Chapter 3

THURSDAY May 8

In the morning, we headed back to my place and then went our separate ways. Jenna headed for school. Vonna headed for work, where she gave her notice that today would be her last day, explaining that she would be getting married tomorrow. Evidently, most of the single females at her work were more than a little jealous when they found out whom she was marrying. Her personal shuttle landing on the roof next to the bosses also caused quite a stir. My work went well, for a change. Final approval came through for the new computers, so we filled out the paperwork giving me fifty percent of the patent rights and held a news conference. I was done by 10:00. By the end of the day, McClintock Labs stock (and my share of that stock) had gone up forty percent in one day, and my life had just gotten easier since I didn’t have to go to work anymore.

So I thought, anyway. When I finally finished running my errands and went home, there were nine women I didn’t recognize waiting in the common area of the suite. Each woman was sullen, nervous, and looked ready to bolt if I so much as breathed in her direction. Their suspicious glances at me were full of bitterness and mistrust. The faces were beautiful, but their clothing was loose, bulky, and otherwise ill fitting. Renee hugged and kissed me enthusiastically, but I saw the nervousness in her eyes.

“Would you feel better if I spanked you again?” I teased, seeing her relax a little.

I welcomed the girls as a group, and then Renee introduced each one: Tiffany, Allison, Katie, Irina, Melissa, Tara, Heather, Anna, and Bree. Nine women and the only thing in common about their appearances is that most appeared to be strikingly beautiful. The one that surprised me was Anna. Aside from being almost twice as old as the others, she didn’t appear to be as quite as beautiful as the rest. She was extremely pretty, but not a knockout like the others. The girls ranged from near five-foot zip to over six-feet tall. Some were slender, others more muscular and more voluptuous, but none were heavy as far as I could tell. Hair, eye, and skin colors ran the gamut. Six were a C cup or bigger, so I knew I’d need to pay special attention to my two girls tonight to reassure them.

My first order of business was to reassure these girls as much as I could that they weren’t trading one life in hell for another. I handed Renee a stack of papers. “Renee, these copies are all the same. Would you please review one and explain to the ladies what they are?” Renee gave me a curious look as she picked up the top paper.

She read it quickly, gasping partway through and looking back up at me. “Mike, you can’t,” she gasped.

“Can and already did but I think you’re making the ladies nervous, Renee. Please explain what I’ve given you.”

Renee looked across at the expectant and very nervous faces. “Sorry ladies, everything’s fine. Mike just gave me power of attorney and unlimited authority over his financial and property transactions. That means I can do anything I want with his money and his property for the next year. The agreement is self-renewing each year unless one of us files a written cancellation and gives seven days notice to the other. What it means for you is that I can sign your papers in his place, and I can cancel your agreements in his stead, at any time, with or without his permission. That includes,” and she turned her computer display towards them, “my own concubine agreement which I had to beg Mike to agree to.” There were a few gasps, and a lot of stunned silence.

“Any questions?” she asked.

“So, now what?” Tiffany, the shortest of the girls, asked.

“Now you decide if this is what you want to do,” Renee answered.

“And if we do?” Tara, the tall, black woman asked cautiously.

I stepped forward. “If you do, there will be some rules and requirements. If you are currently in school or wish to attend school, we will make the necessary arrangements for you to start or to continue, including paying for everything unless you already have a scholarship. If you are not in school, you will be expected to hold a full time job, probably working for me since you are more than likely being prevented from getting a job elsewhere. Students may work if they want as long as they keep their grades up. Any money you earn working at an outside job will be given to me. I will have one of you keep track of it, and when you leave, every penny will be returned to you.”

