4 Salome Dances

Standing outside Alois' old pod Mark hugged Julie tight, "I don't want to have to do this, but I might have to in order to save Gisele's life."

"I don't like it either Mark, but it's worth a try to see if it works."

They entered the pod and found Alois' remaining former concubine curled up on the floor. "You know?"

"Yes," Gisele looked up at him with eyes red raw from crying, "I only have a few hours left. The AI told us when the new sponsor picked Eva."

Mark was angry, the AI should not have responded to the women while they were in the pool. "AI, why did you tell them?"

"I did not Decurion, Marine Recruit Donohue asked how long he had to decide between the two concubines," the AI replied.

Damn! thought Mark, that was unnecessary. He turned to Gisele, "We are here to try to extend your time. Come here and stand in front of me." When Gisele had complied Mark continued, "Gisele Haid, do you accept me as your sponsor?"

She was stunned and took a second to reply, "Ja! Erm... Yes."

The AI immediately warned, "Decurion you have exceeded your allocation of concubines. This excess must be corrected as soon as possible."

"Understood AI," he turned back to her, "Gisele Haid, I reject you as my concubine." Her shoulders slumped.

"AI, how long does concubine Haid have left in the pool?"

"Four hours thir..." Gisele wailed as she was reminded just how little time she had left to live. Julie ran to her to try to comfort her.

"AI, why was her time not reset to forty eight hours?"

"She was an unauthorised additional concubine so her time was not reset. Only authorised concubines have their time reset."

Unhappily Mark said, "AI, I do not wish to be disturbed for the next five minutes. Lock the pod door so nobody can enter without my approval."

"Done."

Mark turned to his concubine, "I am very sorry Julie."

Julie nodded, bit her lip nervously and moved towards him.

Mark took both her hands in his, looked into her eyes and said, "Julie Lloyd I reject you as my concubine." Julie flinched.

"Concubine change registered," said the AI, "Concubine Lloyd is inappropriately dressed for her current status."

"Yes, AI, I will deal with that in a minute. First I have some business with concubine Haid."

Hoping that this way would work better Mark turned again to Gisele, "Do you Gisele Haid accept me as your sponsor?"

"Yes."

"Concubine change registered," the AI confirmed.

He waited a few seconds, "Gisele Haid I reject you as my concubine." Gisele looked shattered, this was all becoming too much for her.

"Concubine change registered."

Mark smiled at her, "AI, how long does concubine Haid have left in the pool?"

"Forty seven hours, fifty nin..."

"Thank you AI," he interrupted, his smile getting broader. Gisele was looking confused, but somehow managing to smile back at him through her tears, "You did it?"

"Yes, you have forty eight more hours. We can do this again later."

Gisele sighed with relief then her face darkened, "What about Alois?"

"I have no need of a male concubine at this time," he said curtly.

"Good, that bastard deserves all that he gets."

"Now I need to get back to Julie," he turned towards the tall fourteen year old and took her hands again, "Julie, do you accept me as your sponsor?"

"Yes."

"Concubine change registered."

Practically in tears Julie grabbed him tight with both arms, "That was horrible, much worse than I thought it would be. I felt so vulnerable."

Mark hugged her back, "But it worked."

Early that evening Mohammed visited Mark's pod. "Mark, I have a request and an invitation. The request is that your concubines be allowed to wear something other than just their smocks in your pod tonight, they have something planned for you."

"I don't suppose you can give me any hints?"

"Yes, it will be a surprise."

Mark laughed, he had rather walked into that one. "OK, they can wear what they want. And the invitation?"

"You are invited next door to my pod for a meal in half an hour. Dress is very casual, you concubines will show you."

"Sounds intriguing. I will be there."

As soon as Mohammed left Safiya smiled at Mark and told him, "No Master, you are not allowed to ask. If we told you it wouldn't be a surprise."

"Well I had better do as I am told then."

Safiya nodded, "Go and have a shower sir, we will get your clothes ready."

Mohammed greeted Mark as he entered. He wore a robe identical to Mark's, which was unusual as he had always been more formally dressed whenever Mark had visited previously.

"Come in and sit down, food will be ready shortly."

Generally Mark and Mohammed got on well, their relationship was still a little stiff as they both felt their way in an unusual situation for both of them. Mohammed was after all only fifteen years old, despite his modified appearance, and Shahana was still his mother. He was unsure whether to treat Mark as a father or as an equal. The worst patch had been when Mark had punished Shahana one day by making her take all her meals naked in the canteen. Mohammed had been torn between supporting his fellow sponsor and supporting his mother.

