Chapter Two

John awoke to the sound of a voice in the next room. Liz's breast under his hand and her rear pressing on his morning erection were familiar but the room and the voice weren't. Oh yes, they had been extracted, which explained the room. He got up to investigate the voice.

The TV had come on to a morning news program and it was 07:32. It looked like they were being woken for breakfast. He switched off the TV and went to rouse Liz.

Overnight someone had set up eleven tables and a couple of replicators in the sports hall. The tables were numbered, with the right allocation of chairs placed at each. Sonia and the black woman were there to help. No sign of the two police officers and no sign of any Confederacy announcements either. Looking round as they ate Liz commented that there was a new face at the Zamoyski's table together with a young child that neither of them recognised. There had obviously been someone staying with them overnight. That put eight of them altogether round their table, including the high chair for the infant.

When they had finished eating they cleared their table, dumping their trays into a recycler. Liz looked significantly at John over that. Yet more Confederacy technology casually deployed. The black woman, Anne, told them that there would be an announcement once everyone had finished eating, so they settled down to wait.

The door at the end opened and two people in grey uniforms walked in, followed by ten green giants; Confederacy Marines. Liz and John looked at each other and smiled. They had been right about the extraction.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I am Sub-Decurion van Vliet of the Confederacy Civil Service and I'm pleased to welcome you all to Copernicus Station on the Moon."

John was anticipating an explosion from Jim, but one of the Marines had made a beeline for his table and was doing a very good job of looming menacingly over him. It's not difficult to loom when you're two metres tall.

Waiting for the initial ripples of surprise to die down the Sub-Decurion went on. "Those of you who wish to be returned to Earth will be offered a free medical check, some financial compensation for your time and trouble and be back home later today. Those of you who have volunteered for Confederacy service have been extracted. Those of you who wish to try for concubine status, and who meet our criteria, will soon be given your opportunity within this group and later within the larger pool of people in Copernicus Station." Seeing that some women were starting to strip he hastily interjected, "There is no need to disrobe now. Please everyone remain dressed for the moment." That resulted in a few red faces for those who had progressed the furthest. "Lastly, would Deborah Zamoyski please identify herself."

The younger Zamoyski girl raised her hand and the Sub-Decurion's companion in grey moved quickly to talk to her.

"I will shortly ask all Confederacy volunteers to come and see me, so please get your CAP cards ready if you have them. The rest of you need to think about the decision you have to make as to whether you go back to Earth or you stay here as a concubine. Every eligible adult of fourteen or over makes his or her own decision. Nobody can decide for any other adult. You can discuss it of course, but please do so quietly." He reeled off the list of volunteers, including John and Liz. It was longer than they had expected from just eleven families.

When they came up to see the Sub-Decurion they could see that he was the 'police officer' from yesterday. He took their CAP cards and confirmed that John's mild hypertension was their only immediate medical problem. "Mr. Romirov, you have previously indicated an interest in Keren Savary as a concubine. She is currently available and staying here with a Colin Savary. I suggest that you ask the AI in your apartment to set up a meeting."

We've been extracted! We're on the Moon. Actually we're in the Moon 'cos I think we're underground. That whole 'Involving the Families' thing at daddy's work was a setup. They extracted all of us. Everyone. We turned up on Friday afternoon ready for a week's holiday (I even lost six pounds!!) and we ended up on the Moon. No John though, so I still have to find a sponsor. That sucks. No Deb either, and I'm really really going to miss her. At least between John and Liz I already know how to do a lot of the stuff they're showing us in concubine class. I'm a star pupil!! Me! We still have to do cookery though, Liz was right about that. Vegetables. Yuck!

I took my CAP test. Only 5.5, so I'm better than average but not by enough. Oh well, it was what I had been expecting. The dork already had a 5.0 so at least I beat him. I got a 6.2 on mothering so I'm good at that. I'm sorry John won't see it; he would have liked that part. (I got a 6.5 at sex! Wheee! I'm a slut!) Those were my two best sub-scores though. No I'm NOT going to tell you the others. They did offer me the option of going back to Earth, but what for? Getting picked up even once is lucky. I'm not that stupid. Fat (less 6 pounds!), but not stupid.

