Chapter 39

Shortly before the chime for breakfast, Sarah’s Clan began to stir. Aoife and Maeve had both been awake for some time, listening to and sensing those in their new family. Lifting themselves slightly, they could see all of their spouses, while still enjoying the comfort of their surroundings.

Seeing that the other was awake, Aoife and Maeve shared their thoughts about the previous day’s events. They found their quick inclusion both surprising and fulfilling, but not overwhelming, as they now felt complete. Before yesterday neither had experienced the level of love and affection that they now shared among their clan. Both thought that finding this group, and becoming a part of it, was a blessing beyond anything they had considered possible.

Aoife was lying between Joyce and Rusty, while Maeve was between Sarah and Rusty. Together, they leaned over Rusty and softly kissed. Their feelings for each other were clearly expressed by the emotions exchanged by their kiss. Neither had kissed another woman with that much feeling before, but both relished their shared emotions. When they separated, they took turns cuddling Rusty, first kissing his lips and then nibbling his ear. Sensing he was beginning to wake, they turned to kiss Sarah and Joyce. Both Sarah and Joyce had sensed the affectionate kisses Aoife and Maeve had given each other and Rusty.

As Aoife and Maeve turned to kiss their spouses next to them, Sarah sensed Maeve moving to kiss her and responded to her without being fully awake. Joyce had reacted the same way to Aoife. Both drew their new spouses into a passionate kiss, resulting in them caressing each other’s tongues and lips as they did so. Their shared emotions brought Rusty further awake.

Rusty watched the four women kissing. “What a way to wake up,” said Rusty, as he began to gently caress each in turn, taking time to nibble first on Aoife’s, then on Maeve’s, ears and neck. The scent of arousal began to fill the room. As the rest of the family members awakened, they joined in the exchange of affection both physically and through their mind-link.

Responding to Rusty’s caresses, Maeve began placing kisses on Sarah’s face and neck, after nibbling on her ears. Through her mind-link with Sarah and Rusty, she could feel their arousal grow along with hers. The sensations she felt from the rest of her family added to it. She kissed down Sarah’s neck and across her chest, until her lips latched on to a nipple. A gentle squeeze with her lips resulted in milk spraying across her tongue. She was surprised. Liking the taste and sensing Sarah’s encouragement, she drew more milk.

While Maeve drank Sarah’s milk, Rusty continued caressing her. He lightly drew his fingers over her body, causing her to twitch in anticipation. He slid his fingers down around her labia, stroking them ever so tenderly. They swelled and moistened with each caress by his fingers, adding to her arousal. Her breathing became more rapid. A small orgasm washed over her, drawing her attention away from the nipple in her mouth. She leaned back against Rusty and felt his cock pressing between her legs.

Sarah had caressed Maeve while enjoying the sensations from the tugging on her nipple. Sally joined Sarah and Rusty, as they focused on caressing and kissing Maeve. Each of their touches and caresses increased Maeve’s arousal. The four of them mentally joined together increasing the intensity of their shared affection. Soon, Maeve’s hips were flexing into Rusty’s caressing fingers, as her fingers stroked his cock. Sensing her need, Sarah and Sally helped Maeve up, then turn her to straddled Rusty’s hips.

When Maeve lowered her body, his cock pressed into the crease between her wet, swollen, labia and against her clit. Moving her hips slightly, she moaned, feeling its warmth as it slid between her lips, rubbing her clit. Sally and Sarah had her lean forward, so when her hips slid back, the tip of his cock at the entrance to her sheath. She rose, pulling her hips up until the hot crown was at the entrance to her sheath. Lowering hips slightly, she let it slide inside the mouth of her sheath. She paused, savoring the pulsing sensations, before relaxing to drop her hips, letting it enter her. Feeling it sliding over and rubbing her g-spot, resulted in a scream of pleasure and happiness. Through their mind-link, she shared the pleasure she felt.