The girls were quiet. I wasn’t sure if they were worried, or stunned, so I continued. “This is my house in town. I refer to it as ‘my place’. I have this floor and the one below it, although I’ve only used this suite of rooms for as long as I’ve owned it. There’s room to park two hundred-fifty shuttles on the roof, and I will provide shuttles for everyone. My women will go in style. Aside from this place, I have a huge estate outside of town. The only way to get there is on one of my pre-programmed personal shuttles. The place isn’t on any map, and is thoroughly cloaked and shielded. It’s an old military base with a gorgeous estate with room for about five hundred people. There are also military barracks that will hold at least twenty thousand people at each of the two military bases. You have complete run of either place with three exceptions. My bedroom in both this place and the estate are off limits to you unless one of my fiancées invites you in. The third place that’s off limits is my lab at the estate.

“Fortunately, nobody can get into the lab without me being there so it shouldn’t be a problem. Some of you may end up working in the lab with me if you’re qualified and if you want to, but otherwise it’s off limits. There are things in there that are sensitive and very secret. Renee has been in there and can vouch that there are no torture chambers or anything like that in there. I’d even be willing to take some of you in there later to put your minds at ease.

“I expect that we may have questions from outside of our group at some point, so I’ve come up with a cover story. The story is totally bogus, there’s absolutely no truth to it. What you are to tell everyone is that I’m doing some sort of research and you’re not sure exactly what it is. I’m not doing research, and I don’t plan to do anything more than fake enough documentation to show the government enough to bullshit them with if we need to.

“I’ll tell them that I’m conducting research into social and environment factors and the effect on the IQ of the babies a woman has. I’ll also tell them that I’m sending everyone I feel is qualified to school to find the smartest women, trying to create smarter babies. That will give us enough of a cover story to send a lot of you to school if you want to go back or continue. If any of you have boyfriends, let Renee know and we will arrange for you to be able to continue seeing them. Renee, have each girl fill out one of these questionnaires for the so-called study, and have someone scan them into the computer. Do this for any more new girls, too. The answers will assign them to a study group so we can make it look like we’re really doing a study. Find out what skills and training the girls have, and see if there’s a job they can do here to help things run smoother. You’ll need someone to keep track of their finances, and to help you with purchasing. You’ll also need secretaries, paralegals, and probably some more attorneys. Go ahead and enroll anyone that wants to go to school in whatever school they want, but if they want to study science, have them talk to me before choosing their classes.”

Looking back at the girls, I continued. “I have no staff at either place, since I live alone for the most part, so you will need to work out a rotation for cooking, cleaning, and stuff like that. You may wear any type of clothing you want to in public, but it must always be tasteful. Everything you say and do publicly from this point on will reflect directly on me. In private, what you wear is your business as long as it doesn’t offend someone else. If that happens, work it out between yourselves. I have no desire to be a referee. Does anyone have any more questions for me?”

“No, but I’d like to thank you and offer to help any way I can,” Katie replied eagerly. There was a murmur of consensus from the other girls.

“Renee, I’ll be in the lab if anyone needs anything,” I said as I gave her a kiss. I also handed her three pocket computers tied to my accounts. “Your fingerprint and retinal scans are already in the bank’s system, as are Vonna’s and Jenna’s. I’m sure you’ll need to order some food. Have anything for the estate delivered here. I don’t want any outsiders to know the estate is there. Get anything you need to set up two offices for yourself, a smaller one here, probably in one of the bedrooms, and one at the estate. Pick whatever rooms you want, although I suggest my study at the estate. I never use it anyway. If the girls need anything, have it delivered or go ahead and take them shopping.”

That reminded me. I called the Lockheed shuttle dealer in town, and after being bounced to a couple of different people, got one who could deal with me. I ordered one hundred shuttles, knowing that this idea of Renee’s was going to snowball quickly. I got ten ten-passenger shuttles like mine, twenty six-passenger shuttles, thirty four-passenger shuttles, and thirty two-passenger shuttles, all top of the line. That would allow a little more flexibility, also allowing for large groups going places like school. I ordered ten delivered by 6:00 tonight, another twenty by noon tomorrow, and the rest in groups of ten spread out over the next two days. When I sent the payment confirmation, I also sent them a copy of the crest I decided to use as my logo so they could put it on each shuttle.