After the meal they relaxed in two chairs while Mohammed's two concubines disappeared into the background. He told Mark, "I want to thank you for killing that dog. The Marines are better off without him."

"I am not used to killing people. I know that it is now part of my job but I did not enjoy it. It was a surprise to be killing a Marine, though technically he was a concubine at the end. I am glad that I was not there to actually see it happen."

"There was not a lot to see, the Sergeant used a stinger on him and we dumped him into one of the big recycling units."

"Still, I would rather kill Sa'arm than other humans. Perhaps we need punishment battalions instead of executions, that way they might be of some use against the Sa'arm before they die. At least I was able to keep his two concubines alive."

"Yes, you have gained quite a reputation among the concubines on board both for killing him and for saving the two women. Rumour had given him a very bad reputation. They talk to each other in the canteen you know."

"Yes, their grapevine seems to be as fast as the AI links," Mark joked.

"Talking of concubines," Mohammed clapped his hands. At his signal Robinah and Little Shahana came into the room. Mark was astounded, both of them were half-naked, nude to the waist. Before now he had never seen either of them less than fully dressed, even in Mohammed's pod. His host saw his reaction and explained. "Both me and Shahana are extremely grateful to you for what you have done, and we would like to thank you." He gestured for Shahana to go to Mark.

"There is no need..."

"Please don't refuse me this, it is at Shahana's own request as well." She nodded shyly to confirm Mohammed's words.

"Very well," Mark agreed.

Shahana bent over Mark and kissed him thoroughly. Very thoroughly. "Thank you so much," she whispered. She moved down his body, loosened his robe and reached inside. He could see Mohammed fondling Robinah's breasts as she knelt between his legs. Following suit he reached down for Shahana's perky hemispheres, they were smaller and tighter than her aunt's with the same large nipples that obviously ran in her family. Her supple fingers soon had him erect and her mouth descended over his cock. As she sucked him he could see that Mohammed was confining himself to the areas above Robinah's waist so he limited himself similarly. He did not want to take more than was being offered, and both women were still half clothed.

Shahana was happy that her cousin had allowed her this. She had been terrified when she was attacked, and knowing Alois' reputation had been very afraid that he would seek her out again. She had suggested thanking Mark in this way, though she was limited to offering herself above the waist only. Mark was taking the hint and had not gone further. She alternated deep-throating him with shallower strokes using her tongue around the head of his cock and a hand on his shaft while her other hand cupped his balls. One of her fingers stroked the skin between his ballsack and arsehole. His hands on her breasts felt gentle.

All too soon Mark could feel his climax arriving; he put one hand behind Shahana's head and moved her down to take in his full length. The feel of her throat swallowing round the head of his prick triggered his orgasm as he shot his cum straight down to her stomach. She waited for him to finish before pulling back and licking him clean. As she stood up Mark took her round the waist and pulled her towards him. He kissed both her tight nipples and looked up at her, "Thanks very much Shahana, I enjoyed that a lot."

"I could tell," she giggled.

Mark smiled, nodded his thanks to Mohammed and closed his robe. "Have you kept me here long enough for my concubines to be ready to surprise me?"

"Ah," the Marine smiled, "you have discovered our plan. Yes, it is time for you to return to your women. I will let them know you are coming." Mark's women had been rehearsing this since before the trial and he hoped it went well for them and for Mark.

Julie greeted him at the pod door wearing what could only be described as a Hugh Hefner Hollywood Houri outfit, topless, very sheer and no panties. She touched his lips with a finger, "Shhh, no talking Master." In the living room Nurbaiti and Safiya were waiting, both in the same transparent outfits as Julie. The three of them sat Mark down in the middle of the sofa with Julie and Safiya on either side and Nurbaiti kneeling in front of him. Safiya offered him juice to drink while Julie plied him with spiced almonds and fruits.

"Close your eyes please Master." He did as requested and heard the tinkling of small bells.

The bells stopped. "You may look now Master." He opened his eyes and his jaw dropped.

Shahana looked magnificent. She felt magnificent. She _was_ magnificent. She could tell Mark thought the same as she saw the look of astonishment and awe on his face. Her salwar kameez was even richer than the one she had been married in, bright greens, yellows and reds with even more gold thread than a Bollywood movie costume. She had used her own jewellery, borrowed some from her son's concubines and used the replicator. This was special for her and she wanted Mark to see that it was special. She held her pose for a second and then stamped a foot to jingle the bells at her ankle. The pod AI took its cue and started the music. Nurbaiti opened Mark's robe and started to lick him slowly.

