Chapter 36

So I found myself heeling Major Howard like a dog, walking naked in the corridor, praying that none of the doors we passed would open and reveal my bloated body to strange eyes. I had no choice -- and I knew it -- but that didn't keep me from being jumpy. Major Howard noticed and said, "We're the only people in this part of the ship -- and tomorrow, ALL concubines will be nude. You can relax -- and get used to it."

At the end of the corridor the door opened on an area with what I would call full gymnasium facilities -- exercise bikes and weights and treadmills and rowers and other machines. To the rear appeared to be a sauna and a massage table; to one side was an open shower room with several sprays. The Major lifted a large round cover revealing a large built-in sunken tile Jacuzzi like you normally find next to a pool. "Thank God for artificial gravity," he grunted. "Still, we don't have any pools -- it's just too much water to have flying around if something breaks down. The cover will supposedly take sloshing around under several Gs -- but the room is sealed, anyway, in case of system failure." He turned a switch and the water started moving and bubbling, then he went off to a bench and began removing his clothing. "You can help," he noted. I rushed over and got to work on his shoes. "I'm so glad I can dispense with this crap," he murmured. "Business suits are uncomfortable and generally useless, except for allowing one to blend in. Confederacy uniforms are a lot more comfortable..."

I'd had sex with the man -- but I hadn't LOOKED at him; he'd stayed mostly clothed that memorable night at the bar. He was a hairy bear of a man who looked to be almost fifty -- which I found somewhat surprising, given the fact that everyone in the Confederacy seemed to regress their ages. He was balding -- and what hair he had was graying and cut extremely short. It wasn't smart, maybe, but I was curious... "Why haven't you backed off your age?"

He grinned ruefully. "I'm the number two man for an entire colony -- I need to look like I've been around a day or two. Under the battered bodywork, everything is in tune to last another hundred thousand miles..." He cocked his head, "Is the good doctor going to regress you to your teen years?"

I looked away, embarrassed. "It wouldn't help."

"He saw something in you..."

"I saw something in him, more like," I replied. "He was a jewel in the rough and no woman had ever paid any attention to him. Even a sow like me had the tools necessary to reel him in..."

"Don't think much of yourself, do you?" the Major asked. "Let's get in the water."

"Are you the only person on Earth who doesn't know?" I whined.

"Ahhhh! So tell me," he replied, settling back. "We've nothing else to do for a few minutes."

So I went through the whole sordid history again -- I was getting to be rehearsed about it. He grunted a few times during -- and even chuckled -- and when I wound down, he said, "That's colorful. Now I understand how I got shortchanged and why you're here." He hoisted himself out of the tub, settling on the tile edge. "So how talented ARE you?"

THAT was pretty clear; I came across the pool and knelt on the tile, the water bubbling around me, and sucked in his cock. It wasn't as if I didn't remember it; I'd pretended not to know how to suck it only a couple of days before. It was a thick monster of surprising length with a foreskin that retracted fully only when he was fully erect. It had been easy to pretend I didn't know what to do with it before, but it would be more difficult to treat it right tonight. It was in my lifetime top ten, though, and that made it a challenge, now that I was 'Slut Vera' again... I gave it my full attention and, yeah, I started to enjoy it; it took a little bit to get set up and slobbery, but it went down... The Major grunted in approval and grabbed a double handful of my hair and I let him move me when he wanted to and tried to give him everything he was asking for.

I got a shock when another voice erupted, "Which one is that? Oh..." He sounded disgusted, whoever he was -- which I didn't think surprising, if he was watching my blubber pumping up and down in the bubbles and my big fat jugs splayed across the Major's thighs as I held onto his ass so I could drive myself deep.

The Major gasped, "Tillotson, you need to get past that Jack Sprat thing you have regarding the female form. Vera, here, is quite talented -- she's taking me without having had her throat modified to take Marine shanks -- and she's a lively fuck. I'm beginning to see Lieutenant Harper's position in this. Narrow teenyboppers with artificially inflated breasts are okay when you're looking for something athletic, but what about when you want to just hammer something? Skinny women are bony and can be a tough ride."

