Chapter 4 - Advances in Medicine

The day after the call from Admiral Himmel, it seemed like everyone had decided to gather in the recreation room. Most of us were watching the children of the colony at play although the male concubines had taken over two of the bowling lanes for an impromptu tournament. James had established himself in one chair and was having each of his concubines lay on a lounge next to him so he could massage and caress us. It was public so he was limiting where his hands went, but no one complained with the exception of Tiffany who tried and failed to convince him that she deserved similar treatment.

It was my second turn under James' loving and tender hands. He was doing a masterful job of coaxing the tired muscles of my back into relaxing. My eyes were half closed as I watched the door to the room and thought of just how I could return this gift to my master when Donna walked in and waved to someone. I shifted my head slightly to see Yvette wave back.

Yvette then turned and shouted to Philipe. Her former husband turned and offered her a formal bow. Then he grabbed Tom and led him from the room. As he passed through the door, Yvette walked over to whisper something to Donna as Shawna joined them. The three seemed to be intently watching the entrance to the room.

I was wondering what they might be waiting for when the three Mikes appeared in the doorway. Mickey and Michelle both looked a little uncomfortable, which was understandable as like most of the concubines they were about eight months pregnant. Terrence quickly approached them and guided them to a nearby table.

Once they were seated James called out, without stopping his welcome massage. "Everyone, if you have a few moments. Yvette has a few things to say."

The various games and activities came to a slow halt, and conversations stopped. I could feel James' fingers continuing to seek tight muscles in my back and worked hard to quiet any moans as Yvette led Shawna and Donna to the center of the room. Once there she surveyed the room and smiled.

"It's nice to see everyone together for the first time in a while," she said. "Now our illustrious leader has graciously allowed me the glory of making this announcement."

"Yes, because we all know how much he demands our worship!" Brad shouted out. Most of the room started laughing as his concubines turned their fingers on him and tickled him until he was lying on the floor gasping for breath. While this happened, Yvette just stood and smiled.

When the room was again quiet she continued. "If we are done, I'm here to make an announcement I hope pleases all of you. Well, more to introduce it. As you can see Donna and Shawna are with me, and they have made a discovery they want to describe. Ladies."

Shawna stepped forward. The former college co-ed had the healthy look of a young woman who had just finished burning off the last vestiges of youth. Much like Donna she was wearing a surgical gown to show that she worked in the medical bay, although her gown bulged slightly displaying her pregnancy to the room. She put a hand on her belly and smiled.

"As you know, when we arrived our little band didn't really have a doctor. Yes, the medical pods can heal just about any wound that isn't instantly fatal, but general medical knowledge was limited to Bren's experience as a nurse and Michael's time as a lab technician," she began.

"When Donna and I volunteered to head the medical bay staff we independently decided that we wanted to do more than just push buttons and wait. I think we later found out that we started tasking the AI to provide the best medical training it could via the sleep trainers and virtual reality units on the same day. We've kept our progress a secret, but now we have made a discovery we want to share. Donna."

Donna stood up next to her friend and smiled as well. "It has to do with pregnancy and childbirth, which as you can imagine is important to many of our citizens." She put a hand on her own belly. I smiled, as everyone knew she was just as pregnant as Shawna despite her still flat stomach. There was a moment where her eyes turned glassy and unfocused before she looked back at the group.

"What we found out," she continued, "is that thanks to the Confed technology we have a few choices about how to deal with childbirth. We could just have a woman in labor enter a medical pod. The system would do everything and, from our research, the child would be born within the hour. It's a completely painless procedure."

Shawna stepped forward again. "But it turned out that we had other options. The next was a completely natural childbirth without using any Confed technology unless there is a problem."

I heard a groan from the crowd and we all looked. Louis' ex-wife and concubine Heather slowly stood up. "I've done natural childbirth and the labor can last hours. I'm not sure I want to do that again, even with the Confed technology backing up everything."

Donna giggled. "Neither did we. So Shawna and I investigated a bit deeper. We found that there is a solution. We had some special birthing gurneys made in the medical unit. They work similar to a medical pod, but are open, so a woman giving birth stays awake and alert. The unit can provide almost all the same support as a full medical pod."

