Chapter 10

The following day we began to hear rumours. They were odd at first, not making a lot of sense. It soon became apparent that many people on board were blaming Islamist terrorists and fundamentalists for the attack at Balmoral and the murder of the Royal Family. This, so the rumours suggested, was in revenge for either the Israeli attack on Mecca, or the fact that the Middle East was barred from being collected. Some were blaming the Jews as well, and a few times when we were in the refectory things were said that were not very pleasant. Being Jewish is not the same as being Israeli, and too many people were forgetting that.

"The problem is," Roger told me quietly, "a mob is only as intelligent as its least intelligent member." I gave a half smile, and nodded. "Look around you," he told me. "If you look carefully, it's not just the sponsors making the noise. In some cases it's the concubines. Especially the males. Look. Probably lower intelligence, definitely more easily swayed by rubbish headlines. Though why they would think Islamist rather than Irish Republican or some other group I don't know."

I nodded. "Because the IRA haven't been active for a few years? Because the Islamists have?" I shrugged. "Militant Islam was in the news not long before we went down the mountain. Dai Thomas was talking about it if you remember. I'm not totally surprised people have made that assumption."

"True. But it's still only an assumption." He nodded at a couple of families on the other side of the refectory. "You can see people getting worked up about things they don't know."

I nodded. "I think we'll head back home. We don't want to be caught in this if something happens."

Roger nodded his agreement and I tapped Huw's shoulder. He looked at me and I could see that fury was building up in him, not directed at me though. A perfect example of what Roger had just been saying.

"Let's go," I said.

"Yeah, we gotta go find them."

"No," I said firmly. "We're going home. You need to get back to Janine if you want to become a sponsor in your own right."

"Oh. But what about the ragheads? We... ,"

I slapped him, hard. I was starting to get angry with him. Anything he might do would reflect on me as his owner. I had to get him to calm down, and quickly.

He turned sharply and raised his fist. "SLAVE!" I said sharply, aggressively, glaring at him.

He opened his mouth to speak, then realised what I was saying. He paused and nodded, his internal anger dampened down, but didn't go out.

Once in the pod, Roger took him to one side and spoke to him. I could see Huw was frustrated at first, but as Dad continued to speak to him, the anger and frustration left him. "I'm sorry," he told me an hour or so later. "I wasn't thinking straight."

"Thinking about your actions is important if you expect to become a sponsor in your own right."

He nodded. "I'm sorry."

I clapped him on the shoulder and sent him to Janine.

There weren't any riots: the AI's had alerted security and although no curfew was announced, for a few days armed marine guards were evident everywhere.

Quite by chance I saw Danny a few days later. He was talking to one of his officers. Lieutenant Reilly, the ex-Texas Ranger if I remembered correctly. Reilly had obviously been in a fight, as he was favouring his left arm slightly, and there were three unconscious bodies not far away, and a couple more people down and groaning.

"You should have called for backup, sir," I heard Danny say.

"One riot, one Ranger, Corporal, you know that." He marched off leaving Danny staring after him, a very startled look on his face. After a few seconds he just started to laugh, shaking his head disbelievingly.

"Hey, Danny," I called. He stopped, saw me and waved, heading in my direction.

"You okay son?"

"Aye. Everything okay?"

"Another minor fight." He chuckled slightly. "Lieutenant Reilly sorted them out." He waved behind him at the five people being collected by the rest of Danny's section. "This is only the second minor incident so far. Fortunately for them, these five were just being foolish. Hopefully they'll go home and see sense. Some Jewish passengers are going to be put on trial for attempting to get into a pod that had what they thought were Muslims in. They were actually Hindus but that's what stupidity gets you."

"Carrots," I said. Danny looked at me oddly, but said nothing. "Make these ones watch the trial and see what they only just missed out on."

Danny nodded. "Maybe."

"Do we have many Moslems on board?" I continued.

"A few, you can ask the AI, it'll probably tell you. Just don't go causing any problems. And make sure your slaves don't either."

"Don't worry, I won't." I was slightly startled that Danny had referred to my family as 'slaves'. Generally he used 'family' or occasionally 'concubines'. I guessed it was just stress.

