Chapter 39

Vera:

"So you got a lot of rough usage over the past few days -- and it HELPED you raise your CAP score?" Dave Chambers asked, bemused. We were on a break in the afternoon orientation session.

"I was hiding from myself as much as I was hiding from Ollie," I explained. "Being made to face my sexuality fixed some things that were broken about me. I'm just not your average woman -- and I was treating it as a bad thing."

"What do you mean by that?" Dave asked.

"I like a lot of sex," I replied. "Like several guys' worth."

"Oh!" Dave looked shocked.

"Yeah..." I muttered. "It was a problem. When I was younger, I went through a phase where I got what I wanted -- but I had a poor self-image and being treated as a pariah in public and as a pig in private didn't help. So I lied to Ollie about sex and pretended I didn't like it and basically made sure Ollie didn't get any opportunities to see the real me. I'd been living a lie for, oh, I dunno -- twenty-five years? And because I had it all under wraps, I couldn't move forward. This week I wasn't allowed to avoid sex -- and when things hit a certain point, I couldn't hide it any more." I sighed. "After that, all I could do was ask forgiveness. Even then, I couldn't escape -- but I got acceptance and approval instead of derision. I was doing what everyone wanted, and doing it well, and no one was pointing the finger and calling me names. Apparently, I wasn't the awful person I thought I was. When I realized all that, things just ... changed..."

"An amazing tale," Dave mused. "So now what?"

I laughed. "So now I get to be a whorehouse madam! Actually, I get to try to teach women who are having a hard time with it that enjoying sex is okay and they need to learn to embrace their sexuality and get on with their job..."

"Sounds like a worthy cause..." Dave mused.

"I think it is -- and I'm not alone," I murmured.

We got beyond concubines and into discussions of basic Confederacy rules and customs and specifics about Nuevo Angelino and how the Civil Service role had expanded there -- and the risks and benefits that went with the flood of colonists we hadn't met yet from the big school pickup. We spent a lot of time learning, 'This is how things USUALLY happen, but THIS is how we're doing it THIS time... '; it seemed like you really needed to know the traditional rules so you could understand how we were breaking them -- and why. I, of course, was now an exception to the rule in that seventy-five percent or better of all sponsors were male. Doctor Mortensen was there, of course, but frankly, we had little in common; I got the feeling that sex wasn't high on her list of priorities. When evening came, I was more than happy to go back to our shared quarters and collect the girls to take to dinner.

The girls were agog with the afternoon concubine training session -- and Judith was scornfully dismissive of a number of women who 'had to hear things six times -- and STILL didn't get it!' I found this amusing, and so did Ollie. But a bit later, Judith came to me in an aside and said, "Momma, I don't understand..."

"About me?" I asked. She nodded. Thanks to Dave Chambers, I had a ready answer: "Do you remember when Jack told you that you would go through a period where you thought, 'Oh, God! I'm a slut!' before you came around to 'Thank God! I'm a slut!'? Well, that period took me twenty-five years, because I was locked in a loop. Just last night I made the change -- and I'm happy about it and at peace with myself for the first time in forever. It made all the difference; I couldn't live up to my potential until I crawled out of that box I was hiding from everyone in. It was a chrysalis, though -- I entered it as a worm and emerged as a butterfly!"

"That's ... sweet, Momma..." Judith said -- and I knew she didn't understand, and there wasn't a whole lot I could do to help her.

Jack:

We left the Mess that Sunday morning and went straight to Medical -- and I got instant priority, so everyone was tucked in tubes in no time. "Alterations?" the medic on duty asked me.

"You've got my spec," I told him. "What am I looking at for fit?"

"The big black girl is virgin, as you are no doubt aware -- everywhere. But she has the capacity orally and anally, and will grow to handle you vaginally. The older black woman we could tighten just a touch here and there and firm up her internal muscles -- kids, you know. External changes?"

"None. Well, maybe a bit off there above the hips."

