Chapter 15

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Freddie yelled over his shoulder, "Remember, Harry's in charge..." The hatch closed behind them. He took his wife's hand and followed the AI's directions to the civil service pod.

Chrissy was subdued as they walked. The thing with her mom had to be affecting her more than she would admit. The hatch opened as they approached. As they entered, a woman yelled, " ... molesting our daughter. He made her suck his dick, while he ate out her friend."

The woman in the Civil Service uniform sighed, and pointed her stinger at the dumpy concubine in the ugly gray shift. Zap. The woman staggered, and the Sub-Decurion shook her head sadly. "Just stand there and be quiet." She turned to the man in front of her. "The girl is just barely thirteen, did you really force her?" Freddie recognized her voice, but it was hard to reconcile this young, beautiful, woman with his memory of the way she had looked just that morning.

The Marine answered carefully, "She may have felt some pressure to do it, what with the way Vickie came on so strong, but I was kissing her friend, and she just fished it out and started sucking. I feel a little bad about it, her being so young and all, but it's not really even incest. Tammy was five when I married her mother." He got a far away look on his face. "She looks more like her every day..."

"And she's a slut just like her mother," his concubine snarled. "How can I compete with a dead woman? You picked her up from the gutter and forgot about all the things she did just because she died. You're my husband now..."

Zap. "I told you to be quiet." The Sub-Decurion's lips quirked in a half smile. "At least this part is easier than working for CPS, I know who's telling the truth and I don't have to put up with all the drama." The concubine started to say something, but another stinger shot quieted her. "So why are you here?" she asked the Marine.

The man looked at his concubine. "I don't want to beat her, and I don't want to kill her. How could I face my son when he gets old enough to understand? I can't tell him I killed his mom. It would be bad enough telling him I traded her away because I couldn't stand her anymore. I thought maybe you could show her what happens if I cut her loose, give her a taste of what it's like." He looked at his concubine who seemed to be only just now realizing what she'd gotten herself into. "I want to be able to tell him I gave her every chance I could to change her ways."

The Sub-Decurion did smile at that. "I think we can help each other. I'll take care of her for you for four weeks, until we reach Spindrift. I can use her as an example for the other girls. You have to take one of mine though. Agreed?"

"Yeah. If she can behave, I'll take her back. I guess I do still love her a little."

"AI, display the stats, but not the pictures, of the available concubines. Run a compatibility index for fitting into this sponsor's family, make sure that includes practical experience in childcare as a bonus. You have twenty-three to choose from. There were twenty-four, but a concubine was recycled this morning." She turned back to the concubine and pointed to a door. "Take off that shift, go in there, sit down and don't say a word to anyone." The concubine started to object, but the Sub-Decurion shot her again. "If you don't behave, I'll recycle you as an example to the others. Don't look at him, he won't be able to help you. He just traded you to me."

The man looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't. Instead, he walked over to a display that had popped up and studied it.

"You know that stinger doesn't really hurt, right?" Chrissy said.

"What, did you try it to find out?" When Chrissy nodded, the woman laughed. "Well, I don't really want to hurt them, just keep them quiet. I swear it's like herding cats." She looked over at the Marine and lowered her voice. "I tried to get the AI to allow you each a supernumerary, but it wouldn't. It wouldn't say why not either. I did manage to negotiate a semi-permanent arrangement so you can keep both of them, but there are some conditions and you have to decide right now."

"What conditions?" Freddie asked.

"First, this joint household you have, you have to stick with it. You don't get an extra pod either."

Freddie squeezed Chrissy's hand to reassure her. "One pod is plenty of room."

The woman nodded. "Good. The second thing is that it is temporary. The agreement is good for a year, and you have to keep the babies even if you decide not to keep the concubines."

"Babies?" Chrissy blurted, "What babies?"

"That's the third thing. All of your concubines, including Heather and Megan, need to get pregnant before we reach Spindrift. If they don't, you can't keep them."

"I guess the pod might get kind of crowded with six babies all at once." Chrissy looked at Freddie. "Are you okay with that?"

