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 A World of My Choosing   An Out-of-this-World Story by Gil Gamesh   Chapter
Thirty-Seven

   What I hoped for has happened.  James and Sam came to breakfast one
morning hand in hand, just beaming at each other.  Toby and Jean-Nicole
were right behind them, hand in hand, smiling the same.  Sam seemed to have
a little trouble sitting.  I didn't have to be a genius to know what that
meant.  One less virgin.  Two contented young women.  And, of course, two
satisfied young men.

   They announced their official change of address during breakfast.  James
and Sam were now residents of the second bed chamber on the right. 
Jean-Nicole had left that one and moved in with Toby in the second bed
chamber on the left.  During breakfast they acted just like two pairs of
newly-weds.

   The rest of us offered them our congratulations.

   <><><>

   "You're pregnant; aren't you?"

   Anna looked at me and grinned.

   "Am I right?"

   She nodded.

   "Why didn't you tell me?"

   "David, I've never been pregnant before.  It's all new to me.  I missed
my last period and I'm usually very regular.  I just wanted to be sure
before I told you."

   "But it's been a while since you should have had your period; hasn't
it?"

   "Yes, but David, sometimes a woman's egg gets fertilized and the baby
starts to develop but something happens and it passes out of her body.  I
just wanted to be sure.  How did you know?"

   "Well, you told me you had quit taking the birth control pill and then
you had sex with me and Iain a few days ago.  You must have known you
couldn't get pregnant by him, right?"

   "Yes, David, that's right.  I want a baby and I want you to be the
father.  I don't want anybody else's baby, not the first one anyway."

   I sat there on the side of the bed and watched while she brushed her
hair.  I knew her belly wouldn't be pooching out yet but I looked anyway.
It was the same as always.  First there were the delightful curves of her
breasts, then her ribs below, a little bowl around her vertical belly
button, a slight swelling next sloping down to a flat area and then rising
again under the new growth of pubic hair on the little mound at the apex of
her thighs.

   It was just a little mound under dark hair which bent back between her
legs and split in two.  It was so simple but I always liked to look at it
and think of all the magic it held for me.  I loved to get my face there,
just between her thighs so my forehead rested on that little mound.  I
loved to get my tongue there in the crease between the halves of that split
mound and taste her aroused woman juices.  I loved to breathe deeply and
smell the bouquet of her pussy.

   She finished brushing her hair, spread my knees apart, and started
brushing mine.  My hair hadn't been cut since I came here and it was down
on my shoulders.  I liked it long but I wondered if she did too.

   "Anna, would you give me a haircut?"

   "No.  I like you with long hair.  It makes you look more like a guy on
one of the bodice-ripper books lots of women read.  It's sexy."

   "Did you ever read them?"

   "Sure.  I liked the ones which were really dirty, lots of sex and
fucking and sucking and licking and dicking.  Books to polish my pearl
with."

   "You're kidding me."

   "Yes, David.  I didn't have much time for reading over the last few
years."

   "I'll read you a bodice-ripper tonight if you'll let me lick your pearl.
Do you think Aimee has any?"

   "I don't know but let's just leave off the book.  You can't polish my
pearl while you're reading a book."

   "I'd still like for you to give me a haircut.  Maybe just neaten it up a
little.  Keep it out of my eyes while I'm polishing your pearl."

   "OK.

   I quit looking up at her beautiful breasts and looked down at her
beautiful mound.  Something puzzled me.  The only new hair growing around
her pussy was on that little mound.  Everything back between her legs was
bare.  I thought we had all agreed to stop using the defoliator stuff
around our genitals.

   "You're still using it; aren't you, that defoliator stuff, you know,
Nor."

   "Depilatory stuff."

   "Whatever."

   "Yes, we're all using it, all of us girls.  Just to neaten up our
pussies a little so you guys can see what you're getting into.  You use it
on your face.  It's only fair."

   "Damn, I like to floss with pubic hair."

   "Yes but I don't want you flossing down there.  I want you licking."

   I held my head up to her.  "Do you think I need to use it on my face? 
It's been about thirty days since I used it last."

   She felt my cheeks and chin and around my mouth.  "You're about like a
teen-age boy now.  It doesn't irritate the inside of my thighs.  If it's
sunny this afternoon, I'll rub it on your face."

   "Are we still going to name the baby Michael if it's a boy?"

   "Yes.  What if it's a girl?  What will we name her?  Will you be
disappointed?"