"Well, she's not very aesthetic," Tillotson, whoever he was, mumbled. I didn't even try to see the guy -- I just kept sucking. It was bad enough that the Major had to talk to him...

"Some of that is fixable without going overboard and turning her into a skeleton with skin stretched taut over it," the Major replied. "Nobody knows how this one looks better than she does -- in fact, she goes a little overboard; 'sow', I think, is one of the terms she used. I'll bet her low self-esteem makes her work harder for approval..." There was a pause while I took him, tip to root, several times, swallowing with his glans in my throat. "This is just excellent," he grunted. "You've no idea. You should have heard the tale she had to tell about her teenage years. She thinks of herself as a collection of fuck holes with no right to decent treatment..."

"Isn't that what she is?" Tillotson grunted.

"How many KNOW it?" The Major deliberately pumped my head up and down his cock several times -- and I relaxed and let it happen. In his own way, he was sticking up for my worthless fat butt; he could have whatever he wanted. He pulled me deep and I locked eyes with him, knowing what he planned -- and I stayed that way, looking up at him, until things started getting gray and fuzzy -- then he let go so I could back off and hack and choke and breathe.

There was a splash behind me and Tillotson's voice said, "Well, THAT was impressive."

"You'd be surprised." I was leaning back in for more abuse, but the Major put his hand on my shoulder. "Hop up and let her give you a suck."

"All right." The Major gestured and I turned around and recognized Tillotson as Maureen's boss. Out of the frying pan and into the fire... I moved across the pool and started playing with his lank cock. "I don't even know if I can get it up under these conditions..." He sure knew how to hurt a gal!

"Close your eyes," I croaked. "I've another idea, too..." He was going to take some effort... "Lie back, please? Just... trust me..." I hadn't done this in two decades, but I knew it worked on a lot of guys... I put my hands on the backs of his thighs and racked them back, then leaned into the hairy crack of his ass and started licking his asshole.

"What the...?" I couldn't see Tillotson's face, but the Major chuckled. "Hey, no fingers! Aah!"

"If you hold your knees, I can jack you..." I croaked. Tillotson took them and I began jacking him and playing with his balls while licking his crinkled asshole -- and he started firming up, fairly quickly!

The Major chuckled. "See? The woman has no pride at all -- but she DOES have her skills..." His hand cupped my ass. "How's this?"

"Clean," I croaked. "Master had me wash it out. He thought..."

"Very thoughtful, he is," the Major rumbled.

"Never in a million years..." Tillotson gasped. His cock was solid, now...

"NOW, let her suck you," the Major directed. Tillotson lurched up, so I backed off and he settled on the edge of the bath again. He had a nice one, too, once it was erect... I sucked it in and started bumping it against the opening in my throat to work up spit. The Major started playing with my asshole while murmuring, "The difference, here, Tillotson, is sort of like the difference between a sports car and a luxury sedan. The first moves impressively, but the suspension is tight and jarring and it isn't too comfortable. The latter offers a comfortable ride and... options..." I went for depth right about then, taking Tillotson to the root and sticking my nose in his wiry pubes. Tillotson gasped and gave out a groan as I swallowed around him. The Major chuckled as Tillotson grabbed a double handful of my hair -- just as he had -- then discovered he really didn't need it. The Major was poking at my asshole with a stubby finger; I remembered what to do and pushed and the tip popped through and he chuckled at THAT, too. I was horrified, and I was elated; it had been over twenty years since I was 'Fat Vera, School Slut,' official cum-dumpster to the football and basketball teams -- but everything was coming back, just like riding a bicycle. I set up a pattern on Tillotson's cock: Deep stroke, swallow, back off, short stroke, twirl my tongue over the tip, repeat... by the time the Major had two fingers in my ass, Tillotson was hunching and grunting, his knees jumping. His cock pulsed, pouring thick globs of his jizz into my mouth, and I was weirdly happy, at peace with myself as I sucked it down and swallowed it. I loved cum -- it had been too long...

