Chapter 59

I got my element of surprise; Barb went "Oh!" when I came through the door and they both sagged in relief, then looked a bit confused while they tried to re-assess their positions.

"Good morning," I greeted them.

"Good morning," Barb replied. "You surprised us! We were expecting..."

"A man," I finished. "I know. Forgive me, but I'm as new at this as you are and I am probably as nervous as you. Let's all relax. Jesse, you needn't tuck..." I waved at his crotch. "In the unlikely event that I should actually cause you to be aroused, I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." I was wearing the 'sponsor coverall' -- which really did nothing more for my shape than my housedress -- and maybe less. I shifted my glance between them, attempting to be inclusive. "Where did you go to college?"

"I went to Rutgers; Jesse went to Princeton," Barb replied, then bit her lip. I knew what she was thinking; her efforts were no longer a priority here...

"And you studied what?"

Barb kept her mouth closed and handed off thereby to Jesse. "Barb studied early child development. I studied cosmology." He eyed me and I smiled at him.

"I know the difference," I chuckled. Cosmology and cosmetology are not even close as subjects; astronomy and astrology are closer. Turning to Barb, I said, "I know nothing about raising children -- not the first thing. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to. This could create quite a load on you..."

"I love children!" Barb cried. "I just haven't..."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Zack was a big baby. Things didn't go all that well in the third trimester -- I'm small. We think that my fallopian tubes were damaged or something... There may have been endometriosis. And I still have this..." She rubbed her slightly protruding belly. "We're hoping that Confederacy medical science can fix things. We were saving up for operations, but with the economy being the way it is..."

<Medical analysis indicates that the damage to Barbara Sayer's reproductive system is repairable. There is a simple issue requiring minor adjustment and fertility will return. Recommend that her birth canal be widened and some other structural improvements such as hip adjustments be made to support pregnancy in process.> the AI transmitted.

"I think they can fix everything," I related. "As I indicated, I know nothing about child raising. In fact, I've not really been into any part of the process -- including sex -- to date. There are several reasons for this, and everybody seems to think that I'll catch up on the sex part pretty quickly. I'm thinking your job would be to babysit me through several pregnancies and then take over as nanny for all of the children. I can't really see me having a lot of time for the children, although this might change..." I paused. "I see no reason why you can't continue to have children by Jesse, especially since it appears that they are potentially sponsor-class."

Barb looked rocked, and I realized belatedly that I had implied that I might interfere with her physical relationship with her mate. I couldn't resist... "The shoe is on the other foot, isn't it? Poor Jesse was half-expecting to be told that his access to you was terminated forever, but in the current situation, it would be your access to Jesse which would be in question..." I showed my fangs a little bit, actually surprising myself. "I'm thinking that as a normal thing, I won't interfere -- unless one of you needs to be punished..." Barb's eyes widened -- but Jesse started getting an erection! He didn't seem to notice, so I didn't point it out; I pretended not to notice. Moving on, I said, "I tend to become very tense -- does either of you know anything about massage?"

Jesse blinked. "Nothing formal. I'd be happy to learn..."

"Me, too!" Barb interjected.

"I'm thinking that might be something you both should pursue," I murmured. My pulse started racing. "I think that brings us to sex. I really don't know how to approach sex -- you see, I'm a virgin."

Both of them looked shocked. "Really?" Barb burst out.

"Yes," I admitted. "I'm... not normal. I was slow to develop physically and I developed rapidly mentally and I'm not good with people -- poor socialization skills. I graduated college at seventeen..."

"What do you do?" Jesse asked.

"I'm a physicist," I replied. "You won't be staying at home bored all day -- with your education, I would think that I should be able to use you as a research assistant." I turned to Barb. "We may have to bring in help for you, given the fact that Jesse won't be around during the day..." The pair was looking at each other in surprise...

"That's WONDERFUL!" Barb burst out, somewhat belatedly. Then she caught up. "If it means Jesse gets to actually work in his field..."