"There will be seven babies, unless there are multiple births," the AI interrupted. "Private Martin is pregnant as well. In addition, the concubines Molly, Gina and 'Kitty' have been impregnated since boarding. Only three more conceptions are needed to fulfill requirement number three."

"I'm pregnant? I thought I had to wait a year or something," Chrissy said.

"You are pregnant with a girl. Only marine and naval personnel slated for combat duty are required to wait eighteen months after enlistment. Civil Service and nearly all Fleet Auxiliary personnel are exempt."

Freddie picked up his wife and kissed her, hard. He wasn't really ready to be a father, but his own father had told him how much trouble he'd gotten into by waiting too long to let his mother know he was happy the first time she'd announced she was pregnant. "I love you, Baby. I'm so happy you're going to make me a daddy," he whispered, and kissed her again.

"Ahem. If you two lovebirds will pay attention, there are three more conditions. Fourth, you can't make any cosmetic mods to Megan, and can only do a health augmentation and an age rollback on Heather. Fifth, you can't kill them and you can't hurt them so bad that they need a med-tube. Finally, both of them will have to wear a collar. Unless they are within fifteen feet of one of you, or are inside of your pod, or a designated work area, it will work on them like a stinger. It will start out small, but they'll only have a minute or so before it puts them out. That means you'll have to escort them anywhere they go."

"We can do all of that, can't we, Baby?"

Chrissy nodded, tears in her eyes. "We should ask them first, but it will be worth it to keep the family together."

The Sub-Decurion had the AI call Chrissy's aunt and cousin out, then she explained it to them. Megan agreed enthusiastically. Her mother said, "It's wonderful that you'd do that for us, but are you sure? That's a lot of babies to take care of all at once."

The AI cut in again. "The addition of two more concubines and infants increases the concubine/child ratio significantly."

Chrissy laughed. "What the AI said. Besides, with you there we'll have someone with experience that we can trust to raise children properly. Come join us, please." She opened her arms.

Heather stepped into her hug. "Of course I will. Thank you, Chrissy."

The Sub-Decurion took a pair of metallic collars from the replicator and snapped them around Heather and Megan's necks. "Now that that's all settled..." Whatever she was going to say trailed off as three girls walked in from another room. Two of them, a bottle-blonde and a brunette, were so young that the only reason he knew they were concubines was that they were naked. Each of them carried a baby.

The third girl wore cut-off short-shorts, a halter top and a pair of sandals. She was talking quietly to the others and seemed to be explaining something, but when her eyes met Freddie's she stopped. "Just a minute, girls," she said to the others, and skipped over and did a couple of bouncy spins in front of Freddie. "What do you think?"

Freddie didn't know what to think, He didn't know this girl, but she acted like she knew him.

"Marcy?" Chrissy asked. The girl nodded, giggling. "Oh my gosh, Marcy! you look great!"

This? This was Marcy? "Wow, just wow." Freddie said, "Ray is gonna be kicking himself."

"I'm going to thank God every day that he didn't take me. There's nobody better than Johnny."

The Sub-Decurion interrupted. "Who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you doing here?"

Marcy looked at her, puzzled. "You needed help, and I came. I've been teaching eight lovely young ladies how to change and feed babies." She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "These babies. Then we had a nice chat about oral sex."

The Civil Service woman glared at her. "Your sponsor didn't talk to me about it."

Marcy laughed. "My sponsor doesn't even know I'm here. Look, if you didn't want help, you shouldn't have asked for it."

"You shouldn't be here without your sponsor's permission. You're not supposed to be able to get here without your sponsor's permission. You're not supposed to be able to get in here without my permission." The Sub-Decurion pointed her stinger at Marcy. "Those girls shouldn't be here either."

Marcy moved sideways, away from the naked girls. "Don't be an idiot," she said. "If you miss me and hit the girls, those babies could get hurt." Zap, the Sub-Decurion shot her. Marcy kept talking, she didn't even twitch. "AI, please explain to her that she did ask for me to be here."

She fiddled with her stinger and shot Marcy with it. "I did not. The AI isn't going to do what you say anyway." She turned the dial up higher and shot Marcy again.

