Chapter 9

Three days later I was about to head off for another meeting with Jack and Melissa when the AI spoke up suddenly.

"Message for Lieutenant Carter. Report to the main hangar bay, oh-six-thirty tomorrow morning."

"Uh. Okay. Any idea why?"

"No details accompanied the message."

I frowned, then realised the AI was simply passing on an order from someone else.

When I told Jack about it at the start of the meeting, he laughed. "I've got to go as well. It's 'cos we're in the military."

"Huh?"

"We might not be proper soldiers, but we've still got to do all the basic square bashing and the like." Jack looked at the empty chair. "I bet you anything you like that Melissa will have to go too, and she'll be majorly pissed off."

"Query," interrupted the AI. "Define 'square bashing'."

Jack laughed.

"It's a British slang military term. It just means basic training, and in particular the training to march and parade. Parades are usually held in an area of the base called a square, even if it's not actually square in shape, hence square bashing."

"Understood. You will not be training to march or parade whilst on board this vessel."

"No, but it's also used as a generic slang term for all basic training."

"Acknowledged."

Jack was right about Melissa having to do the training, and especially about her being pissed off. She was, when she eventually turned up. While we waited though, Jack got me up to date on the news from Balmoral. I had been too busy with Branwyn to attend the Captain's briefing.

"Apparently people have been saying it was some Islamist terror group, but there was no formal confirmation at the time we left."

"So who's king or queen now?"

"From what I can gather, Prince Andrew's eldest daughter, and her two older children were about a quarter of a mile away when the explosion happened. She's the senior royal alive, so I guess, if anybody, it's now Queen Beatrice the first."

"Beatrice?" I thought for a moment, trying to place the name.

"Beatrice is Prince William's cousin, Charles' niece. She is Prince Andrew's daughter, so she would have been first cousin once removed to Prince George."

"Oh of course. Sorry, yeah I know who you mean." I whistled.

"I don't suppose you remember her at William and Kate's wedding?" Jack asked. "She was wearing a very strange hat."

I shook my head. "Too young."

"She was very much a party girl in her youth, but calmed down considerably after she got married and had kids." He shrugged. "I guess it's not our problem any more."

"No, I suppose not."

"However, apparently there's also been a major change in plans."

"Oh?"

"We were supposed to be dropping some people off, however we have been diverted away from there, and are going straight to Soloat."

"Oh? Any idea why?"

Jack just shook his head. "I know it's got a lot of people very excitable, so I wouldn't mess with the Marines at the moment."

I just frowned my query at Jack.

He shrugged. "I'm guessing that maybe..."

"Information," said the AI, interrupting what Jack had been going to say. "The system this vessel had originally intended to stop at has been invaded by the Sa'arm, and we will no longer be stopping there."

The three of us just looked at each other, startled, maybe even worried.

"What about Soloat?" asked Melissa, who had arrived only moments earlier.

"That is in a different direction. We are now heading directly there. The total journey will now take forty-eight days instead of the originally planned fifty-nine."

We all nodded.

Our meeting that day was less than productive. None of us had found out as much as we'd hoped. We were all having difficulties finding people to talk to us. In one sense I was the luckiest, and it was only luck, because of my chats with Danny Black. It was frustrating, but I said I'd try and arrange to have a chat with the most senior officers on board, amongst other things to try and find out where we were going.

About the only truly useful thing any of us had discovered, Melissa told us. She had had it confirmed that while the ship and almost everyone on board were now going to Solo, the three of us weren't, but she hadn't found out where we were going. Melissa told us that the first stop was Solo, but that after that it was only assumed we would be heading back to Earth. "It'll take us less than a quarter of the time back than it takes to go out."

"Oh?" asked Jack. I looked at her equally interested.

"In our case it's down to the diversion, or would have been, but we go out slow so that all the new families can start to get integrated before they arrive at their new home. We go back as fast as we can so that the ship isn't wasting time empty. It'll take us nearly two months to get to Solo, we'll be there about a week, and then it'll take us two weeks or so to get home." This was much what I had been told so I just nodded my agreement.

"Home as in back to Earth?" asked Jack.

She just nodded impatiently.

Some ten minutes later we broke up as we all had little to report. I caught Jack before he could rush off again. "Any idea why Melissa is such a sourpuss?" I asked.

He laughed. "No. But she is a bit of a grump isn't she."

I too laughed. "A bit? More than a bit I think." I looked at him for a moment. "You okay with this square bashing thing?"

He shrugged. "I guess. Gotta do it I suppose. Just to prove we're in the military. It's the military mind I guess. Very regimented, not very flexible or imaginative."

I smiled. "Yeah. I suppose. Still, we are in a war, so I guess we have to do things the military way."

"You don't fancy the idea either, do you?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly. It's not my idea of fun. I like being my own boss, it's why I stayed on the farm instead of leaving for something else. I like being independent." I shrugged yet again. "I'll get used to it." I gave a wry laugh. "I don't have much choice, do I?"

Jack returned the smile. "Not really." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Look, I need to get going, you gonna be okay?"

I nodded. "Sure." I frowned. "What's so important that you have to rush off?"

