Chapter 2: Adjustments

As I came through the glowing light, I stumbled slightly as my brain reoriented. Gaping like a country hick visiting the big city for the first time, I started around the huge room thinking --Holy shit! I'm on a spaceship! I'm in space!-- and a little guiltily, --I've been saved.-- Slowly, my nudity started to seep into my consciousness. I had been so distracted by what had happened that I'd forgotten somehow. Immediately hunching over slightly and making best use of my hands between my legs, I hurried after Steve to our assigned area, face burning. There was a lot of noise, as dozens of people were talking at once. But as we headed to our assigned floor spot, I started hearing some darker undertones.

"What? Char got picked up also? I feel sorry for the poor bastard who picked that asshole," a voice said.

"That's Char? Holy shit!" another voice whispered

Yet another voice said maliciously, "I wonder what the boss will think when she finds out. I bet she freaks!"

"Finds out what, that he was chosen?"

I didn't hear the response, but had a sinking feeling I knew what it was. It was an open secret that my boss Melissa was having an office affair with me. It was also known, but not talked about, that she was utterly opposed to any 'alternate sexuality' lifestyles, having gone to the extreme of firing people not 'vanilla' enough for her close-minded worldview. The irony of her getting involved with me never ceased to amaze me. I'd been trying for months to break things off, but somehow the timing had never been right. Besides, I didn't get good sex so often that I could easily give it up. Even hurried fucks bending her over her desk beat going without. When she found out I wasn't a 'real man', she would freak! I hadn't made many friends in the office either, driving myself to excel without thinking about the feet I stepped on. I'm sure as word spread about me, someone would gleefully reveal my freakish nature out of spite to my now ex-boss and ex-lover Melissa.

As we sat on the deck in our assigned spots, I realized to my extreme embarrassment that I had already forgotten the names of all my fellow concubines. It was so strange thinking that word as an inclusive rather than referring to someone else. I was a concubine. I was now and forever more someone's property. These naked people around me were concubines also, human sex-toys and breeders. Already the 'us' and 'them' mentality was forming. Masters and concubines, and I was not a master. While the reality of that was really sinking in, I realized I was not afraid or unhappy either. In fact, I felt pretty good. Someone knew my secret and yet was still able to accept me to a point where they would take me to the stars to be a life-long companion. That meant I could be myself without pretending. I didn't have to play butch or fem, macho or flamer; all the masks I'd used to hide myself were no longer needed. I could feel an incredible weight lift, as if all those masks had been made of concrete. I wasn't dumb enough to think there wouldn't be those who could not or would not want to understand me, but the only person who truly mattered, my master, accepted me. I only hoped it would not take long for the other concubines to get comfortable with me as well.

"All right, listen up," a voice boomed, "all sponsors please report to me with your CAP card and the cards of all of your concubines. I also need to know details on any dependant children and urgent medical conditions."

Steve collected our cards and got the needed information. There were a total of four children who would need to be retrieved; the black woman had three children and the Pakistani woman had one. The Asian woman's only daughter was already with us. Luckily, no one had any pressing medical conditions nor were any on medications besides aspirin. After getting our information, he headed off to report.

"Um," I started, sounding intelligent and blushing, "I was so stunned when I got picked, my mind uh, sort of froze and blanked. I've completely forgotten your names. Sorry. My name is Char, alternately Charles or Charlene as my gender identity dictated."

Each of the others followed suit, introducing herself but not saying much else besides her name, except for the older black woman, Meredith.

"I'm Meredith. I used to be a lawyer, but don't hold it against me. Recently, I've been doing the divorcee mommy thing. Hopefully my three children will be joining us soon, I really miss them." Looking sidelong at me, she added, "Um, that must be really strange, being both I mean," she said, quickly adding, "No offense meant."