Sarah shifted to straddle Rusty’s head, placing her wet labia just over his mouth. Seeing them he drew his tongue through the wet trough between them. The sensations caused her to shiver and release more cream for him to drink. While Rusty focused on caressing Sarah’s labia, Sally, Alison and Sarah turned their attention to Maeve, as she slowly rode his cock. Her sensations, combined with those she could feel in her partners, adding to their growing arousal. Through their mind-link, they showed her how to increase their pleasure by flexing the muscles in her vaginal sheath. With this knowledge, she pressed down against his hips then slid around using his cock as an oar to stimulate her labia and clit, while the muscles in her sheath milked it. She savored these sensations. They increased their pleasure while she drifted toward an orgasmic crest. Sally and Alison caressed Maeve’s neck and breasts with their hands and mouth, while Sarah caressed Maeve’s stomach and labia. Each of the five could feel their shared arousal build, then build some more. Sarah, Alison and Sally’s babies moved around, as their mothers arousal grew.

Maeve’s orgasm exploded. She screamed then stopped as her body seized. Her vision filled with stars, then turned gray as her orgasm peaked, she stiffened, before falling forward into Sarah. Sarah held her, as her orgasm continued to ripple through her. Maeve’s orgasmic crest echoed through the whole family, but it wasn’t until she relaxed her muscles a bit that Rusty could release his cum. Each pulse of his cock, pumped more hot cum into her limp body, triggering more small orgasms to ripple through her. Sarah pulled Maeve to her, while making sure not to trap Rusty under her. It was several minutes before anyone began to stir. Sally and Alison helped steady Maeve, so that Sarah could move off of Rusty. They lowered Maeve so she lay on Rusty. He then rolled over to let Maeve rest on her back.

As Rusty rose up off of Maeve, Tara moved so she could collect the sweet spend of her loves with her tongue. Claudette helped Rusty move off to the side, and then began to clean his cock with her mouth.

Meanwhile the rest of the family had joined together in worshiping each other and physically expressing their love and affection for each other. All of them enjoyed and felt the passion they shared through their mind-link. Aoife had experienced this before, but this time she felt their shared passion much more intensely. She shivered in happiness and hugged Jill as she realized her bond with her spouses was now much tighter.

When Maeve became more alert, she caressed those around her. “God, will it always like this when we make love or share our affection?” asked Maeve.

Smiling, Erin said, “So far. It seems like we usually have one or two at the center of our love-fest, then the rest of us just bask in the sensations we feel radiating from each other. We need to do this a bit more often than we have been. These are some of the best times. I will feel the warm glow from this for quite some time.”

“Yes,” said Tara. “It looks like we will be very busy for a while, but even so, we need to be sure we have time for this, or just cuddling. I don’t sense it as an obligation. I do sense that this is something very important and special for us to do. Oh ... God I love you all so ... much.”

“We love you, Tara,” they responded.

“I love you,” was spoken by each to each other at the same time.

“You know,” said Judy, “this sharing of love testimony through the mind-link, it feels so different just hearing the words and seeing an expression.”

“We agree.”

Sensing the chime was about to sound, they began to move toward the exercise room. In the process, they touched and caressed each other. They had just reached the exercise room, when Tara and Erin remembered that the babies needed to be fed. With that, they went to get them and bring them back to the others. Together, they fed the babies, exercised and freshened up, before leaving for breakfast.

When the chime sounded, signaling that breakfast would begin in an hour, life stirred throughout the ship. As on previous mornings, the ship’s crew made a special effort to show their guests the unique aspects of the exercise benches. While everyone liked the exercise benches, most did not take advantage of all of their features. Their guests were amazed by being able to take showers on a space ship. Everything they had ever heard or read indicated that water would be scarce in space. When a woman questioned the water use and she was told that the ship reprocessed all the water they used. The process returned it to mountain-stream purity with very little energy expense or loss. In the response it was noted that virtually all solid waste was recycled.

Sarah’s Clan was one of the first to arrive in the dining room as they wanted be sure everything was ready. To their were surprise nearly ready. A group of bots had prepared breakfast, and were in the process of setting up the buffet line. They made sure to thank each one, both for their assistance and for taking the initiative. The bots were surprised and pleased to receive them, as they had never received a compliment before. The compliments had the same impact on the bots as it would have had on humans, even with the difference in thought processes.