He nodded and hurried off, while I continued on to my training.

When I did ask the AI later that evening, I got some numbers.

"There are eleven Moslems aboard in two households, twenty-one Hindus in four households, five Sikhs in a single household, and seventy-six Jews. Sixty-one of the Jews are in eight Jewish only households, the remaining fifteen are scattered amongst the rest of the population, as concubines in otherwise non-Jewish families. Your concubine Janine Miller is one of those fifteen, as is one of the concubines of your colleague Jack Power."

My mouth dropped in surprise. "Oh. Oh." It had really never occurred to me that Janine might be Jewish.

"Um, of those, who caused the trouble?"

"Two sponsors and three concubines from two related Jewish only households have been arrested."

"What will happen to them?"

"That has not been determined; however going by past experience of Captain Night, if he finds them guilty, they will likely be recycled."

"Oh shit. What will happen to the rest of their households if that happens?"

"The remaining three concubines, and the four dependent children will be given to the Civil Service for disposal as appropriate."

"Um. Does that mean recycling?"

"Not necessarily. It's possible they'll be placed with other families."

Not with me, I thought. I didn't need the extra bodies.

"Oh. Right. Fair enough, I guess."

The following day the AI told me, when I asked, that the five, all men, had already been recycled.

I sort of forgot about it for a couple of days, until the AI chimed up as the family was sitting down to breakfast.

"Emergency. Lieutenant Carter. There is a distressed female volunteer outside your door begging for help. Marine forces have been dispatched, but they are a few minutes away. Please assist."

"Open main door," I yelled as I bolted for the entrance-way.

In the door, blood pouring from her head, was a woman I vaguely recognised as my immediate neighbour, pod Green Seven. Quite apart from being injured, she looked very upset. "Leave the door open for when the marines arrive," I told the AI. I lifted her and half carried her through to the living area. Imogen and Branny had followed me to see what was going on, and by the time I returned with the woman they had already cleared one of the settees for me to lie her on. Mum had grabbed a damp cloth, while Branny was getting basic first aid stuff from the replicator. Even as I was examining the deep gash on her forehead, the blood flow was rapidly diminishing. The nanites in her system I guessed.

"That's quite impressive," Imogen said softly, staring.

"You okay ma'am?" I asked.

"He's dead," she said, tears coming to her eyes as Imogen gently cleaned her face.

"Who is?"

"My husband. He tried to kill," she burst into tears and it took us a few minutes to calm her down again.

"Knock knock," called a voice urgently. "Confederacy marines. We're coming in." They weren't asking permission, they were telling me.

Roger quickly went into the corridor and directed them towards us, two men and two women.

"What's going on?" asked the lance-corporal in charge.

I quickly told him what little I knew.

"Is she concubine or volunteer?"

"Volunteer," supplied the AI. "This is volunteer Ameera Shafeeq."

"What's her background?" I asked.

"She was picked up in Bristol, and is of a Pakistani Moslem background."

I grimaced and let Imogen and Branny take over. Moslems and Hindus could be quite funny about letting a 'strange' male touch their females.

"She was saying someone has died?" Roger added.

"Where's she from?"

"Next door I think. Green seven."

"Right." The Marine stared at me. "Look after her for now." He beckoned the rest of his people to follow him.

He was back a few minutes later. "Who's in charge here?" There seemed to be suppressed fury in his voice.

I stood up. "I am."

He took me outside and gave me a quick update.

"There's a dead man in there, plus a woman and two young children locked in an inside room. The AI tells me they are safe and unhurt, but it can't, or won't, open the door. Since it would appear that the woman you have is the master in this household, she is to be placed under arrest pending..." he broke off and I saw his eyes go up. He was getting information from the AI.

"Uh." His whole demeanour and expression changed, and the anger in his voice faded to be replaced by sorrow. "Forget that. She'll need to come to the medical bay for a check-up."

I frowned slightly. "What happened then? She didn't kill him?"

"Not according to the AI."

"Oh?"

The lance-corporal just shook his head. He went all brisk and business-like on me. "Thank you for your assistance. When the corpse has been removed, can you spare one of your female concubines to assist the surviving concubine next door? I don't know what condition she is in, and under the circumstances she may not respond to a male presence."

