Chapter 5

I suppose you're wondering why I'm telling you all these intimate details. In part, I suppose it's because I have to tell someone. I can't really tell anyone here, they either don't want to hear it, or they think it's perfectly normal. They don't see what it means, not really, not like you do. You were right. The concubine policies are a deliberate attempt to break our culture and reshape it into something the Darjee like better.

I checked on Carmen and the kids, she had them on the couch in the living room, watching a show. I gave each of them a quick kiss, and told her I'd be out to help get them dressed as soon as I could. I went into the office and had a long talk with the AI. The AIs don't lie, or at least no one has caught them at it. They aren't very good at hiding the truth either.

That 'medical check' I told you about. They made some changes while they were at it. A few to me, and even more to my girls. They hiked our libidos, making us crave sex, and they lowered our inhibitions so we'd get over any shyness or hesitation. In addition, they boosted the natural production of hormones that help humans to bond during and after sex. For the girls, it made them more sensitive. With any sexual contact, they get turned on, and it is very easy to bring them to orgasm.

It was ego deflating to find that out, I'd thought it was all me. Virtually all of the concubines bond to their sponsors before they arrive at their colonies. Many of the transport ships run slower than they could, in order to give the sponsors a full month to bring their new slaves into line. For example, the 'Dawn' could make it to Spindrift, the colony where I'm going to have my basic training, in a bit under three weeks, but we won't get there for thirty days. I do have the comfort of knowing that my sisters loved me before, and that they'd asked me to take them. Marcy had asked me as well, and I'd like to think that she would have liked me as much even if the sex wasn't literally out of this world.

It's like this for everyone. Lots of people are picked up without their families, and even those that have their families with them find everything changed. Nobody back home really finds out what happens, because once you've done the things we have, how can you tell anyone back home? It isn't just shame or embarrassment either. It's like that book you had me read, the one about the comet and the army of cannibals, how they made everyone who joined them eat. It's kind of like that. I could never go back to the way things were. I can only tell you because I know that you'll use it to help save the world.

The AI reminded me that I needed to schedule my enhancements. I took the minimum that I could get away with, only four inches in height and kept the build as much like my own as possible, trying to look as much like me as I could. I also added a little something to the girls. It turns out that Lucy is a little cross wired, and gets the same chemicals from pain as she does from pleasure. I added that to the other girls. I didn't change them to match her, but enough so they would like rough sex. When Marcy got that spanking we talked about, she liked it.

That's something else I have on my conscience. That change I made will affect their personalities. It doesn't matter that I 'did it for their own good'. It's really too late to undo the changes, changing them back would raise questions I don't want to answer. I'm not ever going to tell them what I did, but I'm not going to just order changes like that again. I used the word slaves before, and I'd started to think of them that way.

I ordered some clothes for my girls, t-shirts sized for my new body, panties that would rip off with a firm tug, socks that would come up above their knees and fuzzy slippers like my sisters had at home. I wanted Marcy to feel comfortable going out in public, and I still had Lucy's story about that slumber party in my head. I wanted her to look like she would have at that party, and for the others to match. The AI objected, there is a plain gray shift that is the only recommended garment for concubines, but according to the rules they can wear anything I want to give them. I ordered some clothes for the kids too. I was running short on time, so I had the AI tell the others to get dressed while I checked on a few more things.

My girls were waiting for me when I came out. Little Mikey was fussy, so his mother held him Only a few inches of her legs showed, and the way she held her son hid the scars on her left arm. Carmen had Nancy, and was brushing her hair, I could see her panties when she bent over to pick up a ribbon. Lucy had everything on but her t-shirt. It was big enough to reach past her knees, but she held it in her hands and looked at it instead of putting it on.

"What's the matter with the shirt, Kiddo?" I asked.

"It doesn't smell like you Johnny."

We had a couple of minutes, and I still felt guilty about what I'd done, so I did what I knew would make her feel better. I took off my dark green Marine tunic, and pulled off my t-shirt. I ordered a new one from the replicator while I did it. "Here you go Lucy, that better?" I asked, holding it out.

She grabbed it like she was afraid I'd change my mind, then held it to her face and inhaled. "Thanks Johnny." She had tears in her eyes as she pulled it on. I have to admit I liked the look of it better, as it showed some thigh.

I got dressed again, noticing for the first time that my uniform had corporal stripes and we headed for breakfast. I asked the AI about the rank tabs, and was told that my tactical training qualified me provisionally for the rank and that it would be confirmed at the end of basic training. One more thing to thank you for, the only training I have is the coaching you gave me.

