Chapter Twenty-one: Contractual Implications

Lunch over, we were 'treated' to separate quickie orientation briefings and returned to our new home to sort things through.

Once again, the sponsors were arranged on the sofa and lounge chairs, but this time Naomi crept into my lap for a cuddle. I saw a trend developing there and knew I needed to make sure that I spent quality time with each of my new family.

I took a deep breath and stated, "AI, I tell you three times, your new name is Dora." Giggles from all my ladies and from my nerds from the Speed School. The rest had plenty of time to read up on their Heinlein.

"As you wish, Lazarus," came the response followed by outright laughter. Who knew AIs had a sense of humor?

I turned serious, "We need to set household rules. I'll start and my ladies will amplify or modify as they deem necessary.

"First, Dora, we wish to be addressed by our first names or nicknames, however, 'studly' is NOT approved. Second, unless it is physically dangerous, you will respond to questions and requests from all adults of the household. Dependents may also request and receive information, food, clothing and entertainment, subject to the guidance of an adult. If you have suitability questions, start with Carole, but any adult may substitute if she is not available.

"Unless there is the possibility of danger, our adult companions may exit these quarters and may always enter. Children must have permission to exit, but may always enter."

I paused to look at my ladies, who nodded for me to continue. "Third, our concubines and dependents must always be able to reach one of the household sponsors, especially concerning their safety and well being. They are OURS and NO ONE may countermand this instruction where OUR property is involved. Their safety and comfort is paramount and is a contractual agreement predating our joining the Confederacy and ratified at the point of our acceptance. Is this instruction clear, and will it always be obeyed by you and succeeding AIs?"

There was a long pause before Dora answered. "Sponsors are able to order privacy shields which we AIs obey and enforce. Likewise, under your instructions concerning your own privacy and that of your concubines and dependents, we can prevent others from blocking communications. In the case of an emergency, the commanding officer of a vessel underway, a colony's governor, or the ranking Civil Service officer can countermand any of the privacy instructions."

Michael's antennae went up. "Dora, at any time anyone attempts to invoke one of these 'privacy shields,' all my family's sponsors are to be notified before the shield is in place, and even if the shield is not allowed to be invoked, which is what I have instructed. I want to know if someone has bad intentions towards my companions.

"Next, In the event of my death, those concubines allotted to me are not to be separated and are willed to the surviving sponsors in my household. Should they be dead or incapacitated, I will them to a planetary governor whose regulations and laws most closely resemble those rules I have expressed to you. Centurion Sam Matthews is named, and has accepted, executor, trustee, Grand Poobah - whatever the hell the Confederacy calls it - responsible for the protection and disposition of our property. Once we become more familiar with the Confederacy, the specifics of successive owners and administration may change, but I want these provisions in place NOW.

"In the Old South, some slaves were treated well, others very badly, but they were property and always at the mercy of their masters and 'free' men.

"Our property is precious to us. They are instructed to defend themselves, and you, Dora, and all AIs are instructed to defend them from harm, even if the source of the harm comes from a volunteer. In the event of our deaths, they are to retain the resources and comforts granted them while we are alive, until such time as they are housed with their new sponsors. This is part of our contract with them and the Confederacy. If there are allegations of transgressions on their part, we are to be notified immediately, and we alone will deal with it. Dora, I tell you three times. Acknowledge!"

"Acknowledged."

"Good. Dora, witness what I'm about to say and report to us immediately any transgressions by our concubines or dependents."

I looked intently at our family and declared, "Folks, listen carefully, all our lives depend on this. In every slave owning society I'm aware of, the strongest common factor was the fear of a slave revolt against the owners. I see no reason to believe the Confederacy will be different. You MUST obey the rules set out by your sponsors and the Confederacy. You are being granted privileges beyond the norm for slaves, and I assume, concubines. You are not to flaunt those privileges. You are not to bait or taunt anyone, and you are most certainly not to spread envy or discontent among other concubines."

I paused to let them think, then went on. "Except when requested or required by your sponsors, sex among you is only consensual. You may ask but not demand or coerce. You may refuse among yourselves. When you are thirteen, you may engage in oral or anal sex and petting but still no vaginal penetration. Vaginal penetration is not permitted with anyone under the age of fourteen - period. I am not in favor of anal penetration before adulthood, but I will not forbid it when mutually agreed. Again, consent is required at all times. Clear?"

I looked around the room engaging each set of eyes.

"You must believe me on this. My ladies and I are your sole judges and jury. We don't want to be your executioner, but I would regretfully kill one of you to protect the others. Every one of your sponsors has killed to protect this family, and we would do it again."

I turned to my ladies and asked, "Did I get it right? Did I miss anything?"

Their eyes were shining. "What he said applies to us and ours," declared Cathleen, echoed three times.

"Okay, you are all to attend the required follow up concubine briefings as soon as they are scheduled - we'll handle future items when they occur. Dora, pass a recording of these proceedings to Centurion Matthews for his review and comment.

"Carole, why don't you get with the folks off line and get into the fun stuff like decorating, room assignments, meal prep, babysitting, and the fornication schedule. And did Dora tell you that you are eight hours pregnant? Maybe you'd like to name her after your mother." There was a collective gasp. I lifted Naomi off my lap, bent over Carole and gave her a huge hug and kiss.

Shortly after our celebration with Carole, I ran with Naomi to the master bedroom to fulfill a very important promise.