I nodded. "Yes, sure. Janine's got two young sons, she'll probably be the best one to help. But if it's only for a couple of hours, they can come here."

"Mmm. If you're okay with that, and the volunteer agrees, but we need to get her to the medical bay right now."

I nodded and went back in. He followed with one of the female team members, who picked up the still gently sobbing woman as if she weighed nothing.

It was agreed that Janine should go next door for the time being, and try and persuade the woman there to bring her children to us. By the time I left for my marine training, nearly half an hour later, Janine hadn't yet returned.

I got home a little late that evening, our training had run on as a number of us, including both Melissa and myself, had had real problems with one of the practical low gravity exercises. I'd ended up injuring my left wrist and had spent ten minutes in a medical tube, about the minimum time anyone ever went in for.

"Janine's still next door," Roger told me. "The volunteer, Ameera I think, got back about ten minutes ago. She came in here just to say thanks, and left only moments before you got here. I can't imagine Janine'll be much longer."

"That was a long time. Surely she wasn't in the medical bay that long?" In fact thinking about it, I knew she hadn't been, I'd been in there not that long ago, and she hadn't been there then.

Roger shook his head. "She was being questioned. By quite a lot of different people apparently. Captain. Medical Officer. Civil Service officer. Psychologist. Psychiatrist. Everyone and their dog by the sound of it."

I smiled slightly and nodded, heading into the shower to get cleaned up.

When she came back a few minutes later, Janine gave us a brief update.

"Ameera's husband tried to kill her, then did kill himself."

"Why?"

"Rania, that's Ameera's other concubine, thinks that Saqib couldn't live with being the concubine to a woman. I think that they all thought they were modern enough to cope, but they weren't. He wasn't anyway."

"So was Saqib?" I questioned the pronunciation of the name, and continued at Janine's nod, "her husband before they were picked up?"

"Yes. She has a six point nine apparently. Saqib only had a five point nine."

"And Rania?" Imogen asked.

Janine shrugged. "She didn't tell me. Saqib had been getting very up tight for some weeks now, and Rania thinks something just triggered him off. He tried to commit suicide, which is very un-Islamic anyway," that comment reminded me that Janine had been brought up Jewish, but I said nothing and allowed her to continue.

"And tried to take the rest of them with him," continued Janine. "Ameera fought him off but got hurt letting Rania escape with Ameera and Saqib's two kids."

"Ah. How old are they?" I was meaning the children, but Janine answered for the whole family.

"Saqib was twenty-seven, Ameera and Rania are both twenty-five, and the two kids, Abdul the boy and Reem the little girl, are five and three."

"Okay." I forgot about them and turned my thoughts to my late dinner, and to Siân and Stacy who were spending that night with me. Branny was feeling a bit sick, and wanted a night on her own.

I was surprised therefore when, three days later, as I was walking home from my training, I got a message through my internal AI interface asking me if I would kindly visit Ameera.

I guessed from the wording that it was her request.

"Tell her I have a free day tomorrow, and ask will that do?" I sent.

"That will be fine. She requests a morning visit if that is convenient."

"Ten AM?"

"Accepted," came the eventual reply.

I mentioned it briefly to Roger who pondered for a moment, then said slowly, "loan her Huw."

"What?"

"I think she's realised she doesn't have a male in her pod, and needs one. It's probable she would prefer a Moslem, but also realises that that in turn may cause similar problems so is going outside her comfort zone."

"Oh. Interesting. So I wonder why us."

"Only a guess," said Roger, but I would think she's already worked out that we're neither Jews nor Moslems, and after that, I guess she'll know we helped her once, and hopes we'll help her again. She probably knows we're a fairly large 'family', so will hope we have a male to spare." He nodded. "As I say, offer to loan her Huw, but make sure she understands that it is only a loan. For now anyway."

"All right. If that's what it's about."

That night, on one of her rare visits to my bed, Imogen agreed with Roger. Both Stacy and Branny were feeling sick that night, and Siân had gone with Roger. As usual Huw was with Janine. I hoped he would get his CAP, it was clear the two of them had formed a real bond.

