Chapter 46

Mark Tillotson:

So now it was evening, after a day of changes, and there they stood. There weren't a whole lot of happy campers in Mess -- some sponsors, mostly young ones, working the aisles, checking out the merchandise -- but the Salazars were in with the majority, definitely. Nana waved her cane at me, but Javier called her down. I went on over to see how they were doing; I could have avoided it, but it was kind of like watching a train wreck -- you can't look away...

Nana met me halfway; she was moving better already, not toddling, doing that rocking walk thing old women in particular do. Pretty soon, I figured she would toss the cane. When she got close, I noticed that she was wearing a collar like a concubine. Being a dependent, she was clothed -- a blessing, no doubt. She looked up at me, her eyes slitted. "So you do not lie."

Javier said, "She says..."

I waved him off. "I got it." The AI was translating. "I do not lie -- it is a waste of my time."

"Estrellita," she called over her shoulder. "You must present yourself to men -- present yourself to this one. He has power -- and he uses it. Hector was a silver-tongued persuader, but this one compels. You're better off, I think."

Estrella blushed and looked away. "You're a handsome woman -- but I see women of all shapes and sizes every day..." I said.

"See how he consolidates his position?" Nana smiled, shark-like. "You are a commodity, my daughter. Now you must do something to distinguish yourself -- and you have no options. There is no bargaining, here -- you must grovel."

"I cannot," Estrella replied, eyeing me darkly.

"Today..." I appended, smiling thinly. I had no idea why I was bothering, frankly; Nana had made it a game, I guess. Did I want Estrella? Normally, the answer would have been no -- I'd have dismissed her out of hand. The battle of wills added interest, though...

"Should I offer to grovel, then?" Graciela asked. "The price for staying with Javier..."

I cocked my head. "Yes?"

"It might be simpler if Mama paid it."

"What?" Estrella spun on her daughter.

"I'm his mother," Graciela said diffidently. "Your relationship is more ... distant..."

Nana had spun to observe this confrontation. "Neither of you need do this."

"There is Marisol," Graciela said tightly. "And there is you. Javier is responsible, but..."

"He is not a parent?" Nana finished. "I was. I am."

"Things are different, Mama."

"They certainly are!" Nana agreed, with some asperity.

"It appears that you need to work through this before anyone can grovel before me," I murmured, amused. The concubines eyed one another in consternation -- and Nana barked a laugh.

"Which would you want?" Nana asked.

"I'm not in the market," I replied. "Moving women, assigning women, placing women in brothels while they await a new sponsor -- these are all parts of my job. I see naked women all day every day -- and I use them as the need arises. I have no assigned concubines. I need none."

"Who takes care of your home?" Graciela asked. "Who cooks your meals? Who cleans for you? Who cares for your children? Do you have children? Are you not required... ?"

<The concubine Graciela makes a good point, > the AI erupted. From the women's reactions, I wasn't the only one to hear it.

I found myself taken somewhat aback. "I ... get my meals from the replicator. I sometimes bring in an unassigned concubine to clean..."

"And you have no children," Estrella murmured, her smile predatory.

"I have no children..." I admitted, defensive, "yet."

Nana cocked her head to the side, "Finally, a chink in your armor..."

"I really don't think it's the correct time..." I temporized.

<You are behind schedule, Decurion, > the AI interjected. The women's faces all reflected the fact that the AI had not kept this comment private, either. <You should have reproduced eleven months ago. There should be a second pregnancy in process.>

"AI!" I barked, angry, "That is privileged information!"

<Indeed not, Decurion. This is the first real opportunity that has surfaced to air this issue in the presence of someone who could repair it. Therefore, it was raised for discussion, > the AI retorted.

"He needs two..." Estrella raised an eyebrow, looking at Graciela.

"Two CHILDREN!" I erupted, "Not two..." Frustrated, I turned on my accuser, "AI!"

<The child, Marisol, would count... > the AI offered, reasonably -- well, from its perspective, anyway...

Having lost control of the situation, I got carried away. "IF I was to think about such a thing, I would have to use you both -- everywhere -- before I made a decision as to which of you I would keep. The other would go to Javier -- and BOTH of us would fuck BOTH of you, regularly! So you see..."

"He's about to tell you that you might as well both stay with Javier," Nana cackled. "Only he's a liar..."

