Chapter 19 - The Enclave is Discovered

The next morning the AI reported that the tunnel would be completed in three hours. Once it was complete the wall section at the colony center that concealed the growing passage would open permanently. Unfortunately only one of the three planned pressure doors would be complete immediately. The other two would take one and two hours respectively to complete. There was a definite time window where protection would be limited. The only good news was that the armory in the colony center was still locked down.

I held a quick meeting with my ladies and it was decided to send them out again. This time Brittany and Bethany were to visit with Louis and his children, while Tina and Janice were to visit with Linus, his concubines and the two children who were part of his household. I was going out to check in with Terrence, Donna and Brad before arriving at the pressure door to see how it held up.

The early meetings were mundane. Terrence was all smiles, as his two ladies seemed to be hanging on his every word. The smile on his face was one of shock and wonder, and I finally had to get Ingrid to admit that after returning from the sponsor's meeting and deciding to treat them with a bit more respect, they had decided to prove to him that a pair of old broads could still drain a man. They had been spending their time since the meeting showing him that if trust and respect was there, they not only wanted, but also desired his touch and care, and he seemed giddy with the prospect of having their loving affection.

Brad was calm, although on this day his concubines were dressed as Ohio State and Michigan cheerleaders. I paused and he just laughed. "Its no fun if they are both rooting for the same team!" he said. The two young ladies giggled and then kissed him obviously happy with the situation. Brad then surprised me by promising to show up at the door when the tunnel was completed, just in case something went wrong.

Donna was fine, although Lindsay was feeling more than a bit sick, thanks to her pregnancy. She was more cheerful though, as the prospect of keeping her body looking young and vibrant was of vital importance to the young former model. Donna actually stepped into the hallway to whisper to me. "I can't get her to believe that I would love her no matter what she looked like. Please, can you get Tina or Janice to talk to her later? She thinks people only care about her looks, but she's always been so sweet and caring. I just want the trust to be there, like you have with your ladies."

I had nodded and then had to rush off as the AI warned me that the tunnel was complete and the connection between our tunnel and the colony center was about to open. I passed my ladies returning to the pod and had them take Meiko with them, warning them that the pod would remain closed until I returned, and then I found the entry to the corridor leading to the colony center.

The first thing I noticed was that the tunnel itself was poorly lit. Shadows seemed to jump and play in the feeble lighting. I could not see the one closed door, as it lay deeper down the passage, which had limited visibility due to the darkness. The AI reported that the first of the remaining doors would be appearing right at the juncture where I was standing, and then the third door would appear about twelve meters past the currently closed door, creating a small chamber that could be used like an airlock.

The AI somehow anticipated that monitoring of the tunnel would be necessary, and there were three screens next to the tunnel entrance. Two were dark, but the third showed an empty piece of hallway shrouded in shadows. The passage obviously was empty, but I stood there quietly as the opening to the tunnel slowly changed. After an hour of waiting, during which Yvette and Brad joined me, a new door slid quietly closed, blocking the passageway, and one of the remaining two screens lit up with a picture of the area just on the other side of the door.

"Cool!" Brad shouted. "You can see who's at the door anytime."

I nodded as several more sponsors wandered over. One of the twins was there and walked over to Yvette and me to ask. "What's happening?"

Yvette snorted as I watched the screens. "Not much; our tunnel to the colony center is open now, but only two of the three barrier doors are operational. We're just watching to see if any problems occur until the final door closes," she said.

"Oh," was the twin's response. "We expecting?"

I sighed. "We haven't heard from either Ruth or Manuel, and I'm sure they have noticed the fact that not all one hundred sponsors are together. And I was warned that when the first door became operational our tunnel would be visible in the colony center."

The growing crowd stood in silence and watched for about another forty-five minutes. I was going to suggest an end to the vigil when the screen watching the formed middle door flickered and five large people walked into view.