As the music started she danced. She started slowly, the sort of dance she had done at her wedding. Then she began to get wilder; she smiled at the thought of what Omar's mother would say if she could see her now. She had nothing on under her kameez and made sure Mark was aware of it as she shook her breasts at him. Her nipples were getting erect from the friction against the cloth. When they were tight enough she grasped the collar and pulled apart the velcro. Her hands and feet were decorated with henna of course and for this dance she had patterns on her breasts as well. Leaving her top behind her she advanced towards Mark, naked to the waist. Nurbaiti moved out of the way to let her stand between his legs. She bent down and fed him her nipples in turn. When his hands started to move towards her she quickly swirled away to dance some more, Nurbaiti resuming her work on his prick. This part of the dance was certainly not something that she could have done at her wedding!

She stopped a meter in front of Mark and faced away from him, she knew that he liked her bum and was giving him a good look at it as she shook it. She undid the waist of her salwar and let it drop to the floor. Stepping slowly backwards she felt his hands start to fondle her arse cheeks. Only giving him a few seconds she danced away again; by this stage she had left her wedding dance far behind, it was more like a Western lap dance. She would move in to tantalise him with her painted tits or her arse and then move away leaving him in Julie and Safiya's hands until she returned. As the music ended she was back where she had started and in the same pose.

"Bravo!" Mark applauded enthusiastically as she caught her breath.

She beckoned to him and walked slowly towards his bedroom, her fellow concubines leading him after her. In the bedroom door she paused and let his erect prick rub briefly in her arse-crack. She smiled at him over her shoulder, promising him with her eyes, and moved forward. Mark was led to the bed and directed to sit on the edge. Shahana knelt before him and pressed her breasts round his cock. Slowly moving them she kept him excited but short of his orgasm. Releasing them she gently took hold of his cock and began to suck. She had learned a lot since that first time in his flat and she could now deep-throat. She used all the skills she had acquired and Mark soon gave her the reward she wanted, spurting down her throat. He had been so thoroughly teased by her dance, her tits and Nurbaiti's mouth that he could not hold out for long.

Julie and Nurbaiti helped Mark move to the middle of the bed and cleaned him with warm cloths. Safiya helped Shahana remove her jewellery -- it would only get in the way from now on. Climbing onto the bed on her knees she straddled Mark's face, lowering her pussy onto his mouth. She let his hands move her hips to position her pussy for his tongue. While he licked her slot, Nurbaiti was sucking him hard again behind her. When he was ready Nurbaiti tapped her twice and she lifted her drooling pussy off his mouth, sliding herself down his body, leaving a trail of her juices on his chest and stomach. She trapped his prick between her wet slit and his belly, sliding herself back and forth to stimulate them both.

"Do you like that? Feeling my cunt rubbing over your prick? Do you want more?"

Mark didn't answer directly. As his hands came up to play with her nipples she lifted herself up on her knees and took his length inside her. She could feel him filling her wet channel as she moved up and down above him.

"Is that what you wanted? To feel my tits? To fuck my pussy?"

Mark could barely grunt a response. She repeatedly took him inside her, moving her hips the full length of his prick and working her pussy muscles as his hands kneaded her twin globes.

"Then fuck me. I am yours to fuck."

He took longer to reach his peak this time so she was able to reach orgasm twice as she rode him to his next climax.

Leaving the others to ready Mark for the next round Shahana slipped into the bathroom to prepare herself. Emerging she found him standing by the bed with Nurbaiti as ever using her mouth to reinvigorate his cock. She crawled onto the bed and got up on her knees with her arse in the air. Even without a rehearsal Mark could recognise his cue and moved behind her, Julie positioning his cock at her slick arsehole. She relaxed the muscle as she felt his cock-head pressing and let him sink fully into her. His hands grasped her hips firmly as he slowly moved in and out of her bowels. She had been taking advice from Nurbaiti; she hoped he noticed the difference. She moved a hand back between her legs and began working her clit.

"Fuck my arsehole! Bugger me! All my holes are yours whenever you want them!"

He was speeding up, she could feel her breasts sway as he slammed against her arse cheeks. It would be soon.

"Cum in my arse! Fill me! Fill me!"

With a great cry Mark finished inside her and collapsed onto her, completely shattered. After taking a minute to recover she slid out from under him and went to the bathroom to clean herself while the others cleaned him. She got back into bed beside him and her three sister concubines left them.

Mark looked at her as she joined him, "Why?"

She paused and then kissed his lips briefly. "I am nothing, a concubine, a slave. I cannot wear any clothes unless you let me. I cannot eat unless you let me. I cannot even breathe unless you let me. Yet when this nothing asked you to kill a man you killed him. You did not have to kill him, but you did. You killed him for me, for this slave, for this nothing. That is why. I am not nothing if you will kill a man for me. I danced because I am not nothing."

