Chapter 53

Thursday morning, the perpetually angry Decurion held a 'staff meeting.' I discovered that his staff consisted of your humble servant, the Sub-Decurion I had been given the pleasure of meeting the day before, and another, younger, female Sub-Decurion -- coincidentally also named Hopkins. Decurion Tillotson referred to them as Hopkins the Elder and Hopkins the Younger -- and at some point in the conversation, I was given to understand that they were mother and daughter...

As expected, our dealings were initially stiff and stilted, colored by his disapproval of my heritage and recent career -- but as Seņora Hopkins and I discussed the issues facing the demographic in our care, he began to thaw somewhat and appear more civil. Seņora Hopkins was a fine, strong-willed dama with an earthy nature and what many refer to as common sense; oddly, Tillotson seemed to fear her. This did not apply to the daughter, however; the Decurion tended to be rude and dismissive of her. Brusque treatment seemed to be the Decurion's default manner; he had little patience and no time, and appeared to be uncomfortable with the idea of interacting with anyone. This did not endear him to me, as I was raised not to give insult to anyone -- especially women. I did my best to display the proper respect, even though neither of the Hopkins women was physically to my taste; they were both somewhat heavier than my personal definition of feminine pulchritude, but that was and is not an excuse for rudeness. Seņora Hopkins -- Vera, as she wished to be referred to -- shared my concerns over the employment of the woman Bernice, and related concerns over the fact that her motivations and mental state were not optimal, even if her capacity for sex seemed to be impressive.

We discussed the fact that my charges required partitioning into groups, as those with children should not really be exposed to some of the unexcised elements among the truly single males. This got me a look from the Decurion, as he continued to feel that I should have been among the excised... He took my point, however, along with Vera's that the bachelor group was going to grow, unfortunately, if we did not make a more serious effort at educating the sponsors regarding the benefits of having an additional male in the household. We both made it clear that this MUST be a priority in order to minimize the size of a potentially disruptive demographic. We also both made it clear that in some cases, the bachelor males may have been the better parent -- a possibility that the current system was apparently totally blind to. Vera, however, illuminated the basic problem: "Of course, even if the woman is the poorer parent, if we can't place the male parent what good have we done the children?"

"We really need to go after female sponsors!" Seņorita Hopkins -- the one called Maureen -- insisted. "There has to be an audience for these men -- women who maybe don't have a motherly bone in their body -- career women, say..." The Decurion was about to stifle her creativity, so I raise a finger and endorsed the idea, recommending that perhaps we should do a search of the female sponsor list. We continued in that vein for a few minutes, then the Decurion released his official subordinates and turned to me, "Why are you protecting Hopkins the Younger?"

"Because you are riding her too hard and will waste her potential," I replied. "She will learn and be a valuable asset if you do not treat her as you apparently do all others -- with contempt!" I replied.

"How dare you!" he hissed.

"I dare because I must!" I replied, "You are wasting valuable assets and dulling the tools we must use to complete our work! It is my JOB to point this out to you! Besides, I would be unable to damage your opinion of me in any case..."

The Decurion sat back in his chair, frowning. "I do things the way I do them for my own protection. I have seen too many well-intentioned individuals destroyed by the weight of the responsibility and the assault on their emotions. We are overworked, chronically -- we cannot afford to be emotionally involved in what we are doing."

"Then you are just herding them without any understanding of their reactions," I replied, "and you will make mistakes -- costly mistakes -- mistakes that will require you to be even more distant to avoid having to take responsibility for within yourself."

Curiously, the Decurion did not take offense; instead, he looked troubled. "I... have no peace."

"You are alone," I theorized. "You have no woman."

"I have thousands of women!" he argued -- but it was a hollow protest, and we both knew it.

"There is a difference between using a woman and having a woman," I replied. "Your Sub-Decurions bring valuable insights, but you feel that you must put them in their place to maintain your control. This is not collegial and it is not necessarily good leadership. If you HAD a woman, you could share your concerns and worries with her in private and obtain her advice without any requirement to maintain your public face..." I paused for a moment, then added, "I am well versed in the demands of machismo..."

"Maybe." Tillotson seemed suddenly vulnerable. "I keep finding that I am not up to the demands of matching wits with a certain old woman..."

"Indeed?" I chuckled.

