Part 11

Harriet pulled her panties on with a sigh of relief. She didn't wear the bunny slippers; the ones that came out of the replicator didn't feel like the ones she'd left at home. She had to try on a few different pair before she found some comfy ones. They would be much better than walking on the hard decks barefoot. The standard shift was so skimpy, barely covering her rear, that she felt undressed even with it on. The panties and slippers made a big difference. Being a concubine was so much more embarrassing than she'd imagined.

Last night, she'd had to be naked in front of all those people, then this morning her brother had nearly caught her and Kitty in a sixty-nine. They'd fallen asleep like that, tangled together on the bed. Kitty had tried to jump her brother's bones right there in the doorway when he came to wake them up, but he wouldn't let her. She'd gone downstairs right after he left. The AI wouldn't let Harriet follow either; she was still trapped upstairs. She'd been able to argue the AI into cleaning their school uniforms, but when she'd finished with her shower, the AI wouldn't give them back. Chrissy's little brother, Paul, had caught her coming out of the shower in just a towel, and had ogled her all the way down the hall.

He'd done the same to Kitty, when she went downstairs the second time, and had hung out in the hallway waiting until she came back. Kitty had gone down naked, and had come back smelling like sex with drops of what must have been sperm running down the insides of her thighs. Kitty hadn't seemed to mind Paul looking at all, and to Harriet's surprise, she didn't mind herself when she came out of her bedroom and he looked to see if she was wearing panties. He was just a kid, not quite thirteen yet, but at least he was nice about it. He didn't say anything crude, or try and touch them. He had a stiff little woodie about four or five inches long showing through his jeans, but the way he looked at them was more curiosity than anything.

She nodded to him and leaned against the wall. She better get used to it, she'd heard that concubines spent a lot of time naked, and the kid was going to get an eyeful anyway. The shift covered a lot more than a bikini, it just felt more revealing.

The AI had told her earlier that they weren't allowed downstairs until sent for. It wouldn't let Paul go down, and when eleven-year-old Wanda tried a bit later, the grav-lift didn't work for her either. When Gina came out of her room, she gave Wanda a hug, messed up her brother's hair and dropped down through the hole in the floor.

Harriet tried to follow, but it was no good, the AI still wouldn't let her go down. Finally, Gina came back up the grav-lift. She had a stinger clenched in one hand, and looked worried. "They want all of you downstairs. It's time to go to breakfast," she said.

While the others hurried down the tube, Harriet moved close to Gina. "What's wrong?"

"My mom's, ah..." Gina hesitated as if unsure of what to say, "having some problems, I have to um... explain things to her. You just go downstairs."

The older girl waved her away and went into one of the bedrooms, leaving the door open. Harriet started down, but hesitated when she heard raised voices and a sharp yelp like a dog that had been kicked. Instead of entering the grav lift, she moved closer to the open door.

"... wanna have to do this, Mom, but Chrissy doesn't want to talk to you right now. She's still mad."

"I don't care if she is mad, she's got no right to treat me like this!" the older woman yelled. "Why can't I get out of this room? I can't even get this machine to give me a pair of panties. Why do you get a pair and I don't? I know why, I heard you come in last night. You fucked that nigg...." There was a soft zap and a squeal of pain, then a moment of silence.

"She's probably watching right now, just let me talk okay? Please?" Gina sounded like she was about to cry. "It's time for breakfast. Chrissy says if you want to eat, you have to promise not to say anything the whole time we're gone. If you do, she's going to have me zap you with this every time you talk, and you won't get to eat, you'll just have to sit there and watch. You promise?"

"I promise, but it's not right. I raised her better than this."

"Mom, I... I think you'd be better off if you could just quit talking, If you go on about things, you're just going to make her madder."

"She has to listen to me, I'm her mother, I know what's best for her."

"Mom! Just be quiet, please! Things aren't the same as they were. Don't you get it? She's in charge, and we have to do what she tells us. Just sit down on the bed. We have to do one thing and then we can get you some food."

"What? Wait, now wait, you don't need to do that, I promised to be quiet."

"I'm sorry Mom, I really am, but I have to do this. She says it will help you remember not to talk."

"Noo...." Zap, zap, zap.

Harriet hurried to the grav-lift and dropped to the lower level. Chrissy wasn't watching what was going on in the room, instead she was sitting on Freddie's lap, staring at the screen of a netbook, and crying. Wanda climbed up on the back of the couch and said, "What's the matter? Who's that?"