   "If it's a girl, you pick the name.  I won't be disappointed in the
least.  She will be you and me.  I'll love her with all my heart, the same
as I love you."

   "David, I've been wondering about you fathering babies.  What if they
inherit that cool response of yours?"

   "Huh?"

   "Well, I think it's a much-enhanced fight or flight response, maybe
caused by a mutated chromosome or something.  It might even be sex-linked.
Maybe our boy babies will have it and our girl babies won't."

   "Is that so bad?"

   "No, but if it is inheritable and it's sex linked, all the women here
will want you to give them a baby.  They'll want a boy baby with you."

   "Oh, come on.  Don't be ridiculous.  Ouch."

   "What's wrong?"

   "You almost brushed my ear off."

   "I'm sorry and I'm not being ridiculous, David.  All women want to have
strong healthy babies with the greatest chance of survival.  It's built
into us.  Why do you think I chose you?"

   "So you think I should be the Alpha male and chase all the other guys
out to wander the wilderness."

   "No, David, but if any of the other women want you to give them a baby,
I think you should do it.  It will help the survival rate of all the
progeny of our colony.  I'm going to ask all the women to vote on it."

   "Anna, you're the only one I love completely.  You know I've surrendered
to loving you.  I can never love another woman the way I love you."

   "Yes, David, I know that but we're a colony of twenty people who are
going to create a new human race in this world.  You want us to learn to
love each other to help us survive.  I do too.  The more our children have
your cool response, the greater their chances of survival.  Maybe the
people who sent you here knew that."

   "You wouldn't mind?"

   "Maybe a little but it just makes sense."

   "What are the other guys going to say?  I think it would create a big
problem.  One called jealousy."

   "I don't think so.  I think they would understand.  Maybe Caitlyn could
have one with Iain first and with you second.  Maybe I'll have a second
baby with Iain or James or even Pyotr.  If I have one with you first, would
that be so bad?  Maybe Jean-Nicole will have one with Toby first and James
second and you third.  I suppose Sam would want one with James first and
maybe Toby second."

   "And me third?"

   "Naturellement, mon amour."

   "Anna, why do you do things like this late at night?  Now I won't be
able to sleep all night for thinking about this."

   "Oh, I don't know about that.  After you polish my pearl, I think I can
do something that will help you sleep.  It usually does."

   <><><>

   Pyotr and Petra came back to our room, again a little late at night,
when Anna and I were getting ready for bed.  They were both smiling this
time.  They eagerly told us what they had learned.

   Pyotr now understood why Petra was sometimes unhappy.  He was going too
fast with her and not giving her enough foreplay.  He simply was not
sexually arousing her enough.  They had gone to Toby and Jean-Nicole about
their problem and the four of them had talked for hours.  Jean-Nicole was
the one who wanted to give them a demonstration.  Toby volunteered to help.
Toby with Jean-Nicole was a good choice.  He had learned his lessons well
and he was an excellent teacher for Pyotr.  Jean-Nicole was a good teacher
for Petra, a mature woman who knew what she wanted and how to get it from
Toby.

   They four of them had joined together in a bed in the chamber which
Jean-Nicole and Toby were sharing.  Both couples started from the
beginning: simply kissing and touching.  They progressed downward with
mouths on breasts and fingers between legs and then with heads between
thighs.  Toby brought Jean-Nicole to orgasm first and Pyotr and his tongue
soon gave Petra a moaning release.  They waited a few minutes for the girls
to calm down and then mounted them in the old-fashioned missionary position
and got their own release.

   Once wasn't enough for any of them.  After talking for a while, they
started at the top again and moved downward and this time it was Toby and
Pyotr who lay there grinning while Jean-Nicole and Petra held their dicks
upright and tried to suck their balls even drier.  They even swapped
partners for a moment.  Jean-Nicole demonstrated how she liked to ride Toby
to orgasm and Toby helped by being a fuck-up after she came.  Petra
followed their example and - her words - came about a zillion times not
counting the one when Pyotr squirted in her little pussy again.  All four
of them were well satisfied before Petra and Pyotr staggered back to their
own bed-chamber.

   Anna and I were about to do some of the same things in our bed.  She
invited them to join us.  The four of us lay there side by side and Pyotr
and I started up north and worked our way down south.  We even swapped for
a minute and I licked Petra's pretty pouting little pussy and Anna sucked
Pyotr's precocious prodigious protuberance.