"Nana Salazar," the Decurion explained, "is eighty-two. She shouldn't be here, but she was the family matriarch, and she showed up for Family Day. The young great-grandson Javier is surrounded by women -- four generations worth, counting his younger sister Marisol. Anyway, somehow, in conversation, I managed to trigger an indiscretion by the AI and Nana is chasing me with her cane, trying to foist her daughter or her granddaughter -- or both -- on me."

"How terrible is this?" I asked.

Tillotson shrugged. "Maybe it isn't. Neither of them would have had a shot without the old woman -- her mind is as sharp as a tack, and her tongue cuts like a knife!"

"Are they, then, not comely?" I asked.

"Do you have any idea how many naked women I've seen?" Tillotson sighed.

"How many did you take an interest in?" I queried. "A personal interest? Not necessarily a sexual interest..."

Tillotson shook his head, his eyes troubled. "It's not something I do."

I nodded. "And this is your problem. You know it, too, do you not?" He nodded. "The old woman likely smelled it on you." He nodded again. "So what are you doing?"

"I made a bargain," Tillotson replied. "I promised to use them both -- on the condition that each of them went from my bed to young Javier's. The old woman presented it as a way to override their concerns over incest." He chuckled. "SHE wasn't bothered by incest!"

"And how has this tactic fared?" I asked.

"Last night, I had the grandmother," he replied. "She's a fine looking woman, for her age. I had her give me fellatio, and then deliberately went to sleep on her." He chuckled. "Young Javier won't, I wager..."

"This arrangement," I asked, my interest piqued. "What other stipulations were there?"

"I told them it wouldn't matter if I took them both -- they would be shared with young Javier, in any case." Tillotson replied. "The intent was to give them no reason to bother..."

"Are you aware that this is, perhaps, an elegant solution?" I asked. "Why would you not just proceed with it?"

"Not until young Javier has had them both, in any case," the Decurion replied. "That is the name of the game -- and how Javier and I win. If either of them refuses to sleep with Javier, I can send her on her way."

"You want them broken," I mused.

"Yes."

"And if you succeed?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"I do," I replied. "It will have become personal, Decurion Tillotson -- and a woman will finally have penetrated your armor of indifference. THAT is what the old woman is working toward." I eyed him. "Now that you know, what will you do?"

"I honestly don't know," Tillotson said quietly.

"You DO know, Decurion -- you merely have not faced the knowledge. You are tired -- tired of carrying the burden alone. The old woman has already won -- or she will, if you have but the sense to allow it." I shook my head. "I will seek out this Nana Salazar -- she could be a valuable resource, eh?"

"I'd actually had idle fantasies of marrying her up with Hopkins the Younger..." Tillotson chuckled.

"Yes," I mused, chuckling, "Another elegant solution, is it not?" That brought another thought. "You seem... hesitant around the older woman, Vera. Why is that?"

"It's... complicated. SHE is complicated. Sit -- you won't believe this..." I settled back in my chair and the Decurion told me the strange tale of Hopkins the Elder, the Fat Slut. I admit to some amazement... "I had her, the night before she became a sponsor," Tillotson admitted. "She isn't my type by a LOONG shot -- but the Major gave her fine marks and chided me for being picky and cowardly, so I tried her. She is... accomplished... beyond my wildest expectations -- and she brings a certain joy to the sex act. If there were a competition between Vera and the woman Bernice, Vera would attract four times the number of men -- and service them all, happily. It's what she does, apparently." He chuckled. "Hopkins the Younger asked me not to assign her to administer a brothel -- and I don't have to, because it's her mother's calling!" He looked up from his desktop at me. "I may have misjudged you, Gonzalo, and for that I apologize." He stood and put out his hand. "Friends?"

I took it. "Friends."

Ten minutes later, I was on my way to the Salazar quarters.

"Seņora Salazar, I presume?" I asked the woman in widow's weeds who appeared when the door opened. "I hear interesting things about the family matriarch of the Salazars..."

"And you are?" Nana raised an eyebrow.

"Gonzalo Cuatrecasas, at your service," I replied, bowing.

"You are a silver-tongued Spaniard, in any case!" Nana declared, "Waste not your time on me -- I am the world's oldest child -- the Decurion has decreed it!"

"That apparently does not preclude a certain envy on his part for your accomplishments, Seņora," I replied.