He grinned and blushed slightly. "I don't know if you've seen my concubines, but they are four of the most beautiful girls, women, you can possibly imagine."

"Ah." I nodded with mock seriousness. "I understand."

Jack paused, frowning ever so slightly. "It's odd. I miss my family a lot. I suppose I could have done what you and some others did, but I couldn't bring myself to be having sex with my own daughters. The very idea gave me the squicks." He glanced up at my expression. "Oh don't get me wrong," he added quickly. "I really have nothing against it in general, it's just I couldn't do it myself." I just nodded, and he continued. "These four girls were all friends of my two daughters, and my two have gone to the father of one of my new concubines. I wasn't friends with him, no more than casual friendly, if you know what I mean?" I nodded understanding. "But now I know he's having sex with my daughters I don't really want to go near him unless I have to, and I think he feels the same way about me. I know he'll do his absolute best for them, as I will for his daughter, but I just don't want to know."

"How old were they?" I asked quietly.

"My daughters? Just fifteen, and not far short of seventeen. Oddly my older daughter wanted to stay with me, even though she knew what that meant. My younger one was more ambivalent I think, but I'm thinking even she wasn't totally against the idea." He shook his head. "My wife wasn't against it either. She wasn't for it, but she wasn't against it. I just couldn't do it and nor could Don. I think it's because they are so young, and I'm sure he feels the same way about his daughter."

"So what happened to the fathers of your other concubines?"

Jack shrugged. "They weren't with us when we were all collected. Myself, Don, our wives, their son, and the six girls were all together when we were collected. I had four of the six girls, Don had the other two. Don's son was only nine so he went with his mother. She and my wife went with other men. To be honest Jenny and I were in the process of splitting up, but I still asked her if she wanted to come with me. We may have been splitting up, but I still care for her in my own way and didn't want her to get eaten, but she said no." He chuckled. "Actually she was very nice about it. We pretended to have our own 'test fuck' and fucked, for old-time's sake, during the collection. I think she was right though and we shouldn't have been together. I still miss her and our girls though. I think maybe Don and his wife were also in the process of splitting up because she didn't go with him, I'm not sure though." He smiled slightly. "Now I've got a sixteen-year-old and three seventeen-year-olds and for the moment I'm loving every moment of it."

I grinned and clapped him on the back. "Good for you." I started to turn to leave when he stopped me.

"How are you getting on?"

I smiled. "Okay. Three of mine are working hard to become sponsors in their own right. I'm very confident of one, reasonably so with another, and not so sure with the third. But we'll see."

"And you haven't had any problems with the, well, you know?"

"Incest? No. Not yet anyway. We'll see how that works out in the end though, especially if all three do become sponsors."

He nodded. "Good luck." He turned and walked briskly off.

I'd hardly walked three paces when I got another message via my AI implant, asking me to go to the medical bay. I sighed and changed direction.

"Oh, hello Danny," I said in surprise as I entered. Danny looked up and grinned at me. "Hello son. Got a proposition for you."

"All right," I said slowly. "Shoot."

"I've been asked to ask you to take on another concubine. A woman with two young sons. She would have been recycled by now but her sons are obviously intelligent, and we don't want to lose them."

"Why recycled?"

"Because she has no sponsor. You'll see why in a moment."

"Ah. In that case, why me?"

"Two reasons. One, you seem to be doing very well with your brood; two, you have no children; and three you have enough other males in your pod that if you don't want to have to impregnate her you can palm her off onto someone else."

"That's three reasons," I said dryly.

He laughed. "Yeah but the third one is just between you and me."

"She's that, erm, 'good looking'?"

"Janine!" called Danny, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

I frowned. Somehow that name rang a bell.

I recognised her as soon as I saw her, and I know she recognised me.

"Please sir," she whispered. "I'll do anything. Just protect my boys."

I sighed. "Fuck," I muttered. "Yeah. Okay." I turned to Danny. "Is there space in the med pods?"

"Tubes. There will be in about half an hour. Just over."

I nodded. "And can I use somewhere here to plan her body changes?"

Danny just pointed to a side room that I hadn't noticed. "You'll take her?"

"Tch, yeah."

"Good. As a thank you, you'll be eligible for another concubine, of your choice, as and when you want one. Now or later."

"Oh god." I laughed. "Honestly. I have enough."

"What it all means," he told me, "is that Janine's a permanent addition to your family, and if and when you decide to get rid of her, you can replace her as if she was one of your original concubines. Plus, as a bonus, you will be entitled to another concubine if one is available, and you want one."

"Okay, thanks. I think!"

He smiled. "Good luck."

I nodded and indicated with my head that Janine was to follow me. "You gonna be here for a while?" I asked Danny as I led Janine towards the side room.

"Hadn't planned on it, but I've nowhere else I need to be so I'll hang around if you want?"

"Please."

He nodded.

"Right. Sit," I told Janine. I pointed at a chair and she sat hurriedly. "I'm going to take you for now, but you are going to have some physical body changes." She just nodded. "It'll be easier on us both if we both agree to what I propose, which means you can also make suggestions. Agreed?" Again she just nodded without saying anything, her whole body just radiating relief, but also nervousness as well.