After Imogen and I had made love and had both recovered from some amazing orgasms, we lay, cwtched up close, and talked for a while.

"Your father's right. Loan her Huw."

"What?" I had to think for a moment what she was talking about. "Oh. You sure he'll be right for her?"

"I think so. He's finally learned how to be a very gentle lover, and she'll probably need that. You know that Janine is never going to be truly comfortable having sex, and I'm sure what we've done would help to bring her sex score up a little if she was ever re-tested, but she told me that Huw was exactly what she needed. He doesn't demand sex from her, and if they go without for a few days, or even longer, it will never bother her."

She paused for a moment. "I think that's what the young woman next door will need. For now anyway." She nodded slowly, deep in thought. "Yes, I do believe that if Roger's correct in his assessment, you should loan her Huw for a week."

"Only loan? Not transfer him?" I actually had no intention of transferring him, but I wanted mum's opinion.

Imogen smiled. "No. You would upset Janine for sure if you did, and she almost certainly wouldn't be able to go along. I would miss him as well." She reached down and stroked my cock. "I want to keep all my family together for as long as possible. I know we'll slowly split up anyway, eventually. Go our own ways. But I hope you'll hold on to Branwen."

"If I can I'm going to hold on to Siân as well," I told her. "I'd like to hang on to you," she gave me a quick squeeze, "but if Dad does manage to get the good CAP score I think he deserves, I'll transfer you to him if that's what you both want."

She smiled her pleasure, then frowned slightly. "How will you hold on to Siân?"

"She and I have already talked about getting a joint pod together. Sharing pods. Sharing concubines as well I guess. Having a single household with two sponsors in. Apparently it's quite allowed."

"Ah. Oh." Mum paused. "What a good idea," she murmured. After a moment she rolled on top of me and kissed me gently. I returned the soft kisses. A few minutes later she wriggled her hips slightly, and reached behind her to get at my now solid cock. With a quick shimmy that made my heart pound with lust and desire, my mother pressed my cock inside her perfect pussy once more.

To my astonishment, Roger turned out to be basically correct in his guesses.

"Come in," Ameera said with a gentle, sad smile, when I announced myself at her door at ten the following morning.

"Hello, I'm Llewelyn, but just call me Lew."

"I spent a lot of time in South Wales: Newport and Cwmbran especially," she said with a smile, and promptly pronounced my name correctly.

I nodded my head in apology. "Fair enough."

Her accent had no Indian or Asian in it at all. It was an educated English accent, with overtones of Bristol. "Please, sit."

I did so with a smile, and then nodded and smiled my acceptance when she offered me a cup of green tea. I hadn't had green tea in years, and hadn't particularly liked it then, but this was very different, and very delicious. And very refreshing.

"Thank you for your help the other day," she began.

I started to tell her we'd done nothing, but she barely let me speak.

"Your Janine brought her two little boys in to play with my two children, and she and Rania talked a lot. It helped her, and that has helped me."

"You're very welcome."

She gave another sweet smile, and if I hadn't already known how old she was, I would have thought her much closer to my own age. Except that of course maybe she was now younger looking than she had been, I thought, but wasn't rude enough to enquire.

"So how can I help?" I asked softly.

At her blush I looked down at the tea. "This is delicious," I told her.

She just nodded. She was scared, that was for sure, and it took her a while to come to her request, but my bland comment had given her time to gather her thoughts.

"My husband Saqib was unmanned by the experience," she told me, "by the experience of being subservient to a female. We talked about it a lot before we were picked up, and we really thought we could make it work." Not once did she look at me, but talked to the floor all the time. Too embarrassed I guessed to look at me. "But the reality didn't work for him. I am, was, a chemical engineer, but I hadn't been working all that long, and there were a number of people more senior to me."

"Were they more experienced than you?"

She looked at me. "Oh yes. This isn't a complaint. I had only been working three years, and it was a big company."

I just nodded. "Sorry, go on."