Sarah’s Clan stood near the door and greeted everyone as they came into the dining room. They didn’t form a receiving line, but did try to speak to everyone as they entered. Once everyone was there, Judy went to the front and said, “Good morning. We hope everyone slept well. Breakfast is ready so let us begin.”

Breakfast went quickly. Many went back for seconds. Based upon how quiet it was during the meal, they were certain everyone was enjoying the food. As the volume of conversation increased, Sarah’s Clan decided it was nearly time to start the meeting. Terry stood and tapped her glass, causing the room to quickly quiet down. “Please take your dishes and other items to the disposal window. Please take the time to wipe off your table, as it might be your elbow that lands in the sticky spot.” Several laughed, as they got up to clear away the breakfast dishes. At the same time, Star prepared viewing areas, so everyone would have a close-up of Sarah’s Clan as a hologram.

Soon after everyone returned to their seats, Sarah’s Clan moved to the front of the room. “Good morning,” they said, speaking as one. Many of their newest guests were surprised at hearing a single phrase from multiple voices in sync. “Star is placing a small holographic image of us on your table, so you can see us better.” With that, small holograms appeared on each table. These provided a head and shoulders view of the command staff. “In case you don’t remember, Star is the Master AI for this ship.

“We are going to try to avoid repeating the comments we made yesterday about us and where you are. In looking back, we now realize we did that a couple of times at the resort. Yesterday we suggested that our guests watch three videos that summarize our history, physiology and plans. We understand that many of you did so. Since then several have suggested that we make this a requirement. Those reasons were well founded so right after we finish, the videos will be shown in this compartment. Those who haven’t seen them must stay to see them. While the videos provide a lot of details about us and our situation, there is more information available in the library. We will be sitting in on this morning’s viewing. This is not to make sure you don’t sleep through them, but to answer questions afterwards. When you see these videos, you will quickly realize that they are a composite made from several presentations on those topics made to different groups of guests.

“Now if you’ve forgotten, our family group is known as Sarah’s Clan. Our family is us plus eight babies, who are a little over four months old. Our ship is commanded by a group referred to as the ‘Command Staff’. Currently the Command Staff consists of our Clan, along with Siobhan and Maureen. Siobhan and Maureen are members of two other clans. Besides the crew you’ve met, we have several AIs assisting us in managing and operating this ship. The most prominent AI is Star. She is a member of the Command Staff.” When her name was spoken Star appeared as a visual construct next to them, causing several to gasp as she shimmered into view.

“Good morning,” said Star. “I will only be visible here for a few moments but you can always contact me by starting a sentence with my name. Now I need to be on my way. Have a great day.”

“The name of the AI overseeing Comrie is Donna. Another very important group is Amy’s Clan, their fellow crew members who arrived with this ship. As you know from the videos, it is because of the actions they took quite a few years ago, that it is possible for all of us to be here today rather than ... somewhere else.

“Due to the efforts of our crew, we are not as crowded as we anticipated. This is largely due to the leadership by Muireann’s Clan, Leann’s Clan, Engineering-AI and Systems-AI. Together they guided the crews efforts to expand our accommodations prior to most of us arriving. So we have them to thank for everyone having a comfortable place to sleep and freshen up. We really appreciate the effort all of you made to achieve that. Thank you.”

When the applause ended she continued, “While we have sufficient compartments and corridors available for us to live comfortably, we need to reopen the rest of the ship. Most of these areas have not seen any extended activity since the sabotage occurred, a couple of centuries ago. To do this all unused areas will be checked by bots first to avoid any unpleasant surprises. Prior to yesterday, those working here were commuting from Earth. Yes, according to Earth’s current scientific theories, doing that is impossible, or at least not feasible. As more operational areas are opened up, we will gradually shift our focus to repair and maintenance issues.