Ruth, or someone who had the same face, because the body had changed greatly, led them. The woman had a body resembling some Eastern European woman weightlifter from the Cold War period. Three of the accompanying figures were large men, obviously benefiting from the standard marine physical enhancements. The only surprise was the final member. It was a tall and slender woman with an athletic build more resembling a volleyball player, than a marine. She frowned slightly as the leader came to the door and pounded on it.

"The mice have a barrier," we heard the leader say nastily, through some speaker set up behind the viewscreen. "Greg, Hector, get up here, and find the gap, let's crowbar this open, it worked on the pod doors earlier!"

One of the male sponsors near me shouted. "It what?!"

The AI spoke quietly. "Ruth and her friends forced their way into the pod of one of the neutrals last night. They believe it was the crowbars that opened the door, but actually the sponsor inside panicked and asked for the door to be opened."

The male sponsor gasped. "What happened to him?"

Ruth's friends were investigating the door and banging on it with some rather hefty crowbars they had with them. They appeared to be searching for a weak point, but were having little luck while the AI answered the question. "The sponsor was crippled and is currently being kept locked up in Hector's pod. His property has been shared around among Ruth's followers. One of his two concubines shows signs of distress and will probably commit suicide later tonight."

The gasp behind me made it clear how that news was received. I thought for a moment. "AI, is the final door ready to close?"

"No," the AI replied. "It will need another five minutes before it can close."

I smiled. "AI, I'd like to establish a rule on these doors, the two that are currently closed can only open to the commands of Yvette or myself unless I authorize others to give the command. The last door I have special rules for. For now, just let me know when it can be closed and I'll give a command to close it. Once we chase Ruth off that door should allow up to two unarmed sponsors and any unarmed concubines and children with them to pass freely, but should require Yvette or my command to open for larger groups."

"Command accepted," the AI said as we watched Ruth's minions attempting to drive the crowbars into the junction between the door and the wall. Ruth seemed quite upset and I noticed that the other woman had backed off quite a bit from her angry companions.

I sighed and looked at Yvette who nodded. I turned back to view the screen where the three men accompanying Ruth continued to pound on the door, looking for a way to force it open. I spoke. "AI, can you connect me by voice to the area round the door, so that Ruth and her friends can hear me; don't bother playing with my voice."

There was a moment where the only sounds were the banging of the crowbars and then the AI spoke. "Channel opened."

I took a deep breath and spoke. "Oh, it's so loud, all that pounding! Who has the discourtesy to pound on my outer door?"

Ruth held up her hand and the banging stopped as her minions turned to look around. "So, it's you in charge? Or are you just the mouse willing to try to placate the cat? What's with the door? It looks like you don't trust me."

"Would you trust you?" I asked. "Besides we like it over here, it's nice and quiet normally. At least it would be if you and your gorillas weren't attacking our door. I must say that it does look like you feed them well."

Ruth laughed evilly. "I've fed them a few mice. And if you don't open this door, I'll make sure that I feed them you and your cute little concubines too."

I could feel tension behind me and laughed. "With crowbars? I don't think you are getting through the door with just that. Where are your guns? I heard you had been studying all the weaponry."

Ruth growled. "The armory door is locked! To me! The AI told me I don't have permission to enter! But I'll get it open. Larry and Dennis are sure they can force it open. And then we'll drive that rat Manuel and his wetback friends to the surface and watch them melt!"

"What about running the colony, and doing the jobs the Confederation wants us to do?" I asked reasonably.

Ruth seemed to draw in breath to shout again. She was still inhaling when the AI reported. "The final door is ready to close. Please note that the second woman has backed out of the containment area."

Ruth of course did not hear this and shouted. "What do I care about the Confederation? They dropped us on this rock and left us to die. You mice can come to the colony center and run the post if it's so important to you. Maybe we'll let you pay for the privilege by bringing your concubines along."

"Never," Brad hissed as I looked on. As the AI had reported the final member of her party, the tall woman had backed off and was now standing about eighteen or so yards away from the doorway. She appeared to be looking down the corridor watching for any interruptions, but her body language suggested that she did not want to be near the men.

