Julie woke in her new bedroom. The room was really nice, much better than the one her asshole father gave her. Running away had been a gamble, and she felt very lucky to have run into these people when she had. She had run out of money and been on the verge of trading her hard kept virginity for food.
Sitting next to her bed, Stephanie was asleep in a chair. Julie must have had nightmares again last night. Getting out of bed, she pulled her nightgown down, and kissed her friend on the forehead to wake her. When Steph opened her eyes, Julie smiled at her. "You know, you don't need to come hold my hand every time I have nightmares, I'm sure Brad and the others missed you last night."
Stephanie got a confused look on her face, then smiled. "Uh, yeah, nightmares. Well, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't try to help you out?"
Julie chuckled, "Well, why don't you go crawl in bed? Maybe you can get some cuddle time in before everyone gets up for the day?"
Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, Stephanie stood and stretched. "Well, it's probably too late for that, but a nap might be nice."
"Oh, yeah, the martial arts hour. You know, I was thinking I might like to join them some morning. Do you think they'll let me?" the girl asked.
"You can ask them, but why don't you ask Frank if you can enroll in a martial arts school too? I know Brad, Terri or Tara couldn't train you, but I don't know about the others," Stephanie said.
"Hal and Carrie said they could show me some self-defense stuff. I think tomorrow I'll get up and join them. I'll talk to them later today. Right now though, I want a shower and food; in that order!" Julie said as she made her smiling way to her bathroom.
"That sounds like a good idea!" Stephanie said getting up.
Julie squealed and giggled, breaking into a short jog to her bathroom. "Oh no you don't! You're so bad! Go use your own shower!" she said, hiding behind the bathroom door and giggling.
Stephanie smiled back at her; "Get in the shower, Imp! You know I didn't mean with you. I'll see you down at breakfast."
Stephanie left, and Julie closed the door and started the water in the shower. As she skinned her nightgown off and pushed her panties down, she was a little sad that Stephanie hadn't wanted to get in with her. The other girls here were so beautiful, and she knew they all liked girls too. She looked at herself in the mirror and caressed her small breasts, making the sensitive nipples stand out. 'I have a nice body, too, ' she thought. She noticed a slight bluish smudge on her bare mons. She looked down and felt it, wondering what had caused the smudge. Feeling stubble instead, she frowned. She'd shave again in the shower. She liked how the bare skin felt when she touched herself and wondered if any of the other girls would think she was a slut for liking this.
She got in the shower and began washing herself. She closed her eyes and imagined they were Stephanie's hands on her skin. She was already wet down there; she had been wet down there since she got here. Gently she touched herself, a nude Terri in her mind's eye caressing her pussy while Stephanie washed her breasts. The fantasy quickly brought her to a trembling orgasm, and she sighed. Lately her fantasies had involved only the other girls, never Brad, Hal or Frank. She knew she liked boys; maybe her mind just hadn't gotten to them yet. She grinned as she reached for the razor, wondering what a cock in her small vagina would feel like.
Vanessa stood at the window and watched her lovers and friends working through their morning exercises. She felt herself getting aroused at watching the fluid grace of the deadly dance they practiced. She knew that despite what they remembered learning, a good portion of their ability had been programmed into them. They had been designated as soldiers. Vanessa knew that she had some ability with martial arts as well, but she had mostly been breeding stock. If Brad and the others hadn't rebelled when they did, she would be dead now. Dissected, and probably cremated to destroy all trace of her existence.
She felt the tug of her unique ability. It had something it needed to tell her lovers, She closed her eyes and found herself in that place in her mind where 'the oracle' lived. The woman was really beautiful. Vanessa still couldn't accept that this woman had the same image as the one that stared back at her in the mirror every morning since the bonding.
"You need to speak to us?" Vanessa asked.
"Yes. Gather our mates and friends. Something important is about to happen."
"Do you mind Brad calling you the 'Oracle'? We had nothing else to call you when you take my conscience over," Vanessa asked.
"No, beloved. That name is fine. I am truly sorry it is so difficult on us right now. Eventually, we will merge and become one. However, our gift is needed right now. So I will occasionally come to the fore."