"Sub-Decurion Cullens, this morning you expressed a desire for someone to teach basic childcare to the younger unassigned concubines. This afternoon the concubines Hazel and Angie requested assistance with their sponsor's children, and you ordered me to deal with their problems. A request was generated in your name for someone to teach them and the concubine Marcy complied with your request. Corporal Rico is in a briefing and does not know about the request."

She turned the stinger all the way up, and shot Marcy three times. Marcy twitched slightly. "You better knock it off," Marcy said more forcefully than Freddie had ever heard her speak, "if you don't, you'll be up on vandalism charges, maybe even child endangerment."

"How the fuck did you get here without your sponsor knowing, and why the fuck doesn't this fucking stinger work? AI, what the fuck is wrong with this fucking thing?"

"Standard stingers are ineffective against personnel with marine upgrades. An RS-1 would be needed to affect the concubine Marcy. It is recommended that you cease your attempts to render her unconscious as it is probable Corporal Rico will press charges against you if you succeed," the AI replied.

"Johnny doesn't need to know, because he gave us full permissions with the AI. He trusts us enough to let us make decisions in his name. I'll be sure to tell him when he gets home though, he'll be glad to know we're helping out. He loves kids and would want to make sure they're taken care of properly."

Sub-Decurion Cullens' face was bright red by now. "He's crazy! He's fucking insane to do that! Get the fuck out of here, all of you."

Marcy gave a kind of bouncy shrug. It made her tits sway and threaten to jump out of the halter top. "No problem." She turned to the naked concubines. "Come on girls, I'll walk you back to your pod."

Chrissy grabbed Freddie's hand, pulling him and her aunt out the door, following Marcy and the two girls. Megan bounced eagerly along after them. When the hatch shut behind them, Chrissy called out to Marcy. "Did Johnny really give you permission like that?"

Marcy turned around, hugged Chrissy, and looked down into her eyes. "He really did, he's wonderful. Let me tell you what he did for me last night." She took Chrissy's free arm and started walking.

The story she told painted Johnny in a very good light. Chrissy, who had known Johnny for years, seemed very happy for her friend as well. "I wish I was that brave," she told Marcy. "I don't think I could trust very many people as much as he does you." She squeezed Freddie's hand. "I think I could have done the same for you, Freddie. I'm so glad we can do this together."

Freddie smiled and squeezed her hand back, half listening as Marcy went on with her story. The naked girls with the babies kept looking back at him with a lot of blushing and giggling between glances. They looked kind of familiar, and watching their bare behinds as they walked was turning him on. "Do I know you two?"

That set them off giggling again. "Not really," the bottle-blonde, Hazel, answered. "We know you though."

"Well... ," Angie said, "We don't really know you, we know your sister, Harry, from school."

That would explain it. "Did you get picked up at that field hockey game?"

"Yeah," Angie sighed, "I didn't get to say goodbye to my parents, but they wanted me to get picked up if I could."

Hazel shifted the baby she carried. "Mr. Arnez picked us, these are his kids."

"Mr. Arnez? Dizzy Arnez? I didn't know he was a sponsor."

"Don't call him that," Hazel snapped.

"I don't think he minds," Freddie said. "That's what his buddies in the Marines called him." They walked a few steps in silence, then he asked the question that had been bugging him. "Wasn't he married?"

The two girls looked at each other. Angie shrugged, and Hazel answered. "I don't think she knew he was a sponsor either. She divorced him over the summer, didn't even tell him she was pregnant."

"She's a stupid bitch," Angie said. "I heard some of the other teachers talking about it. She left him because she wanted a guy with legs. I mean he's nice to everyone, even the kids who cause trouble, he's smart and gentle and treats you like a grownup, but she dumped him because he couldn't take her out dancing."

Freddie shook his head. "He's a good guy, but he doesn't take any shit. I remember one kid got in his face, tried to push him around. I guess he figured with the wheelchair and all, Dizzy wouldn't be able to do anything. When the kid swung at him, Dizzy put him down hard."

"That really happened?" Hazel asked.

"I saw it with my own eyes."

"Wow," Angie said, "I can't wait until he comes home, I always had a little crush on him, but..."

"But you're a horny little virgin and you want him to finish what he started last night," Hazel finished for her.

Angie blushed bright pink. "Well ... yeah. You do too, I know you do."