   After we swapped back, we let Anna and Petra go for a ride, well, really
a race.  I decided to show off my musical knowledge and asked Aimee if she
could play the William Tell Overture for us.  She could.  I put my hands
behind my head and let Anna have her ride.  Pyotr did the same and lay
there grinning while Petra galloped toward the finish line.  Petra won the
race but Anna finished soon after.  Then at my request Aimee played Bolero
for us and Pyotr and I did our best to fuck in time to the music.  He came
to a climax before I did but I didn't mind losing.  I reached a crescendo
at the same time Bolero did.  ` We rested for a while and then Pyotr
pounded Petra while Anna and I watched.  Pyotr reached the finish line
before she did but, from the way she squealed, she wasn't far behind.  Then
Anna and I showed them how it's done and they watched.  I thought Anna was
going to rip my ass to shreds with her fingernails.

   Petra was well satisfied again.  Pyotr was grinning like a jack-ass. 
Anna was smiling a satisfied smile.  I'll admit I was grinning too.  We
slept four to a bed.

   It was just another wonderful evening in paradise.

   <><><>

   "David!  Anna!  Please come to my room!  A young man has arrived and
there is something strange about his behavior.  He seems to be sleeping
peacefully but he has irregular spasms or twitches.  Something may be wrong
with him."

   Anna and I had just awakened from a peaceful night's sleep when Aimee
called.  I was just walking out of the toilet after a good morning piss and
was contemplating going to the outside door to greet the day.  Anna always
took longer to pee in the morning than I did and I was standing there
waiting patiently for her.

   I ran into Aimee's room and stopped near the young man in the recliner.
I felt an instant surge of relief.  He was a young man but with the
emphasis on man.  I had worried that all the other males would be, as they
had been so far, more like boys than men.

   He was a handsome young man, almost as tall as me.  His dark hair was
closely cropped, his upper lip was covered by a short dark mustache, and
his cheeks and chin were covered by a short beard.  His eyes were closed
and he appeared to be sleeping peacefully except for a slight smile on his
lips.  His pecs were covered by a light dusting of dark hair and his abs
were hairless.

   He was on his back with one arm thrown back over his head and the other
by his side.  He had a thin trail of dark hair leading down from his navel
to his genitals.  His dark pubic hair was a tangled sporran spread out on
his thighs.  His penis wasn't erect but it looked full and heavy and was
flopped across one thigh.  His testicles were relatively hairless and
looked perfectly normal.

   The thing that impressed me most was his size of his chest and shoulders
and arms.  Even resting, I could see the underlying muscles in his arms and
chest and shoulders and that meant he was used to working out or perhaps
manual labor.  On his lower chest and abdomen, he seemed to have a relaxed
six-pack.

   His waist and hips were small for his size and that told me he was used
to being active, not sitting all day in a classroom or before a computer.
His legs were long like mine and they were as muscular as his shoulders and
arms.  They were lightly covered by more dark hair, heaviest down on his
calves.  Overall, he was a fine young man, muscular and strong and handsome
and sexy.

   Perhaps he could be what I had wished for: a second warrior to help
protect our family.  Iain and James and Toby were slim and hard but they
just did not have the musculature to stand up to some of the dangers we
might encounter.  The new arrival certainly did.  I suppose I was also glad
to see him so he could help with other strength-demanding tasks, like
swinging an axe to cut down trees or using a mattock to cut roots.  I
couldn't complain about the willingness of the other guys to work but some
tasks required more body strength than they had.

   I felt a touch on my shoulder and turned.  I put my arm around Anna's
back and she put hers around my waist.  We stood there looking at the young
man for a minute or so.

   Suddenly his face turned into a grimace and his eyes opened and rolled
back so that only white was showing.  His hands started shaking and the
muscles in his arms started tightening.  I looked at his legs and the
muscles there were also bulging.  Suddenly, his whole body went rigid and
then his arms and legs began to move erratically and flail around.

   "He's having a seizure!" Anna yelled.

   "What can we do?" I yelled back.

   "Just try to keep him in Aimee's chair," she said.  "Don't try to hold
him down or restrain him.  We need to keep him from injuring himself if we
can."

   Suddenly, he slid off the end of the chair, tried to stand, and
collapsed on the floor.  I caught his shoulders and gently lowered him down
so he didn't bang his head on the hard floor.  His arms and legs were still
flailing around erratically and there was a little foam on his lips.