"I don't mind, really. It almost feels like blacking out for a short period of time. It doesn't hurt, it's just unnerving when you do it."
The Oracle smiled sadly. "I know love, but for now it is necessary. I'll try to warn you, like I just have, whenever I can. As I said, eventually we will merge and become one, so you won't be forced to let me out. We will be able to be out together."
"It almost feels that way now. I mean, I'm talking to you, and I'm not dreaming nor am I asleep. Does this mean our bond is getting stronger?"
"It does," Oracle said. "We really are the same person — we are just separated from one another by the power we wield. An Oracle's mind is not governed by the restrictions of time and space. To have released it on you the night our family bonded would have driven you insane. So we split into 'Vanessa' and the 'Oracle'. I did go insane for awhile, maybe a thousand or so years as you would define it; though for you it was but a mere moment. Perhaps now you will better understand what happened to us. I am a copy of you that was given our gift. I was released from time and space in a millisecond that encompassed all of eternity. I cannot see every second of every day, but occasionally something will capture my attention as the probabilities align. It is this that still keeps us separate from each other. When I am not with you, I believe that I am insane. I may be partially deranged still, but our love gives us the strength to temporarily control it. We will never fully become one again, but we will be better able to interact with others," Oracle explained.
"I don't understand; didn't you just say that we will become one
again?"
"I did. This situation defies explanation, but what I've told you is as
close as I can explain it. I will remain immersed in the time streams,
but you and I will eventually be able to communicate better," Oracle
said. "By that I meant we would be rejoined, but our ability must
remain apart from you or you will not be able to function well enough
to be a full member of our family, and help Brad and the others in our
real task."
"What is our task? I get the feeling that it is not simply cleaning up the government," Vanessa asked.
"It's not. However, I cannot tell you yet what it is. That is something you must find out for yourselves. Sometimes it's not the answer to the question that is important, but the method in which the knowledge was gained. We must prepare a place for the children; someplace away from here. The agency that controlled Ecogen is leaving you alone right now, but it won't remain that way for long. We must take our mates, friends, and the children and go someplace else. If we remain here, all is lost. Now you must return. Our mates are coming inside and our coffee is cold." The Oracle faded from Vanessa's mind.
As she opened her eyes, Vanessa thought to herself, 'Well, that was certainly helpful — not!' Deep in her mind she thought she felt the Oracle chuckling, but she chose to ignore it. She turned, dumped her cold coffee in the sink, and poured herself another cup.
Marie and Walter were sharing a cup of coffee at the small table, so she asked if she could interrupt.
"Of course, Vanessa; do you need me to make something else for Breakfast?" Marie asked.
"No, I was wondering if you could get everyone together in either the dining room or the living room before we all go our separate ways for the day? I'll try to catch my mates, but if you could try to catch the rest, I would appreciate it," Vanessa said.
Walter got up and walked over to a complicated looking control panel on one wall. He flipped a number of switches, and then pushed a button. "Attention everyone; Vanessa would like to see everyone in the dining room before we all start doing our own things. It would probably be easiest to just come down to eat breakfast and stick around after we eat." He then flipped all the switches back to their original positions, returned to his chair and smiled at Vanessa. "Intercoms are good for things like that."
Vanessa chuckled and stuck her tongue out at the grinning man. "Okay smart-ass. Just because you know how to use that fancy thing doesn't mean you can tease those of us who don't!"
Walter stuck his tongue out at Vanessa as well, and Marie laughed playfully. Vanessa kissed them both on the forehead before heading for the dining room. She smiled as she thought how much better her life was now; even with all the danger.
Breakfast, as usual, was a fun affair with plenty of teasing banter back on forth between friends and lovers. Tabitha was over since she, Heather, Terri and Tara were going shopping today, and she was completely at home with all the fun. She acted like she was a member of the family.
She got awfully quiet for a bit when Brad finally came down for breakfast. He went around the table kissing his wives on the lips and the female friends on the cheek. Tabby got quiet when he kissed her tenderly on the lips before sitting down. It was obvious that he hadn't planned it, nor had he gone out of his way to do it.