The dining hall was half full. There was a scattering of Marine uniforms, a few Navy and Naval Auxiliary, and one gray uniform that turned out to be Civil Service. The civil service is a kind of support organization, they take care of concubines who's sponsor has died. They never mention that back on earth, but if a sponsor dies and there is no one to care for them, they are recycled. The few kids looked rumpled, like they were still wearing whatever they'd been picked up in. Most of the rest of the room wore concubine shifts, except for the ones that were naked.

We took a table near the middle. I nodded at the chubby kid in a Marine uniform who was already at the table with a couple of fat women. The younger one was trying to get a baby to eat some green colored mush. When I asked, the AI told me he was fourteen and that the women were his mother and older sister. I was surprised at the amount of detail available about him, but it turned out that I could access pretty much anything. As a corporal assigned to the same basic training unit I was nominally in his chain of command. His mother complained between bites that he needed to switch to a job that didn't involve fighting, and actually ordered him to get her another plate of food. He looked embarrassed, but shrugged and went.

I asked the AI to relay a message to him that he needed to get his mom under control before she made a mistake and got herself killed. It turned out he knew, but didn't know how. He was hoping that after he got his mods and was bigger than her, instead of half her size, she would back off. I didn't think that would happen, but it wasn't really my place to interfere.

I had Marcy and Carmen on either side of me, with little Nancy sitting next to Carmen. Lucy stood behind us, she said she was too sore to sit. My girls were getting some attention, I think because they were the only concubines in regular clothes. I don't think most people realized I had three, but there were still whispers. Marcy leaned into me. "Thank you for not making me wear one of those, for not making me come here naked." I didn't say anything, just kissed her. "If you can watch Mikey, I'll go get you some food. What would you like?"

"Steak, eggs, crispy hash browns and orange juice." Carmen told her. "That's right isn't it Johnny?" It was, and I told her so. "I'll go help her, is that okay Johnny?"

There were banks of replicators on one wall, and they joined a line of concubine who were getting food for their new families. "Lucy!" the excited squeal came from behind me, and two girls in private school uniforms ran to my sister, hugging her. "Aren't you supposed to be a concubine?" asked one. The two girls were twins and looked a little older than Lucy, That probably meant they were a little younger, twelve or thirteen. They both had their black hair done up in shoulder length pony tails, and their bright blue eyes were full of life.

Lucy blushed and giggled. "Patty, Mel," She put her hand on my shoulder. "This is Johnny, he's my Sponsor." My sister leaned down and kissed me. "Johnny, these are Patricia and Melissa. They were um ... they were at that party we talked about. I think their mom was picked up last night, with us."

The one who spoke before, Patty, asked her. "But if you're a concubine, why aren't you in a shift?"

"Johnny wants me to wear this. If I don't do what he says, he might spank me again." Lucy flipped up her t-shirt showing the stripes I'd put on her.

Mel looked at her legs and ass, the stripes clearly visible through the sheer white panties. Then she looked at me. "Johnny? Your brother Johnny?"

Lucy nodded, smiling, half embarrassed and half proud.

"Your own brother." Mel whispered. She looked me in the eyes and very deliberately licked her lips.

"Uh, uh, uh, girl." Lucy stepped between us. "Don't go getting him in trouble. You two are only thirteen."

"I'd rather do it with him than with fat Ray." Patty said. "He tried to get us to do it with him last night. He had a long talk with the AI, and wanted us to be accelerated. Wanted us to agree to be his concubines now instead of waiting for our birthday. The AI said we could get CAP tested last night, but only if we agreed."

"The AI told us if we tested now, there's no way we'd be sponsors." her twin continued. "It said that if we study hard we might make it if we wait 'til our birthday." She rubbed her butt gingerly. "Ray was pretty mad."

I shifted Mikey on my lap and patted the bench. "You girls want to sit with us?"

Mel turned around and flipped her skirt up. She wasn't wearing panties, her butt cheeks and upper thighs were crisscrossed with welts. Some of the welts were scabbed over. "Ray was pretty mad." she repeated.

Lucy lifted Patricia's skirt. "You're even worse. I didn't think he was allowed to do that."

Patty pushed her skirt back down, flushing. "He said." Her voice was full of rage "that it was because we didn't go to bed fast enough. We complained to the AI, but it won't do anything. He's in charge and allowed to punish us if we misbehave."

Mel took her sister's hand. "Mom said he got a warning from the AI because he broke the skin."

"You want me to say something, get someone to stop him?" I asked. The AI answered me. "Oh." I said, "The AI is going to monitor the situation, but there isn't much anyone can do. He owns your mom, and is in charge of you. Nobody on this ship can take you away from him, not unless he really crosses the line. He's got a privacy block in place so it's hard to catch him at anything. If he hurts you again, you're supposed to tell the AI." I hadn't known we could set up a privacy block on our pods.