   "Aimee, call the others," Anna yelled.  "Tell them to bring pillows to
your room in a hurry."

   The others were quick to respond and all of them brought a pillow or
two. Anna and I took the pillows, put one under his head, and tucked the
rest close around his body.  His flailing arms and legs slowed down but
then seemed to become rigid again.  He was stiff as a board for a few
seconds and then abruptly went limp and was still.

   "Turn him on his side, David," Anna said, calmly now.  "I think the
seizure is over but we need to make sure he's got an open air way and he
doesn't breathe in his secretions."

   I turned him on his side and he seemed to relax and his muscles
softened, all except one.  His penis slowly lengthened and swelled and
stood out away from his body.  I suppose everybody wondered at that
response.  I know I did.  Then suddenly he began to piss and the ones
standing nearby scrambled out of the way.  When his bladder was empty, he
seemed to smile slightly and to relax more.

   His eyes slowly opened but I don't think he was conscious of seeing
anything.  His gaze made me think nobody was home, at least temporarily.

   "He's going to be confused and unresponsive for a while," Anna said. 
"Do you think we could move him to a bed?  Someone needs to be with him for
a while.  I think I saw a little blood on the back of his head and I want
to examine him."

   I pulled him up and onto my back in a fireman's carry and then carried
him out of Aimee's room and into our bedchamber.  I'd done that often
enough in my military training and it came naturally to me.  In our
bedchamber, Anna and Iain helped me ease him down in an unused bed.  I put
a pillow under his head and spread a blanket over him up to his waist.

   Anna took charge and pushed him over on his side so she could see the
back of his head.  She parted his hair and looked closely.  She felt his
skull, said he had a small goose egg, and we needed to watch him carefully
because he might have a concussion.  She volunteered to take first watch. I
volunteered to stay to help and chased the others out to potty and to
prepare breakfast.

   Anna asked Aimee for his temperature and heart rate.  Aimee replied that
his temperature was within a normal range and his heart rate was now a
little slower than normal.  Anna gave him a cursory examination and found
no signs of any injury except for the back of his head.

   He woke up just before noon, dazed and confused and unresponsive to our
questions.  He seemed puzzled by the way we all were: naked except for
loincloths.  I propped him up with pillows behind him, pulled the blanket
up to his waist, and let the others enter, one couple at a time, to see
him. He looked carefully at everybody but said nothing and didn't respond
to any questions.  I'd seen that look before on the faces of men who were
facing a dangerous situation: appraising, concentrating, and planning what
to do.

   Then Jean-Nicole came in with a bowl of stew, sat down on the side of
the bed, and held out a spoonful to him.  He looked at her breasts for a
moment and his face changed with a welcoming smile and wide-open eyes.  He
opened his mouth for the stew, chewed a little, swallowed, and opened his
mouth again.  She kept feeding him and he didn't slow down until the bowl
was empty.  Finally he said his first words.

   "Am I dead?"

   "No, of course not," Jean-Nicole said and smiled at him.  "Is the stew
good?"

   He nodded and then smiled just a little.  "It's...it's very good
but...but I must be dead.  There's a beautiful angel feeding me.  This must
be heaven."

   After Jean-Nicole fed him lunch, Iain and I helped him to the toilet. 
We stood three in a row and had a good piss.  He was unsteady on his feet
so I put my arm around his back from one side and Iain braced him from the
other.  We squeezed out the last drops, shook, and covered up.

   Iain had said that all the guys coming here would be uncircumcised and I
wasn't surprised that he was uncut.  His dick looked a lot like Iain's,
about the same size, a little smaller than mine.  He checked me and Iain
out while we were pissing.

   "Where's mine?" he asked.

   "What?" Iain answered.

   "That thing you're wearing.  Everybody else has one on.  I don't want to
go naked with five beautiful females."

   We stopped by the clothing storeroom long enough to get him a loincloth
and then helped him to the kitchen with all the others.  Iain and I eased
him down at a table and then I sat opposite him.  Anna sat down beside me.
He looked at me and Anna and at her beautiful bare breasts and then asked
the questions I expected.

   "Where am I?  How did I get here?"

   "We'll answer all your questions later," I said.  "My name is David
Guerrier, just call me David.  This beautiful woman is my wife, Anna. 
What's your name?  How do you feel?"

   "Matthew O'Brian.  Matt.  I feel like shit."

   "Matt, you've just had a long journey.  Most of us felt the same way you
do when we arrived.  Anna's a nurse.  Be more specific and maybe we can
give you medication to help you feel better."