I have to go everywhere naked, I can't even wear one of those ugly grey things that dork brother and mum have to wear. I did think about teasing Kenny for wearing a dress, but the look he gave me put me off. Now that we aren't being so nasty to each other I don't want to start things off again. He hasn't actually teased me about being naked in public, and he did say I looked slimmer (less fat you really meant dorkman) after my diet. I'm much slimmer than some of the women round here though. Gross!

I haven't fucked anyone here yet. No John of course. Dad hasn't shown any interest and Kenny and I seem to have this silent agreement to avoid the subject so I shan't ask him. Would I ever get that desperate? Nobody has asked to test drive me yet. (boo hoo) Talking to people in the canteen, a couple of the prettier girls have been asked but boys always look at the babes (or their tits!) first. I think one of the mothers has been picked as well. That makes sense, Liz did go on about childcare. Hey! What about me! I can babysit with the best of them!! Motherhood 6.2, that's me. All I've had in my puss so far is my fingers and a dildo in class. School is VERY different here. More like Liz and John's school!!! But without John. (sad)

I did get a turn in one of their medical thingies. Blink and you missed it. No, I didn't magically lose weight but I do feel better and I did get this collar thing. They fixed my old acne scars and my hair is looking better as well. Mum said they also fixed some incipient diabetes but you can't see that. Once I get a sponsor he'll be able to make me look like a hot babe!

I miss Deb. (sniff) At least I still have my diary.

As they came back to their apartment John and Liz noticed that the previous piece of paper had been replaced by a permanent number eleven on the door. "I don't remember seeing a computer terminal to contact this AI of theirs," Liz said as they entered.

A new voice announced its presence, "I have a fully functional voice interface Elizabeth Romirov."

They both jumped. After a moment Liz replied, "And very effective it is too. You can call me Liz."

"Very well Liz. John Romirov you have a booking for medical in just under two and a half hours. I understand that you may wish to set up a meeting with Ensign Colin Savary to discuss the unassigned concubine Keren Savary."

"Just call me John," he said. Can you put me through to Colin, and has Keren been CAP tested yet?"

"Yes John. Colin Savary is in a meeting and is not scheduled to be available for about fifteen minutes. I have left a message that you wish to contact him. Keren has been tested. Her scores are displayed now."

A section of wall in front of John lit up with figures. This AI could obviously anticipate. It was far more sophisticated even than the Confederacy enhanced computers he was used to working with back on Earth. Examining the display, he was pleased to see her motherhood potential sub-score and not at all surprised at her sex sub-score.

John's here! We're all off to see him and Liz in ten minutes so I have to rush. John's here!!!

John greeted Colin and his family at the door. "Hello everyone, go right on through. Liz is in the living room. In a uniform now Colin?"

"Yes, I'm part of Marines weapons research doing pretty much what I did back on Earth, small arms."

Keren waited till last and gave John a big hug and a kiss. "I'm so glad you got picked up," she told him. They followed the others, holding hands. He wondered at her being nude, and her collar, but didn't comment. He recognised that the plain grey shifts that Kenny and Marie wore would be standard issue concubine clothing. That made sense.

Once the social niceties were done and everyone had their tea or coffee, John turned to the first business, "Hal, how do we do this?"

The AI responded, "It is sufficient to speak clearly to indicate your intentions and I can record everything. I assume that you wish to claim Keren Savary as your concubine."

"Correct."

"Keren Savary?"

She responded eagerly, "Yes. I want to be John's concubine."

"So recorded. You are now assigned as concubine to John Romirov."

Keren squealed and kissed John again. "Thanks so much John. I wasn't looking forward to trying to find another sponsor."

Marie was crying, but then the mother of the bride is allowed to cry at weddings. Not quite a wedding, but close enough. Colin had picked up on what John had said earlier, "You call your AI Hal?"

"You know what I'm like with old movies. How could I call it anything else?"

"True. We just call ours 'AI' which is kinda boring."

Liz looked at John. "Shall I tell him?" When John nodded, she turned to their friend. "Colin, we have a small confession to make. Back after Keren's birthday, when you came to talk to us, we left you with a false impression."

Colin looked worried. "Am I going to like this?"

"Yes, I think so. You asked to see John's CAP card. You didn't ask to see mine."

"My God! You're a sponsor as well Liz?"