I wanted a four-foot square logo on the bottom of each shuttle, visible when it was landing, and a one-foot square logo just to the right of the door of the shuttle. It was the letter Omega. On either side of the upside-down horseshoe was a capital M. The two M’s were for Mike Miller, and the Omega was my way of signifying “the end,” my unstated promise to myself and the girls to do what I could to stop the concubine crap and see to it that the people who were abusing the system were punished.

Renee liked the design and reminded me that the girls needed to be marked with my mark. I explained that I had a new way to make a tattoo that wasn’t permanent and could be removed fairly easily. The dye was soluble in a non-toxic organic liquid that wasn’t commonly used. Soaking a patch and keeping it over the tattoo for two days would dissolve the ink and draw it out, leaving the skin unblemished. Other than that, it was just like any permanent tattoo. I begged off deciding where to apply it, leaving that for them to decide. By that evening, though, I saw several of the girls already sporting the one-inch square tattoo on the upper slope of their left breast.

I also called Boeing and ordered a medium freighter, sending my logo to add on the bottom of it, on the crew door, and on each cargo hatch. The freighter was about ten times the size of the Inquisitive, but had no seating other than seats for the two pilots and the cargo master. I’d noticed the building next door never had shuttles parked on the roof, so I called the owner of the building and rented the roof to use for parking the freighter. The roof was big enough for eight freighters just like it, so we could have stuff delivered there, and transferred into our freighter to deliver it to the estate. I also ordered six extra sets of 1X cargo grav sleds. The freighter held four of the standard 1X cargo grav sleds. Having extra sets would allow deliveries to be dropped off already loaded on a sled so all we had to do was trade one of our empty sleds for the one the stuff was being delivered on. With the cargo grav sleds, even tiny Tiffany could single-handedly load the largest crates of merchandise or the biggest piece of machinery the freighter could carry. I also ordered three sets of 2X cargo sleds and two of the 4X sleds. One of the 4X sleds or two of the 2X sleds would fill the freighter and carry a very large payload.

With that done, I kissed Renee goodbye, again telling her I’d be at the lab if she needed me. “What’s this?” I asked, finally noticing that she had the birth control ring on when she pressed against me as we kissed.

She grinned at me. “I had it adjusted so any sperm carrying the female chromosome are immobilized. That way I’ll definitely have a boy.”

“Are you ovulating now?” I asked.

“No, it won’t change the ovulation pattern. It will probably still be next week before I get pregnant, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try every night,” she said in a very sultry voice, her eyes gleaming with excitement at the prospect.

Katie jumped up and hurried over, hugging, and kissing me. “I wouldn’t mind having your baby either,” she said in a sexy voice. I think her voice was squeaky enough she’d have a hard time getting a low, sultry voice like Renee.

I kissed her forehead. “Sorry, but you have to get permission from both of my soon-to-be wives, first.”

Irina, who had been quiet to this point, joined us, insisting on a hug and kiss, also. “Mike, I lost my job five days ago. I will do the cooking and cleaning so everyone else can study or work. I’m just grateful to be safe,” she said with a sexy accent I took as Russian, so I answered her in Russian.

“Irina, you have a very sexy accent. I do not intend to let you do all the dirty work. Everyone will share equally. Like everyone else, you can go back to school if you want, get another job, or work for us here.” She was stunned for a second, and then grinned a huge grin.

Laughing at me, she told me she was impressed that I knew Russian. Not many people outside of Russia understood it since Russia has been under a complete trade and travel embargo for over two hundred years. She laughed at my accent and pronunciation, and offered private tutoring lessons to improve it. I gave her another kiss, and turned to leave. “See you all at dinner,” I commented.

Several minutes later, I was in my lab; man but I was behind. The cells had been happily dividing and I had more than I needed for my first four projects. I filled the matrices for both androids and put them back together, starting the normal nutrient flow for the cells instead of the nutrient I’d been using to promote cell growth and multiplication. I’d give them a day to make sure everything was working properly before programming them and adding the neural growth solution. Next, I filled the two matrices of the AIs for the ships, also waiting until tomorrow for anything further.