"It's ok, I mean growing up in high school I was a popular cheerleader named Charlene and identified as a girl, both in my head and with others. I was brought up as a girl, but I was a tomboy, liking guy things mostly. I was much bigger and stronger than girls my age so I played with the boys more often than the girls. My parents made it really clear when I was old enough to be interested in sex that things would be very difficult for me, since I was 'special', but they left out any details unfortunately. Boy was that an understatement! God, I'll never forget the look of horror I got the first time one of my boyfriends stuck his hand down my pants. It put me off sex for years.

"Then I headed off to college and a new life. On a lark, I decided to try the other side and became Charles aka Char. I changed my appearance to become a guy and lived as a guy. It was a bit of a shock, learning how to live on the other side so to speak, but I liked it. I liked it so much that after I earned my associates degree and got a job, I hung out with the guys at work and acted like one, going for a male-androgynous appearance. Of course, I managed to alienate many of my co-workers since I was so driven to be a 'real man' that I stepped on a lot of toes overcompensating. Then I started having an affair with my boss, who also thought I was a guy. Thankfully the pickup came before the big reveal, since she hates anyone who is 'gender ambiguous' or to use her phrase, "anyone too fucked in the head to be happy with the gender they were born with". Of course, I was born like this, but that probably wouldn't matter to her." I took a breath, "I know I'm not like anyone you've ever seen before, and my mind works in strange ways, but I hope we can live together and be comfortable with each other. We have to follow Steve's orders, but hopefully we can reach a point where, well, you are ok enough with me to willingly, you know, do it without being ordered to." I was blushing hotly and gave up.

There were a few nervous chuckles, then Tina, the huge breasted Hispanic teenager said, "right now I'm still getting used to doing it in any way at all. It's all so strange and new to me, having not done much of anything before today. So I guess for me at least, having sex with you will be no stranger than getting used to having sex with other women or having sex as part of a group. Heck, just being with Steve is going to be a learning experience," she added, blushing hotly as well.

Chital, the Pakistani woman, and Moira, the red-haired Irish lass were a great deal more conservative. They both had been brought up that being with another woman was wrong and sharing a man was wrong and having two men was very wrong. So lucky me, I managed to embody all three absolute no-no's at once. It would be a long time before they would be completely comfortable with me, if ever. I sighed, disappointed but understanding. I could not understand their hang-ups, being raised very differently, but I had to respect them.

I think Chital was having the worst time of it. She had been happily married, but her husband had been working late and missed the pickup. The only reason she had become a concubine was to save their eight year old daughter, Suda, as they had agreed in advance. Not only was she suddenly and permanently separated from her husband whom she had come to love, but she was now another man's possession, to be loved and bred at his discretion. Not only would she be expected to have sex with him, but with me as well. Not to mention the possibility of lesbian sex as well, if ordered to. She was having problems on so many levels that I was amazed she was able to keep it together.

Interestingly, the Chinese sex-kitten, Xifeng, who came from a very conservative society, was the most accepting of me and was eager to explore me more fully. The idea of making out with a woman who then fucked her as a guy really tripped her sexual ON switch. So, even though she was smitten with Steve, and apparently had been for quite a while since she had been a trauma nurse at the hospital he worked at before the pick-up, she was dying to get me in bed as soon as possible. It was more than just novel exploring; she was honestly turned on by, and attracted to me. Of course, my blonde hair and blue eyes were as exotic to her as my body was, so that helped. She didn't even seem to mind that her thirteen-year-old daughter, Meili, who had been eating with her at the restaurant, had witnessed all the sex acts she'd performed during the pickup, including what she did to me.

Looking around as I waited for Steve to return, I saw that the only people who were still clothed were the eleven male volunteers and the Marines stationed around the room watching over us. The vast majority of the concubines were female with only four males to be seen. The curve for those volunteers' CAP scores must be a bit above average, since there were almost fifty other concubines besides me, making the average CAP score over 7. A room full of naked people did wonders helping me get over being naked myself. Interestingly, there was no sexual turn-on from looking at all those naked people. We were all just property and the circumstances did not lead to dirty thoughts. Even Steve's other concubines, who I would presumably be fucking soon, if not tonight, did not arouse me at the moment --although I was sure they would in a more private setting.