She looked down again. "Saqib was his own boss. He ran a small stationary and printing business and employed two other people. He was used to being in charge, I wasn't. At home we were modern," she paused and gave a small smile, though still not looking at me. "Modern for Moslems. He treated me as an equal. He made decisions, but he also asked me for my opinions, and allowed, expected me to make my own decisions about things that affected me more than him. As far as it is ever possible for two people, we were equals. He was," she paused and smiled. "I loved him, and I think he loved me, but when he realised I was his boss; more, I was his owner, he was my slave, it got to him. He tried. He really did. But it unmanned him. In our culture even being equals as we were is not that common, but for the woman to be the superior just doesn't happen. Ever. Not really."

I said nothing. She wanted to talk, so I let her. I didn't know whether this was just talking to get her troubles off her chest, or whether it was leading to something. From Roger's comments last night though, I had a vague inkling where it might be leading.

I think she was relieved I said nothing, just listened quietly, as she began to talk again.

"The reality of most Moslem families, and most Moslem women, in Britain, is not what many people think. It's not servitude and slavery. It's not near illiteracy, but it might be no more than home economics at A level."

"Life is never as simple and straightforwards as the tabloids and the bigots make out," I said softly, though truth be told I had myself occasionally been caught out by a tabloid headline.

"No. But there are bigots, and that's partly why I'm scared. My father's cousin was one of the worst sort, and he brought his sons up that way. Rania's father was like that as well, and between them they arranged Rania's wedding. Rania managed to escape and came to see me at work. Saqib and I usually met for lunch at this little vegetarian cafe that we went to because we knew it wouldn't sell food we weren't allowed to eat, and because it was not a common place for people of Pakistani descent to eat. Rania found us there, and it was there that we got collected. Rania's husband and my family will both be furious."

"They won't find out," I told her gently, but then at her indignant expression realised what I'd said. "Sorry. Of course they'll know, that was silly of me, but there's nothing they can do to you about it. That's what I meant."

"Both Rania's husband and his father thought me a disgrace to the family. I was very distant family to them, but they tried to persuade Saqib and my father I was disrespectful. My father was on my side, but even so I made sure I didn't push it, didn't put my father in an awkward position. His cousin was the tribal elder. I think he'd wanted his son to marry me, but my father refused to consider it, because I didn't want it."

"Oh dear," I murmured. I'm not sure she heard me, and just carried on talking.

"Then they tried to undermine Saqib. Told him he was a traitor to the cause for not employing people they approved of. In other words hard-liners. Saqib just told them they would burn in hell, and that Allah, blessed be his name, would strike them down."

"Sounds like you were lucky you all managed to get out."

"Saqib and I both wanted to come." She looked at me intensely. "We wanted to come. I definitely did. This is exciting. I am I suppose what you would call a nerd or a geek. I love tech things. I love science. It's partly why I went into chemical engineering. This, now, is my dream. From the time I was five years old, when I was first told what stars really were, I wanted, dreamed, imagined, fantasized even, about going into space." There was light in her eyes as she spoke, but then it faded again. "Saqib wanted to come with me, and I wanted him to come, so we came. He wasn't the science nerd I was, but he still enjoyed the sci-fi films we watched." She paused and looked down at the floor again. "Rania didn't really want to come, but she wanted to escape her marriage; and both Saqib and I wanted to help her. She'd been married just over a year, and had already had one broken rib, two black eyes, one damaged kidney, a dislocated shoulder and a dislocated thumb. She was being slowly and systematically brutalised. But she'd managed not to get pregnant. Claimed it was his fault and that he," she paused. "So we came to the stars. Me for my fantasy, Rania to escape her marriage, Saqib for me. But Saqib couldn't cope."

She burst into tears. "I loved Saqib," she sobbed, "he was a wonderful husband and a great father."

"But he was unmanned?"

She nodded, and controlled her tears. "He couldn't make me pregnant," she eventually managed to say. "He couldn't ... in bed ... it didn't ... we didn't ... he couldn't..."

"I get the idea," I said softly.

"He's been depressed for weeks now. And what others of my faith, pretending to be of my faith if it really was them, did to Her Majesty was a travesty of Islam. They are the traitors. They are the ones who will burn in hell."

"I'm sure," I murmured in a reassuring voice.

She smiled again. I could fall in love with that smile I thought. "I was a royalist. Did you know even we Moslems could be royalists?"