He raised his eyebrows, but went on, "The smaller white woman is behind on her development -- but she IS developing, as of recently. The AI indicated that there were signs of psychological trauma affecting her physical development -- but she seems to have gotten over it. She was used, early -- orally, anally, and even vaginally -- but she isn't sloppy, although she needs some repairs to her colon and anus."

"Do that," I instructed, "and we'll see where she is in six months to a year, I guess."

"The last one?" The medic cocked an eyebrow. "She needs a little throat work; otherwise, she's almost exactly to spec. What about externals?"

"Show me a hologram," I sighed. He did so. "Fix the teeth and the jaw." The projection displayed the adjustment to fix her overbite. "She lisps -- is it curable?"

"Maybe, but you'd have to teach her to talk again," the medic opined.

"Fuck that," I waved it off, "It's cute, anyway." The medic raised an eyebrow, but left it alone. "Okay, shrink the butt a little -- say, fifteen percent." The medic, who had reduced the size by more like fifty percent, blinked and backed it off. "Jack up the breasts a bit, and get rid of the stretch marks on the upper slope and inflate them a bit..."

"They'll swell on their own," the medic noted. "She's pregnant."

"She is?" I broke out in a grin. "GREAT!" I got a bit of control over myself. "Okay, well they're very soft, now -- I'd like for them to stay that way -- except maybe when she's actively breast feeding. I'd like to see them raised a bit -- not too much! -- and fleshed out a bit, so they don't look under-inflated."

"Not bigger?" the medic asked. "Not smaller?"

I shook my head. "Some improvement in shape and tone and keep them from being total udders -- but she's an Earth Mother -- and I want her to stay that way. Have you ever seen a fertility goddess?"

"Ummm, yes ... Kind of pear shaped. Breasts are more functional..." The medic went into communion with the AI and a few very subtle changes got made. Her feet got a touch wider and so did her pelvis, while her belly shrank just a touch -- not enough that it didn't bulge a bit. A bit of excess above the hips got pared away -- but again, nothing amazing, just enough to smooth the flow. Beth's image looked a bit less like her mother and more like Judith -- without going nearly that far. Judith actually had a sweet, rounded body -- but it wasn't Beth's template and I didn't want it to be.

"That's good," I declared.

"Okay, then," the medic replied. "We'll add things in slowly and let her think some of the changes come from pregnancy."

"Good idea," I agreed. "And the kids?"

"All in fine shape," the medic replied. "The male is showing some signs of sponsor-level intelligence. There was an underlying problem with distrust and abandonment, but he seems to be responding well and isn't completely traumatized."

"Okay, fine. Hold them in tubes until someone else comes out to handle them." I went back to sit on a chair nearby and take status reports over my comm link. There was a problem with Group Eighty-Six...

Keisha and the kids were out quickly, and Frieda and Tara didn't take long, either. Beth was last. Tara and Frieda each took a child from Keisha as they came out, so no one was unduly burdened. When Beth came out, she said, "I don't see much..."

"There wasn't a lot required, for any of you," I replied. "I let them set things ups so they took more time, especially in your case -- because you're pregnant!"

"I am?" You'd have thought the lights were out in the room and someone had turned them -- her -- on! "OMIGAWD!" She was all over me then -- which was more than mildly pleasant. After a moment or two of wallowing in her embrace and endearments, I gently extricated myself. "Come on, let's go back to quarters..."

They all wanted something. Beth wanted to crawl into my lap and stay there for the day. Frieda wanted to give me a blowjob. Tara wanted to kneel in front of me and wait on me hand and foot -- and Keisha -- well, Keisha wanted me to follow through on some promises I'd made. What I finally decided to do was send Tara and Frieda off to concubine training and hold Beth and Keisha back with the kids. They all COULD have gone to training and TAKEN the kids (many concubines in the main group had no choice in the matter) but training wasn't urgent and they were ahead of the curve, anyway. Tara and Frieda were instructed to pay careful attention and condense anything important for relay to Beth and Keisha. Then I reluctantly headed off to work.

