Chapter 2

"Oh I ache," were the first words I muttered when I became conscious again.

"I told you you wouldn't thank me," came an amused voice.

I opened my eyes to see Medical Technician Sofia Stevens looking down at me with a sardonic smile on her face. I just groaned. "Torturer," I muttered good-humouredly.

She laughed and helped me up.

When I was vertical again, she gave me a glass of something to drink. "Here, drink this. It'll help you."

I stared at the greenish-brown muddy looking fluid, grimacing.

"It will help," she told me.

"Really?" I wasn't enthused.

"Well, you don't really need it, it's mostly a psychological thing. But there are various minerals and vitamins in there, so yes, it does actually help."

"Okay." It actually didn't taste quite as bad as it looked. But only just.

"Now," she said, pushing me towards a chair. "Some things you need to know. Roger will need to stay in bed for the next thirty-six hours. I've got an old fashioned wheel chair I can loan you to get him back to your pod for now. Normally I'd just get the marines to use a transporter to get you back, but something's happening and they're all running around like headless chickens at the moment."

"Why? What's happening?"

She shrugged. "Imogen will also need to rest," she did a sudden double take at the pad she was holding, then looked up at me, her eyes wide. "Imogen is your biological mother, yes?"

I nodded.

"It says here she's had her hymen regrown?"

I nodded again, grinning this time, sure I was also blushing. "Yeah. And my sisters," I told her.

"That's a new one on me. Anyway, I very strongly recommend you all refrain from any sexual activity tonight. For most of you it'll hurt too much." She looked again at her PDA. "I think you'd be about the only one who wouldn't be in too much pain, but I wouldn't guarantee that. Roger and Imogen at least will need to sleep on their own tonight. They'll be in a lot of low-level discomfort, just a general all over ache, and will be tossing and turning too much. I would suggest you all sleep alone if you can."

"There's six of us and five bedrooms."

She shook her head. "If you can't get the pod to produce another by then, I would suggest you and Huw," she tried to pronounce it 'who', just nodding when I corrected her, "sleep in the same bed. You two will probably be the least affected; but you sort that side of it out yourself."

"Okay." I frowned in thought.

"When you get back to your pod, have a light meal," she stressed the word light, "and just relax. Try and be in bed by about ten at the latest, and try not to be up before eight at the earliest tomorrow morning. After that you'll probably all still feel a little odd, uncomfortable, even a little klutzy at times. You are the only one whose height hasn't changed, so you'll have the least problems in that regard. By this time tomorrow you all, excepting Roger I should think, will feel fine. He ought to stay in bed until the following morning."

She looked at me carefully. "How's your eyesight?"

I remembered I'd asked for my eyesight to be improved. "Uh," I started to smile as I looked around the room. "Hey. Great."

"You've got a touch of low light vision, ultra-vision. That means you can see just into the edge of the ultra violet range, as well as being able to ... Well, a full moon in a cloudless sky at midnight would look to you only a bit darker than say a really dull, really heavily overcast, or rainy day would to person with normal eyesight. It's not as much as the front line Marines and Navy get. You've also got a touch of infra-vision, you can see just into the edge of the infra-red range. Again not as much as the front line people. Between the two, you should be able to see quite well even on the darkest of nights. Just as a warning though, you may see an extra 'redness' in things that are warm, and extra blue or violet in things that reflect UV light. So your colour perception will be slightly different to your concubines and to anyone else who doesn't get this enhancement. We've not given you any form of hawk-eye long distance vision, though some of the front line marines do get it. It disorients many people, so we give it out sparingly, and only as necessary."

"Interesting. Who gets that?"

"Snipers and spotters mostly. What about your hearing? How is that?"

I grinned as I realised that I could hear things I'd never heard before. "I thought you did that on the first go through."

She shook her head. "No. That was a single nanite just to offset your faulty hearing. We didn't actually correct anything. We've now corrected, and very slightly enhanced. Once again, not as much as the front line troops. You've got a bit more overall flexibility, and a bit more stamina, and oh yes," she laughed, "enhanced recovery after sex. Mind you, everybody gets that. We haven't given you faster reactions, you're not in a combat role and it was felt your reactions are quite fast enough."

"Oh, okay. Anything else?"

"Um. No. I don't think so. You've got everything else you asked for, as have, I think, all your concubines." She looked down the list on her PDA again. "Oh, we've slightly scaled back Huw's strength. He was already strong, so we haven't added the extra requested. In fact we've slightly scaled back what he had. He doesn't need it. Beyond that, everything is as requested."

"Diolch. Diolch yn fawr."