Tillotson was enjoying my aftermath suck when the Major said, "Okay, let's do this..." I braced myself against the wall and wished for better lubrication than the foaming water -- but it didn't matter. His thick cock felt like a lamppost spreading my asshole open, but it would get easier... I just grunted and pushed back. It hurt like Hell -- but I wanted it to, so it didn't matter. It took a couple of minutes to get past the penetration stage, and I figured I was bleeding -- but it got better...

I didn't cum -- but the Major did, and that was the point, wasn't it? It was still an accomplishment, and I looked upon it that way as I felt his jizz splash into my abused colon. The world had changed in a few days; I had a master, not a husband, and poor Ollie had a three-hole gang-bang slut, not a wife. I hoped he was okay with that, because it was a done deal -- there was too much water under the bridge. Probably more important was the fact that it was okay with ME! If I wasn't good enough for Ollie any more, I could accept that -- I'd always known it, anyway -- but I wouldn't die, because there were others out there who could appreciate my skills. I would hurt -- terribly -- but I would survive...

The Major waved me out of the hot tub -- but the water had leached my strength to the point that he had to help me out. Tillotson eyed me thoughtfully, but shook his head. "She's not much to look at..."

"Have you seen the daughter?" the Major replied. "Not your protégé, and not the one Jack has settled on -- the third one. You might like that -- still young, and... curvy. She's carrying, but it's well-packaged."

I sat there on the edge of the pool, listening to them talk about Judith like I wasn't there -- and it was fine... They talked about this and that for a couple of minutes, then the Major got up and ruffled my tangles. "Come on, let's sweat a bit," he said, pointing at the dry sauna. "Coming, Tillotson? You should really examine her other fine qualities..."

"How did you end up with her, anyway?" Tillotson asked, following.

"The doctor seemed to feel that she'd impugned his honor when she pretended she didn't know what she was doing the other night. Oh, that's right -- you weren't there. It seems that Vera, here, had managed to hide her checkered past from her husband for quite a long time -- but I accidentally penetrated her disguise. It was me, wasn't it?" The Major asked.

"Yes, it was you -- atop some other things," I agreed. "It was... too much... too good. He kept telling me he wanted me to let go..."

"So she went on a rampage and sucked me and two other gentlemen dry..." the Major chuckled.

We settled in on the seat, on towels, because the wood was hot. I don't do saunas, but I enjoyed it; the energy sapped out of me by the whirlpool tub left me with this lassitude, and the sauna left me feeling similar -- like a lizard, sunning herself on a hot rock. We didn't pretend to cover up; we just sat there, in a row, with me in the middle. After a few minutes, the Major climbed up to the second tier and said, "Give us a suck, Vera." I got up on my knees and took him in, my jugs sometimes touching the hot boards when I took him deep -- never quite long enough to burn. I slurped and drooled and gobbled -- I'd get his load this time...

He didn't warn me -- but he didn't hold my head, either. It was a good load, for being his second -- still thick and clumpy. Part of me was amazed at myself, but I sat there grinning, sucking it through my teeth and playing with it. The Major laughed. "Try the other end, Tillotson," he cajoled.

The guy got up and circled behind me. "I don't know -- it doesn't look that appetizing..."

"It's the feel of it that's important, Tillotson. I've been in it -- you'll be surprised," The Major insisted, then looked sly, "Want her to suck your ass again?"

"No, I've got something going here," Tillotson replied, clearly embarrassed. He did, too -- the blunt tip of it touched my pussy lips and they popped open inviting in into the wet groove between them that led to my cock-pit. I grinned up at the Major and husked, "Yeah, come on..." at Tillotson as he seated his cock at my hole and pressed. It was all good; I was Vera the Party Girl, Cum Dumpster to the Masses and it was my time to party! He slid home slowly, pressing my inner walls, and said, "Uh!" as he hit bottom; I clenched on him as he withdrew and he groaned. The Major grinned and sat up a bit and put my forearms on his thighs and I clutched his love handles and stuck my nose next to his cock and grunted, "Now fuck me!"

Tillotson started slow, but slowly sped up. I started snapping my hips when it got really good, and the Major leaned to one side and collected a swinging jug and knew just how much pressure on my nipple hurt good and I started to lose it and howled, "Go! Go!" as my eyes got hazy and the stars came out and I slammed back into Tillotson and the Major's big hand clapped me on the ass and I tightened up and screamed, exploding...