"CAP seven point six. I get four, and I need a stud." She glanced at Kenny. "If I took Kenny then you could pick someone else. I've already tested Kenny and I like him. He knows me as well. Can we do a deal?"

Kenny burst out, "Liz! That's a real surprise. I had no idea. So that's why you and John were so keen to train me as well as Keren."

"Guilty as charged," Liz said, "We deliberately kept my score quiet. Only John really knew."

Colin looked questioningly at his son. "Ermm, well dad, I'm real grateful that you took me on, but if I stay with you and mum then it's only ever going be Rosie Palm for me, isn't it? With Liz I get her and three others. I know I get on fine with Liz, and with John, so I don't really have a choice. I'm hardly likely to get a better offer am I?"

Colin nodded, "It would seem to be the best thing for you." Marie nodded silently through her tears.

Hal broke in. "Ensign Savary, do you release your concubine Kenneth."

"Yes."

"Elizabeth Romirov do you accept the concubine Kenneth Savary?"

"Yes."

"Kenneth Sava..."

"I accept Hal." Kenny was as eager as Keren.

"So recorded."

They would all have liked to stay and celebrate but Colin had to get back for another of his meetings. There were a lot of things to be organised in the week they had before some of their people returned to Earth after their 'holiday'. As Colin explained it, the company was splitting with part remaining on Earth and part being evacuated to the diaspora. They were developing small arms for use against the Sa'arm which would be useful in both places. The people staying behind had been given some additional, albeit obsolete, information from Confederacy archives and everyone was working hard on integrating the new data before Sunday when the Earthside team would go back.

When it was just the four of them Liz asked, "Kenny, why are you wearing that awful grey thing like the one your mother had on? And what's with the collars you both have?"

"Liz, if it's OK with you, now that I'm away from home I would prefer to be called Ken."

"Sure Ken, that's fine. Hal, did you get that?"

"Yes Liz."

Ken explained, "Well, we got these collars in medical. They let us talk with the AIs, open doors for us and help guide us around. We don't have the internal AI links that you sponsors have so we need them to talk with the AIs when we're in a crowd. This base is huge and it's easy to get lost. Didn't you get the briefing where this was all explained?"

"We were extracted late last night and contacted your dad straight after breakfast. We haven't had that briefing yet."

"Well, these grey shifts are for accepted concubines, it shows we belong to someone already. Unaccepted concubines are naked, like Keren. Sponsors wear uniforms mostly or sometimes ordinary clothes like you. Dad only got his uniform on Sunday though we got here on Friday. Dependant kids are in their normal clothes. The people going back to Earth get red armbands so you can tell they aren't sponsors. With so many people around you need a way to tell who's who. Like when you go looking for three more concubines Liz, you'll only be able to pick from the naked ones."

"Hal, why didn't we get this briefing?" asked John.

"The orientation briefing is due shortly in the main hall. A standard shift for concubine Keren is available in the replicator in the master bedroom."

About five seconds after they entered the sports hall Keren screamed.

DEB!!! They picked up Deb!! Thankyou God. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. I'm sure I gave everyone a heart attack when I saw her (I was just a little bit noisy, like 1000 deci-whatevers). It wasn't just John that got picked up, it was the whole building! Everyone! Even Jim!!! He looked mad as hell, but they had one of those HUGE marines hovering nearby so he didn't say a word. I'll have to ask Deb if she's seen one of their cocks yet. Are their dicks really as big as she said they were? I've seen a few Marines of course, but not their dicks. We didn't get much of a chance to talk as the briefing started just after I got there. Boring! I'd heard it all before, but I had to sit quietly because Deb hadn't and she needed to listen. After the briefing she told me she'd been tested. She got a 6.1 so I'm jealous. She was always smarter than me anyway. I bet I beat her on sex though. She doesn't do much, just listens to me gabbling on about what I get up to (which is enough for both of us!!) She's probably still a virgin!! Her family is Catholic and all. I know she's kissed some boys but I think that's all. She kissed me a few times as well but that was years ago -- before I discovered that boys could kiss too! (LOL)

They had me and Ken stand up for a show and tell about concubines. There were only three of us in these boring smocks there. Doesn't the Confederacy have any fashion sense?!? Even all those uniforms get pretty dull after a while.