"That would be the plan," I replied. My heart was warmed by her response; pure science isn't a paying job in a lot of cases and I could see that they were both powerfully affected by my offer. "Of course, that assumes a number of things..."

"Such as what?" Barb asked.

"Well, if Jesse is unable to become aroused in my presence, we would have a problem..." I murmured.

Both of them looked at me oddly. "I can't imagine..." Jesse muttered.

"I look like a pot-bellied pig..." Barb interjected.

I frowned. "Oh! THAT'S harsh!"

"Well..." Barb looked dejected.

"Sweetheart..." Jesse rubbed her back. "You know how I feel about you..." Then he remembered himself and turned to me. "I really don't understand what you think is objectionable -- I mean, my God! Have you SEEN some of the concubines out there?"

"Well..." I replied. "Only one man has ever paid serious attention to me -- sexual attention. And that was very recently."

"Do you think...?" Jesse waved his hands.

"I guess. We should find out, shouldn't we?" I opened the jumpsuit and let it fall from my shoulders. The uniforms were strange in that they included built-in support for my bust, so I was not required to wear a bra; this was a subject of some rather embarrassing byplay between myself and the AI that morning, but it HAD turned out to be comfortable. Panties were apparently not required, either, but I didn't trust the cushioned crotch panel. Both of them came forward and helped me step free of the garment.

"I'm erect NOW..." Jesse pointed out.

"Are you a lesbian?" Barb asked, running her hand down my left flank.

"No. I'm... sexless."

"I don't think so," Jesse opined. He flicked a glance at his mate and I understood the content as well as she did.

"I can share. I have to," Barb said quietly. "I can help, too, if you like, not that Jesse needs it..."

"I'm going to be a big baby, I'm afraid," I husked. I was shaking like a leaf as gentle hands roamed my body from both sides.

"There is a bed in the next room," Jesse husked. "How far are we going?"

"I don't know!" I quavered. "We should go all the way, but..."

"But it's your first time," he finished. "It's REALLY your first time?"

I nodded; I couldn't speak.

"Come. We'll go however far seems right," Barb said gently. I allowed them to lead me into the next room, where there was indeed a bed -- a large one. "Tell us what you've done," Barb said gently as they backed me onto it.

"There was a man -- a male concubine. He belongs to one of the Civil Service women -- the Sub-Decurions. He... massaged me with oil and masturbated me. I... sucked him," I related diffidently.

"When was this?" Jesse rumbled.

"Last night." I could barely breathe.

"Let me see..." He pulled my right leg up and I went ahead and put my left foot flat on the mattress, too. "Keep her busy, Sweetheart," Jesse directed Barb. Barb murmured calming words and caressed my left breast, but my eyes were fixed on Jesse as he gently opened my nether lips. "I can't believe it," he murmured, his eyes fixed upon the opening of my womanhood. "It's here. Her hymen -- it's here. I can see it!" He gazed at me in surprise. "You've never had sex!"

"That's so unfair!" Barb blurted. "Sex is wonderful! To think you've missed it all these years..."

"I'm like STONE!" Jesse erupted. "See?" He raised himself so I could see his penis. It was actually pulsing with his heartbeat!

"I want it!" I croaked.

"There?" Jesse nodded at my womanhood.

"Not yet," I gasped. "My hymen is thick, I think. The doctor said it was. I want to touch it..."

Jesse scooted up next to me, telling Barb in passing, "Take a look." She headed for my nether regions -- but my attention was on Jesse's curved probe and its blunt mushroom head. I reached out and touched it; the shaft seared my palm. I and slid my hand up and down its length; Jesse groaned.

"I want to suck it," I husked.

"Say the word and it's yours," Jesse gasped as I ran my thumb over the underside of his glans.

Gentle fingers were probing my womanhood; a thumb -- not Jesse's -- settled on my swollen clitoris and began to rub in a circular motion. "June, Honey, this thing is tissue-paper thin..." Barb's voice drifted up to me. "You probably won't even feel it. It'll take my finger now -- do you use tampons?"

"Uh huh..." Things were getting hazy. "Please..." I tugged at Jesse's shaft and he crawled forward so I could come up on one elbow and suck his plush glans between my lips. "Uuuummmm..."

