To be frank, I could get to like this kind of attention. At this moment, she wasn't asking more of me than to hold and comfort her, and, lest you show confusion, having a naked woman wrapped up in your arms - and you in hers, even if she is a bit, ahem, "chunky" - is not something any sane man is going to be in a hurry to end. When Kate moved behind me to make me the meat in the middle of a sandwich my motivation to end the attention, already minimal, evaporated entirely. Unfortunately, this didn't last because the tech told us that we were blocking the pod as Joey was ready to go into a pod for evaluation.

Kate and Theresa released me long enough to drag me out of the way and then moved back in. Tami and Alicia moved in on my sides and my brain went into suspend mode.

Don't let anyone kid you, cuddling, as long as it isn't more active, like with kissing or caressing, tends to be a very passive activity and tends to put even a man's brain on stand-by. I suspect a woman's brain may not go into stand-by as easily, but it sure seemed like the standing "pile" I was a part of rendered my brain more than just a little bit comatose, so I didn't notice Bobbi orbiting us like an electron around a nucleus.

The nucleus eventually underwent fission as the seven children were being released from the pods and Lois fought having to get dressed, again. Once Theresa pulled on her shift it was easier to talk Lois into her clothing again. Once she was dressed I picked her up and gave her a hug.

Getting told that all of the children had a clean bill of health was comforting. "Also, Lieutenant Peters, you will want to talk to the AI about any enhancements and augmentation you and your concubines should have. You will have to wait for yours, as will Kate and Theresa, but the others can be run through any cosmetic and structural changes you need."

I nodded and led my small army out to our pod.

Our timing was good since the pod's re-configuration had been completed over a half hour earlier. We went through the whole pod and assigned colors and I talked over the clothing issue with the AI for the children. I knew, also, that I needed to have a talk with Annie and Joey given the kinds of eyes they kept giving each other.

Or, perhaps, they needed me to talk to them, for their own comfort and safety.

We set up a movie in the playroom we'd made on the upper level for the younger children which they gleefully flopped down into the soft rockers with bowls of popcorn and cups of chocolate milk. As much as I despised the "happily ever after" horseshit shoveled in huge lots by Disney, I could not completely fault their ability to tranquilize children into submission. I suspected that, perhaps, the utter sweetness would place the children under threat for diabetes as they aged.

Annie and Joey were a bit nervous when we dragged them to the dining table and sat them down next to each other. I kept Theresa and Kate from speaking to their children when I waved them to silence.

"Look, Annie, Joey, you are both under fourteen and the rules - observed by the AIs, so they get enforced, whether the three of us, in the parental roles we are now in, want to look the other way or not, will have to limit how the two of you can express affection. You cannot engage in full ... uhhhh ... penetrative sex. If you two want to be lovers, you have to limit yourselves to oral sex until you are both over fourteen. On top of that, I do not know how well either of you will score on your CAP tests, so one, or even both, of you, could be volunteers for Confederacy service."

The two 'children' looked at me closely. While I had been speaking I'd watched them squirm with various mood swings which proved, to me, that they had been paying attention to me. I decided to shock them some more.

"So, kids, we've watched you make eyes at each other, so we know there's something going on. Joey, what do you see in Annie?"

The poor boy suddenly looked scared and I could see him withdrawing, not wanting to say anything. Either he was afraid of telling me something that would get me angry or was afraid to tell her how he felt.

I suspected that both of those fears kept him silent. I decided to make it easier for him. "You like how she looks, how she talks, how smart she is, and how pretty her smiles are, right? And the feel of her hand when she holds yours when she seems scared? Or when you are feeling scared?"

The look of fear covered him as he jerkily nodded. He looked to his mother, first, and then towards Annie, who was smiling at him, and I could see him relax.

"So, Joey, tell her, yourself. I don't think she's ready to bite your head off..." I smirked, looking at both Kate and Theresa, both of whom seemed a bit anxious about their children 'getting together'.

Joey stammered out "Annie ... I like you. You're pretty, you like a lot of the things I like, you are a great artist, we like the same music. I ... hope you like me, too."

It was entertaining to watch Annie launch herself at Joey and they both ended up on the floor as she hugged and kissed the boy. I turned to Kate and Theresa, saying "I don't think we need to have her tell him how she feels, now, do we?"

Both women laughed as their tension eased.

I stood up and walked around the table and watched the two kids hug and kiss as they rolled on the floor, looking for a comfortable spot. I tapped Joey, currently on the bottom, with my shoe, telling him, once their mouths disconnected "Remember, you can touch, kiss, lick and suck each other's bodies ... but you can't put your dick in her ... and Annie, you can't jump on him and wrap his dick inside of you, either. Also, if you want to learn to get the most out of what you are allowed to do, please talk to your mothers, which, at this point, includes Tami, Bobbi and Alicia, OK?"

I watched closely as each finally nodded. Annie did say "OK, daddy-o, sure." Before she attached her mouth to Joey's.

"Kate, Theresa, let's go and talk. Tami, you keep an eye on these two so they don't go too far, and, if they ask for coaching, please see what you can advise. You know their limits." I then turned to Bobbi and Alicia, saying "And you two ... could you please keep an eye on the younger kids? Keep them amused?"

Getting nods from my three youngest concubines, I led the two older ones to my bedroom and had them sit on the bed. They seemed to be a bit anxious.

"All right, time to work out augmentation questions. AI, please display a view of Kate so we can work out changes we want to make to her body."

Very obediently a life-size hologram of a naked Kate appeared in the room in front of me. I looked at Kate and then back to the hologram.

"First off, please regress the apparent age to, say, 21, with a nominal body mass index."

A younger and much slimmer version of Kate appeared, standing in front of me. I heard a "Whoa" from Theresa and a "Wow" from the original of what I was looking at.

"Next, bump up the BMI by ten percent, she isn't cuddly enough."

The "new" Kate was still a bit un-padded. "Up the BMI to fifteen percent over nominal, I don't want to get bruises from her."

Theresa giggled as the image added just a little more padding. She looked positively cuddly.

"All right, leave the birthmark on her mons, no hair below the neck, her hair should ... ummmm ... reach down to her waist, keep it her natural color."

This version of Kate was adorable and I heard sounds of approval from my audience.

"AI, lock that in. Kate, please go and relieve Tami and send her in here, OK?"

I got a kiss from Kate as she stepped out.

While she was out I told the AI "Please bump up her brain's sensitivity to testosterone, all right, and add that? Next, show us Theresa."

Theresa squeaked when Tami walked in on the view.

"AI, same basic parameters as I gave for Kate, please apply to Theresa."

Tami watched, her mouth hanging open, as the projected body shrank and got younger, leaving a view of what Tami could look like in another couple of years. I liked it, especially given how cat-like Theresa's face got when she didn't have as much padding hiding it.

"Please add a birth-mark on her mons in the shape of a T, please, and lock that down, with the increased sensitivity, and bring up Tami."