"Deeolk un vower?" she asked. I saw her puzzled look and realised I spoken in Welsh.

"Uh. Sorry. That meant 'thank you'."

She nodded. "Yeah, I got the translation just as you said it." She frowned. "Actually, I should have got the translation faster than that. I'll have to check later." She grinned and looked at me. "Can you do me a favour?"

"Sure."

"Get dressed. You're making me horny and I'm a concubine so I can't ravish you. Or let you ravish me."

"Oh. Fuck. Sorry. Clothes, where are they?"

"Not as sorry as I am," I heard her mutter. Then she pointed to a replicator. "You can order clothing from there. It's probably worth ordering enough for all of you," She stopped and I saw her jaw drop in surprise, followed by a slight blush.

"What?" I asked puzzled.

She dropped her eyes and shook her head.

I just looked at her, my eyebrows raised in query.

Her blush got stronger. "I've just been reminded by the AI that in fact I could allow you to 'ravish me' if I felt it was medically necessary."

"Is it?" I grinned, teasing her.

"Not for you, no. Pleeeeese get dressed. You're making me... ," she turned to her controls.

I lightly stroked her bottom through the green scrubs she was wearing. It was firm, and very pleasant to the touch. "If I touched you like this, what would happen?"

"I'm somebody else's concubine, so in theory you'd get into trouble, but because almost all males are horny after they come out of the pods, we make allowance for it. Providing that's all you do, there will be no issues."

"But you just said," I started.

"Only if it's medically necessary," she whispered, "and this isn't."

"You need it though, don't you?"

"Fuck yeah, but I can't do it with you. Not without permission."

"That's a shame."

"Isn't it. Now please Leftenant Carter, get dressed. The rest of your concubines are about to be released."

I laughed. "How long have I got?"

"About a minute. Maybe less," she added with a laugh as one of the tubes gave a little chime.

I nodded and turned to the replicator. "AI, can you produce six sets of appropriately sized clothes for myself and the five people currently in the medical tubes. Six pairs of blue jeans, six white tee-shirts, three correctly sized bra's, three pairs of men's briefs, three women's, and six pairs of sandals."

"Confirmed."

"Please also arrange to have a duplicate set waiting for us when we get back to our own pod."

"Confirmed."

I turned to see Huw climbing out of his medical pod. He looked more different than I had expected. Actually, I hadn't looked at myself in a mirror yet, so I wasn't sure what I looked like. I knew what the holo had shown, but reality always has a way of surprising one.

Huw smiled at me briefly, and then began to stretch. "Something feels wrong," he complained.

"You've grown a couple of inches," I told him.

"You'll get used to it," Sofia told him. She passed him the drink. He didn't hesitate and just drank it straight down.

"Ugh," he grunted.

"Oh," Sofia suddenly said. "Don't use the sleep trainer until you've had two good night's rest. Reading's fine though."

I nodded. Behind me the replicator dinged softly. There were six packages of clothing. I was relieved to see that they were packed separately, a piece of something that looked like paper but didn't feel like it was attached to the top of each. On them was a picture of the face of the person each pack was intended for. I picked out Huw's and passed it to him before getting dressed myself, and we waited for the others to be released.

They were released at about one minute intervals. The next released was Branwyn. For a few moments, Huw and I stared at her in awe. She was Branwyn, but she was so different. She smiled painfully at me and like Huw just drank down the mixture she was given.

Siân gave us exactly the same reaction, but when Imogen appeared we all whistled in awe and appreciation, even Siân and Branwyn. She'd gone from an attractive forty-something year-old woman to a beautiful twenty-two year old. The difference was stunning. Roger's new appearance was even better when he was released. He looked younger, but he also had his leg back. I'd never known him with his leg, he'd lost it before I was born, so this was a new person.

He and Imogen hugged, but Roger was in so much pain that he had to push her gently away after a few moments. He sagged down into a chair and Branny and Imogen helped him dress.

After a few minutes, Roger moved himself to the wheel chair that Sofia found for us. "Thanks," I told her.

She smiled, nodded, and turned back to her consoles.

"How come you're a concubine?" I asked. "Surely you should be a sponsor yourself given your responsibilities?"

"This job doesn't need someone all that qualified. I was a twenty-five-year career ER nurse in Philadelphia until I got picked. I was lucky in that it was my husband who picked me. He's now the first officer on this ship. Sadly all our children were over fourteen, and Geoff and I were having a meal in a restaurant when we were collected, so we couldn't send for them and bring them with us." She smiled sadly. "I miss them."

"Oh, I'm sorry. How long?"