Dork brother wants to be called Ken, not Kenny. I suppose that makes him Kendork or Dorkken (sounds like a couple of Anime characters). Ken or Kenny, he's still a dork. But not as dorky as he used to be. Oh shit! Now we both belong to John and Liz they could make us do it again. I'm going to have to find John a second concubine quickly, and Ken is going to have to find three for Liz. The more of us there are the less chance they'll make me bonk Dorkken again. I think we might have to get together to pick out some likely prospects for them.

Deb!!! She's just SO right for John. I'll tell him as soon as I can. He can pick Deb. Brilliant idea Keren, even if I say so myself. (grin)

Sub-Decurion van Vliet gave the briefing, which included the part about collars and clothes that Ken had explained. John could see that Jim was wearing a red armband; no surprise there. There were some others as well, mostly men. He also covered the standard stuff that John already knew. When he got to the part about concubines he had Ken, Keren and another woman stand up to show everyone their smocks and collars.

The Sub-Decurion also outlined how they would pick concubines. Today sponsors would get a chance to have their pre-packs extracted if possible. Then from tomorrow they would pick within the group extracted from their building and later any unclaimed concubines would be put into a general pool and sponsors with spare slots would get access to the pool as well. That gave people who knew each other a chance to get together before having to deal with a lot of total strangers in the general pool. There weren't any more dependants to extract; one kid had been on an overnight with a friend and he was now here, together with his former hosts. They had all been picked up after breakfast.

After the briefing finished John let Keren go over and talk some more to her friend Deb, Deborah Zamoyski.

The second Civil Service person came over to their table talk to them. She turned out, not unexpectedly, to be the female 'police officer' from the extraction, more correctly Signifer Julia Brooks. She explained that since they were both sponsors they would normally have been be assigned a second apartment. The plan had been that once people had been returned to Earth they would be allocated one of the freed apartments. The problem was that more people than expected had decided to stay and there was also the new family extracted with the dependent child.

"That means that we can't assign you two whole apartments," Julia explained. "We'll move some walls to give you more space but it won't be as much as we'd planned."

"That's not a big problem, we're happier staying together anyway," Liz said.

"Staying together here in Copernicus Base isn't a problem. Do you both want to be deployed together once you get out to the colonies as well?" Julia asked.

"Yes please, if at all possible."

"Are you going to be Navy or Marines?"

"Navy for me, while John hasn't decided yet. I suppose Navy would be easier for keeping us together?"

"Probably," Julia replied. "I'll have a Navy person contact you."

"I do have a question," John asked, "Why was our building extracted? It's a lot smaller than the big sports stadia you sometimes do."

"We do more small places than you might think," Julia replied. "They don't make as many headlines as the really big extractions so they aren't as obvious. As to your particular case, Ensign Colin Savary, who I think you both know, strongly indicated that he wanted John extracted to be a sponsor for his daughter. Examining your building we noticed a higher than average proportion of sponsors, making it a high quality target. On a Monday evening very few people were expected to be away so it was a convenient time for an extraction."

"So we have Colin to thank?"

"Yes. He was very insistent."

"What about the chemical smell if there was no actual spillage?" Liz asked.

"There was a spillage," Julia said indignantly, "We spilled a little chlorinated water in the entrance hall to make it seem real." That broke all three of them up laughing.

On returning from his medical John found a stranger in Naval uniform talking to Liz. "Lieutenant Hiroshi Nagahara," he introduced himself. "We have been discussing Ensign E. Romirov's deployment with the Navy. We are looking to put her into the command track. Her CAP scores and other background appear to make her suited for that role."

"Congratulations Liz. That sounds interesting."

"Interesting, but very hard work. From what the Lieutenant says it isn't going to be easy."

"Very true," the Lieutenant confirmed. "We would rather have you fail in training than fail when facing the Sa'arm so we make the training very tough." Turning to John he continued. "Ensign J. Romirov, we don't see you as a command track officer. Your skills are in the supply chain so we will want to deploy you in Logistics. Your training will be shorter and easier as you will not be on the command track."

"Good," John responded, "I'm sure I'll be better behind a desk than at the sharp end, and supply chain is what I know best."

"Yes, we have accessed your internal company evaluations and they say you are very valuable. Particularly the way you integrated replicators and other Confederacy technology into your company's distribution system."