Looking around, I was surprised to see Melissa, nude as well, staring at me with disgust and loathing. I guess Brian or somebody had brought her along. Apparently she had been told the guy she had been sucking and fucking for months in her office was really a cute --at least I think I am-- blonde chick who happened to have a dick. I felt really bad that I had deceived her, but I did have strong enough feelings for her that I had not just been able to break it off, as I knew deep down I should have. Especially knowing the way she felt about, ok hated, chicks who acted like guys. I really liked her though, and I always looked forward to the time we spent together, which made my 'betrayal' of her morals seem pretty selfish.

Her brown hair and pretty, tanned face were both covered with streaks of cum, and I had a sinking feeling she would be in for a rough time. I mean, what kind of man would do that to a woman and then parade her around in public without giving her a chance to clean up? In fact, despite the look on her face, I wanted to go over and wrap my arms around her, holding her tight while I licked her face clean.

Of course, even if she did not now hate me, I still could not do that without getting my master's permission, as well as her master's permission. I was also surprised to find that even though I was committed to my new master and his women, I was a little jealous that someone else besides me would be fucking her.

I gave her a smile, but that infuriated her even more, and her face turned red with rage.

"Deviant lying freak!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Grabbing her umbrella, which she had brought for some reason, she gave the handle a quick twist and pulled out a long-bladed stiletto. She immediately stabbed the tall Marine who had moved to intercept her as she lunged toward me. The blade made a small neat hole going in, angling up through the Marine's abdomen and under her ribs. Even as Melissa slid the blade in, the Marine's amazing reflexes enabled her to get a stinger shot off that stunned Melissa. Unfortunately, the jolt from the stinger tightened Melissa's fingers around the hilt of the umbrella sword, so when she fell, it tore through the Marine's innards as it came out. Even as Melissa hit the deck with a thud, the Marine was also collapsing in a spray of blood.

While most everyone sat in shocked disbelief, and the Marines rushed toward the fallen women, Xifeng was already almost all the way to the injured Marine, having started moving the moment the blade entered her body. She almost got zapped by the other Marines before they realized she was trying to stanch the bleeding. I remembered that she had mentioned being a trauma nurse and was used to reacting instantly in emergency situations. Where we saw a shocking spray of bright red gore, she knew it was pulsing arterial blood that needed to be stopped immediately. Two Marines unceremoniously dragged Melissa away, while Navy corpsmen rushed over to the injured Marine and hustled her away, with Xifeng's hand still inside the wound. Later we found out the wound had been wide enough for Xifeng to get her small hand inside deep enough to use her fingers to clamp shut the hole in the Marine's heart, preventing her from bleeding out before they got her into a med tube.

Knowing I was the cause of it all, I sat in miserable silence feeling like all eyes were focused accusingly on me. I could not bring myself to look around; instead I just hunched over and stared at the floor. The room had become uncomfortably quiet, since the sudden bloodshed had everyone feeling subdued. Xifeng returned about fifteen minutes later, clean and completely composed.

Her daughter Meili rushed over to her and gave her a big hug, saying, "Way to go Mom!"

That got a shy smile that got even bigger as spontaneous applause broke out at her life-saving action. The smile turned into a mega-watt grin of happiness when Steve got up and gave her an approving hug. It was easy to see that she was as smitten with him as he was with her. I was a bit amazed and horrified when I felt a worm of jealousy twist through me. I mean, not only did I barely know Xifeng, but we were both concubines of the same master so I had no choice but to share her however and whenever he decided. That was assuming she even liked me anyway.