   "My left shoulder really hurts.  I think I fell on it.  Back of my
head's throbbing.  My back hurts a little but not as bad as my shoulder.  I
ache all over and I'm dizzy."

   "Matt, have you ever had seizures before?" Anna asked.

   "What, you mean like epilepsy?  No.  Why?"

   "You had a seizure this morning just after you arrived," she said.

   "Damn!"

   "Aimee, how are his vital signs?" she asked.  "What do you recommend?"

   "Anna, his temperature is normal and his heart rate is a little slow but
normal," Aimee said.  "I recommend a mild analgesic and a mild muscle
relaxer.  He should be watched constantly for the next day or so.  The
combined effect of the blow to the head and the journey probably account
for the seizure."

   "I agree, Aimee.  It would be good if he slept this afternoon.  Could
you give him a very mild sleep aid too?"

   "Yes, Anna."

   Matt looked all around for Aimee.

   "Who's that and where is she?"

   "I'll introduce you to her later, Matt," I said.  "First we want you to
take some medications and then rest for a while longer.  If you wake up,
please don't try to walk by yourself.  We'll call you when we have dinner
ready." I pointed at Jean-Nicole.  "That beautiful young woman is a
marvelous chef.  I don't know what we'll have for dinner tonight but I know
it'll be good."

   I asked James to get the medications and he was back in seconds.  Matt
took the pills one at a time and washed them down with big swallows of
juice.  His eyes kept closing and he jerked himself awake a few times. 
James and Toby helped him back to bed and then reported that he was asleep
as soon as he hit the bed.

   Sam and Petra volunteered to watch him for the afternoon.  I asked James
and Toby to wake him up just before dinner and then to help him walk if
necessary.  When they came in the kitchen, he had his arms on their
shoulders but he was walking by himself.  I asked Anna to do the
introductions and he sat quietly smiling while she introduced five couples.
Jean-Nicole was finishing dinner and she and Toby were the last to be
introduced.  Matt sat up straighter, stared at our chef, especially her
beautiful young breasts, and ignored Toby.  I wondered if we were going to
have another problem.

   I heard Lucky whining and I knew Aimee was holding him in James' and
Sam's bedchamber.  I told Aimee to release him and he scampered in the
kitchen, tail swishing like a fast windshield wiper.  He went straight to
Matt, to get to know the newcomer.  Matt grinned and scratched his head and
petted him.  I could easily see that he liked dogs.  A man who likes dogs
can't be all bad.  Dinner was a gourmet delight as usual, even though it
was rabbit again.  Matt ate like he's been starved for days.  Perhaps he
had been.  We were all sitting around at two tables in the kitchen, the six
Mouseketeers at one, Iain, Caitlyn, and Matt on one side of another table
with me and Anna on the other side.  There were a couple of things I wanted
to do before Matt went back to bed.  First I wanted to introduce him to
Aimee and let her get his measurements.  Then I wanted all of us to help in
giving him a symbolic bath to wash away all of his old life.

   When Aimee greeted him, he was as puzzled and bedazzled by her as the
rest of us had been and I still was.  I tried to explain that she was an
avatar and she had chosen her young woman form to interact with us.  I
don't think he understood that a culture probably far superior to ours had
created her.  I didn't understand it either.  As far as I was concerned,
she was simply a human, one of us.

   I asked her to give him the same access to everything that all the rest
of us enjoyed.  I didn't want to have to explain what was behind the door
at the end of the hall.  Aimee had standing orders not to permit the others
access unless either Iain or I was with them.

   Then I told him we wanted to give him a bath and all ten of us were
going to help.  He looked at me like I was kidding and I tried to explain
the symbolic nature of what we wanted to do: to wash away everything in his
old life and to welcome him to our new world.

   In the bathing chamber, we all undressed, if you can call untying a
loincloth and dropping it near the door.  Matt was the last to get naked. I
think his head rotated three hundred sixty degrees as he tried to look at
all of us.

   Initially the naked females all stood together at one side and didn't
offer to help.  I looked at Anna, raised my eyebrows in question, and she
smiled at me and winked.  I knew the ladies were planning something special
to welcome Matt.  Iain adjusted the shower to warm, I pushed Matt under the
water and he closed his eyes and surrendered.