"It wasn't much," John said modestly, "I just saw an opportunity where others saw a threat. If we could get the new technology integrated more quickly than our competitors then we could steal a march on them. We increased our market share while two of the others went bankrupt. I must have been doing something right."

The Lieutenant resumed, "Signifer Brooks said that the two of you wished to be deployed together if possible."

"Yes. How possible will that be?"

"Initially we can station you both at one of our larger fleet bases, with both logistics and training installations. Ensign E. Romirov will obviously be training at first and then deployed on patrol for months at a time. She will be able to join you on her periods of leave between deployments. We are fighting a war so those arrangements may change at any time."

John swallowed his disappointment. "Just about the best we can hope for. Liz?"

She didn't look happy either. "It isn't ideal but, as the Lieutenant says, there's a war on."

After he left they just hugged each other silently for a few minutes. They weren't apart yet, but they would be. It really brought it home to them that legally they weren't even husband and wife any more.

Signifer Brooks was not looking forward to this interview. The door slid open and Jim Devonshire stormed in. The Marine shadowing him stood silently in a corner.

Jim started in characteristic fashion, "You've kidnapped my wife and daughter! I want them back. Now!"

Julia replied patiently, "Mr. Devonshire, both your wife and your daughter are adults. You cannot decide for them and they have made their own decisions."

"You're no better than slave traders. I demand that all of us be put back on Earth right now!"

"We can have you back on Earth within the hour sir, once we have finished the formalities. We will not force your wife or daughter to do anything against their wills."

Jim was not mollified by her quiet tone, "I'll sue the Confederacy for kidnapping me and my family."

"You are at liberty to do so once you have returned to Earth." Julia brought the interview back to the point, "However, first we need to complete the formalities. Can you please confirm that you do not accept our offer of medical treatment."

"I won't be forced into one of your alien machines! How do I know you won't brainwash me? Of course I refuse!"

"Can you please confirm that you do not accept our offer of financial compensation."

"And sign away my right to sue you for millions? For a paltry eight thousand pounds? You must think I'm a fool!"

Julia had a real struggle not to answer that last question. Even the Marine in the corner rolled his eyes. "Thank you Mr. Devonshire. If you can please accompany Marine Atkins to the waiting area we will have you back on Earth within the hour."

Julia sighed with relief as Jim left her office. At least his wife and daughter had shown more sense than he had.

"Keren."

"Yes John? Do you want me to jerk you faster?" Her hand was moving slowly on his dick.

"No, you're doing fine as it is. You never asked us if you could fuck Ken again."

"Ummm. No I didn't. I know we'd have to if you told us to, but I'd rather not. We did it once, and it actually helped us get on better with each other. I don't think doing it again would help more. Are you going to make us?" Keren sounded worried.

"No," John reassured her. "Just confirming what we thought. Ken is the same, he never asked us if he could fuck you again either. If you had wanted to then I could transfer you to Liz so you would have more chance to be together. We could do that anyway?"

Keren thought for a couple of seconds. "No, probably best not to. As Kenny, whoops, Ken that is... Since Ken is Liz's stud then he'll pretty much have to boff me again sometime if I belong to her. Better if we stick the way we are. Do you want me to suck you now?" She wanted to distract him from his line of thought.

"I'd love you to, but I have work to do." He put his cock away to keep temptation out of her grasp. "I need to start picking a second concubine."

Keren saw her opportunity, "Pick Deb. John, you absolutely have to pick Deb. She's so nice and I get on really well with her. That way everyone will be happy. Definitely pick Deb."

"I'm sorry Keren, Deb's not what I'm looking for. Anyway the pair of you would spend so much time talking to each other that I'd never get a chance to fuck either of you. Not Deb, I'm afraid."

"Please John. She's really nice. Please. I'd be so happy." Keren was pleading now.

"Keren, I need an experienced mother," John said firmly. "With Liz away on deployment someone's going to have to look after babies, and Deb doesn't have the experience."

"I've got the experience. I can babysit. I got 6.2 on my CAP for mothering. Please John. Please."

"No Keren. Definitely not Deb."

"I hate you!" Keren screamed and rushed out.

Liz poked her head round the door. "What was that about?"

"I told her I wouldn't take Deb as a concubine. She's not happy."

Liz sat down next to John. "She'll calm down in a bit. She's a sensible girl at heart. You're thinking about your second concubine then? Get Hal to help."