I knew it would be an absolute disaster if I became jealous so instead I tried to focus on how happy they were, especially knowing I would have the same silly love-struck smile on my face if either of them hugged me like that. To distract myself, I looked for the reactions of the other four women, but none seemed to care. Of course, like me, they had only known Steve for about an hour, and one quick fuck to see if she was any good while comparing her to several other girls he had just fucked did not usually kindle too many romantic feelings. I really could not understand how one great fuck and blowjob had me head-over-heels for both of them. I mean, acceptance is a heady aphrodisiac but still ... Anyway, the four of them were also ignoring me, but I got the feeling it was more out of embarrassment than anything else. It must have been embarrassing sitting naked next to a complete stranger, namely me, that would be fucking them soon, at another man's orders. At least, that's what I sincerely hoped it was. Moira and Chital still had me worried and I hoped we would be able to work everything out.

Just as I was starting to feel a little less awful and self-conscious, a very large pair of Marines came over and told me to accompany them. Since there was no choice in the matter, I rose to go with them.

To my surprise, when the Marines were ready to escort me away, Steve spoke up, "I'm her sponsor, so I'll be going with her." I suddenly realized he always referred to me as a female, even though my job was to be the man when he was away. Of course, I had been acting pretty girlish since he met me. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about that, but it did give me hope that he would at least be giving my female parts frequent workouts. We still needed to deal with the whole penis thing, but that could wait.

"Very well," The smaller --relatively, he was still huge-- Marine said.

"Thanks," he said dryly. Looking at the others, Steve said, "Meredith, you're in charge. Make sure everyone stays together and follows any orders given by the AI or the Marines. I'm not sure how long this will take, but I'm counting on you to get the others back to our pod and settled in if it takes too long."

She nodded her head and said, "Sure thing boss, I'll make sure everyone and everything is taken care of."

"Just to let you know, unless you order it otherwise, the AI will not respond to any concubines," the other Marine said.

"What? That's ridiculous. How are they supposed to get anything done?" He paused, "Oh, wait, I have to tell the AI to listen to them don't I?"

"That's correct, but it is very unadvisable to give them very much authority or permission to do very much for the first few days."

Steve sighed, "Ok, AI, I give Meredith my permission to talk to you and get basic questions answered. Um, let's see, what else? I assume the doors will open for her right? And they can at least get food from the replicator to feed themselves and the children."

"Actually, no. Without specific permission, they cannot enter or leave the pod, or use any of its amenities," the AI responded.

"Jeez, that's a bit much, but ok. I hereby give the AI permission to allow all my concubines and their children entry to our pod, as well as blanket permission to make any type of food using the replicator. I'll amend as necessary later." Steve just shook his head and I really started to understand just how little we mattered. We could not even open a door or feed ourselves without our master's permission. I could tell by the looks on the other's faces that they had the same sobering realization.

I started to get really nervous as we were lead aside to a private room. Once we got there, the AI grilled me about my relationship with Melissa and replayed the entire encounter from several angles to see if I in any way directly provoked the attack. Also there was her sponsor, Brian, a real asshole from our department who hated me for being a better salesman than him. The only reason we had all been at the restaurant when the extraction happened was because of the award party that Melissa had thrown for me. I had also heard that he had been trying to get in Melissa's pants for months before I came along, but she had no interest in him. I am sure it pissed him off to no end that I was in her pants less than a month after I was hired. Of course, now my (ex) girlfriend was his sex slave. It was amazing how trying to save yourself changed your perspectives and lowered your standards -- at least in her case. I could not possibly have a better sponsor in my opinion.

I was amazed at how furious he was that Melissa had been detained but it looked like I would go free. He argued that my deceiving her was the whole reason behind the attack. Luckily for me, the AI decided that any pre-pickup arrangements were null and void after pickup, so my prior relationship with her did not factor directly into the attack. It decided the reason behind the attack was her intolerance and thus, she was solely to blame.

Brian went white and sputtered in outrage. Ignoring him, the AI continued, "The only reasons sponsor Brian Kittredge is not being held responsible for the concubine's actions are the shortness of their relationship and the fact that he was not present at the time. If the attack had happened in his presence or at a later date, he would have been held directly responsible."

"How long before I get to see Melissa again?" Brian asked in an angry, sulky tone, ignoring the implied warning.