"Almost?" someone cried out. I looked over to see Jillian shivering in Tamara's arms. "My older sister died three years ago when she went into labor with what would have been her third kid. Are you sure it's safe?"

Shawna smiled. "It's very safe. The system has the best medical monitors available. We also checked and our pre-natal checks should have eliminated all of the potential problems with giving birth. If our research is correct, a woman merely needs to lie on this table once labor starts and no more than six hours later she will give birth to a healthy baby. Her sister concubines and master can even be with her to offer support."

"Oh joy," Maggie said. "Once again I get to watch Heather show me how it's supposed to be done."

Heather giggled. "You'll probably get to go first this time, and then I'll have to prove to our master that I love him still."

Louis mock gruffed. "They never want me anymore. Every night they snuggle together and leave me alone. They even steal the blankets and leave me cold and shivering on the bed."

Heather and Maggie started hugging and kissing their master as everyone laughed. Despite the difference in their ages and the fact that both were considered the property of Louis, both visibly adored the man and did everything they could to encourage and entice him.

Donna smiled. "We just want everyone to know. You do still have the option to enter a medical pod to give birth, but we do have this new option. I know that I'm going to be on the gurney so I can hold Lindsay and Tanya's hands while I give birth."

Jacques' voice rang out. "I told you all the women tied me up, but none of you believe me. See, she doesn't even offer to have me there during the birth of our children."

Donna giggled. "Oh, but I thought you'd be standing between my legs to catch the baby as it emerged."

She held out her arms as Jacques scurried over and wrapped her up in a hug. The former photographer lifted her up and spun her around until she was giggling loudly and demanding that he set her down. The instant her feet touched the floor she pulled Jacques in for a long and loving kiss as the room erupted in applause.

"Reminds me of us," Janice whispered in my ear. "There is just so much love in the air."

I tried to stifle a giggle. James must have overheard Janice because he leaned down and whispered in my other ear. "You trying to deny it?"

I pushed my face into the pillow at the head of the lounge and pretended I had not heard him. His quiet chuckle told me that he knew exactly what I was doing and was amused. Fortunately Janice saved me.

"Nope, we wouldn't deny the truth," she said quietly. She then must have pushed James hands away because I felt her fingers teasing the last few stiff muscles in my back.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feelings my sister concubine was creating as the rest of our household excitedly discussed the announcement. It was clear that all of us liked the idea of James holding our hand while we gave birth. Tina did seem to be struggling with why she liked the idea when Bethany spoke.

"It's simple," Bethany said. "With James there holding our hand we get to share the experience. It will be a way of growing even closer to the man who fathered our babies. And I hear it's good for helping bond with your child as well. We'll honestly remember the experience."

Kitty snorted. "Yeah, six hours of screaming and swearing."

There was a gasp. "It takes that long?" Brittany asked.

For a moment there was silence. Then Marie, who was sitting at the table next to ours, spoke. "Sometimes it does, although I expect we won't have any that last too long," she said to us. We all looked over at her and she blushed. "Sorry, but I realized that none of you have experienced childbirth."

"Will it be worth it?" Tina asked. There was a tremor in her voice and her pale skin showed she was afraid of what might happen.

Marie nodded and pointed at her son who was teasing the two boys belonging to Tyson's concubines. "I will never regret what I went through to bring Ralph into the world. My only regret was not paying more attention to my parents who warned me that his father would abandon me if I got pregnant."

Tina was shaking her head. "I know how that works. I had two men insist that I get abortions when I told them I had got pregnant. My heart fell when I exited the medical pod my first night on the Wisp and the attendant told me I was pregnant."

Bethany laughed. "You came back to the pod crushed. And instead of being thrown out we toasted you."

I had to giggle. "And that night we learned that our prim and proper teacher..." I let my last words slowly fade away.

Bethany blushed. I noticed that both Marie and Esther were now looking at my sister concubine. Finally she sighed and shook her head. "I see the little one can be evil when she wants to. She's hinting that I discovered that if I have a strong emotional attachment to my lovers I'm rather vocal about what I want."