"Eight months." She shrugged and smiled. "At least I still see my husband, even if he is no longer legally my husband. You're lucky. You've still got all your family. Even if ours had been with us, Geoff couldn't reasonably have brought them, as we only had boys."

"But he has other concubines?"

"Three. Another customer from the restaurant, and two of the waitresses. We have a reasonably harmonious time I guess. But it helps that I get to be alone with Geoff out here."

I frowned. "Oh. Where are the others? Aren't they here?"

She shook her head. "You need to read up about it. Do you know where you will be? Marines or Navy?"

"I'm supposed to be in intelligence, but I don't know where I'm going, or who I'll be working for, or anything."

"That's not good. That doesn't tell you anything about what you'll need to know. I tell you what, I'll ask Geoff if he can find out for you. Okay?"

"Diolch, er, thanks."

She laughed. "Get out of here. I've got more coming in shortly."

"No more curfew?"

"Oh, here," she handed me a card. "Don't lose it, and go straight back to your pod. You're not going to be escorted, but you need this if you are stopped. Just put it in the recycling unit in your pod as soon as you get back to it. As soon as," she added forcefully.

I nodded, thanked her again, and we left, Imogen pushing Roger's wheelchair.

We'd got about a hundred yards when a tannoy of some sort boomed into life.

"NOW HEAR THIS. EVERYBODY IS TO REPORT TO THEIR REFECTORY AREA IMMEDIATELY. CURFEW IS HEREBY SUSPENDED. REPORT TO YOUR REFECTORY AREA IMMEDIATELY."

We looked at each other in surprise. "Now what," I wondered aloud.

"AI," I asked sotto voce, "can you direct me to our refectory area please, I'm not sure the quickest way."

"Confirmed," I heard in my head.

Following the directions relayed to me, we made our way as fast as we could to the green refectory. We were one of the last groups to arrive, and ended up virtually at the back. It was another few minutes before anything happened, and we heard a lot of speculation around us.

"Ladies and gentlemen, quiet please." The voice was not particularly loud, but it had a commanding air to it, and we all settled down to listen.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Captain William Night, commander of this vessel. I'm afraid I have some sad news for you all. Most of you are British, and as the last few collections only took place within the last hour, all from various parts of London and south-east Britain, you would have all heard this eventually anyway." He paused and looked around at us. "So to ensure you all get the correct information, not some garbled rumor, I'm here to give you the official brief news statement." He lifted a note and began to read from it. "At oh nine seventeen this morning, British Summer Time, March the thirtieth, Prince Charles the Prince of Wales passed away peacefully in his sleep." There was a sharp intake of breath from so many people that it was only my augmented hearing that enabled me to catch the next couple of words: "aged eighty..." I missed the next word as someone near me screamed. "He had been ill for some time, suffering from terminal liver cancer."

The Captain looked up. "Ladies and gentlemen, I, and most of my officers and crew, are American, but many of the older members in particular remember what your royal family did for us after the tragedy of nine eleven, over a quarter of a century ago. We have therefore decided to offer you the choice, if you wish it, of remaining here in orbit to view the funeral. We were due to leave orbit for our destination in two days time, however we have heard that the funeral is to be held in eight days. We have requested, and got, permission to remain until then, so that those of you who so wish, will be able to see the funeral on screens within your pods, or within community areas." He paused for a moment. "Can I have a show of hands please. This will be a simple majority. All those in favour of staying for the funeral, please raise your hands."

He gave it just three seconds before asking for those against. There were a few, but they were massively outvoted.

"Thank you. I have to go and make this same announcement in red, yellow, black and white rings. Blue ring has voted as you have." He turned and nodded to a sergeant next to him, and then stepped off the low dais.

"MARINES," the sergeant bellowed, his deep, raspy voice somehow enhanced and augmented. "MARINES, ATTEN-SHUN."

There was a clatter of boots and I realised that standing around the walls were a number of marines in some sort of dress uniform. Suddenly we all heard a very recognisable sound. Everybody who wasn't already standing stood as the strains of 'God Save The Queen', the British national anthem, rang out.

Roger struggled to his feet, along with everybody else. A number of people, myself and Roger included, sang the words, but many just stood, tears in their eyes as they listened. I guess Prince William was now the official Prince Of Wales, and his eldest son, George I think, would now be third in line.

"MARINES, DISMISS," came the command a few minutes later. I honestly don't think many people noticed, they were too busy with their own thoughts. I was too, but my augmented hearing couldn't help but arouse my attention.

"Curfew is now formally lifted," called the sergeant in a more normal voice. "You may remain here, or make your way back to your pods. Please be calm. I know it must be a shock, but please remain calm." He stepped down and left the room.