"That's what the AI told us." Mel said. "I wish mom had never said yes."

"I'm sure she was just thinking about you." I told them.

Mel shook her head. "She was just thinking of herself. She got Ray to take her because she told him he could have us too; told him he'd get to take our virginities and that we'd give him head every day." Her sister nodded in confirmation, and they got identical stubborn expressions. "He can't make us." they said in unison.

He probably could, but I didn't say anything. Lucy got her thoughtful look, and changed the subject. The girls chattered for a few minutes. I only listened with half an ear, trying to think, trying to get my head on straight. I'd just spotted Carmen and Marcy on their way back when the squeals started up again behind me.

"Kitty, Kitty!" the twins jumped up and down behind me and waved their arms.

A black-haired girl in a concubine's shift, who'd just come into the room with a group of people, saw them and ran over, wrapping her arms around both of them. The ones she was with, two sponsors in Naval Auxiliary uniforms, two kids and three more concubines, changed direction and followed her.

"We thought we'd never see you again." Mel told her.

"How did you get here?" Patty asked.

Kitty just stood there and cried, hugging her sisters to her. "You can thank Johnny for that." I didn't recognize Fred at first, it was the uniform that threw me. Chrissy held his hand, a big grin on her face. She looked so happy she practically glowed. "If he hadn't told Chrissy," he smiled down at her, "to pick me, I wouldn't have gotten to retest and I couldn't have picked her up." He stuck out his hand to me. "Thanks to you, I was able to pick up my little sister and Chrissy's mom too."

I shifted little Mike so I could stand up and took his hand. "I didn't do anything, all I said was that you were a nice guy."

Chrissy hugged us both, kissing me on the cheek. "He's the best, just like you told me. Because of you, I didn't have to leave mom behind. Freddie and I are going to build starships together. If we can ever do anything for you, anything at all, just let us know."

I felt like a real shit, especially after what I'd done to Lucy. It didn't matter that she'd liked it, that she'd wanted it. I managed to stammer out something, I can't remember what. I do remember Marcy and Gina exchanging hugs, and Marcy saying something about how wonderful I was. Every bit of praise made me feel worse. It was nearly unbearable when Lucy told them how I'd changed my mind about going because they'd asked me to, telling them all I was the best brother ever.

One of my first memories from when I was a kid is mom putting Lucy on my lap and telling me to take care of her. She was between one and two then, so I would have been nearly six. I've tried to look out for her ever since, but look what I'd done. Instead of protecting her from danger, I was the danger. How could I protect her from myself? One thing was clear; no one else could protect her, protect the three of them, from me. Power corrupts, and absolute power is kind of nifty. Thats not just a joke either. Unless you've had that kind of power, I don't think you can really understand how easy it is to use it.

Fred and Chrissy went to an empty table at the end of the room. Lucy asked for and I gave permission to join them. I didn't really want to, but I figured that maybe I could think straighter if she wasn't standing right next to me. I swear I could smell her and I wanted nothing less than a repeat of what we'd done. It didn't help that all around the room sponsors were demanding services from their concubines.

Marcy took little Mike from me and set him up with some 'Pand-cakes' as he called them. Carmen had done the same for Nancy. I watched Lucy walk way with the twins, thinking about that slumber party. Just the thought of my little sister with those two schoolgirls was enough to drive me mad. I pushed the thought from my mind and started to sit down.

"Hey, Johnny-boy." A familiar hand clapped down on my shoulder. It was my dad. Carmen clung to me, like she was trying to hide.

I moved so I was between her and him. Dad was in a Navy uniform with Master Gunnery Sergeant stripes. The confederacy doesn't have a CPO position, but that's the equivalent of his old rank. The girls with him were naked. Two of them had their hands cuffed behind their backs. Another looked like she had a broken arm. She cradled it with the other and winced with every motion. They all had some bruises, but the black haired one, the one who'd pushed Carmen out of the way back at the pizza place, was a real mess. Her face was unrecognizable behind two black eyes and a broken nose. I pushed dad's hand away.

"Hey look," he said "I got a little drunk, you know how it is." He looked a little embarrassed, but not at all repentant. "I never would have left your mom and the girls behind if it wasn't for these fucking sluts. Look, it's not my fault. I tried to get them to pick her up last night but it was too late." I didn't say anything, but behind me Carmen started to cry. Dad tried some more, but all he managed was to make me madder.