"What, two cuties like you and he didn't make love with you all night?" Marcy asked.

It was Hazel's turn to blush. "No ... we both wanted too, but he knows we're virgins and he wanted to make it special. He wanted his legs back first. He teased us a lot though. I've never cum like that before."

Behind them Megan blurted out, "If he's so nice, why is he making you go naked?"

Both of them stopped, turned to face Megan, then looked at each other, faces bright red. They'd been holding the babies over their chests, and letting the babies' blankets drape down to cover their crotches. Now they asked Marcy and Chrissy to hold the twin boys. The two of them posed with their feet shoulder width apart, hands clasped behind their backs. Both of them had smallish breasts, and only a little fuzz of hair above their fourteen-year-old pussies.

"My sponsor," they recited in unison, "wants to be sure I will obey him. I will remain naked until I earn the privilege of clothing. Standing like this is embarrassing to me, but I do it gladly to prove my loyalty to him. You may look but not touch." The two of them were clearly uncomfortable with Freddie and the others looking at their naked bodies.

He put his arm around Chrissy and looked at the baby she held. The tiny boy had fallen asleep while they walked. "In nine months," he told her, "you're going to be holding our own baby."

"I know, isn't it wonderful?" She stood on her toes to kiss him.

"Um..." Megan said to the girls, "you look nice and all, but why are we stopped in the hallway?"

"We're not allowed to move until the person who asked us says so, or the AI tells us." Hazel answered.

"Ooooh..." Megan grinned and waggled her eyebrows at the girls. "I have you now my pretties," she cackled in an exaggerated imitation of the Wicked Witch of the West. Her mother slapped the back of her head. "Okay, fine. You can move, I was just teasing."

Chrissy winked at Freddie. "That's okay Megan, but to show them that you really didn't mean anything by it, you can take off your shift and walk in front with them."

Megan looked wide eyed at her cousin. Then, realizing Chrissy was serious, she quickly stripped the gray shift off and handed it to her mother. Her face was, if anything, redder than the other girls', but she stepped confidently up to the girls and took up the same pose. "I really was only teasing. Friends?"

The girls looked her up and down, then giggled. "Friends." They walked hand in hand to the girls' pod, then the girls took the babies and stepped inside.

"AI, tell the girls I'm on my way, we need to pick out what we're going to wear tonight," Marcy said, then hugged Chrissy again. She did the same to Freddie, whispering, "You take good care of her, or you'll have to deal with me." She smiled when she said it, but Freddie got the feeling she was serious. She practically skipped down the corridor, presumably headed for Johnny's pod.

Chrissy took the shift from Heather and handed it to Megan. "You did good, and I'm not mad at you for teasing them. I just need to be sure you'll obey. I don't want to lose you." She put Megan's hand in Freddie's. "You two go on home, I need to talk to Heather." Through the AI link, she explained, <I'm going to explain to her about Harry being in charge, I don't want any misunderstandings. Can you do the same with Megan?>

Freddie nodded to her and started walking. Their pod was on a different ring, in the other half of the ship, so he had plenty of time to explain before they arrived. Megan walked quietly along beside him, and when he was done she kissed his hand before repeating what he'd told her back to him so he could be sure she understood.

When the hatch opened, Wanda squealed and dragged her cousin off to the kitchen where the other girls were hanging out at the table. Freddie nodded to Paul, who was on the couch typing on a laptop. It looked just like his sister's, but with the replicators available, it was probably a duplicate. Freddie went into the bedroom and stretched out on the bed. "AI, why can't we just take them as supernumeraries?"

"It is not recommended you access that information at this time."

That was odd, it wouldn't tell S.D. Cullens, but it hadn't actually refused to tell him. He decided he needed to know. "Tell me why not."

"Private Martin appears to have suffered several psychotic episodes since her extraction. It is unlikely she would achieve a CAP score of six point five or higher if she were to take a CAP test at this time. It is predicted that if you remain in a joint household with her, and she does not recycle the concubine Molly, her CAP score will stabilize between six point six and six point seven within three months of giving birth. This prediction assumes she does not discover the effect the episodes have had on her score."