Janice smiled. "Don't be embarrassed. I wish I could let go as much as you do. It's so obvious you are enjoying every second of it."

Bethany nodded at that. "Because it is with all of you I do. I miss it now that I'm so pregnant."

"Me too," Tina whispered. "And I never thought I would. However, I have a strange comment."

"What?" James asked.

"Master, can you have the AI provide me with needle, thread, the parts for a loom and any instructions available on weaving and tapestries?"

"Tapestries?" James asked.

"Yes," Tina answered in an obviously contrived Scottish accent. "You know every castle needs a few tapestries."

Bethany was staring at Tina. "Um...We don't live in a castle," she observed.

Tina giggled. "We have all those empty walls in the hallway. Why shouldn't we decorate them?"

Janice shrugged. "We could just use the technology and have view screens embedded in the walls. We could even make them look like windows to an outside world." She frowned for a moment. "A forested one though, not the acidic soup we have above ground here."

Tina nodded. "We could, but I think tapestries would be better. Each would be something unique we created from our own hands. I should have thought of it earlier. I expect once the first looms are set up and the designs set up, it will be a job where you get to sit quite a bit, which is exactly what I want to do most of the time right now. But even once the babies are born it might not be a bad thing. You can work on the tapestry with your child sleeping right next to you in a basket."

"A basket?" Marie said. "You'd make your babies sleep in a basket?"

Tina blushed. "A portable baby bed then. I don't know what to call it."

Esther laughed. "Marie is just teasing. We understand. I like the idea, but we should have a special area for it, so all the concubines can gather. Maybe we'll work on more than one at a time." She winked at Janice who nodded.

"Oh master, can we do that?" she asked James.

James smiled. He then waved at us. "My lovely and loving ladies, if you could clear the chairs for a moment." As Kitty, Brittany, Bethany and Tina all jumped out of their chairs, he turned to the room. "Yvette, Tam, Tif, Terrence, Donna, do you have a moment? We need to have a quick meeting."

I remained lying where I was as my sister concubines gathered behind James. He reached out to pull Tina forward to sit on his lap as the twins arrived.

"Why did"

"you call"

"a meeting"

"right now?" the twins asked, each twin speaking two words before the other spoke.

Donna dropped into a chair, pulling Jacques to sit next to her. "Are you doing that again? I thought we were going to train you to stop that."

"Why would we do that?" Yvette asked. "I think it's kind of sweet that they remain so close."

James smiled. "I agree," he said as Terrence found the final seat and settled in, his concubines quickly kneeling on the floor behind him. Just that moment I noticed that all other conversations in the room had stopped and even the children appeared to be looking at the table and the people gathered around it.

My master looked around for a moment and then called out. "Louis, I feel like one of those characters in that old financial services commercial."

I turned my head to look at Janice who appeared as baffled as I felt about the comment, but Louis laughed. "Hey, if the council is going to talk publicly. People are going to listen. You can't say you expected something different. I'm still trying to figure out why myself."

Marie giggled. "I know a secret!" she sang out.

James smiled for a moment and then turned to Yvette. "I guess you have cheeky concubines too."

Yvette smiled and blushed. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Now what are we talking about?"

"Setting up some rooms and activities," James replied with a smile. "It seems that Tina has an interesting idea of weaving tapestries for the tunnels."

"Tapestries?" Terrence asked.

James looked over at Tina who blushed for a moment. She then looked Terrence in the eyes and with the same bad Scottish accent she used earlier said, "Yes. A place like this just has to have some tapestries."

Terrence looked baffled, but James only smiled. "It might surprise you, but I like the idea. It's something we can make for ourselves. But I had a thought about how to do it."

Tiffany picked a piece of imaginary lint off her green blouse. "What? And for that matter what is a tapestry?"

The twin's concubine, Marilyn sighed. "All the efforts put into educating children and they still know so little," she observed. "My love, tapestries were common long ago. Basically they were large wall hangings, like posters only made of yarn. Think of a rug hung on the wall."

"Only a rug that is also a picture," Bethany added.

Tiffany looked surprised and turned to James. "Can we really make things like that here?"