I chuckled gently and shook my head. "It's never occurred to me to wonder one way or another," I said softly. "But I really don't see why not. Being a royalist is nothing to do with one's religion, but more to do with one's politics. Sort of. In a way."

She smiled slightly and nodded. "But now I need ... and Rania needs ... we fixed up Rania in the medical tube," she stood up suddenly and the long dress she was wearing fell to her feet. She was completely naked and I gaped in awe. She was stunningly beautiful. "Please? Almost the only thing I did to me was make my breasts look like they did before I got pregnant," she rubbed her flat stomach, "and got rid of the birth scars."

She was blushing furiously and looking down at the floor. I stood slowly and took half a step towards her. She half flinched when I held out my hand to her, but then, reluctantly, took soft hold of it.

"I'm scared," she whispered.

I held her soft body in my arms for a few minutes, held her against me, feeling her body quivering with tension and fear and worry. "You are beautiful," I whispered, "and I would be honoured." I pushed her gently away from me, still holding her hands and looked at her beautiful naked form once more. "You cannot believe just how much I want to."

She smiled again, nerves still showing.

"How about I loan you Huw for a few days. A week maybe. He's not quite as tall or as heavy as I am, and he's a concubine, a slave if you will. You can order him around, and he'll take it." I grinned. "He's gets ordered around by the rest of the women in my pod, and they're all concubines."

Her smile wavered a little, but she nodded her agreement. "Okay," she whispered. "Am I not..." she trailed off.

"Oh yes you are," I assured her firmly. "You are very..." I smiled at her.

"Then why?"

"Because I have my own responsibilities. I can't come here for a week and you need someone here for a few days, not just a few hours. Also, at some point you are going to have to get a man into your pod anyway, so why not start with a male concubine, one who has accepted his role as a concubine, even if he is trying to become a sponsor in his own right."

"Oh. Yes. I see."

I looked at her naked body again, feeling my cock throbbing with desire. This time she pulled her hands free of mine and stooped to lift the dress, covering herself up again.

To the end of my days I would always have this tiny little regret that I didn't sleep with this beautiful woman. "I'll send him over shortly," I told her. "If you're truly okay with that?" I asked softly.

She just nodded. "Thank you," she whispered.

"AI," I asked as I left Ameera's pod, "are there any spare male concubines?"

"No. There are currently three spare females, but no spare males."

I just nodded to myself.

"Huw. My office please," I said as I strode through the lounge.

I nodded briefly at Roger, but said nothing.

I waved Huw to a chair, then spent ten minutes briefing him on Ameera's situation, on how he was to treat her, and what he was to do. He preened himself, so I quickly slapped him down.

"The only reason I'm getting you to do it is because I can't spare the time, and I can't spare Dad. You would not otherwise be my natural choice, but Mum thinks you'll be fine. You have to prove to me that I did right by her in sending you instead of Roger or going myself; and you have to prove to her that white non-Moslems can interact with Moslems in a decent and honourable way." I tapped my head. "She might understand it here, but she probably doesn't believe it here," I tapped my heart. "She will need to find her own concubine as soon as one is available, so she will need to know and believe that, if it is not from her culture, not from her background, he can still treat her with the respect she deserves as a volunteer and sponsor." I stared hard at him. "Understand?"

He nodded slowly. "I think so."

"Good. I'll take you around now. Make me proud. Make her proud. Make her feel good about what she's doing." I emphasised again how nervous she was, and how much work he had to do.

He nodded his understanding.

"Right, follow me."

"This is Huw."

"Come on in Huw," said Ameera softly. She looked at me. "Thank you. Seven days?"

I nodded and smiled. "If he doesn't work out, you can send him back earlier if you want."

She smiled and nodded.

I stopped at the replicator on my way back. When the result was ready, I kept it hidden in my hand while I looked around my concubines.

It was barely mid day, but Ameera had got me more horny than I had been in a while.

"Stacy? My room. Now."

Stacy looked at me, startled, then grinned and bolted for my bedroom.

"I've just seen something," I told her, "and you get the benefit. Or I do."

I held up the razor I had just produced and she quickly stripped, lay back and spread her legs for me.

I spent ten minutes slowly and carefully shaving her.