   Five of us guys thoroughly washed the sixth.  I was tallest so I
shampooed his hair and washed his face.  Toby and James washed his front
and back.  Iain and Pyotr did his outstretched arms.  He tried to pull away
when Toby lifted his penis, skinned it back, and rubbed the head thoroughly
with a soapy cloth but James was washing the crack of his ass at the same
time.  I saw Toby cup his testicles in the soapy cloth and smile and wink
at him.  I held him by the shoulders while four guys scrubbed his legs and
feet.  Then I led him back under the shower and rinsed him off.  When he
opened his eyes again, he saw five beautiful females waiting in front of
him.  I moved to the side with the other guys and we watched him get
thoroughly washed again.

   Somebody had plotted against him.  Five females rubbing their soapy
bodies against him, firm breasts pressing against him all around, hands all
over him, hands fighting over possession of his dick and balls: the result
was inevitable: his penis stood up tall and proud.  After watching a
session of frottage with five naked females, five other dicks stood up too.
Matt stood and watched as one hand after another stroked his penis and
cuddled his testicles.  They rotated around and five giggling females
squatted or leaned over and gave his dick a few licks and a suck and a
kiss.

   Then Jean-Nicole squatted in front of him and gave his penis the coup de
main.  When I saw an orgasmic grimace on his face, I moved behind him and
held him up.  He squirted on Jean-Nicole's beautiful breasts what looked
like a week's load.  The rest of the females wiped his semen off her and
wiped it on their breasts, giggled, and rubbed their breasts all over him.
Damn, I wanted to be bathed too.

   <><><>

   His story came out in bits and pieces over the next few days.  His name
was Matthew O'Brian, Matt for short, a twenty-three year old Navy Seal on
active duty.  He was the leader of a special ops team on his third mission
in Islamistan, this time to extract the head of a jihadist group. 
Intelligence said the guy would be a good source of information if handled
properly.  They swam ashore a couple of miles from the beach-side hotel
where the jihadist leader was staying, found a big truck which had been
left for them, drove to the hotel, silently killed all five guards, and had
the guy hog-tied in a couple of minutes.  They stuffed him in the back of
the truck and "hauled ass," his words, to the point where they were to
signal for a rubber dingy to pick them up.

   They heard the sounds of pursuers and the truck went faster.  Matt was
in the back of the truck at the tailgate when the truck hit a bad bump and
he was thrown out.  The road was packed dirt and he hit his head on landing
and was temporarily knocked unconscious.  He roused up enough to crawl off
the road into a ditch, faded into unconsciousness, and woke up in Aimee's
chair.

   <><><>

   A few days later, Iain and Matt and I dressed in our Robin Hood outfits
for a long walk up to the top of the mountain and back.  As we were going
up, I left it up to Iain to explain to Matt where he was and how he got
here.  He was as incredulous as we all had been but the view of our new
world from the top of the mountain convinced him that Iain's story was
true.

   We sat for a while in a sheltered spot and I told Matt about the
relationships that had been established, perhaps tentatively in some cases,
for the ten of us who had arrived earlier.  I explained that Iain and I
were married to Caitlyn and Anna, that we considered ourselves permanent
pairs, and that Anna was pregnant, the first child to be born in this new
world.  I said that James and Sam had just recently become another pair, as
had Toby and Jean-Nicole.  When I told him that Pyotr and Petra were
brother and sister and were sleeping together but didn't consider
themselves a permanent pair, he raised his eyebrows and grinned.

   Then I talked to him about his options for sex.  I knew that when he
recovered from his journey, he would probably be as horny as the rest of us
and he would want to have sex as we all did.  I told him that over the
course of the next nine months, nine more individuals would arrive, four
more males, five more females, and he might find a mate in the five
females. I said he might choose to pursue Jean-Nicole or Sam but he was
going to cause problems with Toby or James if he did.  Petra was perhaps a
little young for him but she wasn't going to stay with Pyotr forever.

   "Matt, there's a way for you to have your sexual needs fulfilled until
you find a mate but it's not something Iain and I can arrange.  We'll talk
to our wives and let them handle it."

   "What's that?"

   "Did you enjoy what the ladies did for you last night?"

   "Damn, I've never even dreamed of something like that."

   "Why don't we leave it up to the ladies to give you a little sex until
you find a permanent mate?  I'm sure they can come up with something."

   "What if I wanted to fuck one of them, maybe even your wife?  Are you
going to kill me?"