Harriet had just enough time to move where she could see too. On the screen was a picture of a couple with two little kids. Chrissy snapped it shut and wiped her eyes as Gina came down the grav-lift followed by their mom. "I'll tell you later, after breakfast. We have to hurry, we're late already."

They filed out into the corridor. Chrissy grabbed her little sister's hand, then Freddie's. Gina took her mom's hand and whispered something to her. Kitty held on to Freddie's other hand, like she was afraid of what might happen next. Harriet looked at Paul, who seemed nervous. "You don't need your hand held do you?" He shook his head, and squared his shoulders, but didn't say anything. She was a little disappointed, but she tried not to let it show. She was nervous too, and it would have been nice to have someone to hold onto.

The dining hall was half full. Most of the people there wore shifts identical to the one she wore, but there were some who were naked. The rest of the adults wore uniforms, either green, black or blue like her brother and Chrissy. The tables were laid out in two sections with a wide path down the middle. About halfway down, she spotted someone she recognized. Kitty's thirteen-year-old sisters, Patricia and Melissa, jumped up and down waving their arms and yelling, "Kitty! Kitty!" The twins still had their school uniforms on. A girl dressed in a dark green t-shirt much too big for her, and knee high socks, stood with them, waving Kitty over.

Freddie let go of Kitty's hand and gave her a little push. "Go see your sisters."

Kitty ran over, and the rest of them followed. The twins looked a lot like her, with black hair and bright blue eyes. Kitty wrapped them both in a big hug, and started crying.

"We thought we'd never see you again." Melissa said.

"How did you get here?" Patty asked.

Kitty was too choked up to answer, so Freddie did. "You can thank Johnny for that. If he hadn't told Chrissy," he smiled down at the short blonde as he spoke, "to pick me, I wouldn't have gotten to retest and I couldn't have picked her up." He stuck out his hand to a young guy in a green marine uniform, who sat next to a little girl, and held a two-year-old boy. "Thanks to you, I was able to pick up my little sister and Chrissy's mom too."

Johnny shifted the little boy so he could stand up and took Freddie's hand. "I didn't do anything, all I said was that you were a nice guy." He was tall, taller than Freddie, but while he had muscles, they were natural, not a full body rebuild like the marines at the briefing.

Chrissy hugged them both, pulling Johnny down to kiss him on the cheek. "He's the best," she said, "just like you told me. Because of you, I didn't have to leave mom behind. Freddie and I are going to build starships together. If we can ever do anything for you, anything at all, just let us know."

Johnny looked embarrassed by the praise. "I really didn't do anything, I just thought you two might get along." The way he stammered it out was kinda cute.

A woman with a horribly scarred arm put a tray of food on the table. Gina made a happy sound and hugged her excitedly. The green t-shirt the woman wore rode up to reveal an ugly red pattern of scars on her legs as well. "Marcy! I'm so glad you got picked up." Another girl, who wasn't much older than Harriet, and had skin almost the same color as her own, helped the little girl with her pancakes. Her face was pockmarked, her hair was dyed blue, and her outfit matched the other two.

"Johnny picked me," she said, then introduced the others. Until the night before, Marcy'd worked with Freddie, Chrissy and Gina. The little boy Johnny held perched on one hip turned out to be Marcy's, as did the six-year-old girl eating pancakes. The two teen-aged girls, Carmen and Lucy, had gone to school with Chrissy, so they already knew each other. "He's so wonderful, he already has my kids calling him Daddy." Marcy's eyes teared up. "He's more than I ever expected, more than I deserve."

Johnny took her hand absently. "They're good kids Honey. They have a great mom. I picked you because you're a good person, and not just because I want your body." Marcy blushed and shook her head.

Lucy, the young back-haired girl, spoke up. No, she couldn't be a young girl. She had to be at least fourteen, or she couldn't be a concubine. "Johnny wasn't going to volunteer. The Army was going to give him a commission and everything, but he came because we asked him to take care of us. He's the best brother ever." She blushed as she said the last, and somehow Harriet knew, just knew, that the two of them had had sex.

Harriet glanced at her own brother, who didn't seem to realize, and wondered if he would. Wondered what he would do about getting her pregnant. Would he want to do it himself? She couldn't stop him, and all she had to do was lay back and let him. She could do that if she had to. The thought didn't excite her though.

