Storiesonline.net ------- Finder's Fee by colt45 Copyright© 2008 by colt45 ------- Description: Toliver Nelson, ex-solider and exile thinks he's lucked into a scheme that will bring him a goodly amount of cash, enough cash to live well on for a long time. What does he have to do? Nothing much; rescue the daughters of three of the wealthiest families on Earth from slavery, return them to where they belong and claim the reward from their grateful parents. A simple plan right? You know what they say; if you want to hear God laugh tell him your plans... Codes: MF FF ScFi harem humor rom cons preg ------- ------- Chapter 1 There are a number of things I don't like about Mars: no open spaces, not many trees, no large bodies of water, but there is another aspect of Mars that I really don't like. The sign on the door read "Department of Human Services" (also known as DHS); what it should have said was "Slave Market". It's really kind of ironic, that little bit of obfuscation; generally speaking Marsmen (they really don't like to be called Martians) have no problem calling a slave a slave; in fact, it's written that way in a number of their laws. But for some reason the government department used as the official clearinghouse for the buying and selling of human flesh had to be called Human Services. No one ever said Marsmen were consistent, or even particularly sane for that matter. So what am I doing about to fork over a ton of my hard-earned, mostly legit, cash on three women I don't know and who everybody will assume will be used as my sex toys? Good question. Hang around for a bit longer and we'll get to that. Anyway, I pushed open the door, entered and was greeted by that annoying little beep announcing my arrival. God, I hate those things; but then so has every customer who ever entered a shop. Probably had little bells on the doors back in Babylon and I'm sure it was just as annoying then as it is now. Anyway, there wasn't much to see: just a bare room with the Mars Republic's Department of Human Services seal painted on one wall with its two hands reaching out to the viewer. I'm surprised some dickhead didn't have cuffs on them. Maybe that would have been a little too honest. I guess the stupid bell did its job because before I could even get to the counter the fattest, oiliest greaseball you could imagine oozed out from the back and slithered up to the counter. What is it about slavers that they all look like they crawled out from under the same rock? Them and aircar salesmen ... tax collectors, for that matter? I suppose it takes a certain kind to deal in human misery. I haven't met a one of them yet I wouldn't put in the "better off dead" category. "May I be of service to you, Citizen?" he said stretching out his greasy paw obviously looking for a handshake. Well he wasn't going to get one from me. I looked at the offending appendage, sniffed and turned up my nose like some snooty Domer. Hey, I can act like one of them upper-crust skanks if I have to; I even wore my best suit for this and it isn't a cheap one, let me tell you. "I'm looking for, ah, domestic assistance," I said in the crisp, brittle tones of one the Old Dome scions. I was thirty-two standard years old, hopefully any of you Terrapors [That's what Marsmen call an Earthman and it's not a derogatory term, not really, anyway. One of the scientists on the first Mars mission coined the phrase by combining Terran and Porcus: ground hog, get it? I don't think it's that funny either but the term stuck. Being a transplant, I'm still considered a Terrapor also.] out there already know we follow the same calendar here that they do on Earth. Yeah, our sidereal day is actually about twenty-four hours and thirty-eight minutes so it plays hell knowing whether its day or night outside, but since most of us spend 99 percent of our time inside and underground, it really doesn't matter and it makes dealing with the home world much easier. How did I get off on this tangent anyway? Where was I? Oh yeah, I was thirty-two but looked much younger: the proverbial baby-face and not terribly imposing in any respect at one hundred and seventy seven centimeters and seventy-three kilos. So I looked like an old teen or young twenty-something, just about the perfect age for some do-nothing counselor's son out buying his first toys without daddy. It's handy since it explains why I wouldn't use daddy's name, (I'm a big boy now!) but infers that the old man is still there standing behind me. Hey, it's not my problem if they come to the wrong conclusion. Anyway it seemed to work again since greaseball pulls his hand back without taking visible offense. Actually I'm not really sure it's possible to offend this kind of slime; maybe if you claimed they were nice to some widows and orphans but that would be about it. They treat those below them like shit and expect the same from those above them, so unless they know differently if you treat them like crap they assume you're one of their "betters". "What sort of, ah ... assistance might you be looking for?" he asks as if he hadn't just been slighted. "I have very definite and discriminating requirements," I sniff. "Of course, sir." Its amazing how that 'sir' pops up once they determine you're the top dog. "I am sure we have what you require. All our ... merchandise, is top quality and absolutely guaranteed." "Good, good. I was told you might be able to help me. My fa― I heard your office has the best quality." Might as well throw the dog a bone; it did seem to puff up his fat little chest. "Here is what I require: three girls, young, older than seventeen but no older than twenty-one. One blonde: I want her to be of average height, about the same as me I suppose. I'd also like a brunette, a tall brunette: yes as tall as you can get. The third should be a red-head, short: I like short red-heads. Do you have anything like that?" I knew he did, at least as of half an hour earlier. In my business information is critical and I don't mind paying for the best and latest. He had them and I also knew they were here on-site for the next day or two. "Hmm, very specific, but not impossible," he burbled as he typed the info into his console. "Do you have any preferences as to, shall we say, body types." "Well, I'm not that concerned with that," I said slowly as if thinking about it. "They all pretty much come with the same accessories, as they say. Not too heavy and not too skinny but other than that I'd like to see what you have and see if there is anything I like." "Very good, sir. I think we have a number that would meet your requirements. Would you follow me to our viewing room?" He led me back behind the counter to a nicely appointed room with a couple of comfortable chairs facing a blank wall. "Would you please wait here while I bring in the first group of candidates?" After I waved my hand in confirmation, he left and I sat down in one of the chairs to wait. It took about ten minutes but finally the door opened and two guards carrying stun rods entered herding three blondes and lined them up against the wall followed by greaseball. "I believe any one of these would meet your requirements, sir." He was correct, all three of them were quite attractive and if I had been in the market for myself ― my own pleasure that is ― anyone of them would have been more than tempting. But I wasn't looking for a bed partner willing or otherwise; I was looking for a payday and the one that was going to give me that payoff was the one in the middle. My daddy always told me you never let the seller know just how much you want anything he's selling so I made a big production over inspecting each of the offerings, muttering, hemming and hawing over each one. Two were obviously scared, not that I could blame them. After all I was potentially someone who would be in complete control of their lives. I could make living a hell or maybe a not quite hell; I doubt they even considered their lives would be anywhere close to being pleasant. Fuck, what a society we had! The third wasn't scared; she was pissed, really pissed! This was the first time I had ever seen Teresa Mari Athena Dubois in the flesh and I'll have to admit I was impressed. She was just about my height, maybe a centimeter or two shorter and massing maybe sixty kilos give or take a couple. She wasn't fat by any stretch of the imagination but curvy and well padded; especially given she had huge tits that were well beyond what was fashionable for the day. Her hips were a bit wide also, not really a big ass, just wide hips ― "birthing hips" is what my grandma would have said. Kind of surprising in this day where a sufficient amount of cash could buy you any kind of body you wanted and she definitely had the cash, or at least mommy did. The reports all said she was some kind of genius, at the very least a hell of a lot smarter than I am but then again maybe that isn't a very high benchmark to measure by. Genius or not, it was obvious she didn't spend a lot of time worrying about what her peers thought about her; my admiration moved up a notch. Her curves came with a pretty, heart-shaped face with full lips and piercing blue eyes. It was the eyes that really grabbed me. I don't think in all my years in the army and the war I have ever seen eyes hold that much hate. If the old saying "if looks could kill" were anywhere near accurate I'd have been a walking corpse right then and there. I could tell she hadn't made her time in captivity an easy one. There were the telltale signs of stunstick strikes visible on her neck and the exposed portions of her arms; lord only know what you'd find under that plain gray tunic. "This one looks interesting," I muttered noncommittally. "Ah yes, the gentleman has exquisite taste," greaseball crooned. "This one is a fine specimen; although in all fairness I must admit she is as little, ah, high-spirited. Takes a firm hand, this one." "Well, I certainly have never flinched from a challenge," I answered grudgingly. "Tell you what ... Why don't we keep her here and see what you can do about my other requirements?" "Very good, sir." For some reason I got the impression he would be more than happy to have this one off of his hands. I had to control myself from chuckling out loud and gave her another point or two. The two guards grasped her arms and moved her over to a place behind the chairs and pointedly motioned for her to stay put. They, along with the greaseball, escorted the other two girls out of the room. I moved over to her, but not too near, and whispered, "What's your name?" "Fuck off, asshole!" At least she whispered it back, not much chance we weren't being monitored and she knew it. "Stand easy, Miss Dubois. You're supposed to be pretty smart; start acting like it," I hissed back. That one shut her up; actually I thought her jaw was going to hit the floor. You could almost see the gears turning in her head and smoke coming out her ears. "Who the hell are you?" But before she could say anything further the door opened and again a line of girls were trooped in for inspection. This time there were six of them and obviously greaseball's idea of tall was fairly flexible since four of the girls were considerable shorter than I am. But the other two ... Holy shit! I was in love! The other two were tall, over one hundred and eighty cm., at least. Both were slim, leggy and stunningly beautiful. One with short curly hair and the other with long, really long wavy brown tresses. To tell the truth I had to clear my throat and grab myself by the short and curlies trying to remember exactly why I was there. These were the two I concentrated on trying not to trip over my tongue as I approached them. One thing that really helped was catching the nasty smirk on greaseball's face. I was really beginning to hate that son of a bitch; I started seeing his fat face framed in the crosshairs of a scope; a dangerous thought, but pleasant. I'll admit right here I would have sold what little soul I have left to be with the short-haired goddess so I guess it was for the best the one I came for was the other; I'm not sure any amount of money would have persuaded me to give her up otherwise. So after giving miss short-hair the once over ― hopefully I didn't drool on her too much ― I made my way over to the long-haired beauty. Miss Eveta Marissa Delgado stared back at me from her pale gray eyes like an entomologist studying a specimen. I was a bug beneath her notice; I suppose she wasn't far wrong at that. In any other lifetime the likes of me wouldn't have been allowed to be within a klick of her. But that was then and this is now. Right now she was credit on the hoof and I was going to tap that stack of beautiful cash. "I can't decide," I sighed. "Either one of these would do." "Why not take both?" greaseball prompted. "Hum, tempting," I sighed again. "But Fa— I mean my budget is not unlimited and I really did have my heart set on a redhead to complete the set. Well nothing for it; the one with the long hair: I'll take her." Quickly one of the guards led her over to stand next to Dubois. She must have made some sign of recognition because Dubois subtly shook her head and lowered her eyes. I tried to ignore them. In fact I stayed a few meters away until the next batch was led in. There were four of them and redheads they were. Shit, shit and double shit! The one I was looking for wasn't there! Where the fuck was she? I know that she was here just an hour earlier and according to everything I'd been able to find out they never transferred one of the slaves without all kinds of administrative bullshit and a few days' lead time. She couldn't have been sold already, could she? I have to admit I was a bit shaken but still I pulled it together enough to go over and pretend to study each of the ones brought in. "No," I sighed again. "These are very nice, but just not what I was looking for. Are these all the redheads you have?" "I'm afraid so, sir," greaseball oozed. "But any one of these is excellent, I assure you." "I'm sure they are," I agreed. "But ― and I can't really put a finger on it ― just not exactly what I want." "Well, I'm sorry to hear that; maybe we can bring back the other tall brunette? I noticed you were quite taken with her also." I paused thinking furiously, "Tempting, but no. I really am set on a redhead." "Then I'm not sure we can help you..." "Sir!" a voice interrupted us. I turned; it was Dubois. What the hell was she up to? "I know someone you may be interested in." "Be quiet, you!" greaseball ordered. "You will speak only when spoken too!" "Wait," I said holding up my hand. "I'm interested in hearing what she has to say." I walked over to Dubois and looked down at her. The hate was gone from her eyes replaced with curiosity and something else: hope, maybe? "Why would you help me?" I demanded. "If I'm to be own— go with you, it would be better off for me if you were happy. It sounds like getting a redhead would make you happy so if I can find you a redhead it would be better for me." "True," I agreed. "Making me happy is in your best interest. Where is this mythical girl? The director here doesn't seem to know of her." "I saw her just today," she answered stubbornly. "But she isn't in the best of shape. Maybe they don't consider her to be saleable product yet." I winced at the sarcasm but controlled myself and looked over at greaseball questioningly. "Well, there is one other," he said clearing his throat. "But she is a bit, ah, unstable. Not really suitable for a young man, ah, starting his household." "Maybe I should be the judge of that," I responded. "She's not physically damaged is she? "Oh, no!" he said quickly. "No physical damage; it's just that she's not, really all here." He tapped the side of his head. "I'd like to see her." "Okay," he said with a shrug. With a wave of his hand the other girls were marched out and moments later another was brought in. "Not in the best of shape" was an understatement. She shuffled in slowly, head hung down so far I couldn't even tell if her eyes were open. She was definitely the one I was looking for: Keelin Orla Tiernay, but this girl only superficially resembled the bright, smiling young woman I'd seen in the vids. As much as Dubois hadn't been broken, and probably never would be, if you want my opinion, this one had. When the guards stopped she did also but never looked up. "Lift your head, girl!" greaseball growled. "Let the man see you." She did as ordered. Where Delgado had looked at me with utter detachment, this ones eyes held nothing but terror. She looked more like a whipped and beaten puppy than a human being. "Hmm, very pretty," I said as I walked over to her. I lifted my hand to touch her cheek and she flinched away stifling a low moan of alarm. I dropped my hand before actually touching her. "She's just what I was looking for," I announced. "Doesn't seem to have much intelligence, but then that's not really one of my requirements, I suppose. I'll take her. I'm sure I can find some use for her." "Very good, sir," greaseball purred and the haggling over price started even before she was led over to stand next to the other two. I noticed Dubois put her arm around Tiernay's waist and pulled her in close as silent sobs sent tremors through her small frame. I won't bore you with the next half-hour of wrangling over price. I consider myself to be fairly sharp when it come to negotiating and could probably have talked him down a few thousand but that wouldn't have been in character. Some rich punk spending daddy's money for his first harem of house nookie isn't going to quibble over centimes. I didn't get taken too badly I thought, pretty close to what I expected to spend which wasn't too bad considering I'd never bought or sold a slave before in my life and the gods willing never would again. I've had dealings with the scum of the earth ― and Mars ― for most of my life: drug dealers, pimps, reporters, politicians and ― heaven forbid ― lawyers; but I'll have lived a happy life if I never saw a living slaver again. Dead ones I can handle; in fact I'd be more than happy to assist in the process. Anyway the haggling was done, the credit transferred, papers notarized and the chips imbedded in the backs of their necks reprogrammed. It was time to finally get the fuck out of there. Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 2 Initially I planned to stop on the way home and let them shop for clothing and necessities. You bought a slave with nothing but the tunic on their backs and the little paper slippers they were given, but it was obvious to even an insensitive bastard like me that Tiernay was in no condition to go anywhere. All she did was cry, hold onto Dubois' arm and follow her like a dog on a leash when we moved. It was a decent tube ride back to my place so I herded them into the first unoccupied car at the stop and sat them down. "All right, so who are you?" Dubois demanded as soon as they sat down. I stayed up holding onto one of the overhead straps. I could have sat down but it was easier to look at all of them together this way. "What do you mean?" I snorted. "I'm your new master, blondie." "True," she responded after a pause. "But that's not all you are. You may want us for your nice little fuck toys but that's not all you want us for. What are you up to? Ransom?" Tiernay shivered again and sobbed at the words "fuck toy." "Such a mouth! You kiss your mother with that mouth? What makes you so certain I want anything except your beautiful bodies?" "Don't be stupid! Okay, maybe you can't help but be stupid, but try not to treat us as if we're as dumb as you are," she fired back. "You know who I am. You picked the three of us specifically and knew the specifications to ask for to get us." Delgado actually looked at me with some curiosity this time. "Picking one of us? Possible, even probable if Eve had been first. Two of us? Also possible although statistically unlikely. All three of us? Highly improbable especially when you consider that right now Kee isn't in what you bastards would consider prime condition. So, what's your game, motherfucker? Ransom? Blackmail? Extortion?" "I've fucked a mother," I admitted, "just not mine." The little witch was trying to goad me; I thought it was kind of amusing. Hell, I'd been worked over by the meanest, nastiest, Master Sergeants the Greens had to offer, and she didn't even place in the top ten. "Ransom is such a harsh word. I prefer finder's fee. I expect your families are going to be happy you aren't dead and will suitably compensate the kind soul who brings you back to them. "Yes, I know who you are," I admitted. "It's not often I get the chance to rescue three fair maidens in distress; especially when the three involved happen to be the only children of three of the richest families on Old Earth. You're damn right I expect to be compensated. I plunked down a ton of cash for you three and I expect that back and a bit more on top." "Oh, our knight in shining armor," she said placing her free hand to forehead in a pretend swoon. "How could we be so lucky? So what now? You fuck us until our families fork over the cash?" "You're funny," I grinned. "I like that. Sorry to disappoint you, sweetie, but we aren't going to be pounding the mattress together. I like my women a little older and a lot more willing. Besides, if I'd wanted that I'd have taken the brunette with the short hair; she was seriously hot!" I think Delgado actually frowned a little at that; that was seriously funny! Okay, I admit it: I enjoy teasing the ladies almost as much as they enjoy teasing me. So sue me. It's all in fun for the most part. "Been awhile then, hasn't it?" Dubois shot back. Damn this chick had brass ones, big brass ones. I could actually like having her around. "Not so you'd notice," I answered nonchalantly. "This is our stop. It's time we get back to home sweet home and tell mommy and daddy their little lost sheep have been found." "You're serious, aren't you?" she said sounding amused as the doors whooshed open and we walked out onto the platform. I started walking towards my place Dubois at my side Tiernay still attached and Delgado strolling behind us ignoring me completely. She could have been just out for a walk and just happened to be going in the same direction I was for all she acted. I had this one pegged already: a bitch. But what the hell, I wouldn't be putting up with her for long so what did I care. The door opened to my palm-print and the lights came up as we entered. It was no palace but not too bad if I say so myself. Five rooms, a kitchen and open living area. More room than I need but it was a standard design and it costs almost nothing to cut out a few more rooms so when I had it dug I went for the larger size. I lived alone most of the time but there have been times when the extra room came in handy, like now. "Rooms are down that hall," I pointed. "Mine is the first one on the right. Pick any of the other ones for yourself. Toilet and 'fresher is at the end. You share but that's just something you'll have to deal with. This isn't the Hilton. When you're ready we'll order some clothes and anything else you need. Take a shower, get something to eat and we'll call the 'rents and get the show on the road." "Honey, I'm home!" I said loudly. "Welcome back, Toliver," came a rich, feminine voice, coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "You have two messages, neither coded as critical. I see you have brought guests home with you." "Sharon, this is Teresa Dubois, Eveta Delgado and Keelin Tiernay," I said pointing to each in turn. I know I'm strange but I can't help but treating my AI (artificial intelligence) as if she was a real person. Call me crazy but I really believe I get better treatment from them than other people do; besides most of the AIs I know are better people than most real people I deal with and I treat them as such. "Pleased to have you with us Miss Dubois, Miss Delgado, Miss Tiernay. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to make your stay more enjoyable." Dubois' eyebrows rose up as if surprised and said, "Thank you, Sharon. I hope we won't cause you any problem." She kept bumping herself up in my estimation; I like people who are nice to AIs. I think how someone treats an AI shows what they are truly like underneath the masks we all wear for the outside. Most people just think of them as things. "No problem at all, Miss Dubois," my AI answered. "Sharon," I broke in, "they're going to need clothing soon, food sooner and..." I looked over at Tiernay, "maybe a mild sedative for Miss Tiernay." "So, what's your name, Sir Galahad?" Dubois asked me. "I can't keep calling you shithead and you might as well break out your stunstick if you think I'm going to call you master." "You haven't called me shithead yet," I pointed out. "Not out loud, shithead," she grinned. "Well, I've answered to worse," I snorted. "But if you're feeling magnanimous you can call me Toliver, Toliver Nelson. Tol for short." "Okay, Tol-for-short. Since you mentioned you aren't planning to rape us right away, what do we do first?" "If want to use the 'fresher, I'd say go ahead. Then something to eat if you're hungry. I'd suggest ordering the clothing first. If you do, it should be here in an hour or so." I had to pause for a moment. "Ah, do you think Miss Tiernay is up to that? Maybe one of you can help her?" "I'll take care of her," Dubois put an arm protectively around Tiernay's shoulder. "Kee didn't handle their 'processing' very well. After the first couple of rapes she just seemed to come ... unhinged, I suppose is the best way to put it." "You were raped?" I suppose I sounded surprised and horrified. That was stupid. I should have expected it. I hate rape. it's one of the reasons I got exiled here, but that's another story. "What about you two? Do I need to take you to a doctor?" "You mean a vet? Isn't that what they have see slaves? Vets?" Dubois laughed and damned if it didn't sound evil. Delgado may have been a bitch but Dubois was the one I was pretty sure you really didn't want mad at you. "Never mind; I'm fine. I just told the neddle-dicked bastards they'd have to do better than that if they wanted to make me cum." Somehow that didn't surprise me. I looked at Delgado, "What about you?" "Just another boyfriend sweating on top of me," she said with a shrug. Her voice was emotionless but her eyes held something else I couldn't quite identify. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I wouldn't want this one mad at me either. "Christ on a crutch," I muttered. "Good thing I didn't know that then." "What was that?" Dubois asked. "Never mind," I answered quickly. "If both of you are all right then we'll leave it for now. After we settle in ... Well, if you need anything let me know and I'll see what I can do." I could have told them I understood what they'd gone through, but that'd be a lie. Sure I've seen the results more than I ever wanted to but I can't say I really understand it. "Thanks, Tol-for-short," Dubois said cocking her head as if to look at me from a different angle. "I'll be fine. Besides from what I understand the mental health facilities here on Mars are a bit primitive." "Nonexistent you mean." I had to snort again. Marsmen pride themselves on being the frontiersmen of the solar system and as such don't cotton to fancy ways such as therapists or shrinks. "Cowboy up, Cupcake," is about as close as you can get to a therapy session around here. "Yes, thank you, Mister Nelson," Delgado added. "I will also be fine. But I believe Keelin will need more help." It was the longest string of words she'd fired my way since we met. "The best thing you can do for us is to get us out of this hellhole. I am sure my father will pay you handsomely for returning me." "That would be appreciated, Miss Delgado, much appreciated. And please don't call me 'Mister'. I work for a living. Tol or Toliver will do just fine." She actually seemed to relax just a little. Maybe I was wrong about her being a bitch; I hadn't really taken into account what she'd been through before. I don't like people making snap judgment about me; I should refrain from doing the same myself. "If you would help Miss Tiernay, Miss Dubois, I would appreciate it. My guess is the last person she wants around her right now is a man." "No problem, Tol-for-short. And besides, call me Terry. I don't know how long it's going to take to get us out of here but too long to put up with this 'Miss Dubois' crap." "I can live with that, Terry." "Call me Eve," Delgado said with a slight nod. "My pleasure, Eve." "Kee," came a soft voice from somewhere under Terry's arm. I was surprised when Tiernay lifted her head and looked at me. I hadn't noticed before but her eyes were the most beautiful green that I had ever seen; they had to be artificial. "I'd thought I'd lost my name along with everything else." "No, you haven't," I answered gently; at least I hoped it was gently. I didn't get much practice with gentle. "You're safe now, Kee, as safe as I can make you anyway. I'll get you back to your family as soon as possible; that I promise." "Thank you," came her whispered response. "Toliver," it was Sharon. "Yes, darling?" Sometimes I think she was more my wife than any other woman I'd ever been with. "I have access to traumatic therapy modules; might that help Miss Tiernay?" "It couldn't hurt," I shrugged. "Buy 'em and load 'em up. I'll let Miss Tiernay ― Kee ― decide if she wants to use them. Right now she probably ought to have that sedative, though." "It is in the kitchen dispenser, Toliver." "Thanks, Sharon. You know I love you." I walked quickly towards the kitchen to retrieve the mentioned medication. "You say that to all the girls, Toliver." "No I don't and you know it." There was a small disposable cup in the dispenser. I picked it up and brought it back to the common area and handed it to the slight redhead. "It won't knock you out, just help settle you down," I reassured her. She drank it still looking at me with those big green eyes. "Now you'd better get to ordering some clothes unless you want to stay in those for the rest of your stay. Sharon?" "I have already estimated our guests' measurements and connected to the retail outlet. If you will turn your attention to the screen and tell me your preferences we may begin. What monetary limit do you wish, Toliver?" "Five-hundred uni each should be good enough for now," I answered. I know: Mars uses the New Dollar instead of the Universal Credit Unit (uni for short) but the ND is pegged at the value of the uni and I can't seem to break the habit. Again, sue me. "I'm going to let you ladies do your shopping while I do the manly thing and run away. Besides I have some messages to get out." Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 3 The closest Mars gets to Earth is about ninety million klicks (that's kilometers for the non-military) and since we haven't yet been able to circumvent that pesky speed limit that light travels, that means it takes at least ten minutes to get a message there and back, if the response is instantaneous. We were at about double that distance right then so it would be at least a twenty-minute round trip for the radio beams to take the wonderful news there and back. It doesn't make for an easy conversation ― more like leaving messages to each party ― but you get used to it. Now normally there wouldn't be a prayer in hell for someone like me to get a message through to these rich muckity-mucks so I used the girls' names in the From line in the header; that ought to draw some attention. I knew they had been declared lost and presumed dead when the shuttle they were on crashed so I'd hoped it would draw some attention and be forwarded on to the appropriate people. I gave a brief explanation of how I found them and how to reach me and attached a short vid of them Sharon took for me of them sitting around the screen looking at clothing. Oh, I forgot to mention that the girls were dead, didn't I? Well they were, officially anyway. The orbital shuttle they were on crashed about fifty klicks outside the shuttle port and everybody aboard was presumed dead. At least that's what the news vid said. I didn't think anything about it until a day or two later when I heard a rumor from one of my more unsavory contacts that more than a few had survived and had been declared slaves and sent out into the general market. You're probably saying to yourself, that's impossible. As nasty as slavery is, although legal on Mars, it's still highly regulated. You can't just be made a slave; it has to be a court order as punishment for a crime and the process should take more than a few days. You'd be right ... and wrong. It should take quite awhile and go through a whole lot of administrative hoops before it becomes effective; this time it didn't. Shit, the fact that they're filthy rich should have ensured them of a really long trial even if they'd murdered someone in cold blood in the central plaza in Old Dome. Come to think of it, murdering someone might not get slavery imposed even if you weren't rich; not paying your taxes would, though. The whole thing stunk and honestly scared the shit out of me. Something wasn't right but greed did me in; the payoff on this had the potential to set me up for life. I just hoped it wouldn't be a really short life. Somehow someone had gamed the system here and that isn't easy. As fucked up as Mars is, one thing they don't tolerate is corruption in the government. Petty officials taking bribes may be condemned into slavery but higher-ups found tapping the till or playing fast and loose with the laws are just set outside without a p-suit. It actually happened to the mayor of Old Dome a few years ago. They found out his expense account was padded more than an underage stripper in a B-bar and they set him out for a walk. It took him about ten minutes before his lungs bled enough to choke him to death. I know because they put it on the vids for the public to watch. So maybe Terry was correct when she said I was stupid. It was a good possibility there were people out there who really didn't want to have this found out. If I'd done something like this, I sure wouldn't. I figured the best chance I had was to make this as fast and as quiet as possible. Grab them, get them out of here, get my money and maybe disappear to one of the newer colonies somewhere on the other side of the planet. It sounded good at the time. It didn't sound so good right then, but I was committed. You know what they say about commitment: the chicken is involved with breakfast, the pig is committed. I was that pig and I was hoping like hell I could keep my bacon out of the fire. Praying I hadn't screwed the pooch for the final time, I encoded the messages and sent them as highly confidential to three separate corporate headquarters. The die was cast and I got up and went out to see what the girls were up to. They must have been done with their shopping since there was some silly holo-vid on the screen when I entered the room. They were sitting down, Terry with her legs propped up on a table and Eve's long, long legs crossed just sitting there looking bored. "What's up?" I asked from behind them. Kee jumped up and promptly stumbled over the end of the couch and fell against me. I caught her and held her upright. She looked up at me and actually smiled. Her beautiful eyes were open but a little glazed. "Looks like we need to get you to bed," I said. Sighing, she leaned against me her head on my chest then she completely relaxed until only I was holding her up. I already had an arm around her shoulder so I reached down and scooped her up into my arms. Terry had jumped up when Kee did the boneless act. "Terry, you want to help me get her tucked in?" "Sure." As I said before I'm no hulking brute of a man but Kee felt feather light in my arms as I carried her back to the first spare bedroom. I let Terry fold down the covers before I settled the now sleeping form on the triple-wide mattress, I put triple-wides in all the rooms except mine; mine's a little wider but I like to stretch out when I sleep. During the war I spent so much time wrapped up in a tight little bedroll or in a hammock I swore I'd get the biggest bed I could find when it was over. So I did. We left Sleeping Beauty lying there and I told Sharon to dim the lights but not turn them off entirely. "That's the first time I think she's really been asleep since we got here," Terry told me as we left the room. "The sedative," I commented. "Hmm, partly," she agreed. "But I think she finally feels safe for once." "She better not get used to it," I said shaking my head. "We need to talk." And talk we did, the three of us. I hadn't heard the whole story before; the vids only said the three socialite debutantes (Do they still have debutantes? Not in the circles I run in.) had been taking a graduation tour of Mars before returning to Earth and entering university. What they told me didn't do anything but increase the wrongness I felt about the whole situation. "It was supposed to be a 'growing experience'," Terry said. "A once-in-a-lifetime trip to get a fuller understanding of what was really going on out here before I got my degree and started working for the company. Supposedly it would help me when it was my turn to take over." Terry's mother was actually the president of the corporation and held fifty-five percent of the stock either outright or by proxy. "So your mother thought you should come out here?" I asked. "Actually it was my stepfather; he recommended it and mom went along." Terry's step-father was the corporation's CFO (Chief Financial Officer). They had been married two years after Terry's real father died in an accident while inspecting a construction site. "It seemed like a good idea at the time," she shrugged. "Been there, done that," I snorted. "How did you end up out here, Eve?" "Actually it was my stepmom that brought it up," she said bouncing the paper slipper up and down on the end of her toe. It drew attention to her legs which believe me didn't need any help in that department. Legs like hers should be banned as potential heart attack causes for all heterosexual males and I definitely fit in that category. Personally, I don't care one way or another if two guys want to screw each other's brains out; I just didn't see the point in it. No interest, nada. Now two girls ... Well, I am a guy; sue me. "She mentioned that Terry and Kee were going so it sounded better than sitting at home and doing nothing. Terry, Kee and I have been friends forever; it seemed interesting." "So you were out to see the worlds before heading to collage?" "I suppose so," the bored sound came back into her voice. "Get a degree and do ... whatever. It's what you're supposed to do to get ahead aren't you? Although I don't know how much further ahead I could get. Terry's got all the brains; all I have is my looks. I guess I'll graduate and marry some dumbass that dad picks out for me. Probably push out one or two little dumbasses for him." "How romantic," I said dryly. She went back to giving me one of those bug-under-a-microscope looks again. All the brains and personality, I thought to myself as I grunted. There was no doubt about it: Miss Eveta Marissa Delgado was exquisitely beautiful, but Terry was no skank. Honestly, knowing the two of them even as little as I did, I would have taken Terry over Miss Universe in a single heartbeat. Even then I could tell living with Terry would be like trying to ride a tornado without a seatbelt. But damn! What a ride it would be! I actually had three years of university myself; then came the war. All through it I'd assumed I'd go back after and finish but then came the exile. Not much in the way of AI circuit logic research on Mars; actually not much in the way of higher education at all. I suppose that will come later. Yes, I was studying to become an AI engineer; maybe that's why I feel such an affinity for them. "Actually, I think Kee's stepfather brought up the idea to her," Terry muttered as she stared off into nothing; I could almost see the gears and smoke again. Suddenly she blinked and turned to me changing the subject completely. "So, what about you, Sir Poop-head? What's your story?" "Poop-head? I don't know if I'm moving up or down," I chuckled. "I haven't decided yet," she grinned back. "So give it up." "Well, not much to tell," I started. "I was born in a smallish city in NorAm, pretty ordinary in just about every way. Joined up during the war, survived it and was exiled after we lost. I settled down here on wonderful Mars and here I am." "You were a Greenie?" Eve said. I could almost taste the disdain. "Afraid so. Seemed like a good idea at the time." Terry snorted. Actually it did seem like a good idea at the time; still does. Unfortunately, it didn't work out like I'd hoped. Life's a bitch. "Wait a minute," she said, eyes narrowing. "What did you do to get exiled?" She had a good question there. The blanket amnesty covered everybody in the war no matter what you did. The agreement was nobody would be prosecuted. What they didn't say was they might not prosecute you but they felt no obligation to allow you to stay on earth. For us selected few they would rather pay the horrendous freight in hauling us some hundred million klicks than having us around. I will admit, some of the ones they kicked out I wouldn't want around either. There was some really nasty shit that happened on both sides: rape and murder being some of the lesser crimes. Mostly those were the types they booted, but not all. "I was a sniper," I finally said. They both gave me looks as if to say "So?" "A really good sniper. I mean really good. I had over a thousand confirmed kills and at least a hundred and fifty or so of them were command rank or above." "So?" That time it came out verbally. "So, it meant the Blue-bellies really didn't like me. Really didn't like me to the tune of a million-uni price on my head." I had been proud of that fact back then; now it just seems sad. "So, your Greenie friends would have protected you. Christ, they protected monsters that ordered the destruction of whole cities!" "True, but then I didn't have many friends on my side either." "Why not? Get caught porking the general's daughter?" "I wish," I almost laughed. "No, but I did catch a general and his staff raping a twelve-year-old girl and her younger sister." "So they didn't like you turning them in?" Even Eve looked interested. "No, they didn't like me killing them," I sighed. "Two lieutenants, two majors, one colonel and the general himself. They were going to court-martial me and probably have me shot but the war ended before they could get around to it." "That's a bunch of shit!" Eve snorted. "I can't ask you to believe me," I said with a shrug. "It sounds pretty far out there to me too." "Well, I don't believe you," Eve lashed back. "It is a matter of established fact," Sharon broke in. I don't think I've ever heard her sound so unemotional before. (Yeah I call her a she and don't give me any of that crap about anthropomorphizing inanimate objects; fuck you too. Sharon is more alive to me than you are.) The screen came alive and split; half of it the proceedings of my exile hearing, all half-hour of it and the other side the Greenie court's preliminary investigation. "Interesting," Terry murmured. Damn, I could almost believe she was reading both screens as fast as it was scrolling. "Looks to be true." "Terry," Eve huffed, "he could have made all that up!" "Maybe," she admitted still reading. "But why bother, for us? Say the last name of that general you supposedly killed... ?" "Did kill," I corrected. "I most certainly did it. Yes, you're right; it's the same as our commander-in-chief: brothers. As you can see I didn't have friends in high places." "Sooo," she said settling back into the couch. "We're in the thrall of a genuine desperado." "You're in my thrall? I'm not even sure what that means." "It would appear so. Look it up." "Thrall," intoned Sharon. "One, such as a slave, who is held in bondage..." "Yeah, yeah, I know what it means," I said crossly. "Sorry Sharon, I didn't mean to snap at you." "You are forgiven, Toliver," she said sweetly. "You're forgiven by a machine?" Eve asked, astonished. "Hey, watch who you call machine, meat-bag," I tried to stay perturbed but Terry distracted me by rolling to the floor laughing. I told you she's no skank and the slave tunic didn't leave a lot to the imagination. "Meat-bag?" Eve screamed. "Yeah, like you wouldn't give your left nut to get your hands on this meat!" That just sent Terry off on another tear of laughter; I thought maybe I'd have to call the med-squad if she didn't start breathing soon. Finally she did stop, or at least slowed down and sat on the floor, legs spread apart ― another really distracting sight ― and looked up at Eve. "But Eve," she said sweetly, "he said he'd rather have taken the short-haired girl." "He meant that?" she looked at me incredulously. "Maybe," was all I could grunt out. I don't know what was so funny about that but it set Terry off again. Gathering what tatters of dignity I had left I decided it was time to check on the girls' clothing order and see if there were any messages. It had been almost an hour an a half. I didn't expect there would be any since Sharon would have told me immediately in any had come in. "Asshole!" Eve screamed. "I think the correct term is poop-head," I fired back over my shoulder as I casually ran away. Ever the one for the pithy rebuttals, that's me. ------- "Eve is really pissed at you." I was putting supper together when Terry came up behind me. "Oh, well," I shrugged. "You didn't help it any, by the way." "I do what I can," she grinned and plopped herself down in one of the counter stools. We didn't say anything else as she watched me get everything ready. "What?" I finally had to say as she watched me putting the salad into bowls. "Nothing." "There must be something. You're staring at me." "I don't think I've ever seen a man make dinner." "I'm not exactly making dinner," I scoffed. "It's all pre-packaged; I'm just spooning it out." "Still..." she shrugged, I just laughed at that. "Still nothing yet?" I knew she was asking about the messages I sent. "No, and it's been three hours." "Worried?" "Concerned," I replied. "Worry is when they're at the door with guns." "I can give you my mom's private number. Maybe that will work." "Couldn't hurt," I shrugged. "If we haven't heard anything by after dinner we'll try that. Maybe Eve and Keelin have numbers that might be better for them. I'm kind of surprised we haven't heard anything. Anyway, everything is ready. Why don't you get Miss Delgado and see if the other princess is awake" "Other princess ... that's a good one," she said hopping down from the stool. "You're a funny man, for an old fart." "Move, child, or this old fart will give you a lesson in thrall abuse." "Eew, beat me, bind me, make me write bad checks. I'm on my way, most magnificent master." I swear she put a little extra swish in her walk as she left. The order of clothes had arrived an hour or so earlier and I realized pretty quickly I should have paid more attention to what they were ordering ... a lot more attention. Silly me: I thought they'd get some pants, some shirts, you know, something comfortable. I guess I don't know much about nineteen- and twenty-year-old girls. Okay, I don't know anything about them. The first thing Terry and Eve put on were short, kind of frock-like dresses and when I say short I mean really short. The kind of short that made me hope they also bought underwear or I was going to be living in hell and walking funny for as long as they stayed here. Come to think about it maybe that was what they had in mind: to torture the bastard who bought them. You'd think someone who had just gone through the experience they did ― the rape and being sold like a slab of meat at market ― that they'd want to cover up as much as possible. See above about my comment on non-understanding. I suppose in one way it was a kind of compliment ― they trusted me not to drag them back into the bedroom and ravish them ― but it seemed kind of risky for someone they'd only known for a few hours. I was setting the table as the three of them trooped back in. At least Keelin was dressed the way I expected her to be. She had trousers and a shirt large enough to hide her body in a shapeless billow. Wait, that was my shirt! Where the hell did she get it and more to the point why was she wearing it? I decided I'd find out about that later if I was really interested; right then wasn't the time. "Chow's on," I announced. I'm sure they were used to much better but surprisingly they ate it without complaint and actually seemed to enjoy it. ------- While we ate I filled them in on exactly what I'd sent and my concerns over not receiving a response yet. Eve and Keelin did have private numbers that would probably work better and Eve, true to character, told me I was stupid for not asking first. Unfortunately I had to agree so said nothing. I did say we'd resend the messages after dinner using the new numbers; in fact I'd have the girls send the messages. I should have done that in the first place. Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 4 After we finished I cleaned up and put everything away. What a laugh! Here I was finally a slave owner three times over and I was still doing all the work! They were sitting around in the common area talking about what they should tell their parents when I finished. In fact we did it right there. Sharon controlled the camera so all they had to do was say what they wanted and she put it in the correct message and after the girls gave her the addresses sent them. Aren't AIs wonderful? "So what happens if we don't hear anything, Sir Poop-head?" Terry began after that was done. Back to Poop-head, but at least it was Sir Poop-head. "Won't happen," I answered. "Not a chance in hell they'll ignore it. Is there?" Suddenly I wondered what would happen if nobody wanted them back. Naw, like I'd said: won't happen. "No, not much chance of that," she laughed. "But the look on your face made it worth asking." "You've never been spanked before, have you?" I guess my eyes must have narrowed a bit because she suddenly looked just the tiny bit nervous. That lasted about a micro-second before it was replaced by a look of defiance. "You wouldn't dare," she snapped back. "Try me," I growled. "Naughty children get spanked." "My ass is too valuable to you," she snorted. "Your ass will be worth the same whether it has a hand print on it or not," I pointed out. "Maybe you can think of something better to do with my ass." What in the hell was she up to? I didn't have a clue and was getting the idea that I really didn't want to. "Sorry, not interested," I said settling back in my chair. "Liar." I stared at this little blonde fireball for a moment before answering. I suppose I could have said something offhand but she'd irritated me. "True, I'm a normal male; of course I'm interested," I finally said. "But it isn't going to happen no matter whether I'm interested or not." "Why not?" she asked looking truly interested. "You have three young women, reasonably pretty, under your complete control. You could do anything you want. Why wouldn't you?" "For one thing I've never taken a woman against her will and never will," I fired back. "Secondly I never fuck and forget. Call me sick if you want but if I'm going to be with someone it's because I have an emotional attachment to that person. I'm not looking for just a piece of ass." "A murderer with ethics," Eve quipped. "How refreshing." I was just about to tell her to fuck herself when Keelin surprised me by speaking up. "That's not fair, Evie!" the little red-head actually sounded angry. "He's not a murderer." "He's killed hundreds of men," Eve protested taken aback by her pint-sized attacker, "and at least six of them in cold-blood." Actually I was very hot-blooded at the time and seeing nothing but red, but I understood what she meant and couldn't argue. "But that was war; people kill in war," Keelin came back quickly. "He killed those other monsters protecting little girls. He's not a murderer, he's a hero." She looked at me then and I swear there was adoration in her eyes. I had to look away. "I never claimed to be a hero," I said softly. "Those other bastards ... Yeah, I killed them and Miss Delgado isn't far wrong when she said it was in cold blood. They were unarmed and I never gave them a chance and I'd do it again if I had to do it all over." Maybe I would at that. Thinking about those little girls, yeah I guess I would. I did look back at her, "But thank you." "Maybe I should apologize too," Eve said slowly. "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry I called you a murderer." You could have knocked me over with a feather: the ice-bitch apologizing? "That's okay, I understand why you'd think so," was all I could say. Luckily we were interrupted by Sharon announcing that a message had arrived from earth. It was too soon for a reply from our latest ones so it had to have been from the first ones I sent. I told her to put it up on the screen; I didn't see any reason to hide anything from the girls. But it wasn't quite what I expected. The man on the screen could have been pulled from a poster defining "corporate executive": trim, full head of dark brown hair (gray wasn't "in" this season, ) steely eyes that looked at you with that "I know what I'm doing" look. It was meant to intimidate but I'd seen that look so many times in the cross-hairs of my scope I knew they bled just like everybody else. I don't want to sound all macho or anything but when you've faced death for a good number of years it's hard it get upset by a stern look. "Good day, Sergeant Nelson." I wasn't surprised he'd done his homework. He probably knew everything about me there was to know. At least they knew I wasn't some crank calling in for no reason. "Marissa and I are very pleased to hear that Teresa and the other girls survived the accident." Funny, he didn't sound all that pleased. "We had been told there were no survivors; this is indeed a miracle. I trust they are in good condition and you are treating them well. "I am John Stackman, Teresa's father. ("My mother's husband, not my father," Terry muttered.) Marissa and I have been in consultation with Eveta and Keelin's parents; it was decided that I would be your contact point here for these negotiations." What the fuck? What negotiations? All I wanted was my money back, a little extra for my time a trouble and then get the kids back where they belong. "It has been SynCo's firm policy for many years not to negotiate with terrorists, hostage takers or war criminals, but given the circumstances we believe we have some leeway for, discussions." Terrorists? Hostages? Again I say, WTF? "Your willingness to release your ... charges ... is admirable. However their status as your indentures makes their return problematic and will require delicate negotiations with the Mars authorities." That was interesting. I hadn't said anything about them being my slaves, or indentures as the earth-siders liked to call theirs. Obviously he'd been in contact with someone in Mars-gov. Or maybe not; he may have just accessed the public records and here on Mars everything having to do with public records is open to everyone. "We will contact you when we hear about any further developments. Until then we trust, no, we demand, you treat these young ladies with the utmost respect and befitting their station. We fully intend to hold you accountable if anything untoward happens to them. If you feel the pressing need to contact us again use this address." A different address flashed on the screen and was loaded into Sharon instantly. "We will be in contact soon." The screen blanked as the message ended. "Well, that was interesting," was all I could say. I have to admit I felt a bit stunned. "Bastard!" Terry hissed. "What?" Keelin looked around looking slightly more than befuddled. "What's going on?" "They're treating mister war-criminal here like a terrorist and us as hostages," Eve leaned back and smiled evilly. "But we're not hostages," Keelin said still looking puzzled. Then she looked over at me, "Are we?" "Not really," I answered. "At least that's not how I look at it. All I wanted was to make a little money and get you girls back home. Shit! If they going to treat this like a ransom I should have asked for a hell of a lot more!" Terry actually laughed at that. That girl has one really weird sense of humor. "But you've treated us very nicely," Keelin frowned. "What did he mean if anything 'untoward' happens to us?" "It means he better not rape or beat us," Eve smirked. "Toliver wouldn't do that to us," Keelin gasped. It was Toliver now? "Would you?" It didn't sound like a question. "No. Well not rape, anyway," I growled. Looking over at Delgado I just had to continue, "But as for the beating, let's just say that might be open for interpretation." Delgado's eyes narrowed to mere slits in almost a dare; but of course Terry had to break in. "Me first! Me first!" "It's not punishment if you like it," I said leaning back and relaxing. "If you start liking it then you'll start demanding it and then it just becomes work." "That's a chance you'll just have to take," she countered. I did the only sensible thing and raised my hands in surrender. "What did he mean our 'indentured status' makes things difficult?" Keelin asked saving me from more embarrassment. I could have kissed her. Damn! Better get those thoughts out of my head! "Well, I'm no expert but I think he's talking about Earth's ... ah ... import restrictions." "What do you mean 'import restrictions'?" Keelin pressed. "Keelin, you know that your status here on Mars is that of a slave." She looked troubled but nodded. "A slave is a person who is owned by someone else. Technically you are as much my property as that chair you're sitting on and I have the absolute right to do anything I want with you. Everybody here, except DHS, would call you just that: a slave. Well, I'm also sure you are aware that on Earth they have the same thing except it's considered uncouth to call that person a slave. Instead they're called indentured servants, but other than the name they're treated exactly the same." "Oh, I suppose you're right," she looked surprised. "I never thought of it like that. I'm such an airhead sometimes." She actually looked embarrassed. "We even had 'indentures' at home, I just never thought about them." "I'm sure you didn't. " Most high-society families had them; it was a matter of status. "But I should have," she looked like she was going to cry. Sometimes I had to remind myself these girls were still just kids. True, when I was their age I was fighting in a war and that had a tendency to mature oneself, quickly. "Don't think about it, Keelin," I tried to soothe her. "When you grow up with something, it's easy to be complacent about it. Actually I would have been surprised if you had thought about it all that much." "Thank you," and she gave me a tiny little smile. To tell you the truth that little smile was as dangerous as Terry's outrageous flirting or Eve's killer legs. Oops, down boy! What the hell have I gotten myself into? "Anyway," I cleared my throat, "Earth has no problem exporting their human cargo here or to the Belt, (That's the asteroid belt. Nasty business mining those rocks; life there is brutal and relatively short.) but absolutely forbids anyone in that status from returning there. Hypocrisy, yes; but it's the law and nobody every said laws have to be logical." "So Mister War-Criminal, how were you planning to get us home?" Both Terry and Keelin gave Eve dirty looks for that, not that it seemed to faze her in the slightest. "Actually, that's a good question," I admitted. "To be honest I assumed ― hoped ― that with your families' money and pull they'd be able to get your status rescinded. It's not easy finding an official to bribe; the penalties are a little harsh (read fatal) if they're caught; but it's fairly easy to bribe the government, so long as it's out in the open. I figured they'd just buy an exemption." Eve looked thoughtful for a moment and finally nodded, silently admitting it probably wasn't a bad assumption. "So what do we do?" she asked. "Wait and see?" "We wait and see," I agreed with a shrug. Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 5 "I'm bored," I heard from somewhere behind me. I was working in my office at the time tending to a few of the projects I had started before I'd fallen into this brilliant scam with the girls. I suppose I could have postponed them or even quit them altogether but I'd taken them in good faith and I really hate not finishing what I started. Besides I really didn't expect even a generous finder's fee for returning the girls would make me independently wealthy; I'd hoped to live far too long for that. So, I needed to keep myself out there, make sure people could still depend on me. I have a good rep and had to make sure it stayed good. What did I do? Actually that's a good question. The simple answer is just about anything anybody needed me to do, within limits. I said before I dealt in information and that's exactly what I did: I moved information around and collected a fee for doing it. No, I'm no computer genius; I can't hack someone's protected net, but I know someone who can. I make sure information, and money, flows from one area to the other keeping all involved happy. Nothing too illegal for the most part. You need a part for your thirty-year-old MDX 32 Surfacerunner? They haven't been made for twenty-five years so good luck finding it in the parts distribution chain. Well, I know someone who just might know where one can be found, or made, or if not I know someone who can retrofit a new part that will work. You can do that yourself, you say? Have at it, buckaroo; it's a free planet more or less. I'm selling you the time it would take you to do it yourself. Want to find out how much overhead your competitor has for a new line they're coming out with? I can find out. You want to find some loser that owes you money? I can do that too. You want me to find you some willing young piece of ass because you're tired of your present bed toy? Go fuck yourself; I don't do that. I have standards; they may be pretty low and at times flexible, but I do have standards. Anyway, I was sitting in my office, actually one of the spare bedrooms that I'd set up a work station in, getting some of this done when Terry found me. I know, you're thinking that with Sharon I could have done it just as easily sitting in the common area and you'd be right, but I like separating life and work; so sue me. I realize some of you A-types think that work is life but for me it isn't. I work so I can live, not the other way around. I say she found me but it's not like I'd been hiding. I tried not to keep anything secret from the girls; there wasn't any real point to it anyway. There was one new project I didn't want them to see but that was mostly because I didn't want them to worry overly much about it; it scared the shit out of me enough for all of us. I was trying, very, very delicately, to find out just how the girls ended up in the state's meat factory and not as honored guests at the local Hilton waiting for transport back home. Somebody fucked with the system and if that somebody knew somebody else was looking into it I had to assume they wouldn't be very happy about it. So I was going slowly and making sure my sources kept a really low profile for their protection and mine. Other than that the girls were welcome to walk in on me at any time so it didn't take much effort for her to find me. "I'm bored," Terry said again. "So un-bore yourself," I answered glibly. If I'd have known then what I know now I would have cut my tongue out before telling Terry that, ever! "Actually we're all bored." "Again, so?" "So it's your responsibility to keep us entertained," she said as if stating a fact. "You aren't doing a very good job." "How do you figure it's my responsibility?" It had been four days and I could understand that they were probably getting a touch of Mars-fever. Terrapors are used to open spaces and Mars hasn't got much of that, not unless you suit up and go outside which is interesting for about the first five minutes. How long can dirty brown sand keep your attention? If you're like me, not long. "You're our owner and therefore you need to exercise us." Terry seemed to take great delight in shoving that fact in my face for some reason. Eve hated the idea and never mentioned it. Keelin — well, Keelin was different. She never really mentioned it. No, what she did was much worse; she seemed to accept it as established fact. Half the time she'd follow me around like a love-sick puppy with those big green eyes and sexy little body ... I've never considered myself any kind of saint but if I manage to keep my hands off that sweet young thing until they leave I'm sure I'd have earned my ticket to heaven or wherever. I talked about it with Sharon in her head-shrink mode and she explained that Kee had fixated on me as her savior or some such rubbish. I tried not to make a big deal about it given what she had gone through but it sure was hell on me. "You're not a dog and not my pet," I pointed out. "Close enough," she grinned. "You need to take us out for walkies or something else." "Do I need to follow with a baggie or are you curb-trained?" I kill myself sometimes. "Mmm, if I piddle on the floor will you spank me?" Somebody really seemed to like the idea of having her bottom spanked. Actually that made two of us. This conversation was getting out of hand far too quickly. Time to change the subject. "Fine. Where do you three want to go?" "We're new here, remember? What's there to see?" So now I'm a tour guide. "I don't think it's a good idea to wander around too much," I said trying to think. "But you might like the sunroom." I got a blank stare for that one. "Come on; let's gather the crew and I'll show you." Within a few minutes I'd herded them together and we were off to the sunroom. Most of the residential sections had a sunroom of one type or another. Since fusion had been made practical, power was cheap and plentiful and with enough power, cutting through rock was easy. Sunrooms were little more than large areas ― relatively large anyway ― with vast banks of lighting-mimicking sunlight. Think of them as open common areas, parks really, with playgrounds, eating areas and even swimming pools. It's a nice place to relax and meet some of your neighbors if that's what you're into. I'm not completely antisocial and use it myself fairly often; it was only about a five-minute walk. "This looks nice," Terry said after we got there and had a look around. "You'll bring us here whenever we want?" "You can bring yourself here whenever you want," I snorted. "I told you you're not a pet. For one thing you eat too much." "I have a healthy metabolism," she protested. I've said before Terry is no skinny little thing but she wasn't even close to being fat, just a lot of nice curves. But she could pack away the chow like a trooper on the front line. I think she ate more than the other two combined. "So you'll let us come here alone?" "Sure. I think its safe enough," I answered. "Besides I always know where you are." "You do?" She looked surprised. "Sure. Didn't they tell you during your, ah, processing? That chip in your neck is both identification and a tracking device. I just have to ask Sharon and I'll know exactly where you are." "They were too busy fucking us to tell us anything," she said disgusted. I felt bad after bring it up because Keelin suddenly started shivering and moved in closer to me until we were actually touching. I don't know why I did it but I put my arm around her and she buried her head in my chest and sobbed softly. "There, there, you're safe now," I crooned. Each time this happened I wanted to find those bastards and have a discussion with them about their "training" techniques. A short, fatal, discussion. "You know where I am?" she looked up at me with those big green eyes. I nodded. "Always?" I nodded again. "Then it's all right." She moved back just a little but using her hand kept mine firmly around her waist. I was feeling more than a little uncomfortable, but I had to admit it also felt good. "Oh, is the big, strong, Sir Poop-head going to protect his little slave wenches?" Terry batted her eyes at me and then grabbed my other arm and settled it around her waist. Again I have to admit having two beautiful women, one on each arm, was something I could get used to. For the first time I realized I was going to miss them when they left. Even Eve. "You two are disgusting," Eve spat. Okay, maybe not Eve. "Don't knock it until you try it," Terry answered sweetly. Keelin just ignored her. I tried to do the same. "Not a fucking chance in hell," Eve wrinkled her nose. "So do we need swimsuits or do we swim naked?" "With the three of you," I snorted, "it had better be suits or cause a riot." Casual nudity wasn't common on Mars ― swimming was one of the exceptions ― but I wasn't kidding when I mentioned the riot. Shit, from what little I'd seen so far I doubted even suits would help that overly much. "You say the sweetest things," Terry laughed. Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 6 That night was the beginning of my fall into the utter pits of hell and damnation. It all started out innocently enough. After we returned from the sunroom, we ordered com-units and swimsuits for the girls. If they were going to be out and about without me they needed a way to contact me or Sharon; the com-units would take care of that. Had a nice dinner, watched some mind-numbing shows on the vid after reviewing the evening's messages and got ready for bed. The girls sent messages home every day and Stackman replied just about every day although Terry still hadn't heard from her mother and the other two also hadn't heard from their parents directly either. It was a little disconcerting and I could tell it bothered the girls but even though we asked to speak with them directly that request was being ignored. It added to the strangeness and it began to bother me as well. I made my way to bed as I normally did but that was about the only normal thing about the rest of the night. Sometime while I was asleep I acquired a bed partner. I swear, all I know is that sometime during the night I woke up and there was a warm mass pressed up tightly against my back. "Lights, dim," I whispered and as the light slowly increased I could make out who I'd already figured out it had to be. I tried to twist and move away slowly but Keelin just mewled softly and moved right up against me even tighter than before, this time draping herself over my chest with one leg on top of mine. So there I lay, scared shitless, wondering if I should try to move again. Given my luck, she'd have ended up all the way on top of me which would have been very bad. Little Toliver, given the way he was tenting the covers, thought that was a very good idea but my big head was pretty sure it wasn't. At least she wasn't naked; unfortunately, I was. "Ah, Keelin. Kee, honey," I whispered shaking her gently. "Sorry," she mumbled groggily. "I didn't want to wake you." She must have had been there for a while and been deep asleep. At least I assumed she was still asleep since she did exactly what I'd feared and rolled even more on top of me pinning Mr. not-so-little-by-now Toliver between us. He thought this was fabulous, the little prick. All he wanted to do was get into that delightful young pussy and didn't give a damn what she'd been through. "Kee, baby, you can't sleep here," I said shaking her just a little bit harder. "What?" She finally raised her head and looked at me. "You can't sleep here, hon." "Why not?" She looked puzzled. "Because ... Just because." How could I tell her that unless she left damn soon I was going to roll her over and take her just like those guards did at the processing center? I knew she'd understand. Yeah, right. In fact she burst into tears and curled herself up into to a little ball next to me. "You don't want me!" she balled. "I'm just a whore, a slut! Nobody will want me!" Okay, I'll admit given the five intelligences in my rooms I probably come in at the lower end of the spectrum but even I could understand what was going on here. "Oh, no, hon," I said stroking her hair. Damn it felt like silk; I am such a pig. "That isn't it at all. In fact it's just the opposite. I don't know if I can control myself with you in bed here. You are so damn beautiful, and sexy and ... Hell, I know I can't control myself." "But," she sniffed and looked up at me. "I've been used. I'm not a ... a ... virgin anymore. Nobody will want me." "Come here," I said holding my arms out to her. Thank God little Tol was back to normal; maybe I'm not such a pig after all. Reluctantly she moved up to me, put her head down on my chest and I wrapped my arms around her. I know I'm supposed to say here that I felt fatherly and protective. Well I didn't. Okay, I'm still a pig. But at least I can pretend not to be. "Of course you're still a virgin, baby." I was just going with my heart here and hoping I didn't fuck it up too badly. "You were raped, honey. You were taken by those assholes, darling; they can't take what you didn't give. You are an incredibly beautiful, desirable and wonderful woman. Any man in his right mind would be proud and honored to be with you. When I think of what they did to you I get so mad I want to kill them; them baby, not you. How could any man ever be mad at you?" "You would still," there were those big green eyes again, "still want to make love to me?" "Yes, more than anything," I answered honestly. "How could I not?" "Good, so do I." Her eyes never left mine I swear but somehow she was suddenly on top of me, her legs to either side of mine and I made another discovery. She wasn't naked, she was wearing one of my shirts, but that was all she was wearing. All of a sudden little Tol was very happy again as her bald, slippery mound rubbed up and down his length. "Kee, I don't think this is a good idea," I groaned. Sure you say, I was bigger than her, stronger, I could have pushed her away. Right. If you could, then you are definitely a better man than me, a straight heterosexual woman or a saint. I will admit I am none of the above. "I think it is a very good idea," she purred. Okay, I'll admit it, the big head flat-lined right about then. I was feeling, not thinking. Slowly she lifted her hips and the spongy head of my cock slid in between the slippery lips of her cunt. Her eyes were still locked on mine and even in the dim light I could see them widen as she pushed back and I slipped up and inside her. The head had just passed through her inner lips when she stopped. "Oh," she squeaked. "You are very big." I'm not, maybe just a little above average, not that I've done much comparing. Still, if I'd been able to think it would have made me feel good about myself. Unfortunately I was mostly thinking about how I was going to keep my hands from grabbing her hips and impaling her; somehow I won that battle. Hey, at least I have some self-control. "If. It. Hurts. Stop," I grunted, huffing between each word. "Not a chance," she growled and pushed down until I sank even further inside her. "Oh God, Kee," I hissed. "What you're doing to me!" "What I'm doing," she said looking at me like I've never been looked at before, "is giving myself to you. You're making me a woman." "You already were a woman." Brilliant aren't I? You try to make sparkling conversation while a beautiful young woman is screwing herself on you. All this time she was raising and lowering herself drawing me deeper with each stroke. "That's right, but now I'm your woman." With that last word she pushed down even harder and suddenly the head of my cock bumped up against the hard, rubbery entrance of her cervix. "Oh God, so full." "Kee, I'm going to ... I can't stop..." I was about to blow my load and I don't think anything was going to stop it. "Cum in me," she hissed and then shivered. "Oh God, I'm cuming, come with me!" Like I could stop? Well, I couldn't and as my semen blasted into her tight tunnel she stiffened and screeched digging her finger nails into my chest. I didn't feel it at all. I don't know how long we lay like that but finally I softened and began to slip out of her. She was short enough that I had to drag her up my body a ways until our lips could meet. She tasted wonderful. We kissed lightly for a while until she sighed and buried her face in the crook of my neck. "Kee..." I started. "Hush," she ordered and gently stroked my hair and face. "Sleep." Somehow I did. Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 7 "Well, this is interesting." My eyes shot open and I looked over to the source of the sound. Terry was standing inside my room looking down at us, eyebrows up and a smirk on her lips. Eve was standing behind her in the doorway looking like she'd just smelled something really foul. We hadn't moved at all that I could tell and as I moved slightly in surprise Keelin stretched and looked back over her shoulder at the intruders. I couldn't see her expression but Terry certainly could and the smirk turned into a real smile. Eve just grunted and stomped away. "Think we should talk about this?" Terry asked. She was talking to Keelin and acting like I wasn't even there. "None of your business," Keelin responded lightly. "But I suppose we will anyway. Not right now though. I'm sore and I need a 'fresher." "I'll bet you're sore." Now she was looking at the juncture of our bodies. I didn't think I would ever be able to blush again, but I'm sure I did. "Okay, later." With that she turned around and flounced out the door, leaving it open. "Ah, Kee..." More brilliant conversation. She turned back and gave me a million-joule smile. I think my insides melted. "Good morning, Toliver," she leaned down and gave me a quick peck on the lips. "I love you. Come on; let's get cleaned up." She jumped up, ah youth, and pulled me into the 'fresher attached to my room. I won't go into how long we took in there but I will say we were very clean when we got out. I felt like a teenage boy who'd just been caught by his parents screwing his girlfriend in his bedroom. Actually I felt more nervous. I'd actually had that happen to me years ago and so I knew what that felt like. Terry was sitting in one of the chairs giving us that smirk again ― I really wanted to spank her right then ― and Eve was lounging on the couch looking angry. "Kee, are you all right?" Terry asked. "A little sore. Other than that, wonderful." "So, asshole, you finally got a fuck toy out of this deal, didn't you?" Eve sneered. I've seen plenty of people with military and martial training and you get so you can recognize it in how they move under pressure. Terry had it, some kind of training anyway. She moved fast, really fast. Which is a good thing because she almost didn't get there in time to stop a redheaded fireball, claws out, from connecting with the taller, beautifully aloof Eveta Delgado. God only know what would have happened if she hadn't! "You God-damned fucking bitch!" Keelin was screaming and crying all at the same time doing her best to break free from Terry's arms and continue on to her target. "You fucking, cold-hearted whore!" Eve finally showed a real expression other than disgust on her face: it was horror laced with fear. Appropriate, I might add. Terry grunted with the effort at holding her back until I could get over there and gently wrap my arms around the trembling woman. When she realized who was holding her she stopped fighting all at once and latched onto me buried her head in my chest. I pulled us back until we could sit in the other chair with her sitting in my lap. "It's okay, honey," I whispered. "She didn't mean it. Everything will be all right." Terry turned back to the still dumbstruck Eve and hissed through clenched teeth, "We'll talk about this later. Now, shut the hell up or get out if you can't." Walking over to us Terry squatted down next to the chair and reached out to stroke Keelin's hair. "It's all right, Kee, baby. Are you better now?" For a moment Keelin stiffened up but then she suddenly stopped sobbing, released me and sat up straight turned around and leaned back into me holding my arms tightly around her. "Yes, I'm better now," her voice was flatter and to be honest much more dangerous. "I am not only better, I am perfect," she continued. "I am exactly where I want to be, where I was meant to be. I love this man and now I'm his woman." The tension in the room was more heavy and thick than I've ever felt before. Leave it to Terry to take care of that. "Damn, girl," she said standing up. "I thought I was going to be the first one to jump in his bed." Keelin looked up at her friend and then shocked the shit right out of me. "We'll talk about that later." "Okay," Terry said with a shrug. "I can handle that." I didn't get a say in this? Apparently not. Miss Keelin Orla Tiernay and I were going to have to talk about this later ourselves. "And we are not going to talk about this after today. You can listen to what I have to say or not, I don't care. I have known you two ever since we started school together. You two are my best friends, my only friends. You know what I'm like: shy, always in the background, always the follower and never the leader. That was you, Terry: you've always been the one in the front, the one with all the ideas, our leader. That's okay, someone has to be and I know that's not me, never has been and never will be. "Eve, you've always been there but never really with us. I don't know if we kept away the boredom or what, but I can see now we were just moons in your orbit as far as you were concerned, especially me. I know, I was just the little puppy following the amazing Teresa Dubois around and I'm well aware you made fun of me and cut me down to the other girls. Somebody to beat on or tease when there was nothing better to do. I forgave you; it was just the way you were and, to be honest, it's not like I could do anything about it. Well, I'm not that person anymore. "When it came to sex I was always the backward one. It scared me, I admit it; it terrified me. For Terry it always seemed to be all about the fun; it was a sport. I couldn't do that. And you, Eve, you were the school slut. You'd fuck a snake if it bought you a pretty bauble or took you for a ride in its new yacht. I guess you weren't really the school slut, you were the school whore! I'll bet you never felt anything when they were between your oh-so-pretty legs. What'd you do while they were busy? Count up how much you were making?" Eve's eyes were round with horror. Her lips moved but nothing came out. "Keelin," I said softly. I could tell she'd been hurt, probably for a long time but this had gone too far. "That's enough. It's over, finished. It won't happen again." "Damn right it's over," she said turning to look back at me. "I was a useless little simpering nothing and when those assholes took me, raped me, I thought I was going to die; hoped I was going to die. But you saved me, Toliver. Saved us. What you said to me last night, what you allowed me to do ... I realized then that I was still a women, a desirable woman. I'm a good person and a good man could still want me. I love you, Toliver Nelson. I know you don't love me, not like I love you but I think someday you will. I hope you'll let me stay with you until you do." "Wow," Terry exclaimed. "You go, girl!" "Shut up, Terry." Both Keelin and I said it at the same time. It didn't faze Terry one little bit but as least she stayed quiet for a time. I turned back to Keelin. "I don't know what to tell you, Keelin." As much as I hated to admit it, honesty seemed to be what was required here. "I don't know what I feel. I know I have strong feelings for you. I'm happy when you're near me, I enjoy being with you, but I don't know if it's love. I've never been in love so I don't know what it feels like." I tensed for her reaction but if I expected she would break into tears again and think this was a rejection I was wrong. She just nodded as if I was confirming what she already knew. "Of course you don't," she said sweetly. "You don't know who I am, so how could you? Tell me, what do you think about when you think about me?" "Well," I hesitated momentarily trying to figure out exactly what I did think and feel about her. "I want to protect you; I want to shield you away from everything that's bad, anything that could hurt you. I want you to be happy. I ... I..." "You care for me," she stated. "And you love me, just a little bit anyway and the more you get to know me the more you will love me. You can bet on it. Notice you didn't once say you wanted to just fuck me." "Well, I want to do that too," I admitted. Honesty can be such a pain. "Good," she said patting my face. "We will just as soon as I'm not so sore. Many times, in fact. You have a lot to show me." "So, what are you going to do when you have to go home and leave lover-boy here?" Eve asked. She was over her shock and now it looked like she was just plain mad. "Mr. Perfect here can't follow you home like a lost kitten. He's an exile, remember? They won't let him on the fucking planet; he's not good enough." I tightened my arms around Keelin just a bit; I suppose I expected her to go after Eve again. Again she surprised me. "That won't be a problem," Keelin answered coolly. "I'm not going back." "What?" Terry and Eve exclaimed both at once. I would have joined in but I was stunned. Not unhappy, mind you; just stunned. "Why should I?" she said with a shrug. "Go home, go to school, graduate and be married off to some rich man's son like a prize heifer at the county fair to become a breeder for their line? I think not. I'm going to stay here with Toliver." "You can't do that!" Eve exploded. "Of course I can. I can stay can't I, Toliver?" "Sure you can, honey. You can stay as long as you want," I answered numbly. "See, no problem." "There goes one third of your finder's fee," Terry quipped. "I don't see why," Keelin responded. "After all he did find me." "But you'd be here, as his slave!" Eve gasped. "Toliver's slave, somebody's wife; I don't see much difference," Keelin shrugged again. "Besides, if they won't pay up I have my own money. He can have that." "You're an idiot," Eve snorted, jumped up and stomped out. "Was it something I said?" Keelin looked wide-eyed and innocent. "You have changed, girl," Terry giggled. "For the better." "I hope you're not mad at what I said about you, Terry," Keelin said remorsefully. "Nope, I'm a pushy bitch and I know it." Then she winked at me, "That's why I need a firm hand every now and then. You were a little hard on Eve, though." "Maybe," Keelin admitted. "But she's made me so mad for so long ... I'll apologize later." "I wouldn't worry too much about it. What you said was true ― a little harsh, but true. I would have always said Eve was our friend but now that I think about it, maybe 'friend' wasn't the right word. She's always been a self-centered, stuck-up bitch. I just never bothered to notice. I guess I kind of took you for granted also. I'm sorry, Kee." "That's okay, Terry," Keelin smiled. "You were always the leader and I was always the follower but I always knew you really liked me, cared for me." "Yeah, I did ... still do," Terry smiled back. "Guess I don't have my puppy-dog any more." "Nope, I belong to the big dog here now," she leaned back into me; it felt good. "Still the follower, just a different leader now." "I'm not sure who's leading whom," I quipped. "But maybe you two shouldn't be so hard on Eve." "Sticking up for the ice-bitch, Sir Galahad?" Terry raised her eyebrow. "Can't stop yourself from saving a damsel in distress? I didn't think you even liked her." "She didn't look very distressed," Keelin snorted. "Don't be too sure about that, love," I said giving her a squeeze. "I admit her personality and mine don't seem to mesh very well but I don't know her as well as you two do." "You've seen pretty much what you get," Keelin added. "Maybe," I admitted. "But maybe not. I'm no head-shrinker, but I have seen people under stress and believe me there's a person under stress. Look, the three of you are beautiful, sexy and richer than God. Hell, the two of you could probably buy this planet twice over with just your pocket change. I'm sure you have every man on that mud-ball after you for either your money or your bodies, probably both. How do you know if they're after you for who you are and not just what you are?" "I never worried about that," Terry shrugged. "I assumed all of them were after my money. Find 'em, play with them awhile, fuck 'em, then get rid of them is what I did. I guess that makes me a bit of a cold-hearted bitch too, doesn't it?" "Not necessarily, Terry. It's a defense mechanism. We all have them. During the war we were in danger of dying every single day; it affects you. Some of the guys would make a hard shell around themselves, nothing could touch them. You don't get close, you don't let people in. Your teammate buys it? Fuck it, who cares? Just another asshole next to you. "Others were more like you. They didn't worry about anything. Raised hell when we were off line and were everybody's buddy. If their buddy got killed they grieved for a time then let it loose. I know it still hurt them but they did everything they could to make it appear it didn't. All of us react to stress differently." I chuckled a bit. "I never thought I'd say that living the life you do is what I would consider stressful, ― give me some of that stress, please ― but I know it is. I think maybe Eve is one of those first types. I could be wrong but I think under that hard shell there is a different person. I for one intend to give her the benefit of the doubt." "Nicely said, Freud," Terry grinned down at me. "So which type were you?" "Looking for a little self-analysis are you, Terror?" She grinned even wider at her new nickname, I have the feeling it wasn't the first time she'd been called that. "I guess I was a little bit of both. After the first year or so I buried myself in my work. That's what I called it, my work, and prayed for it to end. I don't wake up screaming at night from it ― too often anyway ― so I guess I came out all right. "Anyway, this has been fun," I said lifting Keelin off my lap and standing us both up. "But if you're going to be my woman, then by God for once I'm not going to fix breakfast. That's your job today." "You want me to cook for you?" she asked looking up at me. "Boy, are you going to be sorry!" Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 8 The breakfast wasn't that bad ― you have to really try to screw up pre-packaged meals ― but I couldn't say the same for the atmosphere around the place. I won't say Keelin went out of her way to make nicey-nice with Eve but I did overhear her telling Eve she was sorry. She didn't say she hadn't meant it, but she did say she was sorry she'd said it. The next big shocker came ― believe me there were a whole lot of shockers coming our way over the next few weeks ― when Eve dropped by my office. She'd been avoiding me like she had everybody else and while it made for tense times I was happy to let it go as it was. Anyway when she showed up it surprised me. "Mr. Nelson," she said knocking on the doorframe, "are you busy?" "Not really," I said blanking the screen and swiveling around to face her. "What can I do for you, Eve?" "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about the other day." Eve Delgado apologizing twice in one year? A sign of the Apocalypse? "That's all right, Eve. I understand why you would think what you did. But you should really be apologizing to Keelin, not me." "I will." Another shock to my system. "You really understand?" "Heck, yeah," I said. Hell yes I understood. "Here I am, a man almost twice your age, in total control of your lives and after what you went through at that damn processing center you find me in bed with your friend. Crap, it bothers me all the time. Did I take advantage of her? I keep telling myself I didn't, but can I really be sure? I was there after she'd been through one hell of a traumatic experience, but shit, I don't need to tell you that. Was I just there and she fixated on me and will she regret it when she finally gets over it? Hell, I think about it at least a dozen times a day." "She's sleeping with you now," she stated and I could only nod. "Do you love her?" "Yes, I think I do," I sighed. "So you really meant it when you said she can stay?" "As long as she wants," was all I could say. "She's lucky, then." Must be my day for getting shocks. Then she continued before I could say anything, "She was right about me, you know. I wasn't a very good friend, maybe not a friend at all." "It's never too late, Eve. I'm sure Keelin would still be your friend, if you let her." "I've hurt her badly," she said sadly. "Friends do that sometimes. Friends forgive and get over it." "Did you mean what you said about me?" she asked. "About the people you knew during the war?" Who told her about that? As if reading my thoughts she added, "I was listening. I left my door open and listened to all of you. Thank you for saying what you did, by the way." "Eve, you don't have to thank me," I shook my head. "I don't know what kind of person you are on the inside. I'm not sure you really know what kind of person you are. I can't pretend to understand the life you've led; it's nothing like mine when I grew up. I know it looks perfect from the outside but from the inside ... Well a golden cage is still a cage." "That's exactly what it feels like sometimes," she said sadly. "Eve, there are two people out there who really care about you. No matter what's been said between you, they still care. Talk to them. If anybody would, they will understand what you're going through." "Do you care about me?" she asked. "Yes, Eve, I do," I sighed again. "I know you think I did this for the money and you'd be right. But now that I've got to know all of you I just want to get you back to where you want to be ... where you belong. The money isn't all that important to me now. Not unwelcome, mind you," I grinned up at her. "But not as important." "You are a good man, Toliver," she said as she turned to leave. "Thank you." And then she was gone. Like I said that wasn't the only shock I got that day, not even the biggest one for that matter. Later that evening I walked out into the common area and all three girls were sitting around. I guess Eve had taken my advice and they were patching things up. Well that couldn't be bad. Unfortunately that wasn't the problem. As soon as I entered Keelin jumped up and ran over to grab me. "Toliver, we're still dead!" she blubbered and buried her head in my chest. "Pretty nice looking corpses if you are." I am such a wit sometime, well, half the time. "No, Tol, she means it, we're still dead," Terry said. She wasn't joking this time; that got my attention. "What do you mean?" It appeared that Keelin had tried to do what she said she was going to do: transfer money from her personal account back on Earth into my account here on Mars. Banking is nothing but numbers and electrons so it isn't that difficult. However, when she tried the bank back on Earth refused her access saying the owner was deceased. Shit, that was troubling. "Sharon," I said immediately. "Yes, Toliver." "Please review Earth's news back to the day we contacted Stackman. Look for any report on the girls, especially any concerning their being found alive." "Working, Toliver. Toliver, I have found many references to Miss Dubois', Miss Delgado's and Miss Tiernay's deaths but no reference to their subsequent survival." "Oh, fuck," I muttered. Shit, shit and more shit! Why hadn't I done this before? What an idiot. "They didn't report it," Terry stated the obvious. The happy-go-lucky look was completely absent from her face; in its place was a hard, cold calculating one. If that look had been aimed at me I'd have been scared to death. What am I saying? I was scared to death. This was looking very ungood. I sat down in a chair heavily and Keelin quickly sat down right in my lap. Turns out Keelin was a bit of a lap-scavenger; if there was an open lap ― mine, more precisely ― she felt duty-bound to fill it. "Okay, they didn't report this to the authorities. Why?" Terry started to say something but I held my hand up to stop her. I didn't have her brain power but right now my wheels were turning and I didn't want to derail them. We sat there in silence for a few minutes. I didn't like what I'd come up with. "All of you are only-children aren't you?" They nodded. "Terry, when was your father killed?" "Three years ago." "Eve, your mother?" "Just about three years ago; boating accident." "Kee?" She nodded. "Three years; aircar malfunction." "And each of you is the sole heir?" "By Jove, Watson, I think he's got it," Terry said dryly. Of course she'd figured it out even if she did mix quotes. "Each one of them was by an accident? And then your surviving parents remarried within a couple of years, right?" "So if anything were to happen to them everything would go to the surviving spouse?" Terry nodded. "Fuck." It was the best I could do. "Fuck, indeed," she said. "Why? What are you trying to say, Toliver?" Keelin asked. "You have got to be kidding," Eve scoffed. I think she got the gist of it. "That's ridiculous!" "Outrageous, incredible and despicable, but not ridiculous, Eve," Terry sighed. "If we're officially dead then if anything happens to our birth parents, our stepparents would inherit." "I don't believe it," Eve stated. "My mother may not have been the nicest person around but Dad would never have her killed." So that's where she learned it. "We're not saying he did, Eve, hon. Unless I miss my guess, Sir Galahad here thinks it's our stepparents. That's quite a conspiracy theory there, lover-boy." "Yeah," I said rubbing my chin. "But to tell the truth, I think it gets worse. There's no way the three of your stepparents could have pulled this off alone for about a hundred reasons I can think of right off the top of my head. My god, it's even touched you here on Mars, and I don't mean just the shuttle accident which is beginning to look like no accident at all. Somebody here, in Mars-gov, has to be in on it or you wouldn't be here with me right now. That's not easy to do; not that Marsmen are any better then terrapors, mind you, but the penalties here are a real bitch." "Why? What happens if they get caught, Toliver?" I was beginning to really like the way my little redhead said my name. "They take a walk, honey." "That doesn't sound too awful," she said wrinkling her nose in puzzlement. "They take it outside, on the surface." "So?" "They don't let them take their p-suit." "Oh." "I don't know if there is any pleasant way to die but that ain't one of them." "So we have murder, conspiracy, fraud and a host of others, everything except jaywalking," Terry summed up. "It doesn't look good for the home team. So what ya going to do, Sir Galahad, to save the fair maidens?" "Fair you certainly are," I snorted. "But you couldn't find a maiden in this joint with a search warrant." Terry laughed out loud, Keelin blushed and even Eve giggled. Maybe there was hope for her yet, if we lived. "You should know, old dragon slayer; you took care of the last one yourself," Terry cackled. "Sure did, damn happy about that too," I nodded solemnly. I suppose I do get things right every once in a while because when I said that Keelin's blush got even deeper but she did her best to crawl into my shirt with me. "Tell you what," I said after Keelin released my lips. "That's not a bad idea, though. I'm no dragon slayer but I know an old dragon that loves to tilt at windmills. If she's interested ― and I get the feeling she will be ― then she'll find out if there's anything to this and if there is ... Well, it won't stay hidden long." "Scoot out of view, baby, I don't want Lizzy to see you just yet," I gently pushed a whining Keelin off my lap. "What's the matter, lover-boy? Don't want your ex-girlfriend to see your new one?" "Terry, if you don't shut up I will spank you, and enjoy it. Liz Bartow wasn't my girlfriend ... well maybe she was, sort of. I think it was more like I was her boy-toy for a while. Anyway that was a long, long time ago ... during the war, in fact. Anyway, all of you be quiet and I'll do this quick." "Sharon: Vid message for Elisabeth Bartow, private encryption, heading: Something Interesting from Longshot. "Lizzy, how they hanging, you old bat? Probably down around your knees if it weren't for a few nip and tucks is my guess. Got something here you might be interested in. Let me give you a few words to ponder: murder, corporate intrigue, beautiful young heiresses, and government corruption, both Earth-gov and Mars-gov. Oh yeah, can't forget, this will probably be more dangerous then our time together those many years ago. "Give me a yell if you're interested. Longshot, out." "Sharon, encrypt and send soonest." "Done, Toliver. Message sent priority." "Thank you, honey," I leaned back and within about two seconds Keelin was again firmly in place in my lap. "You really know Elisabeth Bartow? How? Should we be jealous?" she asked, her eyes wide with wonder. I suppose you can understand her reaction since Liz is now the top anchor on WVS (World Vid-casting System.) She wasn't number one back then but she was still well known at the time and her face and name were easily identified. Yes, I know her. She was a war correspondent back when the fighting was at its nastiest. She was doing a story on a silly young grunt who just happened to shoot just a little straighter and a little farther than the average shmoe. I was a twenty-year old corporal on one of many sniper teams when she was granted permission to 'imbed' with us. She was brash, rash, completely fearless and drop dead gorgeous. It didn't make a damn bit of difference that she was twenty years my senior; even then she had no qualms about using surgery to augment her natural beauty. I also found she had no use for "professional detachment" from her subject. "It wasn't long before 'imbed' became 'in bed'. I was in lust and totally crushed when I found out she liked to change her bed partners quicker than her vid-man changed lenses. Crushed though I was, we still ended up becoming friends and she was one of the principal reasons I was exiled rather than being taken down to some basement to have a bullet quietly put in my brain-pan. Her coverage of the trial caused quite a stink, but not enough to keep me on Earth. The public wasn't that interested in what happened to some Greenie war vet, especially when most of the push for termination was coming from the Greenie members of the Reconciliation Committee. Yeah, that general whose brother I'd offed ― another former Greenie general if you remember ― was on the committee. For some reason he didn't see the need to remove himself from the proceedings. Go figure. I told the girls the story, glossing over the "in bed" part as much as I could but I didn't fool them one bit. "No, you have no need to be jealous," I told her. Thinking back I now realize I should have paid a lot more attention when Keelin used the term "we" instead of "I" but I plead extenuating circumstances. "We've known each other for years but I haven't seen her in person since I was booted off that mud-ball." Naturally they all wanted to know more detail, much more ― read that intimate details ― about my short time with a vid celebrity. What is it about people on the vid-screen that makes so many other people, even fairly high-profile people like my girls, want to know who they're screwing? For me it's a lot like my views on male homosexuality: it doesn't bother me per se but it does mystify me as to why anyone would be interested. To each his own, I suppose. I assume Liz had had hundreds (maybe thousands ― she does enjoy sex) of lovers since me but since I wasn't personally involved in her sex life I really had no interest in that aspect of her life. She was far too interesting a person aside from that. The grilling went on for over half an hour until I thought they were going to start demanding I describe each individual thrust and orgasm. Thankfully I was saved by Sharon announcing a message had been received from the subject of our discussion. "Longshot, you big-dicked son-of-a-bitch!" It was Liz all right. Gone was the perfect diction and language of the star vid-anchor. "You randy bastard, you think you can tease me right to the edge and not make me cum? I taught you better than that, you slimy little snake." Snipers were nicknamed "snakes" during the war but I'm not sure she was using it in that context. "God damn it, you know I'm interested. My panties are wet and in a wad right now! You'd better let me know what's going on right now or I'm taking the next transport up to that filthy dust-ball and strangle your teasing ass! "Get back to me soonest, lover. Out." Luckily this put a halt to our original discussion although glances from Terry gave me the feeling it wasn't over as far as she was concerned. My recommendation was that we all appear in the next message and lay out everything we know starting from the death of their parents right up to the last message we received from Stackman. They all agreed after I assured them Liz was the best, if not the only, way we were going to find out what was actually happening and that's exactly what we did. Keelin sat on one side of me and Terry on the other Eve sitting next to her. Briefly I told her about how I found out about the girls. Yes, I was honest about why I did it. Liz was far too sharp not to see through any smoke I could blow her way and besides she probably would have agreed it was a good idea. She's a bit mercenary and firmly grounded in reality is my Liz. She may have been a muckraker of the first order, but she never let idealism interfere with her world view. The girls did a great job in telling their side of it. Keelin got a bit teary talking about her mother and shivered uncontrollably when the DHS processing center was mentioned but she had a firm grip on my hand, (it still hurts!) and got through it like a trooper. In fact each one of them did extremely well; I was really proud of them. I even sent a copy of all the messages we sent and received from Stackman. We sent it off and I took them down to the sunroom for a swim. No sense in sitting around getting nervous while waiting for a reply. Sharon would signal me if we got one although I didn't expect one anytime real soon; we'd sent a lot of information she'd have to chew on. "You think there's any danger of something leaking out and alerting Stackman and the rest that we're on to them?" Terry asked as we lounged poolside soaking up the rays from the "sun." She was on one side of me and Keelin on the other while Eve was driving every male in the area crazy swimming laps. Actually all three of them were dressed ―if I can use term without laughing ― to drive any male crazy. I know they did me. When I told them I thought swimsuits would be for the best, I didn't realize their concept of swimsuit constituted three tiny triangles of cloth and a strap up the crack of the ass. You might wonder if I was worried if any of them would be recognized given the fact practically every eye everywhere we go locks onto them like a hunter-seeker bomb on the prowl. There were two reasons I didn't. First, I'm betting any man looking at them if asked later wouldn't be able to swear under oath they actually had a face. Secondly; Marsmen (this includes the women) pride themselves on their complete ignorance of anything happening on our home world. I'm serious. I doubt even one in a hundred of them could tell you the name of the Secretary General of Earth-gov. If ignorance is bliss when it comes to Earth, Marsmen tend to be a very happy people. "I doubt it, Terror, sweetie," I responded. When did I start using terms of endearment with Terry? Beats me. "You have to realize that a scoop in the news biz is everything, especially if it's as big a story as I think this is. Security in their 'special operations' rooms ― that's where they organize their big stories ― is tighter than at Earth-mil weapons labs. Liz is a pro; nobody will know anything is happening until she's ready to spring the trap. The people she works with are pros, also. Besides, they all know if they blew her scoop she'd have them killed." "What? She wouldn't do it herself?" Terry laughed. "And muss her nails?" I snorted. "Not a chance. She says that's what contractors are for." I was almost drowned out by the jubilant noisy play from the kids' end of the pool. "There sure are a lot of children here," Keelin observed. I could understand why she thought so. There probably weren't throngs of kids in the places she was used to to begin with, then add to that Earth's "one child" policy ... Well, she probably didn't see all that many of them. "Yep, Marsmen love their kids..." Oh shit! I knew right then I was dead man. Dead, dead, dead! "We need to go back," I said as I jumped up. Puzzled, they asked why but I wouldn't tell them anything other than there was something I needed to tell them right away. We gathered up Eve and, although she also asked what was going on, came without too much trouble. When we got back I told them to change and meet me in the common room. Keelin continued to question me while we changed; everything of hers was now in my ― our ― room, but I fended her off as best I could. Yeah I was scared; she was the one who was probably going to kill me first. "Okay, what's going on, Big-dick," Terry asked when we'd all gathered. Great! I was going to have to keep her away from Liz, far away. "I've got something I need to tell you," I started. Well, then I just flat out told them. Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 9 For those of you who don't know much about Mars history, especially the early days, let me give you a little background. Mars is a big place, maybe not as big as Earth but then we don't have most of the surface covered with water either. Also we live mostly underground. There's also plenty of dirt-cheap power. Lots of space, lots of power and certainly enough resources for what we'll need for a long time. What we didn't have was people. Sure, Earth has an overabundance of them but it's too frigging expensive to move a lot of people out here. There are the exceptions, like me. They couldn't kill me so it was worth the cost to get rid of me. Like I said, that's an exception. There are two way to build your population: immigration ― too costly to amount to much here ― or grow your own. Mars encouraged kids, lots of kids. Mostly through tax breaks, free schooling, free daycare and all the rest of that happy horseshit and for the most part Marsmen happily fuck away and create a whole bunch of the little ankle-biters. But it's not required, for most anyway. For slaves, it's required. That's right: it was the law. A slave owner was required to ensure, one way or another, that their female slaves became pregnant within two months of acquiring them and have a minimum of four children within the first seven years. If you don't, they could actually take them away and resell them. The slave population wasn't that large as a percentage ― maybe one in ten back then ― and that included the male slaves who were mostly working in the mines or other outside (read dangerous) jobs. It's not a big deal for the kids. Slavery wasn't a status one could derive from one's parents. Any child was conceived a free Mars citizen. That's right; they're a citizen from the second of conception endowed with every right and privilege of a free Mars citizen! Believe me, we take it seriously here. We don't have much child abuse here and never a repeat offender; they're lucky to even make it to the airlock alive to take the walk. Mars-gov frowns on it, especially if you leave a trail of blood on the way to the lock, but I've never heard of anyone even being given a ticket for littering. Back to the bad news (worse news?). The thing I had conveniently forgot (I swear I really did forget!) was that during "processing" female slaves had all contraception removed and were given an injection to stimulate fertility. That's right: the mandatory contraception the girls undoubtedly had emplaced when they were twelve years old back on Earth was gone. Keelin and I had been engaging in unprotected sex! I closed my eyes and waited for the explosion. "I may be pregnant?" I heard Keelin ask. I nodded, eyes still closed. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" Suddenly I was tackled by a pint-sized fireball knocking me to the floor and doing her best to smother me with kisses. I was mildly surprised. Okay, I was shocked stupid. It took a few minutes but I was finally able to get us on our feet again although Keelin was still attached to my side like a leech. "Ah, I gather you're not overly disturbed by this?" I stated the obvious. "What gave you the first clue, Einstein?" Terry snorted. "I didn't exactly expect this reaction," I admitted. Again she snorted as Keelin wormed her way even closer although I'm not sure how she did it; any closer and we'd have to share the same skin. "So, you have to knock us up?" Ah, good ol' Eve bring me back to reality. "Yes, I mean no, well sort of," I babbled. "I mean I don't have to get you pregnant, you just have to be pregnant. It can be done at the local hospital using artificial insemination. But don't go crazy just yet; we have plenty of time. I still hope to have you back home before it becomes an issue. Actually you don't even have to be home, just have your status changed by then." "Hmm..." Eve looked at me through slitted eyes. "When can I find out?" Keelin asked from somewhere south of my shoulder. "What?" "Find out if I'm pregnant, you idiot," she retorted. "Ah, well, actually the med-stick will tell you." Med-sticks were standard household fixtures by then. Stick it in your mouth and your AI could tell you if you had a temperature, correct body chemistry and of course if you're pregnant. It would tell you within hours of impregnation. Suddenly I no longer had an attachment as she scampered toward our 'fresher. "Well, this is an interesting twist," Terry observed casually. "Look," I pleaded. "I really did forget. I never even thought about it." Eve looked at me with her head cocked slightly to one side, her expression strange and unreadable. "Eve," I tentatively ventured, "what are you thinking?" "Hmm, I always knew I was going to be someone's brood mare. It's strange to think it will really be happening now." "It hasn't," I protested. "And I'll do everything I can to make sure it won't. Damn it, girl, I don't want to force you into anything like this." "Eh, I could have done worse," she shrugged. What? We were interrupted by Keelin bursting into the room practically jumping in place. "How long? How long? How long?" she shouted. "What?" "How long before I know?" she bubbled. "Miss Tiernay," Sharon's calm voice announced. "I am presently compiling your data. Complete. Yes, Miss Tiernay, you are pregnant. Estimated time of conception, three days ago." With a whoop Keelin launched herself at me and wrapped her legs around my waist and looked into my eyes. "You're going to be a daddy," she said softly. "Is that okay?" "Ah," my mind went blank. "Yes, it's okay. It's wonderful." Dammed if it wasn't. I was going to be a daddy! The kiss was the sweetest I could ever remember. "Boy, did you screw up their plans," Terry chuckled. "What?" I was still in a bit of a fog. "Stackman's cabal, or whatever we're going to call them," she said. "You just put a major crimp in their plans, at least a third of it anyway." "What do you mean?" I was still a bit fuzzy. Keelin looked over at her friend questioningly. "The baby, Kee, the baby!" Terry smiled. "Even if they keep us 'dead' the baby's DNA will be registered just like ours. It will be proof positive the baby is your heir! That ought to put their shorts in a bunch. The question is do we tell them now or later?" "I don't care about that," Keelin said flipping her hair. "I know, honey, but you want to protect your father, don't you?" "Of course I do," Keelin frowned and gently slipped her legs from around me and stood up. "I am worried about him but what does the baby have to do with it?" "Maybe everything," Terry said. "If we're correct in our suspicions, our parents are in danger only if the heirs ― that's us ― are dead. If they know there is another heir it may delay their plans. As far as we know the 'rents are still okay, right, Sir Galahad?" I didn't know if she'd overheard me but when we'd found out about this I asked Sharon to specifically look for any news on the girls "real" parents. So far no news was good news. I nodded back at her. "So this might slow down or change their plans," Terry concluded. "I think we need to tell Liz about this before we say anything ourselves," I interjected. "She's not the police," Eve added. "No, she's not. But I'll bet my life she's going to know who's dirty and who isn't before too long," I said. "Tip them off too soon and they may get desperate and start to cover their tracks. That could get messy." "Maybe we should all get pregnant right now," Terry said in a very seductive manner as she walked, no, oozed over to me. I really must be a pig but I couldn't help but notice the slow grind of her hips and the gentle bounce of her breasts under her dress. "Terry, don't even joke about that!" I spat. "Sex is one thing, although I would never do anything to hurt Keelin no matter how tempting. A baby is something completely different! I told you I'm pretty old-fashioned; a child is a very serious matter and I don't take it lightly at all." "Practically Neanderthal, and who said I'm joking?" she said as she got nearer. "Kee, you mind if I borrow your man's sperm for a bit?" "You planning to give it back when you're done?" Keelin asked. "Not if I can help it," she gurgled. Luckily I was saved by the bell, or a message anyway. It was from Liz. "God damn, Longshot, you sure fall in the shit, don't you! Damn, I love you! This shit is hot, really hot! You are going to make me rich and famous! After seeing what you had, I got a team together and by God it didn't take but a few rakes of the mud to come up with more connections and coincidences than you can believe! "I won't go into anything here; you know my methods, Watson. ("She wouldn't tell her own mother about an ongoing investigation," I told the girls as an aside.) But rest assured you're on to something and I'm going to get to the bottom of it. "This for the girls: Your parents ― I mean your birth parents ― haven't been seen since just after your accident. We can only hope they're still all right. "Keep those girls safe Longshot. There are going to be some really angry people when this anthill gets kicked over. Leave it to you, you donkey-dicked bastard, to buy up a harem of babes worth more than the GNP of South America. "Hang on up there, get back to you soon. Bartow, out." I sat down on the couch and naturally Keelin climbed right into my lap burying her head in my neck. "You're scared for your father, aren't you, honey?" She just nodded. I looked up and saw Terry standing there. She looked sad, scared and vulnerable like I've never seen her before. I just stretched out my arm and she sat down next to me and scooted in close as I wrapped my arm around her. Eve just stood there looking lost and confused. What could I do? I reached out my other arm and she tentatively took mincing steps towards us until I could pull her down next to me opposite Terry. She snuggled in and began to cry softly. I did my best to wrap my arm around all three of them. There was nothing sexy about this, just four people trying to give comfort to each other. I don't know how long we stayed that way but after a while Eve pushed back away from me gently and looked at me. As tall as she was her head was on level with mine. "Thank you," she said softly. "I needed that." "I know, Eve. We're here for whatever you need You just have to ask." "I know, but now I think I need to lie down for a while." I nodded and unwrapped my arm. She hesitated for a moment and then leaned over and gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek. With that she smiled sadly and patted Keelin on the top of her head, got up and walked back to the bedrooms. "Yes, thank you," Terry said from my other side. I looked over at her and suddenly she lifted her face and I found myself kissing another pair of incredible soft lips. She sighed into my mouth and I felt her tongue tentatively touch my lips. Without thinking I opened up and our tongues began to gently duel in our mouths. "You making out with my boyfriend?" I thought Keelin was asleep, not that that was the reason I was kissing Terry, but she wasn't. "Yep, is that a problem?" "Nope, he's your boyfriend too," she said sleepily, her eyes were still closed. "Mmm, I like the sound of that." "Don't I have a say in this?" I asked. Yes, I'm that stupid. "No," they both said together. "Did I ever mention the relationship between master and slave?" I interjected. "Mmm, big bad master ravishing his harem of helpless slave girls; that's so sexy." Terry was still Terry after all. "Been there, done that, got the prize," Keelin added in a little sing-song. I couldn't help myself; I moved my free hand down and lightly rubbed her taut little belly. I swear she actually purred. "Terry," I said warningly. "I don't think this is a game we should be playing. I don't want you to get hurt and I know you could hurt me." "I can?" she said looking up at me. Damn! Her eyes were blue. "That's good." "Good?" I was taken back by that. I knew Terry could be a tease and a flirt but I didn't expect her to be downright cruel. "Yes, good," she said. "If I can hurt you that means you care for me; you have feelings for me." "Of course I have feelings for you. Christ almighty, girl! You're beautiful, smart ... Okay, smart doesn't even begin to describe you but we'll leave it at that. Anyway, you're smart, beautiful, sassy, vivacious, irreverent and totally beyond all control. You, my girl, are going to make some lucky man marvelously miserable some day." "Marvelously miserable? I like that. Could I make you marvelously miserable?" "Terry," I sighed. "I have Keelin now. I don't think you could be a co-wife for any man." "Co-wife?" Keelin's eyes were suddenly open. "Are you married already?" "No, you silly thing," I said squeezing her. "I meant you, if you'll have me after this is all over." "You want to marry me?" she squeaked. I nodded; she squealed and buried her head in my neck nodding vigorously. "Co-wife," Terry mumbled thoughtfully. "Mmm, sounds interesting." I decided this had gone far enough. "I'm hungry," I announced. "Party-pooper," Terry scrunched up her face. "Don't think you can get out of this that easily." "I'm, hungry," I said a little more forcefully. "Fine, we'll feed you, poop-head," she relented. "But this isn't over." "Hungry," I reiterated. Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 10 After getting something to eat we sent another message to Liz giving her the news about Keelin. We left Eve out of it; I think she needed a little alone time. She did make an appearance later for dinner and seemed nearly normal. Well, not normal for Eve maybe; this was a nicer, more open Eve, pretty damn near pleasant to be with. Later that night Keelin and I were sleeping when I heard our door open. I keep the lights dimmed for now instead of having complete darkness so I saw it was Terry. "Terry?" "Will you hold me?" Her voice was low, tentative, very much out of character for her. "Terry, I don't think..." "Please, Toliver?" A small hand touched my shoulder. "She needs it; we all need it." I was going to argue? "Okay, Terry, but I..." From my first word Terry was moving and by the time I was finished, or didn't finish, she was under the covers and snuggled up next to me. "You sleep naked," she finished for me. "I know, Kee told me. That's okay." I'm not sure it was okay by me. At least she was wearing something. Wait, she was wearing another one of my shirts. If this kept up there wouldn't be any left for me! Anyway she snuggled in with her head on my shoulder and pulled my arm around her tightly. Keelin did the same on my other side. Okay, I admit it; I could get used to this. "Thank you, Tol," Terry mumbled from somewhere on my shoulder. "I know I act like nothing bothers me but it does. I'm a little intimidating and I'm not as pretty as Kee or Eve, but sometimes I just need to be held." Intimidating? A battalion of Blue-bellies after your blood is intimidating. Terry goes beyond that. The problem is I keep forgetting these girls are really just children still. Okay, not children; but still young women, really young women; at least it seemed so from my advanced age. "You're not that intimidating, Ter," I know I was lying; she did too. "And you're just as beautiful as Keelin or Eve. The fact is all three of you are knockouts and you know it." "Eve is very pretty," Keelin said from my other side. She didn't sound jealous or bothered in any way. She was just stating a fact. "I've never meet anyone with her looks before, not even a super-model, and I've met a number of them." "Yes, Eve is very attractive," I admitted. How did we get on this subject? I wish sometimes I wasn't as honest as I was. I just knew my mouth was going to get me into a heap of trouble. I probably should have shut up and pretended to be asleep; should of, would of, could of. "If you just had a vid of her and any number of other girls you'd probably say she was the prettiest. But what makes someone attractive is so much more than just what's on the outside. You two are beautiful; but what you have inside makes you so much more attractive than Eve, it's not really even a contest. "Keelin, honey, you are cute and sexy as hell but more than that you are such a damn good person. That makes you incredibly attractive. "And as for you, little Terror; you have a great package but what you are outshines even that. You're smart, funny, cool in crises, brassy, sassy and so incredibly whole ... You are so much more than just a wonderful body, it's hard to describe." "Oh, you seem to be doing a pretty good job," Terry cooed. "So, I don't intimidate you?" "Oh, you're a handful, that's for sure." Thinking back I could probably have phrased that differently. She was firmly holding my hand and with my arm around her it was effectively pinned to the bed. With a deft movement she placed my hand on her breast and there was nothing I could do about it. Did I mention she was larger than average? Large, firm, soft ... Anyway, you get the picture. "Ack!" I'm just full of pithy comments. What was I supposed to do now? I had one arm trapped by this blonde bombshell and my other one equally pinned by my little fiancée. The evil little vixen was not only agreeing to this but assisting! "Terry... !" "Kee told me what she had to do to get you to take her," Terry said as she twisted and slid until she was lying fully on top of me. "Am I going to have to rape you too?" It became immediately obvious that her nightshirt ― my shirt ― was the only thing she had on and it wasn't fastened, coming open and giving me that delicious skin-on-skin feeling. I was trying like hell to keep my control but little Tol had no problem with what was going on! Terry wiggled on me and gurgled. "Someone is happy to see me," she whispered. "Keelin?" I don't know if I was asking for permission or for help. "Please, Toliver," she answered stroking my hair. "Please do it for me, for her. She needs you as badly as I do. Please make love to my friend. Don't you like her? Maybe even love her, just a little anyway?" "You know I do," I panted. "But think, Terry! Think about what you're doing, what could happen." "I have," she purred. "And we can talk about it later. Right now I want you..." She moved her hips and just that suddenly I was balls deep in one of the wettest, tightest pussies I'd even been in. Every bit of reluctance I had disappeared, the only thing I was thinking about was fucking this gorgeous creature riding on top of me. I hadn't noticed, but now both my arms were free. I reached up, pulled her to me and rolled us over until she was beneath me, her legs came up to wrap around my hips and I was suddenly even deeper inside of her. "Oh, yes," she hissed. "I like this even better. Come on, big boy, fuck your little slave into submission." Okay, this probably comes as a surprise to no one except me but my little aggressive, assertive super-genius had a submissive streak about a klick wide. She just loved to be "taken." And I appreciated the delicious irony, right? Wrong, the only thing I was thinking about was doing my best to split her in half. I started pounding into her with my best effort. Right then I wasn't a lover trying to fulfill and pleasure his partner, I was a bull fucking his cow, the stallion breeding his mare or any other alliteration you might think of. It was a good old monkey-fuck. As I came to find later ― not much later actually ― when she was excited and ready Terry was multi-orgasmic and had a hair-trigger. She started cuming at about stroke five and kept cuming until I finally blasted my load in the entrance to her cervix about ten minutes later. (We got the time frame from Keelin later; I wasn't paying any attention.) Again I wasn't the considerate lover because I immediately collapsed on top of her and damn near passed out. I don't think she minded since she wrapped her arms and legs around me damn near crushing the breath right out of me. It wasn't until a few minutes later I was able to roll over between the two girls and even then she whimpered in protest. There the three of us lay, the two girls with their heads resting on my chest scrunched up against my sides. "Good, huh?" Keelin smirked at Terry. "Oh, God, girl!" Terry sighed. "I know what you told me but I thought you probably just didn't know any better. Damn, I've had a lot more experience and that was the best I've ever had!" This did nothing to bring my raging ego back down to normal size. In fact that wasn't the only thing swelling again. Both of them had their hands idly playing with my gradually re-inflating cock. "In fact, I got to get me some more of this." "Wait your turn, you greedy bitch," Keelin laughed and pushed Terry away as she climbed on top of me. It was a long night for one elderly ex-sniper. I don't know how they did it but Keelin was able to drain me and then half an hour later Terry got her turn again. This time it was much slower, gentler; really making love instead of just fucking. She seemed to enjoy that almost as much as our first wild fuck. I know I did. I woke the next morning alone which I didn't take for a good sign, but then it was 0830, the latest I've slept in for years. I was a sticky mess so I hit the 'fresher; if I had to face the music I was at least going to do it clean. Pulling on a pair of pants and a shirt ― one of the few I had left ― I headed for the kitchen. The three of them were there chatting. As one they stopped talking, never a good sign, and each one turned to look at me. "Good morning," I mumbled. At least Keelin and Terry looked happy; Eve's face was about as expressionless as possible. Uh-oh, here it comes. "So the sultan has nailed another one of his harem, has he?" she said deadpan. "I'm not exactly sure who got nailed," I quipped. I wasn't really in the mood for her shit no matter how well deserved. All of a sudden all three of them started laughing hysterically. Did I mention before I know nothing about women? "Okay, I'm confused," I said as I plopped down in the remaining chair after grabbing a cup of coffee Sharon had readied for me. I'm not really a caffeine addict but I do like a cup or two in the morning. For some reason they all thought that was funny also. "What are you confused about, Toliver?" Keelin asked sipping at the cup in front of her. "Bright lights, loud noises and words over two syllables I can understand, lover boy," Terry said with a grin, "but this seems pretty simple." I shot her a nasty look which got me another laugh. I shook my head in defeat. "Shall I list it alphabetically or numerically?" I said with a sigh. "First: you, Keelin, my love. You seem to be not only not jealous but actually want me to, ah..." "Fuck me," Terry chimed in. "Make love to Terror," I continued ignoring her. "That's the first thing I don't understand. I admit I never got high marks in 'plays well with others' and never liked sharing my toys." "I'm a toy now?" Terry broke in again. "Cool!" "Shut up, Terry," Keelin said without rancor. "This seems to bother Toliver and if it does, it's something we need to discuss." When did she become the adult here? What happened to that scared, shy little introvert who was practically catatonic when I brought her here? "Toliver," she said looking at me. Wonders of wonders Terry actually did shut up. "Toliver, I'm not jealous. This is Terry, after all. Maybe if you'd brought back some bimbo for a quick fuck then I would be. Okay, I would be, but not with Terry." I must have had a blank look on my face because she sighed and continued. "Toliver, I know you love me and I know just being with another woman isn't going to change that." She did? Well, I guess she was right. I did still feel the same way about her. She continued, "Besides, Terry's been in love with you for ages now." Ages? They've only been here a couple of weeks at best. I suppose that qualifies as 'ages' when you're their age. "And you love her too. You can love both of us equally well." It was a declaration of fact as far as she was concerned. I looked over at Terry. "'Fraid so, poop-head," she shrugged. "You're stuck with me now." "But what about going home?" I protested. "We go home together or we don't go," she waved it off. "I really don't care." "But you could get pregnant!" "Yeah, that'll be interesting," she grinned strangely. "But that had to happen anyway; no sense in waiting. Strangely, I kind of like the idea." "But we could have worked it..." I started. "No 'buts', buckoo," she cut me off. "Besides if you knock me up, you'll never dump me, right?" "Me? Dump you?" I was stunned. "Mmm, I like the way you say that," her grim turned to a sultry smile. "Besides the kitten's right, Mr. Poop-head. You're the man I want and these two gold diggers will tell you I always get what I want. You're the only person, man, boy, girl or woman, who has ever looked at me and not seen just a stack of stock certificates or a bundle of money. Sorry for your luck, buddy, but I'm in love with you and you're my man now. Okay, our man now" I muttered something to myself. "What was that?" Terry asked. "We couldn't hear you." "I said, no good deed goes unpunished," I snapped. I must be a fucking comedian this morning because all three of them started laughing again and I can tell you coffee dribbling out of your nose is not attractive, even if you are Eveta Delgado. I sighed in defeat again. "What about you?" I asked Eve pointedly as she wiped the offending liquid away. "What about me?" she said coolly. "Well," I was a little taken aback. "I expected to catch a ration of shit from you about this." "Oh that," she waved her hand. "I'll leave that up to your women. I'm sure they can do a much better job of that than I could. Why? Do you expect me to jump into your bed too?" "Of course not!" I have to admit I was a little relieved. The other two I really liked, okay, loved, and this new Eve was more than slightly less repulsive than the old one but still I couldn't say I really liked her. Yeah, she was any man's wet-dream but I already had two of those (Listen to me!) and I didn't feel any particular need to hop in the sack with her. The funny thing is that was actually true; she was like a fabulous painting, something to admire for its beauty but not something you want to live with. "Besides, that silly little pregnancy thing," she continued. "Well, you said we have some time yet to worry about that." "That's right," I nodded. "And I assure you even if it does become an issue you won't have to sleep with me." "Oh, I don't think it would be that awful," she said looking at me strangely. "I've slept with worse. Besides, you have two pretty good references here." "Honey," Terry said reaching over to tap Eve's hand. "You've slept with a lot worse." "I guess you'd know," Eve gave Terry's hand a squeeze. When you read what she said it sounds like she was insulting Terry, but she wasn't. At least it didn't sound like it; she sounded almost sad. She was sitting between Terry and Keelin and Keelin reached over to grasp her other hand. I was feeling at a little lost for what I should be doing when I was again saved by Sharon announcing there was another message for us. It was Liz again. "You amaze me, Longshot," Liz said shaking her head. "Less than two weeks and you've already got one knocked up and are probably working on the other two." Keelin blushed, Terry cheered and Eve just harrumphed. "Other than that, you big, and obviously potent, dicked bastard, this does add a whole new dimension to the story. If this is truly a bid to take over these three companies ― and it's not entirely clear if this was the only incident ― then you planting one in your uber-rich plaything has opened a nice little can of worms. Actually given she could buy you many, many times over, I wonder who the plaything actually is? "We've been talking with our tame bottom-feeders, (Liz liked lawyers almost as much as I did) given the current status of the girls they would not be viable heirs even if they were declared alive today. It takes a person to inherit and under Earth's agreements with Mars a slave is not considered a person under the law. So at least presently the girls shouldn't be considered a threat to Stackman in that respect. This should give you guys some protection for a while. "However, as you are probably aware under the silly Mars laws Tiernay's belly-blob is already fully human and a person, making it a viable heir. ("Hey," Keelin protested. "Don't worry, honey, it's my belly-blob too," I said.) Right now if something were to happen to her father it would be one of the ten richest organisms in the solar system. This is both good and bad news. "The good news is if Stackman and his bunch found out, they would be more inclined to keep her father alive. We still haven't heard about any of the three birth parents but our profilers reason they are still alive. It is still possible they will be needed, so keep your hopes up. "The bad news is if they find out, there is an almost one hundred percent chance they will try something there on Mars. Watch your backs! At this time we recommend you not tell them about it. Things are moving along here but I can't tell you how long it's going to take. "Be careful, kids. Bartow, out." The mood was rather somber after that. Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 11 The next two weeks crawled by with little new happening. Okay, one thing did happen. Terry tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease: she was pregnant. Some men think pregnant women are the same as any other women, they're wrong, they're more so! For one thing their libidos get cranked up a notch and believe me it was almost bad enough before to kill me. Luckily I found out that I didn't have to be there all the time for them to have sex. It did surprise me when I walked into our room one day and found Terry lying between Keelin's legs giving her a great time. I suppose I should have expected that from Terry; she'd hinted enough that she enjoyed both sides. Now Keelin surprised me; she'd never even hinted at liking girls before, but I was actually kind of glad to see that I didn't have to be her sole focus in life. Did I feel jealous, threatened? No, not really; not at all if the truth be known. It's a well known fact that most men don't consider other women to be a threat when it comes to sex. Call it the conceit of ignorance; we don't really believe another woman can take our place. Yeah, yeah, that's bullshit, but I'm not here to tell what should be, I'm telling you what is. Now if it was another man... ? I'm not that enlightened. So sue me. I can say I've never felt shorted by the girls ever, so it works for me. Besides it makes me horny. Keelin's pretty little pussy may have been getting lapped but it was Terry's beautiful ass that got pounded at the same time. Like I said, it works for me. We received numerous messages from Liz but other than the anticipated ration of shit I caught for scoring another bull's-eye she didn't have much to update us. I still had my feelers out locally but there was nothing buzzing in Mars-gov, nothing! I did get a few names of those who I felt had to be in on the scam for it to have worked the way it did, but nothing concrete. I gave those names to Liz and all she would tell me was she had an angle working on the Mars side as well. It was all on a "need to know" and right then I didn't need to know. I got a congratulatory message from DHS on the upcoming additions to Mars citizenship. The babies were registered as soon as the girls tested positive; it's required. Of course they had to remind me that my third purchase now had less than one month to get in the same condition. It didn't seem to bother Eve overly much. I don't know if she really had such a fatalistic attitude or if she expected me to pull a rabbit out of my hat before the other rabbit drop-dead date actually got there. I just didn't know. She'd been acting awfully strange about that time, strange for what I was used to anyway, but then I hadn't know her that long and under circumstances that weren't exactly normal. She'd been pretty civil to me and I knew the three girls had been spending a lot of time talking together. I guess they had a lot of issues to talk over, given their past relationships. It was Terry who pressed the issue of what we were going to do if this stretched out much longer. "We don't have to do anything right now," became my standard answer. I'd said it about a hundred times and this time was no different. "When it gets to be crunch time Eve can tell us what she wants' to do." We had been sitting around the common area talking after another of Stackman's non-messages, just shooting the shit for lack of a better term. She was just sitting there with her mile-long legs looking just as stunning as she normally did. Actually they all did. Silly me. I thought once Terry, Keelin and myself got together the clothing around the house would have drifted to a more practical look. If anything it got more sexy and daring as the days went by. Did I mention I don't understand women? If anything the hemlines moved up and the necklines down and I was just sitting there panting waiting for them to meet. Did I also mention that Eve's legs could be used as a defense for justifiable rape? Maybe I did at that. "Do you think Eve wants to carry a stranger's baby?" Terry continued. It was one of the options. We could take her to one of the hospitals and they would impregnate her with a "suitable" donor. They could do the same with my sperm. I wasn't too keen on that. I knew it shouldn't matter but if we did that it would be my child that she took back to Earth with her, probably to have an abortion. Of course that was illegal here on Mars, the equivalent of murder, and available only if the life of the mother was at risk. That's life at risk and not merely her mental wellbeing. Actually I agreed with that part of the Mars laws. Not the impregnation part, but once it's done ... Well, innocent life is innocent life no matter how you look at it. "I don't think Eve wants to carry anybody's baby," I said and looked over at her for confirmation. She didn't say anything, just cocked her head and looked at me strangely. Okay, that threw me off. "Anyway, we don't have to do anything right now." "No, not right now," Terry pressed. "But we should have a plan just in case we need it." Keelin had stayed out of it up till then; she just sat there and ... Was that a smirk on her face? Sometimes I really don't know what my little fireball is up to. "Toliver has already made it plain he doesn't want to bed me," Eve said. "There really isn't much choice, is there?" "I never said that, Eve," I said a little surprised. "I am a man after all." There were hoots and catcalls from my loyal harem. Thank you! Thank you very much. "What I said is I would never force you to go to bed with me and that still stands." "Maybe you two need to get to know each other a little better," Terry said. "Date night! Date night!" Keelin clapped. "Date night?" I was astounded. "That's right," Terry agreed. "Take her out to dinner, some dancing, a little vino, then bam, pork her!" "How romantic," I responded dryly. Even Eve was grinning. Then she just shrugged at me. "Actually that sounds like a good idea," I mused. "Not the 'pork her, ' part of course. Terry, you can be so crude for such a refined lady. But I really should take all of you out. It's getting to be a bit cramped in here lately." "No, not all of us," Keelin interjected. "Well, yes, that would be nice, but not right now. Just you two; get to know each other." "And I ain't no lady," Terry protested. "I'm just a knocked-up broad. Then it's settled. Tonight you two go out. It's all taken care of, reservations and everything." "But..." "It's settled, Toliver," Keelin said sweetly. No way was I getting around that. I may be stupid but I'm a fast learner. "It could be fun," Eve shrugged. Apparently it was settled. Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 12 Mars didn't have that much of a night life back then, not when you compare it to Earth anyway. That didn't mean we didn't have any nice places to go out to. If you compare the best Earth had to offer and the best Mars had, the restaurant we went to would have been a three-star compared to Earth's five-star. Eve didn't look very impressed when we entered the atrium. "I know it's not what you're used to," I apologized. She frowned and then sighed as she shook her head. "I'm being a bitch again, aren't I?" "No," I assured her. "I meant it. It's not what you're used to. I understand that." "I have to learn to be more flexible," she stated. "Not a bad idea no matter what happens in the future," I added. Walking over to the maître d' station I said, "Nelson, table for two; we have a reservation." "Of course, Sir," he said looking at his screen. He looked at Eve, hesitated for a second and then said, "Sir, we have a policy, no, ah, concubines." Their monitors would have noted her chip as soon as we walked in. "She's not my concubine, she's my date," I responded. I adjusted my credit ring and held it out nonchalantly towards him. His own cred-ring bumped mine and he glanced at the readout. "Very good, Sir," he said raising his eyebrows. "That certainly makes a difference. Your table will be ready shortly." Eve was giggling when I walked back to her. "What?" "That was about as smooth as I've ever seen," she said with a smile. I hadn't seen her smile, really smile, very often but it was pretty devastating when she did. "Oh, you saw that?" I asked sheepishly. "Seen it plenty of times," she waved her hand dismissively. "You wouldn't believe how many times my date had to do something like that when I was underage." "Your parents let you go to places like that when you were that young?" I was surprised. "Since I was fourteen," she snorted. "For the right ... gentleman ... it wasn't so much allowed as required." "That's..." I shut my mouth quickly. "Eve was right; I'm a whore," she said emotionlessly. "My mother was my pimp." "You are not a whore, Eve," I said forcefully. "Not then, not now. What your mother did was despicable ... No, I don't want to talk about that now. Here, let's go to our table." "Kee said we should get to know each other," she started again when we had been seated. "If we are, then you need to know exactly what I am. I'm an ornament, a prize, a body to be auctioned off to the highest bidder or the one with the best business deal. It hasn't been quite as bad since mother died. But father just stopped pushing me out for 'test drives, ' letting them come to him before allowing me to accompany his suitors. That's right: it wasn't me they were after, it was father's money, or the company. I was just the means to an end." "That's a shame, Eve. You're worth the pursuit alone, not just for what you have or could get." "I don't know how you could say that," she snorted. "I'm nothing but an empty shell: a nice bod with nothing inside." "Bullshit," I said forcefully. "You're a hell of a lot more than that. Sure, you're beautiful. Okay, to be honest you're the most beautiful and elegant woman I've ever seen, let alone met. That's no small thing and I say that as a normal man. What you do to our hormones should be illegal. But that's not everything you are. What you are is what's inside and outside. I admit I don't know who the real Eve is in there; I'm not sure you really know who you are; you haven't had the chance. But I think maybe you're starting to discover who is in there under the pretty wrapping. I think you'll find part of it you aren't going to like, but parts you will. That just makes you human, Eve, just like the rest of us." "So are there parts of Toliver Nelson you don't like?" she asked. "Unfortunately, quite a few," I sighed. We talked, talked a lot. About her childhood and how she lived; about my childhood and growing up in what she would probably consider poverty. We talked about the war and why I joined up and what I did. I tried to be honest even though there was a lot of that I really wanted to forget. I let it all out there: the good, the bad and the really ugly. I think it was good for both of us. We talked for what seemed like just a short time but before I realized it dinner had come and gone and it was time to go home. "That was fun," she said as we walked. She actually reached out and held my hand. It was kind of sweet. "Thank you." "You're very welcome. I enjoyed it too." I really did. "So, are you going to pork me now?" I groaned. "Miss Dubois needs to have her bottom spanked, or her mouth washed out with soap." "Eww, I'd like to see that," she laughed. "She's pretty tough. Maybe Kee will take bets." "Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill anytime," I smirked. "I may be old but I never fight fair." "I don't think she does either," Eve observed. I could only nod, I couldn't see Terry letting fairness getting in the way of a good scrap, or winning. One thing you can say about Mars is it doesn't have much crime, at least street crime. Marsmen are too ruggedly independent for that. It doesn't mean there isn't any, though, especially if some yahoo gets a snoot-full and begins to think the world owes him a favor. We were cutting through one of the local sunrooms which was fairly deserted at that time of night when I noticed three big bruisers heading our way on the path. I wasn't too worried but I brushed my hand over the budge in the small of my back. Like most Marsmen I pack a pistol when I'm out and about; my old 2mm service pistol to be exact. It fires a small three gram round but it leaves the muzzle at about Mach 4 so what it hits knows it's been hit. Some people like the big fat bullets but my little palm-sized pistol carries fifty caseless rounds and that's a lot of firepower as far as I'm concerned. "What do we have here?" one of the bruisers said as they came up to us. Crap, nothing is ever easy, is it? "Just going home, friend," I said easily. I put my arm around Eve and moved her slightly behind me. "God damn, that's a looker!" another said. They'd been drinking, I could smell. Not stumble-down drunk unfortunately, but lose-your-inhabitations type of drunk, the worst kind. "Nice piece of cunt. How much she go for a night?" They assumed Eve was a prostitute or a rental slave which considering a girl like her with a guy like me wasn't such an unreasonable assumption. "This is my wife, friend," I said a little firmer. "I don't appreciate that kind of talk." "I don't think so," the first one grinned and his buddy nearest me made his move. Now, I was sniper, I didn't get involved in the hand-to-hand stuff if I could avoid it. I left that to the big guys with the sloped brows and stupid smiles. That didn't mean I could always avoid it. The first thing I did was shove Eve backwards hard enough that she sat down with a huff. I spun and let my boot toe connect with the guys chin, that stung a bit but he toppled over backwards and I moved on to the next. He was stupid and let me get close enough for me to jab him in the throat with my stiffened fingers, he stumbled back hands around his throat trying to breathe. The third man was reaching under his jacket when I hit him in the chest with a drop kick to the sternum. He went down but started to get back up so I kicked him in the side of the head and then again in the balls just for good measure. He was down. I pulled my pistol and pointed it at Mr. Throat who was still gasping for breath. He just put one hand up in surrender and sat down hard. Nodding, I moved back to help Eve to her feet. "Sorry about that," I said reaching my free hand down to help her up, my pistol still pointed at Mr. Throat. "Are you all right?" "I'm fine," she whispered. She was looking up at me and I swear her eyes must have been forty centimeters across and practically bugging out of her head. I pulled her up and bent down checking her heels to make sure they weren't broken. I would have bet against the ten centimeters stilettos making it unharmed but from what I could see they were fine; so were her feet. They were just as pretty as the rest of her and that's not something you can normally say about feet. I know some men have a real fetish for feet but, for the most part, to me they just look ... functional. "Do we need to notify the police?" she asked. I glanced over at the two unconscious ones and could tell they were still alive. "Want me to call the badges?" I asked Mr. Throat. He wheezed and shook his head vigorously. "Guess not," I answered Eve. "Let's get you home." "There were three of them," she said with a hushed voice as we walked out of the sunroom and into one of the main corridors. I'd put the pistol away and now she was holding onto my arm with both of hers, rather tightly I might add. "Good thing too," I said." "Why?" "Because if there had been more I would have had to kill them and then we would have had to call the police," I replied. "The last thing I need right now would be all that stupid paperwork and we don't need the official notice." "You would have killed them?" she gasped. "Just to protect me?" "Eve," I tried to explain, "sometimes you just do what you have to do. You're my responsibility, in my care; protecting you doesn't come under the heading of 'just.' I'd do a lot more than just kill some dumbasses out on a drunk to protect any of you girls if I had to." She didn't say anything more but her grip on my arm tightened even more and I hadn't thought that was possible. When we got home Terry and Keelin were waiting for us in the common room. They were all smiles until they saw the look on Eve's face and they rushed over to her immediately. "What did you do to her?" Terry demanded as she rounded on me. Before I could say anything Eve shouted, "No, no!" and the story of our dance in the sunroom gushed out. She blubbered and cried, an experience like that can be emotionally draining, especially for someone not used to it. Hell, I've seen veterans with years of combat under their belts break down into simpering heaps after a firefight; it can happen to any of us. We finally calmed her down and Keelin led her back to the rooms for a quick dip in the 'fresher and then bed. "So, other than you getting to play toughguy, how did it go?" Terry asked. She didn't let a little thing like her friend and her lover surviving an attempted rape or worse sidetrack her from what she considered important. "Ah, fine, I guess." I gave her a synopsis of what Eve and I had talked about but left out most of the really personal details. Looking back I was kind of surprised at just how personal and nitty-gritty our discussion had been and I'm not sure just how much of the really nasty stuff Eve would want Terry or Keelin to know if they didn't already. If they knew already, then that was fine; if they didn't, then it was up to Eve to tell them. I'm not going to lie to my two girls but that doesn't mean I'm going to tell them everything either, not about somebody else. "I think underneath it all she's a good kid," I said. "She's cursed with a perfect body, high social standing and parents who in my opinion should have been shot. I think she's never felt right about whom she was or what she was expected to do and just retreated behind a shell. For what's its worth I think there is a good person in there and I hope she can come to grips with everything when she gets home." "'Cursed' with a perfect body?" Terry rolled her eyes. "I should be so cursed." "You're adequate," I shrugged. This earned me a punch in the arm, which hurt by the way; that girl can hit! "Adequate!" she snorted. "Next time you want a piece of this ass we'll talk about 'adequate'." I could only chuckle and she grinned back at me. "So, when you going to do the dirty deed?" she asked. I must have given her a blank look because she continued, "Knock her up, you idiot! Screw the bitch silly and plant a baby in her belly." "I really don't understand you girls," I sighed. "Why do you want to keep adding women to our bed? I assure you I won't be doing the same." "Just one more," she answered nonchalantly. "She really needs it, Tol; needs you even more than maybe the rest of us. Kee and I have gotten to know Evie better in the past few weeks than we have for the previous twelve years. She needs a man like you and the rest of us to be there for her. Besides, three women ought to be just enough to keep you under control." "You're going to kill me is what you're going to do," I groaned. "What are you going to do then?" "We'll just have to find another long-dicked, bad-assed, ex-sniper to play with," she answered. I was thinking now would be the perfect time to see just how she really responded to having her ass smacked when Keelin returned and we had the whole conversation all over again. A brush with danger is a funny thing. Even a second-hand brush with it like Terry and Keelin got has a tendency to make some people horny. It did them, anyway. After running through the same nonsense with Keelin that I did with Terry, except it was two on one this time, they dragged me to bed and proceeded to fuck me into a stupor. It was later that night as I was lying between my two randy angels that I had déjà vu all over again. The door to our room opened slowly and a tall shadow crept in. "Do you need something, Eve?" "Can I sleep with you tonight?" she asked. She must have woken Terry because she pushed away from me and patted the bed between us. Without another word Eve crawled in and snuggled up next to me as Terry spooned up behind her. She was as naked as the rest of us. The girls gave up wearing my shirts to bed since they didn't stay on very long anyway. All I can say is if every bit of semen I had the ability to produce (probably for the next year or so) hadn't already been drained out of me we could have had another "situation." "I don't know if I want to, ah, 'do it' right now," she mumbled. "Is that okay? I'll leave if this bothers you." She was trembling. She was acting downright virginal; it was kind of sweet. "Of course it bothers me," I whispered back. It didn't, not that much right then anyway. "But I want you to stay. I'm a big boy, I can control myself." Under normal circumstances that would have been a lie but right then I think she needed not to be alone. "Thank you," she said her voice muffled as she buried her head in my shoulder. Terry threw her leg over Eve's hip and gently stroked her hair until there was a small snore coming from the sleeping beauty. She came to us in the middle of the night for the next three nights until Terry finally complained she was waking us up and flat out told Eve to get in bed when we did. That night it became clear she'd made her decision. I'd be lying if I said the other nights she'd slept with us hadn't stimulated me but I wasn't lacking for a comfortable place for little Toliver to have his fun so I hadn't been uncomfortably stimulated. This night she climbed right into bed and without stopping climbed right on top of me. Leaning down she pressed her lips against mine and within seconds our tongues were slowly dueling. She tasted sweet, like honey. Sighing she flattened out on me and gently rubbed her whole body along mine, kind of like a cat marking its territory. The only difference was this kitty had her pussy rubbing up and down my rock-hard cock. Breaking our kiss she shook her head slightly when I tried to say something but I kept quiet. She looked over at Terry, either for confirmation or maybe permission, I was never sure, and did the same thing with Keelin when she nodded. Raising her head just a little she looked down at me and scooted up until the head of my cock just barely pressed into the folds of her vagina. "You fought for me," she said looking straight into my eyes. "You saved me, you protected me and now I am yours. I am giving myself to you and making that part of you that is mine, ours." As she said this she slowly pushed down and I entered her. "Eve..." I groaned but she lifted one arm and pressed her fingers lightly against my lips closing them. Her long beautiful hair spilled down off her shoulders and surrounded our faces sealing us off from the rest of the world. "I have been a bitch and a whore," she said as she pushed me even further up into herself. "I was a spoiled brat-child who never knew right from wrong. I treated the people who loved me like shit and never appreciated them. They were better than I deserved and better than I still deserve." I still couldn't say anything as she continued to talk and work at impaling herself on me. "I may be a bitch and a whore but I'm not stupid," she gasped as I finally came to rest against her cervix. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, Toliver Nelson. All three of you are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I'm not going to let that go for all the money in either world. I love you and I know that sooner or later you are going to love me but right now you are going to give me our baby and I will trap you into keeping me. Even if you would willingly send me back I know you wouldn't send back the mother of your child." "Eve..." I mumbled around her fingers. "No. Hush," she said pressing just a tiny bit harder with her fingers. "I want your child, Toliver. I want it so badly I ache inside. If you send me away I will go but I want your child with me when I do. I want that part of you with me forever." Gently I wrapped my arms around her and rolled the both of us over until I was resting between her legs as Keelin quickly moved to give us room. I held her tightly as I looked down into her eyes and began to slowly thrust into her. She lifted her long legs and wrapped them around my waist, her eyes closed for a moment and she moaned before opening them slowly and looking up at me again. "You never have to leave if you don't want to, Eve," I said. "If I am to be trapped then I come to my fate willingly. I love you too, Eveta, and you don't have to ask to be one of us; you already are." Then I gave her a couple of deep jabs hitting her cervix and making her grunt. "And don't you ever call my wife a bitch or a whore again. Do you understand?" "Yes, Toliver." She looked at me with what I could only call adoration and I felt, well, I don't know what I felt. Pride, love, humble; all those things and more. Here was the most beautiful woman in two worlds and she was mine, ours! I don't know how long we made love and this was making love, no monkey-fuck, but it was beautiful. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and pressed deep into her spurting my seed as she screamed beneath me. "Yes! Yes! Oh, thank God! Yes, thank you, thank you, thank you!" I don't know who she was talking to but I didn't care. I knew who I was thanking. If there really is something to this Supreme Being other than pure nonsense and myth then he/she/it deserved every bit of thanks I could muster! We kissed lightly for a while as we cooled down, her arms and legs still wrapped tightly around me. After a few minutes I rolled us over until she was on top and Terry and Keelin snuggled up close and petted and stroked us as we lay there. "Oh, Terry, Kee, it was so beautiful," Eve was crying, I could feel her tears on my neck. "There's nothing like it when it's with someone you love and someone who loves you," Terry whispered softly. "Welcome, sister. Welcome to our family." They may have said more but I did the man thing and fell asleep. Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 13 The next couple of weeks were kind of nice. It was like having a group honeymoon but more so. Sure we got on each others nerves a few times but nothing that wasn't settled fairly quickly. Unfortunately, the day we found out Eve was pregnant was the day the feces impacted the rotating blades. It started out normally. Eve tested herself like she had been doing every day, in fact sometimes two or three times per day. For someone who had balefully contemplated a loveless life as wife and mother of someone's heir, she seemed pretty excited about the prospects of being pregnant. The fertility drugs they had in those days were just as effective as the ones we have today; if a woman had the ability to conceive and the man wasn't shooting blanks, chances were excellent that within a few weeks she would be. Anyway, three things seemed to happen almost at once; well, four if you count finding out Eve was going to help increase our little family. The first thing was a message from Liz saying they had noted a sudden flurry of activity in Stackman's group and to watch ourselves. The second was a startling response to our latest message to Stackman. Instead of the normal vid of condescending platitudes totally devoid of informational content we got a very short AI blurb stating the message was refused, would not be forwarded and no further contact would be required. If that didn't tell us something was up I don't know what would, although I figured Stackman had to be either scared, stupid or very confident to tip his hand like this. I considered any one of these three scenarios to be bad news. Scared people take chances they shouldn't; stupid people are almost impossible to predict and if he was very confident ... Well, you figure it out. The third was a call I got from one of my snitches. He told me he had hot information on the particular questions I had been nosing around about but that he couldn't transmit it. I needed to meet with him at a certain place down by the shuttle bays. It stunk to high heaven, but what could I do? I needed to know what was happening on this end. Heaven only knows what was coming for us and I wouldn't know if I sat holed up in the apartment. Naturally the girls were less than enthusiastic about my leaving. "Can't be helped," I said as Kee and Eve cried. Terry just swore at me continuously, without repeating. Actually it was ... educational. I'm not sure how many languages she used but I could only identify about half of them. I had my shirt off and pressed the chip injector against my side just below my armpit and pressed the stud. "Shit!" I hissed. I know, they say it doesn't hurt. Yeah, I won't cum in your mouth and of course I'll respect you in the morning. Know any other lies? "What is that?" Kee sniffed. "Tracking chip," I grunted while putting on my shirt. I checked the load on my pistol and the three spares. I still had one more thing to do. "Sharon." "Yes, Toliver." "Fox is in the henhouse, dear." "Executing, Toliver." "What was that all about?" Terry demanded. Either she had run out of swear words or curiosity had got the better of her. "Kind of a dead man's switch," I said. "If I don't come back in a certain amount of time or this chip indicates I'm dead, Sharon has a number of files to send to every police force on Mars and most of the news agencies. Included is everything we have on Stackman." I've said before there really isn't a lot of crime on Mars but to be more specific I should say not a lot of street crime. There is quite a bit of what they used to call organized crime and I've had brushes with them fairly often in the past. For the most part the police don't bother them if they keep to trafficking in the basic vices and keep it off the streets, but that doesn't mean the bosses don't have a thing or two they'd like to keep quiet so I like to have a little insurance. These files are part of my insurance. They know I have them and they know they aren't going anywhere so long as I still have a pulse. So far it's worked out pretty well. I have no more desire to get mixed up in their business than the police do. Sharon has standing orders to send those on if I'm ever declared dead or missing for a certain amount of time. "Fox in the henhouse" shortens the time frame and adds the chip data. "Look," I said trying to hug all three of them at the same time, "we really need to know what's going on out there. I promise I'll be careful and get back here as soon as I can. I love all of you." I gave each one a kiss and slipped out the door after telling Sharon "Condition Red." Anyone trying to break into my apartment was going to have a few little surprises waiting for them. I took a circular route down to the shuttle bays. Everything seemed deserted which didn't make me feel any better. I saw my contact at the corridor intersection where he said he would be. I had just started towards him when everything went black. Edited by Morgan ------- Chapter 14 Have you ever been hit with a nerve jangler and then been woken up by being slapped in the face, hard? Not on my recommended list. I groaned and opened my eyes. I was in some nondescript room sitting in a chair with my hands secured behind my back. Fuck, it didn't look good for the home team. There were two apes in Mars Special Police uniforms standing in my line of sight and one of them was still waling away at my face. "I think he's awake," one ape said. It didn't seem to slow his partner down much. The screen on the wall in front of me coming alive did. The face looking at me was one of the judges I had fingered as probably being dirty. Being right should have made me feel better but under the circumstances it didn't for some reason. "Mr. Nelson," he said. His look was more than a little contemptuous. "High Judge Mathis," I grunted. He looked a little surprised that I recognized him. "Don't look so surprised. I already had you pegged as probably dirty in this whole mess." I couldn't see any reason to be coy. It was obvious he wanted the girls at least in his control and me dead. The least I could do would be to give him only half of it. "I don't know what you mean," he protested. "If that were true I wouldn't be sitting here with Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton," I replied. "Planning to take a little walk, boys?" I said looking up at them. "Hope you can hold your breath." Einstein slapped me upside the head and Mathis' face danced in front of my eyes for a few seconds. "Where are they, Nelson?" Mathis snarled. "No, never mind that. Don't bother to lie, we know where they are. What we want you to do is call and tell them to come out here so we can meet them." "Yeah, right," I hissed. "Or you'll do what? Tie me up and knock me around? I don't think so." "You'll do it or my associate there will cut you into small pieces, starting with your balls!" I heard the hiss of a vibro-knife being activated next to my ear. Ouch! This was going to hurt! "Do it or we'll cut you up and then dig them out anyway." Good luck on that chief! When I had that hole dug I had five centimeter plastisteel armor embedded in the walls and the door was made out of it. If they tried to dig the girls out it was going to take some time and a lot of very visible effort. I doubted they wanted to attract that much attention but I wasn't going to say anything. They might decide to just blow the place instead and that wouldn't be good. "I don't think so," I said shaking my head. Suddenly there was a burning hot pain coming from the side of my head and my right ear fell into my lap. "Oh, Shit! Shit!" I screamed. "All right! All right! I'll do it!" "Wise of you," Mathis smirked. "You will be patched through, but no video!" I wasn't long before I heard Sharon answering. "Toliver Nelson's residence, may I help you?" "Sharon honey, this is Tol. The girls need to come outside for a breath of fresh air." There was a momentary hesitation but nobody here seemed to notice it. "Tell them they need to meet me at..." I gave her the coordinates of the meeting place I had with my snitch, (God, was I going to make him suffer if I had the chance!) and Mathis nodded. "Yes, Mr. Nelson," Sharon answered coolly. "Tell the girls I love them. Nelson, out" "How sweet," Mathis grunted and looked at Einstein. "Call for the pickup. When you have them, kill all four and make sure nobody will find the bodies." I think I did something really heroic then and passed out or something because the next thing I knew the door to the room imploded and there were armed men in the uniform of the local police swarming into the room. I was rescued, yay! ------- Epilogue Most of you who read your history probably know as much of what went on as I do. I only learned about it after it all happened. I was tied up with other matters at the time. To begin with, "breath of fresh air" was another code phrase I had set up with Sharon although I'd never really believed anyone would be stupid enough to actually let me talk to my AI. Well, stupid people do stupid things. Anyway, as soon as I said "breath of fresh air" My "ownership" of Sharon was terminated and immediately transferred to Terry and the other girls. I figured that if I was captured I might have a chance to do this and then no matter what they did to me they couldn't get me to force Sharon to do anything; she wouldn't be taking my orders anymore. Turns out it probably wasn't needed but it did work like it was supposed to. Anyhow, a number of things started happening all at once. It turns out that Liz back on earth had been working with an unspecified branch of the Earth-gov police during the latter half of the investigation and as soon as Stackman started making his move so did they. They had a pretty good idea where the girls' parents were being held and were waiting for the final few loose ends to be spliced up before moving in. In actuality it only moved up their timetable a day or two and yes, they got them out just fine. A little worse for wear but kicking and screaming mad. Simultaneously, there had also been action ongoing on the Mars side. Actually I was a little shocked and chagrined when I found out about this. I thought I was pretty good at ferreting out information but I hadn't heard a peep about it. I hadn't thought the Mars police had the ability to keep something like this hush-hush; it turns out I was wrong. So much for my over-inflated ego. So everyone is rescued, all is right with the world and everyone gets to go home, right? Of course not, what do you think this is, a fairy tale? Well, that isn't exactly correct. Stackman and his cohorts ended up in Earth-side prison in Antarctica which I understand is about as pleasant as our surface-side mines, I hope they like ice. It took a day or two but Mathis, Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton and about four others (including Greaseball from the slave store!) were rounded up and after a quick trial were sent to take a walk outside. I will admit personally I'm a bit ambivalent about capital punishment. I understand there are some people out there who are opposed to it because of the possibility of mistakes and saying you're sorry after executing an innocent just doesn't seem to cut it; I can respect that. Others are just opposed to the "state" executing anyone period; a bit more of a stretch but again I can respect their opinion. Then there are those adamantly opposed to any killing anytime, even for self-defense. Sorry, I don't buy that. There are enough examples of two-legged animals out there that just plain "need it." Mars at that time wasn't so squeamish, so out the lock they went. Never before had I watched one of these public executions but I made an exception in this case. I've never been a big one for revenge for revenge's sake but I have to admit this time I rather enjoyed watching Greaseball gasping his last while trying to claw his way back in through four centimeters of solid chrome-steel airlock door. Terry actually cheered, Eve nodded in agreement with a slightly terrifying smile while Keelin just buried her face in my neck and refused to watch; I certainly wasn't going to force her. I was just sorry that the rest of his asshole buddies from that God-damned processing center weren't out there with him. Sometimes government really sucks. Yes, they publicly admitted, the girls had been classified as slaves illegally but since there wasn't any procedure to change the classification they wouldn't. The next shocker I got was finding out that money can't buy you everything. Really, it's true! I don't even want to think about how many mega-unis Terry's mom and the others' dads spent applying pressure from Earth-side but it didn't budge Mars-gov one millimeter. I told you Marsmen were stubborn; it's like leading a pig. You want to get a pig to go one way then try forcing it to go the other way; works every time. The bottom line was the girls were still considered slaves; at least they were my slaves. To tell the truth not one of them seemed to have a problem with it; much less so than I did, anyway. So there we were a nice family of four soon to become seven and me without a job. Seems the publicity associated with the whole fiasco made my normal clients want to keep their distance. So what was an exiled Terrapor, borderline ne'er-do-well with a rapidly shrinking bank account supposed to do? Okay, so the bank account wasn't exactly shrinking. Terry's mom and the other's families did support us generously but after a few fleeting moments of dreaming about being a kept man I knew I was going to get bored really fast. I suppose I could have taken up some honorable profession like drug dealing or pimping; but no, I became a politician! Could be worse; I could have become a lawyer. It wasn't entirely my idea; the girls pushed me into it for whatever reason. Actually it wasn't really a bad idea. If you think about it, if there are things you want to change there are only two ways to do it: buy a bunch of politicians or become one. They say you can tell an honest politician because he's the one who stays bought; good luck finding one. Besides, after I got over my screaming fit at the "suggestion" I looked at it and decided it might be an interesting way to raise hell and create hate and discontent legally. It was. The publicity was helpful in one way: it helped get me elected to a seat in the Plebiscite during the next round of elections. (I am not going to go into how the Mars legislature is structured. Suffice it to say when Mars became independent they picked from both the old United States Constitution and parliamentary forms to kludge together a new type. It sucks, but it passes the only test it needs to: it works for us.) Thus began the illustrious (some say infamous) career of one Toliver Nelson. I've been in the Plebiscite and the Upper House more times than I can count and five turns as Parliamentary President. I've been drummed out of that office so often I don't even bother to hang pictures on the wall anymore, but all in all I'd have to say it's been worth it. My last turn in office I came this close to abolishing slavery entirely. Didn't quite get there but at least there will be no new slaves and even if I can't get rid of it entirely, it is doomed to die a slow death no matter what. Besides, there's always tomorrow. Repealing the mandatory pregnancy for female slaves got me thrown out of office the first time. Getting the nonconsensual sexual use of a slave classified as rape got me thrown out the second time. Eliminating "the Walk" as a form of execution for anything except extremely heinous crimes is what did it for the third, or maybe that was for the fourth. I don't remember exactly; I'll have to ask Keelin; she'll remember. Keelin became my staff manager and personal secretary and was the principal reason I have been as effective as I have. Yeah, make all the jokes you want about chasing your secretary around the office; all I can say is she doesn't run very fast. Terry started her own business and has been doing her damndest to compete with her mom back on Earth for who can make the most obscene amounts of money. Yes, Mom's still going strong back there. I finally got to meet her when she and Keelin's dad took a trip to Mars a couple of decades ago. A tough old broad but a really great person once you get to know her. She wants Marissa ― that's Terry's oldest and her namesake ― groomed to take over the family business when she's finally ready to retire and that's fine with me if it's what Marissa wants. Mar has been back on Earth for about ten years now and seems to like it; more power to her. Eve really surprised me, maybe herself as well. Eve has been the day-to-day mother to all our children, all fourteen of them. That's right, fourteen! Terry and Keelin each had their required four although I didn't hear any complaints out of them, but Eve decided she wanted more. Each of my wives have been equally a mother to any of our children no matter who the birth parent may have been, but Eve has been their primary caregiver from the day they were born to the day they finally decide to go out on their own. Maybe it had something to do with the poor example she had when she was a child, but I am firmly convinced no child anywhere ever had a more caring or loving mothers than ours did. Our youngest is getting to be the age when she will want to fly the nest but it looks like there's going to be a whole passel of grandkids coming our way for Eve to smother. They couldn't be more lucky. So there it is the story of how I met my wives. I know it seems strange, The Great Abolitionist (It's okay to laugh; I do.) still owns three slaves after spending thirty years trying to eliminate the practice, but its true. Yes, there has been a procedure to change slave classifications for twenty years now and yes it was offered to my wives to be the first three reclassified by proclamation of the Plebiscite when that act finally passed but all three of them refused. If you want to know why, you'll have to ask them; I still don't understand it to this day. I hope this answers all your questions; thank you for asking. I hope you get a good grade. Sincerely, Toliver Nelson ------- To The Honorable Toliver Nelson, Parliamentary President Dear Mr. President, My class and I wanted to pass along our most sincere appreciation for your response to their project concerning the lives of some of the great figures in our history. They were ecstatic and I have to admit to being a bit flabbergasted that you responded with as much detail as you did. I can see your reputation for delivering what you consider the bare, unedited truth is not an exaggeration. Although I will admit I edited out a bit of your more colorful language and a few of the more personal details, the children were overwhelmed by your story. The purpose of our project was to illuminate the more personal side of the men and women who have made Mars what it is today; to give a human face to those who have created the world we live in. Why they decided to ask you about this particular aspect of your life I'll never know but what you have given us exceeded anything we could have imagined. Personally I think this was one of the most romantic stories I have ever read. You should consider submitting it to the Historical Archives. It is the very thing our children and the citizens of Mars should know about their leaders. I might recommend one of your wives edit your manuscript before submission though. Again, thank you very much! Sincerely, Miss Sara Benze Instructor, Level Four Toliver Nelson Primary School Primus Colony, Mars PS: I gave them the highest grade I could! Edited by Morgan ------- The End ------- Posted: 2008-07-01 Last Modified: 2011-06-13 / 07:59:08 am Version: 1.10 ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------