   "No, Matt, all of the guys already here have had sex with Anna on
occasion.  I have sex with her regularly, of course, and I've had sex with
Jean-Nicole and Caitlyn on a few occasions.  We don't live by old sexual
standards.  We're trying to establish our own.  If Anna invites you, we can
both share her some night.  I'll even take sloppy seconds.  There's one
thing we're trying to avoid in our new world and that's sexual conflict and
jealousy.  I'm confident you can't take Anna away from me.  The love
between us is too strong."

   "Shit, I'm not going to start trouble with you but I'm just a normal guy
and I need a good fuck once in a while."

   "Matt, you should listen to yourself talk for a while," Iain said.  "You
keep saying you need a good fuck.  You're not going to get it with that
attitude.  You need to learn to make love to a woman and to think of her
instead of just what you want.  I know Caitlyn wouldn't want to spread her
legs if all you want is a good fuck."

   Matt just sat there looking back and forth between me and Iain.

   "Matt, in the past, what sort of relationships have you had?" I asked.
"Find'em, fuck'em, forget'em?"

   "Yeah, pretty much.  I haven't had anything except one-night stands."

   "Well, sometime soon, I want you to sit down in the kitchen with all
five of the females.  You're going to be here with them for the rest of
your life.  Let them tell you what they want from a man.  Then you think
about it and see if you can give them what they want.  You'll never know
what sex is all about until you do it with a woman you love and who loves
you.  It's up to you to win the affections of one of the ten."

   "Why can't I win the affections of all ten of them?" he asked grinning.

   "You can try but you'll never know what real love is like until you
settle down with one and surrender to loving her and having a family with
her.  That's what this is all about, you know, preserving a small sample of
mankind when our old world is sinking into chaos and humanity there may
face extinction."

   "You really think so?"

   "I don't know, Matt.  The people who are sending us here seem to think
so."

   I saw a shadow cross us and I looked up.  It was another raptor bird.  I
pointed it out to Matt and the three of us watched it for a few minutes. 
It wasn't flapping, just gliding, and I knew it was using the updraft off
the mountain to stay aloft.  I stood up and held out my hands to Matt and
Iain.

   "Come on," I said.  "We're going to pretend to be corpses for a while. I
want Matt to see what happens if the raptor tries to drop down on three
dead bodies."

   We lay on a rocky area of the mountain top for a while but we didn't
fool the bird.  Maybe it had a belly full and it wasn't interested.

   <><><>

   Life went on for a while, uneventful, quiet, and enjoyable.  All eleven
of us went fishing in the lake part way down the mountain.  We took five
casting rods and reels and lures, five cane poles and live bait, and as
usual we were all successful in catching fish.  I ended up gutting and
scaling the fish for everybody and packing them in back packs and at times
I had trouble keeping up.  Jean-Nicole and Sam and James made it all
worthwhile with two huge platters of golden brown fried fish for dinner
that night.

   We all spent an afternoon working in both our old and our new gardens. I
made sure we had one big area for all the different kinds of potatoes I
intended to plant in about a month.  Our winter greens were thriving and we
carried back home bok choi, collards, and turnip greens.  I asked for
collards and cornbread the next day and listened to a little griping about
having to eat them.  I knew those two would eat the bark off a tree with
their appetites.

   One night, we all assembled in the central hallway, I asked Aimee to
turn the lights down low, and we danced, just slow dancing most of the
time. Anna took command and made us switch partners periodically.  We had
one male left over each time but it was a different guy and nobody
complained.  That is, nobody complained until Anna decreed that guys had to
dance with guys and girls had to dance with girls.  That didn't work as
well but it was only for one dance.  When she asked Aimee to play waltzes,
I was the left over guy first, Iain second, and Toby third.  I watched Matt
and saw that he was grinning and trying his best to waltz with Jean-Nicole.


   One night we all assembled in the lounge to perform as the New World
Chorus.  We warmed up with You Are My Sunshine followed by I'm in the Mood
for Love.  For both, Aimee quickly said the words of the next line and we
all sang them.  Then Iain asked the guys to sing Ol' Man River and I saw
him listening particularly to Matt.  He smiled and I thought I knew why. 
He'd found his bass voice.  He told Matt he thought his was a fledgling
bass voice and asked if he could help him develop it.  Matt just grinned
and shrugged.

   Next, Anna and I sang something we had been practicing from an old
Broadway musical, Adrift on a Star from The Happiest Girl in the World.  He
said it called for a male baritone with a rich dark voice bordering on bass
and I qualified.  He told Anna that it needed a pure simple soprano and she
would be great.  He said the song should be the anthem for our colony of
mankind and I agreed.