"We're gonna take such good care of you," Barb husked. The finger she had inside me was rubbing my inner walls and the thumb was driving my erect clitoris wild! I had tunnel vision; all I could see was the shaft of Jesse's erection; my insides were quaking! I knew what was coming... Releasing Jesse's glans, I wailed, "AI! I want them!"

"We accept!" Jesse yelped, then, "Ah, SHIT!" as I sucked him in as deep as I could.

"Barbara Sayer..." the AI intoned.

"We accept!" Barb hollered.

Then it happened -- A soft, flexible, wet tongue rubbed my clitoris! The earthquake in my loins resolved itself into a volcanic eruption and I backed off of Jesse's probing penis as orgasm took me! "OMIGAAAAAWD!!! AAAIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!!" Then I was on him, sucking like a mad thing! I wanted it! I wanted his man-juice! I wanted it BAD!

Jesse could only grunt and gasp as I worked to consume him, but Barb came up from my nether regions and grabbed my arm. "No, Honey -- trust me! It's time to do it!"

"Um?" I wasn't thinking straight -- and I wasn't releasing Jesse's glans to talk, either!

"Come on, Honey," Barb cajoled, reaching up to peel my fingers from the shaft of her mate's cock. "It's time that thing entered its new home, don't you think? You can suck it again for round two..."

"I--I..." I babbled.

"Shhhh..." Barb crawled atop me and began kissing my face and neck. "Let Jesse do his job." She turned her head to regard him and said, "Gentle -- but get in. Then wait until she's ready."

"Yes, Sweetheart." Jesse backed away; I reached for his beautiful member, but missed; Barb had clamped her lips on my right nipple. I let out a groan. Barb teased my left nipple with her fingers and began kissing my neck. Jesse was out there, somewhere...

In a moment, I knew where; his blunt, plush glans rubbed up and down the furrow of my womanhood from my clitoris to my perineum. It was a new and incredible sensation that set my nerves alight. Barb had me pinned with her weight and was holding both of my hands, her fingers interlaced in mine -- but I wasn't going anywhere; I was holding my breath, waiting for something that should have happened a long time ago. Tony had prepared me for this, but I hadn't allowed him to finish; Barb and Jesse were insistent -- and they were right. I accepted Barb's lips as they melded with mine and her tongue probed my mouth -- just as another probe pushed forward into my quaking tunnel of womanhood!

There was this little twinge -- that was it! And it was submerged under the flood of sensation caused by Jesse's mushroom glans as it widened my opening. He stopped there, and seemed to rock back and forth, waiting -- but I didn't want that, so I crossed my legs behind his buttocks and squeezed, urging him forward, granting him full permission to plunder my depths! "Omigod!" he groaned; I moaned my pleasure into Barb's open mouth.

Then I was full. There was no issue with lubrication, I'd been pouring the stuff out since the moment my coverall came off! Jesse slid right into my depths, slowly, to be sure, but without any excess friction. My tunnel clasped him without any conscious thought on my part; it knew what to do. When he began to withdraw, I wanted to wail -- but he came right back, filling me again! I began to realize that those moments of emptiness were the price you paid for the joy of being filled...

Barb raised up and looked down at her mate -- OUR mate -- her glasses perched somewhat askew on her nose. "I thought you were going to wait?"

"She wouldn't let me!" Jesse puffed.

"I didn't!" I croaked. "Just do it! Do me! Oh, GOD! DO ME!"

Barb got this funny look on her face and said, "Never mind..." She hunched herself and sucked in one of my painfully stiff nipples, raising her buttocks almost chest high on Jesse -- right in front of his face!

"Jeez!" Jesse grunted, "As if I wasn't hot enough! All I can smell is wet pussy!" He pumped for a moment and then grunted, "June, Sweetheart, let me push your legs up so I can get in really deep..." I uncrossed my legs and let him rack them back, his hands on the backs of my knees, opening me wide to his assault. Things were getting hazy again; how long had it been? Seconds? Jesse leaned down a bit and made a slurping noise in little Barb's crotch and she went "MMMMM!!!" around my nipple and the volcano erupted a SECOND time!