"So what happens in a year?" he asked.

"When probabilities indicate her score has stabilized, both of you will be prompted to retest. If your score is a seven or higher, or hers is a six point five or higher, you will be authorized additional concubines or supernumeraries on a permanent basis."

"What happens if she doesn't pass?"

"She will be assigned to you along with her current concubines on a temporary basis, provided that is mutually agreeable. If she remains in your care, probability approaches unity that she will re-qualify within three years assuming you continue to treat her in such a way as to show that you value her."

"Value her? Of course I'm going to value her. I love her!"

"That is why her score is predicted to return to sponsor level. Again, informing her of this issue will delay or possibly prevent stabilization of her score at a qualifying level."

"Fuck!"

"That is also recommended," the AI said. It couldn't possibly be a joke, could it?

"I'll do what I can. Let me know if there is anything I can do that I'm not, or something I'm doing that I shouldn't."

"Acknowledged."

That was kind of scary. He'd known she'd gone overboard, but hadn't realized discovering her mother's betrayal had affected her that much. He'd have to see what he could do to help boost her score, maybe if he presented it as increasing it to seven so she could keep her aunt and cousin... "AI," he said, "send Harry in here." He sat up on the bed to wait for her.

His sister came in looking nervous. He patted the bed beside him. "Come sit down, we need to talk."

Her hands shook as she sat, so she clasped them in her lap. "This is about me needing to get pregnant, isn't it?"

Freddie's mouth was dry. He had to swallow before he could speak. "Yeah, I guess Megan told you?"

Harriet nodded. "Like I told Chrissy this morning, I'll do whatever you tell me, and try to like it. I knew I'd be having babies if I came with you, not quite so soon, but I knew it. I like Megan, I don't want her and her mom to be whores. I know you don't either, so I'll make it easy for you." She rubbed her hands together. "I want to have a baby. I've always wanted to be a mom, this is just a little sooner than I'd planned."

Freddie hugged his sister. "I love you Harry. I have ever since the first time I saw you in the hospital." He leaned back so he could look at her, one of his hands on each of her shoulders. "Everything will be alright, you'll see."

"I know, Freddie, I know."

"I'm going to kiss you now Harry," he told his little sister.

Harriet gasped in surprise, then nodded, but she didn't look away. Freddie slid closer, moving one hand behind her head and his other to her waist and pulled her to him. His lips touched hers, and he tried to make the kiss an expression of his love for her. Nothing. There was no spark at all, not the overwhelming sensation he got from Chrissy, nor the warmth he got from Gina, or even the eager sexiness of Kitty. He'd heard the phrase 'like kissing your sister' before, but now he understood what it meant.

"This isn't going to work, is it?" he asked.

Harriet shook her head. "No. I love you big brother, but I'm sorry, you just don't do anything for me. I meant what I said before though. If you want me to do it with you, I'll do it."

Freddie had been hard nearly all day, but he couldn't have performed right then to save his life. The image of Harriet nude with her legs spread for him, looking at him the way she was now, guaranteed it. He smiled at her, trying to be reassuring. "We can do what we talked about and find someone for you, but it will have to be someone on the ship, or we could always have Kitty ... um ... collect some and put it in for you."

She must have sensed his hesitation about the second option, because she hugged him, then sat on his lap and put her hands on his shoulders. "Everything will be alright, you'll see," she said, echoing his own words. "I don't think we'll have a problem finding someone, but I'd like to try and find someone I like. Someone I'd want to be the daddy for my baby, even if it's only so I can pretend to myself that he wants that too."

What she said made a lot of sense. It left her open to get hurt, but at least he could give her the illusion of normalcy. "AI, give Harry access to information about the guys on board, and help her find someone who'll make her first time special. Help her find someone who'll make her happy, someone who'd be a good dad."

Harriet held him tight and laid her head on his shoulder. "Thank you Freddie," she whispered "I knew you'd take good care of me. I love you." She broke into quiet tears.

Freddie wrapped his arms around her, "I love you too, Harry. I'm proud of you. You've been so brave this whole time. You're going to do a great job keeping everything in order for us." He held her tight until she cried herself out. When she was still, he kissed her forehead. "Go wash your face, then get things set up for dinner."