Wanda pulled on Chrissy's hand. "I'm hungry."

Freddie took the hint. "We're all going to the same place, we'll have time to talk, and it's good to have people around that we know from before." He led them toward an empty table.

The twins followed, chattering with Kitty, and behind them, Lucy asked her brother. "Can I go eat breakfast with them?" His answer must have been yes, because she followed, wrapping an arm around each of the thirteen-year-old girls' waists.

The food replicators were pretty cool, there were literally millions of choices. Harriet asked for eggs, and a hologram appeared showing them cooked twelve different ways, plus sides and 'cooked with' options. She changed her mind and asked for cereal, and there must have been a hundred or more choices. Asking for toast was the same, two dozen options at least. There were other people waiting, so she told the machine. "Scrambled eggs, wheat toast and orange juice." Holographic options popped up. "Don't ask me for options, just pick one for me that I'll like." The options blanked out, and a tray with her order appeared. Eggs, scrambled in medium chunks, well-cooked, two slices of buttered wheat toast, cut into triangles, and a big cold glass of orange juice without pulp. There was also a small bottle of tabasco sauce. Honestly, who put hot sauce on eggs? The rest of it was fine though.

Harriet took the food back to the table, ignoring a disturbance at the other end of the room. Lucy and the twins were the last ones to the table. "... so big I had to use both hands." Lucy said to the others. "When he stuck it in, I thought I was going to die."

"It hurt that bad?" Melissa asked.

"No... well, yeah it hurt a lot, but just at first, and after it felt so good. I felt full, like... I can't really explain it, but I came and came, then he tied me down and had Marcy use her mouth on me. She was good, but not as good as you two." She broke off her story and backed the twins up to the table. She kissed Patricia on the mouth, with tongue too, then switched over to the other twin. She had one hand up under each of their skirts and was giving Melissa a hickey when an enormous marine stomped up behind her.

"What are you doing with my Kittens?" the huge man demanded.

She turned around, moving between them and him, like she thought she'd be able to protect them. "Petting them, duh, what did you thi...?"

Her voice cut off as she stared at the girls beside him. One of them had bright red hair and wore only a collection of leather straps. She held a riding crop in one hand and a leash in the other. At the other end of the leash another girl with bright blue hair crawled at her heels. All she wore was a collar. Her nose was squished, she had whiskers and her pointed ears had fur on them. She had light blue fur on the backs of her hands, and tops of her feet, running halfway to her elbows and knees. There was a cat-tail on a dildo shoved up her ass, and she'd left a trail of blood on the deck. Both of the girls looked about fourteen.

He didn't seem to have noticed Lucy's response, he probably hadn't expected an answer. He spoke out loud to the AI; he either hadn't learned how to subvocalize, or he just didn't want to bother. "I can't punish them for this? What? You mean if I want to do them I have to let them do other people?" He was getting mad. The girl with the red hair stood on her tiptoes and whispered something to him. "What about you? I checked and that guy you were with last night was only supposed to get two, how did he manage to get you?"

Lucy got a stubborn look on her face. "That's need-to-know information, and you don't need to know."

"He has too fucking many, so he needs to share." He reached for Lucy, but she dodged. "Hold still you little bitch."

"You're not allowed to touch me," she said, "Only Johnny gets to touch me." She tried to get away, but he had her backed against the table. She screamed as he grabbed her and tossed her on the table with a crash of dishes.

"Hey, cut that out Ray." Freddie told him, jumping up. "She's not yours, you need permission to do that."

"Fuck off limpdick, you're not even a fucking sponsor. You had to get Prissy Chrissy to pick you up, she doesn't even like men." Ray pinned Lucy to the table with one hand and ripped off her panties with the other. She kicked at him while he backed off to undo the crotch flap of his uniform. He was huge, he had to have had that enlarged when he'd done the rest of his body. It didn't do him much good now, as it provided a big target. One of Lucy's kicks connected, and he doubled over, gasping in pain.

Lucy tried to roll off the table, but he grabbed her. The quiet zap, zap, sound of Chrissy's stinger was lost in Ray's bellow of rage. He punched at Lucy, but she squirmed sideways, and his fist slammed into the table. The dishes jumped and clattered from the force of the blow.