"Well, the replicators can supply the materials, and probably can help us build the looms we need. I'm sure the AI units can provide instruction and even more than a bit of design help," James said. "The only real problem will be the lack of experience Tina and the other concubines have in making tapestries and having a place to work."

Tamara smiled. "So that's what this meeting is about. You want to give the concubines a pod to work in."

"I want to do a bit more than that," James said. "We need to put some thought into the future expansions and setup for the colony. I think after the visit of the Pebble Beach we can all agree that it would be better to have any visitors set up outside the enclave itself."

"But won't they want access to places like our recreation room?" Terrence asked.

Yvette nodded. "I'm sure they will. But we might have a solution."

The room remained quiet as James nodded. "Yes we do. Remember that originally there were one hundred colonists landed. The others died fighting or when the atmosphere entered. Well, the ceiling breach was fixed some time ago, so we now have empty pods we can set up as temporary housing. We can have new facilities set up in that zone."

Donna smiled. "That would be nice. I liked Captain Toms, and some of the others from the Pebble Beach, but some of them weren't exactly friendly."

"Yeah, I felt like a piece of meat in front of a starving wolf when some of them looked at me," Lindsay said.

I could not help myself. "Don't you always feel like that in front of men?"

Lindsay smiled at me. "Not really. And I never have felt that way with the men of Ishtar. Sometimes I have to wonder if they find me beautiful."

"Ah, but your great beauty would be spoiled if we allowed our base natures to inflict our lusts on you," Terrence said. "And if I did, I'm sure Diana and Ingrid would figure out a way to make me regret it."

Diana hugged him from behind. "No, we just make sure any lust you might feel is directed where it belongs."

"Between our legs," Ingrid said with a giggle.

Terrence looked at James. "Save me!" he pleaded. "Tell me more!"

Everyone laughed. James allowed the laughter to die down before smiling. "The only problem will be that we have to ask our few children to do much of the work since I think our lady concubines deserve the break. What we will start with is turning one of the empty pods on this side of the door into a concubine escape and project center. I hope the AI will work with me and allow any concubine to enter and exit freely. Children would be able to enter if accompanied by a member of the household they belong to. We can set up one room with the looms and other tools for tapestry making, and then allow the concubines to decide how to set up the rest."

"We can have the rights to set it up?" Janice asked.

James smiled and kissed her cheek. "Certainly. In fact while I won't try to set up an official ban on citizens entering I think we'll call it the Concubines' Refuge and add a new rule to the Tradition. That pod will be for the concubines and citizens should only enter in an emergency. It will give all the concubines a place they can relax and let their hair down."

Tina giggled. "Bethany can do that. She should do it more often."

Bethany managed to glare and smile at Tina at the same time. "Sorry, letting my hair down is for my master. Or my sisters when we are cuddling together."

Kitty and Brittany giggled at that and hugged Bethany. They kissed her neck until she blushed and pushed them away. James just shook his head.

"Anyway," he continued, "it sounds like that idea meets with everyone's approval. Next, we do have an ice skating rink going in. It's just north of the door, so I had a thought. We'll add two more rooms just beyond that. One will be a new athletic room for basketball and such; the next will be left as a multi-use pod for now. The change will be that those three pods will have two entrances. One from our side, which will be locked to outsiders, and one from the other side of the colony."

Yvette nodded. "I like it. We can still meet with others and such, but they don't have to come all the way here. I'm guessing you are also suggesting a new tavern pod on the other side of the door."

"Yes," James said. "And then we need to borrow the children to set up a few pods over there to handle visitors. It doesn't have to be something special. I just want them to check out what we do before we finalize everything."

Yvette smiled. "It will be good for them. You should organize that through Reggie though."

Reggie stood up. "I have no problem organizing a field trip, but I might need to borrow a few citizens to help play chaperone since all of my teachers are a bit in the family way."

The room burst out in laughter at his comment. After that, the meeting broke up. Once the others had left the table, James pulled me to my feet and then gathered up Kitty and Brittany to accompany us back to the pod. Bethany, Tina and Janice followed. Once back home James cuddled and caressed each of us until we actually begged him to stop.