After that, I was delirious! I remember two more stark peaks, but I floated on a cloud between them, making noises I didn't hear. I remember pulling Barb's head up and trying to shove my tongue down her throat -- when did I decide that I liked girls? Sometime after Jesse emptied himself in me, I resumed contact with reality; Barb's breasts were jiggling above me. Her hands were on the bed, bracing her, just above my shoulders. I couldn't see her womanhood for her rounded belly, but I could see Jesse's testicles as they swept forward and back and I could see his hands clutching her hips.

"Fuck me!" Barb wailed. "Oh, God, that was so hot, what we just did! I'm gonna die if I don't cum! I love Junie already!"

I didn't say anything; I just started rubbing her flanks. I flopped my knees out to the side and spread myself so Jesse could get deep into our little sweetheart, knowing she needed it. I was going to need it again, but I was a little sore -- something not really surprising. I started tweaking Barb's nipples, which, when erect, did justice to her huge areolas. Barb started gasping, "Ogod! Ogod! Ogod!!" In a few moments, she sucked in a breath and cried, "OooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!!" on this rising note that got louder and louder, then, "NNNNNNNNNNNGHHHHH!!!!"

Jesse went "YEAH!" and the pair of them stopped thrusting and ground themselves against one another, neither of them uttering another sound except for harsh breathing. I kept milking nipples, knowing from the way Barb presented her small chest that she was enjoying it.

Jesse settled back on his haunches, withdrawing his member from Barb; it had these globs of white goo on it. "Roll off, Barbie," I husked, "I really want to suck Jesse's penis..."

"I think he's done," Barb puffed, flopping to her side on the bed. "I don't know where he found it for me!"

"I just want to clean it. I want to taste his... cum, I guess you call it."

"Oh, okay..." Jesse looked exhausted, but happy as he crawled up beside my head. "It WAS pink, for a while..."

"Mmmmmm..." I ran my lips along his shaft, sucking. The taste was a bit different than Tony's -- but it was just as good, if not better. "The AI seems to think I'm going to go wild for a while, now."

"What do YOU think?" Jesse asked as I gave his shaft popsicle licks. It was trying to go down -- or maybe trying to stay up. In either case, it was softening.

"I think it's right," I replied. "I'll be sore for a while, but by tomorrow, I'm going to want more. Let's go down to Medical and get Barb fixed and you tuned up so she and I can get big, fat and pregnant together!"

Jesse laughed.

"Mack!" I yelled. "Mack Taylor!"

"Yes?" Mack stopped and looked at me. "Oh, hi, Lieutenant."

"How's it going?"

"Okay, I guess. A little iffy. I'm headed down to school to pick up Michael." Michael was Mack's fourth-grader. His ex-spouse, Vicky, had the little girl they'd arrived with-- who wasn't his, genetically, anyway. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"What happens if Michael and I get to the colony and still don't have a sponsor?"

"Funny you should mention that," I replied. "But first, what happened with the ex-spouses of those two party animals who took on Vicky?"

"One of them tried to fuck my brains out -- on two separate occasions," Mack chuckled. "The other one... I think she took her old man back."

"There's no accounting for taste," I grunted. "Hang on a sec." I raised a finger.

The AI was right there. <Mack is correct; one couple reunited. Based upon the surveillance data, it might not have been wise.>

'Make a note for us to revisit this,' I told it. It wasn't really unusual for victims of abusive spouses to hook back up with their abuser -- especially if they didn't feel safe from him. Apparently I hadn't made that point clear in this case; if the bastard had broken his restraining order, we'd have killed him -- summary execution. Well, it wasn't too late. 'Run a psych analysis on the female -- she might feel obligated -- or just scared.'

<Very well.>

"So you didn't hook up with either of them," I said, going back to Mack.

"No. The one who wanted revenge was a little TOO feral, if you know what I mean," Mack rumbled. "She seemed to think I was better than her old man. Frankly, I WAS pretty good..."