"There's a whole world of men where we're going," I argued. "You don't need me. You don't even WANT me! I'm not going to stop what I'm doing -- it's my JOB!"

"It's his job!" Nana mimicked sarcastically. "So much better than Hector, for whom womanizing was an unannounced hobby, don't you think, Estrellita? He's up front about it ... If you're going to have to share him, wouldn't you rather share a man of power than a loser like Hector?"

Clearly, Estrella's estranged husband was a bone of contention between Nana and Estrella... "I don't think I want to get in the middle of this," I announced. "Good luck to you all. Javier, take good care of your great-grandmother -- although I have to believe that it will be the other way around..." I got out of there!

Oliver:

After dinner, Britney and I and Judith returned to my quarters; whether or not they were Vera's quarters was unclear. I sent Judith to do her video -- and after she did it, I screened it. I didn't know whether to laugh or just shake my head sadly...

The screen cleared to display Judith, looking not particularly happy, visible to below her admittedly fine breasts. "Hi, I'm Judith Collins. I'm one of Dr. Hopkins' daughters, but if you don't know who Dr. Hopkins is, it's not worth the time to bother with trying to figure out if that's important. I just mention it because my last name is different -- I was married, for a while..." Her voice trailed off. "I'm not, now, I guess. There is no ex, and no kids. I'm nineteen." She stood and the camera panned and took her in to below the knees, but missed her feet. She did a slow but not necessarily graceful three-hundred-sixty degree rotation. "As you can see, I'm kind of thick -- but somebody said recently that I carry it well, and I hear there might be some backlash in the colonies with guys getting tired of blonde supermodels with impossible tits. I'm, uh, all natural ... But of course, you can change me as you like, I guess..." She settled into Presentation Two, the video following. "I've been doing some, well, I guess you'd call it training -- so I figure I can probably handle most things you might want to do ... If you're interested in meeting, I'm, uh, number seventeen sixty eight." That was it -- the screen darkened.

"Judith!" I yelled.

"Yes, Daddy?" She padded into the room, naked and barefoot. Taking her really WAS an option...

I shook my head. "Have you LOOKED at that thing?"

"Well..."

"You don't want to!" I declared. "You WANT to start from scratch, I think! About the only thing you did right was settle into Presentation Two, I think. Why did you bother mentioning me?"

"It was in case someone from Brinkman sees it, Daddy," she replied, shrugging.

"All right. Standing was a good idea, but you didn't display your feet!" Judith's feet, like her hands, were definitely part of any full presentation; they were well formed and well cared for. A normal person on the street could see them, but in her 'personal ad' she hadn't bothered. "You really need to do that turn thing a bit more gracefully and see to it that they see EVERYTHING. While you're at it, you should REALLY have done a bit of Presentation Three -- and SMILED, for God's sake! You should do it over."

Judith looked haggard. "Not tonight, Daddy. You have no idea what it takes ... Thank you for your critique -- I'll do it again tomorrow."

"Very well," I sighed. "Goodnight." It was clear that she was going to bed.

I was sitting with Britney on my lap, idly fondling her breasts when a door I hadn't really noticed opened and Vera walked in. "We're back from Medical, Ollie."

"How did it go?"

Big Mike and Cletus White trailed her diffidently into the room. "Okay. I don't think anyone is prepared to play Superman or Superwoman -- the AI suggested a good night's sleep for everyone." She eyed my hands on Britney. "What about you?"

"A bit of quality time," I murmured, refusing to be baited. As far as I could tell, Vera's and my relationship was now very much at will; we needed to get used to the limitations, if any. Finding them would no doubt be agenda item one...

"Do you mind if I sleep with you, then?" Vera asked diffidently. "I slept elsewhere last night..."

I felt Britney tense. "Should I... ?" she asked.

Vera smiled and shook her head. "I doubt it. I'd prefer the left side, but if you'll take the right ... If Ollie decides that he needs exercise, I can provide it, but if you were looking forward to it at all, just go ahead. It's been a long day. Don't feel that you have to limit yourself or abstain, either -- I REALLY don't mind." She cocked her head, smiling at Britney. "We're not in competition. Ollie will have several more concubines, and I'm going to collect one or two. I want to be there for Ollie, but who knows what the future will bring? YOU are his concubine..." She looked over her shoulder. "The boys will sleep next door -- they need their rest, too. Where is Judith?"