The next afternoon Mark and Nurbaiti were walking back from Gisele's pod having given her another forty eight hours. Nurbaiti was the quietest of his women, but she was even more subdued than usual. Just as with Julie she had been very unsettled by being rejected, even if only briefly. He took her hand and squeezed it to try and give her some reassurance. As they walked in silence something was niggling at the back of his mind about what had happened with Nurbaiti and with Julie. There was something important there and he was not seeing it.

As soon as they got back to the pod he went to his office and got the AI to replay the video of his two last visits to Gisele. There was something different, something he was not seeing. He got the AI to print out the dialogues and put them next to each other. He crossed out the bits that were the same in both. He crossed out the bits that weren't important. Eventually it came down to a single line from the AI during the visit with Julie, in response to his question about why Gisele's time had not initially been reset:

"She was an unauthorised additional concubine so her time was not reset. Only authorised concubines have their time reset."

He stared at it trying to see what it was about the words that was trying to get itself noticed. While he was worrying at it Julie put her head round the door, "You have your thinking music on."

"Lassus helps me concentrate."

"Anyway, food is ready."

The conversation during the meal distracted him from his problem. He arranged for Julie and Nurbaiti to join him in bed that night. He felt they deserved it after helping him with Gisele, he wanted to make it up to them for having had to briefly repudiate them. The effect on them had been more severe than he had anticipated. He wasn't sure how much he could give them after Shahana had drained him so thoroughly last night, but even just cuddles should help.

Returning to his problem after the meal, he saw it almost immediately. If there were 'authorised concubines' and 'unauthorised additional concubines' then what about 'authorised additional concubines'? He questioned the AI.

"I am sorry Decurion, that information is restricted."

"So there is some information on authorised additional concubines?"

"Yes Decurion, but you are not cleared for access to it." Mark sighed inwardly. This looked as if it was another of those places where the Civil Service should have been added into the rules but hadn't been. The implied sloppy work frustrated him, surely it could have been organised better than this?

"Who does have access?"

"The ship's Captain and the Marine commander."

"Since this information relates to concubines would it not be logical for the senior Civil Service Officer on board to have access as well?"

"The access rules were drawn up prior to the formation of the Civil Service." Mark smiled to himself at being proved right. The AI continued, "What you propose is reasonable so I will flag it as a possible revision at the next review in eight months."

A review in eight months time was not going to be a great deal of help right now. Again Mark felt the frustration of having to fix the system after implementation rather than anticipating and avoiding problems before implementing the change. This was not a good way to run things. "AI please arrange a short videoconference tomorrow with Captain Gonzales and Major Polgar."

In bed that night with Julie and Nurbaiti Mark apologised for not being able to entertain them as he usually did. He just lay on his back while one rode his mouth and the other rode his cock in turn. They both understood that he was still drained from Shahana's performance the previous night. Afterwards they all spooned together with Mark in the middle and he dropped off to sleep almost immediately.

Mark woke when Nurbaiti got up to start making breakfast. He turned to Julie and kissed her awake. "Thank you for helping Shahana the other day."

"It was nothing, it was really important for her and it was fun. I liked wearing the harem girl outfit," she smiled.

"I liked you wearing it as well." Before going too far down that path he changed the subject, "How is your learning program going."

"I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. I didn't do as well at school as I could have because Mum moved us around a lot. I was either doing things twice or missing things out altogether. I couldn't really put it all together. Now I am getting all of it in one piece so it is much easier to fit things together. That book you gave me helps as well."

"That is why I brought it. It helped me increase my CAP so it should help you increase yours. Do you miss your Mum," he asked.

"Yes and no. I was growing up anyway so I was getting a lot more independent. I do miss her a bit, but I have you and the others to replace her. I would have been finding new friends for myself anyway so it is not that different to what would have happened if I had stayed on Earth. I already got on well with Shahana from the 'widows' group so having her around has helped a lot. Do you miss Allison?"

"Yes, I miss her a lot," Mark replied thoughtfully, "she was extracted two months before our twenty second wedding anniversary. That is a lot of time with someone and you can't just walk away from it overnight. At least our children are both sponsors so they will get off the planet as well. Nicky has already gone and John is arranging a pickup similar to ours. It is good to know that they are safe, even if they are not actually with me."

Julie gave him a hug. "I s'pose we all had to leave someone behind."

Major Polgar appeared in her half of the split-screen the AI had set up on Mark's office wall, "Welcome Major," said Mark, "It is strange to be calling you Major, Major."

She looked at the Captain's rank badges on her uniform. "Yes, there can only be one Captain on board ship so I get a nominal promotion to Major while I am on board."