Having finished that, I built and loaded another even larger AI matrix, figuring I could replace the AI running things at the base, too. I built and filled matrices for the twelve used androids I just brought from town, hoping to have them functioning soon. I called and ordered another two dozen used androids and two dozen construction androids. Normally, one would rent the construction androids, returning them when the project was complete, but I was reasonably sure that we’d need to do quite a bit of building and remodeling in the near future. While I thought about it, I ordered forty-eight agricultural androids, which were also normally rented, as well as four large tractors with various attachments, two smaller tractors, irrigation equipment and supplies, a backhoe, and a grader. My new cargo ship was definitely going to be busy.

I downloaded the programming from each of the used androids. Six of the twelve had some form of spy programming, so I modified it like the original two. I made up information for the spies to report and let them report it, sending my counter-spying worms along with the bogus reports. I found one of the androids had been used as a bodyguard and had weapons, surveillance, counter-surveillance, and martial arts programming. What impressed me even more was that it had anti-noise programming. In a scuffle, if you didn’t want to draw undue attention to yourself, the android would broadcast anti-noise, noise that was the exact opposite as the sounds from the scuffle. The two would negate each other and there would be no noise to give you away.

I chuckled, picturing an android doing martial arts. Their normal movements were jerky and looked awkward. Yes, they were ten times stronger than a person was. Even though their run looked like a constipated, three legged dog with one leg shorter than the other two; they were still four times as fast as a person was. I didn’t want to think about how they would butcher the smooth, flowing movements of the martial arts. My new “brains” for them would solve those problems, though.

The problems with their movements didn’t stem from poor mechanics, but rather from the limitations of the brain. The microprocessors weren’t big enough or fast enough to process all the necessary commands to allow the smooth operation, so shortcuts had been built into the programming, deleting some of the original commands. I added the original movement programming to my android programming, wondering exactly how much I’d be able to program into them. I deleted everything else from the twelve new androids except their base personality. For now, I left the now-modified spying program in the old, removed, brains of the ones that had it. I left those brains powered.

Pulling up the schematics for the Kashmir and looking them over, I wondered just how much I could do with it. The power generator needed to be replaced, as did the two warp engines. The holes in the hull would be simple to repair, as would be the wiring issues, time consuming, but simple. What I needed was another engine and a generator. I wondered if the engines for the sister ship had been built, then realized that even if they had, there was no way I could get hold of them. I’d have to take a good look at the warp engines. Hopefully, there will be a way to repair them. If not, I wasn’t sure I could fix the ship.

I looked at the plans again. I could get away with adding a third engine if I modified the hull a bit. I called Marco and explained the situation, asking him to keep his eyes open for two or three of the biggest warp engines he could find, and a likewise big power generator. I was shocked when he said he might have something. Three experimental engines had been built for a large navy ship, but discarded when they didn’t meet the specifications the navy had supplied. There was also a matching power source. I offered to front him any money he needed but he laughed at me.

“I know you’re good for it and I’ve fleeced you for enough money that I can afford it.”

I thanked him, reminding him I’d see him Monday morning.

I found my thinking couch and sat down. What next? The base would soon be overrun with beautiful women. I would use the agricultural androids to transform part of the arid desert landscape into a lush garden. The shielding would help to protect the crops from the extremes of heat and cold, as well as the occasional windstorm. I calculated that I could have five hundred thousand acres planted in a few months, a full third of the unused parts of my property. The two sprawling air bases, facilities, and old nuclear testing grounds took up a reasonable chunk of property, as did the empty towns. Part of the planted acreage would be orchards, and part would be field crops. I would add a cattle ranch, dairy, chickens, turkeys, and pigs, and enough pasture, corn, oats, and soy to feed them. Finding out what to plant and how much to plant would be another research project that would take several days. I could turn the farming responsibilities over to the current base AI once I got the new one installed. That would be a good start for the construction androids. I’d need barns and fencing installed, as well as plumbing and irrigation pipes.