And Tillotson puffed and rocked behind me and muttered, "Damn!" -- and I pushed my ass back at him and smiled over my shoulder and said, "More, please!"

I got off twice more before Tillotson unloaded a big, juicy cum in my cock-pit, then flopped forward on the Major's lap and husked, "Thank you."

Tillotson sat back down next to me, puffing, and rubbing my big ass and said, "I'll be damned" -- not once, but three times...

The Major laughed and dumped me off his lap and got up. "Come on, shower time!" I dragged myself down and spent a luxurious time under the hot spray, playing with his hairy body and being played with. Then I heeled him to his quarters and we went to bed...

And he went for thirds and got them, and I got mine three or four times and he spent half the night draped across me, snoring, his nose in my shoulder and his hips between my legs -- and it was just fine. I wasn't in love or anything -- but I'd come home...

Major Howard had made it clear on Friday night that my group -- the Brinkman Foundation, et al -- would be left to its own devices on Saturday due to the big pickup at the Seifort Academy -- but we had a liaison assigned and full access to the AIs and a sheaf of general planning documents. My group had nearly tripled in size with the recovery of the dependents, but the distribution was less than uniform. I had none, for instance -- Well, I had Peg and her little boy, now, but that was a net of one; she hadn't identified anyone else -- probably deliberately, in order not to ruin her chances with me by saddling us both with a horde of her relatives. The research assistants, being young and just beginning careers, tended to have either no one or a significant other, but no offspring. The support staff, on the other hand, tended to be encumbered, single or not. Bernie Rawlins, my IT Department head, for instance, managed to collect his wife, his three children, his wife's sister and one of the children's friends -- a young female of the concubine persuasion. That was six, three of whom were concubines. Of course, Bernie was eligible for four BEFORE the increase that the government of Nuevo Angelino had so generously provided...

Major Howard had provided THAT surprise. "We more or less expect you to attempt to keep things in the family, so to speak, with your group -- but when we take on the product of the primary extraction, we'll have a flood of additional eligibles. What we'll be looking for, in particular, is couples placement, since we expect a lot of couples with children; that being the case, we're authorizing up to twice the standard allotment of concubines -- PARTICULARLY if your people will agree to take on intact couples. That means another male in the house, but he'll be good or he'll be gone -- and you'll find that even with augmentation, when the feminine headcount gets to be above a certain level, the demands can be onerous."

"What are the rules for these couples?" I asked.

"Anything you like," Major Howard replied. "You can shelter them and let them live in their own little world, or you can insist that they never sleep together again. One thing we'll make painfully clear at their indoctrination is that their marriage is at an end and that placing them together is more for the benefit of the children than anything else. A concubine under your roof -- male or female -- does what you say -- period. Obviously, the couple will be emotionally attached to one another -- but the female is YOUR property, not the male's, and in most cases you will be getting children on her. If the male can't live with that, you can remand him to the Support Directorate and limit his access to his former spouse and offspring in any manner you desire." He sighed. "All that said, we would prefer not to have a lot of disaffected young fathers running around potentially causing trouble; we would ask that you screen carefully and try your best to integrate them as fully into the household as possible. It's a bitter pill they have to swallow, here."

I nodded. "Major, what ARE your thoughts on feminine headcount?"

"Get some mothers -- they'll be distracted by child care. Variety is the spice of life, but if three or four decide they really need attention at the same time, it can become... fatiguing... and leave you disinterested in the idea of going home at the end of the day. I'll be honest -- I haven't done well in this regard; duty comes first and any distraction tends to be unwelcome. As I've indicated, if you rate a large complement of concubines, a carefully selected male or two can be a blessing. Should you need to deploy to a remote site where you cannot take more than a single concubine, for instance, he can keep the other women from killing one another -- although they may kill him, one way or another..." The Major's grin was evil.

In any case, the assistants tended to have families -- and they tended to be concubine-heavy. Some relatives posing as babysitters had made the alert roster, too, along with a couple of REAL babysitters...