"Great idea Liz." He decided to try out his new internal interface with the AI, <Hal, please list the available experienced mothers taking account of their estimated compatibility with my profile.>

Hal displayed the names. John and Liz both burst out laughing; top of the list was Marina Devonshire, Jim's wife. "Damn!" John swore, "I didn't notice that Marina wasn't wearing a red armband. I just saw Jim's and assumed. Teach me not to make assumptions. No wonder he looked so angry. Still, there's no real chemistry between us so I don't want her as a concubine if I can avoid it." John examined the rest of the list. "Hal, who's this Elena O'Connor at number two. I don't recognise her name."

"She was staying with the Zamoyski's overnight. She is Mr. Zamoyski's niece, age twenty four."

"So she was the new face we saw at their table over breakfast?" Liz interjected, "The one with the small child."

"Correct." Hal displayed her picture next to the list of names. As they remembered, she was plain with her Slavic cheekbones being her only notable feature. Blonde hair, simply tied back. "She has a better psychological fit with John's profile than Marina Devonshire but much less actual experience of motherhood. Her child is only seventeen months old. Her potential score for motherhood is excellent."

"What does that flag by her name mean?" John enquired.

"She has not yet been to medical, nor does she have a collar. She will not be available for a test drive until either tomorrow morning or after her medical is completed, whichever is later. Her collar will be issued by tomorrow morning at the latest."

"I know I won't much like Diane at number three and the others below her are worse. Please put me down for an interview and test drive with this Elena as soon as allowed. Also notify her immediately that I am interested so she is not completely surprised. She won't know me from Adam so she'll probably want to talk to her family about me before we meet."

<Done,> Hal replied silently over John's interface.

"How compatible is Elena likely to be with Keren?"

"Indications are that they will get on well, but not as well as Keren does with Elena's cousin Deborah."

"I don't think anyone could get on as well as those two do," John opined. "How is Keren?"

"She is crying in her room. She has asked permission to connect to Deborah Zamoyski."

"Refused, but don't tell her I refused the connection." John did not want Keren to know that he was blocking her. Let her think it was Hal.

"She has also asked to connect to concubine Marie Savary."

"What are Colin's instructions?" John didn't want to tread on Colin's toes.

"Ensign Savary has not left any instructions about connections. He is in a meeting while Marie is in his apartment."

"Let Keren connect to her mother and leave Colin a message that she has done so." He thought that Marie would be more likely to talk sense to Keren than Deb would, and the girl probably needed to talk to someone.

<Done.>

"One question Hal, why are test drives blocked until tomorrow? We were able to select Keren and Ken weren't we?"

"Your concubines were classified as pre-pack members since you had both contacted the Confederacy about them before extraction. There will be an announcement to everyone about future arrangements tomorrow morning. Test drives will start from then."

"Thanks Hal," He turned to his wife, "Liz do you want a go?"

"OK Hal, I have my stud so I need a mother and two fuck bunnies. One of the three needs to be a boss concubine. Somebody needs to be in charge while I'm away and I don't think Ken is up to it, he's too young. Probably the mother will be the boss but it doesn't absolutely have to be her. Obviously all three compatible with me and ideally with Ken and John as well. Mothers first." Again they both laughed at the list Hal displayed. "Marina! She comes top again." Liz said, amused. "She would definitely be a better choice as my concubine than as yours. She did take a big chance staying here. There's no way Jim would ever take her back now. And she would certainly be a good boss. What about her John?"

"She's a non-starter as my concubine but as your concubine it's Ken's job to fuck her, not mine. We get on socially, and we're already neighbours. Sure, it should work." John paused, "And she does have a nice arse."

"Nice? It's one of the best arses around!" Liz said. "I'll take Ken along to test drive her tomorrow. Set up an early appointment Hal."

"Done."

"Now what about the fuck bunnies." Liz paused as Hal displayed the second list. "Oh my! John, look at number six."

John did a double take. "Sandy as well. Jim must be incandescent. Both of them stayed. Oh boy!"

Liz just laughed.

John examined the rest of the list. "Never mind Sandy Devonshire, Liz. Look at number two. Do you think we could spring a surprise?"

"You have a devious mind John. That's a great idea."