I wondered how much more power I’d need for everything but figured that, if there was enough power to run two full air bases, there should be enough to deal with a bunch of women. I realized that if someone got upset about what we were doing, it could get physical, so I planned upgrades for the eight power generators, especially the ones powering the shielding for the entire base. I also reviewed the weapons systems and realized that they were all antiquated. There were no modern energy weapons or pulse ion cannons. I’d need to rectify that.

A knock at the door broke my train of thought. “Come in,” I hollered, expecting Jenna or Vonna. Instead Bree stuck her head in. “Mike, we’re sorry, but Renee sent the two of us out to warn you that dinner will be ready in half an hour.”

I waved them in. Obviously, if Renee sent them, she wanted them in the lab for something. “I assume Renee sent you out here because both of you know your way around a lab?” Both girls nodded.

“You’re not upset about us being in here?” Katie asked nervously.

“Not if you know how to keep quiet about what you see in here, and I don’t think Renee would have sent you out here if she didn’t think you could.” They both relaxed noticeably, and promised not to talk to anyone outside of the lab.

Bree was looking intently at the disassembled androids. “Go ahead, ask,” I teased her.

“Why are all the android AIs out?” she asked. I explained about the spy programming first. Then I explained about the brain cells and then the neural growth formula. Katie was impressed, but Bree went deathly pale.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Do you know what they would do with that information?” she gasped, waving her arm in the direction of the outside world to define “they.”

“Not exactly, but I know it would involve human experimentation, deaths, and even more slavery. That’s why I want it kept secret so badly. I never did even the tiniest bit of research with anything but plants at work because I knew someone would spot it.”

“Who all knows about this?” she asked.

“You two, Renee, Jenna, and Vonna, and I’m hoping to keep it at that,” I told them.

“Me, too,” Bree sighed dramatically. She started asking intelligent questions about the androids, letting me know she knew what she was doing. She explained that she had previously helped design, build, and repair androids at her work. She was extremely excited about the possibilities of what these new ones would be able to do. I let her review my work while I checked on Katie. She was looking over, and being very careful not to touch, my new AIs for the ships and the base.

“What are you going to do with these?” she asked. I showed her the smaller of the three and explained that it would go into the Inquisitive, and hopefully allow more control of the ship. She wondered why a Lear would be hard to control since they flew themselves. I explained the basics of the modifications I’d made to the ship, the results, and how I hoped this would solve the handling problems. She informed me that she worked in ship design, and when not busy there loved to get her hands dirty building or repairing the ships.

“Ever work on any navy ships?” I asked. She had. In fact, it turns out she was the main reason Marco might be able to get me the engines and power source. The UN had wanted to soup up their older carriers. They contracted with a company in the SE Asia Economic Union to design and build three huge engines and a power supply for them. SE Asia was quite populous and produced lots of goods, but was probably the second least technologically sophisticated of the seven economic unions. It wasn’t that they weren’t technologically proficient. The engines and power supply they built were technological marvels. They overlooked the easy thing, like making the engines more powerful than the AIs could handle. The UN awarded the contract to be “politically correct,” hoping to promote the growth of technology in the region.

When the engines and power supply were delivered, Katie had been the one to point out that the engines were too powerful for the engine AI, and the power supply was too powerful for the power supply AI. The engines and power supply were extremely well designed and built, just unusable due to the AI limitations. Even with the new, more powerful computers we’d announced today, the AIs still wouldn’t be powerful enough. The AI would need to be at least four times more powerful than the new ones were, and the size limits of the plant-based AIs made that highly unlikely. I asked about her loyalties to the navy. She laughed, informing me that the navy had been upset at her for pointing out the error, and had her fired from her job. She’d landed another one quickly enough, but refused to do work for the navy again. I asked if she’d be interested in installing the three engines and the power supply into a frigate with the new AI I just finished.