"Next door?" I probed.

"Yes. The AI moved Maureen, unilaterally. I hope she won't be too angry," Vera sighed.

"Judith has gone to bed, after putting out a video that I would give a 'D' if I were grading it," I related. "She apparently plans a second attempt tomorrow."

Vera nodded. "All this is hard, Ollie. I'm not really sure you understand." She turned. "I'm going to settle my boys, and go crawl into bed. Just come whenever you're ready." She waved Big Mike and Cletus out before her; I stifled my amusement at the idea that either of them might be a boy...

"Oliver?" Britney stirred in my lap. "When do you plan to... ?"

"Tomorrow, I replied. "There are still Brinkman people out there."

"Have you considered Rhonda?"

My interest piqued, I asked, "Do you know something?"

"I was just thinking..." she murmured obsequiously.

I couldn't shake the idea that she might be hiding something, but it wasn't worth the effort to pry it out. "Good thought." I rubbed her soft belly. "Let's go to bed. I think ... yes ... I'd like to get started with something before Vera arrives." It wasn't that I wanted to deliberately tweak Vera's nose -- more that I suddenly had the urge and didn't want Britney inhibited by Vera's presence during the early stages.

It worked, too; we were deeply involved, me kneeling between Britney's upraised legs delivering pleasure at a steady rate while Britney recovered from her first orgasm when Vera entered the room. She settled in a chair and watched, not bothering us while I brought Britney to a second peak and lost my way attempting to make it three, emptying myself in Britney's clasping tunnel. I rolled us onto our sides and we were still entwined when Vera entered the bed behind me, murmuring, "That looked good. Isn't he wonderful, Britney?"

"Uhm huhm..." Britney was flagged; orgasm tended to rob her of energy in the short term.

Vera smiled and caressed her back once and lay down behind me -- and we all went to sleep...

Dean Atkinson:

It is Sunday evening -- the end of our first full day on the Valhalla, and one involving a lot of education for everyone. I'm in bed, with Shelley -- my one-time spouse -- in my arms, crying bitterly, wondering if I hadn't made a serious mistake...

On the afternoon that I'd consolidated my hold on my two current concubines, Nadine had pulled me aside and asked me if she could cohabit with me. We were to pool our resources where concubines were concerned -- and Nadine wanted to carry a child or two of mine. This seemed like a pretty good idea, so I accepted.

Yesterday, upon our boarding, Nadine ensured that she was a part of my entourage and was quartered with me. This didn't seem to be a problem either, despite the fact that she banished both of my concubines so that we could have our own first tryst. Nadine is seriously accomplished, if somewhat demanding; I enjoyed myself and didn't worry, as I was up to the task WITHOUT augmentation.

Today, however, she asked for some interesting alterations to both herself and my concubines, including upsizing the clitoris on each of them and a limited (by me -- I'm not a fan of udders) bust increase -- and some tongue modifications on Shelley and Susan. She also became VERY controlling -- which was disconcerting for my concubines, as they expected to answer to me alone. She ended up spanking them both and then requiring from each an extended session of cunnilingus. Susan was still at it; Shelley's tongue was apparently worn to a nub...

'AI, I'm concerned that I may have made a mistake where Nadine is concerned, ' I subvocalized. 'What is the current guidance for when two sponsors of different sexes cohabitate?'

<There are a number of formats, despite the fact that such relationships are too few to consider the norm. Some such households pursue equality as much as is practical; others are organized more on the lines of one sponsor being a 'concubine with privileges, ' who subordinates herself to the other sponsor after the fashion of a concubine, within limits which may vary greatly over the range of examples.>

'We haven't really worked this out... ' I mused.

<Nadine Epperson is a complex female who exhibits certain behaviors not considered the norm for your species. There are indications that she prefers to function in a dominant role over some people, but prefers to hand ultimate control off to others -- even to the extent of complete submission. Observations of this type of personality reveal that the more general and specific responsibility the individual accepts, the more likely that a balancing submissive role is required. What led Ms. Epperson to be interested in cohabiting with you, exactly? There is some indication that you were involved in a punishment session for your concubines... >