Johnny slammed into Ray from behind, pulling him over backward. Ray flipped over and punched Johnny in the face, then in the stomach. Marcy ran up next to them carrying a teapot and yelled, "Ray! Look at this!" When he did, she threw the tea in Ray's eyes. While he screamed in pain, used both hands to slam the pot into his face.

"AI! Get some security in here." Freddie grabbed Ray's arm. "Come on, we're supposed to fight the Swarm, not each other." Ray responded by knocking Freddie down. While Ray was distracted, Marcy smashed the teapot down on his head. It didn't seem to affect him at all, he leapt up and went after her. He hit her a couple of times and she fell to the ground like a broken toy.

Ray turned back to Johnny, and kicked him in the ribs. He only did it once though, because Lucy jumped in and grabbed his exposed balls, squeezing, twisting and biting. He gave off a high pitched scream and panicked, trying to get away from her. His screams cut off as Johnny's third concubine, Carmen, jammed a knife into his back. Ray collapsed silently to the deck.

Johnny sprang up from the floor, pulled Lucy away from Ray and literally tossed her to where the twins and Kitty hugged the cat-girl and cried. "Go sit by Chrissy!" he yelled to Carmen, pulling her bloody hands off the knife. He knelt down by Marcy, speaking softly to her. Marcy's kids had come up sometime during the fight. The girl took her mother's hand, and the boy stood there looking scared.

Harriet picked Marcy's little boy up and took him over to Johnny's other concubines. Kitty held the cat girl tight. Both of the twins were there, crying and staring daggers at Ray's fallen form.

"Is he dead?" Melissa asked.

"I think he's still breathing." Patricia said. "Do you think anyone would notice if we cut his throat?"

"No, don't, they'll kill you," the cat girl said.

"It's okay Mom," Kitty told her, as tears streamed down her cheeks, "they won't do anything stupid."

"Mom?" Harriet blurted out, surprised.

"This is our mom," Kitty said, "Ray made his concubines fourteen again, then he did this to Mom."

A couple of marines ran up, stingers in their hands. "What's going on here?"

Johnny pointed at Ray. "This guy tried to rape my sister."

The other marine snorted "You can't rape a concubine."

The first one sighed. "He's right, legally you can't rape a concubine."

"Vandalism, theft, and assaulting a superior?" Freddie asked.

"Fucking concubines attacked me." Ray groaned from the floor. "I didn't do anything wrong. Jesus it fucking hurts."

"Shit." The first marine looked over at Harriet and the others "You know we have to space concubines who attack sponsors."

"Sergeant," Johnny said, "the girls were acting on my orders. If there are any repercussions, they should apply to me, not them. They have to do whatever I tell them."

The Sergeant nodded. "A good Marine takes responsibility, I'm glad to see you're a good Marine."

A Japanese guy in a uniform like Freddie's ran up, followed by four women in uniforms of the same color. The women's uniforms had skirts though, and the tops looked a little different. They also had gray armbands, so they were probably concubines. Each pair of women handled a stretcher that floated in the air. Harriet couldn't understand anything they said, but they seemed to know what they were doing, It took them less than two minutes to load up Ray and Marcy and hustle them out of the room.

Johnny and his concubines followed. The marines made Kitty's mom and sisters go too. The rest of breakfast was uneventful, Chrissy's mom even managed to keep her mouth shut. Before everyone had finished eating, Chrissy sent her mom and older sister off somewhere and the rest of them went back to the pod when they were done eating.

Chrissy sat on the couch and had her little brother and sister sit next to her. Freddie seemed to know what was going on. He smiled at the kids and sat on her other side, his arm over her shoulders. "Harry, Kitty, you two can stay here if you want to. Use the other couch."

"AI," Chrissy said, "Display that email here on the wall." A section of the wall filled with what must have been a hundred pictures. "Show the first four, enlarge to fit the same display area." One of the pictures was the one Chrissy had been looking at earlier, a dark haired man and a blonde woman, both in U.S. Army uniforms with name tags that read Martin. Their two kids were a little blond girl and a baby boy. The girl looked a little like Wanda and Chrissy. The other three pictures were of the kids, the girl riding a bike, the boy sitting on the floor chewing on a green beret, and one of the girl holding the boy on her lap.

"They're so cute," Wanda said, "Who are they?"

Chrissy looked at Freddie who nodded encouragingly. "Your little sister, Felicity and your baby brother Joe."

Paul pointed at the man. "That's Dad, isn't it?"