   Iain and I had a surprise for the crew.  He and I had translated a song
called Bailero by Cantaloube into his native language.  The song was
written in Occitan, a Mediterranean French language and I had been helping
by giving him the English part of what I understood.  He then reworked it
in his original language.  The song was about a shepherd and shepherdess on
opposite sides of a river they are unable to cross.  It was melancholy and
sad and beautiful and, sung in his beautiful tenor voice, it raised goose
bumps on me.

   We ended the night with She'll Be Coming around the Mountain when she
Comes and then had to do an encore of You'll Never Know, both with Aimee
reciting the next line.

   From all the cheering and clapping after our concert, I could see that
everybody enjoyed it just as much as I did.

   Anna finally reported to me on what the ladies had decided about sex and
I conveyed it to Matt and the other guys.  They wanted to have another sex
play party but with a couple of restrictions.  First, they said everything
would be permitted except that there would be no penises in vaginas, in
other words, no fucking to give Matt what he needed.  Second, the guys
would get one orgasm for every one they gave to a girl.  When Matt heard
what they decided, he had only one word.  "Shit!" I told him it was going
to be a wonderful evening and I thought he should exercise his tongue
regularly.

   <><><>

   In her morning weather report Aimee said that the barometric pressure
was the lowest she had recorded and she predicted very stormy weather.  I
walked outside and looked at the clouds moving from west to east faster
than I'd ever seen.  Occasional strong gusts of wind rattled the bamboo
porch covering we had built.  I could only hope that my plans were good
enough and that it would withstand the winds.

   At mid-morning the rains came, light at first but constant.  By noon,
they were almost monsoon-like.  That's when I heard the first lightning
strike somewhere up the mountain and then the deafening rumble of thunder.
By mid-afternoon, lightening from cloud to cloud and from cloud to ground
was almost constant.  The sky was dark and the lightning flashes and
following thunder were frightening.  It seemed that Thor and the old gods
were truly engaged in battle.  Now I worried about the safety of whatever
was at the top of the mountain providing us with power.

   At nightfall, the battle between the Norse gods had not slowed.  Earlier
in the day, I had company sitting outside on a bench under the porch.  I
suppose we were all awed by such a late fall or winter storm.  Later I was
the only one who dared to sit outside and watch the epic battle.  The
weather system that was causing it seemed to have stalled out directly over
us.

   Finally I went inside to the kitchen.  The others were all there,
playing chess, making seashell necklaces, and talking.  Even inside the
thunder was loud and uncomfortable and I could tell they were all
apprehensive.  I tried whistling a happy tune and they all looked at me
like I was crazy.

   Iain suggested a rousing chorus of "You Are My Sunshine," and we all
belted it out.  He followed up with a solo performance of "Somewhere over
the Rainbow" in his beautiful tenor voice and that seemed to settle the
apprehension a little.  We all got tablets and sang "It's a Grand Night for
Singing" next.  After a few more songs, the tension in the crowd seemed to
have lessened and we all went to bed.  I lay there holding Anna for a
while, listening to the thunder rumbling, and finally went to sleep.

   "DAVID, ANNA, PLEASE WAKE UP!  WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY!"

   I rolled out of bed and looked at the clock: a few minutes before two
o'clock in the morning.  Anna stood up groggily and held on to my shoulder.

   "What is it, Aimee?" I asked.

   "We have a serious emergency, David!  The shield is down.  All other
systems are functioning but I have lost power for the shield.  Should I
alert all the others so you may decide what to do?"

   TO BE CONTINUED:



   Lyrics from "Adrift on a Star" from the musical "The Happiest Girl in
the World.

   ANNA

   Here we are adrift on a star, Alone in a silent sky, Lost in space,
together we face The wonder of where and why.

   Why a sky without an end, A sea without a chart, Why the rain, and why
the rose, And why the trembling heart.

   DAVID

   The moon, the tide, the years, They go drifting along.

   ANNA

   The music of the spheres, Are there words to your song?

   DAVID

   Is there a bright gleaming goal Ending this brief barcarole?

   TOGETHER

   Here we are adrift on a star, And what is our journey for?  Can it be
the heart is not free?  And love is a golden shore.

   DAVID

   That wherever we are

   ANNA

   In this star-spangled sky

   TOGETHER

   If there's love in your star You're home, you're home.



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