"Remind me. How old are you?"

"Thirty three," she whispered. I just nodded.

"AI, can you pull up a hologram of Janine as she is now?"

A hologram appeared in the middle of the room, and Janine swallowed convulsively. I don't think she'd ever really looked at herself and this was a surprise to her. Probably an unpleasant one. "Roll her age back to twenty-one."

The image changed, though less than I expected. At twenty-one she had still been massively overweight, with large saggy boobs and bum, flabby waist and large quantities of cellulite around her thighs and bum. Only her hair colour improved and became a richer brown.

"Were you an overeater?"

Janine just blushed and nodded.

I sighed. "AI, can you extrapolate from her DNA what she might have looked like had she not overeaten?"

"This is only approximate," announced the AI.

On the hologram Janine's boobs tightened up a bit but were still surprisingly saggy. She was however still very definitely on the chubby side.

"Okay, first grow her up to five foot seven." I looked critically at the result. It was only two inches, but the end result made her look marginally more feminine, and gave her a noticeable waistline. "Lose two stone off that," I paused and watched the result. "Two more. Okay, another two, taking off around waist and thighs in particular." The image became much more slim and even vaguely attractive. "Hmm. Lose another, hmmmmmm, ten pounds over her whole body. Pay attention to her neck and chin. Improve muscle tone all over." That was a definite improvement, but now she looked odd. It took me a few moments looking at her to realise what it was. "Ah. Narrow her hips and shoulders a little, two inches I think, and give her a finer bone structure." The difference was phenomenal, indeed she now even looked a touch skinny. I looked at Janine who was staring at the image open-mouthed. I rubbed my hands in anticipation. "Okay. Give her C cup boobs, at the lower end of C, smooth her skin and remove all blemishes, birth marks and scars et-cetera." That also removed the stretch marks from her pregnancies. "Give her a gentle all-over tan, and remove all cellulite." There was a lot of that, and it was ugly. "Straighten her hair a little, and darken it slightly. Tidy her pubic bush; shorten it and give it shape. Whiten and straighten teeth. Zoom in on her face please. Okay. Round off her jaw a little and soften her eyebrows. Round off the nose a touch. Hmm," I looked at Janine again.

"Wow," she whispered.

"Yeah. Any changes you want to make yourself?"

"I look a bit skinny don't you think?"

I looked critically at the image. "A little. AI, roughly how heavy would that person be?"

"Eight stone five," came the reply, "plus or minus one pound."

"Okay, bring her up to nine stone." This did look better. "Now for the final touch. Reduce her gag reflex slightly and increase the size of her throat to allow deep throating if necessary. Give her all the necessary aids to recovery after sex, and improve, if necessary, her pelvic floor muscles."

The last obviously got to Janine as she went white with fear, but she said nothing and I admired her fortitude. "Anything else you would like?" I asked her.

She just shook her head and continued to stare at the image.

"Hmm. What about your boobs?"

Again she just shook her head.

"Okay. " I shrugged. "AI, save and lock it into the computer."

"Acknowledged."

I looked at Janine. "Right. You get that in the next twenty minutes or so. AI? How long will these changes take?"

"They will take approximately seven hours to complete, however she will require another ten hours of bed rest afterwards."

I nodded and led Janine out. "Now we wait."

She nodded and sank, almost gratefully, onto a chair in the corner, while I went and chatted with Danny.

"Why here?" I asked him.

"Huh?"

"Why bring me here to get her?"

"It was the easiest place. Her kids are asleep in the CS pod at the moment, watched over by a CS representative and the AI."

"CS?"

"Civil Service." He shrugged. "Not quite sure what it's supposed to do, but at the moment it's keeping her and a few others out from under our feet."

"Shit. How many more still need to be housed?"

"One woman, two blokes. Because there are no kids they may get recycled very quickly now."

"Put the woman in charge of the CS pod for the time being. Between now and when we get to Solo, we may need it again."

Danny just shrugged. "Maybe. Not my decision."

"AI, can you give me details on the woman still without a sponsor?"

"Age forty-four. Cap score 4·2. Worked as a kitchen helper in a supermarket."

"Uh. Okay. What is her intelligence score?"

There was a long pause, presumably as the AI retrieved her CAP scores.

"Four point oh."

"Her loyalty score?"

"Four point one."

"Hmm. What about her mothering and sex scores?"

"Five point five and four point seven."

I shook my head. "Forget it." I turned back to Danny. "Have to admit I'm not looking forward to having to do anything with this one. She says she's scared of sex, so it's probably gonna be like having sex with a wet kipper."

Danny gave a half smile. "I'm sure you'll cope. Far more importantly though, I hear you've got training tomorrow?"

I nodded. "Not looking forward to that either."

"At this moment, today, as far as I'm concerned, you're a civvy. As of tomorrow, you'll be a marine. When you graduate you'll be a private," he paused and frowned. "Uh. You got six concubines ain't you?"

I nodded.

"Shit yeah." His face went stiffly blank. "You'll be an officer. You gonna be an LT?"