“Holy crap!” she exclaimed. Do you know what that ship could do?” She was busy scribbling notes and calculations for a minute or two, mumbling to herself. “Warp ten ship would do warp twenty-five. Frigate would do warp twelve. Three new engines and power would bump it up to warp thirty-six. Fuck! You could theoretically break warp ninety with that ship!” she gasped. I shivered at her proclamation. I knew it would be fast, but wasn’t sure how powerful the engines or power supply that Marco might get would be.

“How are you going to get the navy to sell you a frigate?” she asked.

“I’m not. I already have one,” I replied, waiting to see if she was able to connect the dots.

“The only frigate not accounted for is the Kashmir,” she commented casually.

When I didn’t respond, her head whipped around to look at me. Her eyes were huge saucers. “You have the Kashmir?” she gasped. I smiled. “How?” I related the story Marco had told me, and my efforts afterward.

“I knew it,” she blurted out excitedly. I watched her and waited for the explanation. “I went over every system in that ship three times and told the navy there was nothing wrong with the ship. They ignored me,” she explained angrily. “Ignorant assholes,” she accused, grinning smugly. She reviewed the plans for the Kashmir with me, pointing out the best way to install three engines, and changes that would need to be made to install them and the power supply. She stopped suddenly and turned to me, looking a little guilty. “Do you mind if I help with this?” she asked.

“Not at all. You know the ship and the engines. You would be able to do a better job of designing and installing the retrofit than I could. Give Renee a list of everything you need to start drafting the design changes and we’ll have it delivered.”

“What I really need are my files from my last job,” she sighed dejectedly.

“Did you give a copy to the navy?” I asked.

“Yeah, but you’ll never get into the Navy’s...” She stopped mid-sentence and stared at my display, showing the Navy’s intranet home page. Five minutes later, she had her files. I dug out an extra pocket computer for Katie to use from one of the drawers so she could download her files and the Kashmir’s blueprints onto it.

“Pick out a room in the Estate and use it for your office. We may get the engines and power supply Monday morning. I’ll need to know what additional materials we’ll need before then.”

“Where are you going to do the repair and refit? You can’t do it in space, and no place here is big enough,” she queried.

“You mean that you haven’t seen a place big enough,” I corrected.

“Another cloaked hangar?” she guessed.

“Nope, underground hangar. The next building over is where the US built their first hot fusion powered spaceship. Once the shields are in place, motors kick in and release latches throughout the building. When that’s done, the whole floor under the hangar opens like an old-fashioned drawbridge, setting the hangar on its side. Ten minutes later, the floor and hangar are at a ninety-degree angle to the ground, opening into an underground hangar big enough to work simultaneously on four dreadnaughts. When the floor closes again, any overhead lifts and hoists you could possibly want are right there above the ships. The hangar is a ship fitter’s dream.”

“My, aren’t you full of surprises,” she laughed. “Is there anything you can’t do?” she asked.

Grinning I answered, “Drive, and deal well with a house full of women.”

The lab door opened and Vonna entered. “What do you guys think about Mike’s toys?” she asked.

“Ohmigod, this place is so cool,” Katie exclaimed excitedly. “He’s got answers that I never even thought of the questions to. He solved problems I never even knew existed. I always thought the news shows about him were some type of propaganda, making it sound like he personally developed all those things that I thought other people helped with. Now, I think they underestimated him. I can’t believe I get to work with him,” she gushed, then stopped and took a breath.

“Don’t forget to bring some of the neural formula back tonight for us,” Vonna reminded me. Considering that she knew I had a week’s worth at the estate already, I assumed she was telling me something.

“You guys are using it?” Bree asked.

“Yeah, Mike’s been using it for a couple of months. We’ve been using it for three days now. This morning I felt the difference. I felt a need for a good, hard workout. My body was actually craving exercise. Hopefully I’ll start getting smarter soon,” she laughed.