Keeping it in the family was going to be tough enough; nine of the twenty-nine of us were sponsors, but as I've already indicated, the concubines tended to drag in enough hangers-on to shift the curve back toward the norms. Only by doubling up could we assist with the Major's placement problem...

When I went over this with the sponsor group and department heads on Saturday morning, some obvious problems surfaced. "What in the Hell are we going to do with Harriet Flanders?" Lieberman whined. He had a point; Harriet was approaching sixty, and despite her attempts to convince several of us that she was still toothsome, we all knew better.

"Any chance she is even close to being fertile?" our liaison, Chief Potter, asked. I gathered that Chief was a Chief Petty Officer; technically, he probably had Gunnery or Platoon Sergeant for a rank, but the old Naval titles still stuck.

"Doubtful," Lieberman snorted. "She's up there in age..."

"We'll regress her a few years and see if she isn't TOTALLY menopausal," Chief said. "Has she had any kids?"

"I doubt it," I sighed. "I think she lived with her mother."

"So she may not even like men, huh?" Chief chuckled. "THAT could be tough."

"She's a fine organizer," I sighed, "Somewhat anal. But..."

Chief shrugged. "Big households sometimes need a strawboss. If she isn't distracted by other concerns, that might be a good thing. Ship her to Medical, make an edit here and there on the physical piece, and who knows? If her ovaries still work, bringing them fully online will stimulate her libido." Several of us rolled our eyes.

"Whatever." I had the department heads start cycling people through Medical Friday evening; my guidance was no major changes until real medical issues had been handled and a formal selection was made -- but for Harriet, perhaps an exception was warranted. "AI, has Harriet reported to Medical?"

"Not yet, Doctor. She is scheduled for two hours hence."

"When she comes in, fix her arthritis and those godawful knees of hers and see if she is salvageable from a fertility standpoint. Roll her back to thirty-five or so and fix anything obvious," I directed.

"Do you have any specific requirements?" A nude hologram of Harriet appeared over the conference table; several of us almost lost our breakfast and EVERYBODY found something else to look at! I turned my head and closed one eye, grimacing, eyeing the apparition sidelong. "Tighten her up and remove any obvious rolls of fat, I guess," I croaked.

"The finished product may take several hours to create," the AI noted.

"No kidding!" I retorted sarcastically. "Shut that off, please!" It did, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief -- even June Mortenson. Doctor Mortenson was the Physics Department lead, and was matronly -- but not a matron, to my knowledge, in the sense of being a mother and wife.

"What about male staff?" she asked.

There were a few. Cletus White, the janitor, young Antonio Vargas, Bernie's assistant in IT, and Big Mike Ferguson, who ran the Facilities group. Mike was sitting there, as a department head. "Some of us are gonna be hard to retread..." he muttered.

"Sorry Mike, but..." June shrugged.

"Yah. It's an issue." Mike was big in more ways than one; he understood what was going on and was apparently prepared to live with it.

"As I related, Major Howard feels that as the female concubine count goes up, male assistance can be... welcome..." I murmured. "I plan to make an offer to young Antonio later today..."

"He won't be..." I swept the table with a glare and whoever was offering his opinion shut up before I had to do more in the way of an acknowledgement. Antonio was, well, more or less out of the closet; he was too pretty, with his handsome Latin good looks, lightweight twink musculature, those big eyes with the long eyelashes. His relationships with women tended to be the type where hens get together and gossip, despite the fact that had he been making any effort, he probably could have gotten into the panties of any woman in the Foundation. No, everyone knew -- except poor Bernie, who had hired Antonio solely based upon his skills and his resume; characteristically, Bernie wasn't the kind of people person to discover someone's sexual orientation -- his focus was elsewhere. But Antonio's discretion had been thoroughly tested, too -- by me -- and the evidence of it was right there at the table; someone thought it necessary to advise me of Antonio's sexual orientation. I knew all about Antonio's proclivities, firsthand; Antonio thoroughly enjoyed being topped and was virtually insatiable...