I'd had the AIs order Mack to Medical after the incident -- and had him given a little boost. It hadn't been mentioned to Mack -- it had come under the heading of a post-assault examination for injuries. I kind of figured his ego was injured, at least, and the ladies he might be dating would be appreciative. The one who boffed him twice apparently had been...

Mack got serious. "About my question..."

"Yeah, that. Things could theoretically get sticky, but they needn't. I've got six female concubines..."

Mack grinned and nudged me. "You STUD, you!"

"Well, it isn't always rosy," I told him. "I'm handling four now -- and have my hands full. When I get back to the colony, the other two are likely to be unhappy. Also, I admit to a certain amount of favoritism..."

"Oh." Mack frowned. "I'm not sure how this relates..."

"I need a back door man," I explained.

"A what?"

"You know -- somebody to keep the natives from being restless when I'm not immediately visible," I explained. "In some cases, he's the guy who jumps out the window when you come home unexpectedly, but in some cases, he's a convenience -- the classic case being when you need an excuse for a divorce. In this case, though, I need someone to help me keep the women from feeling too neglected."

"And you come to me?"

"Sure, why not?" I replied. "You're a decent sort. Tell me, are you colorblind?"

"Uh, sorry? You mean really?"

"A couple of my women are black," I explained.

"Oh. Yeah, that really shouldn't be a problem..." Mack mused.

"One of 'em has three kids. Yours would be the oldest, I think. I've got at least two natural-born mother types, though," I advised. "Also, a couple of them aren't, uh, conventionally hot. Earth mothers tend to look like fertility idols -- distinctly pear shaped. Frankly, though, they're the favorites -- don't ask me why..."

"Sounds like a mess," Mack opined.

"It is and it isn't," I replied. "I've got one who likes to be used and abused and I've got one who had sex with her stepfather at a VERY early age but is a great little organizer with an evil mind. I've got one sixteen year old that bears a striking resemblance to Aunt Jemima but can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch, and I've got Beth -- who I'm seriously in love with, but would seem to have few redeeming features since she's built a little dumpy and has a lisp. On the planet, I have a skinny slip who is a total airhead but is carrying around a basketball that is going to be my second child and I have a hot little brunette who is a mother but would rather be a career woman."

"Well, it's entertainment," Mack opined.

"It is that," I agreed. "It is that. Care to play?"

"So, where would I sit in the pecking order?"

"Off-side, as far as the females are concerned," I mused. "Not in charge, but not to be ordered about. Maybe co-in-charge with the head bitch..."

"Who is that?"

"Well, I'm thinking it is going to be my 'great little organizer with an evil mind,' -- but it might be the career girl. With the career girl off-site, though, it'll probably be Frieda. She's the organizer. There are functional silos, though -- Beth is in charge of child-rearing."

"Okay, well, when would I...?"

"More or less on demand. I've been taking two to bed -- you would bat cleanup. I might need some assistance on the front end, though, with Tara, for instance..."

"What about...?" Mack waved a finger between himself and me.

"Not an issue," I replied. "Cool?"

"VERY!"

"Well?"

"What if it doesn't work out?" Mack asked.

"I cut you loose. You'll be no worse off than you would be anyway, on-planet. I'll do whatever to give you a good recommendation, if it isn't your fault," I promised.

"It's the best offer I've had all day," Mack gusted.

"AI?"

"Previous conversation indicates that you are offering a position to the male concubine Martin Taylor." The AI declared aloud.

"Correct."

"Martin Taylor?"

"I accept."

"Duly recorded."

"I'll need to get Michael's stuff from our rooms," Mack mused. "Where do I meet you?"

"The AI will guide you in."

"Okay. Uh, Lieutenant?"

"Call me Jack."

"Thanks, Jack."

"You're welcome." I swatted him on the shoulder and headed off to my next disaster. First, though... 'AI, get me Frieda.'

'Master?'

'Hey, look, I hired the back door man -- it's all set. Mack Taylor is going to show up with his ten-year-old boy. Hook them up with rooms.'