What had surprised her was that she turned her head for the kiss just like it was the most natural thing in the world. She had been spending more and more time with Brad's family; not just Heather, but all the members. When she closed her eyes, she could feel the building love she had for all of them. She hadn't realized just how important these people where coming to mean to her.
All through breakfast, she mostly held back from the teasing play, and instead looked closely at each of Brad's women. Although it might seem like it, they were not his harem. It was very obvious that these women loved each other as much as they loved Brad. Since Brad spoke for the family, it was easy to assume that he was keeping a harem of beautiful women, but if anyone spent any time with them, like Tabitha had, it was obvious that every one of them had a say in major decisions.
As breakfast ended, Brad looked at Vanessa. "Well Beautiful, You wanted to talk to everyone, we're all here."
Vanessa smiled at him. "Oracle wanted to talk to you all, I'll see if she's ready." She closed her eyes, and seemed to shift her posture slightly. When she opened her eyes again, she had an almost dreamy look on her face. "Hello again, my loves. I asked Vanessa to call you all together, so I could warn you of an impending event. Very soon, the agency that controlled Ecogen will be ready to come after us again. If any of us are still here once that happens, none of us will survive."
"I thought things seemed to quiet down too fast. How long do we have, sweetheart?" Brad asked.
Oracle smiled brightly at his calling her sweetheart. "Actually, the point of no return in this time line is still three months away, but we will need to make significant preparations if we want to do this right. Remember, we will need research room for Joyce and Tabitha, a fully equipped office for Stephanie and Frank, as well as plenty of room for the children to do their thing."
"What children? None of us are pregnant yet," Sammy asked.
"There are thirty-two young people that the rebellion has been struggling to take care of that will need our help. More may join us later, but they will mostly take care of themselves."
"Uh, Oracle, Did you say I would need research room? What for?" Tabitha asked, avoiding the real question she wanted to ask.
"Love, you will find out Friday night, when you become a member of the family after Graduation," Oracle replied.
"When I what?" Tabby asked, afraid she'd had, in fact, heard correctly, and terrified she hadn't.
Oracle smiled at he scared looking young woman. "You are already a member of the family, Love. But Friday night, we will awaken you."
"I never stood a chance, did I?" Tabby asked. "I'm genetically predisposed to be attracted to all of you."
"No," Sammy replied. "You have free will, and there is no genetic programming for this. You will/do have a programmed aptitude for one of four areas though. It seems Ecogen wasn't only shooting for the 'super-soldier' goal."
"What's she's trying to tell you is that you fell in love on your own, without any help from us or genetics. Consider that you fell for Heather first, and she is still an unmodified human." Stephanie said, interrupting her sister.
As Tabby thought about what she had just heard, she looked around the table at all the people that had come to mean so much to her. She found herself getting more and more aroused until her eyes fell on Julie. The girl was just sitting there, with a dopey/dreamy smile on her face, looking around at everyone.
"Brad, what's wrong with Julie?" She asked.
"Nothing. I felt that with all of the psychological trauma she's gone through, learning the full truth about us right away might be more than her psyche could handle. So, for now, her brain simply isn't recording any of this. Once she fully accepts the reprogramming, and is comfortable with it, she'll slowly learn the rest of the truth. It's kind of a self defense failsafe."
"How will you know when she can handle more?" Tabitha asked.
"I won't. I set it up so her own mind regulates and controls it. Once she starts asking questions, we'll know she's healing. Once it's no longer needed, the commands will be erased." Brad shrugged. "I didn't want to invade her privacy anymore than I had to."
"I don't understand it, but I'll accept it," Tabby said, though it was clear she was a little preoccupied.
"Do you know where we're going, Oracle?" Frank asked.
She chuckled. "Yes, I do. Before you ask, no I cannot tell you; try to think of it this way — the more knowledge I give, the less freedom of choice you get. 'Knowledge is Power, Power is Responsibility, Responsibility is a hard, fixed path'."
"But making decisions without all the facts is..." Frank began.
" ... a luxury. We never have all the facts when we make decisions, Frank," Hal said. "We only have the illusion."
"I was going to say foolish, but that is very profound, Hal," Frank said looking at his lover with a new respect.