He waited until she was in the bathroom, then joined the others. Chrissy, her two sisters, and her cousin were clustered around a laptop carrying on an animated discussion, punctuated by giggles. Kitty and Paul had a dance video game set up. Paul was losing badly, probably because he spent more time watching Kitty's boobs bounce than he did the prompts on the screen. Heather sat alone on the couch, looking worried.

<AI, relay to Chrissy. What's wrong with Heather?>

Chrissy looked up at him. <I told her about Mom. Can you sit with her, and maybe reassure her that we won't treat her like that?>

<I'll do what I can. Love you, Baby.> Freddie sat next to Heather, close, but not quite touching. She stirred as if she meant to move away, but instead settled right back where she started. She had roughly the same build as her sister, but was a few inches taller and thirty or forty pounds lighter. She had the same blonde hair and the same blue eyes. She was younger too, only thirty-one compared to her sister's thirty-eight. "Something is bothering you, Heather. You don't have to talk about it right this minute, but you're going to have to tell us today. We can't afford to keep problems secret in this household."

Heather smoothed out her shift to cover a little more of her plump thighs, then nervously gripped the tops of her bare legs with her fingers. She squeezed them so tight that the skin around her fingertips turned white. Freddie grabbed one of her hands with his own, turning it palm up, then placed his palm over hers and held her hand gently. She put her other hand on his, and they sat a moment in silence. "I've seen Molly act that way before," she said quietly. "Now Chrissy is doing it and from what she's told me, she's gone farther than her mother ever did. It scares me. Not for myself, but for Megan."

"Chrissy's not upset with Megan, she's not upset with either of you."

Watching from the corner of his eyes he saw a tear work its way down her cheek. "If she's like her mother, she will be. She won't like me, and really won't like Megan being pregnant with your baby."

"How do you know?"

"Because of what Molly did when I got pregnant with Megan." Freddie squeezed her hand encouragingly, but didn't respond. Eventually Heather continued. "She kicked me out of her house because she thought Megan was Paul's."

Freddie had to ask, "Is she?"

Heather shook her head. "No, not that I didn't want her to be," she sighed. "I fell in love with him the first time I saw him. I was only ten years old, and he was just about to marry Molly. When grandma died four years later, I went to live with him and Molly. He was always so nice to me. He made me feel loved, made me feel like I was worth something, like I was important. I did try to seduce him, but he wouldn't make love to me. When they got divorced, as soon as I heard about it I went after him. I knew if I caught him and treated him right he would always be there for me. I was too late though, Jo snapped him up before I even found him. I couldn't even hate her for it. I saw how much Paul loved her already."

"I don't think you'll have the same problem, look at her with Gina." He nodded at the girls clustered around the laptop. Chrissy had her arm around Gina's waist while she looked at something her sister pointed out on the screen. "Gina's pregnant, and Chrissy's not freaking out about it."

Heather shrugged. "I know. I still worry though. She looks so much like her mom, I guess I just expect her to act the same way." She started to cry. "I didn't say it made sense, but I'm scared. This whole thing scares me. I've protected Megan all her life, and now ... and now..."

He pulled her to him and let his uniform tunic soak up her tears. <What is it with all the crying today?>

Chrissy looked over at him. <Everyone is just nervous and emotional. Things will be better once we get used to living together. The AI says that's why we'll take a month to get to Spindrift, so we have time to bond.>

He ran his fingers through Heather's shoulder-length blonde hair. She smelled good, and holding her felt right. Not as good as holding Chrissy, but still very nice. "Everything will be alright. How about if you help Harry in the kitchen, you probably know what everyone likes. She's in the bathroom washing up. Go in with her, get cleaned up, then help her make dinner."

"I will, thanks again for helping us." She glanced over at Chrissy. "I don't know how this is going to work. Sooner or later she's going to get jealous. Try to give her as much attention as you can, please?"

"I will." Freddie twined her hair around his fingers and pulled her head back. "You just do what she tells you, and when she asks you a question, make sure you tell her the truth." He kissed her, and felt the same kind of connection he did with the rest of Chrissy's family. She must have felt something too, judging by the stunned look on her face.