"He is a fine specimen -- hard. My daughter and granddaughter need the example. They've filled their empty heads with American foolishness about equality." She eyed me. "What can I do for you?"

"It has occurred to the Decurion that your somewhat childish wisdom might be of use to us," I told her, smiling to let her know that I was teasing, not insulting. "The young, they have not lived -- they have not seen life, in all its color -- or the grays that are the reality when we dream of black and white."

"Such a tongue you have!" Nana marveled. "Let us go elsewhere; my daughter, in particular, is easily charmed and I do not want her distracted from her pursuit of the Decurion."

"I am... unavailable, but I see your point," I replied. "Shall we? The AI knows where we are..." We settled in an observation lounge and had quite a conversation; the Decurion was correct in that the woman very clearly had her wits about her. She was gratified to discover that I was an ally in her plot to tame the Decurion -- and surprised that I considered it to be for his own good.

"So you've seen it, then? That look he has?" she asked.

"Yes. He has attempted to resign from the human race in order to be qualified to control his chunk of it." I shook my head. "That is not good -- and he knows it. That is the good news -- he is fighting himself, as well as the four of you."

Nana smiled sadly. "It may be only three. The Decurion tricked Estrellita and only used her orally -- so she is likely to be stubborn about Javier."

"Would it help if the Decurion were present, do you think?"

"Yes." Nana thought about it. "I think she might be browbeaten into it then."

"Do you want to tell him, or should I?" I asked.

"I approved of the tactic; I may as well admit to the mistake." She stood. "It has been a pleasure, Seņor."

"Likewise, Seņora. I look forward to future conversations." I escorted her back to her quarters, bowed, and took my leave.

I got the locations of all of the passenger messes from the AI and trolled them on Wednesday. There was a shitload of pussy out there -- most of it older bitches. A lot of them were fat and ugly, too, but the AI reminded me that I could fix that, so I worked at ignoring it -- which isn't easy. Your first impression of another person just isn't what they sound like or what the smell like -- it's what you see. It takes a real leap to get to, 'that sow COULD look like this...' I had the AI work on this deal where it made some obvious changes and projected them for me when I looked at some chick twice. It helped.

What DIDN'T help was the fact that there just didn't seem to be that many women out there with the proper mindset. I wanted a chick who didn't seem to have any limits -- one who would just keep taking it. Aside from that one bitch I'd run into on Tuesday, they just weren't out there.

The thing that got my attention about that bitch was her willingness to push back -- I would threaten something and her answer would be 'Bring it!' I'd never really run into a bitch like that. It was weird and strange -- and kind of exciting! The only worry was 'How long can I keep it up?' How long could I push her before I ran out of stuff to do? I didn't know -- and THAT was part of the draw, too! I wondered if it mattered...

I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. I hit Mess Seventy-Eight for the evening meal and did my usual ten second counterclockwise sweep, and there she was at about nine o'clock, looking back. She had her kid with her, and a tray in her hands, but she was watching me. I looked back. After about five seconds, she said something to her kid and dropped her tray on the nearest table, continuing to watch me while she got the kid organized. I just kept looking back, waiting. As soon as the kid was seated and eating, she settled onto her knees, continuing to watch me. I cocked my head and she shifted from Attention to Presentation One.

Okay, we weren't bullshitting one another... I snapped my fingers and pointed at the floor in front of me and she started to get up -- but I frowned and pointed at the floor and she got the idea, going to all fours and crawling into my presence, then returning to Presentation One. "Think you're pretty smart, don't ya?" I growled.

"No, Master."

"I'm not your master," I growled -- but I wasn't kidding anybody, so I added, "yet." I stepped up and tried my damnedest to mash one of her nipples flat between my thumb and forefinger and she grunted, but limited herself to that. Oh, her shoulder dropped, but she fought it back up. I let go and grunted, "You're on probation. Go get me a New York Strip, medium, curly fries, and a beer -- not Bud. Plop it down next to your kid, then come find me. Git." She got up and took off, not as rapidly as expected, maybe, but she wasn't sixteen, either. Once she was on her feet, she moved with a purpose, her ass rolling as she stepped out. I made a mental note to stick my dick in it, real damned soon...