"Don't you use water or shaving foam?" she asked me a little nervously when I set to with the dry razor.

"Not if the razor is sharp," I said, concentrating on not nicking her skin, and removing every single pubic hair.

By the time I was finished, I was rock hard, she was leaking fluids copiously, and only seconds later I was buried to the hilt inside her. We fucked, hard and furious, both of us coming more than once. I'd always thought a shaven pubis or vulva looked strange on an adult. To me I always felt it was like a woman trying to look like a little girl, and that generally gave me the squicks. Ameera had proved it could look beautiful and sexy. And Stacy now confirmed it. Even though I knew Stacy was in love with me, I couldn't help but be a little unfaithful to her in my heart: even as she and I fucked, I was imagining what Ameera might have looked like beneath me, or straddled over me, writhing in lust on my cock.

When Siân saw Stacy's pubes, or lack of them, her eyes went wide, and she looked at me longingly. "All right," I laughed. "For now."

I took Siân to bed that night, and she too went wild once I had removed her pubic bush. The following morning I watched as Si�n and Stacy kept fondling each other, and when I got back from training, I found them waiting for me in my bed in a mind blowing 69. Neither Branwyn nor Imogen wanted to be shaved, but that was okay, I wasn't going to allow the other two to remain shaven for very long. But for a few days it was fun.

Ameera kept Huw for the seven days, returning him to the minute seven days after I had loaned him out. I sent him back into my pod. "Was he okay?"

"More than just okay," Ameera said softly, her eyes lowered. "He was..." she smiled, whirled and entered her pod, the door clicking discreetly closed behind her.

I chuckled softly and went to find Huw, who was starting to tell everyone else what it had been like cooped up with two Asian women for a week.

"From the beginning," I said.

"They were beautiful. Stunningly so. Incredibly sexy to look at. They were ... they were the classic dusky maiden. Know what I mean?"

"Exotic," I murmured.

"Yeah, exactly. Exotic."

"They were uncomfortable around me, so I just made sure I said little and did whatever they needed. They are still a little prudish, but I guess that's probably natural. It's not in their nature, in their culture to be anything other than demure I guess. They wouldn't both be in the same bedroom together for example. Not at first anyway. It took me three days just to get Mee to watch Rania having sex, but then two days later they were having sex with each other."

"And liking it?"

"And loving it!"

I smiled. "Not quite what I was after, but as long as they're happy."

"I think so. They certainly made me happy. I had to remind Mee a few times that she was the boss and I was the slave. In bed I think she liked it when I bossed her a bit." He looked at me slightly worried. "But only a bit."

"Hmm. Fair enough." I wondered whether she had been like that with Saqib, and if so whether that had contributed to his confusion, or whether she was only doing it now to compensate for what had happened before.

"And they are both happily pregnant?"

"I guess so, Mee hasn't said anything."

I just nodded.

"AI?" I asked sotto voce.

"That information does not come into your right or need to know."

"Understood. Huw wasn't firing blanks, was he?"

"For two days only. He was been fully fertile since then."

"Well make him infertile again, as of now."

"Confirmed, however if he is going to have sex soon, it should not be with Siân."

"Understood."

I ensured I took Siân to my own bed that night. Stacy joined us while Branwyn to my slight surprise, went and joined Huw and Janine.

At our next family orgy, a couple of days later, I watched Huw. Mum had said he had got much better, and Ameera had obviously been happy. I wanted my own proof. I also wanted to see how Janine was coping as well.

Siân rarely went with Huw, so this time I deliberately steered the two together. Both seemed more than happy with the result, and when Dad and I took Janine together, one in mouth, one in pussy, she too seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. She grinned up at me as she sucked me to a gentle climax, and then moaned and sighed her way to her own as Roger gently fucked her from behind.

"Now swap over," she whispered a few moments later.

I looked over at where Siân and Huw were in the classic missionary, fucking slowly. Janine caught my glance and turned to look. She smiled. "He's a good lover," she said softly. "He looks after me very well."

"Is he what you want? Who you want?"

She smiled and nodded, saying nothing.

"And this?" I asked, indicating Roger and myself.

Her smile got wider. "I'm enjoying myself," she said simply.