Marine Atkins eyed the group. "OK, now listen up all of you. We're going to be transporting down into the rear section of a coach. When you get through the transporter walk forward right to the front and find a seat up near the driver. We don't want you blocking the aisle for the others coming through behind you. Your overnight bags should go into the overhead storage, again we don't want the aisle blocked. The coach will take about thirty minutes to deliver you straight to your destination. Now take off your red armbands and line up."

Once they were all on board Marine Atkins sat down next to Jim Devonshire. He didn't want anything going wrong at this late stage. Jim sat silent and sullen. Neither of them was interested in any conversation.

As the coach pulled away after the last of the returnees had got off, Marine Atkins sighed. "Must be strange to be returning people rather than picking them up," he said to the driver.

"We do more of that than you might think Tom. When we scoop up a whole bunch of people we have to return the old women and a lot of the low CAP men don't fancy their chances upstairs. Much like this lot, but bigger."

Tom grinned and walked back down the aisle to the transporter pad. He hoped his next duty in Copernicus Station wouldn't be as boring as this one had been.

I really hated John for a bit there. I'm lucky I didn't hit him in a fit of temper. They made it VERY clear in concubine class that you don't do that. You just don't. I nearly barfed when they showed us that woman being spaced. Yuck!! Some of the others did barf. I still hate him, but not as much. I calmed down some after I talked to mum. Stupid Hal wouldn't let me talk to Deb. Mum was a big help. I can see that I'll need a real mother to help with babies and all. Deb would be nice though. It's just that she would know less than me really. I'll just have to make sure I see more of her while I can.

I'm going to have to go back out there and say sorry to John (though I still hate him). I hope I don't blub too much. God, life is just AWFUL. All I have is Deb and I'm going to lose her sometime soon. Mustn't blub Keren. Mustn't blub.

Keren came sheepishly back into the room. "I'm really sorry John. I'm..." Despite her best efforts she broke down in tears.

John smiled at her and held out his arms to her. She came to him and just cried. Liz left silently, she had things to do and her own appointment in medical.

Keren had calmed herself by the evening. Liz had let her off kitchen duties, which helped some, but she was still a bit down. John had allowed her a short talk with Deb, but only a short one.

"So Keren, tonight you get to choose. I can do your pussy or your arse. Which one."

Keren answered quickly, "My bum please John."

"Since us women are choosing," Liz said, "you can do my cunt Ken."

"Why certainly my Lady. How do you want it?"

"Doggy style, you cheeky boy. And I'm certainly not a Lady!"

Both women were soon on all fours on the big bed with their respective studs sawing in and out of the nominated holes. Ken came first, though he soon got hard again and went for a second. John lasted longer but sprayed Keren's colon before Ken and Liz had finished their second round.

"Go get a cloth to clean me off Keren," John told her. He lay back to look at Liz's big tits swinging below her as Ken fucked her from behind. Soon Liz and Ken came pretty much together and collapsed in a happy pile.

As Keren was wiping John's cock she asked, "How come you two are like you are? I mean from the start you were happy to fuck me with Liz there, and Liz was happy to let you do it. If I had gone to anyone else and said, 'Hello, can I boff your husband?' she would never have said, 'Sure, I'll get my strap-on and we can double team you.' I mean, most couples would have run a mile. Mum and dad would never do that in a million years."

Ken snorted, "Never in ten million years. I was surprised they even let Keren go see John in the first place."

John looked at Liz, raising an eyebrow. "Tell them John, they should know."

He nodded, "You're right Keren, we're not like most couples. Before we were married we were part of a group of swingers. We kept that up for a few years after we married, but we had to move for my work and Myles was growing up. We lost touch with the group and things sort of wound down. We rarely swung after that. The last time was with Jim and Marina."

"No shit! You did it with Sandy's parents. Wow!" Ken was amazed.

"It didn't last long, I just didn't click in bed with Marina. Liz was fine with both of them, but Marina and I.... That was before Jim got all political. It did get us into our flat though, Jim let us know when number eleven came available. Having you two is letting us relive old times a bit."

"I just knew it!" Keren exclaimed. "There had to be something. Did dad know?"

"I don't think so, though he may have suspected. I think it was more that we weren't gung-ho for Earth First like Jim. It was all about preparing Keren to be a concubine after all."

"And preparing Ken as well," Liz said, reaching for his cock, "I think he needs some more practice."