Captain Gonzales interjected, "I hear rumours that they are looking at a reorganisation of ranks to avoid that problem."

"They could always switch to Civil Service ranks instead," Mark joked. "Thank you both for your time and thank you Captain for sending me a printed copy of the relevant information. It appears that you two have the right to assign up to one extra concubine to selected sponsors. I propose that we offer Gisele to the highest scoring sponsors with a 'point nine' until we find one that will take her. The AI tells me that the highest CAP we have on board is an 8.7 so I will try all the 7.9s first and then the 6.9s. Within each group I will look at the proportion of males to females to help decide the order."

"That seems reasonable," the Captain responded and the Major nodded in agreement.

"OK, I will do that. Once I have found a sponsor for her I will need to come back to you both for confirmation to keep the AI happy. Thank you again, both of you, for your time."

Mark started working through the list of sponsors. After a few calls he found a 6.9 who had taken his wife and son as concubines and wanted another woman. The sponsor agreed to take Gisele at least temporarily, and the Captain and Major confirmed it to keep the AI happy. Mark was happy with that; if she did come back into the concubine pool Gisele was no worse off than at present. He felt pleased with his morning's work, a loose end was pretty much tied up.

After lunch Mark asked Shahana to join him in his office for a private conversation.

"Can I ask you what might be a rude question?" he started. She nodded, intrigued. "Was your marriage to Omar an arranged marriage?"

She smiled at him, "Yes, I had talked to my mother about getting married and we both came up with lists of possible husbands. Omar was on both our lists. We agreed a joint list and I ended up marrying Omar. Why do you ask?"

"I was thinking that this family is a bit like an arranged marriage. We did not really know each other that well before leaving Earth. Obviously we had test drives before leaving, which I suppose you and Omar did not."

"Oh no, of course not!" Shahana exclaimed, "That all had to wait until after the wedding."

"Still," he continued, "we two only had a few weeks to get to know each other, and less than that for the other three."

"Can I speak the truth?"

"Of course Shahana."

"I do miss Omar. I still have my children, which helps, but I do miss him still."

"Of course you do, we have only been together a few weeks while you were with Omar for many years. I cannot be Omar for you, Mansur for Safiya and Junaidi for Nurbaiti all at the same time. All I can do is to be me and hope that all four of you can come to like me."

"We all like you already, you are steady and reliable. You don't surprise us much, which is a good thing because we are uncertain about our position as concubines. We are slaves and some surprises can be very bad for slaves -- like when you had to reject Julie and Nurbaiti. I do like you, though you are not Omar. He would do things differently to the way you do them. When Little Shahana was attacked he would have been there alongside Mohammed breaking that dog's door down. You did things your way and he would have done things his way. Omar dived all the way into things while you hold part of yourself back -- a bit of you is always looking and thinking rather than joining in. I suppose that made him a better father than you, but you are better at planning things out."

"Yes," Mark responded, "I know that I am a bit boring and that fatherhood is not my strongest suit. Still I have you three to help me with the children. Safiya is an excellent mother and Nurbaiti seems to be doing well also."

"Having Hala and my two young ones around has helped Safiya a lot. Reading between the lines I don't think that she got on very well with Mansur; I suspect that she prefers you to him. That is difficult for her as she still thinks of herself as married to him and not to you. She is more religious than me and does not recognise the Confederacy divorce in her heart the way I do. I know that Omar was my husband on Earth, but I do not think of him as my husband here. Nurbaiti misses Junaidi a lot. They had not been married long and she really loved him. It is a pity that they did not have any children; I think having one or two around would have helped her when he left for Saudi and now. She has not said much but I think that there was some problem or other there."

"Yes, there was a medical problem which has now been fixed."

"Oh. Yes, that would explain things," Shahana nodded.

"Please do not tell Nurbaiti I mentioned it, she wanted the details kept private."

"I can keep quiet."

"How do you see Julie doing?" Mark asked.

"She loves sex, now that she is old enough for it, though I think you knew that already." Mark smiled and nodded agreement. Shahana continued, "She is looking forward to her first child. She misses her Mum a bit, but she was pretty independent of her anyway before we all left. I think she will do well when she retests; it would be nice if she could become a sponsor herself. She certainly seems to be enjoying the sleep-learning."

Mark pulled the conversation back to his original point, "With your experience of an arranged marriage, do you think that this new family of ours is going to work out well over time?"

"Oh yes, I think so. I saw some arranged marriages back on Earth that were a lot worse than what we already have here. You are a good man and you are trying your best which helps bring out the best in the rest of us. Yes, it will work out well for us all in future."