"And?" I probed.

"It's not something I would choose to do in the normal course of events," I had to remind myself she was in her thirties, not her apparent age of twenty-one, "but I don't mind now and again." She shrugged. "Sex isn't painful any more, but I still feel uncomfortable sometimes, just remembering the pain."

I nodded. "So shall we stop?"

"Oh no, oh no," she laughed softly. "You and Roger still have to swap over."

I shared her laughter, and rolled her onto her back. As I slid inside her, I discovered she had got a lot better, but, to be brutally honest, still wasn't as good as the other women in the pod. I kissed her gently, she was, after all my concubine, so it was important she felt and understood I would take as much care of her as any one else. Her kisses were equally soft and warm and gentle, but after a few seconds she pushed me away from her and reached out for Roger's cock. The angles were awkward, but she eventually managed to get the tip of his cock in her mouth.

I quickly rearranged us. She had originally been on her hands and knees, but know I got her to straddle me as I lay back. This allowed her much better access to Roger's cock.

I heard Siân's funny little whimpers, and turned my head to watch her and Huw come to almost simultaneous orgasms. Branny was standing next to them, and after they had both had chance to relax, mostly, she pulled Huw off, and pressed her face into Siân's pussy. Huw went around behind her and pressed into his eldest sister's pussy. Branny just turned and grinned at him before returning to what she had been doing.

That grin, as much as anything else, satisfied me that Huw was doing what was wanted and needed. That he was no longer just out for himself.

Over the next weeks, I never once saw, or heard from Ameera, but I did learn a little more about what was happening in Hank's home pod. Most of it I got second hand from Branwyn or Imogen, some came direct from Claire and very occasionally Abby, and even Hank told me a thing or two. But even so, I don't think I learned more than half of what was going on.

The two older women in Hank's pod were furious with what had been done to them, but were obviously unable to do anything about it. That they were pregnant as well, for some reason just increased their fury. On our very first meeting, Claire and Abby had told us that they had made both women short, stocky, plain of face and mute. As they had said at the time though, they hadn't made them ugly: Hank was going to have to have sex with them, and to have made them ugly would have been unfair to him as well.

Both women had come with three children each. Both had a son who was just weeks younger than Hank, both also had a daughter a year or so younger again, and both had a much younger child, one a boy, the other a girl. The two older boys had tried to bully Hank initially, however when he had had his standard Marine 'upgrade' he had scared them into submission. On the other hand, the two girls were very quickly 'sweet' on Hank. To his amusement, and their mothers' impotent fury.

Through Siân, from Abby, I found out that Hank made love to his sisters, but only fucked the two women, and that they just couldn't get off, and didn't understand why.

"Abby's set it up so that the only way they can get off is to go down on each other," Siân giggled. "And they won't even consider it."

"Not at all?"

"Apparently not. They're permanently horny, but they can't get off so it's making them very frustrated, and very cranky."

"Aw, that's mean," I laughed. "He must at very least drop them a clue some time."

"He has, sort of." She burst into laughter. "He punishes them by making them go into a 69."

"Oh god," I laughed. "So of course they come?"

"Like fire-crackers according to Abby."

"Oh dear."

"It hasn't stopped them from being nasty though, so Claire says that Hank's threatened the women with recycling if they don't calm down."

"Shit. Have they? Calmed down I mean."

"Sort of. On top of being permanently horny, the fact that they can't talk is making them frustrated and cranky too."

Later on I was told that the elder of the two boys had turned 14 and demanded to be CAP tested. Under the rules of the Confederacy Hank had to let him, even though Hank knew the boy wasn't ready. He got a 4.4, and on his return from the test got very nasty, blaming Hank for his low score. Hank gave him 48 hours to calm down, but when he didn't he was sent to the spares pool.

I didn't hear much of what happened after that, even though we saw them on average twice a week. We got together for food and chats and relaxation, for each other's company. About half the time our evenings would evolve into a small sexual encounter as well: Hank seemed to particularly like his times with Imogen, so much so that I wondered whether he had a bit of a crush on her. At no time, ever, did he bring anyone other than Claire and Abby, despite the fact that we all knew he had two other concubines and a number of dependents.