“For those who haven’t done so, you need to see the medical staff to complete your physical. This will be followed by a consultation with a doctor. If any health issues are found, then they will explain the impact on your quality of life. If needed they will offer a treatment plan to correct any issues. It is your choice whether to receive any of the suggested treatments. There isn’t any cost or obligation associated with acceptance. For the consultations, you can invite others to join you. Again, whether you include others or not is your choice. Whether you receive any treatments is your choice. So, have I said it enough? We require the physicals and consultation but beyond that it is...”

“Our choice,” responded many.

“Very good, now let me drop the other shoe,” she said with a smile. “While you are in the clinic you will be given a telepathic evaluation. If you have the ability, we will show you how to enable it along with how to use and manage it. If you return to Earth society, you can disable it. However we recommend leaving it partially enabled but in such a way that you have advanced warning of danger or threats. Why do we want you to be telepathic? Safety! We want to minimize our dependence on the communicators that many of you are now carrying. While the communicators will alert you to an emergency, telepathy is direct to you. You’ve heard the rest of the reasons so I won’t repeat them.

“In terms of clothing, what clothing you wear is solely up to you. We are a clothing optional society. We do wear a covering when an activity requires it. An example of a special covering is the tactical suits some of you saw some of us wearing when you were rescued or possibly yesterday.

“At lunch yesterday, we asked if you had anyone you would like to notify that you are okay, or if you wanted to know how someone was. See Erica, Sally or Terry to learn the status of those requests. There were some problems completing some of them. They will tell you about those issues. You can still make requests and there isn’t a time limit.

“With respect to phone calls, while at the resort we arranged for the crew candidates’ phone numbers to be routed there. However, now due to the distance that isn’t feasible. What we did was change the auto-attendant message. Now a caller is told that you are not available and asks them to leave a message so you can call back. It notes the caller id, if available, on all calls. As messages come in, they will be relayed to your communicator. Since we can’t overcome the time lag for voice communication, you will need to go to Comrie to return the calls.

“We expect to have Internet access and e-mail set up here tomorrow. We need to register a domain name then set up an ISP and a relay. Once that is in place, everyone here will have an account they can use. As before, please do not say anything about where you are, or what you see. Only those here will understand your adventure, and not think you have gone over the edge.” Many laughed, thinking about what their old acquaintances would think.

“Are there any general questions?”

“Where are you from?” came the question from a person from the freighter.

“All of us are from the United States, but as a whole our origins are somewhat more diverse than that. The reason we look different is covered in the videos. We expect the video to answer most, if not all, of those sort of questions.”

“When can we go home?” asked another of those from the freighter.

“Really, it is your choice as to when you leave. Just tell us and we will arrange it. For those who chose to visit us at the resort to evaluate a job opportunity with us, then it can be right after we finish here. For those we rescued from the freighter, we could do that but ... there are some things you need to consider before making that request. A few of those considerations are: What is your legal status? Are your banking accounts still active? Where do you want to return to? Those are just a few things to consider. Now you are likely wondering how you can do that. A first step is for each of you to provide us, well Nancy’s Clan, with your name, birthday, last address, college or university, date of graduation, location and date of abduction as well as other relevant information. That information will be used to query Earth’s databases to determine your status. Once your status is known, they will contact you to determine how you want to proceed.

“We’ve asked Nancy’s Clan to take the lead on this for several reasons. They along with several others was the group that identified the crew candidates. They arranged the candidates visit to the resort and they are familiar with personal safety issues on Earth. They will be available to answer questions. Our Security-AI and Intelligence-AI will assist them. They are available to answer general terms. If you want to return to the life you had on the freighter, that can also be arranged very easily.”

Everyone shook their head no, as well as saying, “No!”

“Gee, that is the same response we got yesterday,” responded Sarah with a smile.

“Once you know your status, then you need to plan your return. We suggest that you discuss your plan with your acquaintances here. Why? That will provide another perspective on your plan which may spot a flaw in it. Our concern is that if you simply reappear to where you were when you were abducted, then there is a significant risk of having the same thing happen again. This is due to the people behind the freighter knowing you escaped and are thus a risk to them. They do know what you look like and where you were when abducted.