"Yes," Chrissy answered, "I talked to him last night. The reason he never came to visit is because Mom got a restraining order. I checked with the AI, and he's telling the truth. He does still love us, and if you want you can talk to him on the phone tonight."

"I don't know what to say." Paul said. "I barely remember him."

Wanda looked at the pictures. "I don't remember Daddy at all, he looks like Paul, doesn't he?"

They spent the next few minutes looking at pictures. The two kids asked Chrissy questions. Harriet could tell the older girl wished she could answer more questions with something besides 'I don't know'. For her part, Harriet used the time to comfort Kitty, holding her and telling her that everything would be all right. Things went a little far, and she found herself making out on the couch with her friend. The others didn't notice, the couch Harriet and Kitty were on was to the side and a little behind the other.

The main hatch opened, and they sprang apart guiltily. Gina and her mom came in, the older woman looked even angrier than she had at breakfast. The mood of the room had been relaxed, but as soon as she came in, that changed.

It didn't help that she started off by yelling. "Where did you get those pictures?"

Chrissy stood up. "Daddy sent them this morning."

"He isn't allowed to do that, I'll put him in jail!"

"Mother," Chrissy said "please go up to your room, we'll talk later."

"We'll talk now. What has that bastard told you?"

Chrissy looked at the kids, obviously uncomfortable discussing the subject in front of them. "Please, Mother, you really don't want to do this here, You don't want to do this right now."

"You tell me right now young lady, you've been acting way too much like him, and I don't like it. Don't make me ask you again, you won't like what happens." The woman really just didn't get it. Freddie was right, Chrissy was a nice person, but Kitty was right too. All the pleases and thank yous in the world didn't mean much compared to the chained fury in Chrissy's eyes. How could her own mother not see it?

Chrissy's voice was cold. "He didn't tell me anything I shouldn't have figured out for myself a long time ago. I really think you should go upstairs, we'll have time to talk this afternoon."

Molly got right up in her daughter's face. "We're going to do this right now. I want to find out exactly what lies he told you." She had two inches of height on Chrissy, and fifty or sixty extra pounds. The way she acted, it was like she expected Chrissy to back down. Harriet wondered how many times Molly had made Chrissy back down before.

Chrissy didn't even flinch. "He didn't have to tell me most of it. When I was ten, I had to look up what a vasectomy was. Even then I wasn't surprised Daddy didn't want one. That's the real reason you wanted him to leave isn't it?"

"Three babies were more than enough, he owed it to me. He promised me he'd pull out, but look what happened" She pointed to Wanda.

Wanda figured it out right away. "You didn't want me?" Her mother didn't say anything, couldn't even look her in the eyes. "You didn't want me and Daddy did. Why? Why didn't you let him stay with us? I could have had a little sister. I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" She jumped off the couch, ran to the grav-lift and was whisked out of sight.

Molly started after her youngest daughter, but Chrissy grabbed her arm. "No, you wanted to do this now, we're going to do it now." Harriet found herself on her feet, but so was everyone else. Molly whirled around and swung at Chrissy, but there were a pair of soft zaps and she fell to the floor. Chrissy stuffed her stinger back in her pocket. "Gina, you did great. Give me the stinger, you won't need it anymore."

Gina handed the weapon to her younger sister. "What are you going to do about her?" she asked nervously, pointing to their mother who was trying to get up.

"We're going to have our little talk early, that's all. She would have liked it a lot better if she'd waited for this afternoon." She looked at her little brother. "Paul, go upstairs please. Make sure Wanda stays there. Gina you go up too please. Tell them everything we talked about last night, all about Mom and Daddy and the trial. I think they need to know. When you're done, come back downstairs. Freddie," Chrissy took Freddie's hand. "I know we planned on doing this this afternoon, but I don't think we can wait that long. Can you and Kitty take her in the other room?" Her mother started to protest, but all Chrissy did was point the stinger and trigger it. The woman collapsed back to the floor. "Harry, can you go upstairs please? I think you should hear the story too. After, will you stay with the kids and maybe watch a movie or play some video games?"

She'd asked real nice, but except when she'd been talking to Harriet's brother, everything had really been an order. "No problem," Harriet said, "I'll try to keep them occupied so they don't worry."

Chrissy let go of Freddie and hugged Harriet. "Thank you." she whispered. "I was hoping you'd understand."