'What does he know?'

'I gave him the nickel tour,' I told her. 'He's head bastard -- but that puts him level with head bitch.'

'Okay, Boss. So this doesn't mean you like dicks...' she teased.

'This means you girls need more than I have to spread around. The closest I intend to get to Mack's dick -- and vice-versa -- is the other end of whichever one of you he's fucking,' I replied.

'Ooooo! Goody! Sandwich time!' Frieda giggled.

'Just exactly. Be a good girl and run out the Welcome Wagon.'

'You got it, Boss!'

Next! 'AI, what's the name of the woman who took her ex back?'

<Noreen McPherson, Lieutenant.>

'When I get to my office, I'm going to want to see the video feeds of them making up.'

<Acknowledged.>

In my office, I listened to the idiot call her old man and then lift the ban on him. I was pissed. "Didn't you hear him communicate a threat?" I ranted at the AI. I tend to just talk to it aloud when alone in my office.

<The content was not clear,> the AI defended itself. <Tonal qualities suggested a threat, but semantically...>

"Yeah, yeah. Where are they? No, wait -- what else happened?"

I was treated to a couple of sex scenes. The guy was rough -- and nasty. "Did you fuck that guy?" he asked, while throat-fucking her. "You wanted to, though, didn't you? It's a good thing you showed some sense -- if that jerk had made me sit down and watch you fucking that guy..." He got REALLY brutal; Noreen ended up vomiting, and spending the next day croaking. He used her ass, too -- and she ended up bleeding and bowlegged. "I trust you've learned your lesson. Who's your man, again?"

"You are," she croaked.

"Damned straight! And if I see a piece somewhere and decide to get a little?"

"It's none of my business..." Noreen croaked.

"Shit," I groused. "Give me the psych eval -- just the high points."

<The woman lives in fear of her mate. She is beaten down, but not a masochist. She believes that she owes him respect and obedience as the father of her children. There is a somewhat twisted love enmeshed in the process; she loves him and believes that he loves her. She has been through a lengthy conditioning process that brought her to this point. She cannot defend herself and cannot see herself as safe while he is alive and capable of exacting his vengeance -- yet she is incapable of taking action to eliminate him as a threat.> The AI paused. <Why is this an issue? The male's behavior is consistent with sponsor behavior toward concubine females.>

"Ah, there it is, you have put your ethereal finger upon it," I said somewhat sarcastically. "This man is a CONCUBINE, not a SPONSOR!"

<Duly noted.>

"He is a threat to any sponsor who attempts to take the woman in," I amplified, "In fact, he's a threat to anyone who looks at the woman cross-eyed, sponsor or concubine. He is ruining the children psychologically, ensuring that they have no chance at sponsorship. Need I go on?"

<Is the evidence adequate?> the AI asked.

"It wasn't for you, so it might not be for others," I rasped.

<You have a plan.> The AI wasn't asking.

"I do. Where are they?"

<The female and the children are in their temporary quarters,> the AI related, providing coordinates. <The male is wandering the corridors near Mess Seven Twenty.>

"Up to no good, no doubt," I muttered.

<He has accosted several female concubines, but has not assaulted any.>

"Yet," I grunted.

<Affirmative.>

I headed on down to Noreen's.

She was surprised. "Hello!" she blurted, backing up and letting me in. "Can I help you?"

"I came to check on you," I replied, "since I discovered that you let that asshole you were married to come back. Whatever possessed you to do that?"

"He's my husband!" she blurted in defense.

"Not any more," I noted. "Now he's just an asshole who abuses the shit out of you because he can. How's your throat? Have you been to Medical about the way your asshole bleeds?"

She looked surprised, but defensive. "He's the father of my children. I owe him my loyalty."

"Oh, the kids he's ruining by exposing them to his pattern of abuse?" I retorted. "They'll grow up to be either abusers or victims -- but they WON'T be sponsors! And loyalty -- THAT's a good one! You know what he's doing as we speak? He's down by the Mess camped out, screwing with every other woman who goes by, looking for a new victim! Now THAT's loyalty!"