He wasn't looking at the Marines, so he did not see the expression that crossed their faces. I did see it, and I was chilled. I suddenly knew exactly what would happen to her, and it broke my heart. Not wanting to cause a scene, I said nothing to Brian but my eyes were leaking tears that I quietly wiped away.

"You will be able to see concubine Melissa in a few minutes," the AI responded. It seemed very cruel to me that it did not say anything else, but I guess the AI's are so different from us that human emotions must be completely incomprehensible to them.

We were separated and lead back into the main room. Xifeng jumped up and gave us both a hug, which made me feel much better. Steve also got rather clingy hugs from the other women, who apparently were feeling a bit of separation anxiety in such a different environment where they were so utterly helpless. They all babbled at once, and I was able to gather that they had all been to medical for quick initial sessions in the med tubes while we were gone.

Just then, the lieutenant in charge spoke up. "Listen up everyone. We usually cover this in the briefing sessions later but this is too important a lesson to pass by. As you know, you are all either sponsors, who have rights as Confederacy citizens, or concubines, who basically do not. A sponsor is responsible for his or her actions as well as the actions of their concubines. What happened earlier, a concubine attacking a Confederacy citizen has only one punishment, which is usually carried out immediately, but was delayed briefly so none of the rest of you make the same mistake. There are absolutely no extenuating circumstances for such an attack, and no lawyers are here to try and get you off on a technicality. If ANY concubine raises their hand against a sponsor, for any reason, even in self-defense, the penalty is death. Often, their sponsor is also severely punished for not having better control of their property. Now, I want you to watch this and think very carefully about it next time you get angry or reckless."

So saying, he gestured to one wall that immediately lit up with a scene from another room. Melissa was there, looking terrified, standing by a large bin with several grim-looking Marines standing across the room from her. One of the Marines tilted his head for a second, as if receiving silent instructions then lifted his laser rifle and shot Melissa in the chest. Even as she collapsed, Brian was screaming in rage and grief, only to be stunned almost instantly. The Marines then picked up Melissa's body and callously tossed it into the hopper she had been standing near.

I was looking closely at some of the Marines' faces. I suspected that the officer was laying things on a bit thick to make absolutely certain we got the message. I could also tell that none of them were surprised or shocked by her being killed, which meant it really did happen commonly. I continued to shiver from the knowledge that I might have shared her fate if the AI had blamed me for enraging Melissa. I vowed to be VERY careful of my actions from now on.

I could not bear it anymore and buried my head in Steve's shoulder. I had never lost someone I cared about before, and I had never even dreamed I would someday have to watch my lover be executed. It was horrible and overwhelming. I could not stop shaking thinking about how close a call I'd had.

Without showing the slightest remorse at having someone killed, the lieutenant continued, "As you can see, we are very serious about this. The concubine had to die and has been recycled. Her proteins will be torn apart by the replicator nanites and repurposed into other things, like food." A fairly universal cry of horror went up, and a few stomachs were emptied onto the floor. "In a way, everyone is being punished, but in another way, at least she is finally of some use."

"That could have been me!" I whispered shakily, and then I added, "I really did like her a lot, maybe I even loved her. Now she's dead and I can never make things right between us." Steve held me tight and stroked my short, man-cut hair, whispering soothing nothings. It must have looked rather odd to casual observers to see one man holding and soothing another man who was crying. Thankfully, that thought must not have popped into his head.

It was a very subdued group that Steve led to our pod. No one felt like talking. I doubt any of us had ever seen an actual execution before. The whole replicator thing just made me feel sick, even though it made sense in a twisted way. Replicators needed a source of raw material to make into the things we got out of them. A human body is basically the sum of the food we eat, so it can pretty much be used to make anything organic, except maybe plants -- not sure about that. With I start, I realized I was rambling in my head again, trying to minimize my reaction. Instead, I focused on Steve's admittedly nice ass as he walked in front of me.

When we got to the pod that we were assigned, Steve led us in. I was completely underwhelmed by the interior. I am not sure what I was expecting from a super hi-tech, space-faring alien race, but an institutional grey room with no adornments or carpeting wasn't it. It was a pretty big letdown.