In any case, we had Mike, and we had Cletus, who was over sixty and black, as immediate issues. I wondered distantly if a rejuvenated Cletus might enjoy Antonio's bubble butt; shaking my head to clear it I moved on to more immediate issues.

"What about dependents? Are there any clear issues there? Very soon, we will be moving to the standards set for shipboard indoctrination -- is everyone clear on those?"

Farris Lieberman raised his hand. "Not entirely..."

"Simply put," I explained, "Sponsors will receive implants at Medical for interfacing with AIs and other sponsors. Concubines don't get this -- they'll be issued collars -- and implanted tracking devices. The collars allow communication and access control and provide other functions..." I wasn't going in-depth on THAT at THIS table... "On a smaller ship, control of concubines generally doesn't require this, but the Valhalla is HUGE and we can't be spending all day hunting for some concubine who took a wrong turn in a corridor. There will be clothing issue for sponsors -- a standard grey jumpsuit or coverall; concubines get nothing -- because starting at noon tomorrow, they WEAR nothing -- except the collar, of course..."

Everyone carefully looked away from Big Mike, who negated the whole thing by muttering, "Won't THAT be a pretty picture..."

Doctor Rhonda Patterson, the one principal researcher who didn't QUITE make the sponsorship cut, muttered, "Come on over to my place, Mike -- we can hide out together." Rhonda was a linguist; thus far, the Sa'arm hadn't given her much to work with. She was a little plain in the face, but there really wasn't a whole lot wrong below the neck, I imagined -- not that it was ever on display. Tomorrow would be... very revealing...

"Maybe I can get a dispensation for department heads," I muttered. In Rhonda's case, I wasn't certain I wanted to try...

Mike actually chuckled. "We just got an example of what can happen with Harriet... I can handle it -- I won't be looking at me..."

"It is felt that the whole embarrassment and humiliation thing helps put concubines in the proper frame of mind," I apologized. "It also gets them -- and us -- used to nudity. I'm not sure what the dress code is on the colony yet, but if we can all get past the immediate reaction to it, it will probably clear our minds for other things." I sat back. "Tomorrow, after the change, the main group will start recording what I guess we can refer to as personal ads. You'll be able to search through them for concubines to fill your quota. Selecting couples is to be emphasized, but you do what you're comfortable with. I'm thinking that you probably won't want to accept the first application out of several hundred -- and after you've seen a few thousand naked people you'll probably manage to deal with it in an intelligent manner." I flicked a glance at Bernie. "How many of you are going to have to make decisions regarding what the cat dragged in?" Three or four hands went up. "We have people in-house that I would like to have us take care of -- but I can't ask you to do anything out of obligation that will fail to work in the long run. Work with your conscience. We're aware of some OBVIOUS problems; where we can't handle them, there are other sponsors out there..."

"Where is Dr. Hopkins?" Lieberman asked.

"Busy elsewhere, I presume," I replied. "He'll be joining us, but he's also directly under the wing of one of the Confederacy extraction team. Dr. Hopkins is literally why we're here -- or one of his daughters is, at the very least. I'm aware that he has taken on Miss Shelton -- and of course, he has -- had -- a wife..." I paused, thinking. "One of his daughters is a sponsor, I think -- so he might have one other to either vend or keep..."

"Ah... yes..." Lieberman just couldn't keep his mouth shut, it seemed... "I read some disturbing information regarding..."

"Incest?" I interrupted.

"Yes."

"Let me clarify," I resumed. "Incest is not an issue as far as Confederacy policy is concerned. If you have a family member who is a concubine and who you feel is best protected by staying with you, that's not a problem -- but you will both be expected to fulfill your obligations, sooner or later."

Leland Philpott turned white. "My daughter Sharon..."

"Has the options of looking for another sponsor or bearing your children," I finished for him. "I've seen the data; the danger of recessive genes being reinforced is considered small -- and Confederacy medicine is more than up to the job of fixing anything that DOES leak through. The short answer is that we're not in Kansas any more and it DOES happen and it IS a viable option. You must decide if it is palatable." I looked around. "Anything else?" No one said anything. "We're adjourned. Please make your appointments with Medical and get your augmentation packages."