“Once you make your decision to return, it will take probably a month or more to place you back on Earth with a minimal chance of being abducted again. Again, we will help you evaluate the choices, but the decision is yours to make. Okay?”

Many nodded their agreement.

“As we mentioned yesterday, we have meeting like this after breakfast and dinner. The morning one seems to be a convenient time to review plans for the day while the evening tends to be mostly answering questions. We sense a need to continue to do this. So, after dinner this evening, we will have a question and answer session. However, do not hesitate to ask any of us a question at other time. We are sure that by this evening many of you will have questions.

“Crew and crew candidates, Star advised us that you all have your first choice as to where to contribute your efforts. After this meeting ends, please go to that section for your orientation. Learning stations are setup in each area.

“For our guests, the presentations will begin, here, in about 10 minutes. If you have already seen the videos, we suggest you come back for the question and answer session. You will receive a message when that starts. Have a good day.”

As the crew members began to leave, the guests stood and chatted. Siobhan and Maureen, along with several women from their families remained. When the time was up Alison, Claudette, Tara and Erin went up near the podium. “We would like to start the presentations, so could everyone find a seat?” Everyone quickly sat down. “As was mentioned earlier, we are a part of Sarah’s Clan. In a moment, the presentations will begin. Holograms will be placed in different parts of the room. So, once they start, you might want to move around to improve your view.”

Alison, Claudette, Tara and Erin told of how they came to be a part of this adventure. When they finished Erin continued with, “The videos are recordings of the initial presentations made by Sarah’s and Amy’s Clans to the first group of candidates first night at the resort. Since the initial presentations, there have been some additions made to the presentations to add additional information and clarify some comments. There is a question and answer segment at the end of each one. The first presentation focuses on the ship, its crew and why they are here. The second compares physical differences between members of this society or breed and Earth’s humans. Included in this segment is an outline of our social structure. Now, let’s watch the videos.”

“Nice presentation, mates,” said the rest of their clan.

“We thought there ought to be an introduction, but it is very hard to stop once you begin telling the story. We hope it helped.”

“Possibly the most important part was telling them about the baby farm. That will, hopefully, help them come to terms with what has happened to them as it is similar to their recent experience.”

As the last presentation finished, the rest of Sarah’s Clan eased up to the front of the room, to be with Alison, Tara, Claudette and Erin. Aoife said, “Let’s take a 15 minute break. You will find refreshments available on the buffet table. Please stay in this area, so you will know when we restart.” With that, virtually everyone stood and stretched. A few went for refreshments, but most just chatted with those around them.

Cathan came up and gave each of them a firm hug. Then she said, “You all were pretty blunt in the presentations. I think some thought they were going to see a sales pitch.”

“When you live inside a can, you need to have a harmonious crew, well reasonably harmonious,” responded Joyce.

“I can see that,” then Cathan hesitantly asked, “Do you think that, perhaps, we can stay, rather than return to Earth?”

“We expect you will be able to, but before making that choice there is much you need to consider,” replied Maeve. “The next portion is primarily to answer questions about the presentations and our plans. After that we will describe what we see as your options in a little more detail. Actually, the others will answer most of the questions, because, as you know, I am kind of new to the family.” She said, grinning.

“You could answer the questions just as well as we could. The information you require to respond will appear as you need it. It is another aspect of our mind-link.” Maeve blushed a bit. “It takes some time to understand its capabilities and get used to it.”

“Do you always blush so easily?” thought Cathan.

“My family just reminded me that the information I would need to answer questions is available through our mind-link. Hey, I thought you said you weren’t telepathic.”

Cathan looked puzzled.

“You just asked me if I always blushed so easily. So, to me, that means you must have heard their comment.”

“So that is what that was. I thought it was ... well I wasn’t sure.”