Just as I opened my mouth to say something, Chital beat me too it, "With respect sir, this place is, well, plain." It was easy to see she was trying to find a diplomatic way to express her distain at our accommodations.

"You mean god awful ugly and boring as hell," Meredith said, as usual, being about as subtle as a train-wreck. "I'm going to go crazy if we can't do something about this. Even some pictures or something will help."

"The AI's have the ability to change colors and configurations to match the desired specifications of any who are authorized to make the changes," a voice said from above us somewhere. Presumably it was the AI, and I suddenly got the feeling that Big Brother would be watching us all the time. It was a little creepy; knowing everything I did would be observed and recorded, not to mention embarrassing as I suddenly realized I had to use the bathroom.

"Ok everyone, let's take a look around and see what our new home looks like," Steve said.

We split up and drifted around the large pod. Following the AI's directions, we raided the stash of folded shifts that were on a shelf. They were pretty damn skimpy and my cock and ass were pretty much visible all the time since I was so much taller than most women. Our breasts were also completely unbound, which was a very odd sensation for me, and the rubbing cloth had my nipples hard in no time and they stayed that way. I was a bit, ok, a lot embarrassed to see Meili's eyes following my cock all the time. They had made it very clear back on Earth when they changed the age of consent to fourteen that it was an absolute barrier. Being thirteen, I knew she was absolutely off limits, but it was hard to ignore the desire in her eyes. She was obviously cut from the same cloth as her mother, and I had to count backwards in my head to keep from getting hard each time I saw her staring at me.

We quickly found the kitchen. Steve and Moira started making a snack, although I am not sure any of us had a real appetite. Not being very domestic, I wandered off and went over to one corner of the main room where I'd seen a large hole in the ceiling. Curious, I stood under the hole and tried to see what was above us.

In the background, I heard Steve say in an exasperated voice, "Yes AI, I give my concubines full use of the pod and all its amenities. However, any major changes have to be run by me first."

Just then I started heading for the ceiling! With an extremely undignified and startled squawk, I floated up through the hole. I had no idea what just happened but somehow I was on an upper level of the pod.

I heard running feet and several people asked some variation of 'what happened to Char?' With a relieved grin, I heard a similar squawk and suddenly Tina's face appeared through the hole accompanied by a few words that I assumed were unladylike utterances in Spanish.

"What the fuck is that?" Steve swore in amazement.

"That is an antigravity lift that allows access to the second level of your pod. Simply step into that area and it will carry you up or down." I honestly did not understand how the AI had resisted laughing at us. I know I would have been laughing hysterically if I had been watching instead of involved.

Rather tentatively, I stepped onto the hole and was gently carried back down to the first level. Then, remembering how badly I had to get rid of the beer I had drunk before the pickup, I went back up and found the refresher as they called it. I few minutes later I came out a much happier person.

When I rejoined the others downstairs, Steve told me that the AI wanted us both to report to medical for a quick initial screening, since we had not been there when the other had gotten theirs. I was a little nervous, but the others assured me it was easy, you just lay down and went to sleep. When it was done, you woke up none the worse for wear. Pulling the last remaining shreds of my manliness around me, I squared my shoulders and strode off with Steve, ignoring the way my breasts bounced all over the place. Walking like a man was very different than walking like a woman and it had taken me a while to get it right. I noticed Steve watching me out of the corner of his eye as I matched his long pace, but he did not say anything.

The actual visit to medical was pretty anticlimactic and exactly what the others had described. I lay down, closed my eyes and then opened them sometime later with no sense of time passing. With a quick thanks to the medical staff, who were openly staring at my body, Steve lead me back to the pod. There was a delicious smell that smacked us in the face when we walked in the door. My stomach immediately started to growl in synchronicity with Steve's, which amused us both. Apparently, someone had figured out how to use the replicator and had a very late dinner set out for us. The others were all waiting around the table for Steve to get back before they started eating.