Hal waved it off. "My old Sensei, Master Yoshi taught us that. He was talking about life or death decisions made during combat, but it applies to everyday life as well."
"Yoshi Torinaga-san is a very wise man," Oracle said.
"Is there anymore you can tell us, Oracle?" Brad asked.
"No, and my time here is limited for now. I shall let Vanessa return. Farewell, my loves."
"You'll be with us on Friday night, won't you?" Brad asked hopefully.
Again the woman smiled brightly. "Yes, I will be there."
"Thank you, Oracle, we love you," Stephanie said.
"And I love all of you. Ask Vanessa about how I keep my sanity. Until Friday..."
Vanessa shook her head as if waking up from a nap. "Whew! That must have been a long one!" Though the voice was the same, it was obvious that another person was speaking now.
"Vanessa, Oracle asked us to ask you about how she keeps her sanity." Joyce asked.
"She told me that most of the time, she's insane; it's the only way she can comprehend the time streams. However, when she needs to talk to us, it's our love that gives her the ability to overcome the insanity and rejoin us," she explained.
"I wonder what her definition of 'insane' is?" Tara asked.
"I don't know, but based on the feeling I get from her, it's probably better if we don't know. There is so much there that just doesn't ... can't be defined in terms we are capable of understanding," Vanessa replied. "She's very hard, if not impossible to define."
"Well, she did drop a rather difficult task on us, and not a lot of time to get it accomplished. Any suggestions on a new location?" Brad asked.
"I'd suggest remote, except that if they ever did find us, they could just bomb us out of existence without much trouble." Carry said. "Then again, there aren't too many places you can't go with a battalion of marines leading the way. No matter what, secrecy is going to be our main defense."
"Hide in plain sight? Like in a bigger city?" Tabby asked.
"We'd blend in better there, but we also wouldn't see an assault coming as quickly, so our reaction time would be seriously limited. Not to mention the higher potential for collateral damage," Terri said.
"A friend of a friend is trying to broker a property that might be something we'd be interested in. It's a small island in the Florida keys. It has three, large, beautiful houses, and something like six warehouses, a small marina and a secluded lagoon. We'd still be in US territory, in fact we'd be less than three miles from a naval air station, but I think we'd be safe there; at least from man-made threats. We'll be right in the center of hurricane alley," Frank said. "The island was seized from a drug-dealer that used it as his own customs station."
"It sounds nice, but can we afford to buy an Island?" Brad asked.
Stephanie smirked. "I think we probably could. It'll put a serious dent in the checkbook!"
"It lists at one hundred-eighty million, but I think we could get it for less than half; not too many people can afford to buy islands so it's a buyers market," Frank grinned.
"How much attention will buying it put on us?" Brad asked.
"None on us directly. However, the corporations, companies and lawyers will be under a microscope." Stephanie said and Frank nodded in agreement.
"Okay, let's put that on the list of possibilities. Sammy, could you find out from Frank exactly where it is, and see if you can get us some pictures of it for later? Let's go ahead with our day, but we should all keep thinking about this, and see if we can come up with other suggestions. Agreed?" Brad said looking around at everyone.
When everyone nodded agreement, they all got up. Brad, Sammy, and Vanessa helped Marie clean up the breakfast mess.
Just as the girls were about to leave to go shopping, Tabitha sought Brad out to give him a toe-curling kiss. "I'm not so sure I can wait until Friday night. Is the Oracle always right?"
"She has been so far. But I'm beginning to wonder about waiting until Friday myself. You're lucky I don't just carry you upstairs right now!" Brad replied as he gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
"And miss out on a shopping trip with beautiful women?" She sighed. "Decisions, decisions..."
The loving pair turned at the sound of a chuckle. Vanessa was standing there grinning at them. "Trust me; it isn't going to happen until Friday night. I'm sure you could probably fuck like rabbits, but it won't count until Friday night."
Tabitha gave Brad a peck on the lips before she backed off. She gave Vanessa a passionate kiss as well before she left, grinning.
"Hal and Carry would like to see the rest of us down at the firing range. They want to make sure we know what we're doing with firearms," Vanessa said grinning. "I don't think they trust Ecogen's training methods."