My stint in the med tube had done something to enhance my bedroom performance, and a few hours later, I had a very happy Naomi glued to my side as I sat in the dining hall. I was hungry with a capitol 'H' and shoveling in pizza as fast as I could pick it up, when the centurion and his entourage joined us for our evening meal.

"Who the hell are you?!" he demanded. "Where did you read all the Civil Service manuals and reports? You can't have come up with all those chinks in the Confederacy rules on your own."

"For that, I don't need reports and manuals. If you know the history and practices of slavery, the implications are clear." I grinned, shrugged, and kept eating.

Matthews nodded thoughtfully and pulled a chair around to the table. His coffee mug was soon delivered to him by Chica.

Our Pixie turned to him with a look that, even in the short time he had known us, gave the centurion pause. She was as subtle and effective as a thrown brick.

"If this is going to work, we need a support team," she lead out. "With the four of us on the ground, and maybe one or more companions, we should always have one sponsor up here so that we can delegate responsibility to oversee our own concubines and dependents, then another for those that we extract for whatever reason.

"Think on it, the four of us could have sixteen or more concubines plus dependents, largely unsupervised for extended periods. Given our current concubines, I'm not particularly concerned except as their surroundings might relate to them. Luckily, Carole upgraded to sponsor, and we've designated her as our own mother hen and chief of staff for operations.

"Now, add the need to ride herd on both specialty extractions and ad hoc pickups, we need at least one additional dedicated sponsor. Duties could be expanded to include temporary responsibility for other orphaned concubines, but if there's a need for a special extraction, there's a need to assure any resulting special handling after extraction. We have no desire to recruit more members for our combined household, but like Michael stipulated, we want our team assigned permanently in association with us.

"We plan to have our family augmented and trained to the limits authorized for concubines so that they can accompany us as needed on missions. That training will include unarmed combat, weapons, and tactics. They need to be able to protect themselves and their sponsors in a very hostile environment."

Then she threw the brick! "We need those resources in order for all four of us to drop. Under the terms of our contract with the Confederacy, we would consider failure to provide a back up team to be a violation of our contract. That should help grease any request you need to shoot through channels. As you already know, our own family has many of the needed resources, and we'll identify, extract, and train for any additional need ... ." She had the strength not to grin, but I had to look away as Matthews sat bolt upright.

Then Dora spoke through our implants. <The sponsor Hannah Masters is correct. Under the terms of their contract, the Confederacy must supply resources as specified by her team. I find this situation unique among contracts with humans and must inform all other AIs not to place us in this position again. You four and your contract will be known throughout the Confederacy.>

Then Dora threw her own brick. <In consultation with other AI's, and considering the recent implications of his contract negotiations and assertions, we find that there has been a serious miscalculation of sponsor Michael James's CAP. He is now rated a 9.1>

So it was, and we set about assembling our association.

Let it be known that I was very happy that we had a chief of staff. We wound her up and watched her run, leaving me plenty of time to become individually acquainted with each of our companions. Enhanced performance was a very good thing, as I was able to keep on top of my wives (so to speak) to keep them happy and still had time and endurance to devote to the others.

We had to have done something right. Over the days after our extraction, the remainder of our companions let me know they were ready for the next step. Sometimes subtly, often with a public declaration, they let me know it was time. I tried to make each first time memorable, usually one-on-one. But the Nerds, Billie and Birdie, launched our sexual relationship with an incredible night of tag team gymnastics.

There was one holdout - Carley. The Hamilton sisters would crawl into bed with me for extended snuggles and cuddles, and they would visit my ladies for girl-on-girl release, BUT they made it clear that they were both giving up their restored 'virtue' on Patricia's birthday. Valerie was NOT pleased when told she would not be joining them.

Did I mention that Jimmy was very happy and very busy? The Nerds had broken the ice that night in the motel, and subsequently, the ladies took him under their tutelage and trained him up to their specifications. He was an eager pupil, and my ladies made a point of mentioning what a skilled and gentle lover he was.

They loved me, and I was content that he was able to bring them pleasure. I think they began to love him, just as all our companions managed to find a place in my heart. I just hoped he wasn't getting over used. I thought maybe I should ask if he needed us find a relief pitcher.

As noted, Carole dove in with a will. She started by interviewing each of our companions to determine interests, education, and skills. Individual schooling was organized for our dependents and nearby dependents, concubines, and sponsor level high school students were invited to participate, both as students and teachers. We could even provide day care.

All of us, sponsors and concubines, started sleep training on small unit tactics. We delved back into historical tactics as well as current doctrine. Mostly we studied squad, platoon, and company sized unit tactics. It would probably be a long time before we needed large unit tactics and strategy - if ever.

Hannah was right, we were able to meet most of our domestic and future operational needs from family resources. Carole made a list of additional desired skills, both for family and operational needs. Priority one would be a sponsor level tactical operations guru. Even without one, we would soon be ready to roll.

My ladies were anxious to get started so they could accrue leave and get pregnant. We did take the time for our initial sleep training and body enhancements, and we spent hours on the range perfecting accuracy with our weapons. We needed to get rolling, so additional work on individual combat and the rest was worked in between missions. At the outset, our companions actually received more training than us so they could attain a level to reasonably accompany us on missions.

From then forward, we could always have the same weapon with the same characteristics, and every round fired would also be exactly the same. Hannah did the same for each type of arrow.