Group Eighty-Six was fourth graders and their families; objectively, there should have been no more trouble from them than anyone else, but a couple of things had cropped up. The first phase of things appeared to be acrimonious exchanges between members of a couple -- both concubines -- with two kids. The deeper I dug, the uglier it got. It seemed on the surface that the (ex) husband was angry with the (ex) wife for having sex with two other concubine males. She claimed it was rape -- but he claimed it was conspiracy and she'd enjoyed it. The other two guys agreed with the husband (of course -- their necks were on the line). Even the surveillance video wasn't cut and dried; the woman had led the other two on, certainly, even if it had gone further than planned. I rounded on one of the alleged rapists, "You struggled with Mack, here -- why shouldn't I space you for assault?"

The guy went white, but replied, "They aren't married any more. Who she wants to fuck is her business. He was interfering. He's the one that's wrong." This was actually a reasoned response; I had to give the guy credit.

Eventually, I had to sequester the four of them and have the AIs interrogate them. The woman rolled over pretty quickly; when the AI indicated it had broken her down I went in to see her. "Okay, so what happened."

The woman, whose name was Victoria something ('Call me Vicky') sighed. "I got carried away. Those two were kind of hot, so I let them start something. We got to flirting and stuff and it made Mack mad -- and I kind of enjoyed that; Mack isn't much in the sack..."

"You've cheated on him before..." I guessed.

"Yeah..."

<Genetic analysis indicates that the younger child is not the offspring of Martin 'Mack' Taylor, > the AI supplied helpfully.

"So what were you up to?" I asked.

"I think he's always known ... but I wanted to see his face, you know? I know, it's ugly -- but I just wanted to rub his nose in it."

"And the rape?"

She had the grace to look embarrassed. "Well, it was and it wasn't. I didn't plan for it to get that far, but I got carried away. I said no -- and I meant it -- but when they didn't stop, I was glad -- and I got to enjoy Mack's reaction even more..."

"So I probably shouldn't space anyone."

"No."

I thought about it. "I'm splitting you two up. Mack gets the older kid and you get the younger one. Do you know who the father is?"

"It doesn't matter, does it? He's not here ... How did you know?" Even I knew that she didn't.

"I've got radar," I grunted. "You're a piece of work, Honey. I hope you find a sponsor that spends half his time with his dick in your ass and the other half with it down your throat -- preferably without cleaning it up, first. But you might enjoy that, huh?"

She looked away, which told me everything I needed to know.

I had the AI set up a reassignment and went to get the kid in question, who was with her presumptive father. "She's out of here," I related, "and she's taking this one with her. She isn't yours, anyway..."

Mack looked a little sick. "I'd wondered..."

"That one is -- solid paternity results -- so you get to keep him. I'm leaving you in this group, I think. I figure there's going to be collateral damage; you might get a chance to get even with one of the pair she fucked. You know she did it just to see the look on your face, right?" I asked.

"I wondered. It seemed like that was what she was up to."

"I'm guessing you two had long-term problems," I opined.

"Yeah."

"Are you interested in this one?" I hefted the girl.

I watched him struggle with himself. There was a bond there, even if it wasn't blood. Finally, he said, "Not at this time."

"I'll have the AI make a note that you can have visitation. Assume that there is a restraining order between you and her mother, though. You arrange visitation through an AI. If we catch either of you actively messing with the other, I'll space the perp -- or recycle them, or whatever else comes to mind. If it's you, you'll be dead."

"I understand."

I took the girl to her mother. "You aren't to see Mack. Assume there is a restraining order. If either of you fucks up, it's summary execution. Mack has visitation, if and when he wants it -- to be arranged by AIs and without you present. Do you want similar?"

"I guess I should hold my options open," she muttered.

"Okay, we're going to move you -- but I want to give you a little something first. Wait here."

I had the AI call the wives of my two 'rapists' and sequestered them. Entering the first room, I asked, "So, your ex-husband is supposedly involved in a rape. It isn't that simple, but he didn't take long to wander off and plant a garden elsewhere, did he? I'm thinking you might want to be done with him..."