“Some see it as a form of intuition. So I can see why you didn’t completely believe the telepathic part. Trust me, telepathy is real. That is how I knew your intentions toward me, while we were on the freighter. The downside was that I knew Fred’s intentions as well, which I think was worse than the abuse.” Cathan looked questioningly, just as Sally had Star sound a chime to signal the end of the break. “Be patient my friend, over the next few days you will come to understand, and believe.” Maeve kissed her, then went join her family. “See us after we are done here, we can help you with your telepathy, well that is if you want us to.”

“Oh, I will!” responded Cathan. Maeve smiled as she watched her walk back to her seat with a smile on her face and a bit of a spring in her step. Joyce touched her arm, when Maeve turned she saw her wink with a big smile.

Judy, Gail, Betsy and Connie stood at the front of the room, with the rest of Sarah’s Clan off to the side. “The four of us are your doctors,” said Judy. “I am a member of Sarah’s Clan, while Betsy and Connie are members of Amy’s Clan. Gail has not bonded with a family yet, although she has been staying with Jean’s Clan. Besides us, there are several very skilled physician assistants. We are here to answer questions, as we expect that many of your initial questions will have a medical component to them. Therefore, we will begin with those.”

“Can you tell us more about telepathy? And what is psionic ability? I am not very familiar with them, except that people in my community always derided the concept of telepathy.”

“Psionic is a term that encompasses a variety of mentally driven abilities. On Earth, these are found quite extensively in science fiction literature, but seldom, if ever, seen or acknowledged in real life. This is probably because, if you knew you had these abilities, you certainly wouldn’t tell anyone. Why? They would make fun of you. Or, if you demonstrated it, you would likely be turned into a lab rat. In the past, you would have been labeled a witch. History tells how humans in general felt about witches. We need to be careful with the witch label as it has been used in different ways to identify a variety of outcasts on Earth. Some who chose to worship the old Gods were labeled that by members of newer religious groups.”

Many laughed, and nodded their heads in agreement.

“Our psionic skills consist of telepathy, both active and passive, telekinesis, second sight, empathy, and dream-walking, to name a few. Beyond telepathy, our group’s first experience with another psionic ability was a dream-walk. It was led by Sarah and Rusty. They visited the farm where Dorothy and Maria had been. You heard earlier of the response by Amy’s Clan when they heard their observations. That response is why Alison, Tara, Claudette, Erin and the rest of their group are here rather than dead.

“The second dream-walk by Sarah, Rusty, Sally and Terry was planned. It was both a learning experience and an attempt to see how our friends were coping with our disappearance. While visiting their former home, they pushed thoughts to their friends that we were alive and well. Why? When we were abducted, the abductors attempted to make it look like we had just walked off. This failed for several reasons. One was that Sarah left a note detailing the dreams she had been having, which all of them had heard her mention. While it wasn’t much, the note did give them some assurance that maybe we were okay, if the dream was regarded as precognition. When Amy’s Clan discovered how we had been brought to them, Erica arranged for a note to be found on their dining room table. In it were comments supporting the information in Sarah’s note. It was written in such a way that the reader was assured Sarah and her friends were safe. Our dream-walk also gave us the opportunity to alert them to the possibility of visiting us. It wasn’t long after that when they all came and have since decided to stay.

“We could have used our dream-walk ability to visit the freighter. Instead we chose to use our intelligence gathering tools, however if we hadn’t had them we would have taken a dream-walk. Why the tools? Using the drones, ferrets and spiders makes sharing information easier with a large group. In any case, it was our intelligence gathering capabilities that enabled us to successfully execute the rescue.

“Like the rest of our history and activities, the details are available in the library. Some could find other explanations to account for some events but definitely not all. Telepathy is an attribute all of us in this society have. What you’ve read in science-fiction literature has a substantial amount truth to it. Yes, with it, it is easy to share information that’s in your active memory or thoughts. Unless you are bonded with the person, it is very difficult to see the content of another’s memories. I don’t know of any references in fiction which describe ‘bonding’ between people, similar to what we experience within our family groups. This ability, or characteristic, will become clearer to each of you the longer you stay with us.