I must have ESP; he wasn't even in the door yet and I spun to look after catching him out of the corner of my eye. I stopped where I was, watching him, holding Reggie's and my dinner tray. It would do me no good to DO anything until he saw me and acknowledged me.

It took maybe ten seconds for him to find me. I continued to wait, knowing that if I took his acceptance for granted, he would ignore me -- even if he had to walk on me to get past. Reggie got restless after a few seconds, so I told him, "That man is back."

"The one who...?"

"Yes. Sit here at the table and eat for Mommy; I may have to go see him." I plopped the tray down on the nearest table, surprising a couple with two kids sitting there already, and opened Reggie's milk and gave him his silverware -- all the while watching the man -- who continued looking back, without even blinking, apparently. By the time I was done, I figured that if he was going to go on about his business, he'd have done so -- so I went to my knees and assumed Attention. He cocked his head, still regarding me with that unblinking, predatory gaze, so I shifted to Presentation One.

It was the right thing to do. After another couple of seconds, he looked mildly disgusted and snapped his fingers, pointing at the floor in front of him. I made to get up, but he frowned and pointed at the floor, so I started crawling. I had to duck a couple of people and just missed getting a hand stepped on, but in no time, I was in front of him, kneeling up again and pushing my breasts up and out at him.

"Think you're pretty smart, don't ya?" he growled.

"No, Master," I replied, knowing that he wouldn't want me to get cocky.

"I'm not your master," he growled -- but then he added, "Yet." Then he stepped up and took my left nipple between his thumb and forefinger and tried to crush it! I gasped and started to flinch away -- but that would have been a mistake, so I controlled myself and tried to block out the pain. He let go and grunted, "You're on probation. Go get me a New York Strip, medium, curly fries, and a beer -- not Bud. Plop it down next to your kid, and then come find me. Git."

I got. I hadn't mastered getting up out of a kneeling position rapidly yet, but once I was standing, I took off as fast as I could without running. Thirty seconds later, I was placing his food order.

It took a minute or two to replicate, but there wasn't a huge line and everybody else was doing similar, so it was no big thing. I took it back to the table and put it down and Reggie looked up and said, "I thought this was yours, Mommy?" waving at various items on his tray.

"It is, Honey," I told him. "The man is coming."

"Oh." Reggie absorbed this. "Is he gonna...?"

"Eat with us?" I supplied.

"No." Reggie shook his head. "Do that again."

"Maybe," I hedged. "Honey, I know you've been talked to about this. He's a sponsor and I'm a concubine."

"So it's okay?"

"As weird as it probably sounds, Honey, I really don't mind. You know what we were doing, right?"

Reggie nodded. "Sex."

"You know the rules, right?"

Reggie nodded again. "There aren't any."

"Well, there are a couple," I admitted. "I could say no, because I'm not his yet. But I don't want to."

"You like him?"

"Well... yes. Honey, sometimes these things are hard to explain, but we... click. He has something I need, and I have something he needs. Were you upset the other day?"

"Well... I was. But then I saw that you were having fun..." Reggie eyed me, clearly wondering if he had read things right.

"Yes, I was," I admitted. "Honey, the man might want things -- rough things. I don't want you to worry, though, unless I look really upset, okay? I don't think I can explain, but I probably won't mind, even if he gets kind of rough..."

"You'll be playing hard?"

"Yes. We'll be playing hard." That was closer to the truth than Reggie probably realized.

"Okay." He turned back to his food.

"You stay here and eat. I'm going to go get him," I told Reggie.

"Okay."

I looked around; he was wandering among the tables on the far side of the room, looking at women. There was quite a selection -- but not a lot of Grade 'A' stuff. Women who have had kids -- and virtually all of us had -- tend to get a little thick in the middle -- and stay that way. There were some students, apparently -- girls in their teen years who were concubine material -- but most were taken at this point. My mysterious potential master didn't seem to be fascinated with them, anyway -- or at least they got no more attention than any other group. I hurried to him, having already spent more time than was wise making explanations to Reggie, and went to my knees. "Your dinner is served, Master."

"Fine." But he pinned me in place with a hand on my shoulder while he turned his attention on a nondescript heavyset woman with light brown hair and heavy breasts. There was a girl on her left -- maybe ten -- and a boy on her right -- maybe twelve. On the other side of the boy sat a man -- a somewhat pudgy type with mutton-chop sideburns, kind of silly looking, in my opinion. "Wait," he said quietly to me before striding up behind the woman and collecting her chin in his left hand, tilting her back so she had to regard him upside-down. Overriding her squawk of surprise, he addressed her, "So, do you like to fuck?"