"I love him!"

"You're scared to death of him, you mean! You let him come back because you were scared to death that if you didn't, he would find a way to wreak his vengeance on you, right? Admit it!"

"No!" We locked eyes for a moment and she looked away, "Yes."

"If you'd said something, we'd have watched him closer," I chided.

"It wouldn't have helped," she sighed. "Sooner or later, you'd have been looking the other way..."

I had no argument for this, based upon what had already happened. "I could have spaced him back then. Now it's a problem. You won't get a sponsor -- not with him around. He reeks of bad attitude."

"What am I supposed to do?" she wailed.

"Nothing," I replied. "I broke it -- I have to fix it."

"How?" she asked fearfully.

"All will be made clear..."

<He is on his way, ETA two minutes. He is somewhat angry, not having managed to accomplish anything.>

To Noreen, I noted, "He's bad news -- an incident looking for a place to happen. If he coerces some owned concubine, there will be trouble. It's bad enough that he's screwing with UN-owned concubines!"

"What will you do?" she asked, wringing her hands.

I shrugged. "Let him hang himself."

A minute later, the door flew open. "You!" he announced truculently.

"What about me?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Checking on Noreen," I replied calmly. "I got a rumor you two were back together."

"Yeah." He liked that. "Your restraining order didn't keep us apart. Noreen loves me!" he sneered.

"She's scared to death of you, more like," I grunted. "I should have paid more attention to her -- especially after we got together and I learned how you are..."

"WHAT? Got together?" He whirled on Noreen. "So you WEREN'T sleeping with that weiner -- you were sleeping with HIM!"

Noreen blanched. "Cliff, I swear..."

"Shut up! Everyone knows you'll tell any lie that will get you out of punishment, you slut! I'll take care of YOU later!" Cliff (I'd never bothered to get his name) spun on me and said, "So you shot me off so you could sleep with Noreen?"

"Nah. I didn't do anything of the sort," I replied. "I shot you off before I ever MET Noreen! Besides, who said we slept together?"

"You did!"

"I said we were together. We were -- in this room -- for a few minutes before you returned."

"Yeah, bullshit! You slept with her! Admit it!" Cliff howled.

"What do you care? You were out hitting on bitches in the hall!" I retorted.

"That's MY business!"

I shrugged and grinned evilly at him. "And who I sleep with is MINE! I wonder who Noreen's next kid is gonna look like?"

"She won't have any fucking ovaries when I get done with her!" Cliff snarled. "But I'm gonna break YOUR fucking neck first!" Then he lunged at me...

... And I broke his fucking neck.

Looking down at his still flopping body, I said, "If you can hear me, asshole, Noreen didn't sleep with ANYBODY. But she can now..."

Noreen stood wringing her hands. "You killed him! He's dead!"

"Yes, he is. That's the only thing that would stop him from hurting you, isn't it?" I replied.

She stood there, blinking, for almost a minute, then: "Yes."

"AI, get a medic for Noreen and someone to clean up this pile of crap in the floor," I directed. "Call Colonist Operations and make sure they send the video feed to a review board." I turned to Noreen, "This was for the best, Hon. I don't like to do such things, but..."

"How will I find a sponsor?"

"You're better off," I told her. "If you don't find one by the time we make orbit, I'll take you in. I have all kinds of strays around my house. But you will -- it'll be fine." The medic came in, leading a couple of male concubines. "Get him off to the recycler first," I directed. "The kids are in the next room. All of them are victims of long-term abuse; go through them with a fine toothed comb and fix anything that was ever broken. And back Noreen, here, off five years or so, so she looks less stressed out."

"Yes, Sir." The medic waved at the concubines, who hoisted Cliff's remains onto a float stretcher.

"Have someone get their stuff. Call Colonist Operations and have them pick a new address for them in a friendly neighborhood." I squeezed Noreen's hand. "Good luck, kid." Then I got out of there, went to the nearest head and puked my guts out. I don't kill a man every day...