All my guilt and anger was just about to boil over when Marcy stepped between us. She stood facing him with her fists on her hips. "Mr. Rich, some day your children may be able to forgive you, but not today. You need to give them some time and some space, and you need to do whatever it takes to save Susan and the girls. Most of all, you need to leave this room right now." To my surprise, he did. There was no argument at all. He just kind of deflated and slunk off.

She turned to me and for just an instant I was impaled on her fierce gaze. Then her gray eyes softened and she smiled. "As for you," she took my fists in her hands and gently unclenched them. "You are not your father. You need to stop beating yourself up about Lucy. She told me what she did. She spent hours with the AI, rehearsing exactly what to do. Did you know she watched us last night?"

I shook my head. "The door was closed."

Marcy stood on her toes so her face was level with mine and kissed me. I sure wasn't thinking about my dad anymore. "The pods are full of cameras, and she watched every bit of what we did. She even knows how tall she is going to be. I think she did what she did this morning because she wanted to get your attention." She smiled up at me. "She was jealous Johnny. She wants your love and was afraid you wouldn't give it to her." She pushed Carmen and I gently to the bench. "Eat Johnny, you'll need your strength, because as soon as we get a chance we're going to show you how much we love you." She kissed me again, rubbing her belly against me to show me what she meant.

I sat next to Carmen and put my arm around her. She flinched away, then changed her mind and snuggled up to me. "Sorry Johnny, Dad scared me. I know you only hit me when you're mad, but sometimes I think he hits us just cuz he's bored."

I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just held her until she stopped trembling. I haven't actually hit her for over a year, but there was a time, when I was fourteen or fifteen, when we got into it just about every day. I could rule my girls like that, the way it looked like dad was going to, but I would hate myself. I didn't want to turn my sisters into obedient slaves. No, the life dad was going to have wasn't one I wanted. I looked around the room. Only a very few of the concubines seemed happy. Even the prepack from the restaurant seemed sullen. As I watched one of the brothers said something to one of the women. I think it was his wife, but I'm not sure. She shook her head, and looked meaningfully at the children. He slapped her, hard, and she crawled under the table. He didn't seem to notice the way the children looked at him, or it could be that he just didn't care.

I looked over the top of Carmen's head at little Nancy shoveling pancakes into her mouth. I hadn't planned on becoming a father, not this soon anyway, but there was no way I'd upset that little girl, or any other kid, like that guy had his own children. "Go ahead and eat," I told Carmen. "we don't want to be late for Medical."

"Okay Johnny." Her hands only shook a little as she poured herself a cup of that nasty ginger tea Mom and the girls like. She'd gotten herself a bowl of spamsilog, and some pandesal rolls like mom makes. I think she got herself a Filipino breakfast because she has already started missing mom and the girls and the food was kind of like a link to the family we'd left behind. you know, comfort food.

I started eating from the tray in front of me. It was my favorite breakfast, one I didn't get to have very often, not with the way Mom'd been saving pennies so we could go out every night. The steak was cooked just the way I like it, she'd even remembered the tabasco sauce for my eggs. I watched her as she blew on her tea, the pot was a good insulator, because it was still pretty hot.

I glanced to my left, Mikey was a real mess with syrup in his hair. I had to choke back a laugh. His mother smiled at my expression and went back to eating her omelet. The kids at my table were happy. I looked at the other table. The woman was giving the man head, and the kids all looked scared. I know that they say being picked up is a quicky divorce, but if I was married, I don't think I'd act like that. That's what I was thinking when I picked up my orange juice. If I was married I wouldn't act like that.

We get the paper every day, mom says that the coupons save us more than twenty times what the paper costs, and we can always use them in the fireplace. I'd been drinking orange juice the day before when I spotted an article about the proposed constitutional amendment. It's the one the senator from Utah proposed last week. There was something in the article about how the Confederacy had no actual authority to dissolve marriages, and that concubinage was not that much different from the way marriage was a few hundred years ago.

If I was married, I wouldn't act like that. The words kept running through my head. Well why not? People used to get married just by jumping a broom, right? I gave the AI some orders that cost me a few hours pay for the materials, and started rehearsing in my head exactly what I'd say to my girls.

The women across from us stopped eating and stared. I realized that I'd been holding my juice and put it down on the table. People all over the room turned to stare at the door we'd come in. I twisted on the bench to look. A huge marine stood in the doorway, pumping a girl not much bigger than Lucy up and down on his monster dick. He must have taken the maximum enhancements. She had bright red hair, and wore only a collection of leather straps. She held a riding crop in one hand and a leash in the other. At the other end another girl with bright blue hair crawled at his heels. All she wore was a collar, but there was something...