"I -- I..." She grabbed the table to keep from falling backward into him and gobbled in shock.

"Come on -- it's a simple question," Master said impatiently.

The man opened his mouth; Master merely turned and held up a finger with a no-nonsense expression on his face. The guy turned pale and shut up.

"Uh, yes," the woman croaked out.

"Do you like it, or do you just put up with it?" Master asked, reaching down to cup the woman's right breast. She had large ones, with big, light-pink areolas -- and had started out with barely any nipple showing, but Master's fingers found what she had and it grew as I watched. Flicking a glance at the man, Master muttered, "I'm sure things aren't as they once were, so we're speaking in general terms."

"I don't understand..." The woman was too frightened to think clearly; Master knew that as well as I did.

He let her up, releasing her chin, and turned to the daughter. "Hi, Cutie -- what's your name?"

"Lily." The little girl eyed Master, trying to decide whether he was a threat or not.

"Are you a student at the school, Lily?" Master asked.

"Yes."

"Good. Which courses were you taking?" Master asked.

"Concubine stuff," Lily replied. "Toby is, too." She indicated her brother.

"What does Mommy know about concubine stuff, do you figure, Lily?" Master asked.

"She's still learning."

Master turned his attention to young Toby. "Toby, is it? What about Daddy? What has he learned?"

Toby frowned, clearly worried. "They're new, Mister. I haven't had the advanced stuff, but they're not ready for tests..."

Master cocked his head at the boy. "Can you help?"

"I can try. I mean, I'm only..."

"Do what you can," Master murmured. Turning his attention back to the woman, who was clearly bewildered, he asked, "Okay, now this will be a complicated and potentially embarrassing question. We'll do three parts or something. First, how well-hung is the old man, there?" Master pointed at Mutton-Chops with his thumb.

The man opened his mouth, but young Toby said, "No, Dad. You need to not get into this."

"Uuh, not very?" The woman turned an apologetic look on the father of her children. "It, uh, wasn't number one on my list," she added.

Master nodded. "Probably not. I figure that 'Sucker' tattoo on his forehead was more important. Pretty desperate, were you?"

"I..." The woman looked flustered, as did the man. "Was that a question?"

"No, I have my answer," Master replied. "So, Desperate, how long were you and Sucker married?"

The woman blinked and huffed and looked around a bit. "Around thirteen years."

"Fertile, was she?" Master turned his attention to the man. "How fertile? 'Oops! I'm pregnant' fertile? I'm betting you found your way between her legs before marriage was a serious subject..."

"That's none of..." 'Sucker' sputtered.

"Dad..."

"Listen to the boy..." Master murmured.

"Well it isn't!" Sucker insisted.

"But it is!" Master replied. "It's important in that is it a possible source of long-term friction between you and Desperate, here -- and because Toby deserves to know whether he was conceived out of wedlock or not!"

"We..." Sucker began.

"I was pregnant! All right?" Desperate rasped.

"How do you feel about that?" Master asked Sucker.

"It's been... worth it," Sucker replied cautiously.

"So, does she like sex?" Master asked.

"It's... tailed off, some. Kids, you know..." Sucker murmured.

"More like she had your leg in the bear trap already," Master chuckled. "Did she look like this when you married?"

"Well, she's put on a few pounds..." Sucker allowed. Desperate muffled a snort. "I have, too," he added.

"Whipped..." Master rolled his eyes. "A few pounds, or quite a few?"

"Twenty-five or so," Sucker estimated -- which drew another snort from Desperate.

I began to see what was up...

Master returned his attention to Desperate, "So, do you like sex?"

"Yes, I like sex!" Desperate snapped.

"But sex with Sucker, here, isn't fun anymore?" Master prompted. "Is that it? So how big IS Sucker, anyway?"

Desperate measured out five inches or so with her fingers. "Like this..."

"Servicable, obviously..." Master murmured, "But if you had one like this..." he measured out seven inches or so, "that would be more fun, wouldn't it?"

"Yes. A LOT more!" Desperate rasped.