"I need to go home," Roger said, sinking gratefully back into the wheelchair. "I hurt."

"Okay. Imogen, you need to come back too. The others can stay for a little while if they want."

"I need a rest." said Branwyn.

"Yeah, an' me." Siân nodded.

We were almost the first to leave, and as we did, Roger paused to shake the hand of one of the marines. "Thank you son, that was gracefully done. You're a credit to that uniform. Please pass on my, our, thanks to all your colleagues."

"Thank you sir. I will. Have a good day."

We left. "Dad," asked Huw. "What was that about what the Royal family did for them?"

"Well, you've heard of nine-eleven, though I guess as we're British it should be eleven-nine." He grinned mischievously. "Eleventh September 2001, four passenger jets were crashed into three buildings in New York and Washington DC. Four thousand something people died that day. Mostly Americans. The next couple of days, at the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the Queen had the bandsmen play the US national anthem. I'm guessing that that is at least part of what he was talking about."

We got back to the pod soon after, and Imogen helped Roger into the smaller of the two lower bedrooms. I'd already advised them of what Sofia had told me, and they both agreed wholeheartedly.

The evening went slow at first, until Huw noticed another change.

"Hey. There's more food selections."

"What?" asked Imogen.

"The food choices. It's much bigger than it was." He paused for a moment. "There must be ten times the variety. Hey," he exclaimed suddenly, excited, "there's even some Marmite. Hey, AI, where'd the Marmite come from?"

"There have been a large number of complaints about the quality of the food produced from the replicators. A number of pickups were made this morning from supermarkets in Windsor, Slough, and Reading. Everyone was told to bring six items that they felt they could not do without."

"Hey, that's neat, who thought up that idea?" asked Huw.

"Unknown."

"Oh. Hey, whoever it was, they need to be thanked."

"Confirmed."

"AI," I asked thoughtfully. "Was anything rejected?"

"No alcohol was permitted. Beyond that only duplicates."

I thought for a moment. "If two people both chose, say bread, if they were both different brands, or different types, were they both put in?"

There was a pause.

"They were."

"Brill. Do you have any Hovis?"

"Three different varieties."

"Any Hovis bread, toasted, with Marmite please," I told Huw, as he seemed to be in charge of the replicator just now. "Oh, and a lump of Red Leicester or Double Gloucester if it's available."

Imogen laughed. "You are the only person I know who has cheese with your Marmite."

"Hey," I grinned, "I happen to think it's a delicacy." Imogen just smiled indulgently at me.

With what we all felt was much more palatable food on hand, the evening went more cheerfully after that.

We all ordered our favourite snack foods, and sat around chatting, Imogen sitting on a chair in the doorway to Roger's room so that he didn't feel left out. We spent a lot of time talking about Prince Charles, Prince William, even Prince George, William's eldest son. About the Queen and the royal family in general.

By nine though we were all exhausted. Quite why, given that we had slept most of the day away, I didn't know. What I did know was that I was too exhausted to care about anything.

"Shit," I suddenly said, rubbing my face with my hands. "Huw. I'm really sorry. I forgot to ask the AI to produce a sixth bed for tonight."

"That's okay," Branwyn interrupted. "I'll share in with you tonight."

I nodded, not really caring.

Once we were in bed, Branwyn wanted to talk for a little while, even though I just wanted to sleep. I'm afraid to say that I was a bit sharp with her, but she was insistent.

"Please Llew, just listen. This is important."

"For fucks sake. Go on then. I'm listening."

"You're going to have to do something about Huw."

"Why? In what way?"

"He's a bit rough."

"He is?" My eyes were starting to droop now.

"Yes. When we were in bed the first night. He hurt me. It wasn't intentional, but he hurt me. Siân's said the same."

I rolled over and slowly sat up. "What do you mean, 'hurt you'?"

"He was, well, rough is the best way of describing it. He's fifteen, he was a virgin so had no experience of any shape, form or description, and basically just wanted to get his rocks off. He was thoughtless rough, not nasty rough."

"And Siân?"

"I think she felt the same. She said he hurt her, she said it was probably accidental. He's bigger and stronger now. I dunno whether I'll be able to control him if he starts to get rough again."

"Hmm, well he's no stronger, but he is bigger and heavier. Perhaps I'll get Mum to take him off and teach him control. How about that?"

"Sure. Warn her first though."

"I'll tell her that he needs training, teaching. I'm sure she'll understand."

"Uh huh. Thanks." She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. We hugged briefly, but then I yawned widely and Branwyn giggled.

"G'night kiddo," I whispered.