Ruth was turning to shout to the lady when I spoke. "AI, close the final door."

The door closed in front of Ruth's eyes, cutting her off from her female companion and leaving her and the three men in a small closed area. "What the fuck!" one of the men shouted.

Ruth ran over and hit the door once, pulling her hand back and shaking it as a thud sounded through the speakers. I growled. "Its real. And I now have you and your three friends trapped, but I'm not inclined to torture you to death with starvation."

"You're too kind!" Ruth hissed.

"Not really," I replied. "Kindness would have me letting all the air out of that chamber and saving everyone from the fighting that is going to come, but then I'd still have to face Manuel. So I have a simple deal. Leave us alone. Go and fight with Manuel for mastery of that side of the colony. We'll take care of the Confederation requirements. Just leave us alone."

Ruth was turning red with fury and grabbed a crowbar from one of her friends and threw it at the just closed door. "Fuck you! You win for now! We'll leave. Just let us walk away, mice. We'll be back though!"

"We'll be waiting," I said flippantly. "AI, open the door that just closed, let Ruth and her lower lifeforms make like amoebas and split."

The door opened silently as a few of the sponsors around me laughed. Ruth and her male friends were arguing loudly as they walked past the now opened door and headed back down the corridor. Once they were clear of the door, it closed behind them and the final screen displayed the now vacant area just in front of the door.

Yvette was shaking her head and smiling. "Oh, I wish I could be a fly on the wall of Ruth's next little war council. She's going to be almost insane with fury. I've never seen someone put one over on her like that."

I could hear some grumbling and turned to the gathered sponsors. "We are now in a secured area. As you can see there are three doors between the colony center and us. The farthest one from us is set up so that anyone leaving the groups in the center can come through and wait for approval to move on. The other two are only going to accept commands from Yvette or myself. I'm sorry if that upsets you, but for now at least, we need the isolation and security."

The grumbling ended although a glance into the crowd as it dispersed caught Tasha looking extremely upset. The only other apparent issue was with Eric who tried to whisper to a couple of nearby sponsors that he could have done it better. I was surprised when I heard a voice snap. "Can it, white boy. That brother had a plan and just made it work to perfection. Would you have anticipated Ruth and her friends doing something like that? Or had the extra door there to put enough fear into them to get them to retreat?"

Yvette gave me a hug as we heard that and took one last look at the screens. "Wow, I knew Tyson respected me, but that's impressive," I whispered in amazement.

I nodded as Brad smiled. "Hey! Can I bring Randi and Candi over to your pod? Randi would love to see the rabbits."

I grinned wickedly. "Sure! Do you play bridge?"

Yvette burst out laughing. "Oh god! Bridge! If you want that, I'll drag my crowd over. Philippe and I loved to play. We've been teaching Marie and Esther, so I'd love to do that!"

Brad looked at both of us and just shook for a moment. "I can try, but I don't know the game."

Yvette gave him a hug. "Don't worry, we can teach you; you'll love it." She started to dash off. "Oh, give me a few minutes to arrive James, but we'll be there!"

I smiled at Brad as Yvette disappeared down the tunnel. "We have other options, but do bring the girls around. My concubines love entertaining."

Brad promised to be there and we separated off to our pods. I found my ladies cheerfully checking on the rabbits and quite happy to set up to entertain. By the time Brad arrived they had chosen to wear gold skirts with white tops and were putting finishing touches on their hairstyles. His girls were still in their cheerleader outfits, which caused Janice to vanish into the bedroom to emerge moments later in her green cheerleader outfit.

"What team is that?" Randi asked.

Janice blushed and whispered. "It's the 'I'll fuck James any time in any way because I love him more than life' team."

Randi and Candi giggled. "That's the best team to be on. But Brad likes to see university teams." They bracketed him and kissed his cheeks. The laughter that followed broke the ice and the next several hours were spent playing a multitude of games.