I kept my face serene, but I was laughing inside. Master had pushed the two to the point that they were being utterly truthful in their answers, insulting or not.

"We come back to the original question, I guess," Master murmured. "So how much do you like sex? Is it just a means to attract a meal ticket, or is it something you genuinely enjoy, as long as the dick is longer than Sucker's, here?"

Desperate's eyes kind of bulged; Master had fixed it so that whatever answer she gave, her mate wasn't going to be happy... Master stood there with his head cocked, smiling evilly, awaiting her answer. "It's not like that!' she burst out. "I love Bert!"

"Sure you do, Honey." Master patted her on the shoulder. "Bert, have you ever done the old lady up the ass?"

"No," Bert said carefully.

"Well, you know, she's sure to feel that cock of yours in there. I think she owes you. Oh, and Desperate? You need to smile while it goes in..." Master kind of switched channels. "AI? Bert, here, is going to have anal sex with his woman tonight. It isn't assault, no matter what she says or does about it; it's under instruction from me. If they do well, I may come back and take them on..."

"Acknowledged."

"Toby, you watch 'em. I'll want a report -- give it to the AI. Lily, you can just go to bed, okay, Honey? You don't need to watch..."

"Okay," the little girl said dubiously. Toby nodded dutifully. Master patted Desperate on the shoulder. "Smile..." Then he turned to me. "Show me my dinner, Woman. It's probably fucking cold..."

I eyed him. "Knees?"

"Walk." When we got there, he settled next to Reggie and gave him a nod, then snapped his fingers and said "Attention, on my left." I settled there and spent the next couple of minutes watching him eat on my right and Reggie eat on my left, knowing that if I reached for something I would get my hand slapped.

After a couple of minutes, Master, still chewing a bite of steak, went rooting through my plate and came up with a green bean, which he then poked at my face. I took it, as gently as I could, with my mouth, thinking that next time I'd better get French fries with my fish. But he fed me; after a couple of minutes, he stopped eating from his own plate for a bit and concentrated on it. "Ever feed your mother?" he asked Reggie.

Reggie giggled. "No."

"Well, she seems pretty well trained. Did your dad ever feed her?"

"I don't think so."

"Hmmm..."

I swallowed a bite. "Master, may I speak?"

"I guess." He picked up a curly fry from his plate and stuck it in his mouth.

"Why did you do that -- back there?"

"The couple?" Master grunted. "I was bored to shit and a little pissed off -- for entertainment, I guess." He sat up. "That reminds me. AI? That kid, Toby, should be in sponsor training. Put a flea in somebody's ear at the school."

"Acknowledged."

"If he hangs out with somebody with some balls, he's got a shot," Master informed me. "His old man is an idiot, and his old lady has bigger balls -- but I gather you picked up on that," Master said to me.

"Yes, Master."

"There's a lot of that shit going on." Master seemed to shake himself. "Anyway... It was something to do, I guess. I'm looking for something in particular -- and your sorry ass is the closest I've come." I said nothing, knowing that this was his approach to why we were here. "You're on fucking probation -- and I'm not taking you unless you find me a second piece. I know how you are -- you'll go to the wall, won't you? Well, that's all well and good, but I want another piece -- one who whines a lot, but takes it. We're gonna be a team; I'm gonna push and you're gonna pull. I'm gonna use her like toilet paper, and you're gonna come along behind and remind her that's how it's supposed to be. Of course, I'll be using YOU like toilet paper as an example..."

"Yes, Master." Was there anything ELSE I could say?

"The bitch can't break; she needs to be able to bounce back. She's probably got to be fucking stupid, since she can't ever learn -- stubborn, anyway. I need to be able to take her down to nothing, wait two days, and do it all over again."

"How will I find such a person, Master?" I asked.

"Not my problem -- ask the AI. Just get it done, or when we hit the planet, I'm gonna put you in the Civil Service cat house -- which reminds me -- I need to get a nut and you're within reach..." He turned to Reggie. "You about done eating, kid?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Clean up the trays, Slut, then we'll go to my place and I'll pick a hole and stick my dick in it." I rose and did as I was told, smiling where he couldn't see it. Would he cut me loose, even if I failed? Probably not. But he'd set me a task -- a difficult one -- to keep me busy proving I was worthy. And in the meantime, he would be there....